Swim Deep is grunge pop from Birmingham UK. Their spirit guide appears to be Swayze, so you can imagine my attraction. I've got high expectations for these guys. For now they'll be April's swan song and hold down the fort until Jovi and Parkour get back.
Swim Deep's first single was King City. Here's the video. Cop the album on 14th May.
In the 1980's and 90's there used to be these comic books called "What if?" that would basically present alternate reality versions of your favorite superheroes with a little twist in history. So, for example, it would be something like "What if Professor X had died while he was still friends with Magneto," or "What if Jean Grey would have fallen in love with Wolverine instead of Cyclops." Then in just one short issue they would present how that small change affected the world. Every time I see something that plays with alternate versions of stories we all know it just makes me remember those comic books. It always makes me smile.
Temper Trap, the indie-pop outfit from Australia, has just released their video for Need Your Love in which they give us an awesome story of redemption and friendship between Daniel San and Johnny Lawrence. If you don't remember your Karate Kid history, Johnny was the evil Cobra Kai student that got his head "craned" by Ralph Macchio at the end of the movie.
April is summer in Austin. Mornings are cool and the smell of cut grass hangs in the air. This is our time to burn charcoal and imbibe flowery pop music. The rest of the country can have July. By then we'll be a wasteland and flowery pop just won't cut it. I give you my pick for the summer. It's called Summerlong. The band is the Brooklyn electro-pop quartet Xylos. Their internet house is here.
Parkour keeps abandoning us for Las Vegas, so I thought this would be an appropriate post. Anders Trentemøller is from Copenhagen Denmark and so is Marie Fisker. Anders I know something about, but my first experience with Fisker was on this Record Store Day single from Trentemøller. If you're not familiar with RSD, it happens every year on the third Sat of April and has rapidly become a musical institution. The idea is to support your local record store and to support that effort musicians release incredible tracks on that day only. This year, Trentemøller is realeasing a cover of The Gun Club's 'My Dreams' that features Marie Fisker on vocals. The video is below. The track is off their 3d album, Las Vegas Story. You can check out Marie and download her album here.
Chairlift is awesome. They have an 80's pop sound that is pretty infectious. They released their second (I think) LP titled Something earlier this year, and it is really, REALLY good.
They're coming to the Mohawk tonight! I'm gonna try to make it if I get out of work early enough.
Erevan Tusk (great name) is an energetic 5-piece from the French lands.
They've just released their video for the song "Cassidy." It's beautifully shot in Romania and it has a strange Princess Mononoke vibe... animated forest creatures and all.
Moonface is the Wolf Parade genius Spencer Krug. He has an album with Sinai called Heartbreaking Bravery that is scheduled to drop on 17th April. Below is the new video and album stream. Moonface will be in Austin at Red 7 on 22nd June.
Here's the stream courtesy of AV Club. The album is stark and really big, so give this one some time.
I finally dumped out my corduroy festival bag from SXSW. Amid earplugs, mini-flyers, and festival debris, I found a CD a music industry friend gave me during that crazy week. Usually, I dread the free CDs of SXSW, but Mirel Wagner's self-titled debut overwhelmed me.
She constructs gloom-folk with the spare skeleton of guitar and her rough, airy voice. I'd fall in love with her, but she's already broken my heart.
Here is my favorite track off the album, "No Death."
Whistle Tips is the name of Dinosaur Feathers' new full-length. It hasn't been released officially, but I have been constantly streaming it from the SPIN website. It is extremely good. Infectious, tight sound. Their track "Beatcha" is available for free download at their Facebook page.
So yesterday I get this e-mail welcoming me to the POP ETC. mailing list. What the hell is Pop Etc. and why are they spamming me? Still, it wasn't from a Nigerian prince, so I checked it out.
Upon further inspection, I learned that Pop Etc is the re-branding name for The Morning Benders, that California band of toddler experts in squeezing the best of a wall-of-sound approach. Mr. Christopher Chu explains in the MB website after realizing that their name was demeaning to the gay community in the UK, they had decided to change it.
ANYWAY. The purpose of this post is to let you know that POP ETCETERA has a FREE completely spring-appropriate, thoroughly enjoyable mixtape that you can download from their website (HERE).
