Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve - Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Ark 1 (2008)

Genre : Kraut-Rock,Psychedelic,Electronica,Experimental

Myspace

Tracklist
01 - Before We Start, If [George]
02 - Get Ready To Fly [West]
03 - Dig It [Birth]
04 - Electric Bananas [George]
05 - Aglarsa Anam Aglar [Birth]
06 - Sunday Morning Sun-G [George]
07 - Don't Cry Girl [Spring]
08 - I Swim Around [Spring]
09 - Bubble Burst [George]
10 - Path Through The Forest [Birth]
11 - Light Years [Spring]
12 - Red Tuesday [West]
13 - Winter In June [West]
14 - Midas Reversed [Birth]

Anonymity has become both a gift and a curse for the blogosphere — a “gift” for feeding our hunger, and a “curse” for, well, not informing us as to who is feeding us. Burial has the world eating out of his hand, picking and choosing various publications access and admitting truths like “only five people know I make tunes.” Argh. And then there are the artists that leave you a message that reads: “If you are wondering who we are, we will soon reveal all.. we are planning some wonderful all night parties, we wear belts with huge buckles and we play the best music ever. See you back here sooooon. Beyond The Wizards Sleeve X x” (And I include the fact that they missed out on including the apostrophe in “Wizards” as part of the frustration.) Well, in the case of Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve it’s not near the degree of Burial’s obscurity, considering if you dig around online you’ll discover that they are in fact Richard Norris, who just published a biography on Paul Oakenfold (?) and superstar London DJ-cum-producer Erol Alkan.
It’s actually common knowledge that Alkan’s in this crew – there’s a photo of him on their MySpace profile working the decks. Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve is Alkan’s move into making music, after launching the now-legendary TRASH club in London, remixing Daft Punk, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and Hot Chip, and producing bands of late like the Long Blondes, Mystery Jets, Klaxons and newcomers Late of the Pier. Under this pseudonym the duo are best known for their successful remixes of Peter Bjorn & John, Tracey Thorn and Midlake (see below for a full DJ set too). But, they’re beginning to build a name for themselves as music makers, thanks to last year’s LP Spring and the new EP George (out on the mysterious 3rd Mynd label). Using their skills behind the boards, or magic spells, if you will, they cut-up and paste together old psych and Krautrock tracks, essentially pimpin’ them out. For example, “I Swim Around” manipulates Neu!’s classic “Hallogallo,” glazing it with freaky samples and backwards masking, while “Bubble Burst” edits a muscular backbeat loop into fiery guitar licks, beaming organs and a bongo clinic for a psych/soul explosion. By Cam Lindsay

Hari And Aino - Hari And Aino (2008)

Genre : Indie,Pop,Sweden

Myspace

Tracklist
1. Gold (or something just as nice)
2. I will leave
3. Seasons
4. Hannah and I
5. Finland
6. Lousy day
7. Rubble and ruin
8. Tour heartache and mine
9. Second song
10. Thank you for my sisters

Andrea Dahlkild, lead vocals in Hari and Aino, is a blend between Duffy, Maja IvarssonNina Persson. She is edgy in a sophisticated & balanced way. I ain't eager to go to one of their shows since I don't think that will be needed to change my impression. The CardigansHari and Aino reminds me of that. You know when there is a possibility to listen too much of something effecting in sickness to your ears.
and are not a secretly professional band, but it sometimes falls flat; The album withholds 10 songs, a perfect number! This is sweet indie pop, not cocky, political, heartbreaking songs; no, we are talking about a hint of shyness and pulsating sympathetic music that are feeding your hungry music veins. Finland apparently has a big influence on them (see "Finland") and I really have to ask them why; going on talking about their other songs, I must say that "Seasons" is causing good vibrations and is unquestionably their best hit. Also, I recommend "Your heartache and mine". This Stockholm based band has very good potential, I just want them get wild here and there, to surprise. I wish them my best and think y'all out there should give this little twee beautiful album a listen.
- Therese Buxfäldt

Faded Paper Figures - Dynamo (2008)

*** GREAT ALBUM ***

Genre : Indie,Rock,Pop,Electronica
Myspace
Tracklist

1 North by Nort
2 B Film
3 Logos
4 Polaroid Solution
5 Future Self
6 Metropolis
7 I Fell Off My Name
8 Geneva's Gone
9 The Persuaded
10 Being There
11 Speeches
12 Red State

I have a rule about listening to every band that takes the time and trouble to e-mail me (prominent placement on ye old Rawkblog ain't exactly the fast track to blogosphere domination, fellas). Most of them, predictably, aren't very good, but the exceptions often wow me.

Faded Paper Figures are the latest to do so. Their debut, Dynamo, recalls the indie/electro hybrid of the Main Drag's still-great Yours As Fast As Mine, or to reference a band you've actually heard, the Postal Service with more guitars and less Gibbard lyrics. I couldn't tell you if it was home recorded, but it certainly pulses with the beats of modern bedroom pop, equal parts drum machines and crisply recorded acoustic guitars chopped into a tasty, 43-minute indie salad.


It's quiet, sentimental stuff -- "North By North" includes the almost humorously hopeless line "You said a long, long time ago / you were happy being someone" -- that's as sharp and rhythmic as it is affective. Their sincerity isn't quite as moving when it gets all sophomore year liberal arts-y ("Red State," a love song about being -- you guessed it! -- blue), but then again, going back to college might teach Ben Gibbard a thing or two. by David Greenwald

James Yuill - Turning Down Water For Air [NEW!!] (2008)

Genre : Indie,Pop,Folk,Electronica,Singer-Songwriter

Myspace

Tracklist
1. You Always Do
2. Left Handed Girl
3. No Pins Allowed
4. This Sweet Love
5. Head Over Heels
6. The Ghost
7. No Surprise
8. Over The Hills
9. How Could I Lose?
10. She Said In Jest
11. Breathing In
12. Somehow

A singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from London, James’ music has been described as ‘folktronica’, which blends the influence from two of his favorite artists: Nick Drake and Radiohead. Not surprisingly then, his session saw him shifting ably between an acoustic guitar and some electronic machinery, usually during the same song. He’s also been in-demand for his remixing skills, recently adding his touch to songs by Au Revoir Simone and The Answering Machine.
Three of the four songs in his Lounge Act appear on his latest CD while the fourth, a cover of Radiohead’s “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box”, has become a trademark of James’ live shows. Turning Down Water For Air is available digitally in the US and directly from his own Happy Biscuit Club label. Definitely an artist we expect to hear a lot more from in the future.

Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun (2008)

Genre : Pop,Rock,Psychedelic,Singer-Songwriter
Myspace

Tracklist
1.That Lucky Old Sun
2.Morning Beat
3.Narrative: Room With a View
4.Good Kind of Love
5.Forever My Surfer Girl
6.Narrative: Venice Beach
7.Live Let Live
8.Mexican Girl
9.Narrative: Cinco De Mayo
10.California Role
11.Narrative: Between Pictures
12.Oxygen
13.Can't Wait Too Long
14.Midnight's Another Day
15.Lucky Old Sun [Reprise]
16.Going Home
17.Southern California
18.Roll-Around Heaven [Reprise]

Producer, writer, performer and legendary Brian Wilson (Beach Boys leader) releases a brandnew album. Despite its hundred percent new songs, it sounds like a nostalgic record from 60s. Oxygen To The Brain, Good Kind Of Love, Forever My Surfer Girl give the retro impression. Brian Wilson exactly knows what kind of songs works in his circle. Although this record makes feel you old, you'd rather not to ask a brand new style since he's a strong musician. Traditional, clear and sentimental.

Electronic Noise Controller - Pneuma EP (2008)

Genre : Electronica,IDM,Ambient,Down-Tempo

Myspace

Tracklist
1. Pneuma
2. Sandstone
3. Shuffle
4. Bugtoy
5. Burrow
6. Piel
7. Frozen Tomatoes
8. Tape Surgeon

The beginning of the creative way of Pavel can be considered as 2003- y the year, when first steps in the electronic music were made, so also 2006- y the year, when began the work on first EP - Mechanical Of soundscapes. In this time the style of music changed from the imitation to classical IDM to the side of the atmosphere and. After the appearance Of mechanical Of soundscapes it was well perceived by amateurs IDM. After obtaining reputation in the small circles and after inspiring by results, Pavel began the work on second EP - Pneuma, which left in the middle of 2008. Disk came out dark, still more atmospheric, industrial and by somewhere even lyric. Work does not stop, third at hand…

Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight (2008)

Genre : Indie,Rock,Psychedelic,Experimental
Myspace

Tracklist
1. Snowflake In A Hot World
2. Butterfly's Wings
3. Senses On Fire
4. People Are So Unpredictable (There's No Bliss Like Home)
5. October Sunshine
6. Runaway Raindrop
7. Dream Of A Young Girl As A Flower
8. Faraway For Cars
9. A Squirrel And I (Holding On...And Then Letting Go)

Beware all commercial shit, you may find some great records there in the year. Like grabby Third by Portishead, or relaxing waterworks by Tindersticks' The Hungry Saw and all other records which are made by great musicians. There is nothing wrong with this avant-garde concept record, oh dudes i always love concept albums. Snowflake midnight seems to fall down from space to earth, lyrics are so eternal here, every song sounds delicious and something that you've never tasted before. Intsrumental sections from time to time perfectly matches with latter vocals, pianos and experimental ambience. The band particularly go beyond to dreamy places like paradise on song "Dream of a Young Girl as a Flower". The best Mercury Rev record since Boces and Deserter's Songs. An untasted beauty!

Highlights: Snowflake in a Hot World, Butterflys Wing, Dream of a Young Girl as a Flower, A Squirrel and I. - "themodernmusic.com".

Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong (2008)

Genre : Indie,Rock,British

Myspace

Tracklist
1. Lucio Starts Fires
2. In Competition
3. Where Do You Go
4. Baby
5. Brooklyn
6. Dear Rose
7. I Ain't Sure
8. Why Did You Break My Heart
9. Far Too Early To Tell
10. Lonely Buoy
11. Teenagers
12. Light And The Dark
13. Adelaide

A larger-than-life character, Joe Lean is the stage name for Brixton council estate-raised actor turned pop star Joe Beamont – an aristocratically connected indie idol in waiting.

Given to outlandish claims, the now obligatory BBC 2008 Tip For The Top recommendation (see also Adele, Duffy, The Ting Tings and Foals) – means Lean and his Jing Jangs are assured a smooth passage into the charts.

But, in the over-saturated, trend- obsessed world of post-X Factor pop, do Mister Lean and his triple J have a hope of creating something lasting?

The BBC, with all its inevitable marketing muscle, drawing up a list of acts that are going to make it at the start of the year – before they’ve even released an album – is a vaguely disturbing development.

It makes independent rock an even more laughable concept than it already is. Surely real indie rock would be better served giving money direct to buskers on the street rather than the latest Jo Whiley hit-pick.

Joe and co aren’t bad, and this album has its moments of dizzy pop thrills. The singer’s inevitably declamatory, dramatic vocals are offset by a band trading in echoey, knockabout, over-excitable trash.

Their hysterically staccato songs are part 60s beat group, a little bit of The Smiths, a dash of The Strokes. It makes for cozy and familiar indie ordinaire – imagine Kaiser Chiefs on alcopops, or any number of bands working up an admirable head of steam on songs dealing with star-crossed love affairs.

The sound – masterminded by producer John ‘Razorlight’ Cornfield – is an all-too-familiar, overly loud, subtlety-free sledgehammer used to smash a peanut product of the time. And it’s a time when this gravy train, running on the old established routes and the old formulaic sounds, is drawing to a close.

The J Men have leapt aboard just as it is preparing to leave the station. Their 15 minutes is guaranteed.

Wonder what they’ll do for an encore? - mirror.co.uk -

Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires (2008)

Genre : Indie,Pop,Disco,Post-Punk,Electro

Myspace

Tracklist
1. Jump In The Pool 3:37
2. In The Hospital 3:51
3. Paris 3:55
4. White Diamonds 4:12
5. Strobe 3:05
6. On Board 3:43
7. Lovesick 3:54
8. Skeleton Boy 3:33
9. Photobooth 3:24
10. Ex Lover 3:50

Friendly Fires seem to be in the midst of one of these clamouring cataclysms also known as "media frenzies" in the run up to releasing their self-titled debut album. With any luck their dance-inducing, indie, genre-melding efforts will see them through the horror.

The St Albans trio have been kindling over the last year or so, creating a couple of sparks as the first unsigned band ever to play Channel 4's Transmission show and signing to singles specialist Moshi Moshi. They stir up sounds from disco, funk, pop and latin party spice to end up with a Daft Punk-LCD Soundsystem-Hot Chip electro concoction that they is the foundation for the album.

No doubt comparisons with fellow experimenters Late Of The Pier will be made as they both vie for attention. Pop eclecticism has risen, but there's only room for a few masters; Friendly Fires will need to raise the temperature to get into the big league. - Shaun Newport

Pelle Carlberg - The Lilac Time (2008)

Genre : Indie,Pop,Singer-Songwriter,Sweden

Myspace

Tracklist
01 1983 (Pelle & Sebastian) 3:53
02 Nicknames (Feat. Karolina Komstedt Of Club 8) 3:44
03 Whisper 2:50
04 Animal Lovers 3:26
05 Metal To Metal 3:24
06 Because I'm Worth It 3:04
07 Stockholm Vs Paris 1:13
08 Fly Me To The Moon 3:32
09 51,3 4:29
10 Tired Of Being PC 5:11

Pelle Carlberg makes cozy, feel-good chamber pop in the spirit of Belle and Sebastian, with sweet harmonies, infectious melodies and upbeat rhythms. Hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, Carlberg previously fronted the six-piece group Edson before embarking on a solo career. His latest release is The Lilac Time on Twenty Seven Records.
Carlberg's official bio says he's "been playing in bands since the Middle Ages" but is currently focusing on his own work. Carlberg plays most of the instruments on his latest album, with occasional support from Henrik Nilsson on drums and Helena Soderman on backing vocals and piano.

Recommended if you like Belle & Sebastian, Cat Stevens, Jens Lekman, Sondre Lerche, Kings of Convenience. "http://saturnswirls.blogspot.com/"

The Jimmy Cake - Spectre & Crown (2008)

Genre : Indie,Post-Rock,Multi-Instrument,Experimental

Myspace

Tracklist
01. Red Tony
02. Jetta's Palace
03. Nuberu
04. The Day The Arms That Came Out Of The Wall
05. Haunted Candle
06. Collapsing Cloud Night At The Starry Sky
07. The Art Of Wrecking
08. Hugs For Buddy
09. Last Breath

Like a living, breathing, multi-legged, multi-elbowed mass of musicians and instruments, Dublin nine-piece The Jimmy Cake have always been the kind of band who take their time over things. Theirs is a sound imbued with a tangible sense of deliberation and painstaking poise; perhaps that goes some way to explaining why there's been a five-year gap since their last release (2003's Superlady EP) and six since their last album (the acclaimed Dublin Gone, Everybody Dead).

The band's experience is best illustrated in their song structures, however. The Day the Arms Came Out of the Wall, for example, opens with a gentle growl, continues onto atmospheric gloom and ends in sweeping majesty; slow-moving The Art of Wrecking mumbles into life, using rain and violin to potent effect, while Hugs for Buddy's toe-tapping intro slowly moves into streamlined Polyphonic Spree-style optimism. -"by Lauren Murphy"

Fujiya & Miyagi - Lightbulbs (2008)

*** Leaked ***

Genre : Indie,Electronica,Pop
Myspace

Tracklist
1. Knickerbocker
2. Uh
3. Pickpocket
4. Goosebumps
5. Rook to queen’s pawn
6. Sore thumb
7. Dishwasher
8. Pterodactyls
9. Pussyfooting
10. Lightbulbs
11. Hundreds & thousands

From Transparent Things to, well, luminous things, Fujiya & Miyagi have just announced the details of their sophomore set, Lightbulbs. Due September 1 in the UK from Full Time Hobby and September 16 in the U.S. from Deaf Dumb & Blind, the disc comes hot on the heels of the announcement that the curiously monikered trio are now, in fact, a four-piece. The band is currently on the road, hitting the festival circuit in Europe and South America. Plans to head to the States around the album's release are still coming together. - "pitchforkmedia.com"

All The Saints - Fire In Corridor X (2008)

Genre : Indie,Rock,Psychedelic,Experimental
Myspace

Tracklist
1 Shadow, Shadow
2 Sheffield
3 Famacia
4 Regal Regalia
5 Hornett
6 Papering Fix
7 Leeds
8 Fire On Corridor X
9 Outs
10 Mil Mil

Their new LP, Fire On Corridor X, is a commanding synthesis of the band's deafening influences, including shoe gaze, psychedelic, doom, and grunge.

Too many ingredients often makes for a muddy mix, but not this time. All the Saints keep form and function simple. Each track lurches forward, amassing tension in volume. The weighty sound threatens to self-destruct, to collapse into the noise of hopelessness and tired aggression. But this 3 piece hold it together, pacing themselves with rhythm - their terminal discipline. Ben H. Allen's ace production doesn't hurt, either.

Booming bass looms below the foundation. Quasi-tribal drums steady the ship, countering rock with rolling beats. Simple guitar riffs probe more lows than highs as the occasional feedback pushes through. Guitarist and vocalist Matt Lambert's distant and reedy vocal bears traces of Scott Weiland's tenor register. Lambert's timbre is a good match for the riffing's subterranean dirge.

The no nonsense songwriting and perfect track lengths on Fire On Corridor X harness all of the influences. There aren't many frills. After a lulling introduction, “Sheffield” crashes in, unveiling the tight rhythm section. This is just the first of several lovely wall rattlers.

“Regal Regalia” grinds ahead and “Papering Fix” is the winner for best groove. Title track “Fire On Corridor X” barely contains the expanding sound; this track is a great mix of power, pacing, volume, and energy.

"Outs" embeds itself. Like a slow drip, the strange contested beauty of this track leaks through the leaden sound, and its stains bookend the large void left in the middle. The album's stranger is “Leeds”, a lo-fi acoustic sing along that shows Lambert's crude but growing songwriting talents.

All the Saints bludgeon but don't abuse. Fire On Corridor X sets out a path easily followed by listeners. The dissonant, abrasive qualities of their hard rock sound is made palatable to all but those who shy from distortion and slow motion car crashes. It's worth checking into this. - "http://www.adequacy.net/staff.php?staffID=314"

Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling (2008)

***LEAKED***
Genre : Indie,Post-Rock,Experimental
Myspace

Tracklist
01 I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead
02 Batcat
03 Daphne and the Brain
04 Local Authority
05 The Sun Smells Too Loud
06 Kings Meadow
07 I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School
08 Scotland's Shame
09 Thank You Space Expert
10 The Precipice

The Hawk Is Howling is the sixth studio album by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai, expected to be released on September 22, 2008 through Wall of Sound, Play It Again Sam, and Matador in the UK, Europe, and the USA, respectively.^[1]

The album was recorded in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire at Chem19 Studios with producer Andy Miller, whom the band had previously worked with on their early releases from 1997—1998. Mogwai recorded the album from September 2007 to February 2008, mixing the album in March with Garth Jones at the band's own Castle of Doom Studios in Glasgow.

The album was recorded and produced by Andy Miller at Chem19 Studios in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland and mixed by Garth Jones at Castle of Doom Studios in Glasgow, Scotland between September 2007—March 2008.^[2][3] The album marks the first time in ten years that the band worked with Andy Miller, and at Chem19 Studios, since recording the song "Small Children in the Background" for the No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) EP in May 1998. - "http://en.wikipedia.org/"

The Uglysuit - The Uglysuit (2008)

Genre : Indie,Rock,Folk,Psychedelic,Experimental
Myspace

Tracklist
1. Brownblue's Passing
2. Chicago
3. Brad's House
4. ...And We Became Sunshine
5. Elliot Travels
6. Anthem Of The Arctic Birds
7. Everyone Now Has A Smile
8. Happy Yellow Rainbow
9. Let It Be Known

The Uglysuit is a fresh, energetic young band that hails from the heartland metropolis of Oklahoma City. The band is made up of six friends who have been playing together for so long that they say they feel like family. That bond blossoms on this self-titled album's upbeat, buoyant indie-rock. The band's sound is big and bold, like that of fellow Oklahoma institutions the Flaming Lips and Evangelicals. The album's first single "Chicago" is appropriately named, since the Uglysuit records for the venerable Windy City label Touch and Go. - John Zeiss -

The Asteroid No.4 - These Flowers of Ours: A Treasury of Witchcraft and Devilry (2008)

***LEAKED***

Genre : Indie,Rock,Psychedelic
Myspace
Tracklist

01 My Love
02 Let It Go
03 Hold On
04 I Look Around
05 She's All I Need
06 War
07 Flowers Of Ours
08 Hei Nah Lah
09 She Touched the Sky
10 All Fall Down
11 Empty Like a Little Child

For any inquiries regarding the stylistic leanings of The Asteroid No. 4, the only bit of information one would likely require is that the six-piece were involved in a Spacemen 3 tribute in 1998, contributing a cover of “Losing Touch With My Mind” to a tribute album. Appropriately enough, that was also the year they released their debut album, Introducing The Asteroid No. 4. Apart from the simultaneous string of releases immediately proposing a definite proclamation of sorts in regards to their sound, it gave them the beginnings of a fan base who were very much enamored with the band’s stylistic preference.


After all, when you get off on the right foot by releasing a striking cover of a band with a cult following, there will be more than a few of those ears willing to give your debut album a listen. Set on the stylish mixture of space-rock and neo-psychedelia, they released Introducing The Asteroid No. 4 to the delight of fans’ expectations, revealing a collection of strong songs that capitalized on the group’s blatant admiration for the likes of Spacemen 3 and the space-rock sound that they influentially produced. Flash forward 10 years and The Asteroid No. 4 is preparing to release their fifth album, one that definitively proves to be their best yet.

The Clientele - That Night, A Forest Grew EP (2008)

Genre : Indie,Pop,Psychedelic,British

Myspace

Tracklist
01 - Retiro Park
02 - Share The Night
03 - George Says He Has Lost His Way In This World
04 - That Night, A Forest Grew

Though its release on CD is still forthcoming, That Night, A Forest Grew, the Clientele's third EP for the Spanish Acuarela imprint is available now from eMusic. As with the band's other EPs for the label, the four song set is intended as a little experiment between albums, which hopefully means a new Clientele LP is in the works.

The band describes the set as the "most commercial and-- shockingly-- danceable" thing they've ever done.

The Clientele have but a single show on their docket: an action-packed gig at London's 229 Club on September 6, where they'll share a bill will Camera Obscura, Frightened Rabbit, Field Music offshoot the Week That Was, and others.

Praveen & Benoit Pioulard - Songs Spun Simla (2008)

Genre : Electronica,Ambient,Folk,Experimental
Myspace
Tracklist

1.The Tunnel Is Still There
2.Death As A Man
3.To Scale
4.Embers
5.1991
6.Chiaroscuro

Kranky and Moongadget artists, Praveen & Benoît, debut first collaboration on Music Related August 26th.

It's all in the wires. Praveen Sharma and Thomas Meluch (aka Benoît Pioulard) have met only a handful of times and have never resided in the same city, but over the course of two-plus years they have been quietly assembling Songs Spun Simla, a brief but luminescent collection of pieces driven by Praveen's inventive arrangements and Benoît's lush vocal harmonizing.

Praveen released his remarkable debut Backed by Spirits on the now-defunct Neo Ouija imprint just as Benoît emerged with the Enge EP on Michigan's Moodgadget label in early 2005. Through mutual contacts they found that each was an admirer of the other's work, and the seeds for a casual collaboration were sown. Not long after, Praveen returned from a profound journey through his family's native India with a minidisk full of field recordings and voices, forming the basis of opener "The Tunnel is Still There". As he continued creating new songs with an ever-expanding palette of instruments and digital effects, Benoît arranged lyrics and harmonies, driven by the unfamiliarity and excitement of the process. Various ideas arose concerning the fate of these works, but once a record's worth had been amassed, their friends at Music Related expressed interest in a proper release.


Songs Spun Simla is named in honor of the village in India from which Praveen's family originates - it's inseparable from his musical inspirations yet still distant and shaped largely by memory. His compositions exist on a fitting scale, then; from the stunning, expansive lead-in of "Death as a Man" to the incredibly detailed percussion of "To Scale", there's a sense of worldliness, history and nostalgia placed in a crucible with technology and innovation. Much like a travelogue, the six movements of Songs Spun Simla abut soaring highs with passages of quiet, intimate beauty to create a deeply affecting whole. - Written by Staff

of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping (2008)

***LEAKED***
Genre : Indie,Pop,Psychedelic,Electronica
Myspace

Tracklist
1. Nonpareil of Favor
2. Wicked Wisdom
3. For Our Elegant Caste
4. Touched Something's Hollow
5. An Eluardian Instance
6. Gallery Piece
7. Women's Studies Victims
8. St.Exquisite's Confessions
9. Triphallus, to Punctuate!
10. And I've Seen a Bloody Shadow
11. Plastis Wafers
12. Death Is Not a Parallel Move
13. Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
14. Mingusings
15. Id Engager

Skeletal Lamping is the title of the ninth studio album by Athens, Georgia-based band Of Montreal. Kevin Barnes said about the title: "This record is my attempt to bring all of my puzzling, contradicting, disturbing, humorous...fantasies, ruminations and observations to the surface, so that I can better dissect and understand their reason for being in my head. Hence the title, Skeletal Lamping. Lamping is the name of a rather dreadful hunting technique where, hunters go into the forest at night, flood an area in light, then shoot, or capture, the animals as they panic and run from their hiding places." The new album is set to be released on October 7, 2008 on Polyvinyl.^[1] The album leaked onto the Internet on August 22, 2008. -"http://en.wikipedia.org/"

Bloc Party - Intimacy (2008)

LEAKED...today
Genre : Indie,Rock,Post-Punk,British
Myspace

Tracklist
01. Ares
02. Mercury
03. Halo
04. Biko
05. Trojan Horse
06. Signs
07. One Month Off
08. Zephyrus
09. Better Than Heaven
10. Ion Square

Surprise! Bloc Party have joined Radiohead and the Raconteurs as bands that sneak attack fans with a new album (presumably to avoid leaks — the band’s last effort, A Weekend in the City, hit the Net four months before its release date). Intimacy is the name of BP’s third album, and it’s available for pre-order right now at the band’s Website; downloads will be delivered on August 21st. Physical copies of the album, which aren’t due in stores until October 28th, will feature some tracks that are different from those on the digital release. Fans who pre-order the disc now, however, will receive a download of the digital version for free. Intimacy was produced by both Paul Epworth and Jacknife Lee, and including current single “Mercury,” the download’s track list numbers 10 songs, which you can see after the jump.

Pygmy Lush - Mount Hope (2008)

Genre : Indie,Rock,Folk,Psychedelic
Myspace
Record Label: Lovitt Release Date: July 29, 2008

Tracklist
1. Asphalt
2. No Feeling
3. Dead Don't Pass
4. God Condition
5. Red Room Blues
6. Mount Hope
7. Frozen Man
8. Hard To Swallow
9. Concrete Mountain
10. Butch's Dream
11. Dreams Are Class
12. Tumor

Even before you’ve heard a note of Pygmy Lush’s astonishing Mount Hope, you should notice how directly and intentionally opposite its name is from last year’s Bitter River. And, using your detective skills, you ought to be able to figure out that the group has chosen a slightly new direction for their music. Don’t worry - the guys haven’t packed up their knack for striking a raw nerve and converted to contemporary Christian rock, but they have shed some skin as far as pace and aggression are concerned. Here the guys have settled into their folkier, almost comatose songwriting impulses with no random bursts of pg99 or Blood Brothers to offset the trance that they know so well how to conduct.

Although the variety of Bitter River was my initial attention-getter in discovering the band, I was not at all let down by the newer more direct sound. Trust me – it’s still plenty weird. “Butch’s Dream” ventures into rockabilly territory (although it’s the creepiest rockabilly you’ll ever hear of course). It’s a little bit like Bitter River’s “Throw the Jockey” except more serious, like the group’s mindset had changed from “What if” to “This is what we do.”
Songs like “Asphalt” remind you just how powerful simple music can be. The track is a really bleak choice as an opener, but about 99% of Pygmy Lush’s songs would have the same effect so I guess there’s really no point in considering sequential order. But “Asphalt” in particular is the kind of song that will make you pick up your guitar and make your own stay-in-your-room-forever ballads.

Simplicity is the key throughout the whole album. There’s nothing flashy to contrast the slow-driving arpeggios and lightly strummed guitars, not on this disc. On Bitter River, the group must have felt like they had something to prove by shoving bombastic punk tunes into the tracklist - they wanted to show that they still could. But here they’re comfortable enough with their direction that there’s no need for any of that stuff... it just is what it is. And it is awesome.

You can definitely still tell that this is folk rock in the hands of people who’ve played other genres (by which I mean it’s willfully unauthentic), but Pygmy Lush’s movement into purely reflective music was pretty logical and the music is well done. The album does not find the group moving in a hopeful direction – their Myspace tagline remains “Slurp Shit and Die” – but the guys have trimmed the directionlessness to a minimum, focusing their songwriting and taking one step closer toward “classifiable music.”

Hearts by Darts - Hearts by Darts (2008)

Genre : Indie,Pop,Alternative
Myspace

Tracklist
1. oct. 3
2. company
3. candy says
4. cumulus
5. astronaut / architect
6. yardcats
7. those things
8. prime
9. rural

Baltimore's Hearts by Darts started as a recording project by Sei Petersen and Mike Evitts after the demise of their band Sharky. They began crafting songs from the ground up, drawing from a diverse range of influences including 60s soundtrack music, 80s shoegaze, 90s indie rock, and Julee Cruise's lovely Twin Peaks songs. With the addition of Wendy Weihs´ understated vocal style and intriguing lyrics (often referencing mathematical rules and impossible, far away locales), Hearts by Darts have succeeded in crafting a dream pop landscape that is simultaneously springtime and atmosphere, comforting and strange.

Alias - Resurgam (2008)

Genre : Electronica,Rock,Shoegaze,Hip-Hop
Myspace

Tracklist
1. New To A Few
2. I Heart Drum Machines
3. Well Water Black - Alias & Why
4. Oakland Morning
5. MG Jack
6. Prelude To A Death Watch
7. Death watch
8. Autumnal Ego
9. Place Of No More Choices
10. Resurgam
11. Weathering - Alias & One AM Radio
12. Justamachine
13. Oakland In The Rearview

Anticon veteran Brendon Whitney returns for his first proper solo album since 2003's Muted, delivering a mightily impressive line-up of instrumentals, and even a couple of vocally-enhanced collaborations (with long-term labelmate Yoni Wolf of Why? and One AM Radio). As ever, Whitney's starting point for his music is firmly rooted in hip hop, but there's a freakishly wide range of influences feeding into all this. Tracks like 'Death Watch' and 'Resurgam' enter into an almost Ulrich Schnauss-like soundscape of textured electronic pop, all backed up by suitably hefty beat crafting and an underlying air of melody. Meanwhile, the track with Yoni Wolf stirs up a combination of chugging guitars, Four Tet-style drum fills and a hip hop-to-indie ratio that's not dissimilar to Whitney's collaboration with Markus Acher, 'Unseen Sights'. It's great to hear Alias back in action, and he's in fine voice on this new album - which quite appropriately for a 'comeback' record of sorts, takes its name from the Latin for "I Shall Rise Again".

Rotary Ten - These Are Our Hands (2008)

Genre : Indie,Rock,Pop,British --- Recomnended
Myspace

Tracklist
1. Idols Of Our Own Design
2. Time Is Not A Line And I Am Not A Rock
3. Counting At Me
4. I Fear The Field
5. We Travelled Without Mentioning It
6. Leo And Rosa
7. These Men Are Made Of Rust
8. Action Man
9. Stick Stick Stick
10. Strategy
11. Don't Lean On The Wires

Thank God indie music can shun the big issues of the day in favour of the true minutiae of what really sucks in life. "I am in goal forever", yelps Rotary Ten frontman James Trafford on I Fear The Field - perhaps the greatest alt-football reference in music since Kicker Conspiracy. It's the highlight of the debut long player from this Sheffield four-piece, though the rest of the album is peppered with beautiful, Marr-esque riffs and melodies that ooze charisma, intelligence and uplifted energy, without pandering to the three-chord lobotomy of the average XFM playlist.

Good Shoes and Maximo Park are the obvious comparisons but there's plenty here to mark Rotary Ten out as something really rather special. Trafford's lyrics, for example, are a wobbly yet inspired Crayola mish-mash of weary observation and cheap supermarket cola-fuelled exuberance. "We line the seams with sulphur to counteract the burn that prevailed from your cataracts", is a particularly book-ish example from album closer Don't Lean On The Wires. "Oh, to be flattered", Trafford implores on Strategy. OK, so this is essentially just boys with guitars; but sometimes you forget just how fabulous it can sound when guitar riffs chime so perfectly in unison with this kind of prodigious word-smithery.

This is an utterly charming album that will leave you with the same kind of feeling you get from eating an entire tube of Refresher sweets, before bunking off school to spend a summer afternoon chain-smoking in the park. It is songwriting mastered by boys with ears for melody and nuance that belie their years, and humiliate their peers. An absolute joy to listen to. by Robert Crossan

Brian Jonestown Massacre - My Bloody Underground (2008)

Genre : Indie,Rock,Psychedelic,Shoegaze
Myspace

Tracklist
1. Dropping Bombs ON The Whitehouse
2. Infinite Wisdom Tooth / My Last Night In Bed With You
3. Who's Fucking Pissed In My Well?
4. We Are The Niggers Of The World
5. Who Cares Why
6. Yeah-Yeah
7. Golden Frost
8. Kicking Jesus
9. Ljosmyndir
10. Auto-Matic-Faggot For The People
11. Dark-Wave-Driver / Big Drill Car
12. Monkey Powder
13. Black-Hole-Symphony

Anton A. Fjordson, better known as Anton Newcombe, has released a rough mix of the new Brain Jonestown Massacre album, My Bloody Underground, via torrent and zip file on the band's offical website. Judging by some of the song titles on this one ("Dropping Bombs on The White House","We Are the N_'s of the World" and "Automatic F_ For the People"), he's just as controversial and confrontational as ever.

My early reaction to My Bloody Underground is that this may be some of the band's stronger work in years, and the timing of this leak couldn't have been better. With releases by Animal Collective and Devendra Banhart due next month, there's going to be all kinds of press on the freaky folk and their psychedelic jams. It's as if the Anton and the Brian Jonestown Massacre elbowed the new kids aside and said, "Attention all those folks who call themselves freaks, this how your so-called freak folk is supposed to be done."
Now, a word of warning for those downloading My Bloody Underground, some of the files are encoded in mp3 and others in AAC. If this annoys you and/or gives you playback issues, you can convert AAC to mp3 by changing the default encoding in iTunes then choosing the convert to mp3 option under the Advanced menu tab.

Admittedly, this is a pain, but since when has anything with The Brain Jonestown Massacre been easy? This is the man and the band responsible for some of the best concerts I've ever seen (Long sets including all the hits, extended jams, and no bullshit) as well as some of the worst (Short set, constantly correcting band members on their mistakes, and all bullshit). Additionally, their catalog is filled with nuggets of psychedelic rock and pop brilliance, beside numerous songs that more or less sound the same. Yet, I still dig this band.

Brain Jonestown Massacre will be appearing at the Grog Shop on September 23rd with Stereo Workers Union and Coffinberry as part of the Grog Shop's 15th Anniversary Weekend. -http://irockcleveland.blogspot.com/-

The American Dollar - A Memory Stream (2008)

Genre : Indie,Post-Rock,Experimental,Ambient
Myspace

Tracklist
1 The Slow Wait (1)
2 The Slow Wait (2)
3 Call
4 Bump
5 Intermission
6 Lights Dim
7 Transcendence
8 Our Hearts Are Read
9 Anything You Synthesize
10 We're Hitting Everything
11 Starscapes

The band American Dollar arranges songs into soundscapes and visions of futuristic music. American Dollar has been together for seven years. MTV picked up the band's first song for its battleground television show. Their previous albums managed to become number one and two selling albums in Tokyo in 2007. (For them, "We're big in Japan," is true.) "A Memory Stream" is a journey into new sonic territory. American Dollar has managed to make a true sound experiment while finding uncommon ways to explore the sonic world. The song "Call" has a very repetitive drum machine part that seems looped. The pianos sound natural and the atmospheric quality of the track borders on techno. This music has a soothing quality that is suitable for dance clubs or someone listening to a CD player. "Were Hitting Everything" has a synthy electric piano intro with gated electronic drums. This track could've been used on Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" soundtrack. It has a very spacious sound quality to this track. American Dollar has managed to transcend the fixed space of the audio world with "A Memory Stream." It's a must for listeners of ethereal and new-age music. - Rich McCracken II -

Matthew Robert Cooper (Eluvium) - Miniatures (2008)

Genre : Post-Rock,Ambient,Experimental
Myspace

Tracklist
01 Miniature 1
02 Miniature 2
03 Miniature 3
04 Miniature 4
05 Miniature 5
06 Miniature 6
07 Miniature 7
08 Miniature 8
09 Miniature 9

A proper album by Brian Eno and Philip Glass ranks near the top of my dream collaborations. The “Heroes” and Low symphonies don’t count, nor does the live transcription of Music for Airports Glass wrote for the Bang on a Can All-Stars: I’m talking about original collaborative work, something like The Pearl with Glass as Harold Budd. As Eluvium, Matthew Robert Cooper seems to dream of this collaboration, too, setting drones of Eno-caliber beatitude against piano and string themes of Glass-caliber austerity. But “Miniature 3″ is not an Eluvium track. By releasing it under his own name, Cooper signals a collapse of his usual dichotomy– theme and atmosphere blend into one liquefied mass. “Miniature 3″ evokes the gusty expanses of Christopher Bissonnette, or the hugely scaled ambiance of Stars of the Lid. Chords crest and break in super-slow-mo, and archipelagic bass tones wink in and out of a sea of stringed resonance. The longing that is so pronounced in Eluvium is here recessive and subtle, more insinuation than clarion call– the sound of a melody yearning for its orchestra. (pitchfork)