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EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Fionn Regan - Protection Racket
Don't let the solemn, sorry-for-itself black n' white photo fool you - Fionn Regan is perhaps the chirpiest man alive, "Protection Racket" skipping from one narrative tangent to the next in a bluster of giddy folk and laddish bonhomie. Find it on Fionn's forthcoming new album, the less lonely follow-up to 2007's Mercury-nominated The End Of History.
Sounds Like: Eugene McGuinness, Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: WHY? - One Rose (Alias Remix)
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WHY?’s original “One Rose” is a quiet, well-crafted, singer-songwriter-type of tune. Just like Yoni Wolf said—it’s not hip-hop, you guys. But those missing the beat of yore get a break as hip-hop producer Alias (Aesop Rock, Sage Francis) matches Wolf’s folksy bleating to Casio beeps in this swimmy little rework. It claps, it crests, it sways. And then, the Autotune kicks in! Eskimo Snow is out on Anticon now.
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DOWNLOAD: ARMS - Construction
A lot of people, mostly New Yorkers, sighed when local indie rock heroes the Harlem Shakes announced their split a few months ago. Of course, dudes aren't totally gone. There's ARMS, the solo vehicle for Shakes guitarist Todd Goldstein that we first featured in early '08, when his dog-eared debut LP, Kids Aflame, was only available in the UK. It finally got a deserved North American release last month through Gigantic, and to celebrate there's a release party tomorrow night at Piano's in New York, where Goldstein will play with a full band. If you can't make that or just need a tune to memorize beforehand, "Construction" is here for you.
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EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Rifle Recoil - Bad Girl
Rifle Recoil's bio leads us to think he waxes cosmic on the spaces between defining moments as the defining moments themselves. Kind of like in yoga class when Ursula says, “The divine in me is the divine in you,” and we pretend to get it. “Bad Girl” is a meditative electro-folk hymn—heavy on the organ, circular in lyrics, and narcotic in atmosphere. Something to lure us back from the edge, when we could easily jump or stay.
Sounds like: Prince, a wall of delay pedals
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Uninhabitable Mansions - Do You Have A Strategy + The Speed Is Deceiving
Uninhabitable Mansions could be considered a super-collective, what with band members from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Au Revoir Simone, Dirty on Purpose and Radical Dads. As you’d suspect, they make big, strummy, fading-light pop that hits right into the soft spot of your swelling indie heart. You should have that thing looked at, dude. Pick up the album here after lifting the two excellent tracks below and check in with the band's MySpace for updates on their 2010 tour schedule.
Uninhabitable Mansions - Do You Have A Strategy
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: A Mountain Of One - Bones (Acoustic Version)
London's A Mountain Of One are usually to be found wandering more astral planes, but this stripped down version of their desert-rocking, psych-funking, prog-haunted "Bones" gets to the heart of the matter, vocalist and pianist Zeben Jameson sounding like he's delivering this with all his bandmates passed out around him. My guess is there was a full moon and all the peyote had run out - catch them (presumably re-addled) with Glass Candy and other Italians Do It Better reps at Cargo in London this Saturday, November 7.
Sounds Like: Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Frankie Goes To Hollywood
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Brazos - My Buddy + Day Glo
Judging Brazos by the tour they keep would be likening them to Grizzly Bear, Vampire Weekend and White Denim. All bands should be so lucky! Brazos’ harmonies invoke secret swimming holes and endless warm nights. They’re somehow jazz and folk, swooning but sharp, both big and small. Their beautiful album Phosphorescent Blues—out November 24th on Autobus—is just the thing to retreat to once bitter winds and holiday madness descend.
DOWNLOAD: These United States - Everything Touches Everything
We don’t purport to understand how exactly how an album is written, so the sheer magnitude of These United States creating three albums in 18 months is one wild feat to us. What’s more is that these guys play as though they were born in the warm sunshine of a Coca-Cola commercial. There’s unbridled glee shooting through their springy alt-country folk-rock. Everything Touches Everything is out now, their freaky-PBS-corn-people video is here, and tour dates (with Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and more) are up here.
These United States - Everything Touches Everything
Previously:
These United States - First Sight
These United States - West Won
These United States - Get Yourself Home (In Search of the Mistress Whose Kisses Are Famous)
DOWNLOAD: Castanets - Worn From The Fight (Lucky Dragons Remix)
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(Photo: Mia Ferm)
Interestingly, L.A. electronic wizards Lucky Dragons made this Castanets song simpler, even if listening to it feels like riding a carousel of stuffed animals. I say "interestingly" because this one time I witnessed Luke from Lucky Dragons make sounds with rocks and what could be loosely described as a homemade interpersonal theramin. That was enlightening; this is just enchanting.
Castanets - Worn From The Fight (Lucky Dragons Remix)
Previously:
Castanets - Worn From The Fight (With Fireworks)
Castanets - Strong Animal (Rafter Remix)
Lucky Dragons - Morning Ritual
Pit Er Pat - The Good Morning Song (Lucky Dragons Remix)
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Spectre Folk - Falling Off the Map
If this new Spectre Folk jam was dropped into the next Michel Gondry film, it could cure millions. As it is, “Falling Off the Map” is the first blurt from Compass, Blanket, Lantern, Mojo, the new album coming ’round the end of the month (on Arbitrary Signs) by this side/solo project from Pete Nolan, drummer-skater of Magik Markers and one of NYC’s raddest. The honeyed song drifts along on gentle, trippy impulse power; it makes your heart feel psychedelic. Grab the track below, and check out a lysergic video directed by Raymond Salvatore Harmon for another song from the album here. And — stay mellow.
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