This week, Adult Swim released the latest in their music series, Garage Swim, which features tracks from all your favorite garage rock bands: King Tuff, Bass Drum of Death, Black Lips, and more.
Did I mention its available for a free download? Not even your e-mail required?
If you’re a Los Campesinos! fan, I’ve got some pretty great news for your Friday. The UK-based indie pop band is releasing their very first live album, which will be available for digital download on May 4th.
A Good Night For A Fistfight was recorded last December at Islington Assembly Hall in London, where the band played a 21-song set spanning all of their albums. The show was particularly noteworthy because it marked the last show with band member Ellen Campesinos!, as well as the appearance of Aleks Campesinos! playing her first show in three years.
So SXSW (at least the part that matters) is just about a week away, and like many of you, I’m starting to pull my schedule together and get ready for a mini-marathon of day drinking.
As all of y’all from the colder parts of our nation dig out your short-sleeve shirts and cowboy boots for the trek to Austin, the weather is getting ready for you. Today was perfect SXSW weather – sunny, not to hot but not to cold. Beautiful.
Anytime the weather’s like this is begins to remind me of SXSWs-past, and all the fantastic acts I’ve gotten a chance to see there.
Not only is a good week for covers, but it’s also a good week for new tracks from favorite bands. After hearing the latest from Phoenix yesterday, now you can hear the newest track from indie punk legends The Thermals.
“Born To Kill” is off of The Thermals sixth studio album, Desperate Ground, via April 16th. This marks the first album the band has released via Saddle Creek, having previously released albums with Kill Rock Stars and Sub Pop.
You guys? I’m excited about this one.
While Dan of Throwback Thursday fame is hanging out in Houston catching Jeff Mangum’s set, my plan was to hang out, paint my nails, and watch some weird movies. Did an ombre teal thing on the nails and watched “Butter,” a comedy about butter sculpting with Jennifer Garner, Kristen Schaal, and Ty Burrell among many others. All in all, a banner night.
But then, I remember I had a new band to check out: The History of Apple Pie. And I’m digging the sound enough that I’m not even mopey about missing the chance to hear “Holland, 1945.”
One of the tricky things about consuming a lot of new music is that it can be easy to lose track of a band whose song you fell in love with.
At least that’s my excuse for losing track of London Still Corners, whose track “Fireflies” caught my ears back in October. That song was the A-side to their latest 7″ single. Now, we’re getting a chance to hear the B-side, “Hearts of Fools.”
Fans of Youth Lagoon‘s 2011 debut The Year of Hibernation will not be disappointed with the first listen from his 2013 Wondrous Bughouse, which will be released March 5th via Fat Possum. The synth-y sound and the heartfelt lyrics would certainly feel at home on his first record.
But as “Dropla” builds, Trevor Powers starts repeating, “You will never die/ You will never die” and you start to sense there’s some new themes going on. On creating the record, Powers said: Read More
I’ve got my best albums of 2012 ready for Friday, but I have to be honest that I always enjoy putting together my best songs lists. You might not sit down and listen to your ten or twenty favorite albums at once, but you can relieve the year through single songs in a couple of hours.
My best of ____ mixes (and those throwback one’s made by Dan) are some of my favorite mixes of all time. If you’re not already making best of ____ mixes, you need to start. Today. The only rules? One song per artist, and the song was released in some fashion (album, EP, 7″, mp3) in 2012.
In the meantime, check out the list of my favorite songs of the year. Jams, every single one of them.
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I’ve been thinking lately about how folks’ music taste change over time. And I’m not talking about how you used to love the Backstreet Boys and/or Limp Bizkit when you were a kid (and how you’d never admit that to anyone now). I’m talking about how your grown-up music tastes can shift from one genre to another over your lifespan.
In many ways, music blogs, at least those run predominately by one person, become an artifact of that change. I remember when Gorilla vs. Bear used to post a lot more standard indie rock, but now it’s moved into more electro and hip-hop.
And I can track my own shifts in my music taste through what I post. I used to listen almost exclusively to indie pop and retro garage rock. And lately? I’ve been posting a lot more electro/dance stuff. Does that mean I’m not feeling the garage rock anymore?
So I couldn’t decide if I should post this, because it is so clearly a publicity stunt. But at the same time, it’s one of the more bad ass publicity stunts I’ve come across (and I’m digging the song it’s promoting), so here goes:
Sweden’s Shout Out Louds are releasing their first song in three years, “Blue Ice,” as a 7″ single. Made of ice. Yes, ice. The bad news? You probably can’t have one.
