New xx demo: "Open Eyes".

As if the cosmos were somehow listening to my thoughts, just as I started a pleasant rediscovery of the xx's first album, the internet bears me a gift of new xx material.  Here we have "Open Eyes", a very stripped down version of a new song off of the in-progress sophomore effort.  Sophomore albums are scary ones.  Great bands have crumbled beneath awkward attempts to evolve (Wolf Parade) and some have thrived (Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver).  Hopefully when all the bells and whistles are added to this one, it retains what sounds like a solid core.

New video: Panda Bear - "You Can Count On Me"

Hello again!  A couple days ago Panda Bear released an official music video for one of my favorite songs of the past year: "You Can Count On Me".  If you've been to a Panda Bear show, the video largely looks like the visuals designed by Danny Perez that project on the stage.  There's even a puppy in there...

So here you are, enjoy!

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Hello!  I'm not dead!  The semester is finally wrapping up.  My first screenplay is written (not without very obvious continuity errors BUT HEY I'M TRYIN'), my final portfolio for poetry is coming along, and it's almost EFFIN CHRISTMAS.  Anyway, I was shoppin' today and heard this in a store.  I demanded the clerk tell me who it was.  When they said, "I don't know."  I stood there silently and insisted with my eyes that they find the hell out.  They did.  Turns out it was Unknown Mortal Orchestra, a Portland based group who makes something that sounds like friendly and sometimes heavy Beefheart-esque pop with a hint of hauntology.  Got the album right when I got home.

Here's the song I heard.  Enjoy.  It's awesome for shopping for sweaters to.

Real Estate take away show: "Green Aisles"

Hey all,

So unfortunately, I won't be making it to the Real Estate show at Johnny Breanda's tomorrow as it is sold out and the guest list is full.  Total bummer.  I haven't seen them since May of 2010 in Barcelona and would love to have seen them this time around town.  Humbug.  Anyway, for all of you who are in my shoes or just want a little warm up before the show, here's a video of them doing a take away show for La Blagotheque, Pitchfork TV, and Spotify Live.

New WU LYF video, "We Bros".

Hello!  Long time no see!  Sorry for the disappearing act.  With all the work for both money and school, the blog fell under the weight of my neglect.

Anyway, here's a new video from one of my favorite new bands of this year.

New Real Estate, "Green Aisles".

More newness today!  This time it's from one of my longtime favorites, Real Estate.  The new track is off the upcoming full length, Days due out October 17th.  New Atlas Sound and Real Estate albums narrating the fall months sounds pretty good to me.

Real Estate - Green Aisles by DominoRecordCo

New Atlas Sound, "Modern Aquatic Nightsong".

Long time no see!  Work, school, and post work/school work and post work/school drinking has taken up a large portion of my life.  I've been keeping up with listening to new music, but just not so much blogging about it. Sorry y'all.

Anyway,  what a way to come back!  Here's another song from the upcoming Atlas Sound album, Prallax.  The album, unfortunately, isn't out until November 8th, but hopefully this will tide you over.

New High Times video, "Altos Lugares".

Taken from Gorilla vs Bear.  Enjoy!


High Places - Altos Lugares from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Stream new Neon Indian album, Era Extranea.

This has been up for awhile on NPR's website, but just in case y'all missed it.

Click to listen.

Speaking of Neon Indian, I'll be reviewing his show at the First Unitarian Church for Philadelphia City Paper.  Come on by, say hi!

Animal Collective live: Untitled and "Brothersport".

This has been up on Pitchfork for awhile, but I've only watched it now.  Hope you enjoy it too.

New James Blake EP announced.

Not much information on the upcoming release, only that it's out on October 10th, it's called Enough Thunder, that the album art is probably what's up there, and that it will feature the recently released collaboration with him and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.  More to come... at some point.  In the meantime, if you missed it, here's said collaboration.

New tunes: Woods' "Skull", Dum Dum Girls' "Bedroom Eyes", Surfer Blood's "Miranda"

Hello all.  A few new tracks to share today.

First off is a new track from Woods, who are having a pretty prolific summer having already released their LP Sun and Shade and a single.  The new single is the first track off the split 7" with Philly dude Kurt Vile being put out by Woodsist.  "Skulls" seems to follow a familiar Woods method to writing songs by taking their signature psych-folk-rock and tweaking it slightly.  The results are pretty satisfying, as Woods has seemed to find a way to not change so much that old fans are disapointed, but to change enough to make it sound fresh.  And since Woods have established a firm, original foundation, little tweaks to their tried and true style makes for solid songs.

Here's the MP3 (click)

Next track we've got is a new one off the upcoming Dum Dum Girls album, Only In Drems.  If you listened to the first released track, "Coming Down", which was a dark, gloomy moan, the first thing you'll notice is that this track is much brighter and edges toward pop music the way the girls never have before.  Makes me stoked for the new album.  Check it out...

Here (click)

Lastly, we have the Florida power-pop dudes Surfer Blood.  "Miranda" is an upcoming track off their EP Tarot Classics.  It sounds like a mix of Surfer Blood's old material with a little bit of Smiths and then maybe a little more Weezer.  The guys seemed to have toned down the guitar-rock aspects of their music which may come as a pleasant surprise to some and a disapointment to others.  Color me slightly disapointed.

Here (click)

Have a good hurricane.

Pre Dum Dum Girls band, Grand Ole Party, album released.

Hello again.

Before there was the Dum Dum Girls there was a San Diego group called Grand Ole Party, and before Dee Dee was calling herself Dee Dee, she was Kristen Gundred, singer and drummer of Grand Ole Party.  The only album they released was Humanimals before breaking up in 2009... but there was another.

Under Our Skin was recorded but never released but will be on August 30th.  I'm going to try to post the embed for the widget below, but these things never seem to work.  Here's to hoping.

Too much new stuff pt. 1: Bon Iver + James Blake colaboration, Washed Out video, new Atlas Sound.

As usual, I take a break from blogging and all this cool stuff happens.  Well first off let me talk about some plans I have for the future:

Well, I've been working my 9-5, trying to get some writing done (poetry-wise and media-wise), buuuuut I want to make a HOW TO PAINT SUNLIGHT END OF SUMMER PLAYLIST.  Any suggestions would be more than welcome.  Put it in the comments section!  Anything is welcome whether it's old or new.

Anyway, there's an insane amount of cool stuff I'd like to write about so I better get started:

First off, Atlas Sound came out with a new song that will be on the upcoming album titled Parallax which is due out November 8th.  I'm not the biggest fan of Pensylvania winters, but music like Atlas Sound makes winter a little more bearable and with the new album coming out in November, I couldn't think of more perfect timing for new Atlas Sound material.

(RIGHT)CLICK HERE FOR A FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE SONG.

Okay, next order of business.

Apparently Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and post-dubstep and Deptford native artist James Blake bumped into each other at this past SXSW festival.  They hung out for a little and decided to do a little collaboration.  It's one of those moments in music where fans everywhere let out a resounding "Really? Nice!"  Here it is:



And lastly, in what has been quite a summer for Washed Out (Ernest Green), here's another little tidbit of music from him.  This time, it's an alternate version of the song "Far Away" featuring Yours Truly.


Yourstru.ly Presents: Washed Out "Far Away" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.


More to come!

New Fresh & Only's, "I Would Not Know The Devil".

The Fresh and Only's are returning with more recorded work in the way of a single released by the London label Sexbeat (not sure if they have any relation to the London group by the same name).  The newest 7" comes after what was one of the best albums of last year, Play it Strange.  Anyway, it's a catchy and driving Only's song that I think you guys will like.  Right click the link below and press "Save Target As" to download the MP3.

LINK

New Feist, "How Come You Never Go There".

Well look whose back!  Feist has been taking a really long break since the huge success of The Reminder.  She made little cameos here and there, including The Colbert Report's Christmas special a few years back which was pretty funny.  The new track isn't anything truly groundbreaking for Feist, but it's still good.  It's a jazzy sort of song full of horns and doo-woppy backup vocals all with the signature voice.  It's refreshing to hear Feist's voice again after all these years.  The new album, Metals, will drop on October 4th... my birthday.

Thanks Feist, I appreciate it.

How Come You Never Go There by Feist

New (sort of) Warpaint, "Billie Holiday".

I love Warpaint.  They're the closest thing to a reincarnation of Nico (ala Velvet Underground) that's out there with smooth psych instrumentation.  Also an incredible band to see live.  They recently announced that their next single will be "Billie Holiday".  Now some of you may be scratching your head saying "Well, wait... didn't that come out already?"  Well you'd be right.  It came out on the Exquisite Corpse EP a few years back.  Turns out though, it's been reworked for release on the deluxe edition of the upcoming debut full-length, The Fool.  It'll drop on September 19th.  Here's the track:

http://www.roughtraderecords.com/warpaint/4041/warpaint-billie-holiday-and-deluxe-album

New Ganglians, "Drop the Act".

Here's a band I haven't listened to in awhile: Ganglians.  They're a west coast psych rock band that has ties with the Woodsist label.  They put on a pretty good live act as I've seen them play in 3 different countries over the years.  Not only that, they're totally approachable dudes.  When I saw them play in Philly years back I sat outside with Ryan Grubbs and chatted with him for quite awhile.  I was completely unaware they were coming out with something new until today, and I gotta say it's a real pleasant surprise.  The new song here, "Drop the Act", is off their upcoming 4th album, Still Living (as if to chastise me for not listening to them more recently) which is due out on the 22nd of this month.

I'm digging this one.  It sounds like the Ganglians I fell in love with years ago (strange sentence), but with the freshness of tighter songwriting and recording equipment.  I'm highly reccomending this.  Right click the link and press "Save Target As" to download the MP3:

Ganglians - Drop the Act

New Jamie xx, "Structures".

I was a little late to the Jamie xx party, but better late than never.  One of the integral members of the xx, Jamie, has been steadily putting out incredible electronic tracks that have the same simple tenderness of the xx but also allow Jamie to flex his song engineering muscles.  I was a little late to the xx party in general a few years back, but when the track "Far Nearer" was released I vowed to never sleep on any member of the xx.  Ever. Again.

So here we are, with a new little sample of a project that I sort of understand.  I'll give a shot in trying to explain it.  There's a visual artist that goes by the moniker Quayola, who apparently makes some nifty computer generated things.  Jamie and Quayola recently teamed up as part of a project put together by RizLab.  The entire project itself is described as a live audiovisual event/collaboration between the two, in which Jamie's music and Quayola's visuals intermingle.  The video here is a trailer for the upcoming event.  I'll keep you posted when I know more.  For now, here's the trailer:


Jamie xx + Quayola - "Structures" from disco naïveté on Vimeo.


Sounds pretty good to me.  Stuff like this leaves me hungry for some sort of album or something.  Or, dare I say, a second xx album...

New Girls video, "Vomit".

Sorry for the long absense, everybody. Started my MFA program this past week and was barely near a computer by choice.  Anyway, here's a new video from Girls via Gorilla vs Bear.

The Morning Benders, Real Estate and others release Strokes tribute album.

It's hard to forget The Stroke's debut album, Is This It.  If you were anything like me, it completely changed the way I looked at music as a youngin.  In a time where Nu Metal was waaay too relavent for any point in history, we had a bunch of Eddie Vedder copycats that were doing a bad job (Creed and the like), and you couldn't walk two feet without experiencing the total sensory overload of pop music, The Strokes dawned their capes and saved music as we know it, shifting our view of what popular music could and should be.

We went from this:

FUTURE HALLWAY

To this:

The sea change prompted fans and record companies alike to pay attention to unsigned bands, injecting interest and momentum into independant music around the world.  Gary Mullholland of The Observer also notes that the success of The Strokes 1960's influenced garage rock music "made every forgotten art-pop experiment of the late 70s and early 80s instantly hip and ripe for reinvention".  If there's a more integral part of our current music landscape today, for better or for worse, it's reinvention.  So all those garage rock bands, electro synth artists, avant pop, chill wave, folky chamber pop groups, you can thank the Strokes.

Stereogum and a few bands including The Morning Benders, Real Estate, and Peter Bjorn and John agree and have made their appreciation of the seminal album known by covering each song off of Is This It and releasing it for free through Stereogum.  Whether it's Real Estate's half-speed version of "Barely Legal" or The Morning Benders disco-lounge version of "Last Night", each band shows their appreciation through covering and follows it up with a brief paragraph on what the album meant to them.  It's a cool feature for an album that deserves nothing but mythical status.

Here's a tracklist and download links:

Stroked: A Tribute to Is This It:



01 Peter Bjorn and John: "Is This It"

02 Chelsea Wolfe: "The Modern Age"

03 Frankie Rose: "Soma"

04 Real Estate: "Barely Legal"

05 Wise Blood: "Someday"

06 Austra: "Alone, Together"

07 The Morning Benders: "Last Night"

08 Owen Pallett: "Hard to Explain"

09 Heems: "New York City Cops"

10 Deradoorian: "Trying Your Luck"

11 Computer Magic: "Take It or Leave It"




Click here for a free download of the zip files or click here to go to Stereogum and stream the songs.

New Girls, "Vomit".

Howdy.  Sorry there haven't been as many updates lately.  Sleepiness is to blame.  I can't really listen to this right now (at work) but I'm sure it'll COOL you off during this little peek at hell folks are calling a heatwave.  Temp is 102 in Philly.  Yuck.  Well here's a new Girls track called "Vomit".  Not sure what to tell you about it since I haven't had a listen to it myself.  Hopefully it's good and I didn't waste your time.

As you were.

MP3:
http://cdn01.cdn.gorillavsbear.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Vomit.mp3

New Dum Dum Girls track, "Coming Down".

Below is the first track, "Coming Down", released from the 2nd Dum Dum Girls album called Only In Dreams due out September 27th via Subpop.  It's a great, slow, swoon that highlights the longing side of the Dum Dum Girls' music that plays such a nice contrast to their more driving garage-psych tunes.  Think "Take Care" off of He Gets Me High with a little more going on.  The song seems to be very intimate to Dee Dee.  In the Dum Dum Girls' newsletter sent out early this morning she writes:

Liebe,





Dum Dum Girls have a new record coming out late September, Only In Dreams.


Pitchfork is going to premier a slowburner of a song called "Coming Down" tomorrow morning, on July 19th. (After the premier, you will also be able to find it on our website)




I won't lie; it's heart on sleeve.




Have you ever numbed yourself to avoid pain only to oscillate between the subconscious and conscious? Ever felt compelled to address Life itself?




Things can be so awful but at least they can also be bliss.




Hope you listen to the song and feel something.




XOXO


Dee Dee
 

Give them your email and get it for free.

New venue: Union Transfer details, upcoming show list.

The newest venue gracing Philly is Union Transfer, the brainchild of Sean Agnew of R5 Productions, Jim Glancy of Bowery Presents, and Avram Hornik of Four Corners Management.  While there was no mystery of the new venue's existence, we now have some official news the aforementioned dudes themselves.

Here's what Sean Agnew of R5 had to say:

Sorry to bombard your inbox this week but we think this is a pretty special occasion and worthy of an additional e-mail! After months of speculation, rumors, blog posts and a posted tour date or two - it comes with great pleasure that we can officially announce UNION TRANSFER, a brand new venue opening up in Center City this September! Union Transfer will hold 600 people (with a flexible capacity to accommodate more people if/when we need to) in what most people know as "the old Spaghetti Warehouse" building at 10th and Spring Garden. What most people do not know is that the building was originally an old luggage depot station in the early 1900s originally named "Union Transfer" (that made picking a name so easy!) It's a pretty dramatic space w/ sweeping arches, stained glass, old chandeliers and a whole lot of character. Along with the old furnishings we are adding what we think will be the best and biggest PA/Sound System in Philadelphia. We are thrilled to show it all off later this fall with a bunch of shows that we are really excited about.





The venue is a new joint partnership between myself, Bowery Presents (who book a ton of great shows in nyc and own a few venues of their own) and Four Corners Management (the folks who own Drinkers, Noche, Lucys and a few other bars around town). Over the next few weeks we'll be revealing lots of new shows, pictures and all sorts of other information about the venue. Two things we are really excited to tell you about off the bat : the venue will feature AIR CONDITIONING (and lots of it !) and the venue will be ALL AGES with a separate bar area for those who are 21+ and would like to drink.

Air conditioning??  If anybody's been to a show at the First Unitarian Church in the dead of summer, you'll appreciate that bit more than anyone.  All exciting stuff here.

And here's a list of the first group of shows that are scheduled to go on there:

Union Transfer Scheduled Show Dates:


09/21 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

09/28 Mogwai

09/29 Shellac

10/07 The Aggrolites

10/14 RJD2

10/19 Wild Flag

10/20 Gillian Welch

10/21 CSS

10/23 Dum Dum Girls

10/25 Friendly Fires

10/28 Boris

10/29 We Were Promised Jetpacks

10/31 World Inferno Friendship Society

11/17 The Sea and Cake

11/21 Radio Dept

New Girls album, tour.

Girls announced last week that they'd be releasing their second full length titled Father, Son, Holy Ghost on September 7th and only recently announced that they'd be hitting the road for it.  They play the TLA on September 20th.

Girls tour:



09-03 Los Angeles, CA - FYF Fest

09-14 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse

09-15 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel

09-16 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge

09-17 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle

09-19 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

09-20 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts

09-22-23 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom

09-24 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club

09-26 Montreal, Quebec - POP Montreal Festival

09-27 Toronto, Ontario - Mod Club Theatre

09-29 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall

09-30 Madison, WI - Majestic Theatre

10-01 Minneapolis, MN - First Ave Nightclub

10-04 Vancouver, British Columbia - Biltmore Cabaret

10-05 Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre

10-06 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom

10-08-09 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall

New Kite Party album, "Baseball Season".

Hello everyone. Philly dudes via Tamaqua/New York and personal bros of mine have recently released a new album titled Baseball Season.  Tom Waits said songwriting, "is like capturing birds without killing them.  Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers."  They've been working on the album a few years now, and it seems to me like they've got a lot of songs and not a lot of fluff here.  Listening to the old and then the new has been a crazy journey for me, and for any old fans you're sure to hear a ton of growth and exploration.  If Baseball Season were anything else, it'd be a little black brick of lead, heavy and dense.  There's plenty here to listen to.  You can stream it and buy it for $5 off their bandcamp site.

Once properly reviewed, there may be an interview posted here with Justin Fox (guitars, keyboard).  Note: interviewing skills generally diminish after several PBR pounders while critical analysis of Pokemon squads tends to increase under these conditions.

Link: [Kite Party - Wish Mountain]

Stream new Washed Out, "Within And Without", and Eleanor Friedberger, "Last Summer".

I'm a little late on this one, but NPR has Georgia chillwaver Washed Out's upcoming album Within and Without (out July 12th) up for a free stream.  The tracks released thusfar are pretty sick, so I'm anxious myself to take a listen.  But like many of you, I'll have to wait 'til I'm out of the office.

[Here's where you can click to reveal nice songs.]

This one's a little more current, as NPR also has a stream of Firey Furnaces' Elanor Friedberger's Last Summer.  Check it out...

[Here.]

If NPR had a back, I'd pat it.

New Dom, "Damn".

I've always been a big fan of Dom.  The Worcester dudes hit a sunny-electro-pop vibe that borders on obnoxious but never crosses the line for me.  Here's a new one from them:

http://www.facebook.com/Domband?sk=app_178091127385

Dum Dum Girls annouce new album, tour.

Last year's I Will Be was one of my favorite albums of 2010, this year's EP He Gets Me High was solid as well, and now the Dum Dum Girls have announced today that they will be releasing their sophomore LP Only In Dreams on September 27th.  To go along with the new album the girls have also announced a tour.  They'll be making a stop in Philly with Crocodiles at a future R5 Productions lisenced venue called Union Transfer, a former old warehouse on Spring Garden.  Here's the tracklist and tour:

Only in Dreams:




01 Always Looking

02 Bedroom Eyes

03 Just a Creep

04 In My Head

05 Heartbeat

06 Caught in One

07 Coming Down

08 Wasted Away

09 Teardrops on My Pillow

10 Hold Your Hand




08/08 – Los Angeles, CA @ Sunset Junction Street Fair


10/01 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah $*

10/02 – Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar $*

10/03 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour $*

10/04 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall $*

10/07 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir $*

10/08 – Vancouver, BC @ Electric Owl $*

10/09 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s $*

10/12 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club $*

10/13 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon $*

10/14 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle $*

10/15 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick $*

10/16 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace $*

10/17 – Montreal, QC @ Il Motore $*

10/19 – Boston, MA @ Paradise $@

10/21 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom $@

10/22 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat $@

10/23 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer $@

10/24 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s $@

11/03 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg

11/04 – Cologne, DE @ MTC

11/05 – Lyon, FR @ Tinnitus Festival at Clacson

11/08 – Nantes, FR @ Stereolux

11/09 – Roubaix, FR @ Le Cave aux Poetes

11/10 – Brussels, BE @ Rotande Botanique

11/11 – Amsterdam, NL @ London Calling

11/13 – Manchester, UK @ FAC 251

11/14 – Newcastle, UK @ The Cluny

11/15 – Leeds, UK @ Brundenell Social Club

11/16 – Wrexham, UK @ Central Station

11/17 – London, UK @ ULU



$ = w/ Crocodiles

* = w/ Colleen Green

@ = w/ Royal Baths

New Woods single, updated tour.

Although personal favorite Sun and Shade recently dropped, Woods have already come out with a new single, Find Them Empty.  Here's what the guys at Woodsist had to say via their blog:

As a companion piece to their new full length, Sun and Shade, this single was recorded in the winter of 2011 at Buttermilk Falls in Warwick, NY. Woods have gracefully risen to the top of their class by crafting intricate nostalgic, experimental pop songs that are unforgettable. The A-side, “Find Them Empty” is far less falsetto and way more Bob Trimble than any of their previous work. The B-side, “Be There” is a more jam-friendly number reminiscent of their legendary live shows. The cover of this single features a young Caleb Braaten (Sacred Bones), his father, and a gigantic marijuana plant. Enjoy!

Here's the stream:
"Find Them Empty" by Woods by forcefieldpr

Here's the updated tour dates:

07-11 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall *


07-12 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa *

07-13 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace *

07-14 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop *

07-15 Bloomington, IN - Russian Recording *

07-16 Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival

07-16 Chicago, IL - Subterranean *

07-18 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry ^

07-19 Fargo, ND - The Aquarium ^

07-22 Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party

07-23 Vancouver, British Columbia - Electric Owl ^

07-24 Bellingham, WA - The Shakedown ^

07-25 Portland, OR - Doug Fir ^

07-27 Sacramento, CA - Sol Collective ^

07-28 Felton, CA - Don Quixote's Music Hall ^

07-29 San Francisco, CA - The Independent ^

07-30-31 Big Sur, CA - Woodsist Festival

08-02 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex ^#

08-03 Phoenix, AZ - Trunkspace #

08-04 El Paso, TX - Black Market #

08-05 Austin, TX - The Mohawk #

08-06 New Orleans, LA - Circle Bar #

08-07 Oxford, MS - Cats Purring Dude Ranch #

08-08 Atlanta, GA - The Earl #

08-09 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle #

08-10 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel *#

08-12 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's #

08-13 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom #%

09-04 Dorset, England - End of the Road Festival

09-05 Manchester, England - Manchester Sound Control *

09-06 Glasgow, Scotland - Stereo *

09-07 Bristol, England - The Fleece *

09-08 London, England - The Scala *

* with Kurt Vile and the Violators

^ with the Fresh & Onlys

# with White Fence

% with Ducktails

New Purling Hiss, "Voices".

Local Philly rockers Purling Hiss recently came out with an EP called Lounge Lizards.  Here's a few tracks:

"Voices"
"The Hoodoo"

[via Altered Zones]

New Zola Jesus track, "Vessel", and new album details, tour.

Young and wildly impressive Zola Jesus (Nika Rosa Danilova) has been coming out with pretty solid EPs for the past few years and has announced yet another new one, Conatus, through label Sacred Bones due out on... my birthday!  October 4th!  Here's a stream/download of a song off Conatus called "Vessel".  On top of that, she's announced a few tour dates which I'll list below.  If you get the chance to catch her, don't miss it.  Her spooky yet powerful vocals are really something to hear live.

Zola Jesus - Vessel by souterraintransmissions

Zola Jesus 2011 Tour Dates:


07/16 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival

08/03-07 – Zambujeira Do Mar, PT @ Sudoeste

08/06 – London, UK @ Field Day

08/12-14 – Wilhelmsburg, DE @ Dockville

09/01-04 – Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival

09/02-04 – Stradbally, IE @ Electric Picnic

09/08-11 – Isle of Wight, UK @ Bestival



New Tennis, "Is It True?"

(via heyreverb.com)

The irresistable nautical pop duo Tennis just released this cover of Brenda Lee's 1964 song "Is It True?".  Apparently Jimmy Page played guitar on the original so there's your fun fact for the day.  Here's a stream/free download of it:

Is It True? by tennisinc

Edit:
I noticed that sometimes the embed above doesn't work.  If you can't get it here, click here for it.

New jj, "CELEBRIS".

Not sure what to make of jj's blog but there's new music on there anyway.  I've been spinning jj nº2 lately so this comes at a perfect time.  Here's a free download of the new track.

New Washed Out, "Amor Fati".

Here's a new song off the upcoming Washed Out debut LP, Within and Without (out July 12th via Subpop).

Download/listen to "Amor Fati" here.

And, in case you missed it, here's another track off the new album that was previously released called, "Eyes Be Closed".

Get that one here.

In other news, I just did an interview with Justin of the Philly group Kite Party about their upcoming debut album Baseball Season and the subsequent tour to follow.  Chances are we'll try to sit down again so I can ask more questions, but keep your eyes peeled for the interview soon.

Library of Congress releases free 10,000 song database.

The Library of Congress launched a sort of "jukebox" which is actually a free database of over 10,000 songs recorded before 1925.  While I haven't had a chance to scour any of it myself, the dudes over at Altered Zones have and have made a little playlist of choice tracks.  Pretty cool idea if you ask me!  I'll be searching it myself...

Woods and White Fence tour dates/poster.

Click the poster for full size so you can see the dates.  On 8/12 you can catch em at Johnny Brenda's.

Watch Real Estate play new songs.

Told you.  Real Estate (via their blog) released two videos of them playing live at Bell House.  The first one is a new one that will be on the upcoming LP (release date is October, I think?) and the next one is an even NEWER one that is so freaking new that it won't be on ANYTHING...yet.  So there you go!  Four videos of new stuff today.


Real Estate - "Careless" live from moogie on Vimeo.



Real Estate - Soup or New Song (Live) from Free Spirit on Vimeo.

New Bon Iver video, "Calgary".

Video day today, I guess.  One more post to come about cool videos and things.  Here ya go!

New Panda Bear video, "Surfer's Hymn".

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I've been slacking a little.  I feel good breaking my posting silence with a video for one of the best songs off Panda Bear's Tomboy, "Surfer's Hymn".  Enjoy!



PANDA BEAR "Surfer's Hymn" from m ss ng p eces on Vimeo.

Stream new Bon Iver's new album.

Image from NPR.org

As part of NPR's website's awesome "First Listen" feature, NPR posted a full stream of Bon Iver's new self titled album for free.  Bon Iver joins a great collection of "First Listen" artists such as Panda Bear, Cults, Fucked Up, Peter Bjorn and John, and The Vivian Girls  You can listen to Bon Iver's Bon Iver front to back here.

Black Lips record Daytrotter session

Fresh off the release of Arabia Mountain, Georgia flower-punks Black Lips recorded a session over at Daytrotter featruing songs from the new album.  Check it out here.

Real Estate release summer tour dates, sign with Domino.

One of my favorite bands of the last few years, Real Estate, announced that they have signed to Domino who will put out there 2nd album this October.  Along with that, the Jersey dudes announced a summer tour kicking off at Johnny Brenda's in early July.  Having seen Real Estate live a few times now (in Philly, London, and Barcelona) I can safely say that they are a solid band to see live.  Going to pitch it over to City Paper and see if I can get a press pass to write a review. 

Here's the full list of dates:

07-09 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's


07-10 Washington, DC - Red Palace *

07-11 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 *

07-12 Atlanta, GA - The Earl *

07-13 Oxford, MS - Proud Larry's*

07-14 Nashville, TN - Hard Rock Cafe / Sounds Like Summer *

07-17 Chicago, IL - Subterranean *

07-18 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick *

07-19 Toronto, Ontario - The Garrison *

07-20 Montreal, Quebec - Il Motore *

07-23 Brooklyn, NY - Prospect Park Bandshell #

07-24 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's *

07-31 Big Sur, CA - Henry Miller Library / Woodsist Festival

08-02 San Francisco, CA - The Independent %



* with Dent May

# with the Feelies, Times New Viking

% with Dominant Legs, Melted Toys

New Panda Bear video: "Slow Motion"

Here's a new video for the Tomboy track "Slow Motion". The video also features an interview with Panda Bear and some live footage as well. Enjoy!

New Jamie xx, "Far Nearer", "Beat For".

Incredible.  Love every second of it.

Jamie xx - Far Nearer (limited vinyl & download out now - http://farnearer.com) by Numbers

Jamie xx - Beat For (limited vinyl & download out now - http://farnearer.com) by Numbers

Slow day... so here's a few videos.

Hey everyone.  Slow day with news or new music or anything like that.  There's stuff out there, but just not stuff I really feel like committing a full post to.  I'll let you know some plans anyway.  I'm trying to compile a May-June playlist at the moment for you all to enjoy (probably be posted on SoundCloud then embedded here).  Right now I'm finding myself with 3-4 songs per artist which kinda makes for a boring playlist, but I'm working on cutting out the fat and finding a few more things.  So there's that.  Weekends are always slow for news and new stuff so I'll probably not be around in a serious way 'til Sunday or Monday.

In the meantime here's a funny video of baby sloths doing cute things and 2 really awesome videos of The Ramones performing live.  Enjoy!  Have a nice weekend, y'all.


Meet the sloths from Lucy Cooke on Vimeo.

WU LYF announce US tour dates.

Manchester dudes WU LYF have recently announced their first forray into the US of A.  Their debut album Go Tell Fire to the Mountain drops on the band's L Y F Recordings in the UK on June 13th, but won't be out 'til August 22nd here in the US.  There's only 3 dates here, so if you're in the NYC or LA area I highly suggest you check it out.


WU LYF dates (all in July):


Friday 22nd – New York City, NY @ Mercury Lounge

Saturday 23rd – Brooklyn, NY @ The Knitting Factory

Tuesday 26th – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo

New Seasick Steve, other notes.

Hello all,

so wait... June already?  Sheesh.  Well pretty soon I'm going to try to put out a May playlist of stuff that's been at least relevent to me lately.  I'll put it up on SoundCloud then embed it here.  Hope you like it!

In actual news, Mississippi hobo-bluesman Seasick Steve came out with a new song that'll be on his upcoming album.  Perfect timing for this heat we've been having in PA.  It's 94 degrees today.  Sit on your front porch and play blues music.

Stream new Woods, "Sun and Shade".

(probably the 1000th time this picture's been on this blog)

Woods' 6th album Sun and Shade, drops today, but if you want to try before you buy you can stream the whole thing courtesy of Altered Zones.  I think it's one of their best so far.  Enjoy!

Woods: Sun and Shade by alteredzones

Modest Mouse debut 2 songs.

Modest Mouse has been mostly off the radar in terms of new material since 2007's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.  They put out No One's First and You're Next in 2009, but it was b-sides from the two albums preceding and was, in my opinion, passable.  Now we've got two new songs as the band goes to work on a new full length.  Enjoy.

New Woods song, "Any Other Day".

The release of the newest entry by Woods, Sun and Shade is nearly upon us.  They've released the lead off track "Pushing Onlys" and now have released the 2nd track off the album, "Any Other Day".  Take a listen.  I'm actually about halfway through my first listen of the new album, and for anyone that likes Woods out there, get excited.  I think so far this is just as good if not better than Songs of Shame.  It goes in a few new directions that feel truly like growth as opposed to gimmicks or anxious attempts to not be boring.  Anyway...  here's that song. And get the dang album when it comes out y'hear?

Woods, "Any Other Day" by The FADER

Stream new Black Lips album: Arabia Mountain.

Black Lips teamed up with Grooveshark to give an advanced stream of their new album Arabia Mountain which was produced by Mark Ronson.  Check it out here.

New WU LYF, "Dirt".

Manchester kids WU LYF put out a new song/video.  Apparently they're debut album is coming out in June too!  Here you go.

New The Sandwiches, "Sirens & Bells".

I just heard of these guys recently and wouldn't you know it that the fine folks at Gorilla vs Bear posted a new track by them.  Funny how things work out.  Listen to it here.

Stream White Denim's new album, "D".

While NPR usually takes the cake for having the best advanced streams of upcoming albums, but surprisingly (to me at least) AOL beat them to it.  You can stream it all here.

Those Darlins add dates.

Those Darlins are hitting the road this summer and recently added a ton of dates to an already lengthy tour.  We got one at Johnny Brenda's Philly people!  Also, here's a video of a recent session they did for The Noise Coalition.  Enjoy!

Jun. 2 - Wakarusa Festival - Ozark, AR
Jun. 3 - Rustic Cowboy - Keithville, LA 
Jun. 4 - Free Press Summer Fest - Houston, TX 
Jun. 5 - One Eyed Jacks - New Orleans, LA 
Jun. 9 - Casbah Room at the Tremont Music Hall - Charlotte, NC @
Jun. 10 - Jammin' Java - Vienna, VA  #
Jun. 11 - Maxwell's - Hoboken, NJ  #
Jun. 12 - Big Apple BBQ - New York, NY  !
Jun. 14 - Johnny Brenda's - Philadelphia, PA #
Jun. 15 - Kennedy Center - Washington, DC
Jun. 16 - Le Poisson Rouge - New York, NY  %
Jun. 17 - Brillobox - Pittsburgh, PA #
Jun. 18 - Campout East - Charlottesville, VA
   
Jul. 8 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, TN  $
Jul. 9 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, TN  $
Jul. 15 - Radio Radio - Indianapolis, IN
Jul. 16 - Lebowski Fest - Louisville, KY
Jul. 21 - Crossroads - Kansas City, MO $
Jul. 22 - Stickyz's Rock'n'Roll Chicken Shack - Little Rock, AR
Jul. 23 - Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge, LA
Jul. 24 - Jack's Patio Bar - San Antonio, TX
Jul. 26 - Low Spirits - Albuquerque, NM
Jul. 27 - The Rhythm Room - Phoenix, AZ
Jul. 28 - Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Place - Pioneertown, CA
Jul. 29 - The Echo - Los Angeles, CA
Jul. 30 - Bottom of The Hill - San Francisco, CA
   
Aug. 2 - Bunk Bar - Portland, OR 
Aug. 3 - Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA
Aug. 5 - Neurolux - Boise, ID  @
Aug. 6 - Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City, UT @
Aug. 8 - High Dive - Denver, CO @
Aug. 10 - The Record Bar - Kansas City, MO
Aug. 13 - The Tiger Room - Fort Wayne, IN 
   
Sep. 15 - Hangar 9 - Carbondale, IL
Sep. 16 - Off Broadway Nightclub - St. Louis, MO 
Sep. 17 - Hi-Tone Cafe - Memphis, TN 

#   w/ Natural Child
%  w/ Best Coast
$   w/ Old 97s
!    w/ Black Joe Lewis 
@  w/Motopony


Here's those videos