Listen: Mark Martyre – “Down, Record”

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.

Topshelf Records’ V-Day Charity Four-Way Split

Topshelf Records have released a 4-way digital split featuring Old Gray, Modern Baseball, The Hundred Acre Woods & Julia Brown. All proceeds from this split will go to the charity V-Day, “a global movement to end violence against women and girls.”

Cam Boucher, of Old Gray’s words about this release. “With all of our respective bands currently working to promote records of our own, we thought it would be nice to come together and try to use any attention that we’ve recieved as bands to help give back to the community.”

The split is available to purchase now on Topshelf Record’s Bandcamp page with downloads being sent out at 4pm EST on Valentine’s Day. I recommend buying this release as the proceeds go to a good cause, and of course you get new tracks from amazing bands.

Listen: Old English – “Prose & Khans”

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.”

Live Review: fun. @ Boston, MA’s The Orpheum (02/01)

Bands: fun., Andrew McMahon
Location: Boston, Massachusetts’s The Orpheum
Date: February 1, 2013
All pictures by Avery Fiftal for Lost In The Sound

You may know fun. simply as the band that sings “We Are Young” or maybe you know them as the band that had 3 songs in the Billboard Top 100 in 2012 and who had their second full album, Some Nights, recently go platinum, but this band has much more humble beginnings than this.

fun. was formed in February 2008 after Nate Ruess’s former band The Format split. Fun. was formed when Ruess brought in Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff from Anathallo and Steel Train, and they released their first album, Aim and Ignite, in August 25, 2009. This album took off in the alternative music scene getting recognition as a progressive and amazingly written pop album. The next year, fun. set off on their first North American tour with the band Jack’s Mannequin.

Two years later and the song “We Are Young” started changing this band’s life. On March 7, 2012, Fun’s single “We Are Young” reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and their sophomore album, Some Nights, took off from there and they have been continuously touring since.

Now, fun.’s back on tour and this time they brought out Andrew McMahon (ex-Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate), and I must say; this was a show to remember.

Andrew McMahon opened the show with a mix of classic Something Corporate songs along with his soulful Jack’s Mannequin tunes. Though not many people in the crowd seemed to know many of McMahon’s songs due to the fact that he was added to the tour after it was sold out, he seemed to capture the attention of many prospective fans. As McMahon’s first solo tour the few fans in the crowd were greatly anticipating what was to come about, and I must say, as a fan myself, I was thoroughly impressed. With everything from “Dark Blue” to “I Woke Up In A Car” we were able to hear Andrew McMahon’s journey over the last 10 years. It was simply amazing to be able to see McMahon perform live for the first time as a solo artist and be able to see his growth all in one performance.

Next, it was fun’s turn to play to the full house at The Orpheum. They opened with “Out On the Town”, a bonus track from Some Nights and you could feel the excitement of the crowd completely radiate throughout the room. Dedicated fans of fun. screamed the lyrics along with Ruess and as the set progressed, you could feel the amazement and astonishment of the crowd grow as more and more well known songs were performed. “Some Nights” and “We Are Young” got screaming whoops and a rowdy singalong from every head in that crowd, while the lyrics to songs such as “Barlights” and “The Gambler” flowed out of devoted fans alike.

Fun. put on a show that was thoroughly impassioned and impressive to new and old fans alike. Their like show all in all proved why this band has taken off so well in the last year. Everything from Ruess’s extraordinary stage presence to Jack Antoff’s staggering guitar solos to Andrew Dost playing everything from piano to stealing Ruess’s famous gold microphone, it was a show to remember. And the Boston Celtics jerseys weren’t a bad touch either.

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

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.”