Clear Crystal Vision

Katie Wicks & Bryan Peace of Crystal Vision have spent a lot of time over the past year doing remixes for other people so now they are finally gearing up for the release of their first EP on Robot Dance Records which comes out November 24th!

Because it’s Halloween weekend, their favorite holiday, they have decided to share one of the remixes that will appear on the EP! And what a better way to get away from remixing than having someone remix you! Australian, ShearGen1us rips Crystal Vision's, "Mouser," a new one and is sure to do some damage to the dance floor with this bleepy robotic roller coast ride that's certain to cause spasms and endless thrills.

Download: Mouser (ShearGen1us Remix)

S.I.M.O. and Native Intelligence Tear It Out

The latest drop on the hot label Rock It Science Laboratories, created and run by
Eric Sharp and DJ Fame, is a masterpiece from S.I.M.O. & Native Intelligence that goes by the name, Tear Out. Complete with genre-busting remixes including veteran of the UK tech scene Evil Eddie Richards, Dubnoir’s Chris James, NYC’s Bit Crushers and Dubstep phenoms The Flying Skulls the record's got it all.

As always these tracks launch your listening experience into the 4th dimension. Wobbling in the dark recesses of the galaxy, the record glitches and bleeps its way across hyperspace with deep warped out vocals, and a wobbly groove that will have your feet contorting in ways unimaginable. Mixing deeeep house vibes, techno, the kitchen sink and lord only knows what else the tune is a killer.

Download: Tear Out
Download: Tear Out (Bit Crushers Remix)

Dntel Makes Music For After Parties

Dntel is the operational alias for Los Angeles resident Jimmy Tamborello. Jimmy also sometimes records and releases music under the name James Figurine. He is also the host of the Dublab radio show “Dying Songs.” And, he is also, it's true, one half of The Postal Service (whose 2003 album Give Up is Sub Pop's second best-selling album of all time). In 2007, we at Sub Pop released the most recent Dntel album, entitled Dumb Luck which included contributions from a whole raft of talented people too numerous to list here (a short version of that list would include members of Grizzly Bear, Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes, and Arthur & Yu).

On Dec. 7th, 2010 we are releasing new music from Dntel in the form of a pair of companion EPs, entitled After Parties 1 and (very sensibly, given their complementary relationship) After Parties 2. These two EPs collect 8 new Dntel tracks (3 on After Parties 1 and 5 on After Parties 2) which are a bit more minimalist and experimental in nature, all of them instrumental, and feature (to the best of our "knowledge") a list of guest contributors numbering exactly zero.

These 8 new tracks are also, we are able to discern even through the mist of biases both personal and professional, really something special. Both After Parties 1 and After Parties 2 will be available on 12" vinyl and as weightless, odorless digital audio files; neither will be available on CD.

Download: The Distance
Download: Dumb Luck

Nitzer Ebb Returns!

Industrial-electro pioneers Nitzer Ebb are returning from a 15-year hiatus with a new album that renews their unique take on industrial. Nitzer Ebb has a way of meshing a variety of different genres into a musical melting pot of powerful rhythms, minimal sequencer bass and hooklines and fierce, chanted vocals.

After originally reforming in 2006, the band’s increasingly active profile included 2010 European tour activities with Depeche Mode and at major festival shows, as well as embracing the challenge of returning to the studio. The result is a piece of work that sounds fresh and modern but without denying their past: the new album, Industrial Complex, is slated for release in North America on November 9th, 2010 thru Artists’ Addiction Records.

Industrial Complex is a musically and vocally diverse work that illustrates the band’s skill at getting to the essence of each track, making it as perfect on the dance floor as it is at home on headphones. Judging by the single, "Promises," it's as if the band never went on hiatus to begin with. In fact it's as if it were 1989 all over again, and Nitzer Ebb had stormed the studio(Yeah I know that a Meat Beat record) and taken it over. "Promises," sounds like the Chemical Brothers before the Chemical Brothers and is pretty much guaranteed to slaughter the dance floor at every goth night between here and Timbuktu.

Welcome back guys.

Download: Promises

Electric Owls Are Quite A Hoot

Here's how Andy Herod describes his band Electric Owls, "Electric Owls is what I call it these days when I write some songs, and with the help of some great friends, record and package them to be sent out into the world for complete strangers to enjoy. Or I suppose under less desirable circumstances, not enjoy. Regardless, I cannot stop, will not stop. I have done this before and for some time under different names with different friends, but for now I'll concentrate pretty much on the present."

What Electric Owls are in actuality is a really, really good neat indie rock/pop combo that unashamedly takes elements of Americana, douses them with synthesized goodness, and then takes it all and smothers it in melodically blissed out vocals. Andy's songs end up sounding lo-fi, shuffly, and ridiculously good. He some how manages to get a whole bunch quirky sounds to work together in ways they shouldn't and that's really the Electric Owls strength...great songs out of weird things.

Download: When I Was A Flood

Apex Manor Peaks At The Right Time

On January 25, Merge Records will release The Year of Magical Drinking, the debut album from Apex Manor.

Ross Flournoy founded Apex Manor after the 2009 demise of The Broken West. Named after his Los Angeles “zen place,” Apex Manor was the idyllic apartment of his close friend and long-time collaborator Adam Vine.

Having relocated from the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles to Pasadena, Flournoy was enjoying suburban tranquility, but his car wouldn’t start and he found himself isolated. He whiled away the days cleaning the house, sitting on the porch, and splitting tallboys with the gardeners who worked nearby. And battling a case of writer’s block.

Enter an unlikely source of inspiration: an online songwriting contest. NPR’s Monitor Mix was soliciting original songs from readers, giving the prospective songwriter one weekend to write, record, and submit. Flournoy decided to give it a go and set about writing and recording at home. At least he would be doing something with his time. The song, “Under the Gun,” turned out to be about the process itself.

Now feeling inspired for the first time in months, Flournoy began writing at a feverish clip, penning more than 25 songs, nearly a third of which were co-written by Adam Vine. Flournoy then teamed up with former Broken West bandmate Brian Whelan to record some proper demos, and Apex Manor was born.

The Year of Magical Drinking was recorded at three different studios around LA and was produced by Dan Long (Film School, Local Natives) and Brian Whelan. The full-band Apex Manor plans to tour extensively in 2011 including SXSW.

Apex Manor is Ross Flournoy, Adam Vine (if he learns how to play the bass), Brian Whelan, and Andy Creighton.

Download: Under The Gun

Jumpel Loves Edinburgh

Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the release of ‘Edinburgh’ by German ambient pop maestro Jumpel, the first single to be taken from his forthcoming third album Europa.

With ‘Edinburgh’, Jo Dürbeck introduces a bewitching new ingredient to the Jumpel sound – the luscious vocals of Chloë March. Beautifully evoking the rain-soaked streets of the Scottish capital, refracted through a personal lens, ‘Edinburgh’ is an exercise in elegance and restraint, filling out the shadows and backstreets with ennui. Melancholic piano chords carry the track forward while electronic texture’s weave amid March’s luminous lyrical play. A departure – yet also an arrival.

‘Edinburgh’ is taken from the forthcoming Jumpel album Europa (out November 25th). Inspired by Jo Dürbeck’s travels around Europe, the album transforms Dürbeck’s personal memories of 11 different European locations into minimal ambient electronica. The album acts as a kind of abstracted sonic diary, painting the intangibles and romanticism of memory and travel using sparse yet resonant sound. A simple idea – and one that has produced Jumpel’s most restrained and unified effort to date.

Download: Edinburgh

It's Generationals

It was an active summer for New Orleans’ Generationals. Grant, Ted, first tracked their second LP, Actor-Caster in Washington DC with Con Law producer Daniel Black. They then returned home to New Orleans to write several new songs with drummer Tess Brunet during a housesitting session at The Spellcaster Lodge (home of Quintron & Ms. Pussycat). The three then headed out to Austin in August to record a four-song EP with Bill Baird at Baby Blue. They tracked in a sweaty, distinctly sound-porous box by day and swam in Barton Springs as an evening reward. It was the first time Generationals had recorded a body of work with anyone else.


In their second release, Trust (EP), the band is audibly transitioning from a jangling, sun-kissed sound in the vein of Aztec Camera or Felt to pop drones distinctly more hypnotic, textured, and challenging to conjure accurate comparisons for. The shimmering hooks, girl-group choruses, and late-summer breeziness of Con Law remain intact in EP’s title track ("Trust"), but are joined by feedback loops, drum-machine beats, and abstractly dubbed-out, wobbling basslines throbbing organically in the mix. Con Law’s “When They Fight They Fight” may be Generationals’ early-career singsong anthem, but songs like “Say For Certain” and “Victim of Trap” are their lilting, droning annunciations of a burgeoning post-pop sound.

Download: Trust

Bikini Are Cheerleaders

Bikini is Nigel Diamond and Olivier Bonnard. Their music is like Salinger on MDMA. Diamond is originally from Miami and Olivier was classically trained at the Royal Conservatory.
Olivier Bonnard is the son of the late Indian poet Fateh Bains and moved to Western Canada where he attended Glen-Lyon Norfolk Boarding School, a school chosen for its musical program affiliated with the Royal Conservatory of Music. It was here Bonnard met Nigel Diamond, who was sent down after he was caught selling acid to his classmates.

It wasn’t until after Glen-Lyon Norfolk that the two began to make music together. Bonnard composes all the melodies in the fall of each year, drawing his inspiration from the poetry he writes during the summer. He records vocals, exports all his drafts without titles or form to Diamond. Diamond spends the following spring arranging Bonnard’s melodies, rhythm lines and vocal treatments – adding his own lines. The result is a finished record. Nothing is sent back to Bonnard. The songs are sent from Diamond to be mastered and released.

And that's how we get tunes like A Cheerleader.

Download: A Cheerleader

The Japanese Popstars Let Go

In between live shows at BBC Radio 1’s Ibiza Weekend, Reading, Leeds, Bestival, Rockness, Creamfields, and beyond, The Japanese Popstars are finishing their second album. They’ve just remixed Gorillaz’ ‘Melancholy Hill’, and are drip-feeding a series of club tracks to satiate those eagerly awaiting the long-player’s release in early 2011.

Following the Destroy EP, a sonic appetiser that saw them joined by Jon Spencer (he of the Blues Explosion), the next release is Let Go, featuring the madcap legend that is Green Velvet. Hailed as the rightful heirs to Underworld, Leftfield, The Chemical Brothers, and Orbital, The Japanese Popstars’ debut album, We Just Are was championed by The Guardian, Word, Artrocker, NME, Clash, Popjustice, Mixmag, DJ, Radio 1, XFM, and beyond.

Pick up the new single at Beatport

Download: Let Go (Luke Walker Remix)

Voltaire Twins Not The Cocteaus

2010 is shaping up to be a colorful year for Australian synth-pop duo Voltaire Twins. The brother-sister combo recently caught the eye of French taste maker label Kitsuné, who released their single D.I.L. (JBAG remix) worldwide on the Kitsuné x Ponystep worldwide release.

Having performed at a slew of summer festivals, the duo recently completed their first Australian national tour and are currently busy writing and producing a full-length follow up to their critically acclaimed Cabin Fever EP, released online in June 2010.

Onstage, Voltaire Twins sing, dance, hit things and play a range of synths. Along with friend Matt on the drums, the twins create a spectacular scene, bursting with frenzied vigor, rendering audiences everywhere incapable of standing still.

Download: DIL
Download: Wolves
Download: Jump Cuts

Aman Ellis Gives Away Whole EP

After the dismemberment of his successful band The Great Big No! in 2008, Aman Ellis turned to his side project Crunkasaurus Sex. After finding solace with midi controllers, studio monitors, and electronic production, he decided to get out of Alabama and move to the Big Apple. He landed in Brooklyn, NY, and changed his production name to the one he was born with, Aman Ellis. His first official release, All The Things - EP, was issued on February 11, 2010 on Abstract Logic Recordings.

With a melodic quality that's impressive and the ability to shift gears faster then Michael Schumacher, Aman Ellis is a talent that the world will soon have to reckon with. Whether it's tech house, italo, or glitchy stuff, the guy can write a tune almost as if it was second nature to him. Truly a talent to keep an eye on especially if you live up in good ol' New York.

As for his new record, The Cacti EP, which he's just released he says, "This summer I started a project of psychedelic wonky beats. The production style was totally different that what I'm used to and it was an awesome experience and an experiment to get my brain outside the box. A lot of vinyl samples were used to make this record and it has a very distinct analog quality to it. Expect loose wonk drifting beats with a heavy dose of melody and scratchy samples."

Download: The Cacti EP

They Heavy Hit The Road

The Heavy recently proved that there is indeed no rest for the weary when they announced that they would return to North America in October and November for another mind-blowing run of shows, a handful of which are with Mayer Hawthorne (Stones Throw).

It doesn't stop there though, as The Heavy will be releasing the new 'How You Like Me Now' EP on iTunes on October 19th via Counter Records/+1 Records. It will include new cuts, as well as a new version of the smash hit title track that features the Dap-Kings Horns (who were recent tour mates when the band opened for Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings earlier this year. There will also be vinyl and CD formats that will be available at the bands upcoming US shows.

Those dates...
October 16, 2010 Philadelphia, PA The Heavy @ Theatre Of Living Arts*
October 17, 2010 New York, NY The Heavy @ Webster Hall*
October 18, 2010 Brooklyn, NY The Heavy @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg*
October 19, 2010 Boston, MA The Heavy @ Paradise Rock Club*
October 20, 2010 Albany, NY The Heavy @ Jillian's^
October 21, 2010 Washington, DC The Heavy @ The Black Cat*
October 22, 2010 Atlanta, GA The Heavy @ The Masquerade*
October 23, 2010 Birmingham, AL The Heavy @ The Bottletree*
October 24, 2010 Nashville, TN The Heavy @ Mercy Lounge*
October 25, 2010 Asheville, NC The Heavy @ The Orange Peel*
October 27, 2010 New Orleans, LA The Heavy @ One Eyed Jack's^#
October 28, 2010 Houston, TX @ Fitzgeralds^#
October 29, 2010 Austin, TX The Heavy @ The Mohawk^#
October 30, 2010 Scottsdale, AZ The Heavy @ Martini Ranch^#
October 31, 2010 Las Vegas, NV The Heavy @ Hard Rock Cafe^#
November 3, 2010 Seattle, WA The Heavy @ The Showbox at The Market^#
November 4, 2010 Portland, OR The Heavy @ Wonder Ballroom^#
November 6, 2010 Los Angeles, CA The Heavy @ El Rey Theatre^
November 7, 2010 San Diego, CA The Heavy @ The Casbah^
November 8, 2010 San Francisco, CA The Heavy @ The Independent^
November 9, 2010 Salt Lake City, UT The Heavy @ Club Sound^#
November 10, 2010 Denver, CO The Heavy @ The Bluebird Theater^#
November 11, 2010 Lawrence, KS The Heavy @ The Bottleneck^#
November 12, 2010 Minneapolis, MN The Heavy @ Fine Line Music Cafe^#
November 13, 2010 Chicago, IL The Heavy @ Double Door^#
November 14, 2010 Milwaukee, WI The Heavy @ Turner Hall^#

* co-headline w/ Mayer Hawthorne & the County, presented by MAZDA2
^ The Heavy headlining
# w/ Wallpaper

Download: That Kind of Man 1.1

Saharan Gazelle Boy Has A Strange Teen Heart

Strange Teen Heart is the second Record Machine release for Saharan Gazelle Boy, a collaboration between Capybara's Darin Seal and Sea Change (aka Sarah Handelman). The EP is a super-quad of songs that conjure the love, loneliness and naivete of teendom while continuing to develop the sleepy, bedroom pop of Saharan's Airplane's Can't.

The melodramatic, synth-pop is the soundtrack for the shy, 1980s, pretty-but-doesn't-know-it high school girl in all of us.

This new batch of songs was recorded over the course of many sun-soaked afternoons, and they couldn't wait to get them out so here we are . A special co-release with the Record Machine and San Francisco-based Paper Brigade, Strange Teen Heart, is available on the Record Machine website and will be released on iTunes later this month.

Download: Halfhair Girl

What The Heck Is A MiniBoone?

Brooklyn band MiniBoone is happy to offer a free download of "The Other Summer," a brand new song from their upcoming 7" due out on Drug Front Records this December.

The track displays all of the trademark energy and monumental hooks that have made MiniBoone a staple in the Brooklyn scene since the release of their debut EP, Big Changes in early 2010. With "The Other Summer," MiniBoone manages to tread a fine line between the mechanical abandon of Devo and the lyrical resonance of Springsteen, all contained within an exhaustively frenetic and epic workout.

It's really not anything like that...it's just good, proper, old fashioned indie rock...the kind hipsters don't get.

Download: The Other Summer

Recoil Get Selected

During his 14 years as a member of Depeche Mode, as well as being an accomplished solo musician, Alan Wilder really honed his skills in the studio. With his attention to detail, Wilder pushed the boundaries even within the restrictive climate of commercial pop.

As an antidote to the demands of the Mode, his studio project Recoil was born in the mid-eighties. Two albums were released: Hydrology (1988) and Bloodline (1990) both giving an indication of his expanding horizons. After his departure from Depeche Mode in 1995, Wilder resurrected Recoil full-time and has since released Unsound Methods (1997), Liquid (2000) and subHuman (2007).

Recoil Selected, a brand new selection of classic Recoil tracks, is out now. Alan Wilder, who chose the track listing, explains, "The collection is made up of my personal favorites, remastered and edited together into what I consider a cohesive and total listening experience.” The album features a varied selection of vocalists including Diamanda Galás, Joe Richardson, Douglas McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb), Nicole Blackman, Samantha Coerbell, Toni Halliday (Curve) and Maggie Estep. Recoil Selected is available to download and as a 2CD physical edition.

Download: Prey (Shotgun Remix)

Radical Face Returns...

Radical Face is the solo project of Ben Cooper, musician, illustrator, and artist based in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. On November 16, 2010, Radical Face will release the EP Touch The Sky via Morr Music.

In 2007, Radical Face released Ghost, an album that presented the simple idea: what if houses had memories? Some of the songs on Ghost were from people still living their lives, some were from the point of view of those dead and gone, watching over the living or haunting them. Be sure to check out the "Making of Ghost" documentary that aired across the US on Current.TV. Ben is also a member of the Jacksonville duo Electric President. Made up of Ben and band mate Alex Kane, Electric President has two albums and one EP, also released under Morr Music.

Both bands are fantastic and all the records are great. Seriously, and I'm not just saying that because they're from here.

Following Touch The Sky, Radical Face plans to release three full-length records over the year. The first of "The Family Tree" trilogy is called Roots, followed by Branches, and the final LP, Relatives. "The Family Tree" trilogy features characters set in an era in the late 1800s. Such concepts and stories come naturally to Ben, who before turning to music was an author. He switched to music because he knew he “could never write something as perfect as 'East of Eden”, not to mention his hard drive crashed containing two finished books. Ben finds inspiration from his family, his many siblings, and upbringing.

Touch The Sky features his new song, "Doorways" as well as an acoustic version of the previously released track "Glory" and the reprise and inclusion of "Welcome Home", which ignited most recent interest as the soundtrack of the year long I Am Nikon campaign. Ben also has had music featured in the films "The Vicious Kind" and "Humboldt County", as well as the trailer for the 2010 Reel Rock Film Tour. Ben writes all the music and plays all the instruments in a small shed behind his home in Jacksonville Beach. His new video "Doorways" just premiered on Under The Radar and was made for under $200 by Ben, several of his young nieces and nephews, and childhood friend Mark Hubbard.

Download: Doorways
Watch:

Sub Swara Pull The Triggers

As they move closer to the the November 9 release of their second album, Triggers, the Brooklyn duo, Sub Swara flips an electric soul-drenched twist on Big Boi's Shutterbug, mixing equal parts Curtis Mayfield-era piano and string layers with the group's dynamic bass weight.

While the first single off the new album, 'Bend You' (download for free from subswara.com) showed the dance floor-smashing upbeat dubstep angle, this remix is indicative of a different pulse that still embraces Sub Swara's signature melding of lush melody laced around a core of earth-shaking rhythm.

And hopefully it will hold you over until next month...

Download: Shutterbugg

Swoon With Silver Swans

When one thinks of the west coast they think of warm sunny days layered by cool breezes coming from the ocean. They think of chilled out nights listening to the crashing waves. And by the morning, yesterday all of yesterday just felt like an echo of a dream. What better way to enhance that dreamy feeling with a soundtrack. This is when Silver Swans come in.

Collaboration by songwriter Ann Yu of LoveLikeFire and DJ Producer Jon Waters, Silver Swans creates music that unearths these dream-like states. Right before the day becomes lucid they’ve written and produced music in their dark lit bedrooms and bathrooms capturing the many images that played throughout the day. And sometimes the secrets caught throughout the day.

Gorgeous stuff then.

Download: Secrets

Hey Champ

Chicago Trio Hey Champ were recently invited to take part in remixing their friends Gemini Club's new single "Ghost" as part of the run up to that group's new album release. Hey Champ infused the single with their signature futuristic sound, taking a stellar original to a parallel dimension.

Gemini Club returned the favor with a frosty back room remix version of Hey Champs hit single "Cold Dust Girl", from their recently released debut album Star. The record has been praised by the likes of Venus, Time Out Chicago, Pop Matters, and the Wall Street Journal for their "infectious synth pop". They're currently on tour showcasing material from the album with energetic performances that had even the most bashful crowds moving. "They brought the house down," wrote the LA Weekly about a performance in Los Angeles last month. "Armed with only a synthesizer, drum kit, and guitar these guys have put together a debut album of well-crafted, '80s tinged dance pop."

Download: Gemini Club - Ghost (Hey Champ remix)
Download: Hey Champ - Cold Dust Girl (Gemini Club remix)

Warpaint On The Warpath

Warpaint weave intricate guitar lines, hypnotic vocals and driving post punk rhythms into gorgeous, sprawling songs that skirt the line between psychedelia and intimacy. Both live and on record, Warpaint sound like they're channeling something truly otherworldly, and mystical. Rough Trade will release their long-awaited debut full-length album The Fool on October 25th.

Recorded in LA, The Fool was produced by Tom Biller (Beck, Karen O, Liars), with further mixes from Andrew Weatherall (New Order, Primal Scream, Bjork) and Adam Samuels (John Frusciante, Daniel Lanois). The Fool follows their Exquisite Corpse EP, released in 2009.

Warpaint is Emily Kokal (vocals/guitar), Theresa Wayman (guitar/vocals), Jenny Lee Lindberg (bass/vocals), and Stella Mozgawa (drums).

Download: Undertow

Nightshifters Take A Look Back

Nightshifters: Selections One is a look back on 2 years of great tunes and even better parties! Based in Berlin/New York, the label has been turning out bass house anthems by acts such as Hostage, AC Slater, Rob Threezy, DJ Donna Summer, Rampage, Jubilee and Proper Villains accompanied by remixes by many of the most innovate international club acts like Jokers Of The Scene, Momma’s Boy, C.R.S.T., Luna-C, Bok Bok and a host of others. Infused with House and channeling the power of Rave with an underpinning of Bass; this 16 track collection of kick ass features some of their favorite tracks they've had the pleasure to release!

This compilation is a mix of the labels acts as well as a few of their favorite remixes. Some of their biggest charting tracks like Udachi & Jubilee’s “Paypur” and the Jokers Of The Scene remix of Rob Threezy appear alongside tracks that somehow fell through the cracks like AC Slater’s “Night Shift” and Proper Villains’ “Rave Juice”. The comp starts with a classic track - Rampage’s “Big Breath” – a B’more / House jam that gets stuck in your head with a heavy vibe like no other. Also of note is the Nick Catchdubs remix of “Paypur” feat. The Kid Daytona that’s just as home on dance floors as well as prime time hip-hop radio. They round the comp out with a track that really goes for blood, Hostage’s Drum and Bass remix of label founder DJ Donna Summer’s “Raw”! A huge collection of party tracks, Nightshifters: Selections One is packed with only their best tunes over the past 2 years.

Download: Rampage - Big Breath
Download: Udachi & Jubilee - Paypur (Nick Catchdubs Remix feat. The Kid Daytona).

Top of the Fops

In the short time that Fops has been a band, they've already completed two full length albums. The first CD/LP, Yeth, Yeth, Yeth has just been released worldwide on September 27th via UK label Monotreme Records (65Daysofstatic, Nedry, Barzin). A second disc, Priests In Them Caves, will follow in early 2011.

Taking their musical cues from the syncopated electronic figures of Krautrockers such as Cluster and Faust, and the propulsive, brooding pop of the bands they grew up listening to in the 80's, the duo recorded two albums at once.

Both albums are novels at heart, investigating the possible and impossible, gaudy and fantastical, mundane and downright depressing pasts and futures of a single protagonist. In the world of Fops, Kesler is the narrator, telling stories in Bidwell's singular lyrical style.

Download: Solid Copper Huntress
Download: Maple Mountain

Ewww...It's Yuck!

Yuck is a UK band that has been together for just over a year and probably has the worst name in the entire music industry. Surprisingly, the bands tunes are UNBELIEVABLE in a Stereolab meets American indie rock kind of way.

The band has signed to Fat Possum, domestically, and will release its debut full length (Title TBA) early in 2011. The record will be released in Europe by The Pharmacy Recording Company.

Adding to its growing list of singles, Yuck will release "Georgia" b/w "The Base of a Dream is Empty" on the US via Fat Possum on Nov. 23 as well as a UK single for "Rubber." The band will also make two appearances at CMJ this year and have a couple other US dates with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

The dates...
10/20 - Boston, MA @ Paradise *
10/21 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (Brooklyn Vegan CMJ Show) *#
10/22 - Philadelphia, PA @ Pi Lam *
10/23 - Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands (Popgun CMJ Party) ^

* = w/ The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
# = w/ The Blow, Screaming Females, Young Man
^ = w/ Dominant Legs

Download: Georgia
Download: Rubber

Satellite Stories From Beyond

Satellite Stories are four daring and unsigned satellite heroes from the arctic city of Oulu, Finland. As well as wrestling with the polar bears, the band somehow finds time to crawl out of the permafrost and write catchy party songs. If you listen carefully, you might hear influences from electronic dance music, even though they don´t actually play any synths.

The band's mission is to bring you nostalgia from events that you never really experienced, like the 60s, first kiss from your elementary school crush and the time you and your best friend bought that awesome 45-single and listened it from your parents record player. (They said it...I didn't). Satellite Stories play scenes from all of your favourite movies in the form of jangly, angular, energetic and always danceable indie rock.

Download: Helsinki Art Scene

Don't Be Glum It's Grum

Graeme Shepherd aka Grum shouldn’t need any introduction. But with a list of working credits that reads like a laundry list of everyone who is everyone in the dance community since the release of his last single, Can’t Shake That Feeling, in April, introductions are not necessary.

Returning with his own brand of sun-kissed ‘cosmic-electro’, Grum proves once again that he cares little about the critiques. Serving only to the good-times with a release of the brilliant but carefree single, Through The Night.

Future disco donned out in stonewash and shoulder pads. Through The Night, unashamedly 80s, is as much a well-penned song – Hall & Oates anybody? – as it is big-room floorfiller; All vamped up synths, rising riffs and driving electro-bass.

Download: Through The Night (Beaumont Remix)
Download: Through The Night (Perseus Remix)
Watch: Can't Shake This Feeling (potentially the video of 2010)

Mariage Blanc

Pittsburgh, PA. based indie-pop band, Mariage Blanc, announce the release of their debut full length to be released November 16, 2010!

Their self-released debut EP, Broken Record (2008), received overwhelmingly positive reviews - being described by Mike Mineo of Obscure Sound as "a wonderful array of melodically rich songs, never lacking in hooks or fresh ideas".

Work on the follow-up to Broken Record began in the spring of 2009, when Mariage Blanc spent three months transforming a gutted warehouse into a functional rehearsal and recording studio. Over the summer and fall, the band continued writing and rehearsing the material that would ultimately become the foundation for their new LP.

Recording resumed in late January 2010, and the initial sessions were plagued by equipment failures, snowstorms, and even disintegrating master tapes. Six months later the band found themselves with a completed album and a realized sound: self-assured, melodic, and harmonically rich. Mariage Blanc will be released on November 16th, 2010.

Download: Whatever You Say I Am

I Never Dance

Born and raised in the city of Bologna, 26 year old dj and producer I Never Dance, finally delivers his first EP to Instant Replay.

Known in the industry for his outstanding work as right hand and engineer to well known producer Graziano Ravenna, he has made his mark on the international producers scene. But always in the background. Now that he moved to Western Europe to pursue his solo-career, his technical skills come in handy for his big-room sound. Tweaked to perfection with one thing in mind; the dance floor. Raise your hands from Riccione to Ibiza, from L.A. to Tokyo, here’s I Never Dance.

And he won’t go away anytime soon.

Download: I Never Dance

K-X-P Storms The States

Direct from Helsinki, Finland, full of grit, drone and distortion, the hypnotically groovy drums-bass-synth trio K-X-P are traveling stateside this week for their North America debut.

Comprised of Timo Kaukolampi (best known for his production and co-writing work with Annie) on electronics and vocals, Tuomo Puranen on bass, and Tomi Leppanen on drums, they’ll play select shows in New York, including a support slot opening for Serena-Maneesh in Brooklyn, a stop off at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, and the Culture Collide Festival in Los Angeles.

Dates and venues are below. K-X-P’s self-titled debut was released this past July on Smalltown Supersound.

K-X-P Tour Dates:
Sat. Oct. 2 – New York, NY @ Pianos
Mon. Oct. 4 – Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory w/ Serena-Maneesh
Wed. Oct. 6 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
Thu. Oct. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland (Culture Collide Festival

Download: 18 Hours (Of Love)
Download: Pockets (Annies Vocal Mix)

Miami Horror, Memory Tapes, and Your Mom Team Up

Fresh off their successful summer tour and US debut, Melbourne-based group Miami Horror was featured on NPR this week, and released a Memory Tapes remix of their second single "I Look to You."

The original track is the second single from Miami Horror's recently-released debut album, Illumination, which features contributions from Swedish singer MAI, Melbourne-based chanteuse Kimbra, Dappled Cities' Tim Derricourt, and Neon Indian/Vega's Alan Palomo.

Download: I Look To You (Memory Tapes Remix)