New Music: Parquet Courts- Black And White

I just finished listening to Parquet Courts new album Sunbathing Animal, and I am a little bit surprised. I am not surprised that is it good- and it is very good- but surprised at the length of the LP. I thought it would be like a lot of similar garage artists of their ilk, and it would be a record that is short and sweet. In actual fact, their new record clocks in at over 50 minutes and contains a couple of garage psych jams that push past 6 minutes. The single "Black and White" is the best track off the new album, and its mixture of Black Lips style garage rock blended with Pavement slacker-dom pretty well sums up the whole  record. Watch the video for the song below:

New Music: Merchandise- Little Killer

Florida post punk band Merchandise are back with a new single, and by the sounds of it, they are anxious to show off the new wave side of their band, If you are familiar with these guys, you know a lot of their songs clock in at over six minutes. Not on their new single "Little Killer", however, as the poppy, 80's sounding tune is just over three minutes long. Maybe their new new wave sound is the influence of producer Gareth Jones, who worked with some of that era's biggest standouts including Depeche Mode, Wire, and Erasure. Check out the music video for the track below, which features the band reenacting that era and doing their best impersonation of the Bunnymen or the Mary Chain.

"Little Killer" is taken from Merchandise's new album After The End, which is out August 25th via 4AD.

New Music: Peter Murphy- Hang Up

Last week, Bauhaus bassist David J released a new album that featured a bonus track, a cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic". That song is a jazzy take on the pop princess' hit and features a music video starring goth porn star Sasha Grey. This week J's bandmate, Bauhaus lead singer Peter Murphy, has come out with the first single from his forthcoming new album Lion. "Hang Up" sticks to a more conventional goth sound thanks, in part' to the production from Killing Joke bassist Youth. Killing Joke's industrial punch is also apparent, but this is unmistakably classic Peter Murphy, with his crooning shining darkly throughout the track. Check out the video for the song below:

Lion is out June 3rd via Nettwerk.

New Music: Ummagma- The Road To Lees

Canadian/Ukrainian dream pop duo Ummagma are back with a brand new music video for their song "The Road to Lees". We already know from previous posts that this band has an eclectic sound with splashes of shoegaze, post rock, psychedelica and electronica heard throughout their body of songs. "The Road To Lees" is no exception and is a song that showcases the electronic side of their talent-the mesmerizing track might even be considered trip hop.

The music video for the song is a shimmering kaleidoscope of colours interwoven with scenes of mid  20th century American life. Shauna from the band sees this video as somewhat of a juxtaposition: “unfortunately, apart from that which was familial or community-based, what we knew as the good old days did indeed seem ‘real’, but it was based on a faulty foundation, which we’re only hearing about now. Just the same, this is still a happy place for many”.

Ummagma are also releasing a remix LP on May 16th with several reworkings of their excellent single "Lama". You can preview that LP right now on Soundcloud.

New Music: Ramona Lisa: Arcadia + Backwards And Upwards

Chairlift's Caroline Polachek has been slogging away making crazy good synth pop with her band for approximately ten years now, plus she has been collaborating on songs with everyone from Washed Out to Flosstradamus, so perhaps, maybe, it is time she goes out her own. Polachek has done exactly just that with her new solo project Ramona Lisa. She has released a new album titled Arcadia that she made in Italy last year, a record that was recorded on just her laptop.  Two of the songs from the new album, the creepy video for the title track and "Backward and Upwards", are featured below. Check them out:

Arcadia is out today (April 15th) via Terrible.

New Music: Haunted Hearts- Johnny Jupiter

Had a chance to catch the wonderful Dum Dum Girls when they were in town a couple of weeks ago and as usual they put on a pretty good show. Dee Dee Penny might be in the middle of an extensive tour with her band right now, but that hasn't stopped her from hooking up with her husband Brendan Welchez (Crocodiles), forming Haunted Hearts and making their debut collaboration album called Initiation.  The first single from the LP is the dreamy psych pop "Johnny Jupiter". Check out the video for the song below:

Initiation will be out May 27th via the couple's own imprint Zoo Music.

New Music: Warpaint- Disco /Very + Keep it Healthy

The lovely ladies of Warpaint have never looked so lovely as they do in this new double music video. The clip is for two tracks off their critically acclaimed new self titled LP and features a day and night scene for each song. "Disco/Very" has the ladies singing while walking down a road on a bright sunny day while "Keep it Healthy" sees them at night hanging out with L.A. skater boys.  Watch below:

New Music: When Nalda Became Punk- Song For Carrie Mathison

What a great name, I think When Nalda Became Punk should get the award for best band name of 2014.

I figure these Spanish twee-gazers are heavily influenced by The Pains of Being Pure At Heart because they sound an awful lot like TPOBPH, and they have a passing reference to TPOBPH (blink and you miss it) in their video for "Song For Carrie Mathison" Not sure who Carrie Mathison is (Homeland girl?? I've never watched the show), but she should be honoured to have such a superb song dedicated to her. Check out the South Park-like video for the track below.

The track is on the band's EP Indie Pop or Whatever? which you can pick up here.

New Music: Weeknight- Dark Light + Wreckage

Weeknight are a Brooklyn synth pop duo whose music sides on the darker side of the genre. They will be releasing their new album Post-Everything on March 4th via Artificial Records. The excellent "Dark Light" and "Wreckage" are two tracks from the LP and you can listen to both tracks plus watch the eerie music video for "Dark Light" below:

New Music: Hamilton Leithauser- Alexandra

New York indie rock band The Walkmen broke up, got back together to play some NBA all star game benefit show, and then during the last song of that gig announced that it would be the last song the band would ever play. And now, just a few days later, The Walkmen lead singer Hamilton Leithauser has announced a new solo album titled Black Hours.

The boys in the Walkmen have made a lot of friends over the years, and Leithauser's new LP reflects this with a pretty impressive guest list. Among the contributors are Morgan Henderson (Fleet Foxes), Richard Swift (The Shins), Amber Coffman (Dirty Projectors) and Paul Maroon (The Walkmen). Also helping out is Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij who produced and co-wrote the first single "Alexandra", a song not too far removed from Leithauser's work with The Walkman, albeit way more uplifting and less forlornly than the songs of his previous band. Watch the video for the track below and watch for a cameo from the aforementioned Rostam Batmanglij.

Black Hours will be out May 6th via Ribbon Music.

New Music: Coves- Cast A Shadow

Up and coming U.K. psych pop band Coves are back with a new (old) song and details of a new album. The new single is called "Cast A Shadow"and is a tune that swoons with psychedelic haze. Actually, this may be the first time I have posted a song twice because Coves already came out with a video for "Cast a Shadow" way back in 2012 (That video has been made private) and it was featured on this blog. The song is so good that it needs to be featured again. Check out the latest video for the track below:

The band will release their debut album Soft Friday on March 31st in Britain and hopefully later in the year in North America.

New Music: Alvvays- Adult Diversion

Alvvays is a new Toronto indie band that features some Canadian East Coast heavyweight musical pedigree. Among its members are Alec O'Hanley, the former bassist of P.E.I. indie rock band Two Hours Traffic and singer Molly Rankin from Cape Breton's The Rankin Family, one of Canada'a most famous Celtic musical families.

You can hear a hint of that Celtic influence on the band's new single "Adult Diversion", although it is more akin to modern day Scottish indie pop than the folk music of Rankin's family. But the song is definitely not gloomy and it almost sounds like something Best Coast might put out. Check out the video for the song below:

Alvvays self-titled debut LP will be coming out in the very near future.

Music From The Inbox (December-Part 1): Featuring Peggy Sue, Pillar Point, JF Robitaille + More

Just because the year is coming to an end doesn't mean that there isn't any new music to listen to. As a matter of fact it is busier than normal right now. I will have to do two posts this December to include all of the great stuff that has been forwarded to me. Another post will becoming up before Christmas. Meanwhile, check these new songs out below:

Artist: Dearly Beloved
Song: "Living Proof"
Country: Canada
Genre: Alt Rock
Album: Hawk vs. Pigeon
Release Date: Out Now
Label:  eOne Music

Further Information: The album actually came out in 2012 and features guest appearances by Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning and Sloan's Patrick Pentland.

Artist: Peggy Sue

Song: "Idle"

Country: U.S.A.

Genre: Indie Rock

Album: Choir of Echoes

Release Date: January 28th

Label: Yep Roc Records

Artist: JF Robitaille

Song: "Cry (To Keep From Laughing)"

Country: Canada

Genre: Singer-Songwriter

Album: Rival Hearts

Release Date: Out Now

Label: Universal

Artist: Pillar Point

Song: "Eyeballs"

Country: U.S.A.

Genre: Synth Pop

Album: Self Titled 

Release Date: February 25th

Label: Polyvinyl

Further Information: Singer Scott Reitherman has also been involved with indie pop band Throw Me The Statue.

Artist: Mystery Twins

Song: "The River"

Country: U.S.A.

Genre: Stripped down Indie Rock

Album: "Poetry Sucks!" Anthology/Compilation

Release Date: Early 2014

Label: Third Man Records

Further Information: The duo consists of Doug Lehmann, on guitar/vocals and Stephanie Brush on drums/vocals. They've been playing together for over a decade as one half of The Clutters, who early on caught the attention of David Fricke and filmmaker Cameron Crowe.

The "River" will be included on the Poetry Sucks!" Anthology/Compilation that Third Man Records is putting out early 2014. This is curated by Ben Swank and Chet Weise featuring a collection of poetry and short stories accompanied by a record.

New Music: Snowbird- Porcelain

Here, in this part of the world it is cold, dark and this weekend we are expecting a large snow storm to make things even more wintry. It may not show it on the calendar, but winter is definitely here. It is a good time to stay indoors and chill to some great music.

Snowbird are a new duo who make music that is perfect for listening to at this time of the year. The project consists of Cocteau Twins' Simon Raymonde and singer Stephanie Dosen, who you may know from her collaborations with José González, Massive Attack and The Chemical Brothers. The couple will release their debut album next month and they enlisted some musical heavyweights to guest on the record including Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway of Radiohead, and Ed Pullido of Midlake. "Porcelain" is the first single from the LP and it is a stunningly, beautiful piece of music. Watch the wintry video for the song below:

Moon will be out in January via Bella Union.

New Music: Swervedriver- Deep Wound

Maybe My Bloody Valentine started something when they finally released their long delayed album mbv earlier this year.  First, Neal Halstead helped form Black Hearted Brother, a band that is more akin to his 90's shoegaze band Slowdive than the folk music that he has been known for lately. Now, another former Creation shoegaze band is putting out new music. Swervedriver is back with the new single "Deep Wound", and they have brought singer Mark Gardener of fellow Creationists Ride, along for the ride (sorry for the pun). Actually, the song has been around for a little while now. It was available as a 7"inch single on the band's summer tour and they performed it live on Fallon last year. Listen below:

Your move Reid brothers.....

You can purchase the song from Swervedriver's bandcamp or from iTunes.

New Music: The Orwells- Dirty Sheets

Happy Friday. Let's get the weekend started right with some dirty garage rock and a sexy burlesque video courtesy of Chicago band The Orwells. Enjoy.

"Dirty Sheets" will be released on 7" in January via Atlantic.

New Music: Lanterns On The Lake- The Buffalo Days

Lanterns On The Lake are another band who released a song earlier this year, and who I am just learning about now thanks to a music video. The band could be best described as symphonic, especially when you listen to "The Buffalo Days", the first single from their sophomore LP Until The Colours Run. Watch the video for the anthemic track below:

The new record is already out in the UK and will be available on this side of the pond January 14th.

New Music: Twist- Where To Lie

The very busy Brain Borcherdt of Toronto indie band Dusted, and more notably the electronic group Holy Fuck, has a brand new project collaboration called Twist. Joining him in the collaboration is Twist is a new project conceived by Laura Hermiston, singer from the excellent garage rock band The BB Guns, and she enlisted Brian to help her record the music. The first taste of the duo's music, "Where to Lie" is a lo-fi charmer that features a simple guitar riff backed by Hermiston's beautiful, soft voice. This song has actually been kicking around since last March but recently the couple released a shiny new video for the track. Watch the video below and grab a free download of the song.



Twist - Where to Lie from Twist Band on Vimeo.

New Music: Dum Dum Girls- Lost Boys And Girls Club

It's hard to believe that this is the first time I have posted a song by the Dum Dum Girls, because I am a huge fan of these ladies. Better later than never. The Dum Dums have announced a brand new album titled Too True which will be out in the new year. The band have gone all dark with the propulsive new single "Lost Both and Girls Club". Even know the lyrics of the song are very eerie, the track is largely anthemic and features the increasingly confident Dee Dee Dum Dum on vocals with her beautiful voice backed by a wall of blistering distorted guitar . Watch the video for the song below:

Too True will be available January 29th via Sub Pop.

New Music: Death Of Lovers- Buried Under A World Of Roses

Very cold in this part of the world which means it is good time to post something dark....

Shoegaze touring partners Whirr and Nothing have decided to put some of their talents together and have formed a new band called Death of Lovers. The collaboration have come out with a new single titled "Buried Under A Bed Of Roses", a song that tones down their respective other band's shoegaze. Instead the style is very dark and sounds goth. There is no release date for the single but they have come out with a music video. Check it out below: