Video: Glass Candy - "Feeling Without Touching"

New Delta Spirit out June 8th

One of my favorite records of 2008 was Delta Spirit's Ode To Sunshine. A little bit punk rock, a touch folk and all raspy soul, the San Diego band has the ability to channel the Walkmen one minute ("Strange Vine") and a southern gospel group the next ("Trashcan"). Led by the wordy and charismatic singer Matt Vasquez, the band is now set to return with their sophomore full-length, History From Below, on June 8th. Above, you can preview "Bushwick Blues"—recorded at last year's SXSW—from the new album.

UPDATE:
Here's the cover art for the album, which was coincidentally released right after I wrote this post. Damn interweb.


Delta Spirit - "Strange Vine" (from Ode To Sunshine)

New Sonny & The Sunsets 7-inch

Folk singer/songwriter Sonny Smith (a favorite here since the release of his excellent Tomorrow Is Alright) has released a new 7-inch with his band Sonny & The Sunsets on Future Stress Recordings. The single—which includes the great "Stranded" and three new tracks—is available in black or blue-yellow vinyl. The first 100 orders will receive a limited-edition comic, penned and illustrated by Sonny himself. Buy it here.

Sonny & The Sunsets - "Stranded" (from The Hypnotist [b/w] Stranded 7")

First Aid Kit - "I Met Up With A King"

If you're a small band trying to get noticed, a cover song can be quite the powerful tool—a gateway drug of sorts. It draws you in—and if it's good—there's no real turning back. That's how I recently came across First Aid Kit (a bit late, I know). The folky Swedish sister duo of Johanna and Klara Söderberg performed a startlingly good version of the Fleet Foxes' "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" this past SXSW that is now quickly making its way around the interweb. You can find a studio version of that cover on the band's Drunken Trees EP. But for now, take a listen to a track from the band's January full-length debut, The Big Black & The Blue. I promise these young mandolin-wielding songwriters are the real deal.

First Aid Kit - "I Met Up With A King" (from The Big Black & The Blue)

New National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio"

"We wanted to make a meaner record," National singer Matt Berninger recently told Pitchfork about the band's forthcoming LP High Violet. After listening to "Bloodbuzz Ohio"—released today for free download via 4AD—it seems Berninger and company have come through on that promise. There many not be any "Abel"-like crazed shouting, but this certainly ain't a happy song. Here are the lyrics (whose meaning I'm still trying to decipher):

Stand up straight at the foot of your love, I'll lift my shirt up.
Stand up straight at the foot of your love, I'll lift my shirt up.

I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees.
I never married, but Ohio don't remember me.
Lay my head on the hood of your car, I take it too far.
Lay my head on the hood of your car, I take it too far.

I still owe money to the money to the money I owe.
I never thought about love, when I thought about home.
I still owe money to the money to the money I owe.
The floors are falling out from everybody I know.

I'm on a blood buzz. Yes I am.
I'm on a blood buzz.
I'm on a blood buzz. God I am.
I'm on a blood buzz

High Violet is due out May 11th.

The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (from High Violet)

New Blitzen Trapper - "Heaven and Earth"

Portland's Blitzen Trapper has offered up "Heaven and Earth," the first song off its forthcoming June 8th release, Destroyer of the Void. The band recently told Rolling Stone that the album was inspired in part by literary classics like Ernest Hemmingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls and John Steinbeck's East of Eden as well as Bob Dylan's 1967 album John Wesley Harding. Follow the band on Twitter for more updates.

Blitzen Trapper - "Heaven and Earth" (from Destroyer of the Void)

Javelin - "Vibrationz"

Cousins Tom Van Buskirk and George Langford are Javelin—a Brooklyn by-way-of Providence duo that specializes in a particularly dancey and carefree genre-spanning brand of beat-making and sampling. Their first full-length, No Más, is due out April 20th via David Byrne's Luaka Bop label.

Javelin - "Vibrationz" (from No Más)

Javelin - "Lindsey Brohan" (from Javelin)

Trailer: Who Do You Love?

During the 50s and 60s, Chicago label Chess Records helped popularize the blues and early rock and roll with its unreal roster of legends like Muddy Waters, Etta James, Willie Dixon and Bo Diddley. Who Do You Love?, named after the Bo Diddley song of the same name, follows the meteoric rise of the label and the lives of founding brothers Leonard and Paul Chess. Judging from the trailer and the fact that all of the actors performed the songs themselves (thank you Walk The Line and Control for setting the bar so high), the film certainly looks promising. And Robert Randolph as Bo Diddley? Fantastic casting.

Robert Randolph & The Family Band - "The March" (Live At The Wetlands)

Sharon Van Etten - "Give Out" (Daytrotter)

Sharon Van Etten—a favorite over at Everybody Taste since hearing/watching the shiver-inducing performance of "Love More"—played a recent Daytrotter session. Grab the whole set free here.

Sharon Van Etten - "Give Out" (from Daytrotter)

RIP Alex Chilton

Alex Chilton, the cult hero and legend behind pop acts the Box Tops and Big Star, died Wednesday in New Orlanes at the age of 59 from what is believed to be a heart attack. The musician will certainly be remembered, not only for his own great work, but in the music of his fans and friends. Particularly, Paul Westerberg's 1987 ode to his hero, aptly titled "Alex Chilton," and Elliott Smith's beautiful cover of "Thirteen."

The Replacements - "Alex Chilton" (from Pleased To Meet Me)

Elliott Smith - "Thirteen" (Big Star cover)

Ganglians - "Cryin' Smoke"

Take myself out to pasture.
Smoke my reefer in the bathroom.
Watch out for the starving locusts.
Make sure not to get drastic.

The lyrics to "Cryin' Smoke" by psychedelic folk rockers the Ganglians read like a tripped-out Post-it note. But the song—off of last summer's Monster Head Room —is the type of room-filling, head-expanding, understated pop music that carries itself on an overall tone, not the individual words. And here that feeling is a particularly bittersweet and lingering one.

Ganglians - "Cryin' Smoke" (from Monster Head Room)

Dengue Fever put together Cambodian pop compilation

Los Angeles band Dengue Fever, who specialize in their own brand of psychedelic and funky Cambodian pop, are now now set to release a compilation of tracks from Cambodian artists titled “Electric Cambodia — 14 rare gems from Cambodia’s Past.” Sample the record and listen to guitarist Zach Holtzman explain the project via a podcast from PRI's the World. You can order the CD now on Amazon. But if you're not yet sold, check out a track from Dengue Fever's last album Sleepwalking Through the Mekong.

Dengue Fever - "Hold My Hips" (from Sleepwalking Through the Mekong)

Happy Birthday - "Subliminal Message"

Vermont trio Happy Birthday released their self-titled debut today on Sub Pop. The band is fronted by Kyle Thomas who's earned somewhat of a cult status for his great work in the psychedelic power-pop group King Tuff and the heavier Witch. Despite the ridiculously generic band name and cover art, Happy Birthday delivers several great hook-filled 70s-inspired jams, including the subtle love ballad "Subliminal Message."

Happy Birthday - "Subliminal Message"

Live: White Hinterland @ Holocene

Technology may by hurting the sales of recorded music, but Sunday night at Holocene it gave legs to three adventurous and starkly contrasting live performances. It was the album release party for White Hinterland's widely acclaimed Kairos and along with a performance by band members Casey Dienel and Shawn Creeden, two solo acts also took the stage—Cole Milner and Alexis Gideon. While the musical styles varied throughout the night, there nevertheless was one constant: the foot pedal. Specifically, looping pedals, which the acts showed their affinity for throughout the night with plenty of tapping on and off.

First to take the stage was the Wayne's World cap-donning Cole Milner, who opened with a primitive take on Mariah Carey's great "We Belong Together." Milner, who lost his shirt and hat midway through his Carey cover, built each song with layers of looping electric guitar, percussion made from a palm-beaten mic, and eventually his courageously wild and atonal voice—all of which was accompanied by frenetic and crazed body movements. Alexis Gideon, who produced Kairos for White Hinterland, took the stage next and immediately made his virtuosic capabilities on the guitar apparent. But while he could solo like Eddie Van Halen, Gideon chose a more eclectic and dissonant route of craft through looped psychedelic collages and the occasional hip-hop track thrown together with his Bone Thugs-N-Harmony rhyming speed, sounding a bit like a Cypress Hill record on fast forward.

Lastly, came White Hinterland. While Milner and Gideon largely used their foot pedals for guitar, it's all about the voice for Dienel—experimenting, discovering and evolving her own natural instrument into a spacey and soulful modern take on rhythm and blues. Kairos is a record that first spread through the enchanting and atmospheric single "Icarus." But on Sunday, it was another song that put the duo into a class of their own—"Cataract." Built with sparse percussion, dark synthesizers and a fat bass line, the song is a legitimate pop hit and it's chorus makes brilliant use out of Dienel's voice. Never hidden under reverb or extraneous layers, she sings a quickly rising melody that crescendos with an exclamatory and celebratory "woo." It's pretty damn catchy. Ending the night with an encore cover of Justin Timberlake's "My Love"— which somehow still sounded like a White Hinterland song—the duo showed that they have fashioned a truly original take on R&B. One with foot pedals.

White Hinterland - "My Love" (Justin Timberlake cover)

White Hinterland - "Icarus" (from Kairos)

Generationals - "Our Time 2 Shine" (live acoustic)

The Morning Benders' Big Echo has garnered a great deal of attention lately for their taste for Phil Spector's classic "wall of sound." Last year, New Orleans group the Generationals had the same idea when they released Con Law—a great but somehow under appreciated record. I named Con Law's irresistible single "When They Fight, They Fight" one of the best songs of 2009, but right now it's another Con Law tune I can't shake—"Our Time 2 Shine." I woke up with the melody in my head early Friday morning, whistled it all day, and now a day later, it's still banging around my head. If you like the bare acoustic version above—featuring a charming melodica riff—then I highly recommend the album version. You can stream all of Con Law for free at the band's web site. Then please proceed to buy it.

Generationals - "Our Time 2 Shine" (live acoustic)

Summer Camp - "Ghost Train"

Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey of London duo Summer Camp channel a wash of first love-inspired butterflies and John Hughes melodramatics in their first single "Ghost Train"—a crazily addictive song whose fuzzed-out hooks only sink deeper with each repeated listen. Look out for a 7-inch from Summer Camp due this April on Moshi Moshi.

Summer Camp - "Ghost Train"

Six Different Ways Inside My Heart: The Cure covered

There are some preposterously bad Cure covers out there. Here's a few that don't disappoint:

Grant Lee Phillips - "Boys Don't Cry"

The Postmarks - "Six Different Ways"

The Soft Pack - "Grinding Halt"

The Watson Twins - "Just Like Heaven"

The Get Up Kids - "Close To Me"

Mystery Jets & Esser - "In Between Days"

New Here We Go Magic - "Collector"

Luke Temple's Here We Go Magic project has a new record, Pigeons, due out on June 8th. And this time Temple had a little help in the recording process from his four band mates—a fact that can be heard immediately in the uptempo full-bodied first single, "Collector." Grab the track free with your email address over at Secretly Canadian.

Digging For Covers: Ziggy Stardust covers Lou Reed

A David Bowie/Lou Reed collaboration is a pretty damn special occurrence—whether it's Reed's solo breakthrough and classic Transformer, or in this case, Bowie's 1973 live version of "White Light/White Heat." Easily one of the best Velvet Underground covers of all time, Bowie and his Spiders From Mars band kicked out this rollicking performance during the final Ziggy Stardust show.

David Bowie - "White Light/White Heat" (from Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars)

New Dr. Dog: "Stranger"

A second track from Dr. Dog's forthcoming Shame, Shame—due out April 6th—has found its way to the interweb. The song, "Stranger," is another harmony-filled burst of folky sunshine that bounces along a funky syncopated bass line. While the song may not resonate like last month's exceptional "Shadow People," it nevertheless finds the band in top form, promising their 6th album to be one to look out for.

Dr. Dog - "Stranger" (from Shame, Shame)

I wish my name was Clementine

Denton, TX's Sarah Jaffe is a singer/songwriter. She plays an acoustic guitar. But if you put on any one of her songs, everything becomes a little more complicated. There's a voice and a guitar, yes, but what comes out is an intricate layering of fast and slow builds, falsetto-driven plateaus and a powerful voice that can comfort one moment then haunt the next. On "Clementine"—off Jaffe's forthcoming Suburban Nature due May 18th—the singer and her band create a force of sound suspended in motion—a song where the word's are simultaneously understood and physically felt. And that's no easy feat.

Sarah Jaffe - "Clementine" (from Suburban Nature)

Two of 2010's best out today

Two of my favorite albums of 2010 were released today: Free Energy's anthemic nod to the '70s, Stuck On Nothing, and White Hinterland's eerie pop gem, Kairos. Grab Stuck On Nothing now for just $4.99 for a limited time at Shockhound and Kairos on vinyl via Dead Oceans or digitally everywhere else.

Free Energy - "Dream City" (from Stuck On Nothing)

White Hinterland - "My Love" (Justin Timberlake cover)

Quiet Life - "Easy To Please"

Genres—sometimes vague and other times hysterically specific—were created so that people could organize, separate, and compartmentalize different styles of music. Blues in the top drawer, folk in the middle, and rock and roll on the bottom with a stash of reggae. But is it really necessary to keep your socks out of your t-shirt drawer? When I listen to Portland, OR band the Quiet Life I'm immediately drawn to adjectives like roots and Americana as well as genres like folk and country. These terms all have slightly different definitions, but their relationships are also completely interdependent—and the Quiet Life blur all these lines exceptionally well. The band may not be from the South, but they do make country music—as well as a racket of rock and roll, rootsy folk, and rhythm and blues. The band's latest album, Big Green, isn't necessarily genre-spanning, but it's also not something that can be pigeonholed. Guitars scream and scorch with distorted glee on "Let It Go," tackle steam engine rhythms with a slide on "No Surprise," and echo with room-jarring reverb and the occasional dissonance on the slow build of "Easy To Please"—one of the record's best. With quivering heartfelt vocals and instrumentals that pop and swing along like a needle over an old groove, the Quiet Life are a band that doesn't need a niche to be heard—just a pair of speakers.

The Quiet Life - "Easy To Please" (form Big Green)

Cults - "Go Outside"

It's Friday and it's nice outside so I'll make this quick. The Cults are good. Really good. You can grab three of their tracks at their Bandcamp site. And while you're at it, thank GvsB for uncovering this fine gem.

Cults - "Go Outside"

Bahamas - "Already Yours"

A reader today turned me on to Bahamas—the project of Toronto's Afie Jurvanen, who has spent time in touring bands for both Feist and Jason Collett. After five years of writing and collecting songs, Jurvanen released his debut, Pink Strat, last summer. Named after the songwriter's childhood guitar, the record plays with an intimate and straightforward simplicity that emphasizes two of folk music's most important elements: storytelling and personality. That subtle but sharp personality comes through especially with the tasteful cover of Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World" and the clever finger-picked single, "Already Yours."

Bahamas - "Already Yours" (from Pink Strat)

Bahamas - "Whole Wide World" (Wreckless Eric cover from Pink Strat)

Kisses - "Bermuda"

The song "Bermuda" by Los Angeles duo Kisses would work perfectly during a flirtation sequence in a John Hughes film, as it's the perfect sort of background music—one that subtly lifts everything up into a more attractive light. Sonically, "Bermuda" feels about as light as a feather as Jesse Kivel's voice contentedly drifts over hypnotizing wafts of synthesizers, strings and percussion. I imagine if you were floating around stoned in a pool on a hot summer day, this song might elicit a rather large wave of contentment.

Kisses - "Bermuda" (from The Heart of the Nightlife)

Kill Rock Stars reissuing two Elliot Smith records

Portland-based record label Kill Rock Stars is reissuing two of Elliot Smith's albums—a remastered version of his solo debut Roman Candle and the posthumous From A Basement On A Hill—on April 6th. Roman Candle, originally put out by Portland’s Cavity Search Records in 1994, will also be released on vinyl for the first time in the US. To promote the venture, the label has made two songs from the albums available: "Last Call" and "Twilight." The news has caused me to dig back into Smith's catalogue—and man what a ridiculous talent.

Elliot Smith - "Last Call" (from Roman Candle)

Elliot Smith - "Twilight" (from From A Basement On A Hill)

Additionally, here are my two favorite covers by Smith—both of which somehow transformed songs I liked into songs I love and cannot live without.

Elliot Smith - "Supersonic" (Oasis cover)

Elliot Smith - "Waterloo Sunset" (Kinks cover)

New Jason Collett due next week; live duet with Feist

Canadians make some damn good music. And the scratchy-voiced Jason Collett is one of the best. Collett, a master at keeping the decrepit folk/rock genre somehow seem fresh and inventive, kept listeners in a tizzy over his consistently great Here's To Being Here—one of 2008's best and an album that continues to get better with each listen. Collett, who has a beautiful slurry way with his words, is finally returning with Rat A Tat Tat, due out a week from today. If the first single "Love Is A Dirty Word" is any indication, Collett's creative form remains top notch. Also, make sure to check out his great duet with Feist, "Hangover Days," performed in 2006.

Jason Collett - "Love Is A Dirty Word" (from Rat A Tat Tat)

Jason Collett w/ Feist - "Hangover Days" (Live at the Fine Line, MN 2006)

Live: Free Energy @ Mississippi Studios

Despite a rather small and tame crowd Friday night at Mississippi Studios, Philly band Free Energy shredded through their anthemic rock catalogue like it was a frenzied full house. Songs like "Hope Child," "Dark Trance" and "Dream City" were administered with a two-guitar attack, pounding drums and bass, and a few fist pumps and hip shaking from lanky lead singer Paul Sprangers. The formula is simple for Free Energy: it's big guitar riffs, sing-along choruses, wild arena-rock solos and the occasional cowbell. Their influences are as clear as day: from Thin Lizzy to Sweet and singer Sprangers doing his best amphetamine hopped-up Mick Jagger impression. But the sound is fresh. Maybe it's the band's own doing or producer James Murphy's, but Free Energy's songs are decidedly more clear and dancey than the typical 70s rock classic. Their sound in many ways is minimalistic: sure, the bass is always bouncing, the guitars are loud and distorted, but there's never an overflow of noise or a long or gratuitous melody—it's pop music at its heart and it always gets right to the point. That was especially evident in "Bang Pop" and "Something In Common"—perhaps the band's two best songs—as musicians and audience members alike got lost in an addictive sea of roaring pop and funk—all for the greater good of throwing a few back and having a good time. (photo by Ryan Muir)

Free Energy - "Something In Common" (from Free Energy EP)

Video: Insound's studio session with Free Energy (watch "Bang Pop")