In October of last year, I posted an intro to Hank & Cupcakes as well as a free download of “Sweet Potion”. Now, here’s the video to check out. Also, the duo will be here in Pittsburgh for a show at Howler’s on March 27th.
Download: Hank & Cupcakes – “Sweet Potion”
Walk Off The Earth will release their Columbia Records debut full length R.E.V.O. (an acronym for the band’s motto “Realize Every Victory Outright”) on March 19, and ahead of release day they will be playing two shows at SXSW in Austin, TX.
R.E.V.O. features Walk Off The Earth’s immensely popular cover of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” (which was the #2 trending YouTube video of 2012 with over 140 million views), as well as 10 original songs, including first breakout single “Red Hands,” which has been added to radio stations nationwide and is quickly climbing airplay charts, approaching the Top 30 at AAA radio. The group is known for their elaborate videos, and in a nod to their most popular video with all five band members playing one guitar, the band have taken things a step further and covered their own single “Red Hands” with all five band members playing one GIANT guitar (watch below).
Filed under Awesome, Highly Anticipated, new albums, video
HAERTS is a band from New York hailing from Germany, England, and the United States. The group consists of Nini Fabi, Ben Gebert, Garrett Ienner, Derek McWilliams, and Jonathan Schmidt. The band’s first single “Wings” was produced in collaboration with Jean-Philip Grobler (aka St. Lucia). HAERTS’ debut album is due to be released this year.
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, listen, Newest Love, video
Double Ivor Novello nominees The Leisure Society are to release a brand new album, Alone Aboard The Ark, on April 16 through Full Time Hobby. The new LP – recorded at Kinks frontman Ray Davies‘ Konk Studios – is the follow up to 2011’s lauded Into The Murky Water, which the band toured in ever distinctive fashion, including a date at the London Barbican backed by the 40-piece Heritage Orchestra. The band is planning to make the trip for the first time across the pond to play in America later this year.
Fittingly, Alone Aboard The Ark sees the band expanding their arcadian, Baroque pop sound with a more diverse array of sounds and inventive orchestration. Following a summer of rehearsals beside the River Ouse in Befordshire, The Leisure Society decamped to Konk Studios to begin recording the tracks that would become Alone Aboard The Ark. Having declared himself a fan of The Leisure Society, Kinks frontman Ray Davies (owner of Konk) originally sought out the band to help him arrange and record his new solo material, and also included the band in his curation of 2011’s Meltdown Festival on the South Bank.
The genesis of The Leisure Society spans back to the friendship made by Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy in their hometown of Burton on Trent. When the pair relocated to London they fell in with the Brighton-based Wilkommen Collective, and with Helen Whitaker, Mike Siddell and Sebastian Hankins, came to form The Leisure Society. The single “The Last of The Melting Snow” from their debut LP The Sleeper was nonimated for a 2009 Ivor Novello (alongside heavyweights such as Elbow & The Last Shadow Puppets), and the band joined an incredibly select group when a year later, “Save It For Someone Who Cares” was also nominated for an Ivor.
Lyrically, Alone Aboard The Ark is an album informed by a palette as eclectic as it’s musical flesh. Album standout “The Sober Scent of Paper” is a hair-raising waltz informed somewhat unconsciously by the demise of Sylvia Plath: “When I began writing” says Nick “I didn’t know what it was going to be about. For some reason, the first line “Chains dredge the great lake around you / Pull you along by the knots in your hair” made me think of her. I guess it’s quite a dark desolate image”. Yet there’s light to this shade, with “Tearing The Arches Down” marrying a wryly observed narrative “The boy with the bloodshot eyes / A legend in your lunchtime” to an ebullient chant.
Having recorded both The Sleeper and 2011’s follow-up Into The Murky Water in home studios, the range of technology both old and new at the band’s disposal at Konk proved to be the perfect foil for The Leisure Society’s ambitious designs. Alone Aboard The Ark was recorded on a 2″ tape machine and a 1970s mixing desk, and the value of recording live, coupled with the band’s minimal approach to arrangement, is borne out across the album. Nick Etwell’s (trumpeter to Mumford & Sons) brass lines permeate “One Man and His Fug”, whilst the electric guitar lines heard on “The Last in A Long Line” were the product of Christian and Mike’s two Gretches recorded playing at opposite ends of the studio. Even the piano part for “We Go Together” underwent a nocturnal reinvention when Christian had ‘a moment of inspiration, whilst deeply drunk at midnight listening to the playback”.
The Leisure Society – Alone Aboard The Ark – Track listing:
1. Another Sunday Psalm
2. A Softer Voice Takes Longer Hearing
3. Fight For Everyone
4. Tearing The Arches Down
5. The Sober Scent Of Paper
6. All I Have Seen
7. Everyone Understands
8. Life Is A Cabriolet
9. One Man And His Fug
10. Forever Shall We Wait
11. We Go Together
12. The Last In A Long Line
Filed under listen, new albums, video
Earlier this month, MS MR revealed their first official music video for their new track “Fantasy.” The band explained: “Shot on location in Jamaica, Queens with our dear friend and talented director Austin Peters, the video for “Fantasy” stays true to the main themes and questions behind the track: things we imagine or think we understand are not as they appear. This video presents a world filled with fantasies gone wrong where the mundane, the surreal and the supernatural are all intertwined and what is real becomes a matter of perspective.”
The song is off of the band’s debut album Secondhand Rapture out May 14th in the U.S. on Columbia Records.
Also, check out the “Fantasy” remix by Kele Okereke from Bloc Party.
Listen: MS MR – Fantasy (Kele from Bloc Party Remix)
MS MR continues to enthrall fans around the world with their compelling blend of pop. With “Fantasy” quickly rising to #2 on the Hype Machine ‘Popular’ charts. MS MR is the moniker for Lizzy Plapinger and Max Hershenow. The duo’s debut Secondhand Rapture is comprised of 12 tracks and was produced by Hershenow, with additional production and mix by Tom Elmhirst. The duo recently played a handful of new songs during their sold-out stints at NYC’s Mercury Lounge and headline debut at the Echo in Los Angeles. You can catch the band performing at this year’s SXSW.
MS MR live:
Wed 3/13: C3 – Lamberts, 401 W. 2nd Street. @ 3:30pm
Thu 3/14: Hype Machine – Hype Hotel, 301 Brazos/3rd Street. @ 12am
Fri 3/15: Filter/Columbia – Cedar Street Courtyard, 208 W 4th Street @ 2:30pm
Sat 5/11: Columbia, MD @ Sweetlife Festival
Sat: 5/25: Boston, MA @ Boston Calling
Fri 6/7: New York, NY @ Governors Ball
Filed under new albums, remixes, Shows, video
Conquistador attacks again with another contagious, psych-pop hit “I’m Alive.” Expanding from his trippy persona, Conquistador enters a new realm of intoxicating glam electro. He recently released a video that won this year’s Machinima Interactive Film Fest and was an MTVU Freshman video nominee– check it out below.
“I’m Alive” was inspired in part by the Arab Spring. Conquistador has been involved with the Free Iran organization in Sweden and donated music to them at the height of the Green Movement, which demanded the removal of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Supporters of the green movement wore green as its symbol, and what started as a peaceful protest ended in the removal of a dictator. Another key inspiration for the song is the Zazous, a garishly-dressed subculture in WW II-era France who wore yellow stars that said zazou, which mocked the badges of degradation that the Jews wore in Jewish ghettos all over Nazi controlled Europe. These revolutionaries used style as a form of transgression and wore it like a weapon. “I’m Alive” has a message of survival, both of the joy of making it through a dark time in society and also the melancholy of remembering those who didn’t. While studying anthropology at NYU, Conquistador spent time in the Middle East. He took a musical cue from the region, which can be heard on the track.
Stream: Conquistador – “I’m Alive”
“Fuzzy roller-disco…dark tropical electric-eclectic ’80s …T-Rex-tasy…with Jarvis Cocker-y bravado.” – Billboard Magazine
“Edwardian Ziggy Stardust goes to Transylvania,” –Los Angeles Times
“An amalgam of Bowie, Queen, synth-pop, disco, psych…and the introspection of a sensitive oddball who’s been told many times he doesn’t fit in, but is actually more normal than most people.” – BLURT
“A glam rock peacock.” -Paper Magazine
Conquistador is an LA-based musician and artist whose music is collaboration between himself and Carlos Cháirez of Mexico’s iconic alternative band Kinky. The pair have also received two Latin Grammy nominations for co-writing Kinky songs. A champion of true freedom, his work champions individualism and is defiantly eccentric. His presence alone has a transformative effect on any space. His signature look consists of cat suits, a Ushanka Russian hat, and most notably, his award-winning moustache, which made him the first American, first Jew, and youngest competitor in history to win the title of “World Imperial Moustache Champion” at the World Beard and Mustache Championships, held in Brighton, England in 2007. Conquistador was also #3 in Fuse’s “10 greatest moments of SXSW 2012.”
Conquistador grabbed national attention this fall when he unwittingly became one of the highlights of MTV’s 2012 VMAs and caused a sensation on the red carpet. His music and performance art has lead to Madness and The Whigs inviting him onstage at festival performances. The image and music have always been inseparable for Conquistador. He grew up with Sparks as neighbors and was inspired to wear lycra catsuits by Todd Rundgren and Alice Cooper. The glitter movement inspired him to be exactly who he wants to be at all times and Conquistador is paying the inspiration forward. He has already won a pair of Latin GRAMMY nominations for his co-writing with Kinky.
Check out The Royal Concept taking on Daft Punk. With a brand new cover, the Swedish lads add their patented rock ‘n’ roll swing to the legendary French electro duo’s classic from Discovery, “Digital Love.”
Given the quartet’s penchant for danceable grooves and massive hooks, it’s an undeniable interpretation worth spinning again and again. It’s also the perfect tune to hold over fans until the release of the band’s forthcoming full-length debut for LAVA Records/Republic Records later this year.
In addition, after unveiling “World on Fire” online last month, the single is available on iTunes and other digital retailers. The group continues to stir up buzz stateside after cultivating a fervent and faithful following in Sweden. Their song “D-D-Dance” hit No.2 on Hype Machine, while “Gimme Twice” reached No.3.
Download: The Royal Concept – “Digital Love” (Daft Punk Cover)
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, downloads, listen, Newest Love, video, Whoa!
Gold Fields’ debut album Black Sun is armed with pop hooks, tribal beats, danceable rhythms, and plenty of emotion. Revered for their larger-than-life live show, the Australian quintet will kick off a national co-headlining tour with A Silent Film & Royal Teeth next week. Fans that can’t make it out can watch their debut TV appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! performing ”Dark Again,” February 27th at 11:35/10:35pm Central on ABC.
The band has already shared a few songs off Black Sun via thematically charged videos for “Treehouse” and most recently “Dark Again” ft model Shaun Ross who has also starred in Katy Perry, Kanye West & Beyonce videos. With dreamy, swirling layers and sincere lyrics that showcase the band’s vulnerable side, the band has unleashed new album track “Happy Boy” today.
Stream: Gold Fields – “Happy Boy”
Hitting listeners with a power-packed punch from its first note, Black Sun opens with the infectious “Meet My Friends,” a bass and percussion-driven track with haunting echoing vocals. The single “Dark Again” is a pop gem flecked with driving guitars and bright synths, all building to a heavy-hitting chorus that’s sure to make you move. The album also contains “Treehouse” and the electrically-charged “Moves.”
MTV has named Gold Fields one of their 13 Artists to Watch in 2013, supporting the band across their platforms throughout the year. The result of relentless work and playful experimentation, Black Sun will be released February 26th via Astralwerks. The album is available for pre-order now. Be sure to catch Gold Fields LIVE on tour and stay tuned for more news + SXSW details!
Gold Fields On Tour!
* = w/ A Silent Film
# = w/ Royal Teeth
2/4: Washington DC@ U Street Music Hall *
2/5: Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live *
2/6: New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
2/7: Philadelphia, PA @ TLA *
2/8: Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall *
2/9: Providence, RI @ The Met *
2/11: Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel *
2/12: Detroit, MI @ The Shelter *
2/13: Columbus, OH @ The Basement *
2/14: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom *
2/15: Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall *
2/17: Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club *
2/19: Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep * #
2/20: Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge * #
2/22: Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue * #
2/23: Missoula, MT @ Elks Live * #
2/24: Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Café * #
2/25: Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
2/28: Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour * #
3/2: Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room * #
3/5: San Diego @ The Casbah * #
3/6: Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom * #
3/8: Las Vegas, NV @ Hard Rock Café * #
Filed under listen, new albums, Shows, video
Musically Amusing 