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Way back in May we had the pleasure of sharing a pair of slow-roasted fistpumpers from New Hampshire quartet Wild Light. Then they disappeared into a recording studio somewhere, leaving us to subsist on nothing but BBQ sauce and stale Arcade Fire records in the interim. Wait's over. Leadoff track from their newly polished and forthcoming debut full-length Adult Nights, "California On My Mind" is a strummer and a hummer of the highest order. Much of the high-rising anthemics are still in place, though rather than let their pop jawns sneak up on you real slow-like, they put their boots on your throat instead. Sweetly and collectively.
Sounds Like: Arcade Fire, Whiskeytown, Flaming Lips
Wild Light - California On My Mind
Wild Light - New Year's Eve
Wild Light - New Hampshire
Wild Light’s RCRD LBL Page
In keeping with our tour of Exclusives-ville this week, we've the distinct honor of hooking you up with a hidden track from Cut Off Your Hands' knockout EP Happy As Can Be. Running more on a full tank of 50s lilt than the skyward, U2-like pop anthems that keep lots of the New Zealand post-punkers' EP running, "Iron Sleep" is as its title might suggest: dreamy.
Sounds Like: The Smiths, The Strokes, Orange Juice
Cut Off Your Hands - An Iron Sleep
Cut Off Your Hands - Closed Eyes
Cut Off Your Hands - Oh Girl
Cut Off Your Hands' RCRD LBL Page
Our friends over at Slumberland released a whopper of a seven-inch yesterday by Glasgow's Sexy Kids. Hurling pop rocks with post-punk abandon, they hang in the same sonic alleys and streets as Glaswegian outfits you may already have fallen in love with. Yet, they rocket their twee into the upper stratosphere: "Sisters Are Forever" is a bonafide bedroom anthem, the four-piece braiding male-female vocals and Anglophile guitar lines to lean, heart-thumping effect. I want to hear more.
Sounds Like: Orange Juice, Los Campesinos!, Belle and Sebastian
Download: Sexy Kids - Sisters Are Forever
Sexy Kids' RCRD LBL Page
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It was just a minute (week) ago we introduced an exclusive track from Swedish piano vixen Frida Hyvönen. This morning we're revisiting the pop wilds of "Birds" and taking a trip with Hyvönen to the Swedish countryside. If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing "Birds" yet, just look below. Interview's after the jump.
Sounds Like: Jenny Lewis, El Perro Del Mar, Patti Smith
Exclusive Download: Frida Hyvönen - Birds
Frida Hyvönen's RCRD LBL Page
Read more…
Remember what it was like to be the first one at the record store the day your favorite band released a new album? Just me? Well, the arrival of Wilderness’s new full-length is one I’ve been licking my chops at for a while now. The Baltimore four-piece’s new disc is entitled (K)No(W)here and it’s buzzing with the same muscular, caterwauling guitar journeys that made their first two records so fantastic. Which is why I’m way excited this morning to share “Strand The Test Of Time” as well as an exclusive stream of personal fave “Silver Gene.” Greater understanding AND tour dates below.
Sounds Like: Big Star, Public Image Ltd.
Exclusive Stream: Wilderness - Silver Gene
Download: Wilderness - Strand The Test Of Time
Wilderness' RCRD LBL Page
11/19/08 New York, NY - Cake Shop w/ San Serac
11/20/08 Brooklyn, NY - Union Pool w/ The Violet Hour, San Serac
11/21/08 Providence, RI - Narwhal Arms w/ San Serac and Siren Cult
11/22/08 Baltimore, MA - Floristree
11/23/08 Pittsburgh, PA - Brillobox w/ San Serac
11/24/08 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern w/ San Serac
11/25/08 Chicago, IL - Schubas w/ San Serac
11/26/08 Bloomington, IN - Jakes Nightclub w/ Tammar, San Serac
11/29/08 Asheville, NC - Harvest Records w/ San Serac
11/30/08 Atlanta, GA - The Earl w/ San Serac
12/01/08 Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree w/ San Serac
12/03/08 Houston, TX - The Mink w/ Balaclavas, Guitars, San Serac
12/04/08 Austin, TX - Emo's w/ San Serac
12/06/08 Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture w/ San Serac
12/08/08 San Diego, CA - Casbah w/ Moonrats, San Serac
12/10/08 Santa Cruz, CA - The Crepe Place w/ Moonrats, San Serac
12/11/08 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill w/ Wildbirds and Peacedrums, San Serac
If Frida Hyvönen raised eyebrows conjuring the spare, piano-driven melodies of 2006's Until Death Comes, her just released sophomore full-length should double the arch. Not just a collection of heartbreaking ivory-tickling, Hyvönen's now sharing her lyrically acute mindspray in a wide variety of delcious pop flavors. "Birds" is a special RCRD LBL exclusive whose baroque synth melody not only signals that aforementioned expansiveness, it's tops. Grab it below and keep in touch—early next week we'll have an interview with Ms. Hyvönen.
Sounds Like: Jenny Lewis, El Perro Del Mar, Patti Smith
Exclusive Download: Frida Hyvönen - Birds
Frida Hyvönen's RCRD LBL Page
From Atlanta comes yet another slice of sweetness: combining the golden power pop of 1970s mainstays like Modern Lovers or even Elvis Costello, Gentleman Jesse and His Men put out one of the most slept-on records of the year. "You Don't Have To (If You Don't Want To) comes correct from that self-titled debut and it's a big chorus, grab-you-by-the-throat-in-the-best-possible-way kind of guitar jam. Hook. Craftsmanship.
Sounds Like: Modern Lovers, Exploding Hearts, Elvis Costello
Download: Gentleman Jesse and His Men - You Don't Have To (If You Don't Want To)
Gentleman Jesse and His Men's RCRD LBL Page
A series of Love Is All Halloween videos have been circulating throughout the Interweb recently, but we thought it fitting to wait until today to share with you this exclusive snippet for "A More Uncertain Future." Funny has no expiration date! Francophile pop and girl-group hugs from Gothenburg, it's a sneak peek at a cut from their most excellent forthcoming full-length A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night. It also features hand puppets and an appearance by He Whose Name We Shall Not Mention Because It's Election Day.
Vote!
Sounds Like: The Clean, Peter Bjorn & John, Los Campesinos
Download: Love Is All - Wishing Well
Love Is All's RCRD LBL Page
Usually tagged as a live coda to "BoneIndian," MBAR's self-titled debut's closer, "Gangster Love" is a sweaty guitar jam whose stabs and chokes (Happy Halloween everybody!) reminded Associate Editor Sam Duke a bit of the six-string strokes you can find on the Dead's Workingman Dead. I hear it. This exclusive cut was recorded during a live set the Brooklyn folk-stormer played at Southpaw over the summer, but it's still fresh and spirited enough to get lost in. Over and over and over again.
Exclusive Download: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Gangster Love
Download: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Buriedfed
Stream: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - The Debtor
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson @ RCRD LBL
Even if you're not carrying badge heat this week at CMJ, there are ways to get your fix. WAYS. Tonight, lo-fi troublemakers Women are playing a free Todd P show at Danbro Studios Warehouse in Brooklyn. It's a lineup that closely resembles fire, the docket featuring sonic tomfoolery by bands like Ponytail, Vivian Girls and Black Dice. So if you've yet to dabble in these four young dudes' much-ballyhooed debut LP, then look no further than the hissy, droning pop of "Black Rice" as a starting point supreme. It's beloooooooooow.
Sounds Like: Velvet Underground, Swell Maps
Download: Women - Black Rice
Women's RCRD LBL Page
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