Bishop Allen: "Butterfly Nets"

It's that time again folks! The May EP is the fifth installment of Bishop Allen's weighty "EP every month of 2006" campaign. The thing I love about these EPs is that they're not just same regurgetated tunes everytime, the band has already tried on handfuls and handfuls of styles already with just the first five EPs. This one is no different and this new song from the May EP is already one of the best Bishop Allen songs I've heard.

[MP3]: Bishop Allen :: Butterfly Nets
This new song is not only and interesting style for Bishop Allen but it also features a few special guests. The contributions from friends Darbie Nowatka,who sings, and Jon Natchez, who plays saxaphones and flutes really add a lot of depth to the song. The song has a sort of tropical island feel to it with it's mandolin and chimes melody, joined later by the flute saxophone. Darbie's vocals are pristine and have that quality to them where you can open almost here her lips opening and closing, and I really love that.

Buy the May EP (CD)
Buy the May EP (MP3)

Bishop Allen on MySpace

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Kate Nash: "The Nicest Thing"

If I could remember who it was that recently told me about Kate Nash I would owe them my enternal gratitude, because I am currently in love with her. I couldn't dig up too much information about her besides that she is a singer and songwriter from London and she is really cute. She has been writing music for about four years and has an amazing voice. Her songs are all fairly different in style but this one was singing me to sleep last night and is definitely my favorite.

[MP3]: Kate Nash :: The Nicest Thing
This recording is kinda low-fi, and the instrumentation is pretty sparse and not too exciting, but oh my god, what a voice. I would pay Kate Nash to come to my house and sing me to sleep every night and it would be the best sleep I ever got, I'm sure of it. Do yourself a favor and burn this to a cd and just leave this song on repeat when you go to sleep tonight. Thank me in the morning.

Kate Nash on MySpace

If you happen to be in London, she's playing a few shows in June:

Jun 03: The Spread Eagle/Potty Mouth LONDON
Jun 12: The Courtyard Theatre LONDON
Jun 18: Lark in the Park LONDON
Jun 29: Hope and Anchor LONDON


Elsewhere:
The Pipettes are finishing up their video for the fantastic new single "Pull Shapes"! For a soundless video sneek peak of what the video will look like go here.

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Nethers: "Migratory Birds"

I can now safely say that Nethers are most definitely my favorite local band (I consider DC local because Annapolis' music scene sucks). After the demise of the obnoxious DC indie rock band The Carlsonics, the members hid out in the mountains of Nethers, Va for a while. The remaining members eventually reappeared as changed men (and women) now focused more on a sort of alt-country indie pop sound, with original vocalist Aaron passing on full-time vocal duties to bassist Nikki West, who has an amzingly beautiful voice, by the way. After seeing them open for the Walkmen last week (they stole the show, in my opinion), my love for them grew even stronger and my love for their new album In Fields We Will Lie (Box Theory Records) grew even stronger as well. This song gave me a shiver the first time I heard it, it's just gorgeous.

[MP3]: Nethers :: Migratory Birds (Highly Recommened)
Opening with the soft hum of electric guitar, Nikki comes in basically alone with a brilliant vocal delivery for the majority of the song until a soft snare and guitar comes in to join her. The drums and guitar slowly get stronger and stronger, rising up to the sky and then Nikki comes back in taking even higher with her country noir-esque vocals that send shivers down my spine everytime I hear them. Like I said above, absolutely gorgeous.

Be their best friend on MySpace

Buy In Fields We Will Lie from Insound.com

Nethers will be heading out in June on a month long tour supporting Dungen. If they come to yout town, I couldn't urge you enough to get out and see them, even if you hate Dungen, go for Nethers!

6/2: Chicago, IL Logan Sq.
6/3: Columbus, OH Little Brothers
6/5: Detroit, MI Magic Stick
6/6: Toronto, ONT Lees Palace
6/7: Montreal, QUE La Salla Rossa
6/8: Boston, MA Middle East
6/9: Northampton, MA Iron Horse
6/10: New York, NY Irving Plaza
6/11: New Haven, CT BAR Nightclub
6/12: Philadelphia, PA, First Unitarian Church
6/14: Washington, DC Black Cat
6/15: Charlottesville, VA Satellite Ballroom
6/16: Asheville, NC Grey Eagle
6/18: Atlanta, GA The Ear

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Skatterbrain Mixtape Projects To Go

I've gotten a lot of requests lately to either re-post all of the Sleepytime Mixtape Project or post all of both Mixtape Projects for easy downloading, i.e. not having to go back through the archives to find every post. Well, I came up with a solution: I've zipped up both the Sleepytime Mixtape Project and the Summer Drive Mixtape Project. The songs are all in order and tagged correctly for easy importing into your music player of choice. Below you will find both download links and the tracklist for each project. You're welcome.



[ZIP]: The Complete Sleepytime Mixtape Project

Tracklist:
01. A.C. Newman :: Come Crash
02. Autistic Daughters :: The Glass House and the Gift-Horse
03. The Smtihs :: I Know it's Over
04. Mogwai :: Tracy
05. The Very Hush Hush :: That Look
06. Ugly Casanova :: Hotcha Girls
07. Múm :: There is a Number of Small Things
08. Radiohead :: Motion Picture Soundtrack (acoustic)
09. Azure Ray :: Rise
10. At the Drive-In :: 198d
11. Mates of State :: Nature and the Wreck
12. Rachel's :: Water From the Same Source
13. Low :: Sunflowers
14. Spiritualized :: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
15. Circulatory System :: Forever



[ZIP]: The Complete Summer Drive Mixtape Project

Tracklist:
01. Thunderbirds Are Now! :: Better Safe Than Safari
02. The Battles :: Changes
03. The Knife :: You Take My Breath Away
04. The Olivia Tremor Control :: Love Athena
05. Okkervil River :: Kathy Keller
06. Yeah Yeah Yeahs :: Y-Control
07. Belle and Sebastian :: Legal Man
08. At the Drive-In :: Rolodex Propaganda
09. Beulah :: Silver Lining
10. The New Pornographers :: Letter From An Occupant
11. Mogwai :: Helicon 1
12. Silver Sunshine :: Nightmares
13. The Vells :: Hey Hey La La
14. Built to Spill :: Carry the Zero
15. Tullycraft :: Wild Bikini
16. Modest Mouse :: Worms Vs. Birds
17. Comic Book Fever :: TV Babies
18. The Grates :: Little People
19. Broken Social Scene :: Almost Crimes (Radio Kills Remix)
20. Rainer Maria :: Ears Ring
21. Pretty Girls Make Graves :: The Teeth Collector
22. The Polyphonic Spree :: Section 12 (Hold Me Now)
23. Of Montreal :: Rapture Rapes the Muses
24. Apollo Sunshine :: I Was on the Moon

Okay, well enjoy and feel free to leave any comments, questions, death threats, cookie recipes, directions to national monuments, or suggestions for future Mixtape Projects.

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Lucky Lucky Pigeons: "Who Smells Marshmallows?"

I dont even really remember how I found Sweden's Lucky Lucky Pigeons, but somehow I ended up on their MySpace page and they didnt friend request me, so it's still a mystery. But, regardless of how I got there, I'm really glad I did because this is the perfect music for the weather outside. As you can see, it is yet again an all girl pop band (I swear I'm not doing it on purpose!), but with a bit of an elctro pop feel to them. Their songs are immediately catchy and they're really fun! Check out this song from their new Happy Birds Day EP.

[MP3]: Lucky Lucky Pigeons :: Who Smells Marshmallows?
The first thing I loved about this song was the piano, which works really well when butted up against the frenzied glitchy drum machine. What makes this song the huge success of pop song that it is, is the ridiculous and wildly infectious chorus of "Who smells marshmallows? / who smells marshmallows? / who smells marshmallows? / all the time!" If you're not singing along by the second chorus, you must be dead inside.

I'm not sure how you might go about buying this EP, because their MySpace has no details about where to find it and their website is Swedish. Best of luck to anyone who wants to search it out. If I find somewhere you can buy it I'll let you guys know. If you find out before me, leave it in the comments.

Lucky Lucky Pigeons on MySpace

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Drummer Jaime Tambeur Leaves Islands!

From Islandsareforever.com:

May 28th 2006

J'AIME TAMBEUR IS LEAVING ISLANDS, AND
THE BAND GOES ON.

The long time collaboration that is Nick Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur has come to it's end. Main songwriter Nick Diamonds will continue on with the band as it's currently experiencing an impressive and fortunate peak. Tours will remain in tact, future recording will come.

It is with sadness that I report Jamie has left Islands, but the band waltzes on! We wish Jamie the best in his new life. Islands are forever. -NICK DIAMONDS

"The fact is that I don't need to be in a band anymore. I think Islands is one of the best, if not the best band out there these days, and I have every confidence that they will do incredibly well. I'm just not sure that being in a successful band is all that important to me anymore. I'm not leaving because of any problems with people in the band. It's very hard to do this, Nick and I have been creating together for quite a long time now... our relationship, both creative and personal is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life." -J'AIME TAMBEUR * (various thoughts from a statement)

This is a very very sad day and Islands just won't be the same without Jaime and Nick working together on it. From what Jaime mentions on the website, one can assume that the recent success of Islands was just not something he wanted to be a part of. It's likely that the recent gain of radio airtime, as well as video airtime on MTV was just the straw that broke the Jaime's back. He probably wasn't too psyched on having entire high schools of fans across the world either, he's not that kinda guy.

What is strange however, is this: "It's very hard to do this, Nick and I have been creating together for quite a long time now... our relationship, both creative and personal is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life." If this is about not wanting not to be in a successful band, than why does he have to bring Nick into it. There's no reason he should be mentioning their relationship, they're supposed to be really good friends from what I understand and this shouldn't have any effect on that, just a thought. Whatever, either way, it's very sad and hopefully Jaime will pop up with something great (but defintiely not successful)down the road.

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Pony Up!: "Dance For Me"

I've been really into girl vocals lately: The Pipettes, Camera Obscura, Nethers, The Grates and just this past weekend I picked up Make Love To The Judges With Your Eyes, the new album from Pony Up!. Pony Up! is a four girl, all girl, pop band from Montreal and is are a lovely addition to my current growing obsession with female vocals. If there's one these girls are good at, it's being catchy. I was hooked and pretty blown away by this track (which happens to be the first track on the album) within the first 30 seconds and I couldnt turn away from anything on the album after it.

[MP3]: Pony Up! :: Dance For Me (Highly Recommended!)
I had heard a wee bit of Pony Up! before I bought this album but was never super-impressed by what I heard, I bought it solely because I love girl bands lately and to be quite honest, I totally did not expect to hear a song this good. The rest of the songs are very catchy and there are a few others that come close to this one, but this is just untoppable. I guarantee you that after the first time she sings "Dance for me, I like to watch" you will be hooked, and it gets even better after that with a piano solo that comes out of nowhere and proves that these girls have got some serious songwriting talent.

Bonus
[MP3]: Pony Up! :: The Truth About Cats And Dogs (Is That They Die)
Compliments of the lovely folks at Dim Mak.

Buy Make Love To The Judges With Your Eyes from Dim Mak Records.

Pony Up! On MySpace!

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New Xiu Xiu: "Boy Soprano"

Xiu Xiu's new album The Air Force will very likely be one of my favorite albums of the year based solely on the fact that it is a new Xiu Xiu album. Frankly, it could suck and I would still be absolutely in love with it, kinda like if the new Apples in Stereo album is complete trash (which it wont be) Matt would still listen to it 24 hours a day for the rest of the year. But lucky for the rest of you, you dont have to make that kind of decision based on love, you just have to listen to this new track from The Air Force to realize that this album is going to be something amazing.

[MP3]: Xiu Xiu :: Boy Soprano
This song will join songs like "Pox" and "I Luv The Valley, OH!" in the box of Xiu Xiu songs that I love because of the awesome guitar; "I Luv The Valley, OH!" is bass, but whatever. Wasting no time at all, the guitar riff jumps right at you only a mere 21 seconds into this song ringing in all it's bright glorious distortion. The guitat then gives way to a keyboard loop that sounds like an alarm going off as Jamie is shouting "Boy Soprano." If this song is any indication, The Air Force is going to an absolutely amzing album, but I never doubted for a second that it wouldn't be.

The Air Force will be out on September 15th on most likely Kill Rock Stars and was produced by the production genious of Deerhoof's Greg Saunier. For more details that have been around for months now, head over to www.xiuxiu.org.


In other news, Gorky's Zygotic Minci are breaking up. I'm so sorry, Dean :(

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We Know Where You Sleep

On 6/6/06 Kill Rock Stars will release Now You Are One Of Us, the new album from the ultra-depressing Dallas quartet The Paper Chase. Led by John Congleton's trademark desperately terrifying lyrics, shrill vocals, and excessively meticulate production, the band moves through an album full of strings, crashing pianos, crackling samples, bone-crushing drums and wailing guitars that sounds like it fell right out of an early zombie film. Afer hearing this new song, I'm anticipating this album even more than I already was, if that's even possible.

[MP3]: The Paper Chase :: We Know Where You Sleep (Highly Rec'd!!)
Any fans that here this song will automatically think they've heard it before, well at least the intro, that is. This song employs almost exactly the same piano melody in the intro as "What I'd Be Without Me" from 2004's God Bless Your Black Heart. The only real difference is that in "We Know Where You Sleep" the piano is in a much lower key, ultimately alluding to the what the rest of the song feels like. The comparison leaves right as strings begin to build up in the background, which eventually overtake the piano and lead the verses to terrifying heights. The guitar immediately following when Congleton first cries "I am prepared to set myself on fire for this!" is where I fell in love with this song and it just kept getting better from that point on.

But with all of this good news comes some not-so-good news for Paper Chase fans in the UK.

I hate to carry the bad news, but our UK tour has been cancelled. There was an illness in the band. It all happened very suddenly on the afternoon we were to catch our flight. Unfortunately, there was no way around it.

On the brighter side: health matters have been tended to, recovery is in process and everyone is going to be OK.

We know that some of you will be quite disappointed. I can assure you that we share your frustration. After all, Dallas, TX isn't exactly the most beautiful place to be stuck this time of year.

The tour is currently being rescheduled for the fall. We'll let you know as soon as these dates materialize.

Kirkpatrick

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I Just Called To Say, I Like You

White labels are illegal releases. They are vinyl releases, with no label, no sleeve, no artist name, no serial number, etc. This way, an artist can release illegal or unauthorized music to the public and it is completely untracable to the band, singer, rapper, pressing source, whatever. White label releases are most typically seen in the hip hop, electronic scenes due to these genres' excessive use of sampling that is more often than not, used without clearance.

But what if say, you're a band from Baltimore, MD and you sing some Stevie Wonder in one of your songs? or what if you cover a Nirvana song, but you just know Courtney is gonna flip her shit if it's released? Well friends, it's white label time! The Baltimore band in question is of course none other than Animal Collective, who by the way, did not release the limited edition white label vinyl themselves. Either way, I'm pretty sure these tracks may have been circulating around digitally for a while, but they're brand new to me, so get 'em while the gettin's good.

[MP3]: Animal Collective :: The Purple Bottle (Stevie Wonder Mix)
[MP3]: Animal Collective :: Polly (Nirvana Cover)

This super limited edition 7" with both of these tracks may still be available if you send an Email here and say something like: "The panda is in the gunyard," which clearly means "I want the AC seven inch." Or, you know, you could just say: "Hi, I'm interested in the Animal Collective white label" if you want be all lame and boring.

Check out the awesome one-sheet for the 7" here. Man, they really outdid themselves with this one, haha. P.S. the Stevie Wonder Mix is infact mastered, for those of you who like to know these things.

Related interesting fact of the day: Belle and Sebastian's Tigermilk was originally released as the final project of a College music production class and distributed as a white label.

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Tonight: The Walkmen @ The 9:30 Club

A real quick post as I'm ridiculously busy this morning.

I'm extremely psyched to see The Walkmen tonight (w/ Mazarin and Nethers) as I've never seen them before and I've heard only fantastic things about their live show. Normally I don't like hearing lots of new stuff, but I'm really loving the new record. Here's one of my favorite songs from A Hundred Miles Off.

[MP3]: The Walkmen :: This Job Is Killing Me

I haven't heard too much of psych-rockers Mazarin, but I love Nethers and I can't wait to finally see them live. I've been listening to their new album In Fields We Will Lie a lot recently, I highly recommend checking it out. One of the finer bands operating out of DC right now.

[MP3]: Nethers :: Hung Herself In A Birdcage
[MP3]: Mazarin :: We're Already There

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The Most Serene Republic: "Emergency Performance Art Piece"

Since I heard it for the first time a few months ago, The Most Serene Republic's new tour EP Phages has been creeping further and further into my head. It still holds a very firm spot as one of my top five favorite releases of the year thus far, which is highly impressive, I think, for just a tour EP. Although it should be mentioned, and proven by this song, that Phages is not just another tour EP. It blows away last year's Underwater Cinematographer and shows the band moving into not a completely different sound, but definitely changing their focus a bit towards even more complicated melodies and time signatures and really exemplifying that "dreamy noise pop" sound. The song is an absolutely beautiful taste of what will no doubt end up being one of my favorite records of the year. This is very very highly recommended!

[MP3]: The Most Serene Republic :: Emergency Performance Art Piece
I'm not even sure what to say about this song, it's sheer beauty and amazingness leaves me basically wordless, but I'll try to tell you how I feel about it. Have you ever had that dream where you're floating in space and then you get sucked into a black hole and then you start losing your mind? Me niether, but if I did, it would be the music video for this song for sure. The piano melody has been stuck in my head for the past two months, so beware.

You could only get it at their shows for a while but apparently it is on sale now in the Arts & Crafts store here. I think the store may be down right now, but it should be back up real soon like!


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And since it's been a few days since my last Pipettes post, I feel it my duty to inform you of a new Pipettes contest to design the covers for their digital remix releases. The winning covers will appear on iTunes and stuff, check out their MySpace page for more details!

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Those Ghetto Hayward Gurlzz

Red Pony Clock are a very interesting band. When I first heard a couple of their songs a few months ago, I wasn't really interested at all, and now I can't get enough of them! They make lo-fi psychadelic pop that would fit in real well with the Elephant Six crowd, who they are also admittedly very influenced by. They just released their debut album Tunes From Terrace Towers on Asaurus Records this past week and it's already getting all kinds of love! has that charm that I wish came around more often, the last time I felt this way was probably when I heard The Olivia Tremor Control for the first time. I get that feeling where you're like "Hey! How have I been smiling without this?" everytime I listen to this song.

[MP3]: Red Pony Clock :: Hayward Gurlzz
Horns, bass and chimes oh my! This song has so many layers to take in and it almost becomes a quite the task to pay attention to each individual instrument over the lyrics. Red Pony Clock's lyrics are the key to their charm. How can you not love this: "Now all I wanna do is shake my ass and get all jiggy with it / Dressin' like a thug and actin' like and imbosile / Hangin' out on corners with my favorite Hayward gurlzz / Mommy, Mommy cant you see? / Groovy girls have that effect on me." I guess it's fitting then, that the album closes with a Boyz 2 Men cover huh?

Buy Tunes From Terrace Towers from Asaurus for the low low price of $7! The record comes inside a wallpaper-crafted sleeve with a specially-made Red Pony Clock patch affixed to the front. It is even more cute than it sounds. How fun is that?!

Red Pony Clock on MySpace!

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Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 23&24

It's a been a great run folks and and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have but the lovely Summer Drive Mixtape Project must come to an end sometime, and that time is now. Now, in the beginning I said I based this off of a mix that I had already made. Well my initial plan was to just go through that song by song in order and put it up, but I ended up tossing a few songs, adding some new ones and pretty much posting them in no particular oder really. But, tonight's last two songs are actually the last two songs that appeared on the original mix I made, so I felt it only appropriate to end it the right way. And here we go, for the last time, until the next Mixtape Project.

[MP3]: Of Montreal :: Rapture Rapes The Muses
Of Montreal in some shape or form is absolutely essential to Summer in every way possible. That bassline in the beginning right before it breaks into the lysergical keyboard and handclap frenzy is one of my absolute favorite Of Montreal moment out of all the albums. The harmonies and the tidal wave of joyous "la la la's" that follow are just the perfect soundtrack to any moment of a sunny day.

[MP3]: Apollo Sunshine :: I Was On The Moon
The happiest song ever. Plus, yknow, that guitar at the end is brilliant.

www.ofmontreal.net
www.apollosunshine.com

Previously:
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 1&2
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 3&4
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 5&6
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 7&8
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 9&10
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 11&12
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 13&14
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 15&16
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 17&18
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 19&20
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 21&22

Well that's it, it's over! I hope you all enjoyed it greatly and comments on this project or suggestions for the next one would be much appreciated! Thanks lovelies.

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The Specific Heats - "Take The Wheel"

I've been really into fun pop bands lately, in fact Pants Yell!'s Recent Drama has been my soundtrack to and from work for probably the past two weeks, I just can't get enough of those catchy little melodies! Boston's The Specific Heats are one of the bands I've stumbled upon in the last week while searching out cute little pop bands to fill my need for, well, cute little pop bands. This song comes from their upcoming debut release Aboard A Spaceship Of The Imagination, out late June/July on Total Gaylord Records! Fun!

[MP3]: The Specific Heats :: Take The Wheel
Who knew you could pack so much sunshine into one minute and 29 seconds? I did, because it's what I've been in love with lately. These short little bursts of pop are so fun and simple, I just can't get enough. This song is another one of those song that shows off the power of the "do-do-dooooo!" and just how much it can really do for a piece of music.

The Specific Heats on MySpace!


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Please head over to Good Hodgkins if you haven't already and check out the second installment of his Blogosphere-spanning features! This weeks is especially important because it focuses on songs that are are better live than on record and yours truly took part! As soon as he asked me if I was interested in helping I knew exactly which songs I had in mind. What songs might they be? Well go and see for yourself!

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Dance On The Dead Man's Ashes

You know those bands where you keep saying you're going to listen to them and then it takes you months to finally listen, but then you do and it's awesome? While that may be the worst lead-in ever written, it is pretty much all true in the case of Asleep in the Sea. These guys know to have fun with music like we haven't seen since perhaps The Unicorns. Catchy melodies, ridiculous lyrics, call and response, breaking glass, handclaps, recorder, it has all the makings of a Unicorns album, and guess what? It almost is, but it's also not The Unicorns because it's Asleep in the Sea and they're definitely their own band. In two years they've acomplished quite a bit: they put out an EP entitled Yay! OK. Yeah?, did southwest/west coast tour, played SXSW 2k5, did some more southwest/CA touring, released an untitled 6-song EP, and meanwhile played with a bunch of fancy bands such as the Fiery Furnaces, the Good Life, Elefant, the Helio Sequence, Dios Malos, and Hella. They are currently recording their debut full-length and piecing together a full U.S. tour for this Summer. This here song is really really awesome, if you say you don't like it I'm not going to believe you.

[MP3]: Asleep in the Sea :: Dance On (Super Highly Recommended!)
"That kid can be a violent son of a bitch / Hey man I'm sorry to hear that / It's cool, sometimes I just gotta veg / Hey man that's what I'm here for / You're a pal / You deserve it / I f***ed up / Forget about it / I can't / Why not? / I just can't / Alright / Let's go / Where we headed? / To the park / Where's it at? / Who knows? / Not me / We can tie him up to this tree / We can build wood up to his knees"

Buy Yay! OK. Yeah? and the untitled EP from the band's store for cheap cheap cheap!

Asleep in the Sea on MySpace

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Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 21&22

Sorry for the lack of posting this weekend, but I had lots and lots of things to get done and they didnt leave much time for blogging, but I'm here now. The Summer Drive Mixtape Project hasn't made an appearance in a couple days either, so thanks for being patient. As I think I said before, this mixtape project is only going up to 24 tracks, which would make this post the second to last of the project, so I'll take this moment to remind you that if you haven't checked back into the the rest of the posts, now would be a good time to grab up the rest of the tracks you missed. Onto tonight's songs.

[MP3]: Pretty Girls Make Graves :: The Teeth Collector
The guitars in this song are what it make it so great for driving. From the very first second of the song the guitars hits you fast and sharp, ringing over every other element of the song. Then near the end of the song, as Andrea is crying out "This Captain's ship is going down!" the super-quick guitar arpeggios are driving the song higher and higher until it all drops out before you even had a chance to take it in.

[MP3]: The Polyphonic Spree :: Section 12 (Hold Me Now)
This song brings me so much happiness that I don't even know what what to do with it all. My reasoning for including it here? I guess it's good to be happy when the sun is shining and your driving down the road with nothing on your mind but how awesome this song is.

www.prettygirlsmakegraves.com
www.thepolyphonicspree.com

Previously:
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 1&2
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 3&4
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 5&6
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 7&8
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 9&10
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 11&12
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 13&14
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 15&16
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 17&18
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 19&20

I'm currently putting together a pretty big post that will likely go up in the soon coming days, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

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New Vells Album On The Way!

I haven't even been half as excited for any release this year as I am for for Vells' (there is no 'The') second LP Integretron. As a reference point, 2004's Flight From Echo Falls is, in my opinion, one of the finest pop albums, beginning to end, that I have ever heard and if Integretron is anything like Flight From Echo Falls then it will be in very high contention for album of the year for me.

For those who don't already know, Vells are: Tristan Marcum, Jeremiah Green, and Mary Thinnes. Tristan Marcum has got to be one of the most talented musicians out there right now: he writes absolutely brilliant lyrics heavy with $100 words that just flow beautifully along with his dark, catchy melodies. Back to Integretron though, it is now slated for a release date of September 6th, which is WAY too far away. If I don't hear some new Vells soon I'm going to explode. Until September 6th, we'll just have to keep ourselves closely wrapped around Flight From Echo Falls and the ealier released self-titled EP. In honor of anticipation, here are some of my favorite tracks from both of those. (All are very highly recommended!!!) Do you not love them?

From the self-titled EP:
[MP3]: Vells :: Very Scary Trees
[MP3]: Vells :: Blue Blue Bones

From Flight From Echo Falls:
[MP3]: Vells :: In My Paradise
[MP3]: Vells :: In The Hours Of Flowers

Buy the self-titled EP from Luckyhorse Industries for $8
Buy Flight From Echo Falls from Imputor? Records for $9.99

Vells have also announced plans to tour after the release of Integretron, more details on that as I get them. I would highly recommened checking them out if they come anywhere near you.


Completely unrelated, but I found this video on YouTube last night and watched it about 12 times. I can now confirm that not seeing The Go! Team live yet is really ruining my life. This is a surprisingly good quality video of my favorite Go! Team song,"The Power Is On," performed on The Late Late Show.

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The Pipettes Cover "I Think We're Alone Now"

The Pipettes can do no wrong in my book and this further proves it, because the original "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James & The Shondells is oddly enough, one of my favorite songs ever. So for them to do justice to a song that I've cherished since I was ten years old just makes me love them even more than I already do, if that's even possible. Now in all fairness though, this song was kinda made for them to sing, don't ya think?

[MP3]: The Pipettes :: I Think We're Alone Now (Tommy James cover)
This vocals and lyrics of this song seem almost like they were written to be sung by The Pipettes. Their cutesy polka-dotted personalities suit really suit the song well and they bring a new life to the song that wasn't quite their in the original. This new life of course is the triple female vocal harmonies that I'll bet Tommy James had never thought would grace his wonderful song. Highly Recommended!

Bonus! Bonus! I don't think there's anyone who hasn't heard this song, but have you ever really appreciated it for the amazing pop song it is? Appreaciate! Now!

[MP3]: Tommy James :: I Think We're Alone Now

And just a reminder, the "Pull Shapes" single comes out July 3rd on Memphis Industries on Orange Vinyl, Yellow Vinyl, and CD:

MI071S1 (Orange Vinyl)
A) Pull Shapes
B) Guess Who Ran Off With The Milkman?

MI071S2 (Yellow Vinyl)
A) Pull Shapes
B) Magician Man

MI071CDS
1) Pull Shapes
2) Really That Bad

The Pips on MySpace!

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Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 19&20

If you been reading these posts since the beginning you've probably noticed that I've left off some of the greatest driving songs out there. The reason I hadn't included my absolute favorites (and yours too) is because they're all pretty popular songs and I assumed the majority would already have them, thusly making the post sensless. But, I cannot hold back my love for these super high-energy songs any longer, widley-had or not, these are two of my very favorite songs to drive to.

[MP3]: Broken Social Scene :: Almost Crimes (Radio Kills Remix)
This might not be at the top of your list, but this BSS track is probably my all-time favorite song to listen to while doing anything quickly, be it running, driving, spinning in circles, making a hot pocket... it's just the perfect soundtrack to not sitting on your butt all day, so don't listen to this and do that, it's really frowned upon. Run-on sentences are frowned upon too, but not as badly.

[MP3]: Rainer Maria :: Ears Ring
For some reason, I'm guessing because it's awesome, the guitar riff in the verse of this song has never left my head since the very first time I heard it. It's sheer turbulance right out of the gate and doesn't give you one second to breathe until the chorus which is equally incredible, but in more of a "I could sing this for the rest of the day" kind of way. It was only a matter of time before I put this up, it being one of my favorite tunes ever.

Bonus [MP3]: Broken Social Scene :: Almost Crimes (Acoustic)

Previously:
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 1&2
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 3&4
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 5&6
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 7&8
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 9&10
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 11&12
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 13&14
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 15&16
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 17&18

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I'm Only Doing Good Things From Now On

Some of my favorite things have come from Australia. My boomerang, my kangaroos, Architecture in Helsinki, The Grates, and now Treetops! First of all I'd like to point out that the above picture is driving me insane, because as you can see, it's sorta low-res and I'm pretty anal about the pictures on here. Okay, anyway, I don't know too much about Treetops excpet that they make music that one might call "psychadelic-folk-pop." I think we can all agree that those are three words that go really really well together. I recently got to listen to all of last year's Gospel EP and it's left me wanting to hear more, here's the fantastic title track.

[MP3]: Treetops :: Gospel
I'm a sucker for a well-placed organ line, I think it almost any case, some nice organ will always have a postive effect on a song; as it does with the intro of "Gospel." Before the song really began I knew I was gonna love it, the sweet sweet organ line welcomed me with big open arms and took me on an explosive adventure of classic pop goodness. There's a breakdown at about 1:50 that builds and builds until it breaks into a joyous harmony of voices, handclaps, and awesome.

Treetops on MySpace

Buy the Gospel EP from Amazon.com

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I'm not sure exactly what this is, or why I've seen it and it probably doesn't even really exist for a good reason. But for those of you interested: GO HERE to watch a video of Gwenno Saunders of The Pipettes running from a swarm of letters, jumping over a cliff, and pulling a building made of big words with a rope. Yeah, I'm as confused as you are. But hey, gotta love those Pips!

UPDATE: Turns out Gwenno used to have her own televison show on S4C for a quick spell last year and this was the intro to each show. The name of the show was 'Ydy Gwenno'n Gallu,' which translates to 'Is Gwenno Able To?' Looks like Wanda Sykes totally ripped off Gwenno.

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This Is What Friends Are For

I've been having this problem lately, where i haven't been committing to bands. Unfortunately, being a blogger leads to a lot of short winded loves for particular song before moving right along to the next big thing. That's why I'm so excited about Tales of Jenny.

Tales of Jenny is not forgettable. Tales of Jenny is a essentially a small bedroom band from York, but a damn good one. They make (made) beautiful naptime twee pop-ala-Belle and Sebastian. Dare I say a lot of the songwriting is on par with a lot of Belle and Sebastian's? I do. Chris Jones is Tales of Jenny's Stuart Murdoch in a sense. He writes brilliant lyrics about young love, getting married, reading books in the park, and springtime that seem as if they could double for poetry in anyone's eyes. Lines like, "sitting in the chapel stalls / thinking arm in arm / how could we both have got here / in a cloudless dream / a toast for all the wandering souls / that collide with the morning sun / looking back on peaceful times / this is alright." I'm in love.

It's not all about Chris though, the band's catchy flowing melodies made by jangly guitars, poppy drums, trumpets, piano and more speckle each of Chris' pop gems(and they all really are gems). The music can be rollicking at times, but is for the most part like gentle waves coming up the beach and rolling back. I just can't say enough about these guys right now... maybe I'm riding the twee high, but I feel like this is all I want to listen to ever again.

[MP3]: Tales of Jenny :: Noone Appreciates the Sky
[MP3]: Tales of Jenny :: Reading Oscar Wilde in Public

Five more songs available on their website. I recommend downloading them all and burning them to a cd, that's what I did and it's been pretty great so far.

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Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 17&18

Hope you guys enjoyed the lovely bit of twee in last night's selections. Tonight's songs, sadly, are not quite twee at all. These songs, like the many that have come before them, are best suited for the fast highway driving that I enjoy twice a day. Okay, maybe I dont always enjoy it, but it's songs like these that make it a little better. Got a great track from a not-so-well known Toronto band and a new track from The Grates, who's new album Gravity Won't Get You High, is one of my very favorite releases so far this year.

[MP3]: Comic Book Fever :: TV Babies
I heard this song about two months ago and it took about a two weeks for it to grow on me, I'm not quite sure why, but now I love it dearly. it's fuzzy art-rock at it's finest, complete with incoherent howling and overdriven bass. Right at the lead up to the chorus is where this song always gets me, I don't know if it's the drum roll or the singer's freak out, but it's awesome.

[MP3]: The Grates :: Little People
The grate things about The Grates (hah!) is that their songs couldn't possibly be more fun to sing along to. Patience's vocal delivery is just too infectious to just listen to while sitting down, so what do you do? You get up and sing and dance and scream "You've got little people! Hey! You want it? Hey! You got it!" Great for dancing in the driver's seat too, trust me, I've done it plenty of times.

www.comicbookfever.com
www.thegrates.com

Previously:
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 1&2
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 3&4
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 5&6
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 7&8
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 9&10
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 11&12
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 13&14
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 15&16

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We Are Accidents Waiting To Happen

Radiohead appeared on KROQ's Breakfast Show back on September 29th, 2003 in Hollywood, CA for for some chit-chat and song-playing. After a short interview, Thom and Jonny performed a handful of songs from OK Computer, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief, with an extra special performance of Follow Me Around (Thom solo, with the "third" verse but as a second verse). The recording of this set is apparently pretty rare from what I've heard, but you know, it probably isn't and I now look dumb. But whatever, I know there are a few readers out there who don't have this and would probably love to have it. So, here it is.

Radiohead live acoustic on KROQ's Breakfast Show:
01. [MP3]: There There
02. [MP3]: Punch-Up At A Wedding
03. [MP3]: Lucky
04. [MP3]: I Might Be Wrong
05. [MP3]: Sail To The Moon
06. [MP3]: Knives Out
07. [MP3]: Go To Sleep
08. [MP3]: No Suprises
09. [MP3]: Scatterbrain
10. [MP3]: Follow Me Around*

* "Follow Me Around" is currently still unreleased.

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I finally upgraded my hosting space! I now have 4.7 gb of mp3 hosting glory so I pretty much wont ever have to delete anything anymore. I know thats good news to a lot of you who always email me for stuff that I've taken down. Viva La MP3 links!

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Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 15&16

Hi again, hope you all enjoyed the last two songs, I've got some good ones tonight. Now you might have noticed that most of the song so far, haven't been so much "summery" as they have been fast-paced and high energy for driving purposes. Well, tonights songs are very "summery," so I hope you'll enjoy!

[MP3]: Tullycraft :: Wild Bikini
This song comes highly suggested by the lovely Jewlie from The Fabulist, ain't she great? Anyway, yeah, two seconds into this song and you'll realize it might be one of the most "summery" songs you've ever heard. Great for cruising down to the beach witht he top down, oh yes. I could see this being in one of those classic beach party movies alongside some of the Beach Boys' hottest summer anthems.

[MP3]: Modest Mouse :: Worms Vs. Birds
This was one of the first Modest Mouse songs I ever heard and it ended up being the lone soundtrack to the first summer that I heard it. It still never fails to put me in a better mood on a nice day than just about any other song ever. That simple guitar picking is just so ridiculously happy and catchy, you can't not love it.

www.tullycraft.com
www.modestmouse.com

Previously:
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 1&2
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 3&4
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 5&6
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 7&8
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 9&10
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 11&12
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 13&14

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I Heard Him Rip The World Apart

I've been sitting on Jolie Holland's new album Springtime Can Kill You for way too long and since it came out last week on ANTI Records and is now getting the buzz it definitely deserves, I guess it's better late than never to throw my two cents in. Jolie Holland, young as she is, appears on tape as some of sort of dusty unearthed relic, still shining after all those years. Her brand of country-noir-folk-rock is exactly what the doctor ordered this spring and I've been listening to this track a lot the past week.

[MP3]: Jolie Holland :: Mexican Blue
Jolie has a voice that can pull you away from whatever you're doing and make you forget what is is you were actually even doing before you heard her coming through the speakers. Her almost fairy-tale-like lyrics paint pictures the way you saw them when you were a child: "There's a mockingbird behind my house / Who is a magician of the highest degree / And I swear I heard him rip the world apart / And sew it back together with fiery melody." Beautiful and epic, is the only way I can think of to describe this song.

Buy Springtime Can Kill You from Amazon.com

Jolie Holland on MySpace

Go grab my second favorite track from this album, "Crush In The Ghetto," over at the lovely I Guess I'm Floating, one of the best blogs out there right now.

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Dear Paris Is Burning After All

I have Chris to thank for introducing me Annie Clark a while back. As most of you might know already, St. Vincent is the new project of Annie Clark, who is also a member of The Polyphonic Spree, who I also happen to love. St. Vincent, first of all, is nothing at all like Annie's work in The Polyphonic Spree. Today Annie put up a new song on St. Vincent's MySpace called "Paris is Burning." I love everything else I've heard from St. Vincent prior to today, but I still didn't expect this song to be as eerily good as it is. Is eerily even a word? P.S. This is a MySpace rip, so yeah.

*EDIT* Sorry Annie, I wasn't aware that you didn't want this out and about yet. Readers: Please just go to Annie's MySpace to listen, it's really very worth it. *EDIT*

[MP3]: Listen to "Paris is Burning" on St. Vincent's MySpace
This song opens with dark horns that, given the current blog obsessions out there, might make you think of Beirut. The rest of the song though, all Annie. Her voice is so infectious and beautiful and the way she structures her singing, it might as well be an additional instrument. The bassline and guitar is the verse brings about images of an army of troops marching with tanks to the left and right. Then the handclaps come in, and the strings, and the vocal harmony, and it just keeps rising in strength until it all comes to an abrupt hush. Annie is a very good guitarist.

St. Vincent on MySpace

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"Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me" Live At King Tut's

I meant to get to this earlier, but I didn't have enough server space to host it myself, so I was looking around for other ways to get the job done. YouTube wouldn't work because I know some people would like to download it. However I did come up with a solution: an embedded video of it here right below, and a sendspace link where you can download it. Sorry for the inconveinence of no direct link, but really, the extra work is very very worth it, just look at them dance!



Download it!
[MPG]: The Pipettes :: Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me (live @ King Tut's)

The lovely fantastic Pipettes on MySpace!

You should probably buy stuff too, so go do that here, I'm sure they'll appreciate it. The Pips are also featured on Memphis Industries' punningly titled, Now That's What I Call Memphis! compilation that will be given away with every online CD or LP order for the next two weeks. The tracklist is fantastic!

1) The Go! Team - We Just Won't Be Defeated
2) Dungen - Panda
3) The Russian Futurists - Paul Simon
4) The Squire Of Somerton - Forgotten Son
5) Absentee - Something To Bang
6) Field Music - You're So Pretty
7) The Black Neon - Ralph & Barbara
8) The Pipettes - Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me
9) El Perro Del Mar - This Loneliness

See?!?! So Get Going!

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Cleaning Out The Inbox #1

Im quite sure that I'm definitely not the first one to do this, but it such a great idea that I chose to adopt to Skatterbrain. Every week I get so many emails filled with mp3s and there's just no way I have enough time to find out enough about each individual band to merit their own post. But some of these songs are pretty great and you guys shouldn't miss out on them. So comes Cleaning Out The Inbox, a feature where I'll post four to six of, shall we say, the "best of the inbox." I'm hoping to now make this a weekly feature that I'll do every Sunday now. Any feedback would be appreciated. Onto the music.

[MP3]: qr5 :: Revisited Gone
This song is what would be the result of dropping an American pop band into Jamaica for a year, it's folkk pop, but a very evident reggae groove to it. I'm not sure I could listen to a whole album of this, but this song is pretty catchy, escpecially the chorus. The most interesting part comes right at the end however, and I wish they would've taken it for a little longer.
qr5 on MySpace

[MP3]: Arizona :: Some Kind of Chill
With so many folk-pop bands floating around right now, it takes something unique to set a band apart from the crowd. I wasn't sure what to think of this song until about a minute or so in a an amazing harmony comes out of no where and I was hooked. The singer's voice is a real treat too, very unique and pleasing to the ears.
Arizona on MySpace

[MP3]: Spencer Tricker :: Alter Boy Blue
Spencer Tricker has to have one of the most arresting voices I've heard in some time. This song is strangely beautiful in the fact that lyrically and the way it's sung it reminds me of Beulah. However, the instrumentation is nothing like Beulah, more along the lines of perhaps acoustic Radiohead, or something along those lines. Very good indeed.
Spencer Tricker on MySpace

[MP3]: Cordalene :: Kissed Awake
This would be a good fit on my Summer Drive Mixtape Project now that I think of it. The first thought I had while listening to it was Michael Nau singing The New Pornographers. You'll probably think that makes no sense when you hear it, but that was my initial reaction, so there you have it.
Cordalene on MySpace

[MP3]: Paper Moon :: Endless String of Blinking Lights (Highest Rec!)
I've kinda been sleeping on this one much longer than I should have been. I heard abotu these guys and gals quite a while ago and I just never got around to a post, but this song is fantastic. Accented by catchy melodies and female harmonies ala Stars, Metric, and The Cardigans, this song, as well as the entire new album is just great. If you get on song out of all these, make it this one.
Paper Moon on MySpace

I hope you enjoyed those and I hope this works out well as a weekly feature. If you liked the songs, follow the links and love the artists/bands. If you didn't like something, or want to yell at me and tell me I'm stupid you can do so in the comments.

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Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 13&14

I like to put one of these up every night, but I got home a little too late for this to make it in before Saturday became Sunday, so now the whole thing is totally thrown off, but I guess it'll be okay. Some very wonderful selections in my opinion, for what is now technically Sunday morning, though it still feels like night to me. I also didn't really think about when I made the last post with the night driving songs, but perhaps driving with those at night might not be the best idea, as several people said that the songs were making them nod off, haha.

[MP3]: The Vells :: Hey Hey La La
I hadn't originally planned on using this song, or well, I probably would have if I hadn't had almost completely forgot about it. That is, until today when it popped up on shuffle and I was singing a long right away like I did for just about all of last summer. Apparently this song was recently used in an Animal Planet commercial. SWEET.

[MP3]: Built to Spill :: Carry the Zero
This is my favorite Built to Spill song of all time. The best way to describe it is just "classic" Built to Spill, they just dont make them like they used to. I mean, I like the new album a lot, but they just don't make enough of these sweet little gems anymore. I can vouche for this being an incredible driving song, cause before I could drive I was constantly carrying this around making people play it for me in the car.

www.vells.net
www.builttospill.com

Previously:
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 1&2
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 3&4
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 5&6
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 7&8
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 9&10
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 11&12


Today is Mother's Day in case you forgot, so be extra nice to your Mom and buy her flowers or something. I didn't buy flowers for my Mom though because she cant keep anything alive for more than two days. Also, most likely related to Mother's Day in no way, The Broadway Hush (Michael and Whitney from Page France) have put a new song up on their MySpace. The new song, "The Zoo" is fantastic, even on this rough mix. Go Maryland!

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The Pipettes Live On BBC Radio 2

Rose, Becki, Gwenno and the boys stopped by The Mark Radcliffe Show on BBC Radio 2 back on march 7th for an acoustic set. I wasn't sure at first how they'd sound acoustic, but it's wonderful. Their voices and the harmonies almost sound more interesting than some of the vocals on the album. The versions of "Judy" and "Dirty Mind" that they performed are almost better than the mastered versions on the forthcoming We Are The Pipettes. I couldn'y recommend this session enough, so grab it up quick because my Ezarchive space is getting filled to the brim and I can't guarantee how long things will stay up right now. I'll be upgrading to a bigger account by the end of the month, so after that there will be no worries. By the way, these are in MP3 format, 320kbs.

The Pipettes live on The Mark Radcliffe Show:
1. [MP3]: The Pipettes :: Dirty Mind
2. [MP3]: The Pipettes :: Judy
3. [MP3]: The Pipettes :: We Are The Pipettes

I also just got a hold of a video of "Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me" from their show at King Tut's a little a while back. It's definitely the best live video of them I've seen, plus I just really like watching them sing and dance. Let me know if any of you would be interested and perhaps I'll put it up later today or tomorrow.

Elsewhere...
Matt's got a new Apple in Stereo song. Like he said, it's nothing too special, just a nice little pop song. iGiF has compiled his favorite releases of 2006 thus far. It's a nice list, with an MP3 from each one, but man, I don't see The Grates. Surely he must have just forgot to put them on, surely.

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Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 11&12

I've been promising a couple summer night driving songs for the past two or three posts and since it's late right now and that's what I'm the mood for for, I'll do it. These songs exemplify the two ends of my personal night driving songs spectrum. One is beautiful, sprawling post-rock, and the other is dark, acoustic, almost psych pop, that also happens to be beautiful.

[MP3]: Mogwai :: Helicon 1
This is probably my favorite Mogwai song at the current moment. It switches between "Helicon 1" and "Tracy" rather frequently. Most of the song is just one guitar playing a melody while another, beautifully distorted and delayed, hovers over it gradually rising in intensity, until it burts into the most some of the most serene sounding guitar my ears have ever heard.

[MP3]: Silver Sunshine :: Nightmares
Silver Sunshine is a band i know very little about, except that they make a blend of indie pop and psych that couldn't be more perfect for a long night drive. The acoutic melody of the guitar paired with the dark, smooth, 60's psych style vocals are just so infectious. I'd really like to hear more of these guys.

www.mogwai.co.uk
www.silversunshine.com


I've got a Pipettes related surprise for tomorrow, be excited, be very excited. I know I am.

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Voxtrot Covers And News

Voxtrot's Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives EP is currently one of my most favorite releases so far this year and just like everyone else, I have dying to hear some more new stuff. Well, on May 15th "Warmest Part of the Winter", a previously unreleased track will be released on Darla Records' Little Darla Has a Treat For You V24. I think this track has already appeared on a few radio sessions if I'm not mistaken, but it will be nice to hear a completed recording of it. The boys are also planning their first UK release, which wil be a one-off, UK only 7-inch single on Full Time Hobby Records for "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives" b/w "Rise Up In The Dirt".

Probably the best news of all is this, and actually it's not so much news as it is an awesome secret: Being the awesome people they are, Voxtrot have gone and added a "secret vault" on their website, that can only be accessed after a little bit of careful snooping. Currently the boys have filled said "vault" with some great covers that they have done recnently. Check em out!

[MP3]: Voxtrot :: Heaven (Talking Heads cover)
[MP3]: Voxtrot :: Love Vigilantes (New Order cover)
[MP3]: Voxtrot :: Sunlight Bathed, The Golden Glow (Felt cover)
[MP3]: Voxtrot :: Raised By Wolves / You Can Hide Your Love Forever (Comet Gain cover)
[MP3]: Voxtrot :: Shayla (Blondie cover)*

*Recorded in a '95 Toyota Corolla by Garrison from IndieInterviews.com

Now go! Go and find the vault, it's more fun to find it yourself, than for me to give you a link.


Stereogum covered Beirut's show at the Knitting Factory in NYC and took some nice photos. I'm really dying to see this kid live now. If you still haven't heard Gulag Orkestar you better get on that, beforePitchfork gives it an ungodly high rating and then we can't listen to it anymore. jk kids, jk.

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Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 9&10

First off, I got a record high for hits today, so a big thanks to all the readers and all the sites who linked here! Okay, we're up to tracks nine and ten now, I know I keep saying I'm going to put in a few night driving songs... just not yet. Hah! There's a good chance a good bit of you will either know song nine, song ten, or both songs already, but they're some of my all-time favorites and I couldn't bear not including them.

[MP3]: Beulah :: Silver Lining
There's no way that the bassline in this song was not written specifically for driving in a car, it's just too perfect. Everytime those horns start blarring and the guitar picks up real hard in the chorus, I find my self speeding up way too much without even realizing it.

[MP3]: The New Pornographers :: Letter From An Occupant
The New Pornographers, along with Beulah, have written some of the greatest pop songs in recent memory and this on stands alone on the top of the mountain, teaching all other pop songs what to do, because it did everything right. Oh yeah, it's good for driving too. But you don't need me to tell you that, do you?

www.beulahmania.com
www.thenewpornographers.com

Previously:
Songs: 1&2
Songs: 3&4
Songs: 5&6
Songs: 7&8


And since I couldn't be more in love with The Pipettes right now, here's a brand new photo of Becci, Rose, and Gwenno! Looks like it might be from an album sleeve photoshoot? Either way, Rose is still beautiful.

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Black Bear - "I Believe In Immediacy"

Black Bear is a one man outfit from Seattle creates bubbly electronic indie music which isn't dissimilar to Nick Common mixed up with a little bit of a Casiotone for the Painfully Alone feel and then a cherry on top. The more I listen I also get a little bit of an Ugly Casanova album Isaac Brock feel out of it, which is comforting, especially on this bummer of a rainy day. With it's catchy beat you're sure to be singing along to this song in no time. Black Bear's debut LP The Cinnamon Phase will be out soon on Baskerville Hill Records.

[MP3]: Black Bear :: I Believe in Immediacy
This song is driven with a subtle march of drum machine and keyboard, and thats pretty much it, but the melody is catchy enough to stick with you right away. I'm finding this simple track to be very hard to stop listening to on a day as glum as this one.

an extremely uplifting track from The Polyphonic Spree over at You Ain't No Picasso for those of you enjoying a nice day as opposed to my crappy one.

The new albums from The Pipettes and The Walkmen have very very good chances of ending up very high on my end of the year list. Speaking of lists, I've been getting my mid-year list all ready to show to the world. Look for that sooner than later.

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Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 7&8

Again, sorry I keep getting these up so late. I had to an immense amount of cleaning that I could have been doing very sparingly all day long, but I decided to cram it all into one hour. Anyway, I'm here now and oddly enough, just like the two previous posts, these are good songs for a summer drive. Am I sensing a pattern? Alos like the last four songs, these two bands and songs are very very different, but there's more than one genre of music that makes me happy in the car.

[MP3]: Belle and Sebastian :: Legal Man
In the first opening seconds of this song, if you just sit back and listen close, it almost feels like it the starts of a car race and the driver's are starting their engines and then just like that they're off heading out of the city and into the sunshine. Not only is this a perfect driving song, it's also kind of my summer anthem.

[MP3]: At The Drive-In :: Rolodex Propaganda
At The Drive-In is one of those bands where I listen to nothing else like them, but for some reason love them to death. If you'll pay attention to the chorus, you'll notice that there's a voice singing "manuscript replica," but it doesn't sound like any of the other vocals. The reason it sounds different is because it's actually Iggy Pop. Wild Huh? Quick rundown: lots of energy + Iggy Pop = good (driving) song.

www.belleandsebastian.com

Previously:
Songs: 1&2
Songs: 3&4
Songs: 5&6

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New Pipettes Single! "Pull Shapes"

It's been quite The Pipettes-fest here at Skatterbrain lately, but for good reason! The girl's are finally releasing an album and I couldn't be more ridiculously excited. Lots of people out there right now drooling over the new Sufjan, I'm drooling over this new single from The Pipettes' debut full length We Are The Pipettes! This song, even moreso than any others they've released so far, proves that they're much more than cute. But they're still really cute.

[MP3]: The Pipettes :: Pull Shapes (Highest Rec!!!)
This song is two minute and twenty-six seconds of pure joy! The harmonies and back and forth call and response vocals are so ridiculously catchy it's ridiculously. And strings! they used strings and it couldn't be more joyfully effective. "Follow my lead on the 1-2-3!" :) :) :) I have nothing more to say.

The Pipettes on MySpace!

Oh and if you'd like to see Rose in a frame, I believe you can do that right here.

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The Walkmen - "Tenley Town"

This just goes to show that you can't judge a book by it's cover, or in the case of The Walkmen, you can't judge a new album by it's first single. It seemed before that the mass consensous of opinions stemming from the first single "Louisiana" were disappointment and a dread that perhaps The Walkmen had fallen short on A Hundred Miles Off. However, all these things, the disappointment and dread, are very quickly washed away with one listen through what is sure to be one of the finest albums of 2006. This track is raw and punchy, this track is phenomenal, this track is the new "The Rat."

[MP3]: The Walkmen :: Tenley Town
This song is everything that "Louisiana" wasn't. It's got the raw feel that made Bows + Arrows such an arresting listen. The drumming is in your quick and loud, and everytime the rolls hit you in the face it just feels better and better. Leithhauser's trademark yell/croon sounds incredible here, sometimes even drowning out the sharp buzzing and ringing of electric guitar. This song beats the crap out of you and then kicks you when you're down.

Preorder A Hundred Miles Off from Amazon.com

The Walkmen on MySpace.

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Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 5&6

Hope you guys enjoyed yesterdays tracks, I got some good ones for you tonight. Again, they're two fairly different tracks. Though they're both up-beat and pretty fast moving, which makes for great driving songs, the bands are hardly similar. I'm thinking about making songs seven through ten specifically "night driving" songs. Good idea? Bad Idea? Anyway, here's today's tracks.

5. [MP3]: Okkervil River :: Kathy Keller
This song appears on Stars Too Small To Use, Okkervil River's first recorded EP. As you might notice it's quite a different style than almost all of their other work. It's that fast jangly rock sound that I wish they would mess around with more often, because it really suits them well. It's great for quick speeds, obviously, as are almost all of the songs I've posted so far.

6. [MP3]: Yeah Yeah Yeahs :: Y-Control
If you have never heard this song, you're really really missing out. Unfortunately, this song and "Maps" account for pretty much the only really enjoyable moments on Fever To Tell. After the first few moments of this song, it takes off and doesn't let off even a bit until the last note.

www.okkervilriver.com
www.yeahyeahyeahs.com

Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 1&2
Summer Drive Mixtape Project: 3&4

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