
Given the slow, incremental progress that brought Slowdim to this point, the Boston indie pop quartet's sparkling, self-titled debut full-length evinces a remarkable degree of carefree ease that almost certainly belies the sweat and hours ploughed into it. Indeed, Slowdim streets this week as an exclamation point at the tail-end of a series of digital singles, compilation tracks and EPs, a tour de force of bright, melodic guitar pop that situates songwriters Paul Sentz (formerly of This Car Up , who we wrote about here in 2009) and Eric Ryrie (ex- [...]
A teaser video for Foundwaves’s new live music video series, “Live in the Elvis Jesus Bathroom”... We first posted about the Elvis Jesus Bathroom back in April of 2010, so two and a half year's later, we're obviously a little tardy launching the video series! But the wait was worth it. We had our first session in August featuring Paul from Slowdim , Bryan from The Shills , Dwight from Soft Pyramids , Chadley from Coyote Kolb , and Jenny from Dirty Dishes [...]
The problem that most of the internet has with HBO’s Girls is that the showrunner, 24-year-old Lena Dunham, is the daughter of famous artist Laurie Simmons. Tons of the cast and crew are the children... Support indie media! Read the rest at thephoenix.com . . .

On The Wire , Detective Jimmy McNulty once snorted that Bushmills is "Protestant whiskey." Well, maybe Justin Vernon just doesn't care. (Or maybe he's Protestant? I have no idea.) In any event, Vernon and some key folks from Bon Iver are participating in an ad campaign for the whiskey. Their "Since Way Back" campaign also features people like Chromeo, Theophilus London, and Elijah Wood. According to a press release , the people participating in the campaign will appear in ads and develop "custom pieces of music and art," so I guess we'll see what that means. [...]

Leeds/London based band Pengilly's craft beautifully pensive, evocative arrangements to accompany songwriter Ric Hollingberry's solemnly affecting vocals. The band take their name from an old shop in the town where Hollingberry grew up (as in "Pengilly's shop"), but the use of the possessive case of the name could also reference the intimate nature of the songs. The tracks grapple with universal issues like adulthood, nostalgia and self-realization as filtered through the context of very mundane, solo activities. The title track, for example, is about sitting on a grassy hill watching cars on a highway, and "Writing Things Down and [...]
Hilarious piece of advertising dressed up as an interview with the Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero in the Guardian today. In the picture accompanying the article Aguero is decked out in Puma sportswear (with logo to the fore) whilst kissing a conspicuously (some would say hideously) bright green pair of Puma football boots. There follows an interview ostensibly about his team's debut appearance in the Champions League against Napoli on Wednesday night - but with the following hideously unsubtle piece of corporate shilling crowbarred in: The only time Agüero sets his ball aside comes [...]
Pengilly’s - Toby’s Hill Haunting stuff from Leeds, UK. The video was produced and directed by Brown Bread Films who say: We’re fascinated by cults such as Heaven’s Gate, West Boro Baptist Church, Raelism, Scientology etc etc. How charismatic, god complex individuals can have so much power over people who might not necessarily be stupid or weak, just suggestible. The band were really open to the way we wished to portray them, Ric particularly, as a spoilt ego-maniac, drunk on power over the group. [...]
PENGILLY'S "TOBY'S HILL" MUSIC VIDEO from BROWN BREAD FILMS on Vimeo . Well this is something quite special. Every now and then something will drop through the Music Liberation mailbox that just makes the whole process of this thing called blogging we do even more worthwhile. Today that something is a band called Pengilly's from Leeds and their track ' Toby's Hill ' with its associated video. I almost don't quite know where to start, with the [...]

There's not much to it, but here's a stylized clip of Julian Casablancas in a French perfume ad. In it he crowd surfs and presumably smells great. Read More...

Is it a bad thing that I don’t ‘feel’ or ‘get’ any of these new-wave grunge guitar bands? That I'm perhaps too lost in ethereal synths, or so desperately clinging to melody and emotional context that I really can't get behind the dreary wash of noise created by a room full of guitars? I know, the second coming of Brit-Pop didn’t exactly rain down fire and brimstone on the musical landscape in the way it was foretold by the prophets of industry (in reality a small group of people who perhaps should have known better). But even the credible guitar-ness [...]

Pengilly's - Toby's Hill EP // Words: Kieran Toms "I came to realise how porous I was, breathing the fumes from a car’s exhaust." Amidst eerie, ethereal harmonies, 'Toby’s Hill' (both the EP name and that of the opening track) opens with lyrics of stark sadness. The EP continues the impressive work laid by previous single, 'Ode VIII', which we featured in my Surfacing feature back in January. I recently [...]

Foundwaves caught The Shills at Wadzilla. View images from the show and listen to two tracks by the band... The Shills , Magic Magic , and Amoroso Saturday, February 5 at Wadzilla Mansion The Shills - Electric Proving Ground The Shills - Janus [...]

Listen to The Shills and view images from their performance at Great Scott... The Shills , Shoney Lamar and The Equal Rights , Ketman , and Grass Is Green Saturday, January 15 at Great Scott The Shills - Electric Proving Ground The Shills - Janus [...]

The Dirty Dishes , The Shills , Ketman , and Ann Driscoll Thursday, August 12 at Great Scott The Shills - Electric Proving Ground The Shills - Janus Photos by Anthony Digan [...]
While front man Tom Yates’ keening, vocals arc wonderfully between the tremolo of Elvis Costello and the unstoppable passion of Joe Strummer on its inspired chorus line...

UK post-punkers The Shills return with their latest release the 'Sweet Inertia' EP on the 17th May 2010 with new UK shows announced Hailing from Cambridge, The Shills don't hang about when it comes to knocking together thorny three-minute wonders with a classic British charm reminiscent of The Smiths, Pulp, The Clash and Elvis Costello . This certainly holds true for their newest offering the 'Sweet Inertia' EP which is out on the 17th May on CD and download across the [...]

Nashville's Shill is
an alt rock trio with a simple but catchy sound. To celebrate this lovely Friday, we've got a 2 for 1 MP3 Minute with a couple tracks from Shill's full-length In There Somewhere ... "Pick A Fight" is mild mannered considering the name of the tune, but "Play" enjoys a more whimsical and upbeat nature, featuring some solid licks and a catchy beat. Sit back, relax, and give a listen as you give into the happiness that comes with the clock ticking every closer to [...]
A few shares from the inbox. First is Hogni , an artist from some place called the Faroe Islands (you got me). Don't know much about him, but I know he likes to mix the drums loud. Sort of Peter, Bjorn & John meets Beck. Hogni, "Soul Company" Shill is a trio from Nashville, but the sound is more New York, especially the singer's oh-so-Tom-Verlaine warble (that's a good thing). The album, In There Somewhere [...]
Shill - Play Finally got a chance to post a song since I’ve been in NY. It’s been a lonely few days without my beloved internet. Since I will be heading to Bonnaroo by way of Nashville in June I thought I’d give local group, Shill, a shout out on the old blog. “Play” is a groovy spoken-lyric jam with wailing guitar and organ licks that evoke a sound from an older time. Call me crazy, but moments from the instrumentals on this tune slightly remind me of the Grateful Dead’s historic [...]