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EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: City and Colour - Body in a Box
When Dallas Green of Canadian post-hardcore act Alexisonfire needed a name for his acoustic side-project, he transposed his first and last name into "city" and "colour," a trick that is maddeningly effective in its simplicity. A Juno award for Alternative Album of the Year and about 2 billion myspace plays later, Vagrant is re-releasing his debut album "Sometimes" for the first time stateside, and we're lucky enough to bring you "Body in a Box," another study in effective simplicity. Guitars, harmonica and organ from the '70-'75 Neil Young songbook and the slightest touch of Jeff-Buckley-warble frame Green's musings on life, love and the irony of funerals, and everything clings together delightfully.
Sounds Like: Okkervil River, Fire on Fire, Jon Foreman
City and Colour - Body in a Box
City and Colour's RCRD LBL page
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: The Morning After Girls - Shadows Evolve
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The Morning After Girls have been through a slew of changes since I last wrote them up for RCRD LBL, including relocations (eventually taking them from OZ to NYC) and line-up shake-ups. But the core has remained the same - Sacha Lucashenko and Martin Sleeman have continually written brilliantly swirling shoegaze pop bangers and with their new base in the States are churning out their wearily sexy songs for this part of the world. Check out "Shadows Evolve," from their upcoming release and if you're in NYC or LA, they're coming your way soon, check here for dates and get ready to fall for the Morning After Girls.
Sounds Like: My Best Fiend, Primal Scream, the Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Panda Bear
DOWNLOAD: Kimono Kops - The Trade
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More fabulous bedroom electro from Bremen, Germany's Kimono Kops, who tapped their Japan (the band) and Depeche Mode fancies for new tune "The Trade," a glib bit of dark new wave that sounds like it retained some sonic glitter through the trans-continental file transfer. The usual suspects are around: the juvie synths, the clap-heavy beats, some vogue-y m/f duetting; is nu-wave the nu-rave of '09? We're not hating.
Sounds like: Chairlift, Walter Meego, Hot Chip
Previously:
Kimono Kops - Eine lesbische Liebe
DOWNLOAD: Golden Boots - Love Is In The Air
Golden Boots is Dimitri Manos and Ryen Eggleston, two vagabonds from eastern PA that found themselves and one another under the heavy suns of Tuscon, Arizona. Specializing in tumbleweed pop that's been painstakingly filtered through miles and miles of American highway and tape, the two are preparing this month to release Winter of Our Discoteque, a forthcoming full-length celebration of their own weirdo Americana imaginings. "Love Is In The Air" is a real spicy meatball of a cut from that new album. Find it and hold it below.
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Wetdog - 8 Days
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"It's all over now...Rock 'n' Roll is shit. It's dismal. Granddad danced to it. I'm not interested in it..I think music has reached an all-time low - except for The Raincoats."
That's one of the most blithely hyperbolic Johnny Rotten quotes, the kind that kept NME and Melody Maker all a-tingle for a good decade or so. While I'm not quite ready to sub London's Wetdog for the sublime Raincoats, I can definitely relate to Mr. Lydon's excitement at hearing the scraping and mewling of the new. "8 Days" has a simplicity and a lived-in newness that's both disarming and pleasantly off-putting, and I don't mind admitting that I'm a complete sucker for the British female voice. Their set was the centerpiece of one of my most enjoyable nights out in Albion, and I hope this song can do the same for you now.
Sounds Like: The Raincoats, Liliput, The Slits, The Fall
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: The Old Ceremony - Til My Voice Is Gone
Amidst some aqueous organ and a few prophetic lines from leadsinger Django Haskins (yes, dude's name is actually Django,) "Til My Voice Is Gone" begins like it's actually being played from the "seawall" Haskins sings about, a place where we imagine you can see orcas and sea lions and the water isn't overly salty. Then the drums kick in, and this tune turns into something like Whiskeytown on anti-depressants, super-optimistic Americana for the weekend warrior crowd. The Old Ceremony's third album Walk In Thin Air drops on February 9, so make sure to pick that up if this is your speed, it's solid.
Sounds like: Limbeck, Illinois, The Low Anthem
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Miike Snow - Animal (Treasure Fingers Remix) + Original Stream
No, your eyes are not deceiving you and I did not make a typo, Miike Snow really spell their name with two I's, making them possibly the most unGoogleable band of the moment (evidenced here, Illinois you're running a close second). Little is known about these guys other than the fact that they named themselves after Japanese cult film director Takeshi Miike, so their single "Animal" is our only source of info, a relaxed, beach-ready bit of electrolyzed pop that glides through its four-plus minutes on a bed of off-beat keyboard strokes. Our friends at Downtown roped in some great producers to version the tune, and we'll be premiering those over the next couple of weeks, beginning this morning with a refix from Fool's Gold's resident disco-house dude Treasure Fingers. Doing what he does best, TF adds some thick low-end and even more bouncy keys on top, conjuring something that sounds like Kavinsky doing the Buggles. Get into the tracks below, and make sure to come back on the next couple Mondays for more versions (including a few by some well-known Frenchmen.)
Sounds like: Sean Bones, That Ghost, Kavinsky
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk - Fort Pork Chop + Dry Depths
Photo: Keith McArthur
It's hard to talk about Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk without talking about Chomp Womp. BBDDM are three dudes from Lawrence, Kansas who make dreamy swirls of indie pop muted glory who have four categories of releases: Out Now, Featured On, Sold Out/Out of Print and Upcoming Releases. I don't even know which category "Fort Pork Chop" fits into, but it's real pretty. "Dry Depths" was featured on Chomp Womp Comp Vol. Tew, a free compilation from the folks at Chomp Womp, a Lawrence, Kansas based collective/label/family of kids who apparently love pop, shoegaze, beautiful tunes and good times. Listening to the comp and BBDDM's catalogue you get the feeling that in about 10 years these songs will be compiled on a Yellow Pills-like release and people will wish they "knew about them when..."
Sounds Like: Boo and Boo Too, Black Tambourine, Moon High, My Best Fiend
DOWNLOAD: Orgasmic - The Sixpack Anthem (Orgasmic Lay Low Remix feat. E.Mackey)
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The always-killing-it dudes at Institubes have dropped their first heater of the year upon us, a "Lay Low" remix of Orgasmic and Tekitek's "The Sixpack Anthem" featuring Tallahassee "pop-hop" dude E.Mackey. Originally written as a tribute to the Sixpack clothing brand, Orgasmic's new mix basically sounds like Flo-Rida's "Low" if it'd been done by some Miami Bass dudes with a Franco-synth jones. We could try and explain how and why the song came together, but the Institubes guys (as usual) have done a much better job of that over at their RCRD LBL Blog, so head over there for the truth and some incredible gravity-defying promo snaps.
Sounds like: Flo Rida, DJ Craze, Michna
Orgasmic - The Sixpack Anthem (Orgasmic Lay Low Remix feat. E.Mackey)
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Bell Hollow - The Bottle Tree (Peter Du Charme Remix)
Continuing their exclusive remix EP for us here at RCRD LBL, New York post-punk group Bell Hollow turn to producer Peter Du Charme to give the once over to their tune "The Bottle Tree." Over a steady electro-house low end, Du Charme keeps the original's metallic bass line adds some cut-up sheets of synthesizers, winding up with a version that sounds like Justin Timberlake's "My Love" played by New Order or something to that effect. It's one of the stronger remixes of the bunch, so if you've been following these make sure to pick this one up.
Sounds like: New Order, The Human League, Cruel Black Dove
Bell Hollow - The Bottle Tree (Peter Du Charme Remix)
Previously:
Bell Hollow - Copper Crayon (Project Jenny, Project Jan Remix)
Bell Hollow - Eyes Like Planets (Halo33 Remix)
Bell Hollow - Getting On In Years (Phofo Remix)
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