Fang Island delivers sound of 'everyone high-fiving everyone' "A triumphant, heavily riffed, primarily instrumental epic, whiplashing through six minutes of smiling prog jams, and as many tempos as passages, before settling into one last minute of uplifting chants." - Stereogum "Life-affirming prog guitar anthems." – Seattle Stranger Fang Island describes its sound as "everyone high-fiving everyone." And, the Brooklyn quintet's anthemic and soaring songs make it quite possibly one of few bands befitting such description. Check out MP3s for two new tracks, "Daisy" and "Life Coach." Its finger-tapping guitar lines, chanted vocals, [...]

Hella active drummer Zach Hill's in (and has been in) more bands than you want to try to list, but we've most recently caught him helping out Boredoms and Marnie Stern and toughening up Wavves (more on that in a sec) when not releasing his own " solo " material. In Chll Pll Hill he does what the band's name suggests, joining forces, calming down (a bit), and harmonizing with Hexlove's Zachary Nelson, who layers lapping electronics (complete with dark/"funky"/sometimes gentle pop hooks) over submerged drum play. You get a taste in the self-directed strobed video [...]

Ride The Frightening Grooms (née Muggabears) from Brooklyn create the kind of hedonistic fantasy grunge that Sonic Youth and Pavement did in their heyday, combining powerful, churning guitar lines and intelligent basslines merging blissfully in a mélange of shimmering, powdery drums and whiny adolescent vocals. 'Dreamsucker' is an immediate favourite, with its glistening guitar and bass interplay and intense, cacophonic spurts combed through with odd, whirring synth sirens in the background adding a tangible eerieness. Grooms is truly a hidden gem, a powerful force to be reckoned with. Currently on tour [...]
Drink Up Buttercup Hit The Road Running Tour Dates Announced 10/31 - PA's Lounge - Somerville, MA 11/10 - The Zodiac - Baltimore, MD (w/ Blood Warrior) 11/11 - Kung Fu Necktie - Philadelphia, PA (w/ Blood Warrior) 11/12 - Union Hall - Brooklyn, NY - (w/ Blood Warrior) 11/16 - The Social - Orlando, FL (w/ Stellastarr*) 11/17 - Whirlyball - Atlanta, GA (w/ Stellastarr*) 11/18 - Local 506 - Chapel Hill, NC (w/ Stellastarr*) 11/19 - Rock n roll hotel - Washington, DC (w/ Stellastarr*) After a [...]
Another year of (mostly) daily tunes here at Doklands, and I have to say I'm still having fun with this. I considered winding this up after hitting 1,000 tracks because really, how much is there left to say? Glad I didn't, though. Nik Bärtsch's Ronin - Modul 38-17 Miriam Makeba - Jol'inkomo Bishop Allen - Psycho Killer Oysterband - Road To Nowhere MGMT - This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) Geoffrey Oryema - Listening Wind The Staple Singers - Life During Wartime The Staple Singers - Slippery [...]
The Widow Babies - Possibilities At Sea The Widow Babies are a four-piece band from Los Angeles who are into Minutemen and playing real fast and keeping their brief jams as clear and undistorted as an azure sky of deepest summer. There's a lot that's brief and clear about the Widow Babies, actually, especially relative to the bands they reference: Marnie Stern is one, only these guys get in and out in a fifth of the time; or Abe Vigoda, except with staccato yelps instead of hazy, layered vocals. There's a kind of join-the-dots [...]

Recommended Show: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2009 ASOBI SEKSU, LONELY DEAR, & ANNA TERNHEIM @ BOWERY BALLROOM 6 Delcancey Street Manhattan, NY 10002 $17, 8PM CMJ is next week. It's supposed to be the time of year when all sorts of bands descend upon the City to play a bunch of shows. However, it's on nights like tonight when you realize that this happens almost every night in New York City. With an assortment of great shows, it was hard for me to pluck one out of the pack as the best; however, I have been waiting [...]
Marnie Stern, " Transformer " Label Site Myspace Jamie T, " Sticks and Stones " Website Myspace Portland Cello Project, " Travel " (Feat. Justin Power) Website Myspace El Perro Del Mar, " Change of Heart " Website Myspace Portland Cello Project, " Tallymarks " (Feat. Thao) Website [...]
Drink Up Buttercup Sign To Yep Roc Records Release New Single with Debut Album to Follow in 2010 "Lumbering drums, jangling shakers, electronic squiggles, and lots of…ragged shouts accompany the strutting bass line and stomping guitar….it's all just loose and playful enough to avoid coming across as overly nostalgic." - Pitchfork Drink Up Buttercup have signed with Yep Roc Records and to celebrate are giving away the single 'Even Think', a fast-paced fist-pumper, driven by frenzied organ arpeggios and swelling vocal harmonies reminiscent of the sound of Brian Wilson re-imagining The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat [...]
It's a bit hard to describe how I feel about Talk Normal right now. The best I can come up with is a twisted combination between adoration bordering on idol worship, and utter fear that if I ever see them live I will leave with about half the sanity I arrived with (similar to my first HEALTH experience). One thing I can assuredly say, though, is that this band is the only modern post-rock band I've heard recently that has managed to wrangle down the bull that is the coveted Sonic Youth sound and given it many burning [...]

Wow! A long time since the last one. We've had plans, we've had development hells and finally we've actually got something. So once again, the IP crew is bringing you a bunch of ragtag tunes compiled under a vague theme, ready to easily introduce you to new artists or waste your bandwidth with boring tripe. Today we're going to offer something very... different . Our writers have compiled together a list of songs so bad that they are good. Songs that they love to listen to but daren't do so loudly because they wouldn't dare [...]

At the foot of Niagara Falls lies a museum and a mystery. The barrel museum shows a proud display of the "barrels," --none of which are really conventional barrels-- that crazed stuntmen used in a usually vain attempt to ride for glory over the roaring rapids of Niagara Falls. Niagara is split into two falls. On one side of Goat Island is American Falls. It's the shorter of the two by a few feet. But the bottom is lined with rocks. Riding over it in a barrel would not be a crapshoot. It would be straight suicide. [...]
In honor of the release of rockumentary "It Might Get Loud" -- which features the likes of Jack White, The Edge and Jimmy Page -- Elle Magazine has issued a list of the 12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists. The article namechecks Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Nancy Wilson, Jennifer Batten, Donita Sparks, Kelley Deal, Carrie Brownstein, Poison Ivy, Ruyter Suys, The Great Kat, Marnie Stern and Orianthi. When explaining why members of the fairer sex are often overlooked for their guitar work, Deal had her own theory. "I think we do exist," she asserts, "but [...]
Monday: Goes Cube @ Lit 8:30pm $6 Here it is folks the unofficial last week of summer! Time to get ready to abandon all these out door venues that have soaked us all summer long with free music and return to the dungeons and clubs we are most used to! The darkness is good for us and the booze is better! Start tonight with a little urban metal courtesy of Goes Cube. The show is cheap, loud, and fun, plus you won't get yet unless you sweat a lot! Goes Cube - "I [...]
Dzień dobry + 19:15 The Bats Koncert The Bats z Primavery do odsłuchania/pobrania TUTAJ . Festiwal zaczęliśmy od odnalezienia nowej lokalizacji sceny VICE, która przeniosła się znad samego morza na tyły sceny ATP. Zamiast wieczorynki, od 19 piętnaście minut westchnień i narzekań, że „kuuurdeee, a tak było fajnie w zeszłym roku tam na starym Vajsie, a jak tam The Mary Onettes pasowało, a że Man Man pojechali po całości, a że jesteśmy na zdjęciu w festiwalowym katalogu jak tam stoimy zmęczeni przed Guinchem". To tak do dziesięć po. Przez [...]
Grooms have released a new song, "Dreamsucker". The track was featured last week on Stereogum . DOWNLOAD: Grooms - "Dreamsucker" Began by Travis Johnson as a solo project in Texas, the band (originally called The Muggabears ), took shape in Norman with bassist Kevin Frost and future Evangelicals drummer Austin Stephens. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma, Johnson and Frost moved to New York in 2005 (Stephens stayed behind to play for Evangelicals) and joined up with former [...]

WE'RE IN LOVE, YEAH RIGHT! NOISE BEAT PROPAGANDA The Poni Republic, Mexico Rating: 79 By Carlos Reyes For a netlabel known for its left-field pop spirit, this year The Poni Republic seems certain to defy its lo-fi institution to set its magic into edgier projects like its latest release Noise Beat [...]

Ever hear of KISS (the acronym, not Gene Simmons' tongue and co.)? It stands for K eep I t S imple S tupid, a hackneyed piece of advice if there ever was one but surprisingly useful nonetheless. For example, in an age when thoughts/feelings/sentiments rarely exceed the 140-character limit , why would a band as supremely talented as Mew choose to anoint their new album (out tomorrow) with a title that's 23 words long?! Well, maybe it's because they were inspired by the long-winded precedents set by some other artists, titles [...]
*Sleater Kinney - Entertain* Ramona Falls - I Say Fever Marnie Stern - Transformer Fol Chen - The Longer U Wait The Champagne Socialists - Blue Genes
The catch-all musical genre of 'singer-songwriter' has always been a problematic one. Technically, any old asshole with a guitar, vocal chords and too much damn time on his/her hands can call themselves a 'singer-songwriter', and therein lies the problem. In general, I find that female singer-songwriters lately seem to be a bit more innovative than their male counterparts. However, I don't think it's always true and sometimes women just get credit for things for no other critical reason than novelty – they sing about things that society has decided girls shouldn't (or don't) sing about, and therefore it's edgy. I [...]