Smile’s debut album, A Flash in the Night, is available now!
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- New Collaboration: SMILE (musicallyamusing.com)
Category Archives: Check ’em Out!
New Video: Smile – “Eat Dirt”
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, new albums, video
Newest Love: Flagship
North Carolina’s Flagship is poised to break out with the release of their debut EP blackbush. The 5-song EP is out now via Bright Antenna/ILG, and can be heard at Baeble Music, who declare the band “matches the emotional and nearly spiritual alternative rock of U2 circa Achtung Baby, with the deep-throated baritone delivery of lead singer Drake Margolnick ala Ian Curtis from Joy Division and some of the seething anger and rawness of We Are Augustines.” The release comes in advance of an anticipated full-length debut expected this fall.
Helmed by the talented singer/song writer/guitarist Drake Margolnick, Flagship just wrapped a cross-country tour supporting label mates The Wombats, where they performed in front of sold out crowds in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, Salt Lake City and more. With Drake on lead vocals, his lyrics come to life with the help of lead guitarist Matt Padgett, keyboardist Grant Harding, drummer Michael Finster, and bassist Preston Hayden. The 5-piece band is the newest addition to Bright Antenna, home to such artists as OMD, The Wombats, Magic Wands, Middle Class Rut, Beware of Darkness and more.
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, listen, Newest Love, video
New Music: Big Science – “Blind Our Eyes”
Check out the track “Blind Our Eyes” from the new Chicago band Big Science. Their debut album, Difficulty, will be out May 29th. The album features dark interpretations of 80’s pop, new wave rock similar to Interpol or (early) Killers.
Listen: Big Science – “Blind Our Eyes”
Filed under Check 'em Out!, listen
Newest Love: Tesla Boy – “Fantasy”
Click to go buy the track at iTunes!
Check out this new single “Fantasy” from Tesla Boy’s upcoming EP.
Listen: Tesla Boy – “Fantasy”
Filed under Check 'em Out!, listen, Newest Love
Gigamesh EP Sampler
Gigamesh is releasing the brand new All My Life EP just in time for summer via Parisian record label Kitsuné. If you haven’t heard the soundcloud sampler, check it out. It will be available on all digital music retailers May 28th and is currently available for sale exclusively through Beatport.
Also, check out the latest remixes Gigamesh has done:
Listen: Punks Jump Up ft. Dave 1 – Mister Overtime (Gigamesh Remix)
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, listen
Video: MS MR – “Hurricane”
“Beating Lana Del Rey’s record for “1990s influenced Tumblr photos per minute” with the video for their debut single “Hurricane”” – Pitchfork“…feels big, the vibe feels grand – the pop-allure is definitely present.” – Disco Naivete
MS MR has revealed their new video for single “Hurricane,” and it begs to be heard! The New York band will officially release the 7″ in July via IAMSOUND Records. I posted a little while back about them and how they’re going on tour with Marina and the Diamonds.
Get a free download of “Hurricane” from the band’s website in exchange for an email address here.
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- Brand New: MS MR – “Hurricane” (musicallyamusing.com)
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, downloads, listen, Newest Love, video
New Collaboration: SMILE
The brainchildren behind two of Sweden’s most beloved musical projects have combined to form one artistic force, the result being an infectious pop revolution. Smile is the collaboration of Björn Yttling, world-renowned writer, producer and bassist of international indie-pop powerhouse Peter Bjorn and John, and Joakim Åhlund of bear-masked electro outfit Teddybears. The duo is excited to announce the May 29th release of their debut LP, A Flash in the Night, as the first artist album from the Swedish artist collective, Ingrid. The recording is fully loaded with electro-focused pop tracks, many instrumental and constructed around addictive synth. The vocals that are offered are artfully sparse. The album features the single “Clean Gloves, Dirty Hands,” a standout instrumental track that The Fader has deemed, “excellent”, set amongst the hazy and nostalgic “Jean Michel,” complete with retro future-synth and the dream-pop gems “Crooked” and “Satellite Blues”
Ingrid made it’s official debut on Record Store Day, April 21st. with a 15-track compilation aptly titled Ingrid Volym I . The release features new original tracks from Nordic musicians and label founders Lykke Li, Joakim Ahlund of Teddybears, Miike Snow and Björn Yttling of Peter Björn and John. In addition to solo music projects by members of Peter Björn and John, Teddybears and Miike Snow, additional artists on the compilation include Andrew Wyatt, The Chinamen, Coco Morier, Electrocute, Hortlax Cobra, Little Majorette, Max Von Sydow, Peter Moren and Starlight Serenaders. The story behind the Swedish powerhouse label is anything but ordinary. Now they have all joined forces to record music as a single sonic entity highlighting Sweden’s eclectic music scene, ranging from dark, lush cosmic pop to psychedelic minimalism to melodic kraut.
A FLASH IN THE NIGHT TRACKLISTING
- Jeans Team
- Satellite Blues
- Clean Gloves, Dirty Hands
- Jean Michel
- Eating Dirt
- Med Hopp Om Battring
- Second Hand Smoke
- From Time To Time
- School. Work. Dead
- Have Some Fun Tonight
- Crooked
- Rescue Dog
- A Flash In The Night
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- Smile – “From Time To Time” (Stereogum Premiere) (stereogum.com)
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, listen, Lists, Newest Love, video
Newest Love (+ download): The Dig
New York City’s rock band The Dig will release their new album Midnight Flowers on May 29th via Buffalo Jump Records. In celebration, they’re hosting three record release shows in DC, NYC, and Chicago. In July they will move to Los Angeles by popular demand and return for a residency at Silverlake Lounge after playing their successful shows with Ben Kweller last month. The band is proud to lend their single to Turn the Tide: Songs for “Last Call at the Oasis” a companion chartity album to the new film Last Call at the Oasis in support of the global water crisis alongside 20 unreleased exclusive tracks from artists including Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Alabama Shakes, My Morning Jacket and more.
Listen/Download: The Dig – “I Already Forgot Everything You Said”
The Dig’s sound has been developing ever since the band’s two singers Emile Mosseri and David Baldwin started making music together when they were eleven years old. After meeting California native Erick Eiser, the three songwriters have been writing tunes and playing in different bands since they were 16 years old. Anchored by sharp guitars, a woozy synth backdrop and airtight vocal harmonies, the new album Midnight Flowers is produced by Bryce Goggin (Pavement, The Apples In Stereo, Swans, Antony & The Johnsons) and it recalls styles ranging from T. Rex to Brian Eno to The Everly Brothers. Leading up to the release of Midnight Flowers, The Dig have pressed a limited number of cassette tapes containing the album’s first two singles, “Red Rose In The Cold Winter Ground” and “I Already Forgot Everything You Said.”
“Even though it takes us about 15 minutes to make each individual cassette, which is done using an old boom box in the back of our van between shows, we like the idea of having the songs that we recorded using analog tape machines available on cassette. For any of our fans that have moved on from 1995, each cassette comes with a digital download.”
Following their acclaimed 2010 debut, Electric Toys, The Dig amassed a passionate national following with magnetic live performances touring with the likes of Portugal. The Man, The Antlers, and The Walkmen. The band began writing new songs on the road and back home in New York between tours. The new songs reflect a rich sense of lyricism in “Red Rose in the Cold Winter Ground” and “Glass Horse” while thrumming with a charged pop sensibility in “All Tied Up” and “Break the Silence.” When we were writing “I Already Forgot Everything You Said,” guitarist and vocalist David Baldwin recalls, “We had just gotten off the road with The Antlers and we were listening to a lot of Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind. I think those influences found their way into that song particularly. But really the songs on this album are personal.”
The Dig are:
- David Baldwin (Guitar/Vocals)
- Emile Mosseri (Bass/Vocals)
- Erick Eiser (Keyboards/Guitar)
- Mark Demiglio (Drums)
The Dig – Midnight Flowers track listing:
- Red Rose in the Cold Winter Ground
- Black Water
- I Already Forgot Everything You Said
- All Tied Up
- Hole In My Heart
- Animal Screams
- Break The Silence
- Police Car
- Clouds and The White Noise
- Glass Horse
The Dig live:
- 5/19: Washington, DC @ The Dunes (TICKETS)
- 5/25: Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands (TICKETS)
- 5/31: Chicago, IL @ Schubas (TICKETS)
- 6/16: Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar
- 7/11: Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake Lounge
- 7/18: Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake Lounge
- 7/25: Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake Lounge
Related articles
- The Dig – “Red Rose in the Cold Winter Ground” (musicallyamusing.com)
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, Highly Anticipated, listen, Newest Love, Shows
Check ‘Em Out: SSCION
Hailing from Kansas City’s unexpected art-scene, SSION has reached the apex of synth-pop perfection with the album Bent, out August 7th on Dovecote. Led by the charismatically avant gender outlaw Cody Critcheloe, SSION creates music that is simultaneously dance inducing and cheekily crass and that irreverently pokes fun at contemporary culture. Tracks are meticulously crafted with reverbed synth, deep bass and vocals that verge on the addictive. Critcheloe’s creativity is not bounded by music making, as he has been commissioned to produce music videos for a multitude of heavyweights in the unconventional-pop world, including Peaches, Gossip, CSS and Santigold as well as promotional videos for the vibrant outsider designer and fellow Kansas City local, Peggy Noland.
Drawing from a multifaceted artistic background, SSION is a total multimedia experience playfully on the vanguard of culture, replete with high-concept visuals, performance, costuming and make-up. The enhanced hard copy re-release of Bent will include previously unreleased bonus tracks and remixes from MNDR, Grimes, Nightfeelings, Physical Therapy and more.
Bent features the lushly reverbed introverted single “My Love Grows In The Dark.” In the accompanying video, conceived and produced by Critcheloe, the front man portrays himself as the antithesized pop-star, journeying through a surreal house of androgynous dancers and confronted with issues of representation, indifference and intimacy. The track got a dreamy disco remix treatment by Nightfeelings (Nick Weiss of Teengirl Fantasy).
SSION not only nods to the most influential and iconic pop artists of the past, but also stands to carve out its own place in the future as a whole new breed of pop.
SSION will play select live dates across on the east and west coast, appearing with Gossip, JD Samson and Sharon Needles. He will also be performing at this year’s San Francisco Pride.
Tracklisting:
1. Listen 2 The Grrrls
2. Blonde With U
3. Psy-chic
4. Luvvbazaar
5. Earthquake
6. Growin
7. Feelz Good (4-Evr)
8. My Love Grows In The Dark
9. Nothing Happens At Nite
10. Weird Yearz
Filed under Check 'em Out!, downloads, video
Download: Fixers – “Crystals” (Memory Tapes Remix)
Fixers released Pop Meat/Your Corruptor, their first EP in the US, on April 24th via Dolphin Love Records, and now the band is sharing a Memory Tapes remix of their lead single, “Crystals.” Memory Tapes reworked the track with an irresistible bassline and funky, ocscillating synths. If you missed the bands’ kaleidoscopic video for “Crystals” last month, be sure to check it out!
Download: Fixers – Crystals (Memory Tapes Remix)
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- Newest Love (+ free DL): Fixers (musicallyamusing.com)
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, downloads, listen, video
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