24
Feb 10
9
Notes
As I’ve sad before, Freelance Whales’ stunning debut album, Weathervanes is finally getting a proper release through Frenchkiss Records — who released great works by The Antlers and Passion Pit last year — on March 16th. The New york quartet is now giving away their debut single, “Generator 2nd Floor”, just one of Weathervanes‘ highlights.
Freelance Whales will also be playing at this year’s Sasquatch Festival and touring with Cymbals Eat Guitars and Bear In Heaven. Download “Generator 2nd Floor” for free below, and check out their tour dates after the jump:
US Tour Dates: Continue reading →
#Favorite Songs # MP3
#Freelance Whales #Frenchkiss
23
Feb 10
47
Notes
Last week, She & Him stopped by the BBC and performed a life set that included this gorgeous little number. After gushing over the live version of “Thieves”, my good friends at Pop Librarian and Tsururadio pointed me to the wonderful studio recording.
It isn’t known if this recording of “Thieves” is the final version that we will be listening to on Volume Two, but it’s wholly satisfying nonetheless. Thanks to the newly revamped Stereogum, we now have the final MP3 version of the track, which you can download for free below, and fif you’re interested, you can still download Vol. Two first single “In The Sun” for free as well: Continue reading →
#Favorite Songs # MP3
#M. Ward #She & Him #Zooey Deschanel
23
Feb 10
2
Notes
Feist performed new song, “He Was Free” during her set for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Luckily someone was there to catch the performance, even though the video tilts halfway through. “He Was Free” sounds like it picks off right where 2007’s The Reminder left off — harmonious and effortlessly catchy and memorable. You can watch, and at some point just listen to Feist perform “He Was Free” in the embedded video below: Continue reading →
#Live Performances
#Feist
23
Feb 10
27
Notes
CD giveaway details at the end of the review.
Mumford & Sons
Sigh No More
Glassnote Records
out February 16th
71/100
[Rating Scale]
I’m of two minds about Mumford & Sons’ debut album, Sigh No More. If you played me a single track from the album – any track at all, mind you – I would say to you “I would love to hear this album!” Every single track, digested in a single bite, is delicious. If you fed me four songs from the LP – any four songs, mind you – I would say “I am going to love this album!” The songs are consistently good, and taken in a reasonable portion they hit the spot.
So why, after listening to the album in its entirety multiple times, am I uncomfortably full? I find myself pushing away from the table having eaten a few bites too many, engorged and over-sated. To use a cliché, the album is just a little too much of a good thing.
Take, for example, the album’s title track, the opening tune. On a normal album, a song like “Sigh No More” would be a zenith, an epic climax that became the focal track of the record. In the context of Sigh No More the album, however, it is merely the first in a series of slow starting, crescendo-ing tracks that drop away to nearly a cappella breaks before building back to a finish. Mumford & Sons has identified the formula used so well (sparingly) by bands like Arcade Fire and Freelance Whales, and they have replicated it beautifully. On every song. Continue reading →
#Album Reviews
#Mumford and Sons
22
Feb 10
13
Notes
A.C. Newman, Neko Case and the rest of the New Pornographer gang is back with a new album entitled Together, which is hitting stores on May 4th — the same day the new Broken Social Scene and Flying Lotus albums come out. Matador has also announced that St. Vincent, Beirut’s Zach Condon and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff will be making guest appearances on the new album.
The New Pornographers are giving away “Your Hands (Together)”, which is, I’m assuming, where the album gets its title from. The track is also the first sample we’ve been giving from Together. You can download the track below, and pre-order the new album at the Matador online storefront.
Is May 4th the new Christmas, or what? Oh and PS, seven days after the new Broken Social Scene and the new New Pornographers, we get the new National album. I know your little indie heart exploded in your little indie chest, just now.
#MP3
#A.C. Newman #Beirut #Neko Case #Okkervil River #St. Vincent #The New Pornographers
22
Feb 10
7
Notes
In our review of Beach House’s Teen Dream, Chris Barth described the album as “moments of pristine clarity are juxtaposed with reverberating bliss”, calling it Beach House’s strongest work and one of the best albums of 2010 so far. Now Beach House isn’t done making love to our ears just yet — the duo is prepping the release of the Zebra EP, featuring their latest single of the same name, on April 17th (Record Store Day).
The EP will include a radio edit of the nominal track, a remix of Teen Dream highlight “10 Mile Stereo”, and new tracks “Baby” and “The Arrangement”. The latter premiered on Sirius XM radio, and you can listen to it below: Continue reading →
#Listen
#Beach House #Record Store Day
22
Feb 10
11
Notes
Original photograph by Rodrigo M
I took a break from from the PMACAST for a few weeks because I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired to come up with a significant group of songs to line up for you. The last PMACAST was directed by remix artist RAC and became the most popular installment yet, with nearly 16,000 downloads.
This one goes out to Six Feet Under, for inspiring this mix. I just finished watching the entire series on Blu-Ray yet again. It took all I had to refrain from using Sia’s “Breathe Me”.
Subscribe to the pmaCAST via iTunes or RSS feed to stay up-to-date on the newest episode updates! Also, follow those links to download the latest episode in M4A (with Chapters enabled) format for iTunes, iPod and iPhone. You can download the chapter-less MP3 format below:
Here is this episode’s tracklist:
jj “5 Minuter Med JJ”
Lil Wayne “I Feel Like Dying” (Flying Lotus Remix)
Animal Collective “Daily Routine” (Phaseone Remix)
Thom Yorke “All For The Best”
TV on the Radio “Love Dog”
The Big Pink “Too Young To Love”
The Notwist “Boneless” (Grizzly Bear Remix)
The Raveonettes “Heart of Stone”
The Dead Weather “I Cut Like a Buffalo”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Cheated Hearts”
1,2,3 “Can’t Bribe God”
Jay-Z & The Beatles “What More Can I Say”
#Podcasts
#pmaCAST
21
Feb 10
7
Notes
“Odessa,” the first single from Caribou’s upcoming LP Swim, is sexy. “Elctropop” and “disco” are often used in the description of the song, and, indeed, “Odessa” is more reminiscent of bands like Hot Chip or Hercules and Love Affair than Caribou’s previous material. A prominent bassline, a little house vibe that would make the good people of Jersey Shore proud, tender vocals, production tricks – all wrapped up into one synthy, eighties-y package. “Odessa” sounds like it is emerging from a dark place, coming to smoke a cigarette out on the street in the rain. It would have to be summertime, it would have to be sweaty, there would have to be a flickering streetlight somewhere.
Like Hot Chip and Hercules and Love Affair, Caribou’s new disco bent doesn’t focus on that hot club ecstasy so much as a weird, strangely melancholy sensuality. Added to the video – a woman stumbling and driving through fog, smoke, and ghostly, disconnected memories – “Odessa” tells a strange, captivating story of love, loss, and escape. And it works like a charm.
You can download “Odessa” below, and catch the music video after the jump:
Caribou’s Swim is out April 20th on Merge in the US. Continue reading →
#Favorite Songs # MP3 # Music Videos
#Caribou #Hercules and Love Affair #Hot Chip
21
Feb 10
4
Notes
Somewhere, obscured within Girls’ cloud of reverb and Christopher Owen’s debilitated vocals, lies Skeeter Davis’ 1962 classic “End of the World“. Girls’ cover version of the song appears as a B-Side on their new UK single “Morning Light“, which is out tomorrow, February 22 on Fantasytrashcan/Turnstile.
You can download “End of the World” below, via NME:
#Covers # MP3
#Girls #Skeeter Davis
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