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Listen: Future Islands – “The Definitive Collection” LP

Future Islands recently released a double LP collection. This collection compiles all of their music from 2003-2005 when they were known as Art Lord & the Self-Portraits. The LP includes downloads for all four original albums, mastered LP tracks, 2 early live shows, rare demos, “Sad Apples, Dance!” a compilation track. The LP is limited to 1,000 copies and is currently available on their website.

Tracklisting:

– Side A
1. I’m the Law (live)
2. Art School Dropout (live)
3. Too Many Artists (live)
4. Little Line Drawing (live)
5. (We’re in the Same) Bubble Baby
– Side B
6. Skeleton
7. Bouncing Away
8. Self-Portrait Anthem
9. Galapogos Wasteland
10. Bowl of Cherries
– Side C
11. Lantern Sigh
12. Street Pharaoh
13. We Were Flames
14. Pineapple Smiles
15. Let’s all cut our hair the same & ride around in a Le Sabre
– Side D
16.Atlas
17. Pyramids
18. I, I, I
19. City’s An Animal
20. Death Too Prou

Listen: Mark Martyre – “Down, Record”

By Harri Gibson ⋅ February 16, 2013 ⋅ One comment

Mark Martyre, Canadian singer-songwriter, late last year unveiled the album Down, Record. This release sounds as if Bruce Springsteen with his raspy vocals decided to put out a solo acoustic album, modelling the guitar and harmonica stylings of Neil Young. It is gratifying to see modern artists continuing to produce exceptional folk albums. In Martyre’s words about his release, “I’ve always paid attention to the lyrics in the songs I listen to. It’s always been an important part to me. I tried to keep the music simple, and give the lyrics, and the listener room to breathe.” Down, Record is available to purchase on his Bandcamp page and stream below. More information about Mark Martyre can be found on his website and Facebook page.

Listen: Old English – “Prose & Khans”

By Harri Gibson ⋅ February 13, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

Old English, dream indie pop band, recently released their debut album Prose & Khans. This release combines multiple genres to produce an unparalleled sound with each track having a different resonance. It is nice to see a band being innovative and not jumping on the bandwagon of the generic “indie” sound. You can download a free 3-song sampler of the album on their Bandcamp page or stream the entire album below.

Here is what Matt Henderson of Old English had to say about the album “The songs are meticulously detailed, layered, and belong side by side, the way they were written. In total there were 27 songs written for the album. Each song’s survival hinged on how well they related to the previously completed tracks. New aesthetic elements and musical personalities were constantly being added, but this process created a narrative, both lyrically and sonically.”

Listen: Ricky Eat Acid – “I can hear the heart breaking as one”

By Harri Gibson ⋅ February 7, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

Ricky Eat Acid has released a new song titled I can hear the heart breaking as one after working on it for a longtime. Surprisingly this track is a much more hi-fi unlike his prior releases under this moniker. However though, his haunting atmosphere is still very present. You can listen to it below and download it from Soundcloud.

In Ray’s own words about the track, “i’ve been having this dream that spans a few weeks and each night in my dream it grows less and less dark until the last few nights it stays completely light out even though there’s no sun and at that point i just stop sleeping and on the last night i go outside at 4 am and the sky is blue and i go inside to grab my camera because of the way the trees look against the blue sky and my dad is in my room reading the bible on my bed with my cat sitting on his lap and he tells me that the end is coming soon.”

Listen: Wildlife – “Born To Ruin”

By Harri Gibson ⋅ February 2, 2013 ⋅ One comment

Wildlife, Canadian five-piece indie rock band have released their first single Born To Ruin from their upcoming sophomore album …On The Heart set to be released on March 5, 2013. Wildlife consists of five friends who put their hearts into the music they make, with all the violence and romance they can muster. With this shared goal the result is songs with passion and emotion portrayed so evidently.

In Dean Povinsky’s own words about the album, “We recorded a bunch of the songs with brilliant producer and audiophile Peter Katis (Interpol, The National), someone we’ve had our ears on for a very long time. We lived in his home, ate his soup, petted his cats and made music with our minds wide open. We recorded the other bunch with producers Gus Van Go and Werner F (The Stills, Hollerado), two extremely talented guys that opened up a completely different set of doors. Then we took it back to Peter and hunkered down to mix.”

You can listen to Born To Ruin below, and check out their Facebook and Bandcamp pages for more information and to listen to their first album.

Listen: Drake – “Started From The Bottom”

By Frank Wu ⋅ February 1, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

Since releasing his Take Care near the end of 2011, Drake has been keeping his solo material close to the heart, only making occasional appearances with his blistering verses and hooks on other artists’ songs (see ASAP Rocky‘s “F**kin’ Problem”, Future‘s “Fo’ Real”, Lil Wayne‘s “Love Me” for examples). So there’s something inherently exciting about “Started From The Bottom,” the Mike Zombie and 40-assisted debut single from Drizzy’s next solo album. It’s a little bit repetitive — probably to help silence everyone who still claims that Drake’s career was gifted to him on a Degrassi-greased plate or that he just somehow stumbled haphazardly onto the world stage, but the bottom line here (no pun intended) is that he’s worked hard for everything he has now and that he’s here to stay.

Here’s what Drake had to say about it on the OVO blog:

My good friends,

It has truly been too long. I assume you’re all keeping well and making the most of this year that has been given to us. Today is the day to begin sharing my newest work with you. This is the first single off of my upcoming album. I feel sometimes that people don’t have enough information about my beginnings and therefore they make up a life story for me that isn’t consistent with actual events. My family and my second family (consisting of the best friends anybody could ever have) all struggled and worked extremely hard to make all this happen. I did not buy my way into this spot and it was the furthest thing from easy to achieve. I am proud of every part of my past and I’m excited for this song to find a place in your life as well. I didn’t feel I needed any interviews or radio or press to launch this song. It felt right to come back to the site that I started on and release it to the people that started here with me. Judging by this post, the tour that we’ve been planning, the conversations about new songs and album artwork…I think it’s safe to say we’re back together again. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

“You don’t have to ask me how I’m doing…just listen to the music” – K.Samir

Listen: Julia Brown – “library”

By Harri Gibson ⋅ January 30, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

After the disbandment of Sam Ray’s project Teen Suicide, I was hopeful that a formation of a new band would occur and fortunately it did. Sam Ray, whom we have mentioned earlier under the moniker of Ricky Eat Acid, has teamed up with Alec Simke, and John Toohey to form a new band called Julia Brown. This three piece noise pop band already have two songs circulating from the upcoming eight song album, to be close to you hopefully out by the end of February.

You can download one of the songs off the upcoming release called library. It was released through a friend of the band, Mat Cothran’s (Coma Cinema/Elvis Depressedly) blog. Compared to Teen Suicide this track has a much more pop aesthetic with both male and female vocals creating a completely different sound and an all together beautiful track. Fans of any of the bands affiliated with the Unlimited Free Milkshakes Label or part of the 420 Love Songs compilation should definitely check this band out. You can listen to a Julia Brown B-side song titled dizzy below.

Track Listing:

1. ‘im falling in love’
2. library
3. how i spent my summer
4. i will do this for the rest of my life
5. 5/21/11
6. i was my own favorite tv show the summer my tv broke
7. virginia
8. to be close to you

Stream: Unknown Mortal Orchestra- II

By Erik Barns ⋅ January 27, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

On February 5th, Unknown Mortal Orchestra will be releasing their sophomore record II. Unknown Mortal Orchestra is a three piece American/New Zealand indie rock band formed by Ruban Nielson in 2010. With the release of their first track “Ffunny Ffriends” they created mass amounts of buzz throughout the indie scene, everyone wanted to know who was behind this lo-fi/psychedelic single. II is a wonderfully breezy, psychedelic record. It’s full of poppy guitar riffs that blend well with the soft and mysterious falsetto vocals. Tracks like “The Opposite Afternoon” and “From the Sun” are some of my favorites and relate to some of R. Stevie Moore’s work, but with a more well rounded sound. The record flows very nicely and is full of tracks that don’t disappoint.

Their new record II, is available for streaming exclusively through NPR and can be preordered from their website. They begin touring February 2nd, all of their February dates are available below, the dates to the rest of their tour are also available on their website.

Tour Dates:
Feb 02 – Zepp Divercity (Tokyo, Japan)

Feb 06 – Trix Club (Antwerp, Belgium)

Feb 07 – Paradiso (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Feb 08 – Prince Charles (Berlin, Germany)

Feb 13 – Great American Music Hall (San Francisco, CA)

Feb 14 – Constellation Room (Santa Ana, CA)

Feb 15 – Echoplex (Los Angeles, CA)

Feb 16 – Beauty Bar (Las Vegas, NV)

Feb 18 – Lowbrow Palace (El Paso, TX)

Feb 19 – The Korova (San Antonio, TX)

Feb 20 – The Mohawk (Austin, TX)

Feb 21 – Fitzgerald’s (Houston, TX)

Feb 22 – One Eyed Jacks (New Orleans, LA)

Feb 23 – 529 (Atlanta, GA)

Feb 27 – Rock & Roll Hotel (Washington, DC)

Feb 28 – Bowery Ballroom (New York, NY)

Mar 01 – First Unitarian Church (Phildelphia, PA)

Listen: The Strokes – “One Way Trigger”

By Harri Gibson ⋅ January 26, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

The Strokes, garage rock indie band from New York, have released a new song called One Way Trigger from their upcoming fifth album. This synth filled song reminds me of an 80’s pop song combined with frontman Casablancas trying a new approach to his vocals. The track features his familiar distorted vocals alongside a falsetto approach, which he surprisingly pulls off. This release creates a lot of anticipation for what their new album will sound like and if they will stray farther away from their original garage rock sound like they did with their last release Angles. You can listen to the track below, and download it for free from their website.

Listen: Pill Friends – “Forgetting You”

By Erik Barns ⋅ January 19, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

Next week Pill Friends will release their EP Murder Me For My Sins. Pill Friends is a three piece lo-fi band out of Philadelphia, incorporating cello, drums and guitar. While their number of releases are limited, their style varies greatly from song to song. They recently released Forgetting You, one of the featured tracks on the new EP. The track has a very ambient feel to it, which is a completely different direction compared to songs like Bummertime and Pillspillspills. Despite lack of a completeness factor to each release, Pill Friends are admirably something different to add to your music library. The punk/lo-fi feeling is energizing and catchy. Stream or download Forgetting You below and be sure to check out the full EP sometime next week and download their previous EP for free on their Bandcamp.

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