Check out this video from Moscow band Everything Is Made In China. Kinda weird, but kinda cool. Ironic name though, right? Everything is made in China, except this band…they were made in Russia.
Category Archives: Check ’em Out!
Newest Love: Icky Blossoms
Check out this trailer teaser for Icky Blossoms self titled debut album, out July 17th.
Stream: Entire Icky Blossoms album
Download: Icky Blossoms – “Perfect Vision”
Filed under Check 'em Out!, downloads, new albums, Newest Love, video
Newest Love: Oceanics
Rock-pop four-piece, Oceanics have a brand new video for their single Jukebox. Simply put, the video is a video about making a video, directed by Genki Yamasaki and starring actress Cleo Massey of television show H20: Just Add Water. The single is the first from their recent EP, Bright People, recorded with Aria award winning engineer Wayne Connolly (Josh Pyke, The Vines, The Living End). Bright People has seen success in the US and was featured on MTV, MSN and AOL music, and even had a Glee moment, receiving acclaim on the blog, You, Me & Charlie (Dianna Agron of Glee’s blog).
Oceanics are on tour in July with shows along the east-coast of Australia with Hey Geronimo, Velociraptor, and Rockets.
Download: Oceanics – “Jukebox”
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, downloads, listen, Newest Love, video
Newest Love: Gemini Club
“They have a synth-pop sound that just makes you want to dance, whether you’re at a dance party, in you car, or in your office cubicle and bursts with energy.” – CBS Chicago
“If you like to, you know…dance, we think it’s a pretty safe bet, since this three-piece electro-indie dance band is on a mission to make you move.” – Refinery 29
Gemini Club, consisting of Dan Brunelle, Tom Gavin and Gordon Bramli, is a three-piece indie-electronic dance band hailing from Chicago, Illinois. Their unique live shows have been tearing up the scene for the last two years, and commencing dizzying dance parties in every city they go! Far from the conventional live performance, Gemini Club have a specially designed rig that allows for on-the-fly remixing of their own songs meaning each Gemini Club show is different from the last. As a result, Gemini Club has been asked to the support the likes of Chromeo, A-Trak, Two Door Cinema Club, Who-Made-Who, DJ Falcon and Chateau Marmont.
Their first single, “Ghost” came out hot in the blogosphere, resulting in remixes from Hey Champ, Barretso, Golden Bug and Only Children. The track has since been picked up for airplay from BBC Radio 1’s tastemaker show “In New DJs We Trust.”
From the mid-west to the Orient, Gemini Club’s own remix chops are in demand online and across the globe. Their remix for Australian band The Vanish went straight into the top ten of Hype Machine’s charts. The band’s spin on Hey Champ’s “Cold Dust Girl” entered the same top ten charts on five different occasions within a month – and their remix for Shinichi Osawa has been a mainstay on the iTunes dance charts in Japan. Most recently, the gents of GC’s remix of Chilly Gonzales song “You Can Dance” premiered on the RCRD LBL blog as the most downloaded track of the week.
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, listen, Newest Love, video
Brand New: Tin Can Radio – “It Goes On”
After hibernating in a song writing induced coma for the last 6 months, Tin Can Radio are back with their awesome new single “It Goes On,” produced by ARIA award winner, Magoo. The indie inspired art-rock track takes you through a series of symphony sweet vocals and foot tapping guitar hooks leaving you at the end of a dreamy indie electro journey.
Go listen: Tin Can Radio – “It Goes On”
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, listen
Newest Love: Allah-Las
After celebrated releases from Hanni El Khatib and Nick Waterhouse, LA-based indie label on the rise, Innovative Leisure is excited to announce the debut release from their next big act to watch, The Allah-Las. Recorded at the legendary Distillery Studio and produced by fellow labelmate Nick Waterhouse, the surf/psych-rock quartet’s music rivals that of some of the best Brit pop and garage rock bands from the 60s, laced with the sounds of the California coast line. These are the kind of songs that bounced between London and Los Angeles, the kind of thing that could have come from Mick Jagger or Arthur Lee or both at once, with crystalline guitar and slow-mo drums that recall the way the waves take big bites of the beach at night.
In early 2012, the band released a video for their song “Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)” that succinctly embodies the band vibes and references of American past and future via Super 8 footage. If Gidget was resurrected in 2012, the Allah-Las would be playing this song at her beach party and steal away with her for a road trip in their VW van on the PCH. This album is an adventure from the ocean to the desert to the mountains… this is the sound of California!
ALLAH-LAS TRACKLISTING
- Catamaran
- Don’t You Forget It
- Busman’s Holiday
- Sacred Sands
- No Voodoo
- Sandy
- Ela Navega
- Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)
- Catalina
- Vis-A-Vis
- Seven Point Five
- Long Journey
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, listen, video
Check ‘Em Out: Birdy
“Learn Me Right” – an original song featuring British-born singer and songwriter Birdy, will be featured on the upcoming soundtrack to the animated Disney*Pixar film Brave, which will be released by Walt Disney Records on June 19th. The track was written, arranged, and produced by Grammy-nominated British folk-rock group Mumford & Sons.
“We liked the idea of having a girl like Birdy sing,” says the group’s leader Marcus Mumford. It’s been quite liberating.” Adds Birdy: “I love it because it tells a story. Although it has a lot of emotion, it’s also very upbeat and you want to dance to it, which is why it works so well.” The song can be heard during the epilogue to the film, which hits theaters on June 22nd.
In addition to “Learn Me Right,” Birdy’s original song “Just A Game” is featured on The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 And Beyond, produced by T Bone Burnett. “Just A Game” will be included on the Blu-Ray edition of The Hunger Games, which will be released on August 18th.
Also in August, Birdy will return to the U.S. for three special shows, including an appearance at the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco on August 12th. She will also perform at the Roxy in Los Angeles on August 13th and at Joe’s Pub in New York City on August 15th.
In March, Birdy released her self-titled debut album, a soulful, sophisticated collection that includes a cover of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love,” which peaked at No. 17 on the UK singles Chart after BBC’s Radio 1 added it to its playlist. Birdy shot to No. 13 in the U.K. upon its release in November 2011 and achieved gold certification there, while climbing to No. 1 in both Holland and Belgium. Her videos, including those for second UK single “Shelter” and KCRW fave “1901,” have racked up a collective 66 million views on YouTube, while the official “Skinny Love” video has earned more than 25 million views alone.
Related articles
- Birdy: Birdy (Review) (popmatters.com)
Filed under Check 'em Out!, listen, video
Video: Strip Steve ft. Puro Instinct – “Astral Projection”
Strip Steve’s debut, Micro Mega, will be out July 16th via Boysnoize Records
STRIP STEVE DJ DATES:
6/26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Dim Mak Studios – BNR Night “Astral Projection” Release Party w/ D.I.M. & Destructo
6/30 – Chicago, IL @ Wavefront Festival w/ Boys Noize & D.I.M.
7/1 – New York, NY @ Le Bain – BNR Night w/ D.I.M.
9/2 – New York, NY @ Electric Zoo w/ Boys Noize & Djedjotronic
Strip Steve – Micro Mega Tracklisting:
01 – Micro
02 – Stomp
03 – Money Trouble Funk
04 – Astral Projection Feat. Puro Instinct
05 – Radiocheck
06 – All The Time
07 – Music for the Ringtone Generation
08 – Hood
09 – One Thing Feat. Robert Owens
10 – Skate Control
11 – Don’t Know When
12 – Calcium Feat. Das Glow
13 – Mega
Filed under Check 'em Out!, video
Check ‘Em Out: Cusses
Check out this incredible up-and-coming indie rock band from Savannah, GA called Cusses. The female fronted, firecracker three-piece recently debuted a new video for their single “Worst Enemy” and will be releasing a full-length album later this year. Give them a chance before you think, “Eww, all girl rock? Like a more rebellious sort of Cheetah Girls?” Nope. Don’t worry.
Filed under Check 'em Out!, listen, video
Stream: The Rocketboys – Build Anyway
Austin, TX based indie-rock group The Rocketboys have released their long-awaited sophomore full-length album, Build Anyway. The album is currently streaming at AOL Spinner and PasteMagazine.com and is available for purchase on iTunes.
Recorded in their home studio and mixed by CJ Eiriksson (U2, Live, Phish), Build Anyway chronicles the emotions that surface through the brokenness in abandonment to the search for peace and closure, both personally and musically. Frontman Brandon Kinder conveys the feelings perfectly as he paints a haunting, yet heartfelt picture with his rich crooning vocals on the album’s ten beautifully cathartic tracks.
The Rocketboys will be touring throughout the summer in support of Build Anyway.
The Rocketboys Tour Dates:
June 7 – San Antonio, TX – Sam’s Burger Joint
June 8 – Austin, TX – ND
June 9 – Wichita Falls, KS – The Iron Horse
June 10 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada
June 13 – Tempe, AZ – The Sail Inn
June 14 – Redlands, CA – Hangar 24 Brewery
June 15 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
June 16 – Santa Barbara, CA – Velvet Jones
June 17 – Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room
June 18 – Los Angeles, CA – Hotel Cafe
June 19 – San Francisco, CA – Hotel Utah
June 20 – Fresno, CA – Fulton 55
June 21 – Walnut Creek, CA – Red House
June 22 – Stockton, CA – Plea For Peace Center
June 23 – Centralia, WA – Quesadilla Factory
June 24 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
June 25 – Boise, ID – The Venue
June 26 – Salt Lake City, UT – Burt’s Tiki Lounge
June 27 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive
June 28 – Omaha, NE – Barley St. Tavern
June 29 – Joplin, MO – TBC
June 30 – Kansas City, MO – Czar
July 1 – St. Louis, MO – Cicero’s
July 2 – Memphis, TN – Hi-Tone
July 3 – Little Rock, AR – Stickyz
July 5 – Dallas, TX – The Prophet Bar
July 7 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s
Filed under Check 'em Out!, listen, Shows
Musically Amusing 