Condo Fucks - Fuckbook

Essentially a Yo La Tengo release except in name. This is very lo-fi heavy, dirty rock n roll. I really like these tracks a lot. Very different than most if not all the other YLT releases. Through their albums they have established themselves as one of the pillars of modern rock n roll. Using different sounds and effects to traverse the landscape of ambient, experimental, shiny, and sometimes dark pop music. On "Fuckbook" the guys and girl switch up to more straight up rock, seeing them live I was surprised how hard fast and loud they play. It surprised me at the time, so listening to this, I knew it was in them for awhile. The record sounds to me like the early Beatles if they played with the Black Keys. My favorite tracks are "Dog Meat", "Gudbuy T'Jane", and "With A Girl Like You". Enjoy

M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas And Lost Ghosts

Beautiful Noise.

Parlovr

I always love it when bands send me stuff to listen to. Alex from Parlovr recently sent me a few of his bands material. I was grabbed immediately by their sound, quality, and craftsmanship. After hearing all the songs they sent me, I am going to buy their independently releases self titled album. I highly recommend this for anyone who loves where modern rock is going. There are elements of noise, fast/furious drumming, and melodic lyrics. And according to their myspace, they only use a k-mart guitar, a bad drumset, and a keyboard that has a mind of it's own. Remind me a lot of Arcade Fire on their song "All The Wold Is All That Is The Case". Their hit song it seems would be "Pen To The Paper", I really like the repetitive lyrics. I always enjoy new directions in songwriting. In a day of a myriad of bands, its ironic that it gets frustrating or just seems impossible to find a new sound or band to remind you just how great music can be, this is it.

Avey Tare - Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished

Avey Tare is another bandmate of Animal Collective, and this is his solo effort. Panda Bear also plays drums on this effort. This is a lot more experimental to me than most of Animal Collective efforts and Panda Bears solo stuff. Each member has a completely different view point on music as well as different loves of particular music genres. I think that is why each AC album is so much different and why their music is so crazy and beautiful. Somehow four guys with completely different loves and influences can come together and make focused music. Enjoy.

Panda Bear - Person Pitch

A side project from one of the members of Animal Collective. This great album is very calm in comparison to some of the loudness and noise. You can hear the influence of Panda Bear on Animal Collective's latest release (Merriweather Post Pavilion), especially in the Brian Wilson esque vocals and dreamy soundscapes. If you enjoyed Merriweather Post Pavilion or you love Psychedelic rock, the you will love this album. Enjoy.

Speaking of Animal Collective...

Feels



Here Comes The Indian



Merriweather Post Pavilion



Strawberry Jam



Sung Tongs



Water Curses [EP]

Badass Video

This is the great new video from Animal Collective via Merriweather Post Pavilion song "My Girls".


Animal Collective "My Girls" from Chad von Nau on Vimeo.

Old Abram Brown - Alive In Winter

I was sent this album from one of the band members, whose brother writes about film in the blog named "Are The Hills Going To March Off". First things first, the recording and production are simply amazing, everything is very clear and crisp. The effects on the vocals and instruments are just as good as major label stuff if not better. The music which is very full and always moving forward, is surprisingly comprised of few instruments, a keyboard, drums, and trumpet. The vocals are sure to be compared to "The Cold War Kids", the difference for me is, that I really dislike the Cold War Kids, whereas Old Abram Brown has something behind the vocals that make them very enjoyable for me. Its as if you can hear the conviction behind each word. The reverb is another thing that I really enjoyed about this album, for me if it has reverb I will love it. The band has another talent which I really liked and that is layering, if you listen to the song "Ten Pounds" about 3 minutes in you hear a background guitar solo just faintly which gets faded out by a trumpet. To me this is the definition of good music, where the instruments aren't separate entities but part of the whole song, they can flow together and intersect, all to be part of the bigger picture. Outstanding songs from this album are Polonius, Ten Pounds, and Muddy Bricks (a song in which you can hear the Sigur Ros influence). Enjoy. Also here is their Myspace. Also you can buy a phsyical copy of the album here.

Congrats Rafa

It was really hard to watch especially the last set for my guy Roger, but Rafa deserved to win. A class act too with how he dealt with the ceremony as well. I hope Roger can pull it together, if he doesn't start beating Nadal again, it wont be a rivalry any more.