It’s hard to believe that 2011 is almost over. It seemed like not really that long ago that we were putting together our Best Songs of 2010 mixtapes (now working on Vol. IV for 2011) – which by the way, are still up and running (a few missing mp3 links, but 90% operational), and well worth listening to if you missed them originally. Plus, with Christmas in the air, don’t miss out on the largest online collection of indie and alternative rock Christmas songs.
Anyways, this week marks the third to last Best New Releases mix for 2011. Problem is, there is not that much to talk about this week, and we suspect it will be like this for the rest of the year. Nevertheless, you can access mixes featuring hundreds and hundreds of great songs from 2011. Browse, stream and download the archives of mixes like Best New Releases, Recent Releases We Almost Missed, In Dee Mail, Bands to Watch, Summer Songs and more. That should be plenty to keep you busy for a while, and don’t miss the on-going new series, Best Songs of 2011 (Vol. IV will be published Sunday; all 12 volumes will be published by the end of January 2012).
First up, the prolific musician, instrumentalist and composer Jonsi (Sigur Ros) has a lot going on recently. In October, Sigur Ros‘ released a new double live album and film, Inni. Last month, the band confirmed they were also working on a new “ambient” album slated for release in the spring of 2012 (another reason to look forward to spring).
Hopefully, we won’t have to wait that long to hear the first couple of tracks from the yet-to-be-named LP. And this week, Jonsi is garnering tons of mainstream media and blog coverage due to the release of the new movie, and accompanying soundtrack, We Bought A Zoo. Last year, Jonsi was asked to compose a number of tracks for the film by director Cameron Crowe.
Following Jonsi, listen to new music from indie folk pop band The Lower 48; a live cut from Josh Ritter‘s first live album; the newest from another singer-songwriter, Kurt Von Stetten; a double-shot of lo-fi indie psych pop from Graham Repulski; a cover song of The Smiths from Telekinesis; punk rock from the band The 65’s; and a new track by Dolfish that sounds like the band Apples in Stereo.
“Gathering Stories” – Jónsi from We Bought a Zoo
The End – The Lower 48 from Where All Maps End (self-released)
“Latern” (Live) – Josh Ritter from Live at the Iveagh Gardens (self-released)
“Codify” – Kurt Von Stetten from Cyclops
“Mommy’s Dreaming” – Graham Repulski from My Color is Red
Double-shot: “Everyone Likes My Three Dollar Shirt” – Graham Repulski from My Color is Red
“Sheila Take A Bow” (The Smiths) – Telekinesis from Please, Please, Please: A Tribute to The Smiths
“Walk On Selfishly” – The 65′s from Strike Hard!
“Your Love Is Bummin’ Me Out” – Dolfish from the 7″
In Dee Mail Releases – The Coast of Nebraska, Trip Effect
The In Dee Mail mixtape series is different from the regular Best New Releases because each of the bands featured via In Dee Mail sent their music to us ‘in dee mail’ using the proper submission process. Because we get so many submissions – more than we can ever get to – the submission form is necessary to filter out submissions that do not include at least one MP3 link. That’s because we rarely ever use links to Soundcloud, file downloads, Bandcamp, etc. Since we use the Yahoo! media player to stream music on every mixtape, we can only profile an artist that supplies a MP3 link of a current song.
As one way to put a dent in the piles of music submissions we receive, we search our database for new releases that have release dates for the week in question, and if we like what we hear, we include it in this section of the weekly Best New Releases. We’ve been doing this for a while now, and the response from IRC’s regular and new visitors has been impressive.
First up is the ironically named duo, The Coast of Nebraska, who also ironically are not even from Nebraska, but much further south – Austin, Texas. It’s no surprise to us that we receive a lot of noteworthy submissions from Austin. The Coast of Nebraska is yet another. On Saturday, the band released their new album, Hope Swallows. Their well-honed sound is a mix of indie rock, psychedelic and glam rock.
“Hope Swallows” – The Coast of Nebraska from Hope Swallows
“This Old Home” – The Coast of Nebraska from Hope Swallow
The Coast of Nebraska has opened for bands like The Magnificent Snails, Jay Satellite, Paperthreat, Bridge Farmers, School of Liars and include among their top influences The Beatles, Sweet, Pavement, Boz Scaggs, Super Furry Animals.
Trip Effect is an unsigned band from Rockford, Illinois who deliver a mixture of raw acoustic rock and technical theory based playing. The band says their music “proves an unplugged sound can still rock out as hard as anything.
“Past The Edge” – Trip Effect from Second Life
“The Rain” – Trip Effect from Second Life
Recent Releases We Almost Missed – Loves It!, Seventeen Evergreen
Those of you who are most familiar with IRC probably know about another mega-MP3 mixtape series we run called Recent Releases We Almost Missed. The entire premise of the series is to highlight noteworthy singles (not necessarily the albums they originate on) that, for one reason or another, we did not publish in the Best New Releases mixtape for the week of their official release. It’s a way of playing catch-up.
So, we decided to start incorporating it into the Best New Releases mixtapes as long as the songs were released within the past month – everything earlier than that will be saved and profiled in the next edition of Recent Releases We Almost Missed. In fact, we’re working on a huge RRWAM right now, the last to be published in 2011. But for now, here are some tracks from recent releases that we thought we’d share with you to see what your response is.
“Bobby Kennedy” – Loves It! from Yay – Dec. 6th
Double-shot: Two Sides” – Loves It! from Yay – Dec. 6th
“Angels” – Seventeen Evergreen from Psyentist – Dec. 6th