
1. The National - Twenty Miles To NH (The Philistines Jr. Cover).mp3 2. Nightlands - Til I Die (The Beach Boys Cover).mp3 3. Lia Ices - Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd Cover).mp3 4. Small Sur - Fall Skull (Little Wings Cover).mp3 5. Wye Oak - Strangers (The Kinks Cover).mp3 6. St. Vincent - Never Tear Us Apart (INXS Cover).mp3 7. Youth Lagoon - Goodbye Again (John Denver Cover).mp3 [...]
Watch 'It's So Nice To Get Stoned' below. I Am Very Far is available now. Click here to view the embedded video. MP3: Okkervil River - Your Past Life As A Blast

Editor's Note Happy New Year! Some of you are probably wondering what happened to us. Well work, family, and of course organizing our little (not so little anymore) variety show Snob Theater has taken quite a bit of time away from the website. We've had probably the best year so far and I'm happy to announce my favorite records of 2011 to launch the reboot of Kata Rokkar. I don't review albums at all but i do listen to a shitload and it's been a great and surprising year for new music. [...]

Nachdem ich mir inzwischen so viele verschiedene Jahrescharts von so vielen verschiedenen Menschen angeschaut habe, kann ich sie ehrlich gesagt nicht mehr sehen. Wenn man auf ein Jahr zurückblickt, dann kommen einem doch sowieso eher einzelne Momente in den Sinn - oft wild durcheinanderfliegend und höchstens locker verknüpft durch Assoziationen - als irgendwelche Listen. Aber es macht ja doch immer wieder Spaß, seine eigenen Favoriten gegeneinander abzuwägen und zu ordnen, Ranglisten aufzustellen und umzuschmeißen – auch wenn man an dem Kampf dabei beinahe verzweifelt. Ich hoffe jedenfalls ihr habt noch ein offenes Ohr für die Musik, die mich im vergangenen [...]

Each of our writers who posted this year worked tirelessly to cover bands that normally don't appear on your FM radio stations, and in the true spirit of the season, here are their lists. All albums are linked to iTunes. To play all Soundcloud clips continuously, click on the play button in the bottom right of the screen. TOP 10 ALBUMS 10. Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will [...]
In our continuing look back at the Best Songs of 2011, today's post is all about singles and albums released during the month of May 2011. So far, there has been a huge response to the Best Songs of 2011 playlist and profile mixes. If you missed any of IRC's year end playlists, you can [...] Read more, get songs or stream the entire mix on Indie Rock Cafe
In our continuing look back at the Best Songs of 2011, today's post is all about singles and albums released during the month of May 2011. So far, there has been a huge response to the Best Songs of 2011 playlist and profile mixes. If you missed any of IRC's year end playlists, you can [...] Read more, get songs or stream the entire mix on Indie Rock Cafe

Well, you have seen my top 60 songs of 2011 posted on here over the past couple of weeks. There were a few that I reluctantly left off the list but still think they deserved some credit. Here are some of the stragglers that just missed out. Enjoy. Free mp3: The Black Keys - Sister Free mp3: Gardens & Villa - Black Hills Free mp3: Middle [...]

The same procedure as every year: Kurz vor Silvester sitze ich wie so ziemlich jeder andere Musikblogger, -journalist und fast jeder -fan vor der schweren Aufgabe, meine Jahrescharts zu erstellen. Und wie immer wird mir spätestens morgen noch ein Album oder Song einfallen, den ich entweder hier vergessen habe oder bis heute noch gar nicht kenne. Das gesagt, hier ist mein kleiner Jahresrückblick. (Inhalt: Schlechte Musik | Konzerte des Jahres | Songs des Jahres | Video des Jahres | Alben des Jahres ) [...]

The one thing I take pride in as a music lover is that I have a wide variety of tastes. After looking at Paste and Pitchfork's Best of 2011 lists, I realize I hadn't listened to the majority of their choices. The music I listened to and loved over the year is 1) mainstream (Adele's "213 is a phenomenal album, in case you didn't already know), 2) so obscure or foreign that no one's ever heard of it, 3) very local (hence the name RICHMOND Playlist) and 4) released in the past 3-5 years (I get late to the party [...]

Our final Top Ten selection comes courtesy of the lovely, and ever radiant, Mrs Mackerel. Over to you girl! It's been a great musical year. But such a plethora of riches always presents a problem – what's a girl to choose? Fortunately some fine contributions in the preceding week means most bases are covered. Live gigs, although few and far between this year, have been rich in quality, and particularly finger-picking good on the guitar front. A fine ensemble of gig friends too, thank you. Without further ado, here's my humble opinion. And remember [...]

As 2011 quietly and quickly comes to a close it is a good time to reflect on the year just past. A year of exploration and discovery, fun and enjoyment. Pain and beauty. Joy and ragged edges. Trends and movements. Disappointment and surprise. Elation. Sometimes. Many albums were purchased, yes I still do that, and some exceeded expectations. Some didn't. One album though met and exceeded all expecations. The cover told a story. Through faces, homes, planes and mountains we peered into the depth of humanity. From within voices glistened and instruments sounded the memory lines [...]

30. The Head and The Heart - Lost In My Mind It's no surprise that The Head and The Heart would eventually make their way onto the list. Their debut album was a pretty solid collection of mellow tunes with this little gem nestled right in the middle. I sang along to 'Lost In My Mind' on a few road trips throughout the year. 29. The Pack AD - Sirens [...]

We all love lists, and we all love sarcasm. Though, I think its important to reflect upon the last year of music, I'm going to do so through the use of a list. It was a fantastic year full of awesome albums, and I'm going to count down a bunch of my favorites, and give you something to listen to while reading. 45. Beirut - Riptide Beirut - Santa Fe A much more accessible, hookladen, and easy to enjoy album was released by Beirut this year. This album will [...]

So here we go, the top 20 albums of 2011 from Sound of The Overground... Accompanying each entry is a track to listen to a video to watch and a brief, Twitter-friendly pocket review... 20: Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong Pocket Review: A big debut to follow up but the fuzzed out shimmering melodies of Pains of Being Pure At [...]

Marcelo Krasilcic The Magnetic Fields are back. But wait, you might argue, they never really went away. Sure, three albums in the past decade doesn't really match the rate of output that Stephin Merritt was maintaining in the '90s - particularly when you take into account his other projects - but it ain't nothing. And yet it's accurate on many levels that The Magnetic Fields are back: they're back on Merge , the label that released their greatest records including the risky and magnificent 69 Love Songs [...]
So here we are... the largest Obscure Sound compilation ever made. 21 tracks, 83 minutes. Enjoy
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 Hey all! Throughout the year I've written about a slew of local acts, and now I'm telling you which ones were my absolute favorites. Take a look. Dan's Year-End List 10) Various Artists - Casual Victim Pile II - A worthy follow-up to one of my favorite albums of 2010. As with its predecessor, there are a few misses, but so many more great discoveries. One such highlight is the incredible track by OBN III, [...]

Frying saxophone solos! Synthesizers recreating lost sunny days! Nihilistically lewd mixtapes inspiring dozens of new entries on Urban Dictionary! Tricked-out dubstep for American mall rats! The musical trends that defined much of 20112s critically-lauded output were roundly ignored by my favorite records of the year. The best albums of the year invented their own one-band microgenres. EMA gave us California confessional poetry, while WU LYF reinvented protest punk for a generation without a cause. Wolves in the Throne Room continued to hone their environmental black metal. Das Racist refined their postmodern identity joke rap. Peaking Lights invented Midwestern dub, and [...]