“Blending 80′s art-rock, synth-pop, and a straight up indie rock chug, the band pours these genres together into a giant boiling cauldron of influences and come away with something that takes the best of each and leaves the rest to die by the wayside…” – Beats Per Minute
Click to check out the EP
Tracklist:
1. The Runner
2. Gone
3. Can’t Stop Shaking
4. House On Fire [Bonus Track]
5. House On Fire (SoundSAM Remix)
6. Can’t Stop Shaking (Soul Puncherz Remix)
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, listen, Lists, new albums
SWF is the dream of, and moniker for, the artist, musician, and self-described mystic, Stevie Weinstein-Foner. Stevie’s messages of love and longing roll from his debut album, Let It Be Told, like mantras blasted from the radio of a brightly re-painted VW van, cruising down a metaphysical highway of endless summer with the windows down. Let It Be Told (out October 8 via Mecca Lecca) was recorded in Memphis, and the album’s soulful proclamations are backed by a chorus of fuzzy guitars, vocal harmonies, and very singable hooks. Time Out New York describes SWF’s music as “warm, mellow, scruffy rock & roll.” A few days ago marked the release of his first music video for “Black & Golden”, which you can watch below. The video was shot over the course of an entire year, beginning with the Chinese New Year in 2012 and wrapping on New Year’s Day in 2013.
After spending the summer of 2008 in the Grand Canyon rafting down the Colorado River, Stevie moved to Brooklyn, where he began to study yoga and write the songs which would become the material for Let It Be Told. Leaving Brooklyn to live and work on farms in Central America for the winter, he ended his travels in Memphis in May 2011, recording the first half of his debut album. Upon returning to Brooklyn, Stevie began performing as SWF, gathering friends from the yoga and music communities to act as band members.
After a year of determination, detox, and deep self-study, Stevie returned to Memphis in January 2013 to record the rest of the album. On “Warrior”, he sings, “I let my darkness shine, I let the darkness out, I’ve taken the warrior’s vow”, illuminating his path of sincerity and soul discovery. The songs are odes to a deeper connection to our soul and the challenges and beauty of hoping to attain enlightenment in the 21st century.
Revealed in both the spirit of light and darkness, Let It Be Told is a work of truth, love, and a heart that beats for rock & roll.
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Warp Records are pleased to announce the release of Kwes’ debut album ilp following last year’s critically acclaimed EP meantime.
The new track “36” off the album is inspired by the enduring love Kwes witnessed between his grandparents. His music displays an unabashed honesty that highlights his ability to craft heart-on-the-sleeve songs about relationships. The foundation for which is his experimental take on pop which he refers to as Freepop, forged by his dual love of “mad” sounds and personal songwriting. But for Kwes, it is more of a creative process than a sound, marked by his desire to keep learning and trying out new things.
Last year, he made his first appearance at SXSW, and was heralded by New York Magazine’s Nitsuh Abebe as one of the festival’s standout discoveries. Other live performances were as part of Bobby Womack’s “super group” which also included another Kwes collaborator, Damon Albarn. The group made an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which can be viewed HERE.
“open-hearted… mixes a homemade aesthetic with swirling electronics” – Pitchfork
“the right combination of ego and insecurity to lure listeners into his lush, sentimental world”– Village Voice
“velveteen blend of handcrafted, ultra-earnest electronica” – SPIN
Listen: Kwes – “36”
Tracklist
01. purplehands
02. 36
03. rollerblades
04. cablecar
05. flower
06. hives
07. broke
08. chagall
09. parakeet
10. b_shf_l
Filed under Check 'em Out!, new albums
Listen: Raccoon Fighter – “Santa Tereza”
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, new albums
Thomas Azier has opened up the gateway to “Ghostcity”. The Berlin-based electro-pop auteur released his new single “Ghostcity” yesterday through Casablanca Records, along with the re-release of his debut EP’s, Hylas 001 and Hylas 002. The two EP’s and “Ghostcity” are a precursor to his debut full-length, the third installment in the Hylas trilogy, which will see a release in early 2014. On “Ghostcity”, the multi-instrumentalist, producer, and artist fashions a monumental melodic hook between propulsive synths, beats, and a flurry of futuristic electronics actually recorded in an abandoned Soviet factory. Mirroring the location’s expansive and warm era of despair, it’s an amalgam of shuddering dance sheen and artful pop bliss. Get ready to get lost in the dark, shadowy alleys of “Ghostcity”.
Stream: Thomas Azier – Hylas 001
Stream: Thomas Azier – Hylas 002
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The Rebel Light has a brand new song called “Jukebox Dream” and here’s what they had to say about it:
“It has a fun summer throw back vintage vibe to it. We did all the recording ourselves in our house, instruments in the living room, vocals in the kitchen and we are really happy with the way it turned out.”
Listen: The Rebel Light – “Jukebox Dream”
Check out my past post on the band here.
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“Jacuzzi Boys Bring Heat” – ROLLING STONE“Jacuzzi Boys have taken their place among the best sloppy racket-makers bashing out easy-boogie soundtracks to your next drunken night at the local rock dive” – SPIN“This is a band well-versed in garage songwriting… interested in making a jangling-but-nervy song that’ll sound really good on a muggy Florida day.” – PITCHFORK
Emanating from Southern Florida like a hazy sunbeam of garage howl, Miami’s Jacuzzi Boys are taking to the road this fall for a string of North American dates with Wavves and King Tuff. The trio, comprised of guitarist/vocalist Gabriel Alcala, drummer/vocalist Diego Monasteri and bassist Danny Gonzalez, will be bringing musical offerings from their upcoming LP, Jacuzzi Boys, set to be released September 10th on Hardly Art. Kicking off at Chicago’s Park West on September 28th, the band is stopping through eighteen cities across the US and Canada, enveloping crowds in their sonically drenched live heat. Emblazoned with the stamp of approval from the godfather of punk rock, Iggy Pop, and bolstered by tour experience with the likes of King Khan and the Shrines and Man or Astro-Man?, these dates will see Jacuzzi Boys build on their momentum and garner even more critical and popular attention in their wake. The 7″ single for “Double Vision” is out now via Hardly Art.
UPCOMING JACUZZI BOYS TOUR DATES:
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“Mixing a dash of The Smiths’ swagger with more worldly influences”—Brooklyn Vegan
“Ski Lodge’s songs are most impressive not for their simplicity or for their general vibes, but for their striking clarity and attention to detail, as well as hooks so strong you couldn’t ignore them if you tried.”–The L Magazine
“Think, Real Estate and The Smiths. Marr writes about nostalgic memories of youth on top of his indie surf jams.” – Earmilk
“The album is preceded by first single, “Boy”, one of the catchiest ways to convey total suffocation and a perfect ode to summer heartache.” – Consequence of Sound
Twenty-plus years of stories, twenty-plus years of perfecting music’s craft, Ski Lodge’s Big Heart is exactly what a debut record should be: the culmination of a creative force’s life on this planet. Andrew Marr, the multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter behind Ski Lodge, has created a deeply personal record that overflows with lush melodies and insatiably catchy choruses. His songs occasionally deal with dark matters—infidelity, painful break-ups, loneliness, disjointed father-son dynamics—but Marr bathes them in a blissful light ripe for sing-alongs.
“I try to write songs honestly, and a lot of the things going on in my head that I struggle with might be deemed ‘dark,’ but I don’t think that means I can’t sing about them in a way that is musically upbeat or poppy,” Marr says, from his home in New York City. It’s a dichotomy that also translates to Marr’s choice for musical moniker. He explains the name Ski Lodge “evoked an image of being warm by a fire, alone or with friends, while outside exists the cold and cruel winter.”
Big Heart, Ski Lodge’s debut full-length, out this summer on Dovecote Records, is Marr’s fullest realization of this hot and cold split. Marr wrote all of the lyrics and music, and played nearly every sound that ended up on the record. However, this was the first time the 26-year-old worked in a professional studio with a producer, the indelible Lewis Pesacov (Best Coast, Fool’s Gold), over several weeks in Los Angeles. The combination of Marr’s intrinsic songwriting and Pesacov’s LA-defining production skills resulted in music with fuller breadth and scope than Ski Lodge’s previous release without losing any of the wry innocence that made 2011’s self-titled debut EP so much fun.
The one exception is the lead single “Just To Be Like You,” which was recorded with the full band in Upstate New York using producer Kevin McMahon (The Walkmen, Real Estate). Prefix Mag called the track “sugary sweet pop,” while Pitchfork warned its readers not to “be deceived by the energetic, hopscotching riff” before lauding the single’s dark depths. The song and its accompanying video of cult imagery are an exploration of contrast that fits in perfectly with both the album and Ski Lodge as a whole: deeply affecting and unmistakably danceable.
Listen: Ski Lodge – “Just To Be Like You”
Big Heart Track Listing:
1. Anything To Hurt You
2. Boy
3. Looking For A Change
4. Big heart
5. You Can’t Just Stop Being Cruel
6. Dragging Me To Hell
7. I Always Thought
8. Does It Bring You Down
9. Just To Be Like You
10. Down On This Southern Tip
11. I Can’t Tell
Ski Lodge is having their album release party August 20th at Grasslands Gallery in Brooklyn.
Filed under Check 'em Out!, listen, Lists, new albums, Newest Love, video
A classically trained violinist, Janelle Best brings a distinctive mark to the intricately layered instrumentation, lush harmonies and atmospheric guitar implemented by her band Desert Stars.
Their newest track “Off the Cliff” invites you to take a plunge deep down into a reverb-soaked abyss, darkened by Janelle’s warm voice.
Listen/download: Desert Stars – “Off the Cliff”
Along with Best and Hill, Desert Stars is comprised of guitarist Eric Altesleben, bassist Tim Edgar and drummer Gregg Giuffré, a quintet whose music has the effect we only wish Phil Spector had produced for The Jesus and Mary Chain. With twelve tracks of languid harmony and reverb, Habit Shackles (available on July 16th) is certain to resonate with fans of Nico and Cat Power.
You can see Desert Stars at their album release show on July 16th at Cameo in New York.
Filed under Check 'em Out!, downloads, new albums
Los Angeles-based noir-pop quartet Leftover Cuties are primed to release their sophomore full-length album, The Spark & The Fire, on July 23rd! Returning with a 12-track journey that swings easily from smoke-filled Bourbon St. speakeasies to quiet island getaways, Shirli McAllen’s silky voice provides the hook as the band’s sound pulls you in with upright bass, accordion, piano, brass, brushed drums, and yes, the ukulele.
We previously released first single “One Heart” – a powerhouse track filled with handclaps and stomping percussion. Today, we’re sharing “What’s The Matter?,” a beautifully bittersweet ode to an absent lover. The ballad shows off chanteuse Shirli’s powerful, emotive vocals alongside lush instrumentation and an irresistibly memorable chorus that fixes itself squarely in your mind (and heart!)
Listen/download: Leftover Cuties – “What’s The Matter?”
Leftover Cuties will embark on a full US tour this summer, giving new fans their first chance to see the Cuties captivating live show. The tour will start in California, with stops in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston and more. The band has performed alongside Shelby Lynne, Alabama Shakes, Saint Motel, the Be Good Tanyas and many more.
Filed under Check 'em Out!, downloads, listen, new albums, Shows
Musically Amusing 