Yesterday's good highlighted some of the year's best debuts, which makes today the perfect opportunity to highlight tracks from some of 20122s most impressive sophomore efforts. I can only imagine how difficult it is to follow up a debut album, especially when the sophomore release is in high demand. The bands below most definitely avoided the dreaded "sophomore slump", none better so than The xx. Coexist was my most anticipated release of the year and it exceeding all of expectations. Easily my favorite album of the year. And like yesterday's good, the tracks below are a very small [...]
Today is Black Friday, the holiest of holy days for mindless consumerism, so what better time for another edition of Commercial Watch ! Like always, I'm featuring all the latest hip, indie tracks that advertisers are using in their never-ending pursuit to get people to buy more stuff. Since the last edition I've found twenty more commercials you can watch below with MP3s / streams of the songs included. Make sure to click the continue reading link to see them all! Windows 8: Best Coast MP3 [...]
Animal Collective Grizzly Bear Best Coast Sleigh Bells Arcade Fire Foster The People Twin Shadow Vampire Weekend Beck The Flaming Lips 10 Overrated Indie Bands Urgh!! There are sooo many new [...]
What makes an album "good" or "bad" has always been a matter of opinion, but in this day and age when record sales are mattering less and less as they continue to lose ground to the gratuitous ways of the web, the definition of "quality" seems to be in constant evolution. Whether we choose to accept it or not, the industry has changed. Bedroom producers are now garnering the same feedback as facilitated studio bands, and artists that once may have been dismissed due to recording quality (or lack thereof) now find themselves with a legitimate shot [...]
2012 has been nothing if not an awesome year for music. The awesome releases will have to taper off eventually because I'm already overwhelmed. We easily started off with a playlist twice this size before narrowing it down to ten tracks a piece. Apologies, I Have None - 60 Miles Audra Mae - The Real Thing Best Coast - The Only Place Chris Stowe - Sometimes They Give Us Beer For Free [...]
Jon Krop I don't think anyone necessarily expected anything more from Redd Kross than what they'd been offering since reconvening after a decade apart in 2006. Which is to say sporadic live shows - mainly at festivals like NXNE 2008 - where they made their fanbase feel like they were teenagers again by way of their prototypical Californian bubblegum power-pop, as captured on classics of the genre like Phaseshifter and Neurotica . Nothing wrong with that, not at all. But there's also nothing [...]
After taking its sweet time last year, summer has struck back with a vengeance. At least here in the midwest, 90+ degree temperatures and clear, sunny skies are quickly becoming the norm. Of course, with the changing of the seasons not only comes trips to the beach and increased slushie sales but exuberant, feel-good summer jams. As is our tradition here at Music For Ants, we're providing a mix that will hopefully soundtrack some of your 2012 summer memories. Download below or take a listen at Spotify . Enjoy! MP3 Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built [...]
D.L. Anderson It's unlikely bird videos will ever achieve the same degree of online adoration as, say, cat videos, but when said clips come courtesy of artists who push the boundaries of what can be called folk music the way that North Carolina's Bowerbirds and Chicago's Andrew Bird do, a little more attention should be paid. Both artists released their new albums this week - The Clearing and Break It Yourself , respectively - and both have marked the occasion with the [...]
D.L. Anderson It's unlikely bird videos will ever achieve the same degree of online adoration as, say, cat videos, but when said clips come courtesy of artists who push the boundaries of what can be called folk music the way that North Carolina's Bowerbirds and Chicago's Andrew Bird do, a little more attention should be paid. Both artists released their new albums this week - The Clearing and Break It Yourself , respectively - and both have marked the occasion with the [...]
When you compile a list like this, you start to tremble at how much you're really going to absorb in the ensuing months. This doesn't even cover the misses and surprises. If you're a casual listener, you might get through an album a day. Okay, maybe two. If you're a fanatic, you're spinning discographies left and right. Still, after 365 days, either person is buzzing. One's just a little louder with the phonetics. As I wrote back in December, in a year, you'll have your next roundup of favorite albums. You'll have a new favorite song. You might [...]
"Born to Lose" is the first single from Sleigh Bells' second album Reign of Terror, out this February. Judging by this single (MP3 inside), listeners can expect the same sort of cheerleader-like vocal chants and voraciously fuzzy guitar riffs found on 2010's Treats, their widely acclaimed debut full-length. Fun stuff as usual
If you have been wondering where have all the posts been this past week, WEST LA CNCT has a semi-legitimate excuse for the lack of new music. The truth of the matter is that we have all been losing our minds at the musical utopia known as Bonnaroo X. It was hotter than hell. It was dustier than ever. We got maybe three hours of sleep every night. But it was the most magical experience of our lives! Bonnaroo's 10th birthday party kicked [...]
The 10th annual 'Roo is underway. Here are pics of some of the notable sets from the first two days of this year's fest in beautiful, boiling Manchester, TN. Featuring Sleigh Bells, Lil Wayne, Twin Shadow, Big Boi, Wavves and Best Coast (aww), Karen Elson and Jack White ( hmm ), Jim James' hair, and more.
We made it! Though we actually got in on Wednesday night, logistics prevented us from getting into the festival until Thursday morning very early. We have to send a shout out to Andy Keil from fellow Strangers in Stereo member Pop'Stache & his crew for letting us crash on the floor of their hotel for a few hours, without you we wouldn't have made it. The process of getting into Bonnaroo with your vehicle and all your stuff has improved a great deal over the last [...]
View the full roster here. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart recently dropped by KEXP. Purchase The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart items via Insound. MP3: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Everything With You
After watching the recently unearthed footage of Arcade Fire playing a house party in 2002 and a 17-year-old Robin Pecknold covering Radiohead and Simon & Garfunkel, I thought it would be fun to collect more early videos of our favorite bands from before we ever heard them. Well, fun for us, maybe not so much for them... Read More...
It was brought to my attention that Coachella is this weekend. I have not been to Coachella since they made it a three-day festival, in fact the last Coachella I attended was in 2004 when Radiohead headlined, dang 2004, I am really getting old. At that time, I felt that a two day festival made for a long weekend, it was a lot of bands to get through and the temperatures were almost certainly at 100 degrees, so I can't even fathom the kind of marathon energy it would take to get through three days. Also, until a few years [...]
The 10th anniversary of the Sasquatch music festival, which takes place in George, Washington, is going to have quite the lineup this year. For starters, Foo Fighters, Death Cab For Cutie, Wilco, Modest Mouse and The Flaming Lips are headlining this installment, which runs from May 27-30. Furthermore, Flaming Lips will play their 1999 album, The Soft Bulletin , in its entirety. But that's not all! You also get the Decemberists, Death From Above 1979, Chromeo, Guided By Voices, Wolf Parade, Iron and Wine, Against Me!, Flogging Molly, Cold War Kids, Sleigh Bells, [...]
Tweet Light Meets Night Mix - Jan. 31. 2011 Download & Play Tracklist 01. Cut Copy - This is All We've Got 02. Pandit - Artichoke 03. Starfucker - Bury Us Alive 04. Sleigh Bells - Tell Em(Diplo Remix) 05. Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers 06. Arc In Round - Spirit 07. Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I)(Small Black Cover) 08. Cloud Nothings - Should Have Known [...]
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