new music: radical dads

Was delighted to awaken from my codeine coma this morning to find a message from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Robbie Guertin waiting in my inbox. Homie plays drums in a new project called Radical Dads, and they've got a new 7'' which you can snag free on their Bandcamp. The A-side, "Recklessness," is a rush, merging gorgeous chiming guitars with No Age's bombastic minimalist punk/shoegaze thing. Props dude.

free music: tan dollar - change your mind beko lp

This week's beko digital release comes via the OC, with eight new tracks by Irvine's Tan Dollar. These dudes started out as a keyboard assault, developed a guitar, and have only gotten better since the homie Jules Verne joined in. Peep "How Can it Be True?" via NMB and then download that sucker below.


mp3->Tan Dollar - How Can It Be True? (from the Change Your Mind digital LP, out on beko)

[Download]

new music: cuffs

Here are some delightful little indie pop numbers care of Cambridge Mass' Cuffs to brighten up this gray grizzly afternoon. Cuffs are two of the dudes from the late Pants Yell!, and if you're familiar with them you'll have a vague idea of what to expect. What you might not be expecting is the hazed-out Tokyo Police Club-versus-Real Estate vibe they've got happenin on their free demo, which you can snag at the homies' Bandcamp.

new music: wise blood

It might seem weird to name your album "+", but the second you listen to Wise Blood, that simple indicator of emotional charge suddenly could not seem more appropriate. Forgive decorum but let me please tell you that these tunes is hot. It's a hip hop patchwork of sampled sunshine, reverbed soul, and delayed 90's r&b groovies. It is a sick-ass quilt.





Download "+" at the homie's Bandcamp.

new music: weekend/young prisms split 7''

Awesome new split 7'' single from the homies at Transparent featuring two of San Francisco's finest pop outfits. Young Prisms have had a pretty decent touring presence throughout Cali this year. I was lucky enough to catch them at Tan Dollar's record release show a few months ago, where they delivered an unexpectedly gazey performance that delivered on the promise of their early material. Their side of the vinyl goes further in that direction with insistent drumming and pretty much everything else hazed/droned into oblivion.But it's Weekend, who I actually hadn't heard until now, that probably steal the show with "End Times". That bassline just will not leave me alone.


mp3->Weekend - End Times (from the End Times/I Don't Get Much split 7'', out on Transparent)

mp3->Young Prisms - I Don't Get Much (from the End Times/I Don't Get Much split 7'', out on Transparent)

(via Transparent Blog)

new music: cosmic sound

Today's entry in the "I can't believe that wasn't already a band name" files is Houston's Cosmic Sound, purveyor of wondrous little feats of funk and nostalgia.



mp3->Cosmic Sound - Night Owl (from VHS Vision, self-released)
mp3->Cosmic Sound - Little Flower (from VHS Vision, self-released)

Armed with a self-described Dynamic Synth Duo (an MG-1 and a Juno 106), the homie Stephen makes hazy dance-floor killers of the kind you might expect to find on an EP called VHS Visions. You can download that awesome EP via THIS LINK!

[Download]

(via Don'tDieWondering)

new music: craft spells

Out of storied wasteland that birthed Pavement comes a band that sounds nothing like them. Stockton, CA's Craft Spells make the kind of twinkly drum-machine backed guitar pop where all the instruments sound like they're two rooms over but still hit you like a punch in the heart. They've got a full-length coming "Summer 2010" according to theirspace, but you can head over and download both of their earlier releases for freeeeee to tide you over.

mp3->Craft Spells - You Should Close the Door (from The Fog Rose High single)


[Download]

new music: thick shakes

Thinking of a clever opening sentence for this post, I just keep coming back to "This band fucking rules."



Thick Shakes are classical garage-rock revivalists hailing from Massachusetts, and they make some of the most convincing rock 'n' roll music floating around the tubes these days. Do the twist to these tunes:

mp3->Thick Shakes - (Baby) You're a Starfish (from Ooh Mommy, out now on Snugglehound)

mp3->Thick Shakes - Nobody's Girl (from Ooh Mommy, out now on Snugglehound)

The distortion is cranked to 11. The riffs harken to Lord Berry. They cover the Magnetic Fields. And their record is available for free via their website.


[Download]

Seriously why are you still here?

free music: Blackburn Recordings' Various Deficiencies, Vol. 1

Blackburn Recordings is a young label with some very big talent, as evidenced by their upcoming Various Deficiencies, Vol. 1, which they've made available for download here.


[Download]

The mix features chill new tunes by the likes of Big Troubles and Cloud Nothings, who I've been meaning to write about for some time now...

mp3->Cloud Nothings - Leave You Forever (from Various Deficiencies Vol. 1, out now on Blackburn Recordings)

Tracklist
1. City Center - Grow Up Again
2. Big Troubles - Chalk Circles
3. Cloud Nothings - Leave You Forever
4. Campfires - Oh Golden Dawn
5. Sore Eros - Melting
6. Brett Marren - Love Is A Jawbreaker
7. Possum - Red Hot
8. Coasting - Snow Song (Live on WNYU)
9. Lame Drivers - Working Song
10. Metal Rouge - Fast Flora Lights
11. Cursillistas - Trail of Tears
12. Sleep in sundays - Flour
13. Falsetto Boy - Hey Sue
14. Mountainhood - Coney Island
15. Sleep Over - The Key
16. Island's Eyelids - Western Cameo
17. Sultan - There Goes My Girl

free music: Kiss Kiss Fantastic - The Red/Blue Shift EP

I said some nice things about the equally nice humans in Kiss Kiss Fantastic a little while ago, and for some reason I forgot to mention that they dropped me a line and sent me a link to their new EP, The Red/Blue Shift.


[Download]

Well as usual the homie Get Off the Coast is waaay more on their game than I am, and reminded me this morning that this little gem has been sitting on my hard drive for the better part of 2 months now. And, ya know, Wow. Check out The Red/Blue Shift via their Bandcamp.

new music: Weed Diamond

Holy Fucking Shit. That dream I had about Animal Collective and Titus Andronicus jamming in my bedroom has come true.

Weed Diamond - Snowmelt from Jheri Evans on Vimeo.

The Rocky Mountain State's Weed Diamond have got a 7'' release on Transparent coming up at the end of the month, but as with all Transparent releases, both sides are available to listen to at their store right now. "Snowmelt" especially is an instant classic, giving me a sensation I can most clearly describe as "bounding through a forest." Not skipping, or walking, or jogging. Fuckin bouding. Listen:

mp3->Weed Diamond - Snowmelt (from the Snowmelt/Oklahoma 7'', out 3/29 on Transparent)

mp3->Weed Diamond - Oklahoma (from the Snowmelt/Oklahoma 7'', out 3/29 on Transparent)

(via Transparent)

new music: John K.

In West Philadelphia, born and raised: John K. writes stupifyingly catchy pop music that comes off as a limited edition NES cartridge painted "AM Gold." Running the gamut from syrupy, irresistibly earnest synth-kitsch to wiry 80s goth, John K's latest free album Lost In the Beat is by far one of the best uses of your bandwidth this side of searching for extraterrestrial life.



The dude at yvynyl hipped me to them last month but I haven't gotten around to checking em out till this past weekend, and they haven't left my stereo since. I can't help listening to "Lost In the Beat" and imagining the wicked green-screen and spandex dancegasm that must have been going down in the homie's bedroom during its recording, and "Till Tonight" is what I'd imagine Speak & Spell would sound like if it was recorded in a basement between chilling on Prince records. All of which is good, good stuff.

mp3->John K. - Lost in the Beat (from Lost in the Beat)

mp3->John K. - Shouldn't be Talkin to Me (from John)

Luckily for us all, you can download THREE ALBUM'S WORTH of John K material by clicking on the links below. You're welcome.

Lost In the Beat

John

Move John (Instrumental)

New Music: Coyote Clean Up (Free Album Download!)

Apparently this lo-fi electopop thing isn't just a coastal phenomenon, as evidenced by the Motor City's Coyote Clean Up.

Coyote Clean Up -can't shake the full moon from I had An Accident Records on Vimeo.

It's shimmery, Motownish dance music not too unlike that stuff they call "chillwave." Yes, it's all here. The One-Dude-In-A-Bedroom-With-Some-Keyboards mythos, R&B-flavored crooning over tape-hiss synths and liberal use of samples, but the long form of Double Trouble Doo Doo Bubble (I know, I know, I didn't name the thing) and spacey, repetitive house beats bring CCU a little closer to more timeless dance musics of yesterscene.

Which just basically means, these are some cool trippy beats to chill out to, and he's giving away his album for free via Afternoons Modeling, who released the super-ultra-limited hand-painted CDr version of the album. Cause he's a chill chiller, and that's what chill chillers do.

GET IT

EDIT: Dude just contacted me through the myspizzle and sent me this super-fresh new track, remixing a plunky string-driven track from New Jersey ambient bedroom artist Jen Paul / No Lakes, which takes the original's stark, spare plucking and arms it with good old-fashioned gangsta rap handclaps.

mp3-> Jen Paul / No Lakes - Wheel and a Chime (Coyote Clean Up Dub) [Unreleased]

Bootleg: Atlas Sound at the 40 Watt Club

The homies at Southern Shelter were kind enough to post this amazing bootleg of Bradford "Atlas Sound" Cox playing some songs from Logos at Athens, GA's storied 40 Watt Club on NYE.



Of special interest to fans: this ethereal jammed-out version of "Walkabout," which lasts like 15 minutes and opens with an untitled song Cox has been playing live for a while. Enjoy:

mp3-> Atlas Sound - Untitled/Walkabout (Live) [40 Watt Club, 12/31/09]

[Download][Southern Shelter]

Snag the whole set here.

New Music: Antn Hrkwk - Delicious Tears

Sunday treat: just thought I'd post this awesome sample jam from Brooklyn's Antn Hrkwk. This particular track comes from his upcoming Thoroughbred LP, coming soon from the dapper Orange County folks at Life's Blood Flows.



"Delicious Tears," the preview track up at Life's Blood's super-cool website, is a shimmering, sample-heavy swirl of 8-bit burbles and triumphant synths built around an instant-earworm of a looped/chopped vocal hook.

mp3-> Antn Hrkwk - Delicious Tears [from Thoroughbred, out January on Life's Blood]

[Download][Life's Blood]

If you dig it, Antn has another record out on Recycling Records. Titled Mutually Assured, Antn describes it as "an album of musical synonyms. Each song is made up of pieces of an already existing song- chopped up, re-arranged and layered to make new, generally unrecognizable compositions."

The songs up at the homie's myspace certainly speak for themselves, but those into the whole blind-faith thing can download it for freezies instantly via this link.

New Music: A Faulty Chromosome - craving to be coddled so we can feel fake-safe

It's not often that I'm Into CB ventures into full-on altruism, but it's just as rare to come across a band as hardworking, under-appreciated, and consistently fantastic as Austin's (where else?) A Faulty Chromosome.



As you may or may not know, being a good band these days is fucking impossible. Drowning in debt from the release of last year's brilliant as an ex-anorexic's six sicks exit,... LP, AFC mastermind Eric Dalke made like Iran and took the internet by storm, giving away his new album craving to be coddled so we can feel fake-safe and hoping you like it so much you'll give him money so you could get a chance to buy it.

Luckily for Eric, the new album has songs like this:



And by "has" I mean "consists entirely of." Long story short, the new record got made, and anyone not lucky enough to snag a physical copy can download the whole thing on five-finger discount right here.

Coincidentally, their Virb site is amazing, features liner notes and lyrics (!) and even their first essential LP, which you may find is equally free. Don't forget to stop by the band's Kickstart page and show them some love.

New(ish) Music - The Octagon - Arm Brain Heart and Liver EP

Trawling the depths of my unopened downloads folder, I came across this EP from New York indie rockers the Octagon.



Bringing to mind the now sadly-defunct Oxford Collapse, and also possibly the Feelies if they smoked pot instead of blue flake cocaine, Arm Brain Heart and Liver is full of drony, infectious pop punk to keep you warm as winter sets in. Think Japandroids, but, ya know, better.



Being the darlings that they are, the Octagons have made the EP available as a free digital download here via Serious Business, who are also putting out their forthcoming Warm Love and Cool Dreams Forever LP sometime in early 2010.

Free Local Music: Stay Cool Forever free show tonight in Pomona

FREE TONIGHT AT JOEY'S BBQ, 117. W. 2nd Street, Pomona, CA 91766 9:00 PM-2 AM

w/ Amazing Reverb Engine & Phaxanation

Free Music: Sub Pop Cybersex Digital Sampler

Some very odd but generous people over at Sub Pop have put up a super classy website hosting some free songs from Sub Pop artists, including Vetiver and Red Red Meat.



It's also got that damned Vaselines song that's freaking everywhere all of a sudden.

Get it here.