The UK's Winterkids, who you can catch tonight at The Lei Lounge at Niagra and Tuesday at the Mercury Lounge, will release its debut LP Memoirs in the States on March 12. The sound, a sprightly brand of new wave-ish indie pop, is both terribly infectious and quite accomplished for a young band from a "small countryside village called Peaslake."
"They write music for all to sing and dance to" according to the Winterkids' MySpace page. Fair enough. Do they get the job done? Check out "Tape it" and "All the Money" (which is also available for download below) and just try to tell them no.
Winterkids is also slated to perform at SXSW, so if you're making the trip do check them out. Our favorite quote thus far from the oh-so-excitable British press:
“If Lewis Carroll wrote a scene where Alice, after failing to catch the rabbit, drowned her sorrows in a pub made out of, say, marzipan and ribbons they would be the house band of choice” DISORDER
Download: Winterkids - "All the Money" off Memoirs
SS has started warming up to Bright Eyes, despite his still somewhat emo-ish persona (and hair.) We ain't buyin' into all the "new Dylan" hype that some bloggers are shoveling, but the Four Winds EP has been stuck in our heads all week, and catching one of his seven dates in NYC in May might finally win us over. But for now, we're still chewing on the latest leak from Oberst's upcoming Cassadaga LP, due April 10.
It's quite pretty with it's orchestral build and country guitar licks, but who's really ready to buy into a Neil Young-like cautionary tale from this pretty boy? Not us...yet at least.
Download: Bright Eyes - "No One Would Riot For Less" off Cassadaga
Generally speaking, we're not big into the Bright Eyes. His sensitive emo boy shtick might work with the teenage hipster chicks that hang Dashboard posters in their bedrooms, but Conner Oberst is just a tad mopey for our money. Strike that...mopey can be good, but does he have to be so gosh darn cutesy about it?
OK - This is not to say that Oberst doesn't have any chops. And so, though we might not be running out to grab the Four Winds EP arriving March 6, we're diggin' the title track.
Light on teen angst and heavy on end-of-the-world fire and brimstone, the track is set to fiddles and guitar plucking that would fit nicely on really good Dixie Chicks tune. It's pretty peppy for a song about the apocalypse, but at least he's not whining about that girl he gave his promise ring to...
Download: Bright Eyes - "Four Winds" or stream the entire Four Winds EP here.
Boston's The SLIP will be touring with My Morning Jacket soon, which by itself is likely enough to get one's foot in the blogger buzz door. But with new album EISENHOWER set for a November 7 release, we thought it time to find out if there's much else to the band's Boston-bred indie rock sound.
So far we dig, but you let us know. Check out four tracks at the band's MySpace, download some old nuggets at the official site then grab new single "Even Rats" below.
Download: The Slip - "Even Rats" off of EISENHOWER
Here's a treat: Today we've got a long-lost Louis Armstrong mp3 (the dude was way ahead of his time folks)called "You Can Never Hold Back Spring." All brass, piano and scraggly old man voice, it must have been recorded in Armstrong's declining years. Wait, it's a new song you say? From 2005? Boy, that Tom Waits gets way cooler, raspier and blacker every year...
"Spring" is the second leak off of Waits' Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards 3-disc set, due November 21 via Anti. The track follows the previously reported "Bottom of the World," both of which are great, but might have you unconsciously craving a cough drop by song's end.
Download: Tom Waits - "You Can Never Hold Back Spring"
Tom Waits has a treasure chest of "new and rare" material on the way, in the form of the 3-disc Orphans. Due November21 via Anti, the collection boast 54 tracks-worth of Waits' unique, very accessible, happy-go-lucky brand of pop.
But seriously..."Bottom of the World" is Waits at his bleakest, lyrically-speaking, but carries with it some semi-uplifting instrumentation. It's actually kinda...pretty.
Download: Tom Waits - "Bottom of the World"
Maybe we can squeeze some music out of this Lonelygirl15 fiasco after all. One of her recent videos, a more suggestive than usual one at that, featured the track "Junkie," by a pop-soul band called The Jane Doe's. Since we try to avoid linking to videos of 16-year-olds prancing around in bathing suits, we won't be dropping the video on ya'll here. (Though I'm sure you could just find it yourself...you perv.) BUT, the mp3 is below for some legal, wholesome enjoyment.
Download: The Jane Doe's - "Junkie"
After a soggy week or so, it looks like beach weather has descended on SS country for at least a little while longer. So while our seasonal affective disorder keeps us smiling, we thought we'd offer everyone a taste of Goldenboy's shimmering, bittersweet pop. The California band's new disc, Underneath The Radio, drops on October 3rd - hopefully with Indian Summer still in full swing.
Filter sums the Goldenboy experience up pretty well:
"The duo from the sleepy Los Angeles suburb of Diamond Bar create bittersweet tunes which remind you of childhood summers spent camping-out in the backyard."
No place is that more evident than on "Summer of the Evening," the lead single off Underneath. Download the track below (along with two others from the upcoming disc), then check out the band's MySpace page for more tracks including the SS fav "Motorbike" and another seasonal ode, "Summertime," featuring the late Elliot Smith.
Download: Goldenboy - "Summer of the Evening" | "Second Day of the Year" | "Underneath the Radio"
Van She has a very snazzy official site, which is sometimes enough to hook the web geeks at SS in for an extended look-see. They're a stylish buncha' dudes, we'll give em' that, but there wasn't any music to sink out teeth into. So we moved onto the back-up: the MySpace page of course. And there we found, in line with only the best of 80's synth, a band that backs up the duds with quality tunes.
"Sex City" is a brooding, fuzzy, delicious cut of pop that would fit in nicely as a ballsier Human League cut. "Mission" combines an old-school Cure riff, handclaps and the usual synthy goodness for another winner, but "Kelly" might be the break-out single here. It's definitely the most pop-oriented, and stops just this side of cheesy, but it's catchy as all hell. We're partial to the first two, but drop it right on the Breakfast Club soundtrack and you're in business.
Van She is currently touring the homeland in Australia, but will hit NYC on 11/1 for the CMJ fest, and the following day at record label Modular's Brooklyn shindig.
Download: Van She - "Kelly"
Also check out the oh-so-80's video below as well:
Minus the Bear - Planet of Ice: While it doesn't break any new ground, this would qualify as the band's "serious" record
Tegan and Sara - The Con: The Quin sisters employing the sharp production skills of Chris Wala (Death Cab for Cutie)
Fountains of Wayne - Traffic and Weather: So-so tunes, but still infuses mundane snapshots of life with wit to spare
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