So, I was just browsing for records recently at Lunchbox Records in Charlotte, NC (an awesome record store, by the way) when I happened across a 7″ by a band called Cotton Candy. The clerk had written “Mark Robinson” on a sticker above the price tag, which is why I picked it up. Well, because [...]

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A dear friend sent me the Lily Allen Secret London Gig details today and while I’d love to see Ms. Allen again, I’m just far too slack to go to all the trouble necessary to get to the show.
1) Please bring ID. [ok, that's pretty easy. Even I can manage that.]
2) Please bring [...]

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I have found no band to fill the void left by Unwound. I can’t believe they’ve been broken up for seven years. This clip is of “All Souls Day” off their second album (technically, their third if you count that self-titled Honey Bear release) New Plastic Ideas; no idea when this footage was recorded, but [...]

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Cursive’s “From the Hips” took a few listens before I became obsessed with it. Now, I simply can’t get enough. Their wildly raucous recent performance on Letterman sealed the deal for me. Tim Kasher’s had the dynamics game in his pocket for years, but now he’s able to spin a yarn that’s not claustrophobic [...]

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The garage rock schtick has been done to death, but there’s always room for when it’s done well. Harlem is your band. Mixing in a bit of frantic, Pixies-style unpredictability with its retro-kitsch harmonies, Austin’s Harlem knows how to make a glorious lo-fi racket. I recommend listening to “The South of France” on the band’s [...]

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Though Lily Allen’s tabloid fodder has slightly dimmed my excitement for her as a person, I’m still very much on board for album number two. It’s Not Me, It’s You is streaming in full over at MySpace, prior to its February 10th US release date. She’s traded the jaunty ska-inflected foundation for one that [...]

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Every Sunday night during high school, I would sneak downstairs to watch MTV’s 120 Minutes, and, invariably, it would play Lloyd Cole video what seemed like every week. I never knew what to make of Lloyd Cole back then, but after reading 3hive’s case for him I’m intrigued enough to see what I think now. [...]

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Trail of Dead has posted a new song on its MySpace page, “Isis Unveiled.” Yeah, so the past two Trail of Dead records have been on the lacking side, but I’m open to the idea that the band can get things back on track (despite no re-enlistment of bassist Neil Busch…ugh). “Isis Unveiled” certainly [...]

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Working on the follow-up to last year’s Antidotes without producer David Sitek (of TV on the Radio), Foals are trying to avoid the delay most new bands succumb to in releasing that dreaded second record. Frontman Yannis Philippakis posted some of the band’s new ideas on MySpace last Sunday, saying thus: "Anyway I figured [...]

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When I was in High School, Nashville, Tennessee had a few underground bands making some national waves. Clockhammer, Dessau, F.U.C.T., Buzzkill, etc. The Grinning Plowman were easily the oddest. A mix of dark, electronic rock with tinges of industrial, the band had signed with Carlyle Records, which put out three of its LP’s. I Play [...]

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Found out about Kat Bjelland’s new band by way of one of Courtney Love’s illiterate and indecipherable blogs. Evidently, Bjelleand’s home is in danger of being "reposeesed", which one can only assume by context should read "repossessed." Sad news. But on the plus side, Bjelland’s new band is awesome. Her vocal stylings don’t stray [...]

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With its phonetically malapropistic name, Columbia, South Carolina’s Cassangles defies any qualifying genre distinction. There are scraps and strains of familiar sounds to be sure, but they’re fused together loosely in chaotic bursts of energy and underscored by the youthful disdain of form and structure. The brashness of this band’s ethos and execution is infectious. [...]

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Chuck Bass is hands-down the best reason to indulge in the farcical drama of Gossip Girl, so it’s intriguing to discover that the man behind those flash threads is a burgeoning rocker. And English to boot. Really? Ed Westwick’s band, The Filthy Youth, predates Gossip Girl, so you can’t completely slag him off for [...]

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First The Presets, then Cut Copy, now via Big Stereo comes word of the ’80s inspired dance pop of Boy + Girl. I don’t know what they’re feeding our antipodean friends down in Australia, but I hope they keep it up.
Additionally, it seems Melbourne, home of Cut Copy and Boy+Girl (among others), is moving [...]

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Mario’s got a new album coming out June 8. You can sample a track at MySpace. (Looks like a few dates are planned around the release, including a stop at DC’s Red & Black.)

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Instead of yelling “Sellout,” in this case I actually found Faded Paper Figures via the above Lexus commercial. (via)

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Influences: Bowie, Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails, Peter Gabriel, Bauhaus, King Crimson, Kate Bush, YYY’s, Celebration. From Brooklyn, of course.

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Hailing from Cardiff (home of Young Marble Giants, btw), Los Campesinos! deliver a raucous recipe of indie pop stew. Of course, they’re on Arts & Crafts.

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New Ladytron track Black Cat available at MySpace. Coming to a town near you this summer. Coming to a town near me in June, on the heels of the release of Velocifero. (via Big Stereo, where an mp3 of the new track awaits your downloading.)

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Via the always wonderful Swedesplease comes word of Japan Air, a twee Swedish pop band if ever there was one. They’d feel right at home on the Sarah of yore, or Labrador for that matter.

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