![[Video Premiere] Bill Baird: “Your Dark Sunglasses”](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3904040_lg.jpg)
" You dark sunglasses won't make you Lou Reed / They'll just make it hard to see " Words to live by from Austin's Bill Baird . A few weeks ago we wrote up a song from Baird's latest (and pretty fantastic) album, Goodbye Vibrations , and now we've got the privilege of sharing the Studio-Perle-directed video for "Your Dark Sunglasses" which, if you can believe it, is a single taken from another upcoming LP. Career is out sometime in early 2012 [...]
One of my favorite bands, Bowerbirds , released one of my favorite albums in 2009 titled Upper Air . The melodies, soaring instrumentation, and harmonies the flourishing folk outfit produce are driving, deliberate, and beyond moving. They're preparing to release a new LP this March titled The Clearing with new track "Tuck The Darkness In" serving up the first sample: Bowerbirds - Tuck The Darkness In If this is a sample then I'm screwed. I can't control [...]
![[MP3] new Young Buffalo: “Baby Demons”](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3901170_lg.jpg)
Long ago hypeworthy'd and subsequently signed to Cantora Records (MGMT, Francis and the Lights), Oxford, MS natives Young Buffalo have been chugging through the last couple of years, trying to focus their sound in preparation for a debut LP. After I was wowed by a few songs and they started working on their debut EP, they put out a song that showed a direction that I really, really wasn't a fan of (and felt the need to email them my thoughts, whether that was a good decision or not). Now they're back [...]
![[Listen] DARKSIDE – DARKSIDE EP](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3900847_lg.jpg)
Clown and Sunset founder Nicolas Jaar has a new project with Dave Harrington (EL TOPO, ARMS) that I really can't stop listening to. There's been a serious lack of slow moving, balearic "afro-beat-indie-pop-trance-co re" since Studio disappeared off the face of the Earth around 2007-2008, and I've certainly been feeling the rub ("Life's A Beach" is one of the best songs of that decade). [via Gorilla vs Bear ] It's brilliant to hear someone new tackling the genre and doing it as well as DARKSIDE does. Everything seems so [...]
Here's a special treat for Lykke Li fans - today she unveiled a never before seen video for one of the highlights from Wounded Rhythms , "Youth Knows No Pain." Everything about this woman is amazing.
![[MP3] Jane Jane Pollack: “Stuck on a Highway Island”](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3898324_lg.jpg)
Jane Jane Pollack is an experimental pop group from Thomasville, GA (and Northern Florida too, apparently) whose self-titled debut came out earlier this year on their own label Flea Ridden Kitten (which gets my nom for best label name of the decade). It was David Levesque from the ridiculous FL group Levek that gave me the tip, so you know you're in for something special: Jane Jane Pollack - Stuck on a Highway Island It's so nice to hear [...]
![[MP3] Fantasy Island: “Avenue”](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3895435_lg.jpg)
Fantasy Island - Avenue I got this gem in the inbox today from Fantasy Island , the LA-based soul duo that's been making waves in the blogosphere of late. Of all the genres that have been given the hazy, washed out, bedroom pop treatment, soul seemed to be left widely untouched. Fantasy Island's two orchestrators, Alex Jacob & Spencer Frazen, seem keen on changing all that. "Avenue" is a great song on its own but it's made pretty damn unforgettable, at least for these ears, because I [...]
Sharon Van Etten's LP Epic was one of my favorite albums last year, in fact, I might have penned a short love letter to Sharon herself telling her so. I was excited when she signed with Jagjaguwar and even more excited when they released new track "Serpents" for sampling. Booming, emotional, melodic, and perfect for the time of year when the sun sets too early a.k.a. right now: Sharon Van Etten - Serpents It took me a [...]
I know you remember the band Arizona . They're hard to forget due to their solid output of music a few years ago, let alone our support of them since day one. Just because a band dies doesn't mean the musicians quit making music, point-in-case being former Arizona lead singer Ben Wigler's fresh project New Beard . Utilizing his trademark vocals, New Beard explores a territory of exotic instrumentation including stlyizied bass riffs delivered by a tuba instead of your typical four-string bass. New Beard - Given [...]
![[Premiere] new Viernes: “LightyearR 21;](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3882818_lg.jpg)
One of 20102s best albums , and perhaps the most overlooked, was Viernes 's debut LP Sinister Devices , a rather brilliant amalgam of compositions that wonderfully bridged the ever elusive gap between pop and art. I've been waiting for some new material from the Florida duo for a while now, and now in the closing months of 2011 we've got something fresh to explore. Viernes - Lightyear "Lightyear" isn't what we might have expected from Viernes. Truth be told it's not [...]
![[MP3] FNDTY: “Never Die”](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3877459_lg.jpg)
The first release via fledgling netlabel Gregasi Records comes from NYC noisemaker Fandi Aditya, who likes to remove the vowels and one "d" from his name to get: FNDTY . Sandwiched somewhere between Fand Island and Battles, FNDTY creates skittish, mathy electronic rock, building his own guitar samples from synthed blips and tweaked snare hits. From the madness comes songs like "Never Die", the centerpiece on FNDTY's debut EP Warriors . FNDTY - Never Die I'm [...]
![[Video] Fleet Foxes: “The Shrine / An Argument”](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3877135_lg.jpg)
One of my favorite songs from Fleet Foxes latest record Helplessness Blues , "The Shrine / An Argument", just got a trippy new video to go along with it. It's no secret that Robin Pecknold's brother, Sean, can direct some seriously great videos but this one is in a whole 'nother realm. The song itself is dynamic and essentially two different compositions blended together, as is the video. The imagery matching certain instrumentation is brilliant but how he ever thought up such animations and storytelling sans multiple hits of acid is beyond [...]
![[mpFree] Giraffage’s debut LP Comfort](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3872394_lg.jpg)
Giraffage - Moments In September we gave a nod of approval to the work of San Francisco beatmaster Charlie Yin, better known as Giraffage . Just yesterday he released his debut LP Comfort , adding another eight tracks to the wickedly impressive three that we'd already heard. Best news of all? It's a pay what you want release, so go ahead and download that shit here .
![[MP3] Spectral Park: “L’appel du Vide”](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3871557_lg.jpg)
Spectral Park - L'appel du Vide "L'appel du vide", literally "the call of the void", is an example of something Edgar Allen Poe called the " imp of the perverse ", a propensity to do exactly the opposite of what any given situation calls for. In this case, it's the impulse some might feel at the edge of a cliff to jump, despite a rational fear of heights and possible injury or death below. Luke Donovan, Spectral Park 's central inquisitor, shouts out to a presumed lover, "Aren't you tired, aren't [...]
![[Listen] Mutual Benefit / Philip Seymour Hoffman Split LP](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3869138_lg.jpg)
Fittingly titled cassette label Kassette Klub brings us this fantastic split LP from Mutual Benefit and Philip Seymour Hoffman , making that two-for-two on Mutual Benefit related splits after the gorgeous 123 split with Holy Spirits via Father Daughter . Stream below. Cassette purchases get the digital download free.
For those of you who don't know about MAP, it's a collection of music blogs from around the world who band together once a month to shed light on up-and-comers from their home countries. It's sort of like the WTO without the human rights violations. After the jump you'll find music from 35 nations spanning the globe. This October we decided to highlight one of our favorite tracks from Floridian dream pop outfit Saskatchewan . [...]
Huge hat tip to my buddy Matt Jordan from YANP for sharing this hilarious video via Jimmy Fallon last night. Since I was acting like an old man and hit the hay early, I missed Fallon's performance but God bless online on-demand video! Fallon, like most of his musical impersonations , pulled of a spot-on Jim Morrison covering LeVar Burton's famed theme song for Reading Rainbow . Whoever came up with this idea is brilliant.
New Zealand's Glass Vaults first graced us with their presence last year with a haunting, free EP that was both eerie and exciting. The duo are back again with another pay-what-you-want offering of fantastic music. Glass Vaults - Golden I hope you remember the movie The Abyss , it was an epic of my childhood that I've seen countless times and taught me that when CPR/defibrillation fails you can simply smack a bitch back [...]
![[mpFree] Dreams’ Feeling 4 U EP](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3853297_lg.jpg)
While CMJ certainly fills its attendees with crack music experiences, half-absorbed memories and more than a handful of hangovers, it also makes a bit of a void for a lost week of our usual type of 'net based music discovery. So usually, right around nowish, I'm stumbling across some exciting stuff that I then realize all my peeps wrote about back in mid-late October. Then I also realize that a) bands always need new exposure and b) you guys totally don't give a crap if you've seen this somewhere else, and thus, in this particular example, I give you... [...]
Keep On Repeat points us to a new mash-up video for the Supreme Cuts song "Trouble", previously available as an iTunes-only bonus track bundled with their debut Trouble . Keep On Repeat wrote a fantastic post compiling all of the Supreme Cuts videos and a minimix of Trouble tracks and beyond, you should definitely check that out. But in the meantime, gel to the creepy monster mash above. Trouble was released in August on our very own Small Plates Records and pretty much blew our shit up. There [...]
i guess i'm floating
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