We wanna start off your week by offering you a free song from a newcomer, Josh Mease. Robin Hilton of NPR has described Mease's music as "one of the strongest debuts I've heard this year... It's the kind of album I can fall in love with from the opening notes ...
Next week will be a big week, but we don't want to ruin the surprise. Instead, we'll just recommend that you get ready! and further your anticipation by offering another stellar edition of our Friday Mixtape. As always, included is the week's mix of the best new singles, remixes, and covers, along with mp3s from some up-and-comers you just might want to check out. Enjoy... and see you next week! NEW Singles: "Vampire Lake" by The Builders & the Butchers "Baltimore Blues [...]

Loud Loop Press presents La Scala this Wednesday, Nov 11th at the Empty Bottle ! Fronted by Balthazar de Ley (formerly of Hum) on guitar and vocals and backed by guitarist Kirk Mcmahon, bassist Ryan Jewell and drummer Joshua Lohr, La Scala's music embodies all of their influences. Sure, there's indie rock in there, but both Balthazar and Joshua come from or spent formidable years abroad. And that international flair is evident in their sound. It's equal parts cabaret and indie pop and probably unlike anything you've heard before. They've been kicking around this summer [...]
The CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival invades New York City this week. Here's the latest from PopMatters' writers on the beat. Warpaint Mercury Lounge, New York City You probably wouldn't say that the members of Warpaint came on stage looking ready for battle. In fact, based on how they dressed on stage last night, you'd be more inclined to say they look ready for bed. But put you to sleep is the last thing the mostly-female quartet did on Tuesday (three of four musicians are women). Their haunting bass lines and drumbeats kept a steady groove...
Think About Life @ Pop Montreal (MHOW tonight) ( more by Ryan Muir ) tonight in NYC * Bell @ Sound Fix Records * El Perro Del Mar @ Other Music * Rainbird, Kevin Blechdom @ Zebulon (CMJ) * Vaz, Grooms, Deleted Arrow, Fuck Ton @ Death By Audio * Paper Route, Empires, All the Day Holiday @ Union Hall * Broadcast, [...]
CMJ released the band schedule for its 2009 Music Marathon & Film Festival yesterday, which is about as good a sign of fall hitting New York as the return of apple cider at Greenmarket. The festival runs from Oct. 20 - Oct. 24 and includes various venues throughout the city, and the list of featured artists would probably take all four days to read through. But skimming the selection reveals a fairly equal distribution of well-known acts like Atlas Sound and Deer Tick , anonymous locals (including krautrock-y Jeff Buckley-channelers Pocketknife), twenty-two bands who [...]
CLARE AND THE REASONS PREPARE FOR FALL TOUR w/THE VIC CHESNUTT BAND RELEASE BRAND NEW VIDEO FOR "ALL THE WINE" Clare and the Reasons - All The Wine video French-inspired Brooklyn group Clare and the Reasons are preparing for their late fall North American tour with The Vic Chesnutt Band (featuring Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion) in support of forthcoming sophomore release, Arrow, out October 20th on Frog Stand Records. To celebrate the upcoming tour and album, Clare and the Reasons are releasing their brand new [...]
The plucky chamber pop group Clare and the Reasons is going on tour with the Vic Chesnutt Band this October in support of their sophomore album, Arrow , which Frog Stand Records is releasing on Oct. 20. Clare and the Reasons, which includes members of the National and Beruit this tour, promise to bring along cellos, violas, kazoos, baby kotos, saws, recorders... well, a lot of instruments. Also, the members sewed all of their own outfits for the tour. This video for "All [...]
The press release below doesn't actually list all the acts performing at CMJ this year, so you're probably better off checking out cmj.sched.org to get a true idea of what's happening during this year's marathon. Of course, sched.org is a little confusing too and it doesn't list unofficial events and day parties (as far as I know), so you'll have to wait a little bit longer for info to trickle out from the blogs and other unofficial sources. Lastly, even though the press release says the schedule is "final", you can pretty much bet that things will shift [...]

Recent additions to freemusicarchive.org include... Silver Apples live on The Stork Club, 1/24/1997 ! The pioneering group 60's duo reformed in the late 90s, and WFMU was one of their first stops along the way. The performance included this cover of Wilson Pickett's " Wait Till the Midnight Hour " (mp3), and you can read more about it here . Silver Apples is performing at Oscillations , "a festival of extraordinary audio-visual events celebrating new music, art and film," taking place right now in Belfast, Ireland. The lineup [...]
lustvoll bebildert sieht anders aus. aber hier ist eben der song das gewichtete element. dafür wird der phantasie freien lauf gelassen. josh mease veröffentlicht gerade auf frog stand records das album "wilderness", "white diamonds" ist ein vergnüglicher wie lässiger ein- und vorausblick. das album ist das debut des in brooklyn lebenden, aber aus texas stammenden jungen mannes.

I was a big fan of Clare's last album – The Movie. She is back with her Reasons with another sweet, mellow outing called Arrow. It comes out in October. Sure to be a perfect release for the fall. Listen: Clare and The Reasons ∞ Ooh You Heart Me So What is your favorite this week? Leave a hullabaloo. Clare and the Reasons On Tour: 10/20 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge w/ Josh Mease 10/23 Ottawa, ONT @ Mavericks* 10/24 Montreal, QC @ Ukrainian Federation* [...]
CLARE AND THE REASONS TO RELEASE ARROW SET THEIR SIGHTS ON FALL TOUR w/THE VIC CHESNUTT BAND FIRST SONG, " OOH YOU HURT ME SO ," AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD Brooklyn-based Clare and the Reasons, fronted by collaborators Clare and Olivier Manchon, is pleased to announce the release of their sophomore album, Arrow, out October 20th on Frog Stand Records. Arrow features a special guest appearance from Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, and is the followup to their acclaimed debut LP, The Movie, which included contributions from Van Dyke Parks and Sufjan Stevens. Clare and the gang [...]

Clare and the Reasons are releasing their sophomore album, Arrow , on October 20. Members of The National and Beirut contributed to the album, as well as Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond. I really regretted not seeing them at SXSW in 2008, so I can't wait to check them out in New York. Brighten up your Monday morning with this song from the new record: MP3 : Ooh You Hurt Me So Keep reading for tour dates, most with The Vic Chesnutt band... [...]

Quick doubleshot of Drake's Take and I'm pretty much caught up with the new releases now (except that it's already Tuesday again, sigh). -ed. Drake's Take: New Releases 07.21.09 A few more releases this week that I'd been looking forward to, including the latest from The Fiery Furnaces and the sophomore release from Baltimore's Wye Oak . Also some interesting new releases from Portugal.The Man , Megafaun , Magnolia Electric Co. , Florence & The Machine , Wheat , [...]
Atmosphere @ MHOW 10/13 ( more by Eric M. Townsend ) tonight in NYC * DANCE * Whiplash @ UCB Theatre * Leon Russell @ BB King's * Burlesque @ Public Assembly * Tony Scherr @ Jalopy Theatre * Rev. Vince Anderson @ Union Pool * Cass McCombs, Mike Bones @ Joe's Pub * Les Paul Trio w/ [...]

A few more releases this week that I'd been looking forward to, including the latest from The Fiery Furnaces and the sophomore release from Baltimore's Wye Oak . Also some interesting new releases from Portugal.The Man , Megafaun , Magnolia Electric Co. , Florence & The Machine , Wheat , Blue Roses , Bad Veins and the seventies sequel to Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs covers collaboration. Playlist: New Releases 07.14.09 [...]

There is a new trio in town called Elizabeth & the Catapult. We caught up with them and found out what they are listening to at this moment in time. St. Vincent - amazing songs, performances and production. such an original sounding album. kinda like hearing exotic alien language in sci fi movies. Elysian Fields - always puts me into a great spot, very moody and beautiful, inspired songwriting. This is always what I imagined NYC to be like when I moved there, maybe it was, [...]

Portugal. The Man Rollo & Grady Recommended New Releases - Tuesday, July 21st: Josh Mease - Wilderness (Buy) Label: Frog Stand Records MP3: Josh Mease - Neon Ghost Magnolia Electric Co. (Buy) Label: Secretly Canadian Records MP3: Magnolia Electric Co. - Little Sad Eyes [...]
American Steel - Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts Suggested if you like: the Gaslight Anthem , the Killers , pumping your fist Generationals - Con Law Suggested if you like: the Shins , the saner side of Of Montreal , Pop Rocks Josh Mease - Wilderness Suggested if you like: [...]