A sad admission: Travels in Lowland, the last album by The Migrant, should have easily been among my top albums of 2010. Thankfully, Denmark’s Bjarke Bendtsen is back with Amerika, set for an October 25 release. “The Hurricane” is the first track to be released from the album. In it The Migrant creates orchestrated folk-pop perfection. Read More »The Migrant: The Hurricane MP3
Sóley, a member of the Icelandic troupe Seabear, is prepared to drop her sophomore release, We Sink, October 4 on Morr Music. A keyboardist and backup vocalist by trade, first thoughts on her solo project is that she was made for the spotlight. “I’ll Drown” is the first track we’ve heard from the forthcoming LP and it joins the experimental pop sounds of Seabear and Sin Fang with the unique, quite spirited vocals of Sóley Stefánsdóttir. Read More »Sóley: I’ll Drown MP3
Mysterious, ethereal and eerie, Keep Shelly In Athens create an all-encompassing sound in the whispery tune “Running Out Of You”. Filled with enormous dreamy synths, the song is dream pop for nearly two thirds of its four and a half minutes. The final third adds a heavier beat, turntable scratching, and an 80s hip hop sample in which a guy says Break It Down. Read More »Keep Shelly In Athens: Running Out Of You MP3
Rock music should be fun, so why is so much of it not? Bad Sports know this and they’re out to teach bad bands a lesson. “Teenage Girls” rubs it in those bands’ faces a bit, and Bad Sports know this. It may, in fact, be a reason they selected this particular moniker. Their style of pop-influenced garage-based punk is most welcome. Read More »Bad Sports: Teenage Girls (MP3)
Night Falls Over Kortedala was one of my favorite releases of 2007, topped only by Fishboy’s release that year. It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years since that album, and that it’s taken so long for Lekman to follow it with new material. Wait no longer; Lekman is back with a new EP dubbed An Argument With Myself and we have been given the title track to enjoy as a little taste of what’s to come. Read More »Jens Lekman: An Argument With Myself (MP3)
I am a huge Carissa’s Wierd fan. If you are too, you know exactly what I’m talking about — the die-hard fan gets a little extra out of the music, hears a little bit more, and has a deeper, seemingly one-on-one experience with it. New music, for a band that parted ways several years past, is enough to bring tears to your eyes. “Tucson” b/w “Meredith & Iris” is such material and Hardly Art has made the latter from the single available for stream. Read More »Carissa’s Wierd Release First New Song in over Seven Years!
During my first spin through The Devil Whale‘s new album, Teeth, I did a little research on the band and pulled up a few press pieces. Each had their own spin, calling the band psychedelic pop, dubbing some of their work chamber pop, and even dropping a lighter side of 70s classic rock. At first, I wasn’t sure any of them fit. Read More »The Devil Whale: Golden (MP3)
Book Club is a folk-pop group out of Atlanta that boats a range of stripped-down and minimal songs to those… Read More »Book Club: Meal Of Dreams (MP3)
Look back over the past few Fruit Bats releases and you’ll find a solid handful of greats. “Born In The 70s” and “Earthquake of ’73” off Spelled In Bones. “Seaweed” off Mouthfuls. These were truly great tracks. “Tangie And Ray” off Fruit Bats’ latest LP, Tripper, fits right in. It’s catchy, filled with a folk-pop bounce, and wonderfully crafted. Yet there’s something else… Read More »Fruit Bats: Tangie And Ray (MP3)
Girls have come to be one of my favorite artists since their early release, Album, in September of 2009. Their music is simply astonishing, from upbeat pop gems like “Lust For Life” and “Alright” to more surreal explorations of pop psychedelia, like “Helhole Ratrace” and “Carolina”. Read More »Girls: Vomit (MP3)
