Jake Bugg

After reading NME's top 50 albums of the year, I decided to listen to the bands I had not heard of before.  There was one artist who really stuck out and I have just fallen in love with, and that is Jake Bugg.  His self-titled album was ranked #9 on their list.  The genre is folk/country and to me that is partially right.  His sound reminds me of some oldies and I think that is the main appeal.  It's a sound that has been done, but he adds his own touch to it.  Listen for yourself and let me know what you think.

Here's his music video for, "Two Fingers."

However, I do love the tracks "Seen it All" and "Note to Self."

Presenting: Spacebrother

Spacebrother (Jared Piccone from Innerpartysystem), Shaun Lopez (†††) and STV (Stevie Aiello from Monty Are I) collaborated on a track called "The Antidote." You can check the music video below and download the song here. Its better than nothing, I guess, while Innerpartysystem are on their indefinite hiatus. Thoughts?

Presenting: Nick Drake

For Marry. I'll just throw in a couple of videos and then write some description later... There's the link to Drake's Wikipedia profile.





My personal favourite from The Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack, Fly from his sophomore album, Bryter Layter.

Emitt Rhodes

Wes Anderson's movies have always such carefully and well selected soundtracks. They usually feature a mix of more and less known artists from the sixties onwards, that go very well with the director's hipster image. The one that stuck with me the most is the soundtrack to The Royal Tenenbaums. Among The Rolling Stones or Paul Simon, it also contains a few hidden gems from musicians I'd never heard of before. Namely Emitt Rhodes, a man considered by many "the one man Beatles".

And that description is actually spot on. His music shows clear influence of the fab four and especially Paul McCartney. Rhodes' eponymous debut album sounds like what fans of Paul wanted to hear from him in the post-Beatles era. In 1970, the album made its way to #29 on Billboard charts.

Rhodes wrote all of the songs on his albums, he played all of the instruments, sang all of the vocals and recorded everything in his own primitive home studio. After three more years, three other records and a conflict with his label, Rhodes stopped performing and releasing new material. Which is a pitty, really. Because his fantastic eponymous album is a true masterpiece of the early 1970s.

Japandroids

At first, I wasn't a big fan of Japandroids' sophomore record, but eventually, Celebration Rock won me over. Even though after a few tracks the choruses kinda blend together, I can't but enjoy every single one of its humble 35 minutes. This is a straightforward rock album. So much it even makes you wonder when rock bands forgot to record albums like this. There's no catch, no twist, no synths. Just one anthem after another without ever losing pace.

When you listen to the single below, you'll get a good glimpse of what you can expect from the whole record. Your thoughts?

Presenting: The Tower and The Fool

It's not often a disc comes along that moves me from start to finish. As I sit here trying to recall, I am hard-pressed to think that the last CD that struck me this hard was The Dangerous Summer's Reach For The Sun. Sure, other releases like Frank Ocean's Nostalgia, Ultra strike me for awhile, but the lasting value in minimal and the songs became just that, songs. They don't carry their emotion from listen to listen throughout the days/months/years.

The Tower and The Fool released their first EP in 2010. Drawing influence from artists like Wilco, Ryan Adams, and Counting Crows, the band pushed forth in 2011 to record their first full-length with ex-Hot Rod Circuit member Mike Poorman on drums, and a few other members covering everything from slide guitar to the ivory. Over the year, they wrote, recorded, and produced what would become their first full-length, How Long, released on Run For Cover Records. With a week of listening under my belt, I can't promise that it will be one of those long lasting CDs like The Dangerous Summer, but after first listen, my heart felt like it did when I first heard Reach For The Sun, which is a good indication that this CD has lasting value for me. So, for clarities sake, I will pencil it in as a lasting listen, but due to time restraint and minimal time with the disc, I won't ink it yet. 

With a dose of Ryan Adams-indie-twang mixed with the feel of The Horrible Crows, lyrical content that is heavily influenced by Adam Duritz, and vocals, at times, reminiscent of AJ from The Dangerous Summer, this disc has won me over. It is one hell of a sad record, but sad in a good way. It's not depressing, it's just heartbreaking. Songs of lost love, songs of anguish, songs of brokenness, songs of relationships. The band has started to gain a notice on absolutepunk, being featured as an ABSOLUTExlusive, gaining praise from staff members and reviewers, and threads filled with listeners who are blown away by the bands work and claiming to as a early candidate for many AOTY lists. I encourage everyone to give this disc a listen from front to back, then again and again and again. It is powerful, and it seems like every new spin, I discover something else golden. Below is a stream of the CD, available courtesy of Bandcamp.

Personal favorites: "Dive Bar", "How Long", "Breach", "Scoliosis", "My Heart is Dead in NYC"

Foxy Shazam

Well, this is the only music video I found, where the lead singer, Eric Sean Nally, doesn't look extremely gay...



Anyway, Foxy Shazam released their latest eponymous album last year and it garnered them a lot of attention. Although I didn't care for it back then, after seeing this Bing commercial, I finally found time to check it out and instantly fell in love with it.

With their overblown Queen-like image and a great deal of confidence, they're just highly addictive and lots of fun at all times.

Bye Bye Symphony


Unstoppable


Oh Lord


Band's MySpace
Official Website

Tired Pony

There is a band I discovered just today...

"Tired Pony is a new supergroup, led by Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody and featuring Peter Buck from R.E.M. and Richard Colburn of Belle and Sebastian. If the band's actual lineup didn't have enough starpower already, debut album The Place We Ran From also features contributions from folks like M. Ward, Editors frontman Tom Smith, and some lady named Zooey Deschanel." (Pitchfork)

Band's MySpace
Band's YouTube channel
Official website

Conan, the Musician

Whether you're on team Coco or not, I hope you'll enjoy these videos.

Middle Class Rut

I recently discovered this band thanks to my local indie/alternative station. Their most popular song is "New Low"... Enjoy!



Visit their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/middleclassrut

The Fratellis

I discovered this band thanks to a review in local newspaper in which the reviewer was comparing them to Beatles on weed. That was something I simply couldn't resist.
Before disbanding earlier this year, The Fratellis were a three-piece Scottish rock band, which released two albums, Costello Music and Here We Stand. The first one was a surprising hit in the UK and sold over 1,5 million copies worldwide. Personally, I prefer the latter.

Although there were some reports concerning the future of the band, due to their cryptic nature, it still remains unclear, whether the members will play or record together again or what is the state of their next projects.


My Friend John

Babydoll

Band's MySpace
Official Site

Keep Me Conscious

A couple years back, I discovered a little-known band called Cherry S/T who had just released new album A Diary to Burn By. It was a pleasant mix of hard rock and electronica and I gave it a humble amount of spins back in the day. Especially the song "Nightmares in 3D" got stuck in my head.

When listening to the song again today, I payed a visit to their last.fm profile to find whether they're still releasing music. To my surprise, they are. Although under a new name Keep Me Conscious. Last year, they've released Sounds of Rescue EP, which is difinitely worth checking out. Hopefully, they are currently working on new songs for their next album.




Cherry S/T
Nightmares in 3D


Band's MySpace

Idlewild

I stumbled across the name Idlewild quite a few times in the past. A Scottish band similar to Ash couldn't be bad, I thought, but never truly gave them a shot. Until last week. And what has been heard, cannot be unheard. I don't understand how this band could be escaping my attention for so long.

Their sound cannot be easily described since they've moved from punk rock roots to alternative and indie rock with occational folk influences throughout their prolific career. However, you can clearly hear the inspirations they took from bands like R.E.M., Blur or Fugazi.

They've released one mini-album, six full-length and two compilation albums since formation in 1995. The band rose to wider attention with critically acclaimed sophomore album 100 Broken Windows and continued their success with The Remote Part, Warnings/Promises and Make Another World. Idlewild's latest record Post Electric Blues was released in 2009.


You Held the World in Your Arms



No Emotion


Little Discourage


American English


In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction


Band's MySpace
Official Website

The Gaslight Anthem

American Slang, new record from this New Jersey quartet, is due out in June and you can hear acoustic versions of few songs from the upcoming album here, as they were recorded by the lead singer and guitarist Brian Fallon.
The Gaslight Anthem gained their well deserved success after releasing The '59 Sound in 2008. On American Slang they've once again proved, why they're everyone's favourite punk rock band.



Band's MySpace

note: if you want to download the acoustic songs, just right-click on them and save as on to your computer ;)

#edit: Some behind the scenes footage...

Innerpartysystem

As you know, I love synthpop, so I also like indie music with electronic sounds, for example, "Black Room (before Called Lorraine", "IAMX", "Empire Of The Sun", "Emmon" "Northern Kind," "Shiny Toy Guns", "The Rosebuds" ... I'm sure that you already have "All The Rest (2009)," "Heart Of Fire EP (2009)" Innerpartysystem (2008) and "The Download EP (2007)," so I will just share with my friends three things that may not have them.


Band's Myspace

Today's post featuring christian indie rock band Future of Forestry

The californian band named after a poem by C. S. Lewis started in 2000 and has released one full-length album, Twilight, and a few EPs so far. Last year, they put out two EPs from a planned trilogy that is collectively known as Travel Series. And it's especially these two records that I enjoy enormously. The last piece of the series is due out at the end of July and I'm quite excited about it. If you enjoy bands like Nada Surf or Death Cab for Cutie, give them a chance right away. By the way, their song "Traveler's Song" will be featured on Grey's Anatomy April 29.


Band's MySpace

Today's post featuring two Seattle bands Amber Pacific and The Classic Crime

As the summer aproaches I find myself more and more getting drawn into the faster and heavier genres of rock 'n' roll. This year, it all seems to start with pop punk band Amber Pacific. Their newest record, named Virtues and arriving after an EP, two full-lengths and a singer change, is gonna be released in two days and it's filled with fast paced pop punk anthems such as the opening track An Anthem for the Young at Heart.

Band's MySpace

I'm attaching only the myspace link because the singles and music videos have yet to be released.

Recommended if you like Cartel, Yellowcard, Blink 182




The Classic Crime's new album was released just a few days ago. Their sound is sort of similar to Brand New, Emery or Taking Back Sunday. I liked it from the first instant.

Band's MySpace

Today's post featuring indie folk band She & Him

This band is kind of special. That's because Zooey Deschanel's in it. And everybody likes Zooey. So if you haven't seen last year's best romantic movie "(500) Days of Summer" yet, do it right away and then check their new album, Volume Two. You can start with this addictive single.


Band's MySpace

Today's post featuring dutch pop punk band Destine

Today, I'm introducing an amazing dutch band "Destine", which I think has a lot of potential. They've recently released their debut full-length album "Lightspeed". They had me the second I heard "In Your Arms" on their first EP. Recommended if you like bands like Paramore, The Audition or Fall Out Boy.

Band's MySpace
iTunes