Grandaddy - Sumday

Sometimes bright & happy, sometimes glum, and always musically apt, Grandaddy delivers their crowning achievement full of catchy lyrics and memorable hooks.

Grandaddy - Sumday

It's Christmas, so let's be glad!

Two of my many favorite Christmas albums. 20 days left!!!!! Merry Christmas Everyone!


Sufjan Steven -Songs for Christmas Vol. V: Peace

James Brown Christmas

Lucky Soul

Lucky Soul dropped their debut months ago, but it didn't occur to me how good they were until I heard Ali Howard's voice resonating beautifully on the 60's style love ballad, "My Darling Anything." They haven't created what I'd call a new sound, but they're making 60's doo-wop sound new and fresh. Their album The Great Unwanted is an album that has a little something for everyone; soft love ballads, fun pop songs, songs that make want to weep, and songs that make you feel good about life, so go out on by it.





My Darling Anything_Mp3

Arg, To much to do.

Balancing a job and the hours of school work I get a night are hard enough, so I can't ever seem to find the time put any new posts up, but that doesn't mean I'm not keeping up with music. I've gotten tons of great tracks lately and I'm frankly overwhelmed with good music. Heres some really great new stuff and just some stuff that I'm just really into right now.

Baskervilles_Sucresale Fire On Fire-Hangman Clear Tigers - Boredom

Faces-Ooh la la The Extraordinaires-Neighborhood Watch The Len Price 3- Amsterdam

Vampire Weekend

Brooklyn quartet, Vampire Weekend, sing about the collegiate experience. With all of the Oxford and Cambridge references, you can't help a what a preppy, rich student feels. I find the subject they've chose to write about is very interesting. The lyrics are really quite cool and the music is even better. They've created a very refreshing sound, something very crisp, yet high energy. Their songs range from soft violins on "Walcott" to the goofy guitar riff and tribal drums on "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa." ("Cape Cod" really reminds of Paul Simon's "Graceland") The best part about this band is that their music is fresh throughout the entire album, which deserves a repeat listen. Though the lyrics of arrogance and affluence are a mainstay on the album , the songs vary, but all keep you intently listening.

They've signed to XL Recordings and they've release the Yellow EP. Their debut doesn't come out until January 29th, but until then you should check out their EP and the free Day Trotter session.



Boston_MP3

Day Trotter Session

The Russian Futurists

The Russian Futurists are my favorite band at the moment. Their blending of beautiful pop songs and funky beats creates pure bliss.Their second album , Let's Get Ready To Crumble, showed how they can write perfect pop and their third album, Our Thickness, proved they can keep the songs coming. After three awesome albums, they've released a singles collection, which can only be described as fun. Fun; that pretty much sums up the whole band.

"Precious Metals"-Russian Futurists_MP3

Russian Futurists_Web Page

Barzin-"Just More Drugs"

Anyone whose had a subscription to Magnet magazine knows that their Best New Music CDs are hit or miss. Some songs suck and some are just boring, but every so often you find a song like Barzin's "Just More Drugs." It's a soft lo-fi folk ballad. It oddly reminds me of a slow mo-town type song; the way the bass steadily rocks back and forth and still stays interesting. It's really chill song that holds your attention the entire way through. Coming across a song like this can always brighten my day.

After doing a little research on the band, I found out the band has already released two full-length albums and they're working on a third. It started out as solo project, but has evolved into a full band, including Tony Dekker of the Great Lake Swimmers. I checked out some more of their stuff and they're actually quite good. See for yourself!

Just More Drugs_MP3 Magnet
BarzinWebsite Myspace

Brazos

Brazos is a rock quartet out of Austin, Texas. I first learned of this group through the solo works of band member Martin Crane. Martin Crane's "We're Interlocking" is simple song that you can't help but sing along to with fun lyrics like, "It's a bitter conflict/Yeah it's staring contest." The song has a constant chord progression with jungle like drums and a tambourine; basically everything I could ever want in one song.

Brazos sound a little more like main-stream rock than Martin's solo works, but their still, none the less, very enjoyable. "Mary Jo" is jaunty rock song full of catchy hooks and lively synth. It's a fun song.

Interlocking MP3.
Mary Jo MP3.
Martin Crane.
Brazos.

Unicorns Are People Too

Before Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? the Unicorns released an album called Unicorns Are People Too. This first release is one of my favorite lo-fi pop albums. It's much flatter than Who Will Cut Our Hair, but it's just as melodic and poppy. Though the songs lack the over-tone of Jamie Thompson's drumming, they still bring the full presence of the Unicorns. It complimentars to their Alien8 debut in a way that Nick Thorburn's project Islands cannot. It shows the two writers Alden Penner and Nick Thorburn's collaboration at best, yet it you can still see the distinct differences between the too.

Many of the songs are early versions of Who Will Cut Our Hair songs. These repeats are worth having because of their minute, but still important differences. "I Was Born(A Unicorn)" is so cute on this record; it features sections that the other version does not and it omits the creepy talking part the Who Will Cut Our Hair version has. It also features non Who Will Cut Our Hair tracks like "I Do It" and "52 Favorite Things"(2 of my favorites.) You can really see what Alden added to the group with songs like "William, Clap Your Hands" and you can see how Nick evolved into the song writing that has become Islands-Return To The Sea. One of my favorite components of this album is the song "Thunder&Lightning", which is a primitive version of the Islands song "Swans." I highly reccomend early Unicorns recordings, especially this album.

P.S If you download Three Inches of Blood EP, "Do The Knife Fight" is one of my favorite songs of all time. :)

Unicorns Are People Too, Three Inches of Blood EP, and bootlegs are up for download here.

A soothing seizure

Today while looking around for new music a came across some refreshing new sounds. First is my new favorite song "The Flowers Are Blooming" by Froggystein. It starts out as a simple lo-fi pop tune with a steady beat. More noise is added in until an abrupt eruption of drums and noise until it decomposes, exposing the musical roots of the song writing. It's a refreshing, yet familiar sound.

Dreamburger. Their myspace is a seizure. Be prepared. Best song = Pit bull terrier.

The Flower Are Blooming MP3
Froggystein.

Dreamburger.

Alden Penner

Since the break up of the Unicorns, Nicholas Thorburn and drummer Jamie Thompson have went on to form Islands and Th' Cornn Gang; but whatever happened to the third unicorn? The answer is he's been making beautiful music. Alden Penner has recorded a bundle of great lo-fi tunes, scored the 2005 film The Hamster Cage, and taken part in various Canadian indie projects. His solo stuff is quite pleasing to me and I highly suggest a download, but his latest indie incarnation is the quartet Clues. Clues made their live debut this month at the Montreal Pop Festival. The live set was amazing and the new group looks promising. They plan to get their debut out as soon as possible. Check em' out!



Alden Penner bootlegs.

First Post

Hello and welcome to my blog. My blog is dedicated to mainly new music and basically whatever else I feel like posting. I'm very interested in independent and innovative music. There's too much crappy stuff out there to complain about so I'll only be writing about good thing. Please Enjoy.