Summer Cats are set to release a brand new 7″ as a follow up to what I considered my go-to record of choice last summer, Songs For Tuesdays, next week on the 16th. As you would expect, both tracks remain true to the formula of being deliciously catchy indiepop while neither run over two and a half minutes long in length — which in part packs the songs with plenty of memorable hooks, courtesy of vocalist Scott Stevens.
In the coming months, you can catch the Melbourne-based band here in the US, as they’re set to hit the major cities along with stops at SXSW and Slumberland’s 20th anniversary shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles (Go Sailor reunion!).
It looks like 2010 is unofficially being taken over by Swedes, thanks to Swedish label Labrador, who already released one album earlier this week from Sambassadeur, and are set to release new albums from The Radio Dept. and Club 8 in the coming months. Unless you completely despise Swedish pop (if so, what’s wrong with you?!), than you can only react with absolute delight over this news.
Club 8, a band I discovered in 2007 with their lovely album The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming, are a duo comprised of Johan Angergård (also member of The Legends and Acid House Kings, along with serving as label chief of Labrador) and Karolina Komstedt. You can read a bit more about them in my older post here, but their brand of indiepop counted for one of the many reasons that I completely fell in love with the genre to begin with.
They recently released a new single, which seems to be heavily influenced by what seems to be the current trend of Afrobeat and high-life sounds. Despite my apprehension, the song actually works really well and comes off as a very fun and upbeat tune. Not sure if this is indicative of the entire record, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough as Club 8’s 7th album entitled The People’s Record is due out on May 12th.
I’m probably the last person to mention Broken Social Scene’s long-awaited return to the music world, but it’s such exciting news that I honestly don’t care if I am or not. Thinking back on things, their debut, You Forgot in In People was a catalyst for being one of the main influences for almost everything I listen to now. This along with their self-titled follow-up, which proved that they could easily outdo themselves with a far superior effort.
And just how far has the band’s reach gone as far as my record collection goes? There are at least 20 or so albums that have some vague connection to BSS, whether it be side-projects or bands like Stars, Metric, and Do Make Say Think.
Finally, after a lengthy hiatus, the mega group is set to release a brand new album titled Forgiveness Rock Record, which will be released in May. The band will feature the core group of members including Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff, Charles Spearin, Andrew Whiteman, Sam Goldberg and Lisa Lobsinger. Of course, the usual guests you would expect to accompany a BSS record will also be making an appearance (Feist, Amy Millan, Emily Haines, Jason Collett, etc.).
Our first taste of the forthcoming record comes in this free, downloadable track called “World Sick” — which is basically an equivalent of nearly seven minutes of epic bliss. Still, this isn’t too much of a stretch for BSS, as it has all the trademark sounds you would want from them. But sometimes, a little familiarity is exactly what is needed.
Before watching this video, The Morning Benders were absolutely nowhere near my radar. It’s a testament to how downright gorgeous this song is, because now I find myself digging through emails to see if there’s a promo of their upcoming album, Big Echo. Thankfully, I was able to find it and now I can’t wait to sit down and listen to it.
From what I’ve been able to round up with a quick glance, the band is a four-piece originally from San Francisco, who’ve recently relocated to NYC. In this Yours Truly video session, the band gathered the ‘Big Echo Orchestra’ which consists of a bunch of friends, including a couple of notable Bay Area faces — Christopher Owens of Girls and John Vanderslice.
I’m not sure if the mini-orchestra features in the studio track, but it definitely elevates the song in the video recording to fantastic levels. It almost guarantees that I’ll be playing this one repeatedly throughout the day.
Big Echo is set to be released on March 9th via Rough Trade. Their Spring tour includes a date in Utah on April 5th at Club Velour in Provo.
Before even listening to this quartet from Minneapolis, I had only known One For The Team solely because of its frontman Ian Anderson, who’s blog (MFR – Minneapolis F*cking Rocks) I happen to visit quite frequently for over a year now. Besides running his successful blog, Anderson also wears many different hats, among them being running his own label at Afternoon Records and author of the book “Here Come The Regulars” which discusses the ins and outs of running a record label on a shoestring budget.
Back to the band, who released an EP titled Build A Garden in April of last year, are set to release their new full-length titled Ghosts next month on March 16th. Listening to a few tracks last night, the band showcases their infectious brand of powerpop, the likes of which I’ve been sort of craving as of late. One interesting little tidbit is that the album was recorded in San Francisco at John Vanderslice’s Tiny Telephone Studios.
Check out the tracks for yourself below, along with tour dates here. Though, the dates revolve more around the east coast, maybe the band will find their way over near us sometime in the near future.
One of my favorite discoveries of 2008 came in the form of this bright, soulful teenager from Hampshire, England. Laura Marling made her mark that year by releasing her excellent debut at the young of 18, Alas, I Cannot Swim, amongst a couple of notable appearances on tracks from Noah and the Whale (“Five Years Time”) and Mystery Jets (“Young Love”) — the now 20-year-old singer-songwriter is set to release not one, but two new albums in 2010. The first of which titled I Speak Because I Can, is due out on March 22nd (UK/Europe) / April 6th (US), with the second album tentatively scheduled to be released sometime in September.
A video for the single “Devil’s Spoke” has been made available from the new record, which Marling explains is “more band-based and more raw” and focuses on themes of “responsibility, particularly the responsibility of womanhood”.
Even better news is amidst a forthcoming UK/US tour is a date here in SLC on May 26th at Kilby Court. While not confirmed on her website, one could assume it’s legit since it’s on the venue’s site.
Since the announcement of Have One on Me, Joanna Newsom’s follow-up to 2006’s flawless album Ys, Drag City has made available a few streams via their website. The first of which, “‘81″ resulted in the site being completely overloaded, with the second track titled “Good Intentions Paving Company” was made available earlier today.
While I miss the quality string section that was prominent on Ys, the jazz leanings of this newest stream along with the general sparseness and stripped down sound of “‘81″ puts the focus squarely on Newsom’s vocals, her ability of which seems to have vastly improved by leaps and bounds. It feels more mature and focused — makes me kind of curious how someone listening to her now for the first time would think compared to her earlier work.
I’m sure we’ll hear more as the February 23rd release date quickly approaches, but considering it’s going to be a a triple album(3x-CD/LP), this already appears to be epic. Though, I do worry about how much filler this could contain, unless it’s just jam-packed with 7-minute tracks of awesome. Will it be able to stand proudly against another triple album like 69 Love Songs? We’ll find out soon enough!
“I got excited by the idea of making dance music that’s liquid in the way it flows back and forth, the sounds slosh around in pitch, timbre, pan… Dance music that sounds like it’s made out of water, rather than made out of metallic stuff like most dance music does.”
I think it’s important to read that statement from Dan Snaith before diving into this new track “Odessa” from the newly announced album Swim. Snaith’s psych-pop project Caribou has primarily been known to lean towards the psychadelic (beautifully crafted, I might add), at least since I started listening with 2007’s Andorra — a fine album, as evident with it winning 2008’s Polaris Music Prize.
The one thing I’ve noticed while playing this track at work, is just how instantly replayable it is. It’s definitely a dance track from the start, and forgoes any of the current fad of going lo-fi. The sounds feel completely organic, while the production is of surperb quality. Not sure who is doing duties on vocals, but upon my initial listen I was convinced it was Erlend Øye of Kings of Convenience/The Whitest Boy Alive. Hell, upon second glance one could even mistake this track as a Junior Boys-produced KoC track.
What do you folks think? Swim is expected to be released on…ahem…4/20 here in the US on Merge.
Lali Puna is a band that had seemingly disappeared over the last couple of years (six years to be exact) since the release of Faking the Books back in 2004. It’s puzzling to be honest, as I quite liked that album and fondly remember purchasing it along with Of Montreal’sSatanic Panic in the Attic when visiting a friend in Berkeley during the summer of that year. It was a time when I was more adventurous when it came to buying music, and picked it up solely based on Markus Acher’s (of The Notwist) involvement.
With the announcement of Our Inventions (which will also feature The Notwist frontman once again), comes this lovely track called “Remember” which plays like a breezy haze of electro-bliss as Valerie Trebeljahr’s soft-spoken vocals asks “Will you remember me?”
Ah, they really don’t make them like this anymore, do they? You can expect the forthcoming album to hit on April 6th via Morr.
It only took a little more than a year and a half, but it’s with a sigh of relief to report that The Radio Dept.’s oft-delayed third record Clinging To A Scheme will finally see the light of day on March April 20th in North America (frustrating!) and the 21st in Europe. The CD/LP will be available via Labrador. Now that we actually have album art and a tracklist to gloss over, it’s actually starting to sink in and feel more official that this is finally happening.
To add to the great news, a stream (MP3 available below) of the track “Heaven’s On Fire” was made available through the band’s official site, which joins “David” – the single from the previously released 4-track EP in June of last year – as the first songs that we’ve been able to hear so far.
What else needs to be said? I’ve already on record as saying that this is my most anticipated album of 2010, and while I’ve anxious/nervous to hear the final product, I’m confident that when April comes around that we’ll be back here singing its praises in unison.
It only took a little more than a year and a half, but it’s with a sigh of relief to report that 
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