With its first new album in two decades launching this April, Devo is poised to prove to the world that Devolution is real, looking only slightly rounder for the wear. The band played during prime time at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver two nights ago with a smattering of classics like “Uncontrollable Urge” as well [...]

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Murder By Death has emailed its fans a link to download a free (or name your own price) holiday themed mp3, entitled “Pizza Party (at Gloria Estefan’s House).” The song is only 39 seconds long and sounds like, well, a pizza party quite possibly taking place at Gloria Estefan’s house. So, well done on the [...]

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New Land of Talk mp3 from the forthcoming Fun & Laughter EP. I’ve been all about this band lately, so, of course, all upcoming tour dates could not be further from the South.
Land of Talk – May You Never.mp3
[via Brooklyn Vegan]

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At a stop in Kentucky yesterday, Cursive played a free in-store at CD Central. Stripping down to acoustic guitar, Tim Kasher pulled out an obscure Cure cover with “The Lovecats” off The Cure’s stop-gap compilation Japanese Whispers from 1983. It’s kind of a shitty recording, but the cover is amusing, if you happen to like [...]

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Must be getting close to album release day, since another free track has leaked from Paul Banks’ debut solo record, Julian Plenti is… Skyscraper (out August 4th on Matador). This one veers well into Interpol’s spiky, post-punk lane- so much so that it almost seems odd that Banks didn’t offer this one up to the [...]

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Love and Rockets were another one of my gateway bands in high school that opened up a whole new world of music to me. The band’s fluke Top 40 hit, “So Alive”, represents very little in terms of the breadth of its myriad musical styles. Despite being 3/4’s of the legendary art-punk pioneers, Bauhaus, Love [...]

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Via Swedesplease comes word of the swedish garage/postpunk sounding band, Makthaverskan. Swedesplease has the mp3. Check it out.

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The first thing that struck me when I listened to the first new Polvo song in a decade was how heavy it is. The band has always rocked, don’t get me wrong. But it was in an slightly unconventional, tunneling Sonic Youth way. The guitars are still spindly and difficult, flexing all the math-rock muscles [...]

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Been hearing a good bit of Solid Gold on Sirius XMU lately. Something about the whole sad disco thing that perks up my ears. Must be all that growing up on New Order. Anyway, both Solid Gold singles I’ve heard are top notch, including “Bible Thumper.” Since the new Junior Boys is kind of meh, [...]

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When news of Paul Banks’ solo record hit the week before last, there was very little in the way of musical evidence, save for a few looped blips at julianplenti.com. Now Matador has stepped up with a full download of “Fun That We Have” off Skyscraper, the Julian Plenti debut, set for an early August [...]

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I had never made the correlation between the Talking Heads song “The Overload” and Joy Division, but I’m Waking Up To… has an intriguing post about the history of that closing track off Talking Heads’ seminal Remain in Light LP from 1980. None of the members of the Talking Heads had ever heard Joy Division’s [...]

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I hadn’t given too much thought to why Conor Oberst has been releasing records under his own name, as opposed to using the Bright Eyes brand, because I didn’t think his 2008 solo debut for Merge differed all that greatly from the last Bright Eyes record, Cassadaga. It’s only natural to feel stifled by something [...]

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Jarvis Cocker’s new record Further Complications was recorded in Chicago by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio. I would pay good money to have been a fly on the wall during those sessions. “Angela” is the first single from that meeting of the minds, and it sounds as though Cocker has been cozying up to some [...]

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Matador has just released the first mp3 from Sonic Youth’s highly anticipated new record, The Eternal, due out June 9. It’s an aggressive showcase of the classic Sonic Youth sound with Kim Gordon’s patented yelp over a shower of surging yet oddly tuned (of course) guitars. Easily the band at its most powerful and [...]

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I Guess I’m Floating posted a handful of mp3’s of Beck covering the likes of Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, and Hank Williams. It’s pretty dangerous to attempt a Nick Drake cover, as that’s hallowed ground to a lot of people, but Beck’s got the chops to pull off the mood and the homage without sounding [...]

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I always forget about this, so you might, too. Amazon has lots of Free and Legal Mp3 for download. Just a friendly reminder.

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With former members of Elevator Action and Columbia, South Carolina’s sadly defunct Orgone Accumulator, Brooklyn’s Telltale showcases an intriguing mix of experimental no-wave, minimalist post-punk, and dark shoegaze. The result is akin to pre-Bad Moon Rising Sonic Youth, as Eric Gilstrap’s voice recalls Thurston Moore’s youthful, angst-ridden inflection when he punches up the tension. [...]

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By the time Weezer’s Make Believe dropped in 2005, so had my faith in Rivers Cuomo, irretrievably. I still enjoy the band’s first two records on occasion, especially Pinkerton, for which I like to credit departed bassist Matt Sharpe, whose absence has been sorely missed. He brought a special level of sincerity, humor, and [...]

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Ladytron will support The Faint on a North American tour for a month starting April Fool’s Day in support of 2008’s Velocifero. The Tomorrow EP will precede the shows by a month, as it will be available digitally on March 3rd. Then the band heads over to Europe to play a few dates with Depeche Mode. [...]

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I’m not a very big fan of Joy Division covers. Like my compatriot over at Yo Noise, who can count the number of good Joy Division covers on one hand, I find them to be just one of those bands that can make you sound silly when you try to cover them. Needless to say, [...]

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