On the new album (Burning Hotels), Chance Morgan and Matt Mooty wrote every song together. Recorded earlier this year in Fort Worth, TX at Spaceway Studios, and mixed at Blackwatch Studios in Norman, OK, the self-titled Burning Hotels album shines through with a Texas flare that fuses new wave pop with dance aesthetics. Burning Hotels have created their own distinctively pop and oblique brand of music, that Mark Schectman from KDGE rightfully dubbed as Sex Wave.
Make no mistake about it; this is not a stab at a trend. This is pop music. And the songs sound exactly as the band wants them to: full of energy with electronic textures, danceable rhythms and catchy hooks. Internally, the excitement and emotion has never been greater for Burning Hotels than it is right now.
Bombay Bicycle Club currently find themselves in the very common position of being liked and respected, but not quite shifting a proportionate amount of records. Their third album since they left school as many years ago feels like a confident effort to redress the balance. OpenerHow Can You Swallow So Much Sleep, their Bright Eyesish Twilight soundtrack contribution, sets the template for the finer tracks here – a lilting repetition slowly builds, all bouncy sensitivity and earnest determination. Singer Jack Steadman's distinctive voice still sounds like he's had the corners of his mouth taped to his ears, but it's boosted by an elegant palate of guitar layers and stadium-friendly drums, and is now more muscular than weedy. There are occasional lapses into epic-indie-lite – Beggars is Keep the Car Running Jr – but this is a strong, forward-looking record that delights in its own ambition.
"Sóley returns with her first full-length, an album full of rhythmic makeshift creatures, of handclaps hidden in the undergrowth, tempting us to join in. The 13 tracks are sometimes incredibly catchy; amazingly quirky at other times: think cardigan-folk from the northern hemisphere, an ocean of stained glasses bopping up and down in the shared apartment's dishwater, leeward in limbo. The result is refreshing in its lack of edginess; think Joanna Newsom minus her harp, or the Casady sisters circa 2004, but then clearly better trained, less crooked. In other words: her voice, those loops moving around like wooden toys, and finally the piano – that's the backbone, the essence of her compositions; at least until some unexpected element appears elsewhere, a rhythmic creaking or the lack thereof, like a hidden Rube Goldberg machine, setting off yet another component, thus paving the way across the threshold and on into the next realm of sound. And thus we keep on sinking, deeper and deeper, until we stand on terra firma once again, realizing that somehow, next to us, above us, around us, a beat is laid out, hesitantly moving along at first, then careering…"
A day where I can post new music from M83 is a good day. Here’s a taste of whats to come off the upcoming Oct. 18th double-album (Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming) release from French artist Anthony Gonzales (aka M83). ”Midnight City” is a “humid, adrenaline-drive dreamlike track” featuring a sample which upon 2nd and 3rd listens, melds better into the song. There also might be a saxophone solo in there. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is about awakening, craving, and conquering, and pushes into new vocal territory for M83. The new record promises experiments in different ways of singing, ranging from a spectral breathy whispers to a howling screams. Gonzalez describes the record. “I think it is a reflection of my 30 years of being a human being. It’s a compilation of all my previous music together. It’s a retrospective of myself.” -Anthony Gonzalez
The album was produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, NIN, The Mars Volta, Goldfrapp) and features Brad Laner (from 90’s band Medicine) on guitar, Morgan Kibby (White Sea) on vocals again (like on Saturdays=Youth) and guest vocals from Zola Jesus.
Zach Condon and his experimental baroque wonder Beirut are back with a new album “Rip Tide”, and you can stream it in its entirety now. Head on over to NPRright here to check the album out. An early listen brings the verdict that Condon and crew have applied quite a bit of restraint with the new LP. While the classic horn accompaniments and old-world fascination still ring through on the album, Condon seems to have simplified things and kept the mix a bit simpler. Give her a listen!
I can't seem to get enough of this catchy little band, Grouplove! Grouplove's full length debut album 'Never Trust a Happy Song' will be released on September 13th viaCanvasback Music/Atlantic. The song from the video above "Itchin on a Photograph" is the first track off the upcoming cd and I can't stop "itchin" for more of these guys!!! Check them out and below you will find upcoming tour dates as well! I'll be catchin or itchin something when they get to Dallas!!! Enjoy!!
Grouplove Tour Dates:
7/31, Woodford, Australia (Splendour in the Grass)
8/2, Melbourne, Australia (Corner Hotel)
8/3, Sydney, Australia (Oxford Art Factory)
8/6, Chicago, IL (Lollapalooza)
8/14, San Francisco, CA (Outside Lands)
8/26-28, Reading, England/Leeds, England (Reading and Leeds)
9/5, London, England (XOYO)
9/9, Washington, DC (Black Cat)**
9/10, Philadelphia, PA (North Star)**
9/13, Boston, MA (Brighton Music Hall)**
9/14, New York, NY (Bowery Ballroom)** Record Release
9/16, Chicago, IL (Subterranean)**
9/19, Denver, CO (Larimer Lounge)
9/22, Los Angeles, CA (Wiltern Theatre) supporting Two Door Cinema Club
9/23, San Francisco, CA (Warfield) supporting Two Door Cinema Club
9/24, San Diego, CA (House of Blues) supporting Two Door Cinema Club
9/28, Portland, OR (Peter's Room)
9/30, Seattle, WA (Vera Project)
10/1, Vancouver, BC (Electric Owl)
10/5, Minneapolis, MN (The Varsity)*
10/6, Madison, WI (The Frequency)*
10/11, Nashville, TN (Mercy Lounge)*
10/13, Atlanta, GA (Masquerade)*
10/15, Pensacola, FL (DeLuna Fest)*
10/17, New Orleans, LA (One Eyed Jacks)*
10/20, Austin, TX (Emo's)*
10/21, Dallas, TX (Prophet Bar)*
10/22, Houston, TX (Fitzgerald's)*
10/25, Tucson, AZ (Congress)
10/26, Los Angeles, CA (El Rey Theatre)
* w/ special guests Belle Brigade
** w/ special guests Young Man
Only have time to throw a wiki in on this one but I highly recommend checking them out! The new video to "Simple Math" is brilliant and beautifully shot!
Manchester Orchestra is an American indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2005. The group is currently composed of rhythm guitarist-singer-songwriter Andy Hull, lead guitarist Robert McDowell, keyboardist and percussionist Chris Freeman, bassist Jonathan Corley and drummer Tim Very. Former drummer Jeremiah Edmond parted ways with the band in January 2010 to focus on his family as well as running the band's record label, Favorite Gentlemen.To date they have released several extended plays and three studio albums: I'm Like a Virgin Losing aChild (2006), Mean Everything to Nothing (2009) andSimple Math (2011). They are currently signed to independent record label Favorite Gentlemen Recordings, which is distributed through Sony Music Entertainment.
William Fitzsimmons is a talented gentleman who blends folk and electronic music in a way that no other artist can match. His melodies are sweetly charming, beautifully emotive, and in his lyrics lie true brilliance of his craft. Perhaps it's his background as a therapist and mental health worker, or maybe it's because he writes directly from the viscera of his experiences, but it is undeniable that William Fitzsimmons is an artist who reaches people. Where Goodnight and The Sparrow And The Crow were essentially about divorce (his parents' and his own, respectively), his latest endeavor, Gold In The Shadow, is an exploration of mental illness and healing; as Fitzsimmons puts it, "it's about sickness and it's about wellness". Recorded in an old, worn-down house in Charleston, South Carolina, the record is a rebirth of sorts, a collection of stories born as Fitzsimmons began to shed the darkness of the past several years.
GROUPLOVE is the new indie rock band that you want to know. You have seen them creeping up the charts on hypem.com. You have perused the pictures on theirMySpacepage, and may have felt a hint of jealousy at the ever-so-apparent camaraderie of the five-piece crew. The heart-touching story of their first encounters (legitimately, group love at first sight, on the beautiful island of Crete no less) brings an ever so genuine tear to your eye. What’s more? Their first single “Colours” has weaved itself in and out of your recent playlists, and damn are you hooked. GROUPLOVE, the collaborative effort of Hannah Hopper and Christian Zucconi, the resident New Yorkers, Andrew Wessen and Ryan Rabin from LA, and Sean Gadd from London, have recently set up camp in LA to work on their music. Their first EP comes out today. Keep an eye and an ear out for live performances scheduled for this summer in LA.
