Best Indie Rock Songs of 2010, Vol. IV – Dead Weather, Foals, The Radio Dept., Beach Fossils, Weekend, The National

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The Dead Weather's 'Sea Cowards,' was one of the best rocker albums of 2010

Enough with 2010 already? If that’s how you feel, then you probably don’t want to listen to 30-plus more of our favorite indie rock songs of 2010. By natural extension, many of the songs featured in this series are on many of our favorite albums for 2010. So, in place of the weekly S-25 Mix, we’ve put together this playlist of some of our favorite 2010 tracks to share with you instead.

It’s now mid-February, and there have been oodles of ace songs released so far, mainly via the Best New Releases weekly series, and the regular Fresh Tracks spotlight, including the latest and best music from bands like The Decemberists, Bright Eyes, Drive By Truckers, Smith Westerns, The Strokes, Radiohead, and many others.  And so while we do our best to keep you updated on the latest most popular releases from indie bands and artists, we’re also continuing to share our favorite music of 2010, from albums and songs, to well-known artists and new bands.

“The Difference Between Us”Dead Weather from Sea of Cowards

“Cigarettes in the Theatre”Two Door Cinema Club from Tourist History

In addition to creating various mixes featuring our favorite songs of 2010, work continues on putting together IRC’s Best Albums of 2010. So why the wait? Well, one reason is to make sure we have listened to as many indie albums from 2010 as possible, and with perspective. Another reason is so that we can measure your favorite albums based on what songs from this series are listened to, ‘hearted’ (on our Hype page), and downloaded the most.

With that in mind, you don’t want to miss the first three volumes of Best Indie Rock Songs of 2010 because there are more than 100 killer tracks; so far, this series has been the most popular playlist series of 2011.  Also, don’t miss the Top Ten Breakout Bands of 2010, plus 50 No. 1 Songs of 2010; and check out the first installment of 5 Bands to Watch in 2011. Let us know what you think of this best indie songs fourth playlist mix, Tweet it, share it on Facebook, Tumblr or Foursquare it. Enjoy.

“This Orient” Foals from Total Life Forever

“Boots of Danger (Wait Up)”Tokyo Police Club from Champ

“Part Of Me”Electric Tickle Machine from Blew It Again

“Golden Haze”Wild Nothing from Gemini

“Collector”Here We Go Magic from Pigeons

“Heaven and Earth”Blitzen Trapper from Destroyer Of The Void

“Oh You, Old Thing”Wolf Parade from Expo 86

“Distant Life”Film School from Fission

“Afraid of Everyone” The National from High Violet

“Never Follow Suit” The Radio Dept from Clinging to a Scheme

“Remember Last Time” Avi Buffalo from Avi Buffalo

“Catholic Pagans”Surfer Blood from Astrocoast

“Bermuda” Kisses from The Heart Of The Nightlife

“Daydream”Beach Fossils from Beach Fossils

“Harlem River Blues”Justin Townes Earle from Harlem River Blues [Explicit]

“Round and Round”Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti from Before Today

“King of Spain”The Tallest Man on Earth from The Wild Hunt

“Forever and Ever Amen” The Drums from The Drums

“Two Lives at the End of the Night”The Henry Clay People from Somewhere on the Golden Coast

“Twenty Two”Wakey! Wakey! from Everything I Wished I Said The Last Time I Saw You

“Lady in the Light Lines”Auto Body from Priest Party

“American Slang”The Gaslight Anthem from American Slang

“Born Stoked”Wet Illustrated from Academy Annex

“Written in Reverse” Spoon from Transference

“All-American”Weekend from All American split single

“Weird Feelings”Male Bonding from Nothing Hurts

“What A Drag”Bear Hands from Burning Bush Supper Club

“Head of Steam” The Fresh and Onlys from split 7″

“Restoration”The Acorn from No Ghost

“Dirty Cartoons”Menomena from Mines

“Kill Joe Arpaio”Crocodiles, single release

Best New Indie Rock 2011 – The Radio Dept, Woodsman, Cloud Nothings, Iron & Wine, Gang of Four, Deerhoof, Destroyer, Veils, Grouplove

This week’s Best New Releases includes new singles from new LPs and EPs from bands all across the indie spectrum. We’ve been loving The Radio Dept.’s work for about three or four years, so it’s just fitting to include a great track from their new singles collection, available now.  Following TRD is a terrific, minimalistic, psychedelic track from the new Woodsman LP; a riveting, epic track from Cloud Nothings’ debut LP. Ironically, there are two tracks titled “Bloom” in this playlist, each from a different artist. Also loving the John Vanderslice song, and can’t help but to think how much it sounds like a Sufjan Stevens song.

“The One” The Radio Dept. from Passive Aggressive: The Singles 2002-2010

Also, check out new singles from releases by Com Truise, Iron and Wine, Gang of Four, Cold War Kids, Deerhoof, Wanda Jackson with Jack White, Destroyer, The Veils, and many others. The self-titled debut EP by the band Grouplove has renewed them as a band to watch in 2011, as they were in 2010 (listen to tracks below). One of the reasons we renewed Grouplove is because they are so incredibly talented, and have still not received the recognition we think the band deserves.

The Papercranes deliver a dreamy, even melancholy, sound on the fantastic new single from their latest release, and Paper Diamond throws it down with impressive electronica work on the track “From Now Till…”.

“Synapses”Papercranes from Let’s Make Babies in the Woods

We could go on and on about all of the new releases this week, but, once you listen to this mix, you’ll see that the music speaks for itself. Played in one continuous stream, you’ll notice at some point or another that this playlist is just packed with awesome songs, including other artists like Say Hi, Monotonix, The Ex, Delicate Steve, Exray’s, I Was King, Lia Ices, Fujiya & Miyagi, Duke Garwood, Greater Pacific, The Chicharrons, Metal Mountains and more.

“Insects”Woodsman from Rare Forms

When you want all the best new songs from new releases, come to IRC regularly, since we post about four features and playlists each week stuffed with music from some of the most popular ‘indie’ artists to lesser-known, but talented bands. But even if you miss a post that is a few days, weeks or months old, most of the MP3s do not expire like they do on most other sites. Use the Comments to tell us what you think about these songs or the artists that make them. Click on album titles to make a purchase from Amazon – which has more MP3s at lower prices than iTunes.

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“Understand At All” Cloud Nothings from Cloud Nothings

“Under The Gun”Apex Manor from The Year of Miracle Drinking

“Give Me More”Monotonix from Not Yet

“Slow Peels” – Com Truise from Cyanide Sisters EP

“Tree By The River”Iron & Wine from Kiss Each Other Clean

“Louder Than Ever”Cold War Kids from Mine Is Yours

“The Merry Barracks”Deerhoof from Deerhoof vs. Evil

“Colours”Grouplove from Grouplove EP

Bonus Track: “Naked Kids” Grouplove from Grouplove EP

“The Distance”Greater Pacific from Rainfall EP

“My Father’s Eyes”Ben + Vesper from Honors
Bonus Track: “Knee-Hi Wall”Ben + Vesper from Honors

destroyer-kaputt

“Chinatown”Destroyer from Kaputt

“You’ll Never Pay For The Farm”Gang Of Four from Content (MP3 Exclusive)

“Thunder On The Mountain”Wanda Jackson (feat. Jack White) from The Party Ain’t Over

“The Piano Lesson”John Vanderslice from White Wilderness (MP3 Exclusive)

“Bloom” – The Veils from Troubles Of The Brain EP

“Bloom” – Duchess Leo from Golden Gray

“From Now Till…”Paper Diamond from The Levitate EP

“Devils” – Say Hi from Um, Uh Oh

“Sixteen Shades Of Black & Blue”Fujiya & Miyagi from Ventriloquizzing

“Lemoncholic”Stripmall Architecture from Albino Peacock EP (self-released)

“Ma Do Nar”Los Chicharrons from Roots of Life

“Life Coach”Phil Manley from Life Coach

“If I Had a Boat”James Vincent McMorrow from Early In The Morning

“Structures in the Sun”Metal Mountains from Golden Trees

“Equestrian”U.S. Royalty from Mirrors (self-released)

“Bon Kum”Sidi Touré from Sahei Folk

“1-2-3 Bad”Thank You from Golden Worry

“Equestrian” – Anyone know who this is?

Other Releases This Week

“Cold Weather Is Back”The Ex from Catch My Shoe

“You Forgot”Exray’s from Exray’s

“Butterfly”Delicate Steve from Wondervisions

“Nightwalking”I Was a King ‒ from Old Friends

“Grown Unknown”Lia Ices from Grown Unknown

“Jesus Got a Gun”Duke Garwood from dreamboatsafari

Fresh Tracks Mix: Crystal Castles & Robert Smith, Radio Dept., Club 8, Smith Westerns, Twin Shadow, Woodsman

Now that the celebration of the San Francisco Giants’ World Series victory and parade have passed, it’s time to catch up with a bundle of sweet new songs, including free and legal MP3s from Crystal Castles, The Radio Dept., Club 8, Woodsman,  Smith Westerns, Twin Shadow, Woodsman, Junip & Run Roc.

During the past two years, the Ontario, Canada experimental electronica duo Crystal Castles, comprising of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass, have exploded in popularity on the indie scene and beyond. Their 2008 self-titled debut LP was voted one of the top 50 albums of the 2000’s by NME magazine. In this awesome new track, “Not In Love,” the duo collaborated with The Cure‘s frontman Robert Smith.

“Not In Love” (with Robert Smith) – Crystal Castles

Labrador Records’ Recording Artists Drop New Singles

The Swedish indie pop band, and Labrador recording artist, The Radio Dept., have dropped a new single single, the title track to Never Follow Suit, a new “dub” EP from the band that will drop next week. Only 1,000 12-inch vinyl EPs have been pressed. The EP contains five tracks. We’ve also included “The New Improved Hypocrisy”, a single not on the EP that the band quietly released this past September.

Plus, their label mates, Club 8, have a new MP3 single for the Nov. 23rd release of a limited edition seven-inch, Closer Now.  The track, “Closer Now,” is a melodic fusion of psychedelia, Stone Roses‘ guitars, West African chants and rhythms mixed with Club 8’s special blend of Swedish pop hooks.

“Follow Suit”The Radio Dept. from Never Follow Suit EP

“The New, Improved Hypocrisy”The Radio Dept., unreleased single

“Closer Now”Club 8 from Closer Now 7″ – Nov. 23rd

Denver’s Smith Westerns Announce Debut LP for January Drop

This past summer was a grand one for Denver’s rising band, Smith Westerns, whose name recognition and fan following grew by leaps and bounds, due in part to a wildly successful cross-country tour and blogger love. Just the other day, the band announced the official release for their sophomore album, Dye It Blonde, and provided the track listing and album art (pictured above). Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House), produced the new LP. Although we do not yet have an official single from Dye It Blonde, the short film, Friends Forever, features a performance of the band playing “All Die Younger”.

The film was shot by popular indie artist and photographer, Ryan McGinley, who captured Smith Westerns’ performance at this year’s Pitchfork Festival. In addition, the film also features footage from San Francisco rising indie band, Girls‘, gig at Pitchfork. Interestingly enough, both bands will be featured in IRC’s Best Bands of 2010. Don’t miss the Soundcloud stream for the fabulous track, “Weekend.”

Smith Westerns – Weekend by forcefieldpr

Twin Shadow Does The Drums and Hooray for the Earth

Nowadays in the indie music mixers world the name George Lewis Jr. is immediately connected to one-man outfit, Twin Shadow, another break-through ‘band’ of 2010. In the past week or so, Twin Shadow have remixed  Hooray for the Earth’s “A Place We Like” and The Drums “Me And The Moon.” Twin Shadow’s terrific debut, Forget, is out now in the U.S., and for the rest of the world (ROW), on November 15, 2010.

“A Place We Like”- Twin Shadow vs. Hooray for the Earth

“Me And The Moon” (Twin Shadow Remix) –  The Drums

Woodsman Release Single Ahead of Debut Album

Earlier this year Lefse Records released Woodsman’s Mystery Tape EP, and will follow it up in January with their Rare Forms full length from which the track below, “Insects”, is taken. Woodsman is an experimental ambient post-psychedelic band based in Denver. Influenced by hazy mountain passes, the cinema of Stan Brakhage, and early 1970’s improvisational recordings by Miles Davis, Woodsman has crafted aural offerings that are uniquely one of a kind.

“Insects”Woodsman from Mystery Tape EP

Junip’s New Material Remixed By Run Roc

After some years on hiatus,the band Junip returned in September with the awesome LP, Fields. Junip was formed in the late 1990s by drummer Elias Araya, singer and guitarist José González, and organ and moog player Tobias Winterkorn. The band is now on tour stateside through Thanksgiving, and are sharing a Run Roc remix of one of the best songs on the EP, “Always.”

“Always” (Run Roc Remix) – Junip

Anya Marina Preps New EP To Drop Nov. 15th

California-bred and now Portland, Oregon-based singer Anya Marina will release her Spirit School EP on November 15, providing the first glimpse of new material from Marina since her 2009 single “Satellite Heart,” which was featured on The Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack. The new EP features guest appearances and mixes from Courtney Taylor-Taylor (Dandy Warhols) (featured below), Sam Fogarino (Interpol), and Michael Lerner (Telekinesis), among others. Marina says Spirit School is “a collection of similarly misfit songs that are very dear to me.”

“Whatsit”Anya Marina from Spirit School

…and Big Phony, La Sera, John Hill and Electrolightz

“Short Intermission”Big Phony

“Never Come Around”La Sera from Never Come Around 7″ – Nov. 16th

“Does It Still Hurt” – John Hill

“The Future”Electrolightz from It Happened Over Night