And so, after remixes and un-PC song titles, it was "Ain't That Cold" that clarified for us that Boston's Bodega Girls are basically (awesomely) dancefloor scions of the Afghan Whigs, a band doing soul music as smutty warehouse disco. We're releasing the song today through our in-house digital label, just as the band Fung Wah it down to New York this week for CMJ. Those dates and others, including a headlining show in Brooklyn at the end of the month, after the break.
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.
Our friends in Psychic Powers have a new single out through the boutique label Geographic North, fourth in a series of colored 7-inches they're doing called "You Can't Hide Your Love Forever" (this one is "bubblegum pink," which is, you know, pretty rad). The a-side–a beaming track called "Wellington" that sounds like DIY Depeche Mode–is below, as is the band's Frozen EP that we put out last spring.
It's been some time coming, but we finally have a winner for the Daniel Merriweather "Change" remix contest. Congratulations to Red Light District, their mix was personally selected by Daniel and Mark as the winner, and will subsequently be featured here on our homepage for the duration of this week. Other entries can still be found here. Hit the break for a brief note from Daniel, as well as a look at the Top Five Most Downloaded that were up for selection. And a huge thanks to all those who entered, your response was truly incredible.
Earlier this year, we told you a story about an L.A. musician named Fitz, who recorded his entire debut EP in his living room with an organ he bought off a tip from his ex-girlfriend. It was a good story, but the tunes were even better. Next month he's headed out on tour with Flogging Molly, where those songs will meet the bigger spaces they were clearly written for. And everyone will look really rad in suits. Tour dates after the jump, a pair of new Fitz jams just below.
We've heard Cruel Black Dove's surrealist industrial rock in a variety of guises, thanks to the many remixes they've let us premiere over the past year or so. This new one of "Love Song" from Dean Rosenzweig of IAMX–Chris from the Sneaker Pimps' new band–is one of the best, flipping the original vocal into a central phrase and cutting it with boiling low end and BB gun snares. Basically, it's like downtempo Bangladesh. The band plays New York's Mercury Lounge next week, July 16th, alongside The Morning After Girls and Hopewell; before that they'll make an appearance on East Village Radio this Saturday, the 11th, at 4PM.
When we first heard this song we were like, "Okay, cool, it opens with guitar feedback, always a good look." Then the bass line started–a chunky stumble down the fretboard–and we thought, "Guess these dudes aren't playing around." Finally the drums came in, the verse started, and we kind of coasted until 1:47, when the word "growing" gets belched so wildly we were finally sold. Brooklyn's The Jaguar Club won't be winning any band name awards, but their rusty, Smiths-gleaning garage rock (people have been calling them new wave, but that's frankly inaccurate) has been one of our better random finds. Their new album, recorded by Ken McMahon (The Walkmen, Frightened Rabbit), is due soon, and they play early tonight at the Annex in New York for Club NME. Long live the power trio.
Our beef with the current electro diaspora is that it's begun to lack good songs. Manchester's Modernaire–recent finalists in Diesel's U:Music Selection 2009–fancy themselves a pop group more than anything else, which explains their deftness with a hook and our subsequent interest in their music. "Faites Vos Jeux," their new single, drops next week in the UK via Roxour Recordings, though you can grab the original and two Alavi refits today through our digital label. Also included is their flip of WhoMadeWho's "Keep Me In My Plane," all slo-mo and wobbly in its drunkfootedness.
We introduced the gleeful mass that is The Spolkestra back in March, so go there to read the backstory on this punk-folk band/collective/commune. What you're really here for is the music. Below is another clip of songs from the project, the swelling orchestrations "Soil" and "Together". These two round out their free Open Arms EP, though you'll have to wait until later this year to hear Everything Is New, their debut album featuring appearances from Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu), Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy), Bradford Cox and Jarvis Cocker. As if they need any more members.
Sounds like: The Decemberists, I'm From Barcelona, The Polyphonic Spree
A few weeks ago we introduced you to Magic Wands, the met-via-Internet Nashville duo who strutted their way onto these pages with the glam-pop nugget "Black Magic." Today we're offering a remix of that tune from Spain's Kitsune-signed Crystal Fighters, who turned out a "Township Funk"-indebted bassline house version. A bit less sex and a lot more epilepsy-inducing synth. Take your pick.
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