~ Male Bonding - "Year's Not Long" ~
A blast from the past! That I only recently learned about... Oh well. Formed in 1979, Leeds' pop-punk outfit Girls At Our Best! only released a few singles and one full album, Pleasure (1981) before disbanding quietly. Despite the name there was actually only one girl in the band; singer Judy Evans, while James Alan played guitar, Gerald Swift took bass and late-joiner Carl Harper banged the drums. Apparently Thomas Dolby also appears here and there on the album playing (what else?) keyboards. All in all Pleasure lives [...]
Kind of ironic how I can't sleep and am instead writing about a band called The Goodnight Loving , no? They play charming garage rock, tinted with quite a bit of jangle pop (rather like The Exploding Hearts, who are one the same label, Dirtnap ) but also with a hefty dose of country- and folk rock. Their album The Goodnight Loving Supper Club is due July 21st and will be supported by touring upon its release on the following dates: 4/30 - Madison, WI - University Of Wisconsin "Lakeshorepalooza" 5/8 - St [...]
I wasn't planning on posting anything today as I'm feeling a bit under the weather, but then I stumbled (tumblred?) upon this little pearl on Tumblr. Sarasota is his name and he's made a song (and video) about having ice cream for brains. Or something to that effect. Either way its weird cheerfulness put my in a better mood so I had to spread the word. Fact is you can download his album Things Alive for free here . Oh, and you gotta love this quote made by one of his friends that's posted on [...]
Hey, remember when I wrote about a little known duo called Sleigh Bells ? Well a lot has happened since then. They've racked up quite a lot of hype and are now about to put out their debut album, Treats . The cover (above) is slightly puzzling, but I guess the bizarreness of it fits with their "soft vocals against harsh electro-rock" sound. And speaking of treats, the new song "Tell 'Em" is available for download. I wasn't too keen on their previous one, "Crown To The Ground" but I really like this one and have [...]
~ First Aid Kit - "Hard Believer" ~ Though they're usually dubbed as folk I think this song has more elements of alt country, which for a Swedish band should be completely wrong but this is gorgeous in so, so many ways. ~ David Cronenberg's Wife - "Sweden" ~ I might as well admit that it was their name that initially made me curious. Slightly bizarre and the lyrics are pretty much just spoken yet it manages to be a pretty catchy tune. Their song "My Best Friend's [...]
Woohoo! Alphabeat are releasing "DJ", my favorite song of their latest album The Beat Is... , as a single on May 31st. It will be a new mix though and I'm still not sure if I like it or not. Well, I mean I like it but I can't really say that it's an improvement from the original. The difference is subtle and that just makes me wonder why they even bothered mixing it again. Anyhow, here's the new version accompanied by the video which is rather cute: [...]
Time for a quick update on Montreal band Mixylodian . They're about to launch a new album, Wild In Church , and are sharing the first single "Make Me" with the world. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but I do like the song. It sort of has a Jamaican vibe to it, with a reggae beat and nice groove. A summer song, basically, albeit perhaps not a completely conventional one (but then my country's idea of modern summer songs are pretty much always of the euro-techno kind so I might not be the best judge [...]
When I first heard Alvin Purple's "The Look" I immediately thought of Yeah Yeah Yeah's back in their "Date With The Night" and "Pin" heydays. Singer Carly does sound a bit like Karen O in the beginning, with her voice slightly distorted against the backdrop of a simple bass drum, and the added growling guitar chords only confirm my initial impression. But as the song proceeds it becomes clear that Alvin Purple have a lighter and more composed sound. So no, they're not another Yeah Yeah Yeahs copy, as their other track "Stare to Declare" has a post-rock/shoegaze [...]
British duo The Indelicates are following up their brilliant debut American Demo with sophomore album Songs For Swinging Lovers , out today via Corporate Records. The album is available as a "Pay What You Like" - that is, you pay whatever amount you want, and that includes not paying at all. However, please consider that the duo are on their own now and therefor can't afford any lavish PR campaigns, so even the smallest amount will boost their spirits, I'm sure. Plus if you help continue to spread the word on their new album that [...]
Fellow Scandinavian music blog/label Eardrums are serving up yet another free compilation of delicious indie music, this time called Between Two Waves . Here's some yummy copy-pasta about the project: Between Two Waves – a free indie compilation of 38 songs on 3 volumes. We are proud and happy to release Between Two Waves – a non-profit project from music lovers to music lovers. It is the fourth compilation project from EardrumsPop, a small net label closely related to the Eardrums music blog. We release free compilations, often with a special theme. [...]
* This is cute (by Tom Gauld ): * This is haunting (more info here ): * This is a nice song: ~ Zoey Van Goey - "The Best Treasure Stays Buried" ~
There's been a buzz about Swedish duo Palpitation for a couple of years, much thanks to their EP I'm Happy Now, in which they scored a bit of an indie-hit with the title track. Now they've found a new home on Luxury which I hope will broaden their audience. The small label had actually decided not to work with any more bands, but after hearing a couple of songs from Palpitation's new record they simply couldn't resist signing them. Luxury will release the album on April 28 in a CD version and a limited [...]
The Second Han d Marchi ng Band are a downright flurry of people as well as instruments. According to their official website they are "a mix of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Ayr, Kincardine, Cumbernauld, Neilston, Canada, Airdrie and elsewhere", and play "guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, triangles, accordions, trumpets, tenor horns, saxophones, trombones, glockenspiel, castanets, marching drums, melodicas, woodblocks, tambourines, bells, violins, flutes, clarinets and other stuff." So as you might have guessed, their music is richly layered in both talent and sound. Their brand of folk-rock reminds me of [...]
Just a quick post to give a heads up about a great compilation from Rash Records , called Home . While it's free of charge to download, you can choose to pay for it as well in order to contribute to the making of the next volume. This volume is described as "an album of warm home spun charm. This is a wonderfully relaxed and optimistic album with Melodic sounds to the fore. The music on this album ranges from quirky pop and folk flavours, from electronica to latin touches. Johnno Casson (aka [...]
It's Friday night, I'm bored and feeling a bit down, I ate far too much chocolate earlier (again) and am currently wishing I had some popcorn to snack on as well. But I have no popcorn, only tea and apples, so here's some good music I've been meaning to write about and that deserves your attention: ~ She Sir - "Golden Ways" ~ ~ Thrushes - "Crystals" ~ ~ Cults - "Go Outside" ~ ~ [...]
I'll admit to being a bit unsure about Jen Wood at first. Granted that I haven't heard any of her previous works, but Find You In Love's opening track (and promotional mp3) "Pills" has far too much teen-angst for me to take it seriously. Fact is it gives me the image of a 17-year old girl sitting in her room, writing the dear diary-like lyrics in a pretty note book while looking out the window now and then to ponder over why she can't seem relate to other people her age. And Jen Wood is not [...]
The Sweet Serenades ' new song "Die Young" actually kind of suits their name as it is a sweet (albeit bitterly so) duet with Club 8 singer Karolina about the dangers of falling in love with a one night stand. Apparently it was featured in an episode of Grey's Anatomy, but what upcoming-yet-already-popular-i n-the-blog-world band hasn't been featured on that show? I just hope The Sweet Serenades don't suffer the same fate as Imogen Heap who I used to adore but can't listen to anymore without imagining Marissa and Ryan from The O.C. pouting over whatever injustice their upper-class [...]
Sorry sorry sorry! I meant to post this song ages ago, but unfortunately it coincided with my identity crisis as a music blogger a while back. Atlanta duo La Chansons have gotten a bit of flack in reviews lately but then their kitschy 80s electropop is hardly for everyone. Personally I find them adorable (I've featured them here before for a reason, after all) and the new track "Sparklin'" simply cements that opinion. I mean, it's a cute song about rollerskating, how can you not like that? Plus, there's quite [...]
I haven't been sure whether or not to feature Chew Lips here, as I got over their album Unicorn pretty fast. It has all the element for me to enjoy it: electro pop with female vocals, good hooks and so on, but I found a lot of the songs to sound too similar to one another, leaving me with a rather blurred impression of the album as a whole. I do still enjoy the song "Seven" though, and since they have a pretty cool video for it plus are offering the mp3 for free, I figured [...]
I Am The Crime
![Alphabeat - DJ (I Could Be Dancing) [Official Video]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/fiBtL7A9Uss_130.jpg)
![The Sweet Serenades - Die Young [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/zQ-jzDsl_ic_130.jpg)
No Church In The Wild
Nas - Daughters
The Rains of Castamere by The National
CHROMATICS "THESE STREETS WILL NEVER LOOK THE SAME"
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Avicii – Two Million
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
iamamiwhoami: kin - Teaser
