hushed acoustic songs with subtle depth - Scottish women playing folk songs just works so well…
Jul 22, 2016
Glamour Hotline / Thanks For Coming - Thanks For Calling - 2016
a couple of bands playing some melodic indie rock, made in a dirty garage - nice diy split!
Jul 19, 2016
Math & Physics Club - In This Together - 2016
In This Together is a 16-track compilation of EPs, b-sides, rarities and unreleased songs from our 10+ years as a band, including this brand spanking new one called Coastal California
Longtime fans know that Math and Physics Club have never been ones to stash away their lesser material on EPs and b-sides. Some would argue that many of their best songs over the past decade have appeared on exclusive EPs and vinyl-only singles, which is why this collection of non-album tracks plays like one of the band’s finest full length albums, and works equally well for completists and as a starting point for new fans.
The songs here are carefully presented in reverse chronological order, starting with the stunning new track “Coastal California, 1985” that finds the band still in fine form with its chiming guitars and swelling harmonies. Side one continues without missing a beat, winding through several unreleased and hard-to-find tracks from recent years, including a soft and sweet acoustic arrangement of “Do You Keep a Diary” that turns the tables on the electropop version that appeared on their 2007 EP.
Side two features their beloved and previously out-of-print first two EPs, with the classic jangle of “Movie Ending Romance” kicking off a relentlessly cracking set of pop that, when presented together this way, serves to highlight the band’s remarkable first year.
Elder Sister Plum - Living Rooms - 2016
Elder Sister Plum's tunes go down smooth like a good whisky. Her swashbuckling folk lullabies and musical ghost stories provide a treat for every listener.
Jul 18, 2016
deer scout - customs - 2016
Wonderful little release… the DIY feel is outstanding; accompanying vocals and instrumentation has bedroom pop all over it! Love it!
Basement Revolver - 2016
Basement Revolver plays introspective indie rock music, reminiscent of The Pixies and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The drone of the city haunts frontwoman Chrisy Hurn: stories woven with factory skylines and gritty streets are sung in a voice pure as waterfalls. The heavy lines of bass/synth player Nimal Agalawatte and drummer Brandon Munro are bedrock for Hurn's ethereal and immediate guitar work.
Snail Mail - Habit - 2016
The song sounds like it could have been plucked from the melancholic indie pop bands that sprung up in the D.C. and Maryland-area in the late eighties and early nineties. Jordan wrote "Thinning" while undergoing a personal period of both sickness and boredom, but she works through these confusing and complicated emotions over unexpectedly bright guitars that gain momentum over three minutes. It doesn't matter what point you're at in life, adult or teen, you can easily both fall for and relate to Jordan's talented songwriting. The Le Sigh
Jul 16, 2016
Damien Jurado - Rehearsals for Departure - 1999
Seattle singer-songwriter Damien Jurado’s second album for Sub Pop, Rehearsals for Departure, is now available on vinyl for the first time. Rehearsals was originally released March 9 th , 1999, and it has sold over 15,000 copies. The album boasts a sharper, more streamlined songwriting approach than his debut, combining finger-picked acoustic guitar tracks with a number of full- band songs. Rehearsals for Departure was produced by The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow, who also played a variety of instruments on the album.
Psalmships - Obvious + Unafraid - 2016
For those unfamiliar with the band – think riveting folk with powerful vocals and open spaces like, say, Bonnie Prince Billy/Will Oldham or Jason Molina.
Indietracks Compilation 2016
This is the official compilation of artists playing the Indietracks Festival in Derbyshire (UK) on 29-31 July 2016.
All money raised from this compilation is donated to the Midland Railway Trust, the charity which hosts the Indietracks Festival.
The compilation ranges from upbeat pop and electropop to fuzzy guitar punk and acoustic folk. It includes well-known artists such as The Aislers Set, Comet Gain, The Spook School and Emma Pollock, alongside today’s most exciting new bands including Maggie8, Flowers and Nervous Twitch.
Jul 9, 2016
Deerful - Staying Still - 2016
Deerful is Emma Winston. Emma is a singer, keyboardist and producer from London who, after years of playing keyboard with indiepop artists including Darren Hayman and Owl & Mouse, decided to begin making electronic music of her own in 2015. She writes and performs melodic pop on miniature synthesisers about running away, staying in place, brokenness, recovery, and taking up space in the world.
Staying Still was written in the summer of 2015, mostly from my bed, sometimes from a friend's sofa or under a tree in the park at the end of my road, when I was very ill with what turned out to be severe depression. It's a record about stasis and feeling stuck, failed attempts at escape and at being heard, intrusive thoughts and stuffing them down.
johnny foreigner - Mono No Aware - 2016
In a period where what was to become terme landfill indie was riding high in the charts and regularly graced the covers of music magazines, what Johnny Foreigner offered with their angsty and punk spirited guitar pop was some respite from turgid indie rock made by men with little imagination. Yet ten years on from their debut, their fifth album Mono No Aware shows no signs of a band wanting to move on. tlobf
Jul 3, 2016
Biscuits For Your Outside Man - 2016
Food and music, a natural marriage…
Food and music have always gone hand in hand around here in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Musicians work in restaurants and cooks go to the clubs to hear bands after work in equal measure. I remember one night years ago when there was a show we all wanted to see. I don’t remember the band now, but as soon as we got done, a bunch of us line cooks went tearing down the street to the Cat’s Cradle. We still had our aprons on even. The club was crowded and loud, but I could hear a woman beside me say to her friend, “It smells like someone is cooking a steak in here!” Actually, as usual, it was the music that was cooking.
The language of the Blues is especially effective in using the metaphors of food and cooking. It’s both honest and funny. It may seem elemental and primitive at first, but to me, it is great poetry. This marvelously curated collection presents this at its best. Some songs are sexy, some are silly. All are clever. A few, like “Shortnin’ Bread” are familiar, but many were unknown to me. I don’t remember having heard either “Chicken Pie” or “Cabbage Man” before. Both were cool discoveries. There are narratives like “Old Bill” and the wonderful “Lima Beans” will delight both the cook and the poet alike.
Listen to this collection as a whole. The songs of course can each stand on their own but together they have a wonderful feel of working people intelligently and unselfconsciously examining their lives with music. It makes sense that that thing as elemental as food and the table would find their way into song. Play this music when you sit down to dinner. It’s as satisfying as a T-bone steak.
- Bill Smith, chef, Crook’s Corner, Chapel Hill, NC
Jul 2, 2016
VARSITY - Smash / Still Apart - 2016
two new tracks out of Chicago indie darling's VARSITY - invigorating indie rock!
Happy Accidents - You Might Be Right - 2016
indie punk garage diy band with good character and steady rhythms - worth a listen!
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