Album Title: Waking the Dead
Featured Tracks: “Waking The Dead” & “I Had a Dream About Nuclear Attack”
Record Label: Equal Vision
Website: http://www.myspace.com/placesandnumbers
Bio: Places and Numbers is the new project from Bobby Darling, former guitarist for critically-acclaimed rockers Gatsbys American Dream. Recorded while traveling through Italy, WAKING THE DEAD is a welcoming blend of reverb-drenched effects and Darling’s engaging vocals. The finished product pulls musical influences from acts as diverse as the Postal Service, Talking Heads, the Strokes and Kanye West, and showcases a musician who’s finding new meaning in life through writing songs.
Album Title: Fun and Laughter EP & Some are Lakes
Featured Tracks: “May You Never” & “Some Are Lakes”
Record Label: Saddle-Creek
Website: www.myspace.com/landoftalk
Bio: Land of Talk arrive with Some Are Lakes, the much-anticipated debut full-length and their first recording for Saddle Creek. Led by singer/guitarist Elizabeth Powell, Some Are Lakes was recorded in the band’s hometown of Montreal with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and is the follow up to their acclaimed 2006 EP Applause Cheer Boo Hiss (Rebel Group). Some Are Lakes continues to showcase Powell’s vocal convictions, which Time Out NY called “a voice that flits between come-hither and go-fuck-yourself.” Powell’s voice and roaring guitars take center-stage alongside bassist Chris McCarron and drummer Andrew Barr (The Slip). The album is born of an artistic sensibility that digs its heels into the present, and yet is entirely tied to the ashtray fumes of its past and the jet turbine whine of its future. Some Are Lakes is as much an album about where Land of Talk have been, and where they will be, as it can ever be about where they are now.
We’re going across the pond this week for our Download of the Week artist! Hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, the electro-infused music of Jenny Wilson brilliantly mixes piano and electro beats with her rhythmic R&B vocals. Her single, “Like a Fading Rainbow,” promises to impress music lovers everywhere. Enjoy!
That’s right ladies & gents, our current favorite and last week’s download of the week, The Soft Pack will be playing the Sunday date of this years Coachella. Don’t miss your chance to see these kids play live. I had the opportunity to see them play in January during one of their 10 CD release shows across Los Angeles. They managed to blow me away while playing in someone’s garage in Venice. Awesome show, we suggest you don’t miss out on this one!
Bio: The Federals are a force to be reckoned with we reckon. “Take It From Me” is a rough edgy anthem in the making! Proper thrashy, rowdy, fuzziness. The earliest brattishness of The Who dragged helplessly kicking & screaming into the 21st Century!
And don’t forget it! Click the image above to watch a video for La Roux’s “I’m Not Your Toy.” The song is bound to be stuck in your once you see this vid! Enjoyyy
If you like super upbeat poppy music, you might like one of our favorite new bands, Artist Vs Poet. They are actually releasing a new album today called Favorite Fix! Make sure to check it out and you’ll be sure to hear some catchy tunes such as “Car Crash” and “Damn Rough Night.” If you’re a new fan, you can always check them out on tour this Summer too!
Good thing Summer is only a couple of months away! It is time to grab your favorite pair of boardshorts and head to the beach with San Diego natives The Soft Pack! Whether you’re on the beach playing volleyball or relaxing and enjoying the Summer sunset, The Soft Pack is the perfect soundtrack any Summer break!
2/23-3/1 Queens Club “Nightmarer”
Put your dancin’ shoes on ladies and gents, introducing: Queens Club. This rock quartet hails from Kansas City, Missouri and we just can’t seem to get enough of their latest EP, Nightmarer. The energy of this band has been compared to the likes of Bloc Party, even Franz Ferdinand.
Bio: For a band whose lineup has only really been cemented this year, The Soft
Pack – formerly known as the Muslims – have already accomplished a breathtaking amount. Born and bred in San Diego but currently based in LA, the quartet, which features Matt Lamkin on vocals, co-founder Matty
McLoughlin on guitar, David Lantzman on bass and Brian Hill on drums, create a fresh, razor-sharp, no-frills sound that draws in influences from acts as varied as the Stooges, Jonathan Richman, Wire and The Velvet Underground, resulting in fiercely infectious, stripped-down songs which have eagle-eyed A&R types and critics alike falling over themselves with praise. Proof that the band have well and truly arrived was their frenzied reception at this year’s CMJ, as they played 11 packed out shows at a range of venues, from intimate places like Pianos and Don Pedro’s to larger venues like Williamsburg Music Hall and the Bowery Ballroom. Adulatory pieces in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Fader and Billboard quickly followed suit, as did hotly coveted support slots with the likes of the Last Shadow Puppets and the Breeders this fall.
In addition, their untitled 12-inch debut EP (which came in one of a kind
jackets with bullet holes shot through by the father of a friend, a former
NYC cop) sold out almost immediately and is being re-pressed this year,
complete with brand new tracks, hand typed inserts and silk screened
sleeves. And excitingly enough, the UK will get their first blast of the Soft Pack’s potent rock and roll when their double A-side, “Nightlife/Bright Side” is released through Caspian Records in February 2009, with their debut UK shows to follow; the very first of which, in fact, is for the famed NME Brats. The perfect opportunity to listen to these perfectly formed mini-classics in waiting and get acquainted with the sound of the Soft Pack before the rest of the world inevitably does…
Album Title: Waking the Dead
