Stop Okay Go

Up and Away

From ze Inboxxxen:
This boppy little pants-shaker, The Final Chapter by Walking Sleep and the sentiment in it's main refrain "Let's write the final chapter, let's build this house together now" could be an extension of Elvis Costello's Everyday I Write the Book (or could be used as background to a YouTube fan video for the movie Up... y'know, because it's about a house?) (God do I have to come up with *All* the ideas around here?)

Walking Sleep's debut album Measures comes out on the 25th of May.  Sara Randle, above, used to be a vocalist for my band The Rentals. Missin' U Rentals! The six-piece band will be doing a residency every Monday at this April at the Echo. Dates after the cut: Walking Sleep Final Chapter mp3 was here

Let's Take It Home

Courtesy I Rock I Roll comes Shark? (with a question mark). The trio recently played SXSW and have an album out called Noise Maker.

I jolly like the pulsating swagger of this song, despite or maybe because of the fact that it sounds muffled... as if it's being played through the apartment next door's wall. Where a small animal is tap-dancing on a tabletop. Or maybe I've been watching too many David Lynch movies.

Like the Cate Le Bon song from the other day, this song creates tension and drama in a way that few songs do these days.  So drop the broom handle, and just enjoy it...

Shark? will serenade cakes at Cake Shop in NY on April the 30th. Shark? I Don't Believe in Miracles mp3 was here.

Cola Can Ocean

From the inbox: Former Ruby Suns member James Milne, above, will be touring with Fanfarlo and Freelance Whales. (See tour stops after the jump.)

His debut US LP Chant Darling is out now and the bubbly song below has received New Zealand's highest songwriting award: the Silver Scroll. Have a listen: Lawrence Arabia Apple Pie Bed mp3 was here.

Break A Leg

Miike Snow and Delorean are selling out all over the place. Barcelona popsters Delorean chose their name because they like the sound of the word, not for the car or Back to the Future or anything. Musical styles are all converging so closely internationally now that they could just as easily be French or American.

Catch Delorean at the Echoplex on April 17th. Delorean Deli mp3 was here.

At the Window Again

Wow so this song Becoming A Jackal by Dublin Ireland band Villagers(guy?) is something to behold. Not to get all Kanye, but I HIGHLY recommend giving the video above a few seconds of your time.(Noooo, the Alf cows aren't nightmare-inducing at all!)

I haven't heard music this sweepingly rich since Liam Finn's last album. Much like Johnny Flynn from a few weeks ago...this man, Conor O'Brien goes deep for it poetically. 

Interview here.

Villagers will be touring Europe before their new album hits the states in June. No dates here yet but with talent like this and doe-eyed looks like DanRad he's one to watch.

Love K.O.

Things have been quiet on the Bloc Party front since the band announced a hiatus back in October of '09.
Now comes word that Kele Okereke is working on a solo album (produced by Hudson Mohawke) and will be playing Ibiza Rocks this summer.

The Industrial Zone

Inbox time:

British Columbia's Apollo Ghosts have an album coming out on the 31st of this month called Mount Benson and are receiving much critical acclaim. This is a fun song, listing all of life's rites of passage in a way that's simultaneously somber and upbeat. Sort of like if the National took anti-depressants.Apollo Ghosts Things You Go Through Mp3 was here.

 

Ron Smoughton, AKA Grovesnor, is (was?) the drummer for Hot Chip and the song below, Taxi From the Airport from his LP Soft Return (out May 25th) is schmoove. There's definitely something in there for Steely Dan and Boz Scaggs fans...as well as, more recently, Francis and the Lights. The best Janet Jackson-ian part of the song is about 3/4s through when there's a break in the main flow and he starts to narrate/rant in a kool, not annoying way. No one does that anymore! Grovesnor Taxi From the Airport mp3 was here.

Men Who Hate Women

 
Jacob Groth does the soundtrack for the movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I believe that this is some of his older work. In the video below you can get an idea of how icy and dramatic his sound is...

Which is fine. I haven't actually seen the movie but I'm hoping that the music for the film, (the story of an unlikely detective couple) will contain more water whistles and wah wah wahs:

A Baby Story

++Former Harlem Shakes guitarist Todd Goldstein, reincarnated as ARMS,had one of my favorite songs a few years back called Kids Aflame (check dat if you're a fan of the Uke!). He's baaaack:

ARMS Heat and Hot Water.mp3 was here.

++Also back, sort of, is Cee Lo, doing a guest spot on a fresh-faced Kid Sister's new song Daydreaming. I'd venture to guess that this is a pretty accurate representation of most people's inner thoughts. Like Kid Sister, most people probably do think of themselves more than anything else. On the other hand, it might be an overly cheery view of rando people in the street, some of whom (more realistically) are thinking about how to go about gathering supplies to make teeth necklaces or Claire babies.

Who We Are

Today I'm sort of stuck in that weird zone where I can't figure out if I really like a song or if I like it ironically. The song in question, friendoes, is Stone Temple Pilots' new one Between The Lines. And "like" might be too strong a word. Better to say that I didn't change the station when it came on the radio today.  I can tolerate the song?

I 'specally like the part where he says "Even when we used to take drugs." It's all very "Get off my lawn"-ish. Live blue man video here.

Quickies

++Veteran DJ Raj Gupta, AKA Ray Mang, has done a cover of George Clinton's Bullet Proof with vocals by Lady Miss Kier of Dee-Lite fame. It sounds like an authentic disco song. Mang will be playing clubs in London all through April.

++Much to my disappointment, popular band and pink paint flingers Three Days Grace don't have anything to do with Topher Grace. Had to put my suitcase away because there ain't no three-day Grace festival.

Come Correct

Gotta love the equalizing nature of the internet. You (if you were Rustie) can get praised, called out, and compared to Monty Burns in one short comment section.

Jump Jump Til You Get Tired

Read in the LA Times that recovering glockpopper Uffie will be coming out with a new album on Ed Banger this coming May called Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans. I remember hearing that it was coming out last year, so it's been delayed a few times now. Here's Uff making sweet music wid Mr. Oizo...sounds pretty mixworthy: Uffie MCs Can Kiss mp3 was here.

Vacancy

Via PFork, here's the video for Odessa by Caribou, who turns out is a dude and not a band.  My fave part of the song actually comes towards the very end in the final seconds before the song loses its fight for life...the cascading, clanging and crashing trash-can-lid notes. Next level in a way that's challenging my personal world view. It's what I imagine Stomp the Yard would sound like if I ever decided to see Stomp the Yard. Pump that sh*t loud, yo!
Do revisit some of Caribou's old song's if you haven't heard them. This one still sets my heart fluttering.

The Disconsolate

The Radar Brothers will be at Spaceland on the 26th for the record release of their new album The Illustrated Garden, that comes out this Tuesday. I've heard only a few of the Radar Bros songs, some of which have struck me as sounding terribly sad.  You can't discount a wristcuttingly good song. They're valuable and necessary for, y'know, all those blue Greenberg times in your life. Older video above.

Radar Brothers Horse Warriors mp3 was here.

Icy Runway

Here's video of avant-cellist Zoe Keating playing Muse's Time Is Running Out at SFO. Keating has collab'd with Imogen Heap in the past and will be playing the Largo with Curt Smith of Tears for Fears on the 23rd. Love this kind of thing.

No slam on Keating, (this version is gorgeous)but I imagine someone running through the airport, stressed and late for their flight, cursing and shaking their fist at her for her song selection. 

Multitaskers Anonymous

Dredged up a really good one today, friendoes.

Time for some sizzlin' hot, fresh new music from.... 3 years ago! Actually, Hey Hey My My do have a new album coming out in April, none of which my dirty paws can post here.

I assume that they're named after the Neil Young lyric, and in some ways their sound is exactly what you would expect to hear from Frenchmen inspired by Neil Young. And in another way, it's also completely unexpected. It's all very wonderful..we should hear much more of their music in the near future. Probably endorsing some completely random product. I'm going to go ahead and call it now for Pert.

Hey Hey My My: Too Much Space. mp3 was here.

Morning In America

Folk artist Matthew Houck, aka Phosphorescent, has been called the "most significant American in his field since Kurt Cobain" by the London Evening Standard. (Who, as non-Americans really have no right to go around making such proclamations.)

Houck's most recent album was titled To Willie, a tribute to the great Willie Nelson. (Who, as an American, can feel free to make whatever silly America related proclamations he wants...)

More thoughts on the song here.

Phosphorescent: Wolves.mp3

Founded In 1832

++Thunderheist will be playing Pure in Lost Wages on March 30th.  Isis and Graham Zilla have been making clubgoers sweat for a while now, and have been known to throw parties in the street as well.

Thunderheist : Sweet 16 mp3 was here.

++Hey now, Punky Brewster lovers Joan of Arc will be playing SXSW.

++Noah Baumbach's film Greenberg starring Ben Stiller features the music of LCD Soundsystem. See the trailer here.

Dashboard Confessions

Something *not* from the inbox for a change..!
I came across Baby Teardrops on someone's Facebook page and wrote to them to ask permission to post their music. Much like the Hooray For Earth song from yesterday, there's a simplicity to the song below that sounds like lost 90s grunge b-side. The trio has reunited with their original line-up at a recent performance at the Public Assembly in Williamsburg and should be making summery music again sometime soon.

Baby Teardrops: Flag of Inner Revolution.mp3