![[mp3] Crocodiles // Cockroach](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4988079_lg.jpg)
Brooklyn-via-San Diego outfit Crocodiles are back with their death roll rock, having announced their newest effort, Crimes of Passion , a couple of weeks ago. Crimes of Passion follows up last year's Endless Flowers , though there is decidedly less penis on the cover of this new album. Along with the announcement comes a new track from the album as well, the predictably bleached out "Cockroach." It continues in the same vein that the band is known for, scuffed up and displaying plenty of reverb. Crimes of Passion was produced by Sune Rose Wagner of [...]
![[stream] Smallpools // Dreaming](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4969364_lg.jpg)
I've had this track on my personal back burner for about a week now, waiting for some time in my schedule to sit down and write about it. The band, however, has been decidedly impatient with me, as every time I log in to Facebook I see an advertisement for downloading it in my sidebar. While this post undoubtedly won't stop the targeted advertising, it will at least quell any guilt I've been feeling for not writing about it sooner. So, here we have Smallpools. In demographic terms, the band hails from Los Angeles. In logistical terms, there [...]
![[mp3] TV Girl // She Smokes In Bed](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4968875_lg.jpg)
San Diego's TV Girl released their final sampled album in early May of last year, titled The Wild, The Innocent, The TV Shuffle , and now the band has returned with some new original material. "She Smokes In Bed" is the first taste of their new EP, Lonely Women , which will be released in the middle of June. It's everything that I've come to expect from the outfit, combining looping drums and a summery sheen that goes hand in hand with their tales of love that might not be perfect, but that are perfect in right now. [...]
![[mp3] Cypria // Let’s Go](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4966626_lg.jpg)
Cypria is a twenty-year old producer from the United Kingdom, and he's been soundtracking my work day for the better part of this week with his mixtape The Sunday Soul Sessions . I ran across Cypria while watching a video of Andrew Wiggins posterize everyone else on the basketball court via Deadspin . Whoever put the video together used the track "Let's Go" from the aforementioned mixtape as the soundtrack, and though Wiggins' skill on the floor is incredible, I was drawn more to the sampled track that provided the background for the highlight reel. As it [...]
![[stream] Gold Lake // We Already Exist](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4962400_lg.jpg)
Whatever you're expecting a band named Gold Lake to sound like, that's exactly what you're going to get from this Brooklyn-via-Madrid outfit. The band's new album, Years , was mixed by none other than Phil Ek, who has produced the likes of The Shins and Fleet Foxes. While there is no official word about when the album is going to see the light of day, the band is releasing a two song single on June 18th to whet the appetites of potential listeners. "We Already Exist" is my introduction to the trio, and it's a breathless, layered affair [...]
![[stream] Smith Westerns // 3AM Spiritual](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4961078_lg.jpg)
Every so often I feel like Brooks from The Shawshank Redemption and marvel at how the (music blog) world has gone and got itself in a big damn hurry while we were away. We've taken a much more lackadaisical approach of late, and while I enjoy the pace of things now, I do feel like I'm missing out on everything that's happening out there. And even though I might miss first singles or album announcements or new cover art by not keeping my ear constantly to the musical grindstone, I still always manage to get the high points. Then I [...]
![[stream] Pure Bathing Culture // Pendulum](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4960150_lg.jpg)
Along with news that their debut full-length, Moon Tides , will be released in the middle of August, Portland two-some Pure Bathing Culture have unveiled the first single from the album as well. "Pendulum" sets the pace for the long days of summer that are on the horizon, perfectly languorous and dreamy. Moon Tides hits the streets on August 19/20 depending on where you're located on the planet. (That's the 19th via Memphis Industries if you're in the UK and the 20th through Partisan Records if you're stateside.) And because we enjoy tenuous [...]
“I think of it as being kind of like the space program in 1960s,” said Daniel Armbruster when asked about the level of experimentation involved in creating Joywave’s latest release. “Each mission was about accomplishing a certain goal that ultimately was about putting a person on the moon. ‘Alright, Mercury we’re going to have people circle the Earth. Gemini , we’re going to have crafts docking. Eventually, we’re going to get there.’ That’s kind of the same philosophy I guess we take to our music.” If you were to look at the cover art for Joywave’s [...]
![[stream] Hunter Hunted // Operating](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4943240_lg.jpg)
Where have I heard Hunter Hunted’s “Operating” before? Was it in a dream? (More likely, it was in a commercial, or in the background somewhere when I wasn’t paying attention.) But the song is instantly familiar, like I’ve known it all along, a lingering vestige of some previous life. "Operating" is destined for highway drives, for scenic overlooks, for iPhone commercials that you hate to love. If you could Instagram songs, this one would be best in a kind of hazy, sepia tone. The band's debut EP - a five-song, self-titled affair - is available right this minute. [...]
![[stream] MS MR // Hurricane (CHVRCHES Remix)](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4941103_lg.jpg)
If you’re anything like us, you want to lord it over people when you knew about a band before they did. You want them to know that if they had just fucking listened to what you were talking about, they could have shared in your smug glory. And if you’re not like that, then stop reading music blogs, because that’s what this entire process is about. Get ready, because I’m about to do exactly that shit that I just described. Go back and look. You’ll find that we talked about MS MR way back in [...]
![[mp3] CaveWomen // Sympathy for the Hook Man](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4939439_lg.jpg)
We've been blogging long enough to remember the fall of Drink Up Buttercup, who seemed to be coming into their own in the early days of 2009 when this blog was in its infancy. The Philadelphia-based outfit produced odd psych-pop, and their debut full-length, Born and Thrown on a Hook , was released in early 2010, and the band called it quits around a year later. Their run was brief but much heralded, and the fact that this new project out of Philly called CaveWomen caught my eye is because it boasts a former member of that band. [...]
![[mp3/stream] Bravestation // Somewhere We Belong](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4938788_lg.jpg)
We've been after the guys in Bravestation to get themselves to Rochester for a show, but so far, our pleas have been to no avail. Then again, we aren't putting on shows anymore - or even writing with any regularity - so that could be part of the reason, though I think it has more to do with the fact that the United States doesn't make it easy for a Canadian band to come down and play a one-off show. But if you've been listening to what the Toronto outfit has been doing over the past couple of years, you'll [...]
![[stream] Boardwalk // I’m To Blame](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4937199_lg.jpg)
Los Angeles duo Boardwalk haven't been around long; according to their brief bio, the outfit formed last summer, and in the intervening year they've managed to secure a guitar and bassist in Mark Noseworthy of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, as well as a spot on Stones Throw Records , who will be releasing their debut album at some point this summer. "I'm To Blame" is the first track that's been released into the wild, though I'm not sure if it's a one-off single or if it will be on [...]
Benoît Pioulard is a name I previously recognized, yet failed to associate with any particular sound or notion. As the moniker for Michigan based singer-songwriter Thomas Meluch, the pseudonym adds a greater sense of intrigue to his persona and music - perhaps an exotic foreignness - that his given name doesn't quite convey. This sense translated into and emboldened the first track I believe I've heard (though I can't be certain), yet is undoubtedly the first that captured my attention and held it. That track is "Margin," and it's from Pioulard's latest LP Hymnal. [mp3] [...]
![[stream] The Lighthouse and The Whaler // Venice](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4930270_lg.jpg)
I'm a firm believer in the fact that people don't experience things until they're ready, or until they actually need to. Ignorance and avoidance are strong tools for those who yield them. With me, that most often pertains to music, and it happened again to me this morning. If you didn't know, Dave and I both do some freelance work for the local alternative newspaper, City . Surprisingly, we write show previews for the paper - quick pieces talking about bands that are coming to town in an effort to get people out to [...]
![[mp3] French Films // All Summer Long](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4917012_lg.jpg)
We've been long-time supporters of Finnish band French Films, dating back to the middle part of 2010 when their first song, "Golden Sea", came to our attention. (But we are certainly not supporters of the French cinema, which is largely strange and non-linear and too high brow for our simple American minds.) Back then I described their sound as having "channelled The Cure musically and Peter Murphy vocally", and the five-piece hasn't strayed from that formula in the intervening time. The band has a new song out this morning entitled "All Summer Long", which is just in time [...]
![[stream] Andrew Cedermark // Canis Major](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4903012_lg.jpg)
I hadn’t heard of Andrew Cedermark's work before opening an email about his new single, “Canis Major.” Culled from his forthcoming sophomore album, Home Life , which is due out in the middle part of July through Underwater Peoples , the track is a rousing introduction to the artist. As it turns out, Cedermark is the former guitarist for Titus Andronicus, though if you’d only heard this track, you might not be able to tell. On its face, the track reminds me of a cross between Damien Jurado and Andrew Bird, though Cedermark can turn up [...]
![[stream] Ra Ra Riot // All I Fear](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4901542_lg.jpg)
Everything I heard from Ra Ra Riot's most recent effort - Beta Love - caused me to cancel my pre-order of the album. I didn't like the synth-centric direction in which the band seemed to be heading on it; it's not that I mind synths, but more that I didn't like Ra Ra Riot's use of them. I said something disparaging about one of the songs on Twitter and the band tweeted back about it, which made me feel bad that I was harsh about a band that I rather enjoy. That said, the band has always [...]
![[stream] Empire of the Sun // Alive](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4892815_lg.jpg)
It's been about four years since Empire of the Sun's falsetto-drenched debut, and the band has been dormant since then, unless you count the frontman, Luke Steele, showing up on the last Jay-Z album. When I woke up this morning, however, there was an email announcing that the pair has a new album due out on June 17/18 entitled Ice on the Dune , and the first single from it, "Alive." This first single doesn't reveal any new direction or major changes, but it does put the pair's feel-good, futuristic pop back at the forefront of my brain [...]
![[stream] Joywave // Tongues (feat. KOPPS)](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4888357_lg.jpg)
I'm trying to remember when Joywave's 77777 mixtape came out; if my memory hasn't failed, it was in the spring of 2010. In the intervening time, the Rochester band has released a 73 single in 2011, an EP titled Koda Vista in 2012, and a couple of line-up shake-ups. Undeterred, the band is putting out a new mixtape shortly, this one entitled 88888 , which is extremely low milage for three years time. The new mixtape will re-imagine and re-work ideas from the aforementioned EP. So far the band has released various tracks here and there [...]
Tympanogram
Song : Porcelain Raft : “Think of the Ocean”
The Postal Service – “A Tattered Line of String”
Frau – Tarian Sari (stream)
“Is Burial actually Four Tet?” hoax resurfaces online
