Post punk/dream pop darlings 800Beloved have just released their first single/4 track EP from their upcoming album Everything Purple which includes a shorter/popper album’s single. This upbeat track oozes dancing and falling in love at the same time, I love it so much I asked the band if I could give it away for FREE and they said yes so download it here for FREE.
If you don’t follow indie labels like I do then just understand that if your LP comes out on Domino or French Kiss then your golden, press will pick you up and you’ll definitely get a proper chance to be loved since their A+R know what their doing. Recent signings Local Natives are catchy and talented, I like how the drums are mixed, they seem to sound a bit more upfront which works really well for this track.
I found Sambassadeur a few weeks ago only after searching for some post rock Swedish bands that aren’t just The Mary Onettes and The Radio Dept. They have a Cranberries/The Sundays feel, this was the only track I picked up but after a few listens I definitely want more.
I have been really hooked to listening to music behind every commercial on TV during the Olympics and this Xx usage was one of the best i’ve heard to date, such a perfect match with AT&T I think it was.
Matthew Lyons is an incredible illustrator. Just about every blog in existence has written a piece about him recently — and it’s no surprise — his work is absolutely stunning. As I mentioned in my post, the combination of his vast imagination and impeccable eye for color and composition begets some really exciting work.
I asked Matthew if he would prepare a short process description about one of his recent works. What follows is Matthew’s description of how he created the piece you see above, The Snide of a Scoundrel Man. Take it away Matthew!
One more nice thing about living in Brooklyn is that good indie bands put up posters EVERYWHERE and once an album cover grabs your attention 6 or 7 times then its time to give it a chance and i’m glad I did here. This White Hinterland song reminds me of that great High Places record from about a year ago but a bit more on a organic and soft tip, definitely a nice listen, now to give the rest of the album a listen and go to see the show.
One blog I like to check out once in a while is Surfing On Steam, usually I can grab a single or two from there constantly because there’s plenty of good music on Scott’s radar. Last night I grabbed this Mathemagic single that was on the Toro Y Moi/Small Black tip, just trying to keep the Dreambeat alive, kicking, and visible.
I can never have enough Apparat, once I get a dose I end up also going thru about an hour of Telefon Tel Aviv as well which is always a nice passionate music listening session.
Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car by U2 is a big influence on me, I remember having the cassette of Zooropa and riding my bike around with my headphones on being completely blown away by the sounds of the drums and reverse guitar effects.
I remember when Broken Social Scene came thru Detroit for the first time, I helped run their merch booth for them before they even got big[yeah yeah yeah music nerd phrase right there], I was geeked to do it, Kevin Drew even bought me a Heineken and I kept the bottle until someone told me that was taken it too far haha [there you all go, my most pathetic fan boy moment].
BSS is probably the only band I could watch live for more than 2.5 hours (yes even Radiohead, I could probably not handle Yorke for that long, it would ruin it for me), so i’m happy to hear their back on tour (below are the tour dates) and a new album is suppose to drop May 4th. Here is a link to the FREE single called World Sick. Enjoy!
Broken Social Scene tour:
03-14 Elkton, FL – Harvest of Hope
03-18 Austin, TX – Stubb’s BBQ
03-19 Austin, TX – The Parish
05-01 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
05-03 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theatre
05-07 New York, NY – Webster Hall
05-13 London, England – Brixton Academy
05-14 Minehead, England – All Tomorrow’s Parties
05-17 London, England – Heaven
05-18 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg
05-19 Cologne, Germany – Burgerhaus Stollwerck
05-21 Paris, France – La Maroquinerie
05-23 Linz, Austria – LinzFest
05-24 Berlin, Germany – Kesselhaus
05-27 Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Festival
05-29 George, WA – Sasquatch
06-19 Toronto, Ontario – Toronto Island
I was really excited to see this ad campaign by Panamericana School of Art and Design, to me it shows how much further you should push yourself be it making music, design, video, etc. I remember early in school you’d usually take the first idea you had that the teacher ok’d and ran with it but the older and older I become the more I steer away from even my first 10 ideas I come up with on a project, I know then that it might form into something a bit more unique.
The third season of Layer Tennis starts today! I must say, today’s lineup is one of the best I’ve seen; this promises to be an exciting match for sure. Khoi Vinh, Design Director of The New York Times, will play against Nicholas Felton, designer, blogger and creator of the Feltron Annual Reports. Coincidentally, both competitors were part of the Creative Block post…hopefully they each will take their own advice and create something awesome.
It all starts today at 2pm (Chicago time). Tune in here.
I usually try not to lump together similar genres of music together in one post because that usually singles certain listeners out which I don’t want to do but on the other hand I dislike posting low level style music among uptempo songs because listeners might not spend the extra time to search for the detail or take in the soft yet intricate sounds that are being offered. I do my best to find the least moody and harsh sounding ones in hopes of finding new fans to the low level genre. Here are a few recent favorites, note the Andrew Thomas on isn’t out yet , its from his upcoming LP on Kompakt, a super beautiful listen all the way thru.
