New Music: Weekend- Mirror

The Bay Area of California seems to have spawned a lot of dark post punk music in recent years, almost making us forget that San Francisco was once a hippie town. The San Francisco/Oakland scene boasts the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Film School, Tamaryn, Soft Moon, The Bilinda Butchers, Young Prisms, Permanent Collection, Whirr and of course Weekend.

Weekend released one of my favourite albums in 2010, Sports, and are now set to release their sophomore LP which is titled Jinx. "Mirror" is the first track to be previewed from the new record and it seems to indicate that the band may going in a darker direction. Listen below:

Jinx will be released July 23rd via Slumberland.

For fans of Tamaryn, Interpol.

New Music: Sean Nicholas Savage- She Looks Like You

"She Looks Like You" is the second song to be previewed from veteran Montreal singer-songwriter Sean Nicholas Savage's forthcoming new album Other Life. Glad  to see Savage is getting a little bit of attention these days, after all he has already put out several albums and is well known in the Montreal Arbutus records artistic community that includes Grimes, Doldrums and Blue Hawaii. Listen to the smooth retro sounding new track below:

Other Life will be available April 30th via Arbutus.

For fans of Destroyer, Spandau Ballet.

New Music: Chains of Love: Follow Me + Music Video

The Mad Men season premiere is tonight and to get you ready, here is a new 60's psych influenced song by Vancouver indie rock band Chains Of Love.  "Follow Me" also has a cool retro psychedelic video that brings to mind all of those old swinging parties from the hippie era. Watch below:

Chains of Love are finishing off their latest album, Misery Maker, and it should be ready some time this summer via Manimal Vinyl/ Frenchkiss.

For fans of The Babies, Raveonettes.

Five Star Songs: The Dandy Warhols- Godless + News of a 13th Anniversary Reissue of Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia

Portland psychedelic alt rock band The Dandy Warhols released some of the finest LP's from the time around the turn of the century including ....The Dandy Warhols Come Down, Welcome To the Monkey House and their best album Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. These guys were a welcome reprieve from the musical garbage of The Limp Bizkits and the Creeds et al who were polluting the airwaves in the era before The Strokes.

News came this week that the band have announced that they will be playing a tour to celebrate that classic 2000 album plus reissuing a special edition of the record (details to come). The Dandy's already did a mini tour around their hometown on March 27th, singing one song at thirteen different location in and around Portland. Now the group are about to embark on a tour of North America where they will play the album in full at each stop. They will be playing The Phoenix in Toronto on June 6th. Check here for all tour dates.

The song "Godless" was the third single featured from the album and probably the most understated track on the LP. The song features a surge of trumpets underlain with Courtney Taylor-Taylor's quiet vocals and a great mess of head swirling acoustic and electric guitar. Listen below:

Fan-Tan Visit BTR Live Studio

Watch: Brooklyn band Fan-Tan bring their post punk stylings to BTR Studio for a performance of "Everything Will Be Fine" plus an interview with the band.

Fan-Tan's new album A Strange Game is out now through Goodnight Records.

New Music: Jenny Hval- Mephisto in the Water

Beautiful, haunting folk from eclectic Norwegian singer-songwriter Jenny Hval.  Hval is a known musical artist, writer and journalist in her homeland and she has already put out three albums of material plus has contributed to several European magazines. The song"Mephisto in the Water" is taken from Hval's newest album, Innocence is Kinky, out April 19th via Rune Grammofon. Listen below:

For fans of PJ Harvey, Cat Power.

New Music: Cold Cave- God Made the World

Another great track from the brilliant darkwave artist Wesley Eisold, aka Cold Cave......

Eisold announced via his Tumblr that "God Made the World" will be part of a series of new singles. The series includes three 7" singles that are the aforementioned song, "BlackBoots b/w "Meaningful Life" and "A Little Death To Laugh" which will be pressed for the third time. Also available digitally and vinyl for pre-order through Deathwishinc is "Oceans With No End."  Listen to the new song above:

Also announced was a tour that will stop at Parts & Labour in Toronto on June 26th.