HotChaCha

The World’s Hardest Working Telescope and the Violent Birth of Stars, is the much anticipated debut full-length from the ladies of HotChaCha, and follow up to 2008’s critically acclaimed EP, Rifle, I Knew You When You Were Just a Pistol.

The full-length finds HotChaCha expanding upon many of the ideas laid out on their debut EP, and adding new instrumentation and sophistication to their arrangements in addition to naming their records with titles that are their own paragraphs.

The 11 songs presented on The World’s Hardest Working Telescope and the Violent Birth of Stars, run the gamut from staccato sing-a-longs to slowly building atmospheric explorations. This is not your sisters garage rock band. While many of HotChaCha’s songs come in at under the three-and-a-half minute mark, are incredibly danceable, and high energy, it would be an oversimplification to classify them solely as adherents to the ol “punk / new wave” formula.

Think Pearl from Powder, the whole of Sahara Hot Nights, the mysticism of Concrete Blonde, and a hot Los Angeles night and you have a pretty good idea of where HotChaCha are coming from. It's an infectious combination that's as sexy as it is garagey. Add in a sense of hilarity for naming songs things you would never think and you have one heck of a band that's so much more than just another average garage rock revival band.

Download: Ticket Away From Prague
Download: Hookers Deserve A Life Time Achievement Award
Download: Bob Has A Better Cow

The Bullet and The Snowfox

Bullet & Snowfox was born in a quaint West Hollywood café in the late summer of 2008. It was there, at Joey’s Café, that Kristen Wagner and Josh Shapiro saw the perfect creative counterpart to one another and thus, the music making began. After both having been involved in un-fulfilling projects, they were convinced that it was time to do things their own way.

With Josh heading up the track writing and Kristen covering all things vocal, they easily established a division of labor that gives the songwriting process an element of freedom that both had been so desperately looking for. With influences that span across the map from Siouxsie and the Banshees to Megadeth, they have developed an indie-dance-pop sound that is truly all their own.

With song subjects ranging from bitter break-ups to a quirky take on neurosis, they clearly cover all the bases when showcasing the make up of their personalities. Although these two bandits hail from opposite coasts, Kristen from San Diego and Josh from Pittsburgh, they share more in common than even they would care to admit. Both were raised in middle class homes with relatively sane parents, both college graduates, both have limited tolerance for general stupidity, both are maddeningly stubborn, and both just wouldn’t settle for the painfully suburban lives they were set up for. Eventually, amongst the sea of dreamers wandering the streets of L.A., they found each other and set out to conquer the universe (or at the very least, write some great songs.)

That right there is my kind of band. The take the gloss, sheen and plasticity of Los Angeles rough it up a bit, dip it in sugar and come out with pop songs that will own you. They're seductive, hooky, and freaking really really great. If all pop music was like this Lady Ga Ga would be living in a refrigerator box!

Download: Undercover
Download: Bad Days

True Womanhood

Today's Treasure Trove comes to us from the Department of Experimental Indie Rock and Adriana Lima!

Four-foot industrial blades hanging like chimes. A disassembled church organ rigged with wires running into a computer. As much art installation as rock concert, the most conventional things on True Womanhood’s stage are the timpani drums. And these homemade instruments are not mere sonic curiosities but integral parts of the band’s tightly crafted, inventive songwriting. Grounded on friendships going back to middle school, band members Thomas Redmond, Melissa Beattie and Noam Elsner play in an instinctual style that is sonically and emotionally loud.

The trio has emerged out of the doldrums of post-Dischord Washington, D.C. with a collection of haunting pop gems that are surprisingly mature given the band’s youthful exuberance and predisposition towards experimental music. True Womanhood is not merely satisfied with merely making music as it is inventing it!

Download: Magic Child
Download: Dignitas

Billen-aires Boys Club

A lot of things have changed for Sam Billen recently. He is about to release his first solo record in 5 years with indie label The Record Machine. It is his first since leaving Northern Records who also released his decade-long band, The Billions, that called it quits last year. After the break up of the Billions, Sam took some time to focus on making his own music and starting a family (Sam just recently became a father).

Produced and recorded and made entirely by Sam himself, Headphones and Cellphones sees him adapting rather nicely to being away from the band dynamic. He's still got the ability to write quirky pop songs but now they're purely his creation and come off sounding a bit like The Postal Service. Yeah, I know that's a bit cliche, but Sam does have a voice that would make Ben Gibbard blush and if the songs are this good, then who cares.

Headphones and Cellphones is music with a heart and soul and I guess that's bound to happen when you become a dad. Good stuff indeed.

Download: Different Lives
Download: Made Concrete (Republic of Tigers cover)
Download: Spritle (Deastro cover)

Max Justus Is Busy

The latest post from the Treasure Trove comes to us from Wisconsin...

Since age fifteen Max Justus has been working on various projects in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin when he released his first album and opening for illustrious artists Tortoise, Daniel Lanios (solo artist and producer of bands ranging from U2 to Bob Dylan), and Bob Mould of Husker Du. At nineteen he moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he now resides completing two albums, Ophelia and Talk to Strangers , which are only available digitally on Myspace. At twenty-one Max released his first record with Kansas City based label The Record Machine entitled Five Leaping Leopards to much critical success. He has also completed remixes of Kanye West, C & C Music Factory, and Rainbow Arabia.

In just three short years Max Justus has released five albums. At that pace Max Justus releases a new record every seven months. It was just seven months ago when Max was releasing his remixes of Kanye West and just a few months before that he released Five Leaping Leopards. On his newest album No Mercy we find Max taking his mixture of electro, hip hop, and dubstep in new directions.

That's what makes this guy fun to listen to. Not only does he refuse to slow down, he refuses to conform to the parameters of the genre. At times weird, at times pure pop bliss, Max Justus is all over the place in the best possible way. It probably shouldn't work, but it does and it's a testament of just how good this guy is. It'll probably be a week before his next album, so get busy and listen to all the tracks below!

Download: Bending Space and Time
Download: Sweat
Download: Ctrl Alt Dance (Coulson's Cheap Arcade Edit)
Download: Queens Club - Nightmarer (Max Justus Remix)

I And I and You

Weird Animals is Adam Sarmiento's fourth release under the name I and I and it continues in the genre defying modern pop mode that made the last album (White Noise/Black Music) so compelling.

With a name like I and I you would think that Adam would be doing some sort of reggae thing. Admit it, you're thinking I and I is going to crank up the Rastafarian jams, turn up the dub-meter and get in touch with your consciousness. Now you're thinking why they hell would that be on here. Well, I and I is 100% free of all frat boy love for reggae.

Instead, I and I is the sound of a Casio being programmed by Wall-E and then David Gahan singing very dryly on top of Wall-E's creation. It's a bit chilly, sparse, and dark but he has this knack of finding a melody amongst all that. It's twisted stuff that at times seems a little dire, but Adam always finds his way back to something that you can latch on to and that's what makes Weird Animals an enjoyable listen.

Download: Only Grey
Download: Weird Animals

Wallpaper Hangs Another Roll

Wallpaper. just dropped their new video for "Gettin' Drip". With effects and backgrounds that look like something out of a video game from 1989, the video features drummer Arjun Singh and the frontman Ricky Reed strolling throughout various scenes as they try to get their party on.

"A lot of time and money was spent on this video," Singh says. "We had originally projected a budget of $0.00 but due to some unforeseen last minute expenses, we ended up paying $11.82 (and this came out of pocket, mind you)."

"In order to get the video textured just the right way, our director Todd Berger played the video from his computer, filmed it with his camera phone, imported it to his Facebook, had his mom download it as a .wav, recorded it over his Grandpa's 'Magic of David Copperfield III' VHS and then submitted the tape to the Internet," he adds. "That's some real magic."

These guys are one of my favorite bands at the moment, simply because they have their tongues firmly planted in cheek. They're hilarious (just watch the video) and they actually write some pretty decent tunes without even trying. These guys bring the party because they are the party!

Download: Get Drip
Watch:

Westside Is The Bestside

Founded in the eighties, Westside Music was an early champion of Euro-club music, which in turn had a big influence on the American House scene. Artists on the label include Moskwa TV, Microchip League, Celebrate The Nun, Camouflage, Project One, and the Best Beats series. Many of Westside's releases entered the Billboard dance charts and other worldwide Dance charts, including some crossover hits that landed on more mainstream charts during the labels peak.

Production began in Germany in 1984, when label co-founder Achim Völker realized that there was a need for music that was made for DJs and clubgoers who frequented the massive discotechs that were so popular at that time. Now TwentyTen, Westside's follow-up label, is still hard at work promoting these electro classics-- not just in Germany and Europe, but across the world, thanks to its international appeal.

Download: MCL - Short Wave Symphony
Download: Jay Maroni - Everybody Dance
Download: Moskwa TV - Moskwa Electric
Download: Central Unit - Santiago

Don Diablo Knows It's Never Too Late

Here's another one from the Treasure Trove....

Never Too Late is the latest brainchild of Don Diablo , taken from his forthcoming album. The e.p. is set to be released digitally, as a taste maker for the album, at the end of November, right before the release of the official new single and video of Where I belong. The e.p. includes remixes by Jark Prongo, Deepgroove, Mason and others. Grab the original and the Mason remix right here, right now!

As an added bonus...'Too Cool For Amsterdam Bitch' is a cheeky bootleg by Hugo van Dyck based on Don Diablo's 'Too Cool For School', which proved to be quite the DJ weapon during the recent Amsterdam Dance Event, where it spread like wildfire among many of the world's biggest DJs and became one of the festival's biggest tunes.

Download: Never To Late via Mediafire
Download: Never To Late (Mason Remix) via Mediafire
Download: Too Cool For Amsterdam Bitch via Mediafire

Lee Coombs Sees the Light & Dark

The latest post from the Treasure Trove comes to us from a legend...

Lee Coombs is a man who needs little introduction, a constant name and face on the dance music landscape since the mid-1990s he has played a major part in charting the ever changing course of electronic music. Now he gives us an insight into his sound of 2009 with this his latest opus in the form of third artist album ‘Light and Dark’.

Light and Dark is in Coombs own words “a true tech funk album”, an amalgam of sounds and influences from dance music’s often disparate scenes. Alongside acts like Meat Katie, Dylan Rhymes and Elite Force, Coombs has pioneered this open minded attitude and helped forge thesound of ‘tech funk’, a fusion of techno, breaks, house and electro.

On this long player Coombs takes the tech funk spirit and develops it to the n’th degree, it is a true melting pot of influences, from the opening bars of the Diva driven Control with the wonderful Katherine Ellis to the final refrain of the heavily Echo & the Bunnymen inspired ‘Blues I’m Singing’.

Download: Light and Dark
Download: Control ft. Katherine Ellis

BuffetLibre Tackle The World For A Good Cause...

The final entry from tonight's Treasure Trove comes to us from Buffetlibre...They sent out this press release which is about their most ambitious project to date. Read on, the press release is unedited in it's entirety.

Four months before the release of PEACE, Buffetlibre announce the line up of this new initiative, co-produced by Amnesty International, that will Include exclusive songs by musicians from over 50 countries. The resulting compilation will be digitally available worldwide in January 2010, letting listeners pick their own price for the album, with a minimum of €2. All proceeds will go to Amnesty International's humanitarian aid projects in areas of conflict.

The line up of PEACE is comprised of some of the most important, popular and innovative artists around the world, with the clear goal of merging a stylistic variety. Headlined by the Oscar winner and founding member of the historic Yellow Magic Orchestra Ryuichi Sakamoto, Soft Cell's frontman Marc Almond and early pioneers of drum & bass music 4Hero, dozens of amazing artists as Tahiti 80, Dubstar, Patrick Wolf, Vive la Fete, I'm from Barcelona and Bonde do Role, to name only a few, comprise the lineup of this new adventure by Buffetlibre.

Also, the ensemble of artists who are part of PEACE (over one hundred) represent the music scene from countries as geographically and culturally distant as Algeria, Burundi, Ghana, Iceland, Indonesia, Colombia, Israel, South Korea, Lebanon, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Senegal, Thailand, Venezuela and Turkey. Regions of the world without an independent state are also represented in PEACE, with musicians from Greenland, Hong Kong, Palestine and Tibet.

The duo Buffetlibre Dj's present their most ambitious musical project to date, after experiences with Rewind, the 80's cover project downloaded by more than 1 million people, and Proyecto Batidora, the biggest remix project in the net.

Buffetlibre offer a free 4 track premiere from PEACE, with two covers by American band The Spinto Band and English songwriter Darren Hayman, and two exclusive songs by South Africa Dj Mujava and Spanish ladies Boat Beam.

Download: The Spinto Band- Mr Blue Sky (ELO cover)
Download: Darren Hayman - If You Were Here (Thompson Twins cover)
Download: Dj Mujava - Superstar (Feat. Dj NonSense)
Download: Boat Beam - Shadow Pool

In-Divisible!

Our next find in the Treasure Trove comes to us from Divisible.

Los Angeles-based band Divisible, consisting of singer Shola and drummer Albert Sadia, released it's debut album Less Than Lion, earlier in the summer.

It's a collection of songs (including a reinterpretation of Radiohead’s “Exit Music [For A Film]),” that explores Shola’s journey from the halls of Harvard to a West African reconciliation with her father, who lives in Ghana via a propulsive mixture of rock, electronica, and world music sounds.

Thankfully, it DOESN'T sound like the other 9 million bands in Los Angeles. While influenced by their surroundings and history, this band is far better than all of that combined. The songs are breezy and sensual with a bit of a global vibe about them. It's good stuff to say the least.

Download: Love Is The Cost
Download: Exit Music (For A Film)

One In A Googolplex

The latest in our Treasure Trove comes to us from One In a Googolplex .

One In A Googolplex is a German singer/songwriter taking his name from a line in the movie “Back To The Future III”. His music is genre-breaking and goes from acoustic to electro-pop.

After a short intermezzo as a singer in a teenage band and after extrapolating the properties of good audio from old Beach Boys cassettes, Coldplay records and Nick Drake’s singing, OIAG began to write his own songs with a ukulele and a very cheap guitar. It took 2 years of recording, experimenting, looking into space with a telescope, singing and mixing, and “The Proclaimer” was born, the first OIAG full-length album with 11 tracks, including the opener “Every Star Is A Thought”, a sublime, modern hymn about the influence of our beautiful celestial sphere on us.

One In A Googolplex is driven by the altruistic motive to bring joy into peoples’ lives and so he composed further songs for his album which was released over the summer, called Hands.

This latest release from OIAG is nothing less than an ode to life itself. With all its ups and downs, Hands reminds you with every track of the miracle of life, and that you should celebrate your existence.

Download: And the Sky Shall Be Painted

Download: Accents Yet Unspoken

So Fresh So Clean

Next in the Treasure Trove, we have The Clean...

What can be said about The Clean? In 1978, they were the seeds of New Zealand punk. They carved out a big sandbox for everyone to play in, and their influence resonated not only in New Zealand but around the world.

The New York Times described The Clean: “This New Zealand band, which has been going off and on since 1978, plays a jangly, damaged kind of guitar pop and was a primary influence on Pavement and Yo La Tengo, and therefore virtually all of current indie rock." In 2003, Merge Records released Anthology, the 2-disc compilation of tracks and song cycles from across The Clean’s musical career. Anthology was chosen by Blender Magazine as one of the 100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever.

This summer’s Mister Pop saw The Clean continue the great pop pastiche that made them famous with a record that's a modern update of their classic sound.

Download: In A Dream Life You Need A Rubber Soul

Citified Move On In Your Absence

The latest finds from the Treasure Trove, starts here...

It makes sense that in a year following a reunion by one of the highlights of shoegaze, My Bloody Valentine, and a late-period masterpiece by the former Red House Painter Mark Kozelek (as Sun Kil Moon), that Greensboro, North Carolina’s Citified would return with Absence–a record that splits the difference between the softly driven lyrical work of the latter and the hazy crunch of the former.

Think about Swervedriver’s gift for finding the classic pop and rock structures beneath the murk of shoegaze and you’ve hit exactly upon what Citified have created in their third release. Returning with the same lineup that created 2008’s The Meeting After the Meeting, Chris Jackson (vocals/guitar), DM Franklin Kane (bass), Diego Diaz (guitar) and Eric Ussery (drums) have created their strongest outing yet.

Download: Absence

The Cassettes Still Won't Listen

Fresh from a year of releasing an instrumental album titled Into The Hillside, a free remix EP, Fremix, as well as countless remixes for bands such as Dappled Cities, The Dears, and Broken Spindles, Cassettes Won't Listen (Jason Drake) has returned with a brand new single titled "Perfect Day".

It's kind of got an old school hip hop vibe to it that intermingles with the songs indie pop sensibility. The results are a funky little tune that has some nifty synth work and hooks that could catch whale sharks. If, "Perfect Day," is any indication of what's in store for us in 2010, I think we might already have a contender for a top ten album of the year.

Download: Perfect Day (Remix)

The Minor Leagues Are Something Major

Ben Walpole wishes he were British, fronting Pulp in 1995. Patrick Helmes wishes he
were playing lead for Megadeth in 1988. But cruel fate has instead placed them both in the Minor Leagues, playing insidiously catchy indiepop for most of the last decade from their Cincinnati, Ohio homebase.

It's truly amazing how much the members contrast but at the same time how much they work together to create absolutely fabulous pop music. These guys are so hyper active and perky that their songs are by far more cheery then either of their contemporaries (obviously Megadeth). It really shouldn't work at all, and in listening to Minor Leagues, you kind of just wait for the killer mosh riff to show up or some line of sexual perversion to whisk but they never do. Instead, this all works out so well and the songs are so good that it's truly amazing.

Joined live by John Kathman (Nirvana, 1993), Josh Combs (Kinks, 1967), Luke McGlasson
(Specials, 1978), Amanda Lee Anderson (Belle & Sebastian, 1999) and Hilly Kenkel
(Ronettes, 1962), the Minor Leagues are preparing to take their now-septet on the road this fall and winter, touring the Midwest and beyond in support of their new record entitled This Story Is Old, I Know, But It Goes On.

Download: Good Boys
Download: Love That Never Was

Project: Komakino Will Haunt You

Project: Komakino began as the solo music project of Kris Kane in March 2007. The project follows a simple manifesto, purely; “To Konstrukt!”. PROJECT:KOMAKINO was unveiled at the now legendary Experimental Circle Club in April 2007 and received high praise. From there Kris has gone on to play a number of gigs with the like minded up folks, such as Ipso Facto, Electricity In Our Homes and Ulterior.

The band has been referred to as a group of shadows, clad in uniforms of espionage and driven by the duende. With songs about dystopian futures and darker times, the music is disturbing and makes the skin twitch. The music is heavily influenced by British post punk, Constructive Design and Dystopian literature.

With those sorts on influences, there should be no surprise that Project: Komakino sounds remarkably like Joy Division. In fact, "Civility," almost sounds like a long lost Joy Division B-Side found rotting in the Factory offices. It's kind of a derivative of JD, but it's such a dead ringer and so close it's almost impossible not to like it. It's as if Ian was in the room.

After a sold-out single for the Parisian designer April77 and an EP for the hip London label Parlour Records, Project: Komakino will release its first album, The Struggle For Utopia, on the newly launched desire label.

Download: Civility
Download: Syndrome (Tom Furse Remix)

They're So Sneaky

The latest post from the POP! Stereo Treasure Trove comes to us from Australia.

Arguably one of the biggest bands in Australia this past year has been Sneaky Sound System. Their single ‘I Love It’ had the longest chart run in Oz history, their debut album has gone twice platinum and at one point they had four singles in the Top 40. They played the Antipodean Live Earth concert, supported Robbie Williams, and cleaned up at the Arias, the down-under version of the Brits. Yet Sneaky are not a hard-touring rock band or a manufactured pop act. They’re certainly pop and proud of it, but their background lies in their country’s unbelievable dance scene.

Sneaky Sound System are Sydney trio Miss Connie (Connie Mitchell), Black Angus (Angus McDonald), and MC Double D (Daimon Downey), three very different characters bonded by a riotous sense of fun. Their origins lie in the hugely successful club night Sneaky Sundays, thus they make music imbued with frolicking nightlife energy but also flecked with sing-along radio-friendly 1980s electro-pop.

Download: Its Not My Problem (Thin White Duke Remix)

Watch: UFO

Smooth Crimen-inal

One doesn't exactly think of Mexico as a musical hot bed when it comes to dance music. Perhaps, traditional Latin music, but not pill munching, hands in the air, electronic mayhem. But as time marches on, things seem to be changing with the aid of the Internet and technology.

Among those leading the way is Crimen! Hailing from Leon, Mexico, this DJ/producer takes things down a dark and heavy roadway where you're as likely to be run over by a drug cartel as you are a pack of lost ravers. It's brutally good stuff that builds up and then explodes much like a fuel air bomb; lots of destruction be it the dance floor so some unsuspecting village.

Is it any good? Hell yes. If you like loud bleepy noise and some old style techno chaos this will have your reaching for a hearing aid after about three listens.

Download: War
Download: Bass and Diamonds (ft. Fresh Girls)

Skipp Whitman's Tale Of The Tape

The latest from the POP! Stereo Treasure Trove, Skipp Whitman originally released his Clean Mixtape last year, after a bit of a brouhaha with the Richard Pryor estate. A year later and it's back and there's even more. Read on...

Skipp Whitman’s a Whiteboy. Born to artists. Raised at his father’s recording studio in Boston, at his mother’s art studio in Brookline, at his father’s recording studio in New York, at his mother’s art studio in Lincoln (a Boston suburb). Skipp was raised on weekend mornings in New England, on hardwood floors with a pet, a parent, and either Prince Records (at mom’s) or a vocorder/keyboard (at dad’s . . you know, ‘86).

Starting out in an upper-middle class town (namely, Brookline), Skipp was surrounded by the American Dream. His parents struggled, as most artists do. Fortunately, he learned early that in order to be an artist, you don’t have to be ‘starving.’ Fierce, stubborn, independent. Split-brained, impressed by a book he read in ’89 called TRUMP: THE ART OF THE DEAL all while nurturing a pre-teen love for something called Rap Music.

High School, Drugs, Peers, Beers, Athletically Declined, and a Gemini Sampler with the 8 second sample-loop option: Skipp wrote. Any four bar break to any rap song ever, turned very quickly into an instrumental. Skipp wrote. Freestyles, Battles, Respect, Fans, Response, Girls, Girls, Girls . . . . staying money-hungry, Skipp majored in Accounting in College, while nurturing a love for Rap Music.

Download: The Clean Mixtape
Download: The Whitman Fiasco

Ooh La La Its Le Le

Not much is known about LeLe. Emerging from the dark recesses of the dance floor, they release dance floor nuggets that are not only classic in their approach but in their sound. Coming off something like a 80's sort of freestyle group mashed together with Daft Punk and a bit of pure techno LeLe will appeal to anyone with feet.

As if to make a point, their latest single, Disco Monster is a corker of a tune. It's a vocal electronic battle weapon that takes a dark evil voice, loops it through some Christopher Just and then drops in some Italo for good measure. Brilliant stuff that's funky, dark, and really rather good.

Garnering support from DJ Mehdi, Busy P, Breakbot, Brodinski, Jo ost van Bellen, Erol Alkan, Tom Trago and many more they've just released a whole host of remixes. Housed in a Parra sleeve, the record has mixes from Azari, Marco Solo, Seymour Bits, and Alectro.

Download: Disco Monster
Download: Disco Monster (Seymour Bits' Subsonic Monster Remix)

Don't Get To Phil Ospherical On Me Now...

Yeah, I don't know what the hell that title means either. It's supposed to be something along the lines of don't get all philosophical on me now.

Anyway, Phil and the Osophers are quite an ambitions and accomplished band without having ever actually been signed to a record label other than their own. This is a band that has released five albums of material and contains three members that have published several books. Gus the bass player has 9 titles to his credit! Talk about being multimedia savvy.

If that wasn't enough, the band has it's own label, Factual Fabrications. Their latest album "Toward Conquering The Invisible North" received rave reviews and garnered a delightful video for High Art, in which the band perform laser eye surgery on a friend. While digital is the most sustainable resource, Osophers fans can still buy their physical albums from Factual Fabrications. All album art are printed on recycled paper and they use only recycled jewel cases. That keeps the cost and price down.

Anyway, I unearthed this material from the POP! Stereo treasure trove/archives and decided to share it with you! Enjoy.

Download: Third World American
Download: High Art
Download: International Introvert

Polymorphic Raises Some Hell

As the days get darker so shall the music, and it's with that in mind, that note we welcome back the fold Moscow's own Polymorphic with the ever turbulent Rock On EP. This time out Polymorphic delivers the goods with 3 new tracks, 'Rock On', 'Scream' & 'Move Faster'. The EP also features a remix of the title track by Marseille who also had a hand it turning
out Proxy's Raven last year.

Repetitive to the point where your head might explode, this EP is not for the feint at heart. With a bit of old school rave coursing through the tunes as well as some decidedly brutal synths, the tunes here are heavy as hell and insist on causing as much damage as possible.

Polymorphic gets what he asks for as pretty much everything that stands in the way of this EP gets crushed in a fearless display of electronic aggression. Brutally brilliant!

Download: Rock On
Download: Scream

The Bravery Are Nothing But Spectators

It looks like the Bravery are making a full on assault on the world prior to their new album release. The new album, Stir The Blood, comes out on December 1 and it looks like they'll be firing warning shots until then. With the album's first single "Slow Poison" being played on radio stations throughout the land, the song "The Spectator," which will be on Stir The Blood, will also be released tomorrow on the Vampire Diaries soundtrack and we all know what that means tomorrow...PANIC!!

As for the song itself, it seems as though The Bravery have left their little feud with the Killers so far behind them it's not even a blip on the radar and have now totally embraced their inner Interpol.

The tune is good. It's a dark little ditty that I'm sure the goths (and vampire freaks) will fall in love with and pack out dry ice filled dance floors. Hopefully, the rest of the album is as consistent and good.

Until then, enjoy being a "Spectator."

Download: The Spectator