Harkening back to the externalized lyrical schematics of Happy Hollow, Cursive has just released a brand new digital single benefiting the American Indian College Fund. The orphaned, post-Mama I’m Swollen song blasts the way the United States has treated the American Indian Community with caustic, no holds barred lyrics. It’s slightly over the top, but [...]

[Read more →]

Came across this interview/cover of the Peter Gabriel song by Stephin Merritt. Part of a project of covers. Odd. Not One of Us. Interesting to hear Stephin’s comments.

[Read more →]

Murder By Death is streaming a brand new song on it’s MySpace page as a teaser for the April 6, 2010 release of Good Morning Magpie, its fifth long-player and second for Vagrant Records. The new album was written by vocalist/guitarist Adam Turla on a lonely backwoods sojourn. This first taste, “Foxglove”, shows a remarkably [...]

[Read more →]

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 [...]

[Read more →]

My favorite piece of news in the past week is Beck’s musical response to that clueless buffoon from The Fiery Furnaces, who tried to insult Radiohead, blog-style, but missed the point completely. And in attempting to cover his ass retroactively, took a swipe at Beck. Well, Radiohead, in their lofty chairs of utter superiority, ignored [...]

[Read more →]

Downcast new Burial track from the Five Years of Hyperdub compilation on Norman Records, which is due out in the US on October 20, 2009.

[Read more →]

I hadn’t had a chance to listen to the new Julian Casablancas song “11th Dimension” until this past weekend. It’s getting some unsurprisingly heavy airplay on Sirius XMU, and while Casablancas’ voice is unmistakably his own, the music veers away from the crunchy garage jangle of The Strokes in favor or a purer, cleaner pop [...]

[Read more →]

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]

[Read more →]

With an impressive pedigree from both his band and his lineage, it’s unsurprising that Tyondai Braxton would score for a large ensemble consisting of everything from kazoos, piccolo, harp, clarinet, double bass, trumpet, xylophone and glock, just to name a few. Braxton’s debut solo album, Central Market, will be out September 15, 2009 via Warp, [...]

[Read more →]

I’m a few days behind on hearing this because I kind of wanted to avoid it, but I finally broke down and listened. “Supergroups” don’t really appeal to me, as they’re usually some masturbatory, just for shits cash cow, but I’ve got to say this fourteen second snippet has me intrigued. I’d buy the record [...]

[Read more →]

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 [...]

[Read more →]

Anyone else noticed the similarity between Metric’s “Help I’m Alive” and Big Audio Dynamite II’s “Rush?” No? Just me? Every time I hear that Metric song I can’t help but start singing “Rush”- a song I’ve always found beyond annoying, which, needless to say, precludes any ability for me to appreciate “Help I’m Alive.” BAD [...]

[Read more →]

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 [...]

[Read more →]

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 [...]

[Read more →]

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 [...]

[Read more →]

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, [...]

[Read more →]

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 [...]

[Read more →]

Peter Gabriel’s string-laden cover of one of The Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs served as the climax of the series finale of Scrubs last night. His take on it is a little less dry than Stephin Merritt’s, showcasing the inherent drama of the song. It’s a simple song with simple lyrics, but it makes a [...]

[Read more →]

Who knew Damon Albarn’s voice would lend itself so well to slow-burning hip-hop beats and flashy turntablisms? He’s more than proved himself in that context thanks to Gorillaz’ unexpected worldwide success, and now DJ Scratch has tapped Albarn’s distinctive croon for his second solo record. He’s in esteemed (give or take) company, as Kanye West, [...]

[Read more →]

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 [...]

[Read more →]