Ten Tracks You Need #13 (Post Thanksgiving Edition)

So yeah, the holiday season is upon us. Thanksgiving was pretty good this year, thanks to my close friends I was able to have Thanksgiving and Post Thanksgiving. I've eaten enough turkey to last a lifetime and I still have more.

Damn.

I also got to DJ a great Thursday night. It was crazy, great crowd, and no one wanted to leave so that made it all worthwhile. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported POP! this past week. Hopefully, everyone who wanted free CD's got one.

All that activity leads us to here, yet another Ten Tracks You Need. I've scoured me email and dug out some tracks that you need in your life. As per usual it's all over the place because that's the way we like it.

Anyway, rather than going to the mall...download all this stuff instead. It's free.

Lioness - You're My Heart

Piano Creeps - Hey Love

Tin Can Telephone - Spak Attack

Deerhunter - Octet (Simian Mobile Disco Re-Edit)

Roy G. and the Biv - Somebody's Watching Me

Digitalism - Taken Away (Sikki Kids Remix)

Donny Hue and the Colors - Good Time Happening

Juliette Commagere - Overcome

Freezepop - Front Load(Designer Drugs Remix)

Le Loup - Shenandoah

Illinois - She's So Blonde

Real Tuesday Weld - Kix

Watch this video while you download...it's pretty cool stuff. Think of it as fun with DJ equipment...

EGADZ - What Are We Supposed To Do


Until next post...enjoy.

Twiggy Gets Frostbite

Twiggy Frostbite took shape in the spring of 2006, inspired by the London Underground, and the music evolved into something unique. The untamed tones and frosty noise of the northern Swedish coast met the acoustics of The Tube to create a dreamlike atmosphere.

Twiggy Frostbite has its roots in Gävle and shares members with The Deer Tracks and Grizzly Twister. The debut album Through Fire will arrive in the winter of 2009 and is a melodic journey that is a bit minimal, lush, ethereal, and most definitely Scandinavian.

Check out the video for Heroes... (download the single below)


Download: Heroes

They're Our Heroes

Heroes of The Dancefloor will release Torch and the lead single “Same Scandal” on INgrooves over the Thanksgiving holiday. ALL of the proceeds from the sale of Torch will go to two charities working with the homeless in New York: Picture The Homeless (LINK) and Coalition For The Homeless (LINK). NO money will go to the musicians including any mechanicals, royalties or publishing.

Torch features Gary Alesbrook who tours with Kasabian and Scissor Sisters on Trumpet, James Morton on Sax and Dan Moore on Keyboards and Bass (who both tour with former James Brown sideman Pee Wee Ellis), Guitar by Alex Hutchins and Vocals by Mamazu. Mixes and remixes have come from top US DJs such as Nick Chacona and Anthony Mansfield and top US and UK engineers including Adam Noble in the Strongroom, Joe Fields and Sam Dillon in Soho Studios, Doug McBride in Gravity Studios in Chicago, Grammy-award winning Thom Russo in Los Angeles and Grammy-award-winning Mick Glossop in London.

Download: Ricky
Download: Same Scandal

The Bodies Have Been Obtained

Conceived in Detroit and named for the Joy Division song “Day of the Lords,” The Bodies Obtained reveal their “art-damaged selves” through timeless electro gloom that could’ve been conceived in 1978, 1988, 1998 or 2008: it’s the sonic documentation of an ongoing project that spans electronica, experimental rock and synth-pop.

Listening to these guys is like listening to the Road Warrior soundtrack in a collision with the Blade Runner soundtrack mixed with a healthy dose of Suicide on tons of drugs. It's crazy noisy jittery post punk that will rule your world!

They've just released their album From The Top Of My Tree and it's a doozy. You can order it via CD Baby.

Download: Hear and Believe

AmpLive Is In Disguise !

With the January 27th release of The Take Over growing closer by the day, Zion I’s AmpLive and Zumbi are fanning the flames of anticipation with the release of The Search and the Seizure Mixtape.

In keeping with the title of their forthcoming album, the mixtape finds the Bay Area duo commandeering other artists’ tunes. What did you expect? Sinatra covers?

The A-side, if you will, features a run of hip-hop classics, complemented with verses from Talib Kweli, Deuce Eclipse and Codany Holiday. The B-side finds Amp and Zumbi stepping into indie and electro territory, with remixes of Muse, Santogold, MGMT and much more, so boom-bap addicts and fans of Amp's recent remixes for Radiohead, Jamie Lidell, Tapes N Tapes and more should have plenty to sink their teeth into.

Download: The Search and The Seizure Mixtape (via their site)
Download: The Rebel
Download: Gotsta Chill (Temperature RMX) ft. Talib Kweli
Download: Santogold One RMX ft. The Grouch

Take Off...To The Great White North

Canadian band alert.

Yes it's true the Great White North has unleashed yet another band. Plajia, as one might expect from the netherworld up there, writes massively huge songs as well as they write quirky off kilter pop songs. It's kind of like if err...Of Montreal were actually from there and hung out with Chris Martin.

Anyway, Plajia has recently released it's album called Beautiful Explosion it's eleven songs of quirky grandiosity that's imaginative and quite good. So much so, Plajia has recently been nominated with Beautiful Explosion for the Grand Prix de la relève Archambault 2008. If you like your tunes big or slightly strange than you'll dig this band.

Download: Beautiful Explosion
Download: Dummy

Florence's Dog Days

Florence and the Machine, one of London’s most talked about new talents, will be releasing her second single in America on December 2nd through IAMSOUND, called Dog Days Are Over.

The song was produced by James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco and Last Shadow Puppets (also producer for Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, etc.) and the b-side is a cover of “You Got The Love” by The Source feat Candi Staton.

The song’s already been added to BBC Radio 1 and select radio stations around the US, coming off a successful run of shows at Glastonbury, Reading, Leads, Bestival and others, as well as an earlier tour with MGMT.

For those of you over in the UK, Florence is running up and down the countryside...
Jan 29 - Liverpool University
Jan 30 - Carling Academy
Feb 1 - Carling Academy Newcastle
Feb 3 - Carling Academy Sheffield
Feb 4 - Carling Academy Birmingham
Feb 6 - Manchester University
Feb 8 - Academy Leeds
Feb 10 Lincoln Engine Shed
Feb 11 - Nottingham Rock City (14+)
Feb 12 - Norwich UEA
Feb 14 - Cardiff University
Feb 15 - Carling Academy Bristol
Feb 16 - Brighton Dome
Feb 17 - Carling Academy Oxford
Feb 19 - Portsmouth Pyramid Centre
Feb 20 - Cambridge Corn Exchange
Feb 21 - London Carling Academy Brixton

For those of us not in the UK you can watch the video for the new single...



Download: Postcards from Italy (Beirut Cover)
Download: Girl With One Eye (Live)
Download: Hospital Beds (Cold War Kids Cover, Live)

Put On Your Buffet Pants!

Ladies and gentlemen, The Buffetlibre DJ's are back with a new mixtape: Hit! .

Two months after their last mixtape Verbena 5, and one month before the releasing of Rewind Part 2, Hit! is nothing but a funny experience they compiled from some of the hits that we they've played at their gigs.

And if you're lucky enough to live in Europe, you can see them live! Check out the dates...

27 November 2008 - Noise Club (Barcelona)
28 November 2008 - Obbio (Sevilla)
29 November 2008 - Fever (Bilbao)
3 December 2008 - The Ruby Lounge (Manchester, UK)
4 December 2008 - Sick Note (Edinburgh, UK)
5 December 2008 - Whip It! at The Amersham Arms (London, UK)
6 December 2008 - The Lock Tavern (London, UK)
18 December 2008 - Cultura Club (Palma de Mallorca)
19 December 2008 - Be Cool (Barcelona)
25 December 2008 - Noise Club (Barcelona)
26 December 2008 - Pop Bar, Razzmatazz (Barcelona)
31 December 2008 - Verbena Fin de Año en Be Cool (Barcelona)
9 January 2009 - Club Gare (Porto, Portugal)
10 January 2009 - Minimercado (Lisboa, Portugal)
24 January 2009 - Low Club (Madrid)
31 January 2009 - Cotton Club (Lleida)
20 February 2009 - Sixty Million Postcards (Bournemouth,UK)

Download: HIT (32 tracks in all one handy dandy mix!)

I Heart Little Boots

The arrival of Little Boots has signalled something of a collective epiphany. Sometimes you don't know what has been missing from your life until it's right there in the room with you, and then you wonder how you ever managed without it.

It has been barely a year since her solo project tentatively began, and already Victoria Hesketh is UK pop music's most talked about new star. Ticking off every major piece of next big thing feature press before she had a properly released single to her name, she's a rare instance of mirrored and completely justified industry and public hysteria. Each crystal-tipped sabre of dance-pop truth is as instant and succinct as it is pulse-racingly powerful.

Her first EP has arrived in America under the name Arecibo. It's amazing stuff and one of my Top 10 Singles of 2008. To celebrate the release of the single Stateside, IAMSOUND gives you the a remix of the super classic Meddle single! Download it, and buy Arecibo from ITunes or straight from IAmSound.

Watch... (Download at the bottom of post)
Meddle Live


Stuck On Repeat

Download: Meddle (Baron von Luxxury’s Technicolor Remix)

My Dear Disco

My Dear Disco’s latest full-length, Dancethink LP, features mixes by Grammy-nominated engineer Mark Saunders and his multi-platinum record generating studio in New York, the same people responsible for the sound of Shiny Toy Guns 2007 Warner Brothers release We Are Pilots, Tricky’s Maxinquaye, David Byrne’s Feelings, and The Cure’s Wish.

With music featuring electrified Irish Bagpipes, and a line-up including a two-time International Acoustic Music Award winning composer, a three-time Ireland’s World Champion instrumentalist, a first place Michigan Idol winning singer, and two first place M-Block Records “New Music on the Block” winning recording artists, My Dear Disco has just about got it all.

Think of My Dear Disco as a bit Hercules and Love Affair, a bit St. Etienne, a bit Intastella, and a bit Donna Summer. One listen to lead track, "White Lies," will pretty much confirm that. It's a huge pop production that sounds like it belongs on FM radio and in huge mega clubs. Not bad for a band from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Download: White Lies

Our Secret History

Desolation Town, is the debut EP from New York City’s The Secret History, released earlier this month on November 12, 2008 by the Le Grand Magistery record label. The Secret History was formed in 2007 by songwriter Michael Grace Jr., best known for acclaimed cult indie pop band My Favorite.

The Secret History also features vocalist Lisa Ronson, daughter of Bowie guitarist, and glam rock legend Mick Ronson. Le Grand Magistery is a label which has earned it’s reputation as a critics favorite by bringing artists like Stars, Momus, Baxendale and PAS/CAL to American ears for the first time.

The lead track “It’s Not The End of The World, Jonah” presents the shabby end of a hipster ‘belle epoch’ as an allusion laden night at the discotheque, where all memory and desire collapse. Driven by brittle funk and a dramatic trumpet break by frequent Arcade Fire member Kelly Pratt, the song becomes a vehicle for the longing and unease in Ms. Ronson’s voice, alternating in fits and starts.

Download: It's Not The End of The World, Jonah
Download: Our Lady of Pompeii

Kicking Back In A Modern Skirt

You don't need to be a music major to recognize that the twelve tracks on Modern Skirts' sophomore album, All Of Us In Our Night, are unusually constructed. They have unexpected twists and turns, chords that startle with their novelty, and melodies that feel refreshingly original. And you don't need to be an aficionado to get excited by such infectious choruses – they'll get stuck in the heads of neophyte listeners and super-hipsters alike. So call it "pop", call it "twee", call it "indie", call it "classic" if you must. Better yet, call it what it is- a collection of fantastic, irresistible, entirely unclassifiable songs.

Some might say we've come up with our own homegrown version of Sloan: an obvious band of accomplished musicians who know their rock history intimately and have a similar knack for matching hooky verses with dazzling choruses. But that wouldn't do justice to the band's offbeat diction and endlessly intriguing lyrics. We'll put it this way: you won't always know exactly what's happening in a Modern Skirts song, but you'll always be curious, and surprised, at where they're going next.

And you can see for yourself if you live in the Deep South as Modern Skirts are on tour!

11.20.08 - Raleigh, NC - The Pour House
11.21.08 - Charlotte, NC - Snug Harbor
11.22.08 - Augusta, GA - Sky City
11.23.08 - Athens, GA - Melting Point
11.28.08 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl

Download: Soft Pedals

The Phantom Band Strikes Back

The Phantom Band releases Checkmate Savage January 27th, 2009 on Glasgow label Chemikal Underground. Recorded in Glasgow at the label's own Chem 19 and then in Franz Ferdinand's Govan facility, this record features Paul Savage of The Delgados as producer, engineer, and guiding force. The recording sessions were like their early jams: long, meandering and experimental; the band beating out rhythms on broken wood blocks and organist Andy's 'shelvaphones', a home-made instrument created from metal shelf brackets.

The end result is truly special, bringing to mind the beat savvy of The Beta Band, the other-worldliness of Super Furry Animals and the mood of Hallowed Ground-era Violent Femmes.

They called themselves The Phantom Band after a period of switching their identity with each successive gig, performing as Wooden Trees, Robert Redford and more. Early photos of the band pictured them with bags over their heads. It's all part of their mystery and sense of the bizarre: some shows have seen them play with a giant, smoke breathing wolf head, others, with a Stairmaster onstage so audience members can work-out during their set.

How can you not love a band like that and that sounds good?

Download: Folk Song Oblivion
Download: Burial Sounds
Download: Left Hand Wave

Dancer Vs. Politician Isn't Even Close

Dancer Vs. Politician, the musical project of German native Sanni Baumgaertner, has recently released A City Half Lost. Featuring the accordion, guitar, musical saw, and lyrics in both German and English the album is reminiscent of old Sarah Records or old Summershine twee pop if it were sung in German.

Produced by Matt Yelton (The Pixies, Frank Black), Andy Baker (The Glands, Azure Ray, Shannon Wright), and Sanni herself, A City Half-Lost features a number of Athens and Berlin musicians. Including members of Phosphorescent, The Olivia Tremor Control, The Glands, and Five-Eight, it was recorded over a period of two years in Athens, Georgia, and Berlin, Germany.

After traveling back and forth for the last three years and playing shows in the US and Germany, Dancer Vs. Politician brings a three-piece backing band, featuring keyboards, samples, glockenspiel, viola, drums, and bass on A City Half Lost.

Download: Mach Dich Los
Download: Justin Fairborn

Absentee Counts...Album Released

This write up is short and sweet, because well...I already wrote about Absentee back in August. But Absentee released its new album, Victory Shorts, two weeks ago here in the United States of America on label Memphis Industries (The Go! Team, The Pipettes, The Ruby Suns, and more) and since it's frickin' awesome they deserved a second go-round.

Tackling themes of premature marriage proposals, adultery, lost property, love, and broken crockery, Absentee provide the soundtrack for every lost soul who took a wrong turn whilst looking for the right one.

Born to the sounds of Barry Manilow and The Carpenters, raised on romantic comedies, and schooled in failed love and misfiring lust… Absentee emerge well-versed in the rigours of romance with their finest album to date, Victory Shorts.

Download: Bitchstealer
Download: They Do It These Days

Hooray For Earth On Tour...Jumps For Joy In Jacksonville

Boston/New York band Hooray For Earth embark an East Coast Tour this December to support their latest record Hooray For Earth, releasing January 13th on Dopamine Records.

They're actually coming through Florida and stopping by Jacksonville on December 13th (see dates below). This is a good thing as Hooray For Earth are a rather stunningly good band that somehow manages to take the synth work last heard on Europe's Final Countdown and reconstruct in an indie rock format with hooks that are so big they could reel in a 150 foot long whale shark.

Hooray For Earth have nothing but are sugary sweet songs in their arsenal and if you ever thought that Weezer, The Benjamin's, or The Rentals were among the best POP bands ever than you will seriously dig these guys. Jacksonville people...GO TO THIS SHOW.

Check out the dates...
11.14.08 - Boston, MA - The Paradise *
11.15.08 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hal of Williamsburg *
11.16.08 - Washington DC - Velvet Lounge
12.04.08 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwells *
12.05.08 - Baltimore, MD - Fletchers *
12.06.08 - Philadephia, PA - Northstar Bar
12.07.08 - Washington DC - The Red and the Black
12.08.08 - Chapel Hill, NC - The Cave
12.10.08 - Birmingham, AL - The Nick
12.11.08 - Athens, GA - Go Bar ^
12.13.08 - Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbits
12.14.08 - Charlotte, NC - Milestone
* with Bang Camero ^ with Spring Tigers

Download: Take Care
Download: Want Want Want

I Got Beaten Up By Them

Logic Pole/Thrill Jockey releases the latest by Beaten By Them, Signs Of Life, a dynamic and cinematic fusion of classical influences and instrumental rock music. Their music originates in the gritty tones of Andrew Harris’s guitar and is filtered through the sensibilities of Max McCormick, whose arrangements owe more to beats-based electronic and world music than rock. Cellist Boima Tucker is a key ingredient in Beaten by Them: his performances, which are lyrical and fiery, truly define the band’s sound. The spaciousness and power of Beaten by Them’s music owe much to the spontaneity of drummer Ulf Bjorkbom, a regular player in San Francisco’s jazz scene.

They truly make music that's epic in a introspective, inner view sort of way. It's dramatic, emotional and deeply touching. In other words it might be instrumental, but it's really really good stuff.

Download: The Asiatic Capital Vista

What The Heck Is A Fol Chen?

"You know that mysterious black object that the creepy family is staring at on the cover of Led Zeppelin's "Presence" album? Fol Chen sound like that. But we don't sound like Led Zeppelin. (We actually do a little.) Instead, we sound like Prince with Amon Duul II and a children's religious revival, not to mention Hot Chip, Pink Floyd, Gwen Stefani, Pere Ubu, Danielson Famile, Scritti Politti, Boards of Canada, The Blow, and Pulp. (Mostly.) We are using secret powers and the guidance of legendary DJ Donna Donna to combat our nemesis, John Shade. We are cryptic and joyful and we would like you to dance."

I'm not really sure what the heck Fol Chen are on about up there, but their single Cable TV is an addictive St. Etienne blast of retro pop cool that sounds like it's more from 90's London than Los Angeles.

Their album, John Shade, Your Fortune's Made comes out on Asthmatic Kitty on February 3rd of next year, and if the single is any indication it's going to be a kitschy cool retro indie pop dance masterpiece. Until then try to figure out what the heck a Fol Chen is and download their single.

Download: Cable TV

I've Got A State Shirt

State Shirt aka Ethan Tufts sculpts fiery, intense indie rock anthems for the wondering, wandering and hopeful. Venturing wildly into the farthest corners of heavy-hearted American landscapes, State Shirt’s music displays vivid, gripping stories of nostalgia, despair and hope.

From Southern California’s droning and faceless San Fernando Valley to the snowy back roads of Western Massachusetts and steeped in a cycle of inescapable, mind-numbing full-time jobs, State Shirt relies on hand-built loops, neglected instruments and riveting vocals to artfully describe captivity in a familiar never-ending cycle: work, drink, sleep, repeat.

This Is Old, State Shirt’s deeply textured second album, a set of swirling and burning indie-tronic statements proving that monotonous lives can produce exceptional results.

Download: This Is Old

Not Just So So

The SO SO GLOS are four brothers who play the punk rock and roll that they believe in. Originally from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, they now live at the Market Hotel in Bushwick- a space they founded that is both their home and community. Brews, smokes and music blasting, the J train crushing along the tracks outside, non-stop.

That is their music: aggressive, urgent, and immediate- political and poetic because it has to be. But these Brooklyn kids aren’t just touting the same old punk; Graced with electro MPC breaks, surf sounds, gang vox, and a little tambo it sounds fresh. Still though, after the rubble settles and the smoke clears, its unmistakeably punk rock in its spirit.

Download: 99 Degrees (Ninjasonik Remix) ---Via RCRDLBL
Download: Throw Your Hands Up ---Via RCRDLBL

Lowfish Is Frozen and Broken

Lowfish's clinical production style is both very modern and built on the DNA of early new wave and IDM. Sometimes dark, often melodic and multi-layered, Lowfish tracks strive for meaning, timelessness and quality. The weapons of choice are what they have been from the start; semi-operational analog synths, temperamental drum machines and scratchy recording gear. The name Lowfish is a reference to these dusty machines and his early lo-fi “ish” sound - thus Lowfish.

With six albums and a stack of singles behind him, 2008 see’s Lowfish aggressively pushing his sound forward. He’s been hard at work distilling his pristine electro and throbbing analog buzz into a new techno variant. The playfulness of yesteryear is somewhere deep in the background with the fine detail of machinery and staccato bass lines taking the fore. The result is frozen&broken on Noise Factory Records. Ten brand new tracks of edgy analog electronica reminiscent of Lowfish’s famed Suction Records era IDM and an aberrant dance floor sound built from his most deviant sound palette to date.

Download: Things Fall Apart
Download: Frozen & Broken
Download: DFD

Future Clouds And Radar

Austin-based Future Clouds and Radar, is an eclectic art-pop ensemble headed by Robert Harrison. They released their ambitious self-titled double disc debut last year to a degree of critical acclaim. An eclectic release that paid no attention to any set sort of template, the record hopped around genre's like the Easter Bunny.

A year later and Future Clouds and Radar are at it again. The band recently released it's latest release, Peoria, on Election Day. Where the first album showed Harrison as the central figure in a large musical cast, Future Clouds and Radar’s latest offering finds the core band focusing their kaleidoscopic vision into a single cinematic narrative about the illusory nature of mortality. Throughout the record, Harrison stays true to his genre-hopping eclecticism, leading the journey through a maze of fuzz-box vocals and ethereal keys. That of course makes for some darn fine listening and when you have a song that includes EPCOT in the title, you're going to win me over no matter what genre you play.

Download: The EPCOT View

Apologies.

So...It's been a while. It's been too long to be honest, but I've had a shit ton of reasons why I haven't posted in a while. However, most of those reasons have indeed worked themselves out. About the only thing that hasn't worked out has been my damn cold; I still have this incessant need to take Nyquil and blow my nose.

Fear not though, I feel well enough to jump back on to The POP! Stereo and resume what was pretty consistent up until mid-October. A month later and we'll be back on the bus kickin' out the jams and giving you fine folks new tuneage.

Thanks to everyone that's visited and commented and sent me stuff. I'm going to be playing an epic game of catch up but I will catch up. I promise.

Ok...enough apologizing. Posting will resume almost immediately...