From a recording live on October 28, 2010 in Brussels at Ancienne Belgique; these Brooklyn based "Avant-Gardists" are joining the likes of Radiohead & NIN by releasing a "Pay what you want" album via their webstite.
Here's the tracklist:
Live at Ancienne Belgique:
01 Madder Red
02 Rome
03 Wait for the Summer
04 Tightrope
05 Red Cave
06 Grizelda
07 Sunrise
08 Mondegreen
09 Strange Reunions
10 O.N.E.
11 Ambling Alp
12 The Children
13 2080
The indie folk/soul classicists, She & Him stopped by 'Conan' thursday night. The duo performed their stripped down rendition of the classic "I put a spell on you" off of this year's fantastic release 'Volume 2'. Before the show, there was a more intimate and somewhat impromptu performance backstage of the holiday classic "Have yourself a Merry little Christmas" featuring Conan O'Brien showing off some of his guitar skills.
It's starting to seem as is if indie label Captured Tracks can't sign a bad band; they're streak continues with a new Beach Fossils Ep, What a Pleasure, that drops February 22nd. The jangly pop of their addictive first single "Calyer" can be picked up as a 7" January 11th, a mere 7 months after their outstanding full length saw the light of day.
Indie troubadour, M.Ward, is featured on the new Joanna Newsom tribute record, entitled Versions of Joanna ( insert Dylan pun here ). The 22 track album features an array of indie artists from 6 countries including Billy Bragg & Owen Pallett covering songs spanning all of her albums. For a donation of $10, you can download the compilation here; the donation is part of a fund towards the relief of Pakistani floods.
Check out M.Ward's version of "Sadie" below & a video of Joanna Newsom performing it herself.
Heading up the past years 'Chillwave' movement has been Neon Indian, whom you have undoubtedly at least heard of. He just released a oddly beautiful new video for "Mind, Drips" off of his stellar debut 'Psychic Chasms'. The video, created by Lars Larsen, was done using a "analogue video synthesizer" called the LZX Visionary, which apparently manipulates video the same way a standard one does sound.
According to the BBC, remaining 'Clash' members & current 'Gorillaz' members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon are executive producing a film depicting the creation of their legendary album "London Calling". The film is currently in the pre-production stages; also on board, for the script duties, will be playwright Jez Butterworth. This, to say the least, much anticipated biopic will begin shooting next year with a still unnamed cast.
Because you can never have enough 'Clash'...
This past week's Black Friday saw the release of Iron & Wine's much anticipated new single "Walking Far From Home". The new record, 'Kiss Each Other Clean' by Sam Beam & Co. will FINALLY see the light of day on January 25th. After listening to the new track it seems as if he has re-imagined the restraints of "Folk" music yet again; his last effort "The Shepard's Dog" being a bit of a departure from the early work. If the new track "Walking..." is a true sign of what the lies in wait with the full length; it looks as though Beck might have some competition in the world of reinventing yourself.
Check out "Walking Far From Home" below.
By now Sufjan Steven's rapid cult of fans already knows of and most likely have seen his performance on friday's Jimmy Fallon show. If by some chance you haven't seen it or even more remarkably, if you've never heard of him, it is a must see. He made his television debut with the performance of "Too Much" off of his latest release 'The Age of Adz', Sufjan and his army of musicians are covered in neon colored feathers, stripes and I believe a foil hat or two. This new record marks a stylistic change for Sufjan, having been years since his previous effort, including a short hiatus due to his battle with a mysterious nervous system disorder; however his followers can breathe easy as it seems he is back in full force.
The much loved Brooklyn based band, The National, released a new video for "Conversation 16" directed by Daniel Arthur. The release of the video was most likely a promotion for the bands November 23rd reissue of their highly acclaimed "High Violet", originally released earlier this year. Reissuing an album a mere six months after it came out is a bit surprising, however it is still an absolutely fantastic record, arguably the best of their career. The now double disc version contains the entire original album and a second disc featuring a few unreleased tracks and B-sides but mostly alternate takes and some live staples.
Check out the darkly dramatic and zombie riddled "Conversation 16" below...
Yesterday Arcade Fire released what their calling a "Short Film" for their track "The Suburbs" directed by the legendary Spike Jonze. The "Film" was shot in Austin, Texas with a group of bicycle riding and toy gun weilding teenagers who live out a modern version of the film Red Dawn.
Definately worth checking out...
A couple days ago a video link showed up in the inbox from Dayton, Ohio natives Astro Fang, with the intriguing title of "Super Rat". This DIY video features a psychedelic floating cat, claymation & live footage all interwoven together. The unique combination coincides perfectly with the equally interesting influences of the band, who's incredible sound could be described as the sound of Black Sabbath covering Black Flag while trapped in a copy of the old school Nintendo's Mega Man video game.
The Nashville four piece MONA just released a cover of the Beach House track "Walk in the Park" via Soundcloud. This news comes just a day after they were featured alongside the likes of Arcade Fire & Robert Plant on 'Later...with Jools Holland'; making their TV debut (hopefully will be online soon). They will be returning to the UK for a brief tour through part of December supporting the release of their second single "Trouble on the Way" on the 13th, once again a limited 300 copy vinyl release.
The official dates for the North American & European tour have been released; beginning a few days after the January 18th release of the surprisingly Alt. Country influenced 'The King is Dead'. Supporting the US leg of the tour will be Wye Oak & Mountain man.
Also, here's a short trailer for the album...
Tour Dates:
01-25 New York, NY - Beacon Theatre *
01-28-29 Boston, MA - House of Blues *
01-31 Montreal, Quebec - Olympia De Montreal *
02-01 Toronto, Ontario - Sound Academy *
02-02 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre *
02-04 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre *
02-05 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre #
02-06 Minneapolis, MN - State Theatre #
02-07 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre #
02-09 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater #
02-10 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre #
02-12 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern #
02-13 San Diego, CA - House of Blues #
02-14 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater #
02-18 Seattle, WA - Paramount Ballroom #
02-19 Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall #
03-04 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
03-05 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
03-07 Birmingham, England - Birmingham Institute
03-08 Bristol, England - Bristol Academy
03-10 Manchester, England - Manchester Academy
03-11 Leeds, England - Leeds Academy
03-13 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix
03-14 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
03-16 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
At times this jazzy slow jam brings to mind Everything but the Girl & Daft Punk however the members of Young Galaxy definitely leave their own mark. They seamlessly switch back and forth vocal duties, which only adds to the near trance you've been put in. If you find yourself in Montreal on December 4th, they can be caught at Metropolis w/ Stars.
Hailing from Sydney, Australia is a fantastic band who call themselves Boy & Bear. With a wide range of influences, from 'Fleet Foxes', 'The Shins' to 'Iron & Wine' and even a splash of 'Beirut', they have crafted themselves a very unique folky sound. Their debut Ep, entitled With Emperor Antarctica is a solid album, which they will be touring the UK in support of for the next few weeks... Unfortunately there are no North American dates planned yet.
After a three year hiatus Iron & Wine are set to return in January(the 25th) with a new album, entitled Kiss each other clean. This much has been known for a while now, along with the first single "Walking far from home" set to be released on Black friday as part of a mini Record Store Day. The new info on the matter is a short trailer released by the band featuring some of the new music... check out the teaser below...
Also, the track list for Kiss each other clean:
1. Walking Far From Home
2. Me And Lazarus
3. Tree By The River
4. Monkeys Uptown
5. Half Moon
6. Rabbit Will Run
7. Godless Brother In Love
8. Big Burned Hand
9. Glad Man Singing
10. Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me
A little late on this but, the indie super group Gayngs filmed some fantastic footage in member Justin Vernon's secluded Wisconsin studio. Also, released about the same time last month was their Daytrotter session featuring some equally wonderful performances.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Warpaint - Yours Truly Session
After recently dropping their debut Lp "The Fool", LA's Warpaint stopped by Yours Truly for a few excellent performances. The footage is beautiful and the band sounds unstoppable; check out "Undertow" & "Bees" below.
Apparently the duo of James Mercer and Danger Mouse(aka Brian Burton) have more to offer than the hook laden music of their side project 'Broken Bells'. Given their latest video offering, an alternative version of their single "The Ghost Inside" that is based around a vintage 'Hall & Oates' video with similar timing and some creative mouth swapping, they also moonlight as a comedy troupe.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Decemberists
January is already shaping up to be a good month, with the release of a new Decemberists album entitled "The King is Dead", out 1/18. There is no word yet if it will be yet another concept album, although one would make that assumption. The band has released a single that will be on the aforementioned album called "Down by the Water"; while heavily tinged with alt. country, it still comes through with definite Decemberists sensibilities.
Here's the track list:
01 Don’t Carry It All
02 Calamity Song
03 Rise to Me
04 Rox in the Box
05 January Hymn
06 Down By the Water
07 All Arise!
08 June Hymn
09 This Is Why We Fight
10 Dear Avery
After hearing La Sera's single "Never Come Around", one would not expect a song filled with beautiful harmonies & melodies to be paired with, to say the least a mildly disturbing video equally filled with dismemberment. The band is a lovely side project from Vivian Girl's member Katy Goodman; who just finished a Force Field showcase at the CMJ Marathon last week, sharing the stage with one of our favorites Wild Nothing.
Anyways, if your still in the Halloween spirit... here's the blood soaked video for "Never Come Around"
Forest Family records has announced a repressing of 'Cults' debut 7" on black vinyl. Supposedly this will be the final reissue so you might want to pick it up now as it is a very limited run.
The idea for this American romantic rock four-piece who "Play songs for the city folk" was born in Dayton, Ohio but cut their teeth in Nashville, Tennessee; now they are blowing up in the UK. Following a recent trip to London, where they signed with Island records; Mona are set to release a second digital / limited edition 7" single "Trouble on the way" via their own imprint 'ZionNoiz' on December 13th. Judging by how quickly the bands first 7 inch "Listen to your love" sold out; we recommend heading over to Rough Trade to pre-order. The boys have also booked a return visit/mini tour during December, this time expanding out from the big city..check out the dates here.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Wild Nothing - 'Golden Haze' E.p.
Last week, indie darlings(and rightfully so) Wild nothing released their most recent ep entitled 'Golden Haze'.
Much like the previous ep and their full length 'Gemini', this one is full of more dreamy 80's bedroom pop with shoegazey tendencies. While this is a one man band (Jack Tatum) on record, he enlists a full band for the road, which is where they just returned from; with a string if opening dates for Stars.
For the alternate version of "Terrible Love", originally off the critically acclaimed album 'High Violet', the band enlisted director Tom Berninger. It turned into a fun behind the scenes look at the band, including: backstage, bowling alley, office interviews, etc. Needless to say, it's not new material but if your a fan (which you should be) it is definitely worth a few minutes.
Look for the 11/22 release of this version along with a B-side of "You were a Kindness" on the appropriately colored 'Violet' 7 inch. Via American Mary.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The Notes
To quote the band " There are three of us and a drum machine and we make songs all day. Thank you for listening". If this is true, the indie world should be biting at their nails for what sounds like plenty of future releases. The Notes, not surprisingly are straight out of London; wearing their influences on their sleeves. Much like fellow new-wave, brit-pop genre artists The Pains of being Pure at Heart. Look for a very limited(300 copies) release next month on colored vinyl.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Eat Sugar
This new wave electro-pop band has been trolling around Cincinnati and the area for a few years now. These guys are known for putting on very energetic live shows; due partly to a very energized front man taking the stage with a almost hypnotic prescence. With only two E.p.'s and recently released L.p. under their belt; they are still a young band aiming for a synth-pop revolution. For those of you interested, you can stream what can now be called a vintage in studio performance at WOXY.
Friday, October 15, 2010
The Morning Benders
The Morning Benders performed a famed 'Take away show' for La Blogotheque last month. I am ashamed to say that I had not heard more than a couple singles by this band before seeing this footage; I now understand what all the hype was about. They seamlessly switch between jazzy folk/bossanova influences to perfectly orchestrated pop bliss. A few highlights are the band covering Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", Christopher Chu's impromptu rendition of The Walkmen's " We've Been Had" and the elaborate reworking of their own staple "Excuses".
The Canadian improvisational semi electronic group Holy Fuck just released a new video for "Red Lights" off of their stellar LP 'Latin'. It would be nearly impossible to explain the uniqueness/greatness of this video; all that needs to be said is that it features a maniacal cat & a dramatic car chase.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Dumbo Gets Mad
For some reason when you think of Italy the last thing that usually comes to mind is music; until now at least.
The Italian retro psychedelia solo artist Dumbo Gets Mad has released a couple excellent tracks as he is working on a now much anticipated full length. If this is what Italy sounds like then hopefully there is more to come.
Check out the throw-back video for "Plumy Tale" below.
And the oddly entertaining footage for "Eclectic Prawn"
The debut record from another Dayton, Ohio band entitled "...Ahem!" is definitely a current favorite. This trio has a very eclectic collection of songs they've crafted, ranging from gypsy folk rock to circus music. With Violent Femmes, Bob Dylan & The Talking Heads being the obvious influences; the rest seem endless, while still having a focused sound.
The fuzzed out LA lady band Warpaint have released a video (Directed by Shannyn Sossamon) for their indie classic in waiting "Undertow". The video is coming out just before the October 25th release of their debut Lp entitled " The Fool " and a European tour in support of.
Also, check out their excellent David Bowie cover of "Ashes to Ashes" streaming over on the bands Myspace
Monday, October 11, 2010
Cursed Kids
Apparently Mikey of the up and coming chillwave band Blackbird Blackbird has songs pouring out of him. One can only imagine this due to his formation of a new moniker known as Cursed Kids. If your a fan of Blackbird Blackbird, you will not be disappointed. Despite the name, Cursed Kids is a bit 'happier', in that you feel as though your listening to chillwave while on a beach somewhere.
Check out "Eugene" below; a free track available at Cursed Kids bandcamp.
If you find yourself in New york on October 21st by chance, you can catch Blackbird Blackbird performing at the 'Floating Fest' as part of the CMJ marathon.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Me & Mountains
This is a hook heavy band that burst onto their local scene of Dayton, Ohio about a year and a half ago. Typically young bands play around town for quite a while fine tuning their sound; yet it seems these guys came out of nowhere as a full fledged indie rock unit. They are currently working on their much anticipated debut full length after releasing a stellar E.p. earlier this year.
Check it out below; Personal favorite is "Blackbird".
Also, you can find Me & Mountains at their Myspace or at Reverbnation.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
The Pass
Recently The Pass finally released their much anticipated full length entitled "Burst"; and it doesn't disappoint. The record is nonstop electro pop perfection; the last sound you'd expect to hear from a band hailing from Louisville, KY. Their first single off the new record is "Vultures", for the video they decided to give a nod to some of the supporting music blogs (30 of them to be exact). With only a few dates this fall, most notably a stop at CMJ; the hipsters will be packing themselves in. Below you can stream the entire album and check out the video for "Vultures"; enjoy. BURST by The Pass
Friday, October 8, 2010
Plastic Flowers
Plastic Flowers is Sean Earl Beard's musical moniker; the Tallahassee native creates bedroom britpop that sounds like lost Smith's or early Cure singles. There doesn't seem to be much available on him other than a myspace... Plastic Flowers. However you can follow him on Tumblr. Enjoy...
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Broken Social Scene / The Sea and Cake Split 7"
Tour mates and collaborators BSS & SaC are rounding out the year by releasing a split 7" on October 26th via Arts & Crafts. Both tracks will be previously unreleased; Sea and Cakes being "Skies" and Broken Social's being "Curse your Fail", which was recorded during the John McEntire produced "Forgiveness Rock Record" sessions.
Broken Social Scene - "The Sweetest Kill"
The Sea and Cake - "Weekend"
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Kuan
Photo by : Alysse Gafkjen
The instrumental quartet Kuan just returned a few weeks ago from their nationwide tour with friends Matta Gawa to their hometown of Dayton, Ohio. Known for their live show; which is quite an experience. They freely and seamlessly cross genres ranging from Jazz, Post-Rock to Math-Rock in the mind bending sonic assualt that leaves you wanting more. With just two e.p.'s under their belt; last years "On/Standby" and this years release, the fantastic "Colors"; expect to hear more from these guys in the near future.
Gayngs
One the indie world's newest "super-groups", Gayngs stopped by The Daytrotter studios on friday.
The 80's soft rock inspired band consist of over 20 rotating members. Most notably Justin Vernon, the leader of the amazing Bon Iver, who's name has been floating around the blogosphere a lot lately due to his unlikely collaboration with Kanye West.
Check out the Daytrotter session here..Gayngs
I have always been a huge fan of bands hailing from the UK and basically anything British.
That being said, I discovered the currently unsigned Red Drapes a few days ago and they definitely did not disappoint.
Having just released a not surprisingly sold out limited edition E.p.(100 copies), they are already set to release it's follow up in the coming weeks via Rough Trade.
Every GBV fan by now has heard of the reunion spawned by Matador records anniversary party in Las Vegas. Well the time has finally come; having started off with a pre-show in Dallas, TX a few nights ago.
Taking the stage tomorrow night the "Classic Line-up" circa '94-'97 will officially begin their sold out tour.
If you weren't lucky enough to make it to Vegas, you still can catch the performance via Matador 21's web stream on Myspace.
In the meantime, check out some vintage GBV...
I recently came across this LA dreampop band and have had this song on pretty much a constant loop.
I thought it might be a logical thing to share. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of info out yet for these guys other than a recent 7" release on K Records.
Washed out(aka Ernest Greene) released his "Life of Leisure" EP last year; I was completely blown away. It was honestly my first encounter with the "chillwave" movement. After reading his bio; I found it even more amazing that the record was self recorded, in his parents house.
Needless to say..his full length is eagerly awaited.
I know this is obviously not news but I felt that for my first post; I'd bring up Wild Nothing.
Having heard "Gemini" earlier this summer I immediately fell in love; it is quickly climbing the ranks and making a run for my top ten.
Check out..
