Blog: Pretty Much Amazing

Multitalented orchestral pop songsmith Andrew Bird has been quiet since the release of 2009's Noble Beast , but everyone's favorite indie whistler/violinist is back with a new record recorded in his Illinois barn and its typically esoterically-titled first single, "Eyeoneye." Continue reading: New: Andrew Bird - "Eyeoneye" Read more articles like " New: Andrew Bird - "Eyeoneye" " on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing . No tags for this post.

New Zealand musician Pip Brown is back with her solo project Ladyhawke , news of an upcoming LP called Anxiety , and a super-catchy brand-new single called "Black, White & Blue." Continue reading: New: Ladyhawke - "Black, White & Blue" Read more articles like " New: Ladyhawke - "Black, White & Blue" " on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing . Tags: Ladyhawke

Harlem's finest A$AP Rocky is gearing up for what promises to be a seriously major 2012, so for his latest video, for the Clams Casino -produced "Wassup," he teamed up with VICE Magazine to make a video based on not just one but five of his favorite movies. Rocky cites Scarface , Belly , Enter the Dragon , the Warriors , and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (yes) as his inspirations for the clip, which boasts plenty of gold teeth, a Rottweiler, diamonds, a bathtub filled with money, [...]

Seemly out of nowhere, Brooklyn MC Zebra Katz (though, he tends to refer to himself as Zabra F*cking Katz ) dropped a free six track EP on Jeffree's – a Mad Decent-associated label with a habit of dropping free releases on the regular. The EP is anchored by "Ima Read," a super catchy and endlessly replayable minimal bass track. Like any proper online debut, "Ima Read" comes equipped with a video as compelling as the song. Perhaps even more compelling. It's a hell of an introduction from an MC whose future work we're anticipating. Continue [...]

Boston's You Won't might have a resolutely un-Googleable band name, but their percussive, ramshackle approach to hyper-lo-fi bedroom folk-pop is something a little more unique. Take, for example, "Ten Years Old," a standout from their upcoming LP Skeptic Goodbye , which starts with a sing-songy piano riff and distorted vocals before what we can only describe as "the drop" – in this case, you'll want to think Beirut on serious steroids (whether that's an electric violin or assorted brass instruments we can't tell, because it's so goddamn loud) rather than Skrillex bass wobble [...]

C | 01.24.11 | Domino | Stream | MP3 | CD | Vinyl You know how every Hold Steady song begins with frontman Craig Finn telling a story over slowly building guitar riffs, with Finn not even singing but preaching, teasing you in before the band explodes into an epic, upbeat, sing-along hook? Now imagine those songs minus the epic explosion. That's Finn's solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes in a nutshell.� Continue reading: Album Review: Craig Finn - Clear Heart Full [...]

We've loved every song we've heard from Leonard Cohen's Old Ideas , so far. Now the legend is streaming the entire new album online, via NPR. Listen to it in full below; the LP is out January 31st. Continue reading: Album Stream: Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas Read more articles like " Album Stream: Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas " on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing . Tags: Leonard Cohen

Gorillaz and Blur frontman, Damon Albarn, is the latest musician to rework one of Lana Del Rey's singles, joining the likes of Clams Casino , Joy Orbison , Jamie Woon and The Internet (and surely countless others). Continue reading: Lana Del Rey Remixed by Gorillaz & Blurs' Damon Albarn Read more articles like " Lana Del Rey Remixed by Gorillaz & Blurs' Damon Albarn " [...]

Arctic Monkeys dropped the horrendously titled but otherwise pretty good Suck It and See in 2011 and it's still yielding singles – next up is "Black Treacle," b/w the brand new cut "You & I," which features Richard Hawley of Pulp on vocal duties. Continue reading: New: Arctic Monkeys & Pulp's Richard Hawley - "You & I" Read more articles like " New: Arctic Monkeys & Pulp's Richard Hawley - "You & I" " on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing . [...]

Ambient-leaning electro composer Elephant & Castle (aka David Vincent Reep) is gearing up to drop his first full-length LP Transitions soon, and he's warming up his audience with an album cut that features his most famous guest – first single "En Memoria" boasts a vocal contribution from Tune-Yards' Merrill Garbus. Continue reading: Tune-Yards x Elephant & Castle - "En Memoria" Read more articles like " Tune-Yards x Elephant & Castle - "En Memoria" " on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing . Tags: Elephant [...]

On his 2011 self-titled record and the assorted non-album tracks he's been dropping left and right since then, anonymous, genre-busting London producer SBTRKT is giving the UK's art-dubstep trend a poppy, maximalist run for its money – to great effect, judging by the insane number of gushing timed comments on the stream of his latest leaked banger, "Atomic Peace," which was just released on SBTRKT's Soundcloud page though it was recorded in 2009. Continue reading: SBTRKT - "Atomic Peace" Read more articles like " SBTRKT - "Atomic Peace" [...]

UK pop rockers Django Django may take their name from the French jazz musician Django Reinhardt , but they get their dizzyingly hyper-rhythmic, electro-pervaded indie pop from the school of Franz Ferdinand , and they get their staunchly DIY aesthetic (they recorded their upcoming self-titled debut record entirely in their drummer's bedroom on broken or antiquated equipment) from somewhere else entirely. On their first music video, for the truly irresistible "Default," the band went for a stop-motion clip that reflects their art-school beginnings – printing out over 4,000 stills from a performance video, adding some abstract, [...]

Class Actress , the Brooklyn-based project of Los Angelean songwriter Elizabeth Harper and actual doctor of psychology Mark Richardson, are befittingly a class act – their smooth, bass-heavy electropop is irresistibly dancey and super-catchy in a way you'd expect from plenty of Class Actress's borough-mates, but the sultry, confessional vocals of onetime coffeehouse guitarist Harper and her band's sexy '80s new-wave pulse and drive are something special. New single "Bienvenue," cut from their 2011 record Rapprocher , shows the band at the top of their game; its video, shot in Paris, is appropriately Francophilic. Check it out. [...]

C+ | 01.24.11 | Domino | Stream | MP3 | CD | Vinyl Nada Surf were a Brooklyn band before it seemingly became a legal requirement that you start trying to cultivate blog buzz the second you sign a lease on a Williamsburg studio with your vaguely musical friends, so maybe it's appropriate that their seventh studio album The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy sounds like it's fifteen years old. It sounds like the direct, fuzzy guitar pop you might hear on mid-nineties college radio sandwiched [...]

The french electro duo just dropped this NSFW video for the latest Audio Video Disco single, "On'n'On," directed by Alexandre Courtes. Continue reading: Video: Justice - "On'n'On" Read more articles like " Video: Justice - "On'n'On" " on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing . No tags for this post.

This jam has been on constant rotation at casa de PMA since ScHoolboy Q dropped his Habits and Contradictions LP last Friday. This JeromeD -directed clip is our latest excuse for a "Hands on the Wheel" marathon. Continue reading: Video: ScHoolboy Q & A$AP Rocky - "Hands On The Wheel" Read more articles like " Video: ScHoolboy Q & A$AP Rocky - "Hands On The Wheel" " on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing . No tags for this post.

Here is a colorful new video from Nicki Minaj's eccentric "Stupid Hoe." Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded is out February 14 on Young Money. Continue reading: Video: Nicki Minaj - "Stupid Hoe" Read more articles like " Video: Nicki Minaj - "Stupid Hoe" " on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing . Tags: Nicki Minaj

PMACAST No. 038 (MP3) 00:00 Friends – "I'm His Girl" 02:48 Chairlift – "Sidewalk Safari" 06:28 TRUST – "Bulbform" 11:16 Porcelain Raft – "Unless You Speak From Your Heart" 14:47 Porcelain Raft – "Shapeless & Gone" 18:28 Youth Lagoon – "Cannons" 22:09 Trailer Trash Tracys – "You Wish You Were Red" 25:57 The Sandwitches – "In The Garden" 29:36 Cloud Nothings – "Stay Useless" [...]

• “Bulbform” » 2n03.mp3
• “In Absentia” » 2n16.mp3
• “Stay Useless” » 2cqf.mp3
• “Unless You Speak From Your Heart&... » 2lp0.mp3

Miike Snow's prepping for a banner 2012: confirming a Coachella appearance, announcing a new record, dropping catchy singles: now they're countering the alpine imagery in their name with a new warmup track from their upcoming Happy to You called "Paddling Out." Continue reading: New: Miike Snow - "Paddling Out" Read more articles like " New: Miike Snow - "Paddling Out" " on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing . Tags: Miike Snow

Universal's latest signee Azealia Banks debuts a new track in a strange place, even for her: the runway at Mugler's show at Paris Fashion Week (remember her standout "2123 lyric, "kick it with your bitch who come from Parisian, she know where I get mine from and the season..."). Mugler's creative director Nicola Formichetti will reportedly direct the upcoming video for Banks' track "Liquorice," so in return she gave him "Bambi," probably her rave-iest track yet, all pounding, hypnotic club backbeat. Though, we are aware this might just be a club remix of the [...]