It’s been a bit over a year since The New Abnormal, the 2020 album from The Strokes that was the band’s first album since 2013.
Now they’ve shared some additional new music, premiering a song called “Starting Again” in an ad for New York City Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley.
Julian Casablancas wrote the song with Gregg Alexander of the New Radicals and the pair said in a joint statement:
“In an era of voter suppression and mega donors dismantling democracy, it’s crucial to remember New York City is too important to risk handing the reins of America’s most diverse metropolis to the same kind of party machine that’s controlled NY’s governance for most of the 20th century… one of Brooklyn clubhouse politics, big real-estate money, and mutual back-scratching. It is time we elect Maya as the city’s first woman mayor to make things better for ALL of our futures.”
The Strokes have been Team Wiley for a few months now. In May, the band performed at a virtual fundraiser for the candidate, which also featured a conversation between Wiley and Casablancas. Then, last month, they performed an in-person concert at New York’s Irving Plaza in support of Wiley’s campaign.
We are, collectively, playlist fanatics. That includes you and probably your friends and family members. We love to take songs we dig and organize and label them. It allows everyone to be a deejay in their own way, for real.
Inside the cafe, and for more than two decades – since the late 80’s – we’ve created cassette mixtapes featuring all kinds of genres and styles, from radio hits by big name bands to totally under-the-radar should-be hits from bands very few people have ever heard of.
As the years zinged by, those cassette mixtapes went to CDs and then to iTunes and now to Spotify because it is the one platform that finally made sharing music, and therefore playlists that so many long hours were dedicated to, are now being converted to Spotify to share with our viewers. We try to make sure the music is related to a theme. However, the first criteria is the song itself must be really good to legendary.
We encourage you to review Indie Rock Cafe’s Spotify page where you can follow us for more playlists. You are sure to hear a lot of great music you either already love or much more that you are sure to enjoy, including playlists about looks of different things – including this new playlist, called Around The World, with great songs from alternative, classic and indie rock bands about places around the world.
The fifteen tracks in this playlist highlight favorite songs of ours from a variety of genres and artists, including well-known bands, and others that are more obscure. Enjoy.
You can open the playlist to the IRC channel on Spotify or stream in on the site with the embed included below. Enjoy and share with friends.
Feast your ears on this: one of the best singles’ playlist of new bands so far this year. Of course, the predominant buzz about this weeks’ new releases revolves around new albums by heavy-hitter bands like Wavves, The Strokes and Depeche Mode and Wire leading the way.
Here’s where it gets even better – there is also a terrific assortment of singles from releases from artists and bands that many people have never heard of that collectively adds up to one kick-ass playlist of 2013. In celebration of spring, we encourage streaming this playlist uninterrupted from start to finish – it should run itself without having to click each song.
Once you fire it up and let it run all the way through, we think you’ll agree it’s a kick-ass playlist, and it’s a spring-feeling kind of playlist too, even while spring is still struggling to break loose to full bloom for millions of Americans this year (Ground hog ESP my ass).
Again, from our point of view, this is one of 2013’s best variety of singles playlists highlighting new album releases of the week, and there have been a lot of good Best New Music Releases (click for more) weekly playlists this year, making 2013, so far, a great year for music from lesser-known bands, and almost completely unknown, or brand new, DIY bands we’ve been profiling for months.
The firey surf rock, punk pop band Wavves has dropped “Afraid of Heights,” the band’s newest album, and perhaps the most anticipated of the week after music lovers started discovering that perhaps the top album of the week was not going to be The Strokes latest effort, as we explore in our review of Comeback Machine, an album that will likely take Strokes’ fans some time to process, including yours truly.
In fact, the Strokes mediocre paved the way for Wavves new album to clearly take the spot for Album of the Week – a review of that coming soon. Stream Afraid of Heights on Spotify.
Add it up: big new albums from Wavves and The Strokes spark some passionate debate among critics and music lovers, but overall are considered successes, and long-time veterans of the music world, Depeche Mode and Wire, also please fans with well-received new albums and the singles that have emerged from them. And then it starts to get really interesting; there are even more impressive singles of all flavors from new albums out this week by artists that many people may have never heard of before, including Little Green Cars (a favorite new folk rock band), Tartufi (amazing sonic journey), The Milk Carton Kids (Simon and Garfunkel, circa 1967), Mwahaha (celebration of love) Twinstar (dream pop groovin’) and Lapland (warm and smooth).
Plus, Julian Lynch, Crime and City Solution, Wax Idols and Warm Soda all chime in with decent singles too; obviously, can’t speak for the albums themselves, but we expect that some of these singles will compel some music lovers to get the albums.
“Demon to Lean On” – Wavves from Afraid of Heights on Mom+Pop/Warner Bros.
Starting with their last album, Angles, before this week’s new release, Comedown Machine, The Strokes have been aiming for a new sound. But as their new album demonstrates, this was definitely not The Strokes we grew up with, but something different – they traded leather for polyester, grit for glitter. That said, the band still has balls (if you except it was artistic growth and not a coup) or else they would have never taken such a bold – some argue ill-fated – step into new wave/dance style pop – a direction many Strokes’ fans are having a hard time coming to terms with.
Within seconds of the opening track, “Tap Out,” it’s clear that the new direction first signaled on 2011’s Angles for the Strokes is now set in stone, whether fans like it or not.
As the 11-track album progresses, suspicion arises that the captain at the helm, Julian Casablancas, the band’s frontman and lead singer/songwriter, perhaps with prodding or collusion from RCA/Sony execs, has essentially written and recorded a new solo album, and the other band members somehow ended up more of a backing band then the actual members of The Strokes.
But how could our pop rock guitar heros have all capitulated to embrace this disco meets 80s pop concept, that is, in the eyes of hard-core Strokes’ traditionalists, dreadfully sinful, if not cynical? Was it in fact a Casablancas coup (hints of which were noted during the making of Angles, wherein Casablancas was rumored to have recorded some of his contributions separately) that the other members didn’t have the time or energy, or even the contractual standing, to resist?
In fact, in Rolling Stone‘s review of the new album, they reported: “Comedown Machine is basically a solo trip for singer Julian Casablancas, showing yet again how much he respects Eighties New Wave.” He may respect it, but why would he use The Strokes – and more perplexing, and disturbing, again, is why did the rest go along – as the outlet for his interest of a 30 year-old sub-genre? Why not just channel that passion for new wave into a solo effort?
The LP’s second song, and the most obvious single, “All The Time,” is like an antidote that takes effect just in time after the shocking transformation of the album’s opening new wave/dance track. “All The Time” is much more the sound we expected from The Strokes.
“One Way Trigger” is yet another dance/new-wave track, and while the reaction for many may be acceptance by that point, after multiple spins, “One Way Trigger” is a pretty solid song. Still, it’s hard to shake the fact that the band sprung this radical shift in sound and style (and delivered more of a Casablancas solo effort) away from the pop rock they’re known for to dance and electronic music.
Perhaps, over time, we’ll come to appreciate Comedown Machine more, but at the moment, we’re, like so many Strokes fans, simply disappointed and confused. In all, one gets the sense that Casablancas and the band really don’t care that much about letting down their long-term die-hard fans, especially in light of the fact that they have not spoken with the press, are not touring and haven’t even put together an original music video for any of the tracks on Comedown – the video “All The Time” is spliced together with archival footage.
Clearly, the band is at a crossroads – either this is it or the band has committed to a new direction, shedding their leathery rock and roll skin that made them international rock stars worldwide following their legendary debut album, 2001’s masterful Is This It?. Some hardcore fans, especially those who have an unhealthy infatuation with the band, will struggle with reconciling this new direction that started with Angles, and we suppose there will be a few really hardcore, traditionalist type fans who will retreat to the band’s first three albums before Angles, as their Strokes mainstays, and largely disregard the last two LPs, as a coping mechanism.
Different people react in different ways, but when a wildly popular and accomplished band fundamentally changes their sound in a direction that many fans are not entirely comfortable with, all kinds of things can happen. In the end, however, there are likely few die-hard Strokes’ fans who are going to abandon the band for ‘mixing it up,’ and, in fact, with Angles and now Comedown Machine, The Strokes are gaining entire new legions of fans that they never had before. new demographics of music lovers who otherwise would not be Strokes your they’ve grown accustomed to over many years, and that expect to hear more of, all kinds of crazy things can happen.
Clearly, some fans, bloggers and music critics, have welcomed and applauded this radical change of direction. The New Musical Express (the UK’s equivalent of Rolling Stone), observed: “It’s flawed, it’s imperfect and it’s downright odd at points, but it is packed with belting tunes. Most of all, it’s fun.” Well, OK, if you’re looking for a ‘fun,’ then perhaps you’ll be satisfied. IRC album reviewer, J. Hubner had a different conclusion about the newest Strokes’ LP: “Comedown Machine is a great pop album. This should come as no surprise because The Strokes are a great pop band. They’ve always written pop songs. Sometimes they’re disguised as gritty CBGBs-era post punkers. Sometimes they put on their best Cars moves and plunk the synths a bit.” Read Hubner’s full review of Comedown Machine.
He makes some good points, and as time goes on, we can see a process where we, and other initially disappointed fans, eventually warm up to the album and maybe even come to love it – music has an odd way of being distasteful to the ears at one point and then turning out to be enjoyable later on.
But for now, we’re just let down, and hold firm to the belief that the album ultimately falls flat, that it is short on ideas and simply does not measure up when compared to the band’s first three amazing albums.
Still, there are some tracks on Comedown that long-time, rock-loving Strokes’ fans can cling to, including “50/50,” “Partners in Crime” and the afore-mentioned “All The Time,” which seems to be perhaps the only song on the album that most people will remember a year from now.
The Boston Globe – who gave the album a failing grade of 5 out of 10 – penned: “The Strokes’ hallmarks – those lean melodies, that steely interplay among guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. and bassist Nikolai Fraiture, the urgency of Julian Casablancas’ vocals – are largely absent,” concluding, “In their place is a looseness that’s refreshing, until you realize these guys are perhaps running short on ideas.” Other critics were less forgiving. The UK Independent concluded: “They’re virtually unrecognisable as the band that made their game-changing debut, save perhaps for [the track] “All The Time.'”
Fortunately, Comedown is not a total loss for traditional fans and new fans alike. But it’s like someone who you had a crush on in high school and when you meet again for the first time a decade later at your 10th high school reunion, you’re a bit disappointed. Leading up to the reunion, you had hoped perhaps the old flame could be reignited. And then it doesn’t happen; it’s completely different than you imagined. You both still had a good time, but it wasn’t anything like you hoped, and yet you’re not exactly sure how to explain it all.
Paste, in their review, also raised this point: “Comedown Machine [is] reliably solid, mostly enjoyable, slightly disappointing for reasons that are difficult to articulate.” All said, Comedown Machine is not what we expected from the Strokes, but at the same time, it has its moments; we just wonder if most Strokes’ fans are going to stay on board after the band has substantially changed the flight plan. Is this a new direction, or, is this it?
Last week, we launched the first mixtape of IRC’s Best Songs of 2011 to a relatively strong response from regular readers and visitors. The first volume includes more than 30 top songs originally released in January of this year. They were chosen from dozens upon dozens of tracks emailed directly or that we found surfing a variety of music sites and blogs.
During the planning for this series, we wanted to do things differently than all of the other music sites and blogs. So, there will be a total of 12 Best Songs mixtape editions – one for each month of 2011, appearing chronologically from January to December. We asked a few other trusted advisers, and they all liked the concept.
If you felt like 2011 just flew right by, or simply fancy reliving it all over again organically, this series is a great way to experience the best indie rock songs of 2011 as they were released month to month. We’ve looked and this is the only ‘best of 2011’ playlist series that we know of that published chronologically.
More importantly, all of the songs for the Best Songs of 2011 playlist series were chosen by listeners and visitors based on the tracks that literally millions of people worldwide streamed and downloaded the most on IRC. So far, the first edition, highlighting the most popular songs of January 2011, has received tens of thousands of visits since it was published last week
[zbplayer]
Whether it was songs like “Umder Cover of Darkness” by The Strokes, or “Bloom” by Radiohead, two hot tracks, “holing Out” and “Rubber” from one of the best new bands of 2011, Yuck. Plus, IRC exclusive release of Opus Orange’s new single, “Crystal Clear,” was one of the four number one songs of February 2011.
The No. 1 Songs of February 2011 – Reader’s Choice
The shortest month of the year was jam-packed with hot tracks that are still among the best songs of the year, eight months later. IRC regular and new visitors also approved of lead tracks off new albums by The Dodos, Panda Bear, Beach Fossils, Fleet Foxes, Generationals, Cut Copy, Holy Ghost, Real Estate, Datarock, Scattered Trees, Akron/Family, The Go! Team, Times New Viking, In These Woods, Class Actress and more.
In case you missed it, you might want to start first with Volume One, published last week, with the focus of songs released in January 2011. From all of the eventual 12 volumes, we will use the same concept to reveal the IRC Reader’s Choice for the Top 50 Songs of 2011.
* This single was originally released in late 2010, but the album, one of the best of 2011, was released on Jan. 11, 2011. Therefore, this track should have been ideally featured in Volume One of Best Songs of 2011.
For decades, it has been common practice for new singles to be released weeks, even months, before the album itself to help promote album sales. In the heyday of vinyl, advanced LPs and 45’s were sent by record labels to deejays at thousands of radio stations across the country and the world.
Nowadays, it is common for singles to be released as MP3 links, files and scripted embeds that can be streamed, and sometimes downloaded, from the web. While much has been lost in sound quality during the transition from master tapes to vinyl and especially to the common MP3 format, singles are more significant than ever before because more music consumers cherry-pick singles and buy fewer albums in the age of digital formats, iTunes and MP3 players.
File Under: Great Albums with Crappy Album Covers. Tell us others in Comments please.
This is definitely The Strokes’ week, and they deserve it. With the release of their first album in four years, the general conscience of Angles is a thumbs up.
But first, let’s look at the dynamics of the past month.
In the world of rock music, the past four weeks have been golden. It started of course with the release of a new album by one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever, and plenty believe they are the best ever, or nothing less than second to The Beatles. On February 18th, Radiohead quietly released The King of Limbs, the band’s latest masterpiece in a long string of classic, game-changing albums dating back to 1995’s The Bends. That album changed rock music forever, and in a number of ways, so did the band’s 2007 release of the brilliant In Rainbows, which went even further by snubbing the out-dated album distribution model that the big record labels still cling to by distributing In Rainbows themselves, and for a while, at a name-your-price offer. With the fresh release of The King of Limbs, Radiohead has upped the ante for every other band, once again. Radiohead not only keep bringing it, they are it. Keep in mind that we’re on like our 20th full spin of ‘Limbs.’
While the initial buzz of The King of Limbs was still fresh, another legendary rock band from the other side of the Atlantic, Athens, Georgia’s R.E.M., released their newest album, Collapse Into Now. For some rock fans, R.E.M. seemed like their best days were behind them. And yet that contention was blasted into oblivion as the raves for Collapse Into Now spread like rapid fire in the music press, and among die-hard fans who never gave up hope. Not only did R.E.M. deliver their best album in years, they returned to their roots to do it, and the results are nothing short of remarkable. Collapse Into Now is one fantastic song after another – and there’s not a filler track to be found anywhere on the entire album. All we can say, is thank you R.E.M. and welcome home.
But this is the week of The Strokes official release of their much anticipated new album, Angles. The album is overall a true Strokes record, even if Julian Casablancas apparently didn’t really collaborate with the band, as the rumors have supposed. The most die-hard fans can probably tell if this is true by listening to the album; we can’t. So, it might be best to just let the music speak for itself, since it does that wonderfully from start to finish.
“Taken For A Fool” – The Strokes from Angles
“Machu Picchu”– The Strokes from Angles
“Under Cover of Darkness” – The Strokes from Angles
Acid House Kings are a Swedish indie pop band on the Labrador Records label
Aside from the joy of finally being able to get our hands on the actual Strokes’ CD and vinyl, we also got a hold of another anticipated album, the new LP from Sweden’s Acid House Kings. In fact, AHK are amongst one of the top Swedish pop bands on the appropriately Swedish indie label, Labrador Records. The Stockholm-based label, which obviously has a knack for signing excellent pop bands, is also home to bands like Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, Club 8, The Radio Dept., and The Legends.
Although the Acid House Kings’ name could understandably suggest some kind of psychedelic trip-hop outfit, that couldn’t be further from the truth. AHK’s music is 100% pop perfection, and obviously take their admiration for upbeat, well-crafted music seriously, which is apparent all over Music Sounds Better With You. “Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?” is the first official single from the album. Can you imagine how many times that question has been asked over the centuries of human civilization? It has to be at least millions.
“Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?” – Acid House Kings from Music Sounds Better with You
There is definitely a formula to their songs – upbeat, melodic percussion, airy, shimmering guitars, bouncy, bright keyboard and piano, and the textured, airy male and female vocals. Of course a formula for song writing and recording does run the risk of being criticized as predictable and playing it safe, so to speak. And while that is true to some extent, if you dig “happy shiny” (thanks Mr. Stipe) pop music, Acid House Kings brings it, and oozes it.
As far as stand-out tracks on the album, it’s pretty much a situation of ‘take your pick’ – always, depending on the listener, a good sign. There are so many good songs, and different people will have different favorites, so we’d say songs like “I Just Called To Say Jag Älskar Dig”, “(I’m In) A Chorus Line,” “Under Water,” and “There Is Something Beautiful.”
Attention Indie Music Radars: Watch Flight Path of Seattle Band Boat
Another release that we have been waiting for is the new album from lo-fi indie Seattle band Boat. After the band’s widely-praised 2009 album, Setting The Paces, the pressure was on to at the least match the brilliance of that album. Based on just a few spins, we are happy to say that Dress Like Your Idols is just as good – maybe better – than Paces. In 2006, Sean Tollefson of Tullycraft saw Boat play a show and sent a copy of the first, and unreleased, record, Comic Book Rock to the folks at Magic Marker. The execs there liked it so much that they signed the band and quickly released it debut LP, Songs That You Might Not Like, in July 2006. Nowadays, Boat has been on a rise and made its mark on the lo-fi indie scene, especially in Seattle and the Northwest. Chances are, given the right amount of promotion, that Dress Like Your Idols could be the band’s break-out LP. In that case, we are including the first single from the LP, plus another one of our own favorites from the new album.
Also, you might want to listen to the new single from the band, Belong; definitely has an ’80s new wave mixed with shoegaze feel to it. Swedish psychedelic rockers’ The Soundtrack of Our Lives, follow-up their appearance at SXSW last week with a remastered albums of their greatest hits. This is definitely an album that fans of TSOOL want to have in their record collection – the tracks sound so much better remastered.
“Forever in Armitron” – Boat from Dress Like Your Idols
“Perfect Life” – Belong from Common Era
“Karmageddon” – The Soundtrack of Our Lives from Golden Greats No. 1 Golden Greats No. 1 is also available in CD (deluxe version) and vinyl
Voxhaul Broadcast – Timing Is Everything
Last October, we featured the band Voxhual Broadcast in one of our In Dee Mail featured playlist mixes. Not surprisingly to us, IRC readers responded very positively. The song that we featured, “Leaving on the 5th” was an advanced single from their new, self-released DIY album, Timing is Everything, officially out this week.
“Leaving on the 5th” – Voxhaul Broadcast from Timing is Everything (self-released)
Edwyn Collins was the founder of the 1980’s Scottish band, Orange Juice, before he went on to a successful solo career in the 1990’s, when his 1994 single (and one of our top “cool songs” of all time), “A Girl Like You,” became a huge hit in the U.K. and U.S. It was also featured in films like Empire Records, Charlie’s Angel and The Secretary. This week, Collins released his first album in the U.S. since suffering a double brain hemorrhage in 2005. While the new album, Losing Sleep, was originally released in the U.K. last year, it has finally dropped in the U.S. Here’s the title track.
“Losing Sleep” – Edwyn Collins from Losing Sleep
Musician Algodon Egipico Does ‘Chillwave’ Venezuelan Style
Totally new to us, is the Lefse recording artist, and Venezuelan musician, Algodon Egipico. Taking hold of the popularity of the ‘chillwave’ sound – complete with lo-fi keyboards and guitar, reverb love, and empty auditorium-sounding vocals – Algodon Egipico gives the popular sub-genre of indie music a new name to consider thanks to the sweet lead single “El Dia Previo,” off Egipico’s debut solo album, La Lucha Constante. He is also a member of the band Jóvenes y Sexys. We’ve also included another song from the album, and a cover of a Male Bonding track.
“El Dia Previo” – Algodon Egipcio from La Lucha Constante
“Weird Feelings” (Male Bonding) – Algodon Egipico, unreleased single (2010)
The Lonely Forest Release New Album, Arrows
It doesn’t seem that long ago, but we first featured the band The Lonely Forest in 2008 after the band sent us some of their tracks. We were surprised at the time to find very few mentions of the band online, and knew that it would only be a matter of time before they ‘broke out’ in their own way. And since 2008, The Lonely Forest has broken out. The band members were even thoughtful enough to thank us for all the interest our profile of them generated. This week they dropped their newest album, Arrows, via Trans Records. Although we have yet to hear the LP, the lead track, “Coyote” is a goo place to start. We’ll definitely let you know about other sweet tracks on the album when we get around to listening to it.
”Coyote”– The Lonely Forest from Arrows
New Wave Trailblazers Duran Duran in 1984
Dangerous Ponies, Duran Duran, Micachu and the Shapes, Parenthetical Girls
This is the first time we’ve heard of the group, Dangerous Ponies, and we think they sound promising, but it’s hard to base that off of one song. So, at some point, we’ll listen to the rest of the album, and if there are gems on there, we’ll be sure to let you know either in a follow-up post, or via our Twitter or Facebook page. The ’80s new wave sensation, Duran Duran, return to the game with their 14th studio album, All You Need Is Now. Although they seemed to fade into the background after an initial break-through in 2009, the British outfit, Micachu and the Shapes, released their sophomore LP, Chopped & Screwed, this week in the U.S. And, Parenthetical Girls‘ new album Privilege, Pt. 3, is out now, fronted by the dark, swaggering single, “The Pornographer.”
“I Only Wear My Favorite Clothes at Home” – Dangerous Ponies from Dangerous Ponies
Other Singles from This Week’s Releases You Might Like
We include this section for readers and visitors who may like to hear other singles from new releases that we don’t necessarily consider adding to our music collection. Ed Askew is a folk singer/songwriter who released his new album, Imperfiction this week, followed by the “new age” piano instrumental from Baby Dee, which doesn’t sound at all like the same of a pianist, but instead a hip hop artist. Next, musician Bing Ji Ling delivers some R&B and funk, complete with sound effects, on the track, “Everybody”; another folk singer and songwriter, Gary Higgins, has a new album out via Drag City – check out the melancholy, and ironic, lead single, “Laugh A Little”; Leverage Models does a bit of a Bowie mixed with Prince sound, just not sure we like it – what do you think?
“Deep Water” – Ed Askew from Imperfiction
“Yapapipi” – Baby Dee from Regifted Light
“Everybody” – Bing Ji Ling from Shadow to Shine
“Laugh A Little” – Gary Higgins from A Dream a While Back
“Tonight When I Burn” – Leverage Models from Interim Deliverable
Radiohead Release Details of The King of Limbs Physical Release
While there have been plenty of reviews written in the past few weeks about Radiohead’s eighth studio album in 18 years, every Radiohead fan spanning the continents of earth knows you just can’t listen to a Radiohead album a few times and write a realistic review. Like the finest bottles of aging wine, Radiohead albums get better with time – how they sounded, and what they meant to the listener one year, will eventually evolve and reveal another level of exquisiteness and majesty in another year.
The band are calling the upcoming physical release “the world’s ‘first’ Newspaper Album.” Unless you ordered early (before Feb. 21st), all orders placed in the next couple of months will be shipped on June 1st from the U.K. However, all orders for this special edition of The King of Limbs will receive an immediate download code for the included digital version of the album. There are two choices for the whole package outlined below – MP3 ($48 U.S. Dollars) and WAV ($53). Would be great if they made a FLAC download available too.
When you purchase the ‘Newspaper Album’ here are the goodies you will get:
– Two clear 10″ vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve.
– A compact disc.
– Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.
– The digital download as described above.
– One lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2-track 12″ vinyl. Competition closing date is March 28th.
Before we get going on today’s Fresh Tracks mix, we would like to give our condolences to the victims of the catastrophic earthquake/tsunami in Japan last Friday. The videos we’ve seen on TV and the web, plus images in print, are almost impossible to comprehend. If you would like to contribute any amount to the relief efforts in northeastern Japan, we always recommend sending donations to the American Red Cross or text 90999 for an automatic ten-dollar donation.
In celebration of SXSW‘s 25th Anniversary, which is happening all this week in Austin, Texas, we’re putting out a number of post mixes highlighting some of our most recommended Bands To See at SXSW 2011. In this first SXSW mix, listen to bands we recommend you check out if you happen to be in Austin for the festivities. And, see Friday’s Fresh Tracksmix – it’s a not-to-miss mix, and features some other highly recommended artists performing this week at the world’s largest and longest-running music fest and conference – SXSW.
The build-up to The Strokes’ new LP, Angles, out March 22nd, (and streamable from their website) has been just crazy, and fans have had a limited opportunity to hear tracks from the album, seeing that there are no album streams out there that we know of. Until last Friday, the band had only officially released one track, “Under Cover of Darkness,” and premiered the song, “Life is Simple in the Moonlight,” on Saturday Night Live earlier this month. But late last week, The Strokes released two more tracks, “Taken For A Fool” and “Machu Picchu.” Pre-order Angles on CD and vinyl via Amazon.
“Life Is Simple in the Moonlight” (Live on SNL) – The Strokes from Angles
here we go magic
Fresh Tracks From Here We Go Magic, and SXSW Showcasers Generationals and The Dodos
The Brooklyn indie band Here We Go Magic will release The January EP on May 10th, featuring leftover songs from the studio sessions for their LP, Pigeons. Plus, New Orleans‘ garage rock band Generationals’ will release their sophomore LP, Actor-Caster on March 28th, and The Dodos will drop their long-anticipated LP, No Colors, on April 12th. In fact, the first single from No Colors, “Black Nights,” has been a leading track on IRC for a few weeks now.
On Friday, Generationals and The Dodos will be performing during the same showcase at the Cedar Street Courtyard in Austin for SXSW.
“Hands in the Sky” – Here We Go Magic from The January EP – out May 10th
“Greenleaf” – Generationals from Actor-Caster(Exclusive MP3 version only on Amazon) – out March 28th
“Don’t Stop” – The Dodos from No Colors – April 12th
TODAY ONLY: Download now The Dodos New Album for only $2.99 via Amazon
Plan for Yuck’s SXSW Shows to Be Filled To Capacity
Last month, IRC featured Chicago rising indie band Yuck in the Bands to Watch in 2011 series. In the past couple of weeks, yet another single from Yuck’s debut album has been hitting the blogs and music sites. At this rate, the entire track listing of the band’s recently released, self-titled LP, is going to end up a “web hit,” if you will. The latest track making the rounds, and hearting in the Hype Machine, looks to be the sweet lo-fi track, “Get Away.” After listening to Yuck’s debut, we spotlighted them last month in a Bands To Watch in 2011 post.
Yuck are scheduled to play three shows – Club Deville, Stubb’s and Kiss & Fly – this week at SXSW in Austin, and we can guarantee they’ll be packed, if not sold out. Checked the official date and time for Yuck’s SXSW shows.
One of the best indie debut albums of 2010, in our books (Q: Where is that playlist mix? A: It’s in the works), was Secret Cities‘ spectacular LP, Pink Grafitti (vinyl edition). In fact, just hearing that the band were already prepping the release of a sophomore LP, Strange Hearts, for sometime this summer, was enough to spur us to go back and spin Pink Grafitti again – it’s that good. If this is your first introduction to the band, “Crime Love,” the first single from the new LP, might be all you need to get hooked into buying Pink Grafitti. Either way, you’re probably going to hear more about Secret Cities this year, as we can spot a break-out band in-the-making when we see one. And, hey, how often is it that we get anything good coming from Fargo, North Dakota? Still, in the beautiful big town you never hear about, Secret Cities are the shit right now for the local indie scene, and we can’t thank them enough for exporting their goods to the rest of the country. The mayor should declare the release date of Strange Hearts, March 22nd, as “Secret Cities’ Day” and give the boys the keys to the city. We’re sure if that really happened in the span of a week, it would get some press coverage.
Secret Cities will perform at Lambert’s in Austin on Saturday, March 18th in a showcase set with other notable artists like Botany, Callers and Wires Under Tension.
Natural Child and The Strange Boys Release Split Single
As part of the Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series, two of our favorite modern southern garage rockers, The Strange Boys and Natural Child, recently got together to record this split single. Living up to their namesake, Texas’ Strange Boys created “American Radio,” an audio collage that features clips of everything from jazz and bluegrass, to Delta blues and funk with a couple of incomprehensible voice recording samples for a nearly five-minute long sonic tour de force. But just before you throw your hands up and say, ‘what’s the point?” you realize that the whole thing is a clever accurate portrayal of the mish-mash of musical styles that have come from the American South.
On the much shorter track, “The Jungle,” Nashville‘s Natural Child present a stripped-down, sing-along jem with unified voices and warm acoustic strumming. The nostalgic lyrics call upon iconic American images, like boxcar travelers and 1980s optimism. The only thing we don’t like about this track is that it just suddenly stops at a place where it sounds like the song is prematurely cut off. But, we checked to make sure, and that’s the way they released it. Hmm…
“American Radio” – The Strange Boys from Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series (2011)
The Strange Boys will be playing shows at The Mohawk Patio and The Bat Bar in Austin this week for SXSW. Check their times here.
“The Jungle” – Natural Child from Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series (2011)
Guards Cover Vampire Weekend, Phil Cook Goes Solo, White Denim Drop New Single, The White Wires’ Question
In preparation for another edition of IRC’s mix series, Indie Cover Songs, we thought you might be interested to hear this recent release from the band Guards putting their own spooky spin on Vampire Weekend‘s “Taxi Cab.” Plus, Megafun guitarist Phil Cook shows off his slide guitar skills in this nice little instrumental from his upcoming debut solo album under the moniker, Phil Cook & His Feat. Is there a joke in there somewhere? Perhaps only his closest friends would know (even though it might be easier to guess if it was “feet”). Moving on, the psychedelic rock band White Denim will drop their fourth album, D, on May 24th via Downtown Records. The first single, “Drug,” from D is a bit more mellow, but somehow rugged at the same time. Also, the Ottawa, Canada punk pop band The White Wires just released this single, “Did You Forget My Name?” based on a bad dream the guitarist had one night.
“Ballad of a Hungry Mother” – Phil Cook & His Feat from Phil Cook & His Feat – No Known SXSW Shows
On Saturday, the world finally got their hands on the highly anticipated, MP3-only album, The King of Limbs, from rock gods Radiohead. The King of Limbs is the long awaited follow-up LP to the band’s brilliant 2008 release, In Rainbows. With the release of the latter, Radiohead snuffed the corporate record label EMI by offering In Rainbows to fans for whatever fans wanted to pay. It was the shot heard around the recording industry. And fans reinforced Radiohead’s anti-corporate stance by purchasing hundreds of thousands of copies of In Rainbows in the first couple of months of its release.
This time around, Radiohead has made The King of Limbs available only from their own website, and no where else, yet without the name-your-price option, instead setting the price of the MP3 album at $9. What In Rainbows did in as as far empowering bands and their fans to connect directly with one another, we think The King of Limbs will do for elevating and building on that dynamic relationship. Just from a musical perspective, The King of Limbs is already receiving high praise from critics and fans alike.
The lead up to the release of The King of Limbs was insignificant compared to the massive million-dollar marketing campaigns that surround artists who have a fraction of the talent that the four members of Radiohead possess. It was apparent the band did not want a big fuss to be made around the release of the album. To that point, the release date for The King of Limbs was only announced on Valentine’s Day, five days before it’s official release. There was no advance single or NPR album stream. As with millions of other fans, we had been eagerly awaiting the web-only release of The King of Limbs all week, almost like little kids counting down the days to Christmas morning. But in fact, some savvy Radiohead heads discovered the band actually made the album available sometime on Friday.
And there they were – all eight fresh tracks from Radiohead sitting in our iTunes, waiting to be played. For whatever reason, Radiohead’s albums have the distinction of sounding better over time – like a fine, fruity wine. That said, it took only a few seconds of the first song to recognize the quintessential and intricate sound of one of the most beloved modern rock bands on earth. And, in a rush to put words to what we were hearing, we pretty much messed up our first hurried attempt to present an off-the-cuff, and somewhat intelligent, review of the album. We should have known better – Radiohead’s albums are way to layered and complex to summarize after just a couple of hours of listening.
Radiohead – Little By Little
It takes many, many spins over a number of months, even years, to begin to formulate a sensible review, but, not because their music is necessarily cryptic, but in fact because it is so magnificently arranged and recorded by each member of the band. Radiohead is so ahead of the rest of the music paradigm – and has been for years – that fans, writers and musicians are still studying (and copying) the band’s previous album when a new one drops. Just who do you expect to be at the top of the best albums of 2011 lists in nine or so months from now?
The first track here is Thom Yorke performing “Lotus Flower” during a solo acoustic show in Los Angeles in January of 2010.
“Lotus Flower” (Live 1/24/10) – Radiohead from The King of Limbs
The Strokes Build Anticipation for New LP with a Killer Single
Last week, New York‘s quintessential garage rock band, The Strokes, released the first track from their much anticipated new LP, Angles, due out March 22nd. The track, “Under The Cover of Darkness,” does not disappoint; it’s electrifying guitar rock just as we expect (and hope for) from The Strokes, backed by a catchy, shuffling rhythm, and a superbly addicting chorus. We realize that many of you have either heard the track or purchased it; but, we’re including it anyways for those who have yet to hear this awesome track.
Above is the official cover for Angles. We are seriously jonesing to hear the rest of the album. Hopefully, it will be released in a couple of weeks as an album stream on Spinner, NPR or even The Strokes’ website. Pre-order Angles from Amazon for only $11.94.
You may also want to check out the The S-25 Songs Mix in which The Strokes were the featured band.
Also, here’s behind-the-scenes footage of the band (minus Julian Casablancas for some reason) during recording of Angles. Why is the director whispering?
The New York rock band have also announced that a new, non-album single, “You’re So Right,” will be released as an exclusive Record Store Day vinyl edition on April 16th. The track will also be featured as the official B-Side to “Under Cover of Darkness,” which drops officially as a 7-inch single on March 1st.
Opus Orange Gives IRC Exclusive New Track
If you’ve been a regular reader of IRC for the past year or so, you may be familiar with the music of successful Los Angeles music composer Paul Bessenbacher, aka Opus Orange. In 2009, we were the first indie website to premiere the music of Opus Orange after hearing one of his songs on a Johnsonville Sausage commercial. Since then, our love for Opus Orange has only grown with each new release, and all seven OO songs we’ve published during the past 18 months have been big hits with our readers and visitors.
So, it’s with great excitement that we premiere a brand new, unreleased single from Opus Orange titled “Crystal Clear.” Let us know what you think. We call it ‘deliciously upbeat indie pop,’ perhaps OO’s best single yet.
“Crystal Clear” – Opus Orange, single 2011 – IRC Exclusive
We’ve been digging this spanking new track from The Raveonettes, complete with a percussion heavy, lo-fi indie rock romp that makes the track as exciting as the anticipation of the duo’s upcoming fifth album, Raven in the Grave, set to drop on April 5th. Pre-order here.
“Forget That You’re Young” – The Raveonettes from Raven in the Grave
Okkervil River’s Rondevu With “Mermaid”
Pitchfork premiered the new Okkervil River single, “Mermaid” last week, the first single from the popular indie band’s upcoming album, I Am Very Far. We have yet to hear any news of an Okkervil River tour to the support the May 10th release of the band’s newest album. One show is scheduled for June 7th at New York’s Terminal 5.
“Mermaid” – Okkervil River from I Am Very Far – out May 10th
The Submarines Come to the Surface with New Track
Every since one of their songs was included on a popular and frequently viewed commercial touting the new iPhone in 2008, The Submarines have built a fan following across the States and Europe. The Submarines are currently putting the final touches on their latest album, Love Notes/Letter Bombs. We’d love to know what you guys think of this advanced track, “Birds.” Pre-order the album on Amazon.
“Birds” – The Submarines from Love Notes/Letter Bombs
Popular Indie Film You Won’t Miss Me with Indie Soundtrack
On May 17th, the critically praised indie film, You Won’t Miss Me, will be available on DVD via Factory 25. The film, an official selection at Sundance and SXSW, and a Gotham Award Winner, is a kaleidoscopic film portrait of Shelly Brown, a 23- year-old alienated urban misfit recently released from a psychiatric hospital. Starring Stella Schnabel, featuring Rene Ricard, and introducing other notable New York personalities, the film gives pathos to the frenzy of the youthful desire for acceptance.
Ronnie Scheib of Variety wrote about the film: ” This powerful, iconoclastic pic could gain a cult following,” and Nick Pinkerton of Village Voice, said the film “has a pure, 180-proof burn.”
The film’s theatrical run began in New York City in December 2010, followed by a substantial national tour. The soundtrack contains original songs by Stylofone, a band featuring members of Amazing Baby, MGMT and Standing Nudes. The following song is one of the tracks from the soundtrack.
Julian Lynch, the respected and rising one-man band from Ridgewood, New Jersey, has completed recording for his third album, Terra, slated to drop on April 24th. Growing up in Ridgewood, Lynch learned to play clarinet and guitar, and in high school, he performed in bands alongside future members of Real Estate, Titus Andronicus, and Family Portrait. He moved to Madison, Wisconsin in the fall of 2008 to begin a master’s program in Ethnomusicology.
“Terra” – Julian Lynch from Terra – out April 24th
Lovett Releases New Single from 2011 Release
Lovett has composed and scored a variety of independent films including The Signal which premiered at Sundance in 2007 and received the award for Best Score at the 2009 Brooklyn International Film Festival for the song, “The Last Lullaby.”
With an extensive background in film music, Lovett’s own original songs naturally possess the same kind of lush, visual translation as his previous artistry. “Eye Of The Storm” is the first of a thunderous series of nine cinematic music videos – one for each track on Lovett’s debut album Highway Collection, set for release on March 15th.
Directed by Chris Alender of Soapbox Films, the video is more accurately described as a short film, one transporting viewers into a richly detailed steam punk world where a lone skycaptain pilots an airship through the celestial heart of a raging storm.
“The Fear” – Ben Lovett from Highway Collection
Edward Sharpe Member Alexander Ebert Sets Solo Debut
Alexander Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros will release his self-titled solo debut LP on March 1st. Also check out a fresh track from singer/songwriter James Vincent McMorrow‘s widely praised debut album, Early in the Morning.
“Truth” – Alexander Ebert from Alexander Ebert – out March 1st
“If I Had A Boat” – James Vincent Mcmorrow
Nodzzz Return with Their Sophomore LP
The San Francisco garage rock, poppy post punk band Nodzzz spent much of 2010 writing and recording the songs for their upcoming release, Innings. The band will tour the West Coast of the U.S. in late February, and during March in the U.K. The album is expected to be released early this coming summer.
“Time (What’s It Going to Do?)” – Nodzzz fromInnings
The Strokes are one of the most popular guitar rock bands of all time
Yup, it’s Sunday, and that means it’s time to kick back, and read a magazine or book, surf the web, do Christmas cards or tree decorating, and fire up the S-25 Mix. As with all of IRC’s playlists and mixes, just click the first song and the Yahoo media player will automatically stream through all 25 classic songs, uninterrupted, so you can listen while you’re doing other things.
In addition to arranging the song list, part of the S-25 mix is to spotlight one band each Sunday that we just absolutely dig, whether they are well known, marginally well known or pretty much obscure. This week we picked The Strokes. Over the past decade, The Strokes have dug out their place among the best garage rock bands ever. The 10th anniversary of the release of the band’s platium debut album, Is This It?, is fast approaching.
That album catapulted the band to worldwide rock and roll stardom – almost over-night – thanks to its numerous catchy and memorable songs, created by the decidedly 1970s guitar rock and angular riffs of guitarists Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi; the intriguing lyrics and captivating vocals of Julian Casablancas; the fierce bass-playing of Nikolai Fraiture, and the splendid drum work of Fabrizio Moretti. The band members were barely in their 20’s when their debut album was released.
“Hard To Explain” – The Strokes from Is This It? (2001)
This is the original album cover for Is This It? release in UKThe Strokes changed the album art for Is This It? U.S. release in Oct. 2001
Is This It? had a huge influence on countless numbers of bands that have formed since its summer 2001 debut. Interestingly, this NYC band first released their debut LP in the UK in August. Perhaps this was due to the crazy amount of coverage the band was getting throughout the UK months before Is This It? came out. The band and label may have also released it in the UK first because the original risque cover (see above) is more acceptable there than in the U.S.
As a matter of fact, when Is This It? was finally released in October of 2011, not only did they replace the cover (see above), but they also decided not to release the track “New York City Cops” as the B-side for their first single in light of the terrorists attacks on their city the month prior.
Controversial album covers and other trivial matters aside, Is This It? was clearly one of the defining albums of the 2000’s. In fact, Is This It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in February 2002 for shipments of 500,000 copies in the U.S. Is This It was named the best album of 2001 by Billboard, CMJ, Entertainment Weekly, NME, Playlouder, and Time. The LP was in the top five of hundreds of more such lists published for 2001. The Strokes won NME‘s Best New Act, Band of the Year, and Album of the Year for 2001.
The Strokes set out to prove that they could live up to the tremendous expectations they faced after the success of Is It This? After extensive touring in 2002 with The White Stripes, Weezer, Kings of Leon (who opened for The Strokes), and even The Rolling Stones, the band finally got back in the studio in 2003. The result was the band’s highly anticipated, and yet again, highly acclaimed, sophomore album, Room On Fire, which saw the band incorporate new wave music elements that they pulled off swimmingly.
“12:51” – The Strokes from Room on Fire (2003)
Three years and many shows later, the band dropped their third album, First Impressions of Earth. The album failed to generate the same kind of enthusiasm and sales as the band’s first two albums. In 2007, band members all embarked on other projects, with both Hammond and Casablancas releasing debut solo records in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
Strokes’ fans have been waiting four years for a new album from the band. There have been delays, the band admits, because of their solo work and other commitments, but anyone who’s been following is not crazy to wonder if the band’s heart is really in it. This past summer in a BBC interivew, Casablancas, responded to a question about the status of the new record.
“The first thing is the Strokes thing. Like I said I’m kind of split now, I’ll do other things,” he said. “If I have an idea for something that I know head to toe, I’ll probably do it on my own, and when I have kind of looser stuff I’ll probably bring it to the Strokes. But right now we’re just trying to finish this record, so lets see how this goes.” Umm, yeah. The word now is the album is set to be released in March of 2011; but as far as we know, there are no audio or video samples of the new songs available.
“I Wish It Was Christmas Today” – Julian Casablancas from Phrazes of the Young (2009)
“Where The Streets Have No Name” – U2 from Joshua Tree (1987)
“Sympathy For The Devil” – The Rolling Stones from Begger’s Banquet (1968)
Strokes' guitarist and solo artist Albert Hammond Jr. (center)
“In Transit” – Albert Hammond Jr from Yours To Keep (2006)
“Round The Bend” – The Beta Band from The Beta Bend (1999)
“Where Is My Mind?” – Pixies from Surfer Rosa (1988)
“Strange” – Built to Spill from Ancient Melodies of The Future (2006)
“Toxic Girl” – Kings of Convenience from Quiet Is The New Loud (2001)
“This Time” – John Cougar Mellancamp from Nothing Matters and What If It Did? (1980)
“Razorblade” – The Strokes from First Impressions of Earth (2006)
The S-25 Concept: The idea of what we’ve come to call the S-25 Mix is to represent great music from all time periods, styles and genres of popular music from the mid 1950s to present day. We like to try to create a good cross representation of that includes classic rock, pop, new wave, dance, garage rock, electronica, indie, singer-songwriter, punk, R&B, lo-fi, chillwave, post punk, and doses of blues, jazz, hiphop, country and classical as well. The interesting thing about all of the great music that came before is the huge influence it has had on alternative, and particularly indie, rock of the past two decades, and likely will for a long time to come..mp3″ rel=”nofollow” rel=”nofollow”
