August 2010
1 post
4 tags
Magic Kids – Memphis (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Surf-Rock,Lo-Fi)
If you transported the Beach Boys from the early ‘60s to the present day, their sound might not quite fit the moment. After all, a lot’s happened between then and now - you know, serious stuff like global warming, the internet, George Bush and Jedward - which might make their particular brand of carefree innocence seem more naive than charming....
July 2010
20 posts
6 tags
Benoît Pioulard – Lasted (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Folk,Lo-Fi,Experimental,Ambient,Electronica)
In the two years since Portland experimentalist Benoît Pioulard released his last album, 2008’s Temper, he has raised his profile by remixing artists such as Owen Pallett and A Sunny Day in Glasgow. Now, the songwriter (real name Thomas Meluch) is getting ready to roll out his third album, Lasted, on October 11. Like his first...
3 tags
Interpol – Interpol (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Post-Punk)
On March 6, 2009, Interpol announced on their website that they were working on songs for a fourth album.[10] The LP was recorded in Electric Lady Studios during spring of 2009. In a recent interview, drummer Sam Fogarino, referred to the album as having gone back to the original sound of Turn On the Bright Lights. It was later claimed by Paul Banks that...
5 tags
Aeroplane – We Can’t Fly (2010)
Myspace Website
(Electronica,Psychedelic,Pop,Balearic,Nu-Disco)
Today’s electronic dance culture is due for a melodic transcendence from the shadowy, industrial electro that has been hammering away at the scene. As dance floors begin to buckle under such weighty beats, the Belgium ( Brussels ) -based band aptly named Aeroplane is dedicated to elevating its fans toward a higher musical space...
2 tags
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Canada)
So, what’s the verdict? It’s good. It’s really good. Actually, you might say it’s great, but if you did, you wouldn’t be giving it a solid, concrete listen. Truth be told, it’s somewhere in that tender underbelly between great and good. The awkward moment where we really can’t tell if the music we’re listening to either affects us because we want it to, or...
3 tags
A Weather - Everyday Balloons (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Folk)
Everyday Balloons both builds upon and maintains the intimate, understated beauty and depth of the band’s 2008 debut, Cove. Opener “Third of Life” immediately introduces A Weather’s more electric guitar-driven side and newly broadened dynamics, while the hushed pop of “Giant Stairs” steadily swells to a gently triumphant anthem. Often built around the interplay...
5 tags
O. Children - O. Children (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Post-Punk,New-Wave,Shoegaze)
Named after a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds song, London-based outfit O. Children, currently causing a huge stir in Europe, release their self-titled debut full-length. Taking influence from the dark, melancholy sounds of Joy Division and Bauhaus whilealso leaning heavily towards the grandiose, goth rock sound that Echo & The...
4 tags
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Let It...
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Rock,Lo-Fi)
It’s hard to be humble when you’re burgeoning indie rock darlings, but Springfield, MO’s Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin already have humility all figured out. It’s something that should endear them to listeners even more when they release their third album, Let It Sway, August 17 via Polyvinyl Records. In a recent interview with Exclaim!,...
5 tags
of Montreal – False priest (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Electronica,Psychedelic,Alternative)
Let no one say Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes is not adventurous. After releasing one of the decade’s wildest psychedelic pop albums in Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, Of Montreal followed it up with 2008’s Skeletal Lamping, which was released on just about every format you can think of. Recently, and worked...
3 tags
Miniature Tigers – Fortress (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Pop)
Miniature Tigers’ airy pop music paired with its lighthearted tales of past lovers made its debut album, Tell It to the Volcano, perfect for ushering in the hotter seasons. Fortress, the band’s second full-length album, is a bit of a departure from its first release but still captures the heat and carefree nature of summer.
At first listen, I was disappointed...
4 tags
The Love Language - Libraries (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Lo-Fi,Folk)
After three decades of sonic observation, you start to realize what really good music sounds like. You know what you like. You like the Beatles. You like Thin Lizzy. You like Stevie Wonder. The declaration, “You’ll love this band!” no longer arouses much excitement. You’ve heard thousands of bands, millions of songs, and find little incentive to embark...
4 tags
Sun Kil Moon – Admiral Fell Promises (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Folk-Rock,Acoustic,Singer-Songwriter)
I’m convinced that Mark Kozelek is actually a hypnotist posing as a musician. Sure, his work as Sun Kil Moon, his moniker of choice since 2003, has been touched with a Neil-Young-on-‘ludes grace — few singer-songwriters working today can boast records as stark, profound, and warmly haunting as his. But tempos that gait...
5 tags
Bombay Bicycle Club – Flaws (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Rock,Folk,British)
Last year’s I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose unveiled Bombay Bicycle Club as an indie band with zest, harmonies and effects pedals. However, the follow-up finds them ditching electric guitars for acoustic folk, enabling guitarist Jamie MacColl to follow his dynastic calling – his musician father Neill co-produces. There are some lovely...
7 tags
Blackbird Blackbird – Summer Heart (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Shoegaze,Electronica,Lo-Fi,Psychedelic,Chillwave)
Blackbird Blackbird is a psychedelic-pop outfit from San Francisco, CA. Mikey S, the sole songwriter and bedroom producer behind the project, is known (according to Pitchfork) for writing “short but also pretty sweet” pop songs with killer hooks. Mikey’s inspiring pop sensibility is channeled through a dreamy...
3 tags
Coma Cinema - Stoned Alone (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Experimental)
Coma Cinema’s new album, Stoned Alone, dropped this past Monday on cassette and digital download via one of my favorite young labels, Arcade Sound Ltd, and boy what a treat it is. From the softly smooth beginnings of “In Lieu Of Flowers” Mat Cothran’s vocals creep into your head and whisper from a world of truth most bands take...
4 tags
Best Coast – Crazy For You (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Lo-Fi,Garage)
Notable album covers catch the eye, dribble it around a little, and then snap it back into place, forever skewed. They can be funny, gross, shocking, stunning, or just plain wrong. They can define artists. With Take Cover, we aim to track down the most striking new album covers taking up web space and vinyl bins and get the story behind them. When we...
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3 tags
Allo Darlin’ – Allo Darlin’ (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Female-Vocal)
Allo Darlin’ are a fan’s band. They are close friends that found each other and the music they make in London. Elizabeth and Bill are from Australia, Mike and Paul are from Kent. They’ve only been playing seriously as a band since January 2009, although Elizabeth has been releasing music under various guises since 2007. Their debut...
4 tags
School of Seven Bells – Disconnect From Desire...
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Electronica,Shoegaze)
On their excellent second album Disconnect From Desire, New York’s School of Seven Bells update the atomic, textured sound of classic shoegaze bands like Ride and My Bloody Valentine with danceable beats, of-the-moment electronic textures and some of the prettiest, angelic vocals (courtesy of identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza)...
4 tags
Autolux – Transit Transit (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Shoegaze,Alternative)
Full-length and first release in six years from this Los Angeles-based shoegaze trio. After dropping their critically lauded debut, Future Perfect, in 2004, Autolux more or less went off the grid. Sure, the trio toured to promote that effort, but the band mostly stuck to the West Coast for the latter part of the 2000s. That was until 2009, when...
4 tags
The Books – The Way Out (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Electronica,Experimental,Folktronica)
Sample-twisting virtuosos The Books are set to release their next full-length, The Way Out, this summer on Temporary Residence Limited. Much like their 2005 effort Lost and Safe, the new record consists of bright collages, some of which have pop or folk-style vocals. “The working concept for the sound of The Way Out was pretty...
June 2010
52 posts
4 tags
Dirty Projectors with Björk – Mount Wittenberg...
Myspace Website
(Indie,Folk,Experimental,Bjork)
Björk and The Dirty Projectors plan to release an EP comprised of the tracks they played out together last year at New York’s Housing Works, a live collaboration lined up by Stereogum’s Brandon Stosuy. The online debut of the seven-track Mount Wittenberg Orca EP is due June 30th and just as they wrote and performed the tunes for charity, so too...
3 tags
Shinichi Osawa – SO2 (2010)
Myspace Website
(Electro,House,Dance,Mondo Grosso)
Shinichi Osawa made his debut as the leader and bassist for Mondo Grosso, a band formed in Kyoto in 1991, with an album “MONDO GROSSO” released in 1993 from For Life Records (Japan). In the heightened acid-jazz movement, the album got great reviews and was well-received overseas as well. In 1995, after finishing off the tour following the...
5 tags
Twin Sister – Color Your Life EP (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Experimental,Dreampop,Psychedelic)
Twin Sister are a Brooklyn-by-way-of-Long Island quintet that do so much so well. Their songs have a remarkable sense of atmosphere and romanticism. They nod at their heroes— maybe Stereolab and Björk, maybe Cocteau Twins or 1980s pop— without overtly stealing. They seem to know they are capable of great things; perhaps...
4 tags
Boy & Bear – With Emperor Antarctica EP (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Folk,Rock,Australia)
Fresh off the airplane from a month-long UK tour with Laura Marling, Sydney five-piece Boy & Bear have recently released their debut EP - With Emperor Antarctica, in Australia
Since the launch of their jaunty and rollicking debut single ‘Mexican Mavis’ and winning the Triple J spot at Homebake 2009, Boy & Bear have been rapidly growing,...
5 tags
The Chap - Well Done Europe (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Pop,Electronica,Avant-Rock)
The Chap, a pan-European modern pop group based in London and Berlin, began life at the beginning of the last decade. In their quest to create music which “sounds wrong”, they pre-empted the current flavour for lo-fi prog-pop by several years and spawned a legion of fans who couldn’t believe how a band that revelled in the multilayered...
1 tag
My Recent Vinyl Purchases!!
4 tags
OST & Kjex – Cajun Lunch (2010)
Myspace Website
(Electronica,Pop,Disco,Tech-House)
With a sound that straddles electro, funk, disco and house, Oslo based duo Ost & Kjex returnwith their second long-player ‘Cajun Lunch’ on Hamburg based imprint, Diynamic. Having released their cheese fixated (and indeed sampled) debut album ‘Some Cheese but not all Cheese comes from the Moon’ in 2004 the food obsessed Norwegian pair have...
4 tags
Shit Browne – Every Single Penny Will Be...
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Post-Britpop,Electronica)
A Parisian quintet boosted by Manchester energy, Shit Browne shouts urban, joyful and poetic pop music for all. Brothers Sebi Browne (vocals) and Benjamin Browne (bass), joined by Denis Browne Jr, Hadrien Browne, and Tigrou Browne, the “Shit Browne” experience is set to start feet moving on a thoroughly modern level with its own revamped...
5 tags
Sea Of Bees – Songs For The Ravens (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Folk,Acoustic,Dreampop)
The strength, innocence, honesty and purity of intention that flows throughout Sea of Bees’ debut, Songs For the Ravens, manifests itself compositionally and technically – most immediately with the laser beam pull of Jules’ captivating voice. She’s so versatile, not only as a vocalist but as a songwriter, that Songs For The Ravens finds her...
3 tags
Windsor for the Derby – Against Love (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Experimental)
In popular music, the past is fertile ground for plundering. In recent decades in particular, musicians have long spent time building on the post-punk era, then the 1980s. Lately, it’s the 1990s’ turn to be pillaged as young bands take a second look at the lo-fi sounds, synth-based R&B, and straight-ahead indie rock sounds that were the...
5 tags
Cloud Control - Bliss Release (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Sunshine-Pop,Folk,Psychedelic,Experimental)
Debut LP, ‘Bliss Release’. Gorgeous harmonies and sunshine pop meet and have eargasms on these catchy and dynamic songs. There has been a lot of buzz about young indie band Cloud Control over the past few years, and with their debut album Bliss Release, they have well and truly lived up to the hype. Hailing from the Blue...
6 tags
22-20s – Shake Shiver Moan (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Folk,Blues,British,Alternative)
22-20s is a band from lincolnshire with indie, blues and folk influences. They were formed in 2003 and released their self-titled debut album (22-20s) the following year. The success of the single ‘Shoot Your Gun’ and the track ‘Devil In Me’ shot the band to prominence after its use in a Vauxhall commercial. In early 2006, after four...
4 tags
Wildbirds And Peacedrums – Rivers (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Folk,Psychedelic,Experimental)
“Restricted to percussion, vocals, and the occasional embellishment of keyboard, but their ability to fully eclipse these limitations and create music with a strong improvisational pulse and so much vitality is a no small feat, and proves that they are continuing to experiment in magnificent, dynamic ways.” Pitchfork
“These two return to...
5 tags
!!! (Chk Chk Chk) – Strange Weather, Isn’t It...
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Electronica,Dance-Punk,Post-Punk)
!!! (CHK CHK CHK) returns with “Strange Weather isn’t it?”
“Everyone wants to make their Berlin record, and everyone’s got a Berlin album in them, so we wanted to put ours out,” !!!’s lead singer Nic Offer says, with tongue partially in cheek, of the group’s fourth album, Strange Weather, Isn’t It?
Following in the footsteps...
5 tags
Effi Briest - Rhizomes (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Post-Punk,Rock,Female-Vocal)
Rhizomes is the debut full length from the all-female outfit, EFFI BRIEST. The nine-song opus, Rhizomes, unleashes a propulsive beat that drives angular guitars and bone chilling vocals over dark bass, dense drones and clattering, dance-like percussion. The atmospheric psychedelia owes as much to Arthur Russell as to Amon Duul. Rhizomes...
4 tags
Delays - Star Tiger, Star Ariel (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Britpop,Alternative)
Delays have long been British rock’s best kept secret. A heady concoction of angelic harmonies, beat-group hauteur and groove-based hedonism, they belong to British pop’s most regal bloodline: (early) Floyd, The Smiths, The Stone Roses. Hitch a lift with them to North America, however, and you’ll see their euphoric ballroom blitz send fans into...
4 tags
Fol Chen – Part II: The New December (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Electronica,Experimental)
“John Shade moves with composure and ease through arch, almost dour indie pop (”The Believers”) as well as joyous dollops of Of Montreal-inspired electro pop. The sexily deadpan “Cable TV” brings all the moods together, celebrating the joys of cheap motel rooms and Janet Jackson songs with boop-beeps, handclaps, and a wry smile.” - Spin...
4 tags
Mountain Man - Made The Harbor (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Folk,Acoustic,Female-Vocal)
Contrary to their name, they are not a man, but three young women with voices that reverberate straight through your bones… Sounding both as old as the hills and utterly original, Mountain Man’s haunting, harmony-laden music combines elements of folk, country and traditional American music, while setting up camp alongside the likes of Fleet...
6 tags
Baths – Cerulean (2010)
Myspace Website
(Electronica,Pop,Glitch-Hop,Lo-Fi,Experimental)
For mercurial L.A. music-maker Will Wiesenfeld, Baths has been a long time coming. The 21-year-old has spent the better part of his days living amidst “pleasant” and “unremarkable” in the suburbs of the San Fernando Valley, so perhaps it’s due to a general lack of local inspiration that Wiesenfeld’s own work has never fit into a...
3 tags
Hexicon - The Blossom Sighs (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Folk)
Hexicon started as a lo-fi voice/guitar/french horn combo in 2004 and got told they sounded like a junk shop Beach Boys. They expanded when Mike, Paul and Tom were joined by Andy and Greg, the rotating drummer tag-team and Giles who was a total bass-head Before the rhythm section joined the other guys started making a record, playing all the parts themselves as...
5 tags
Wavves – King Of The Beach (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Noise,Psychedelic,Lo-Fi)
The lo fi bedroom wizard, Nathan Williams aka Wavves (centre), is now the self-proclaimed King of the Beach for his forthcoming *gasp* studio-recorded album out 3rd August on Fat Possum and a free download of another album track, “Post Acid” is out on 9th June via Green Label Sound. In this, most probably the first single of the album, you...
5 tags
Kele - The Boxer (2010)
Myspace Website
(Electronica,Electro,Pop,Dance,Bloc Party)
Kele is the solo project of English singer and songwriter Kele Okereke, who is widely recognized for being the front-man of the alternative rock band Bloc Party. His first single, “Tenderoni”, is scheduled to be released on June 14, 2010, followed by the release of the full-length album titled, “The Boxer”, on June 21, 2010 on Wichita...
4 tags
Connan Mockasin - Please Turn Me Into The Snat...
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Psychedelic,Experimental)
Connan Mockasin started as a “blues-pop” band from Wellington, New Zealand. The group consisted of Connan Hosford (vocals, guitar), Ross Walker (upright acoustic bass) and Seamus Ebbs (drums). In April-May 2006, the band released their second EP, Uuu It’s Teasy, and toured New Zealand to promote the album. They played a fund-raising New...
5 tags
Matt Van Schie - Balmy Nights EP (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Synthpop,New-Wave,Electronica,Van She)
Don’t let the hipster “retro” fashion sense and the boyish good looks fool you – Matt Van Schie, normally bassist for the self-referential Van She, surprisingly has substance aplenty as a musician. On V, Van She’s 2008 debut album, he served as somewhat of a secret weapon. His basslines were warm, simple and effective, particularly...
4 tags
Minitel Rose - Atlantique (2010)
Myspace Website
(Electro,Pop,New-Wave,Dance)
French electro trio Minitel Rose is back in the game. Two years after their first album, The French Machine (Futur, 2008), Raphael, Romain and Quentin are finally releasing its follow-up. The new album is called Atlantique and it’s out since June 7.
On their MySpace, Minitel Rose allowed fans and reviewers to preview the album, thereby creating a...
4 tags
Mystery Jets - Serotonin (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Alternative,British)
In England, the Mystery Jets host their own head-turning club nights and find themselves no strangers to the Top 40, but mention their name in the U.S. and you’re likely as not to be met with a blank stare. It’s certainly no reflection on their hook-filled, edgy-but-melodic sound — only one of their albums has even been...
5 tags
Scissor Sisters – Night Work (2010)
Myspace Website
(Electronica,Glam,Pop,Synthpop,Dance)
Night Work, the third album from New York City’s Scissor Sisters, will be released in the U.S. on June 29th by Downtown Records, which is distributed by Fontana, Universal Music Group’s independent distribution division. The band, which has sold over seven million albums worldwide, recorded the album in London, the Bahamas and New York...
4 tags
Stars - The Five Ghosts (2010)
Myspace Website
(Indie,Pop,Rock,Canada)
Music is all about how it makes you feel. I don’t like to feel like a thug, so I don’t listen to gangsta rap. I usually go for feeling sexy, that’s why the new Stars album is an album you should know. The Five Ghosts, well, it’s elegant, passionate, sexy, emotional, upbeat, and something that I’ve been missing in music lately, and that’s pure and simple...
7 tags
My Heart Belongs To Cecilia Winter - Our Love Will...
Myspace Website
(Indie,Rock,Pop,Psychedelic,Shoegaze,Fuzzypop,Experimental)
Noisy-melodic-whiplash Indie-Pop-Songs with fuzzy Campfire Guitars and vocal harmonies- Betty, Thom and Gerber formed their band in summer 2006 and released their self-titled Debut-EP in Spring 2008. Their catchy, yet erratic songs and their passionate gigs have earned them a growing fanbase in Switzerland and Germany....