DOWNLOAD + VIDEO: Bobby Birdman - Weighty Wait
Today brings our second gift from Bobby Birdman off his upcoming New Moods. “Weighty Weight” is a slow-burning track, coasting in and out of guitar plucks and white noise. In the new vid, a hypnotic TV glare lures us in with skate videos, priming us for optimum scare when Bobby’s creepily half-lit face emerges out of nowhere. Look, man, we didn’t know anyone was home, so we’ll just back out of here, all right? We don’t want any trouble.
Previously:
DOWNLOAD: The Fresh & Onlys - Dude's Got A Tender Heart
San Francisco's The Fresh & Onlys always sound like they're emanating from a graveyard radio, Spectorian girl group and garage rock ghosts absorbed in from the ether. That's not to say they sound morbid, just totally of another time. The two-part "Dude's Got A Tender Heart" comes from Grey-Eyed Girls, their second LP out now through the always killing it Woodsist.
The Fresh & Onlys - Dude's Got A Tender Heart
Previously:
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Bobby Birdman - Only For A While
(Photo: Sarah Meadows)
Bobby Birdman is back with New Moods (not to be confused with Pure Moods, the illest album of 1997) and much can be said for the frothy waves, the sun-worn hooks, and the forays into a cappella pop. But namedropping is worth a thousand stretched metaphors and Hot Chip, YACHT, Dirty Projectors, and Joanna Newsom have all shared billing with Birdman and his beachballs. Below, “Only for a While” leaves tracks of sand in the tub that we hope will never rinse out. Watch for the new album in November courtesy of Fryk Beat.
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: The Drums - Best Friend (Olympic Mix) + I Felt Stupid + Instruct Me
I don't think I've ever come across a band so relentlessly buoyant. The Drums are Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham. They are Adolf Hitler's missing genes. They are teen dreamers. They are beloved of NY hacks at Sup Magazine, The L Magazine and Brooklyn Vegan after just three NY shows. Why? Because they are relentlessly buoyant. Original cuts "I Felt Stupid" and "Instruct Me" see the world in the same way as The Tough Alliance, but their post-war optimism rides on the pink, paradise island surf of Bernard Sumner guitar lines, while the Balearic spirit is upheld in the band's own remix of "Best Friend", synths burbling away so contentedly, so relentlessly buoyant.
Sounds Like: The Bouncing Souls, Cut Copy, Fall Out Boy, New Order
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Cold Pumas - Proof Of Man + Jela
Cold Pumas' "Jela" starts at a tempo of 192bpm. It's difficult to see how you go anywhere other than on from that point and, as ears anticipate, the track hurtles along irresistibly, wave after wave of guitar rush and oddball drumming harnessed to the extent that things start to move so fast they appear to slow down. Furtive vocals sense an opportunity and start to float up out of the scrap, dodging the traffic of guitar treble. The whole thing hums with an awesome, jubilant chaos, the textures of This Heat extended once more and banged into new purpose like crudely recycled sheet metal. The tracks they've produced with former Test Icicle Rory Bratwell (now of KASMS) will find their way out through a pair of releases - a 12" with Brighton label 13 Monsters and a split with the excellent and kindred Male Bonding. Suck it up, chumps.
Sounds Like: Abe Vigoda, Ponytail, ...Trail of Dead
DOWNLOAD: The Love Language - Lalita
(Photo: Nathan Pazsint)
Make a mental note you SXSWsters, The Love Language, a whimsical folk rock 5-piece out of Raleigh, NC, is a pretty perfect band to relish along with a beer in the Austin sun this week. "Lalita" is a dose of lo-fi pop fused with 1960's doo-woped surf rock; an aphrodisiacal accompaniment to spring. While their sprightly, fuzzy pop is upbeat in nature, the band and its music came from a dark place; the name was inspired when lead singer/songwriter Stuart McLamb found, relished, threw beer bottles at, nearly committed suicide over, recovered from, lamented about, and then channeled musical inspiration from - love.
Sounds Like: The Morning Benders, The Botticellis
The Love Language's RCRD LBL Page
The Love Language's Austin Schedule:
3/20 - WOXY Live Session @ Ear (11:00AM)
3/20 - The Levi's®/FADER Fort (12:00PM)
3/20 - Ground Control Showcase @ Habana Bar Backyard (8:00PM)
3/21 - Homeslice Pizza Party @ Homeslice Pizza Joint (12:00PM)
3/21 - Rolling Stone Party @ Peckerheads (4:00PM)
DOWNLOAD: Surf City - Dickshakers Union
It's pretty hard reaching Surf City - I get the impression the New Zealand quartet don't waste too much time checking emails and instead fill their lives with more interesting things, like fixing up motorbikes or drinking in the park. They look like they can't sit still for a photograph without getting bored and that restlessness translates into melodic, weirdo guitar pop that falls between sailor song and post-punk and that flinches constantly, itching for the next kick. The result is something that's almost unsettlingly and absurdly refreshing, a hand-on-heart anthem anyone with even a passing interest in indie rock should belt out at least once in their lives. This, along with more surf-punk greatness, can be found on Surf City's last eponymous release through Morr Music.
Sounds Like: Abe Vigoda, Animal Collective, The Clean
DOWNLOAD: Graffiti Island - Demonic Cat + Head Hunters
It's extremely difficult not to like Graffiti Island. I suspect this is because, a) the songs don't do or last long enough for anti- feelings to build and b) what's there is gold anyway. The three of them live in London, are part American and pull together to blast a type of punk that has brains but likes to surf, which is pretty much a winning combination - want us 2 hook u 2 up? Jam "Demonic Cat" and "Head Hunters" below to find music stark; flu-nosed frontman Pete D filling the gaps with stories about cannibals, demons and freaks. "Demonic Cat" is one of two Graffiti Island tracks to appear on a six-song cassette split with London amigos PENS and Male Bonding, who are both well-worth your precious time, too.
Sounds Like: Beat Happening, The Sticks, Red Cross before they were Redd Kross
DOWNLOAD: The May Fire - Plastic Army + They Make Me Mad
Looking away from all the CMJ madness for a second, we’re offering up two new tracks from Californian band The May Fire, whose punky surf-pop tunes first caught our ears back in July. We signed the group and have been releasing some tracks from their rather extensive discography (a full-length and three EPs over two years) and today we continue that benevolence with “Plastic Army,” a sugar-toothed mid-nineties Venice Beach jam and “They Make Me Mad,” which sounds like Veruca Salt playing along to The Dandy Warhols on a boombox. The May Fire have a trio of shows coming up at the end of the month around the California coastline, info over at their MySpace.
Sounds like: The Dandy Warhols, The Horrors, Veruca Salt
Download: The May Fire - Plastic Army
Download: The May Fire - They Make Me Mad
Previously:
Download: The May Fire - Doctor's Appointment
STREAM: The Explorer's Club - Forever + Hold Me Tight + Last Kiss
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"There is something magical about the summertime for me: cruising around with my girl in my car, going to the beach and walking in the sand. It's my childhood all over again every summer." These words came straight from the mouth of Explorer's Club frontdude Jason Brewer just yesterday via iChat. Even if I don't own a car anymore nor do I have a girl with which I could cruise (contact info available upon request, ladies), I grew up in the desert. We had shitloads of sand to walk around in! What I need more of however, is the Beach Boys-inspired surf jams of The Explorers Club. Oh, weird. We have three cuts from their new record (out on 5/20) right here. CRAZY. The gods of summer are smiling down on us more and more every day.
Sounds like: The Beach Boys
Stream: The Explorer's Club - Forever
Stream: The Explorer's Club - Hold Me Tight
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