Elephant Parade has released “Grand Opening” as the first single off their second album Home, which surprisingly enough was recorded using nothing but a cheap computer microphone and freeware recording software. I’m impressed. And those of you attending SXSW this week, be sure and check them out at Stephen F’s bar on March 19th at midnight. From there they will launch the start of what they’re calling a “tiny bedroom music tour”, where they will be playing house shows across the states.
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I have my dad to thank for introducing me to Steely Dan when I was just a wee lad. They definitely need no introduction, but if you don’t know Steely I’d suggest listening to some of their older albums such as Can’t Buy A Thrill, Countdown To Ecstasy, or Pretzel Logic. Here are two of my favorites:
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This is quite a powerful song. Emiliana Torrini’s voice adds to the anger and emotion portrayed in the lyrics. The overall feeling is harsh and mystifying. My favorite part of the song is when she says “…yes this is a kiss that I swear will blow your mind,” it’s really disturbing. This track is one of many that I enjoy from Me and Armini. The album never gets old, and I find myself listening it to a lot.
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Artist:Emiliana Torrini Song: Gun.mp3 Album: Me and Armini
With their sophomore release, Over The Sun And Under The Radar, Jungol is honing in on their renewed vision of more concise songs with prominent vocals. They’re creating new sounds through the use of samplers, synths, glockenspiel, field recordings and string arrangements. Due out April 23rd, here’s the first single, “Two People.”
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Artist: Jungol Song: Two Poeple.mp3 Album: Over The Sun And Under The Radar
Ever since I discovered FaltyDL’s Bravery last week, I’ve been on a trip-hop, IDM kick. I Mog‘d my way to Prefuse 73 (aka Guillermo Scott Herren) and have been zoned out to his latest Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian. Here’s two songs that play back to back on the album that showoff its deep soundscapes and phat beats. Love the retro sci-fi cover!
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Foals‘ new album Total Life Forever is set to release May 10th, and to give us a sneak peak they’ve released a pretty epic video for “Spanish Sahara”, and are offering up a free download of a Mount Kimbie remix from their website. I’m a big fan of what these guys do guitarically (if I may make up a word), and I’m glad to see they’re keeping the unison, echo-driven, duel-guitar riffs around for this next album. For those of you who haven’t heard these guys before, give their last album Antidotes a listen to prepare yourself for the new album. I have high hopes.
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If this music video doesn’t slap a huge grin on your face, then you have no soul…..There, I said it. The Sour Notes have been making some noise in Austin for some time now and are finally getting some much deserved recognition. They’ll be playing a ridiculous amount of shows @ SXSW (6 shows!) while currently working on their 5th album, Write What You Know, expected to release later this year. Here’s “Do-ers & Say-ers” from their latest, It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty.
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Artist: The Sour Notes Song: Do-ers & Say-ers.mp3 Album: It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty
If you can imagine a mixture of Noah Lennox, Thomas Mars, and maybe even a vague hint of Michael Franks (huh?), then you might have a close resemblance to the vocal stylings of Mr. Chazwick Bundick, aka Toro Y Moi. That combined with music that sounds very much like a mix between Junk Culture and Washed Out, this album makes for a must listen for any fan of the new chillwave takeover. Interestingly enough, Chazwick and Ernest Greene (aka Washed Out) actually formed a close musical relationship late in Chazwick’s school career at the University of South Carolina. What’s great about this album is that he throws in a few instrumental gems here and there as well, one of which is streaming to your right. Causers Of This is Boomkat’s album of the week, and has a release date of February 23rd (today), so check it out!
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Here’s another random Vimeo find, Video Marsh’s brand new music vid for Caribou’s “Odessa,” which will be on their 4/20/2010 release Swim. These guys nailed it with this video; I think it captures the feeling of the song perfectly!
I’ve really been enjoying Swimteam’s latest effort Harlem over this past week. So much so that I’ve decided to ask these guys some questions about the album & to share a couple more songs with you guys. These two songs paired with “Hound” & “Sun” (songs posted last week), show just how diverse Harlem is; no two songs sound the same, yet they all flow together fantastically. But they don’t give the album justice by any means; listen for yourself: stream & buy the album here.
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Newdust: How long have you guys been making music together?
Swimteam:
Mike and I started our first band in the spring of 2008, so it hasn’t been too long really.
ND: What did you listen to growing up?
S:
The first band I really loved was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But my main influences were bands like Brand New and Jimmy Eat World. Then about three years ago I discovered Radiohead and my musical taste experienced an explosion. Mike’s favorite band growing up was The White Stripes, which is a much cooler answer.
ND: What’s your favorite album as of right…….now?
S:
One of my favorites right now is ‘Vaudeville Villain’ from Viktor Vaughn. I just recently got into hip-hop and the two of us have been listening to a lot of MF Doom projects like Madvillain, Viktor Vaughn etc. I think this influenced Harlem a lot, in that we started using samples and loops extensively.
ND: How was the recording process for Harlem? Was it recorded at home? Studio? Were there any others involved?
S:
We recorded it in Mike’s bedroom throughout December. It was by far the easiest recording process we’ve done so far. The songs were written very quickly and we were constantly coming up with new ideas.
ND: What were some influences/feelings/emotions that had an effect on songwriting?
S:
Other than the music we were listening to, I can’t think of any other influences on the songwriting. Perhaps the cold weather? Also, many of the ideas were written long before we started recording Harlem, so it’s kind of surprising that the album is still sonically consistent.
ND: Is there any theme to the album?
S:
Going into the recording process, we didn’t have any theme that we wanted to present in the album. However, after the fact we’ve noticed it’s very melancholy overall, right in that position between happy and sad. This is probably due to the mixture between the Hip-Hop and Electronic influence in the synths and beats, and the influence of our songwriting which has never been too upbeat.
ND: How is this album different from previous ones?
S:
This was the first album where we really wanted to make something completely different from anything we’d heard before. We tried to blend all of our musical influences into a new sound, that most importantly, we would really enjoy. Interestingly enough, I believe this has been our most accessible album to date, based on the response from our friends and the large range of influences you can hear in Harlem. We are very proud of Harlem, and we really want as many people listening as we can.
Swimteam is a couple of high school kids out of Illinois who just released their first full length, Harlem. I literally just finished listening to it and had to immediately share some songs with you guys. It’s awesome. These guys are extremely creative, their sound is uncommon among others in the electronic genre, and they’ve only just begun. I can safely say this is my new favorite album.
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I got an email the other day from David Beeman, mastermind behind the folk-pop quintet Old Lights. He was very pleased and very eager to share with us the brand new video by Cody Stokes for “Losing My Mind,” off their latest, Every Night Begins The Same (click to buy on iTunes). I really enjoyed this album, it’s got an awesome 60s-pop vibe to it. And here’s one of my faves from the album, “How Can I Get By.”
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Artist: Old Lights Song: How Can I Get By.mp3 Album: Every Night Begins The Same
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