Climbing the Wiretree

Austin’s Wiretree began as the solo recording project of singer-songwriter Kevin Peroni. After releasing the LP Bouldin in 2007, Peroni recruited Joshua Kaplan on guitar, Rachel Peroni on bass and Daniel Blanchard on drums to solidify the project.

The group released their sophomore effort Luck in 2009, finding it’s way on various year-end best of lists (Blurt, Absolute Powerpop) while being labeled Blurt Magazine’s “Best Kept Secret.” KLRU featured the band on Austin City Limit’s “Satellite Sets” in January 2011. The band is currently supporting their 3rd full length album Make Up.

A departure from their previous efforts, Make Up was recorded in the studio with very few overdubs with the goal of capturing natural raw performances.  They've done just that with music that is powerful and vibrant.

Download: Make Up
Download: The Shore
Tweet

Jacuzzi Boys Are Glazin

The Jacuzzi Boys’ practice space is like most any other -- crammed with gear along with one of the guys’ record collections. But their band room happens to be located in a trailer tucked just inside Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on gorgeous Key Biscayne, FL. Just a few feet from their amps: tropical paradise. This is an area home to weird animals and buttonwood trees, located on an island just outside of Miami. “Miami is not known for producing many good bands,” bassist Danny Gonzalez concedes. “So, quite frequently we get asked, ‘would you ever consider moving?’ Our answer is always, ‘No!’ This is where our friends and family are from. Miami is such a part of the Jacuzzi Boys, as important as any musical influence.”

The Jacuzzi Boys are guitarist/vocalist Gabriel Alcala, drummer Diego Monasterios, and bassist Danny Gonzalez, three dudes from South Florida, bright as neon and fun as hell. After forming the band in 2007 and accruing a handful of 45s, the group released the LP No Seasons on Florida’s Dying (located in nearby Orlando, FL) in 2009. Now, in 2011, we have Glazin’ – their second full-length, and the first for Hardly Art.

For Glazin’, the group traveled to Key Club Studios in Benton Harbor, MI where they spent twelve full days recording and mixing. The Jacuzzi Boys used this as an opportunity to dig deeper into the production of each song. “If the first record was the Everglades, the follow-up is Dadeland Mall,” says Alcala. This is also true sonically – while No Seasons was a primal wallop, Glazin’ has the slight sheen of a studio environment. Moving beyond the beauty and harshness inherent in a life spent within a single climate, Glazin’ instead offers a take on the culture that surrounds that environment: girls, cruising, air conditioning, and “raspberry feelings"....

Download: Cool VaporsTweet

Jake Bailey Is Lost In Acres Of Sky

Jake Bailey is like you and me. Five days a week he works in an office schlubbing away. But unlike me and probably you, he has an unnerving desire to make music...constantly.

As he puts it, "I'm a humble British man with a home recorded album I'm trying to share with a little piece of the world. I have no pretensions or massive aspirations, all I know is that I couldn't stop if I tried."

He goes on, "I was a child of the 80’s but rejected all things 80’s, drawn into the sweet scented music of the 60’s and 70’s. I guess my musical awakening came from the endless mix tapes my folks would play on driving holidays around the UK...Cat Stevens’ perfectly executed songs, Hendrix’s raw experimental magnetism, Dylan’s honest and world-weary stories, and Van Morrisson’s rustic charm provided the soundtrack to these wild and rambling trips. Since then, the world has flashed by faster than I ever imagined possible and a myriad of other sounds have joined the throng, creating a wonderfully strange and beautiful cacophony, which, very occasionally falls into focus, creating perfect moments of elation."

That leads us to now, and the record he sat down and recorded...while not at work of course. He says that putting it all together has been like chasing a dream from long ago. He's been in pursuit for ages trying to recapture that dream. He says, "These ten songs are the closest I’ve come, in ten years of trying. I hope you like them."

So here Jake his, on his own, away from his PR job, as a musician. His album comes out on 20 June but you can check out, "All Our History," now. How can you not like a story and a musician like that? He's like you, like me, like the guy next door...who just happened to be make a record.

Download: All Our History
Listen to the whole album...HERE
Tweet

Pink Frost Thaws Out

Pink Frost came together through a shared affinity for reverb, air guitar, and disgust. After several suicide attempts and realizing that the Chicago shoegaze scene completely sucked… they immediately began work on what would become their E.P. Self-titled and self released the three tracks create music for inclement weather, infinite sadness.

Cheery bunch then.  While they didn't really reinvent the shoegazing wheel...rather they added some northwest flavor too it and came up with something that's kind of like a gauzy hazy Shins meets Modest Mouse. It's good stuff that kind of shuffles along and works it's way into your skull without having to try very hard. 

The Frost has recently retired into the earth to begin work on their debut full length, which will come out later this year.

Until then join them under a rock and download The Sun...

Download: The Sun
Tweet

Beast Make Bomb's And Goes Boom

Hailing from all over the country, BEAST MAKE BOMB calls NYC its home, playing local Brooklyn hot-spots and historic Manhattan rock/punk venues.

Their new EP, Sourpus, follows up their critically acclaimed freshman effort, Skinny Legs. BEAST MAKE BOMB describes themselves as “a marriage between punk attitude and pop sensibility”. Their live shows convey these thoughts exactly. They play tightly knit songs with the perfect amount of spikiness, messy rock exploration, catchy guitar riffs, and melodic female vocals.

I'm not sure about the punk rock stuff, but I am sure that they are a good band with great songs.  Catchy and destined to inspire some sort of pogoing upon listening, BEAST MAKE BOMB's EP is what good powerful pop music is all about...young, addictive, angsty and sloppy.

Download: Coney Island 
Tweet

Le Butcherettes Are All About Sin

Le Butcherettes are like the brilliant offspring of surrealist Luis Bunuel and intrepid rock icon PJ Harvey. Led by 21-year-old vocalist/guitarist/pianist Teri Gender Bender (a recent transplant to L.A. from Guadalajara, Mexico) Le Butcherettes bring a brazen intensity and playful, hook-laden simplicity that hacks to pieces all forms of pretension and excess.

Sounding amazingly like Karen O at times and PJ Harvey at others, this brash, rough and tumble group plow through songs as much as they play them.  Just listen to, "New York," and you'll hear what I'm talking about. Plodding riffs pummel everything and leave you wondering what just hit you.  This is great stuff.

Le Butcherettes full length debut, Sin Sin Sin was produced by Omar Rodriguez Lopez, who also plays bass on all of the album's tracks, and will issue the album May 10th, 2011 on Rodriguez Lopez Productions via Sargent House.
Download: New York
Download: Henry Don't Got Love

US Royalty Welcomes Us Back

Gooooooood Morning Viet Nam! Or should I say blogosphere. After six weeks of being away, The POP! Stereo has returned to make your life a bit more tolerable. And while that may be, you might be wondering what the hell took you so long. That's a long story that involves, hospitals, doctors, PET scans, CAT Scans, blood work and the like. This all led to me being on Family Medical Leave for almost three months and while I was posting during that time, I new at the drop of a hat I would have to return to care for my family. And I did.

But as time passes, life slowly but surely resumes normality no matter how emotionally altering it may all be. After everything I've been through and will continue to go through, I will say this...spend time with your family, they're important. In fact, they're THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you are part of and never forget that. No matter what the scene is, what's cool, or who talks shit about you, your family will always be there. (even the Jersey Shore cast knows that)

If you're 20 something you probably don't realize that because you just got your freedom from your parents and it feels good...but as you grow older you'll realize that they were/are the single most important influence on you. And when they come calling to ask for help, don't hesitate, just remember all that they've done for you and the advice they gave as you were growing up.

Ok...that's my e-parent pep talk of the day.

Anyway, with that being said, on to the resumption of posts. We kick it off with a band that has a sort of funny name...US Royalty. No, they're not a roving band of Kennedy's and they're not even royalty. They are a bunch of scruffy looking dudes who happen to right some damn fine stuff though. While I'm not generally a fan of the pastoral folk pop thing, this kind of has something more to it that rocks in a rough and shoddy way and almost sounds something like a poor mans Doves or Elbow (UK Royalty, no doubt).

Of course if the pastoral indie rock isn't enough there's always the Flosstradamus remix of their latest single, "Equestrian," which forces the band to get loved up and lost on a dance floor. There are always exceptions to the rule and the sweeping nature of US Royalty's songs grabbed me right between the ears and made me understand. This is good stuff.

Download: Equestrian
Download: Equestrian (Flosstradamus Remix)

Take It Dag For Dag

American-Swedish. Brother and sister. Nomadic wanderers. From Missoula, to Wisconsin, to Honolulu, to, finally, Stockholm...that's Dag för Dag in a nutshell.

Dag för Dag bring their sprawling mix of dirty guitars, layered textures, and anthemic guy/girl vocals via a full-length album. Boo is set for a April 26th release on Brooklyn's Ceremony Recordings. The band's name, Swedish for "day by day," was originally taken from a language-learning tape the duo once stumbled across, the name has become an apt descriptor of their approach to music and life in general.

With a sort of dark and dreary sound, their single, "I Am The Assassin," sounds like a James Bond outtake that slinks it's way around slaying you with subtle hooks, and slinky guitar work. It's a subtle sort of tune that sticks with you until it gets the job done. If Boo is anything like this tune, we're in for one heck of a thrill ride.

Download: I Am The Assassin

Tweet

Throw A Wild Party!

What do you get when you take five gangly kids from the middle of Texas, give them a laptop and some beat up guitars, and tell them to make a record? Well, a Wild Party of course. Developing from its conception in Lincoln Kreifels (vocals) and Lucas Hughes' (guitars) bedroom laptop demos, the Party is now getting started in the UK with the release of double A-side single ‘Take My Advice / Life’s Too Short’. It will be released on 15 November through Friend Vs Records, on 7” vinyl and download.

Sounding remarkably like The Killers at times; Wild Party could easily be the love child of The Killers and The Strokes. However, upon closer listen, it sounds like the band have taken the best parts of the sixties, seventies and eighties, put them in a blender, then shaken with a few shots of vodka. Imagine The Rolling Stones, Talking Heads and Flock of Seagulls got locked into a studio for a week with nothing but their instruments, a disco ball and a healthy supply of grain alcohol.

Take My Advice is anthemic in its aspirations and it's catchy enough to reel in even the most cynical listener.

Download: Life's Too Short

Noah's Ark Was A Spaceship

Having been compared to the likes of Polvo, Swervedriver, Sebadoh, and Sonic Youth, the members of Omaha four-piece Noah's Ark Was A Spaceship draw their influence from late '80s college radio and '90s counterculture. After releasing 2008's My Name is What is Your Name EP on Slumber Party Records, the band now prepares for the launch of its forthcoming debut full length album Hanga-Fang, recorded in Omaha by Mark McGowan and mixed by AJ Mogis.

The band formed in 2005 when guitarists John Svatos and Andrew Gustafson met bassist Ricky Black at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, later joining forces with drummer Rob Webster. They've since been in constant motion, both in the recording studio and embarking on national tours, all the while living diligently by these words:

Under no circumstances does Noah's Ark Was A Spaceship wish to push their beliefs upon you. They just hope you come to their shows and have a good time. The band is happy, and wants you to be too.

Download: Warm Eyes

Focus The Extra Lens

The Extra Lens, the musical collaboration between John Darnielle (Mountain Goats) and Franklin Bruno (Nothing Painted Blue, the Human Hearts), will release their Merge debut, Undercard on CD, LP and digital download on October 19.

Undercard is the first new album from this distinguished partnership since 2002's Martial Arts Weekend and is comprised of eleven original songs and a pretty ominous-sounding cover song, and will include copious song notes from John and Franklin.

The artwork features an illustration by Ian Dingman and a vintage boxing poster feel inspired by the title, Undercard, which references the fights listed under the main event at a boxing match.

Download: Only Existing Footage

Julius C Hits the Road In New York

NYC masters of rock, Julius C will be performing 30 times in 30 days starting September 1st at Rockwood Music Hall.

It’s no stunt, it’s just another 30 days in the life of this band that has lots of fun but also gives back. By way of that generosity, the band has added Powerhouse, the new and innovative supportive housing program for homeless pregnant/parenting teenage mothers located in Elmhurst, Queens to the list of partners supporting the month-long event. In addition to spreading the word about Powerhouse through September, the band will donate a day of its Rock Star Camp program to the organization.

Julius C leader Jay Stolar developed Rock Star Camp to bring more arts activities to summer camps in the Northeast and Julius C tours youth camps each summer, spending the day teaching songs to the kids and staging a concert each night where the campers performed backed by Julius C. The band played to nearly 20,000 campers and staff this year. Julius C plans to do the same for Powerhouse, bringing some much-needed stress relief to the young mothers in the program at a time full of challenging circumstances.

Silly Bandz are the sensation that is sweeping the nation. You’ve seen them everywhere… they look like rubber bands until you remove them and they snap back into fun animal shapes! Julius C loves them too and has partnered up with Silly Bandz to co-sponsor Julius C Tours NYC: 30 Days, 30 Shows. Anyone attending one of the performances during the month of September will receive free Silly Bandz. You can use ‘em to put your face back together after it gets rocked off, OK? Or trade them at the bar. Or just put your hair back. There are plenty of uses for Silly Bandz.

Download: Don't Want Anybody

Dashing Suns Prep For New Album with Old Songs

Bay Area beach bums The Dashing Suns will release their debut LP, Really Like You, next week. But before the band introduces audiences to their breezy brand of garage and skuzzy sunburnt pop, the Oakland quartet wanted to offer up a few reinterpretations of other people's tunes.

First up? The ramshackle "Billy Two" from underrated Kiwi rock troupe The Clean. Next? A reverb-y take on downtown 60s icons The Velvet Underground and their classic "Who Loves The Sun." These tunes should whet your appetites until next week when the band will be streaming Really Like You in its entirety.

Download: Billy Two (by The Clean)
Download: Who Loves The Sun (by The VU)

One Murdock It's Ok To Like

In the few years that had passed since Austin’s Murdocks released Surrenderender (2005), the band’s original lineup had fractured, and agents and journalists stopped calling. “You need to constantly release in this business or people lose interest and move on,” says Morris.It was around this time that bassist Kyle Robarge moved to Austin from Los Angeles and the two met in a coffee shop. “The music was raw and awesome and I was impressed with his vision and integrity,” says Robarge. “Murdocks had passed on a major label deal a few years earlier because they wanted someone to ghostwrite Franklin’s songs for him. You don’t see bands turn down that sort of thing in LA.”

2007’s Roar EP, the product of the trio’s early work together, was a 19-minute powerhouse incorporating elements of indie-rock, power-pop, garage and punk rock. Distortionist (2010) is undoubtedly a step forward for the band, both their heaviest and poppiest work to date. It is this aesthetic dissonance that sets Murdocks apart from other artist: they are as simple as they are challenging, as morbid as they are innocent, as naïve as they are jaded.

Distortionist is an exercise in lashing out at everything at once—divorce, failure, addiction, religion, family—an exercise in meeting futility with scorn. “It’s about the frustration you feel when you realize that where you thought your life would end up, and where it actually ended up are two totally different places,” says Murdocks frontman Franklin Morris. “It is impossible to reconcile sometimes, to adjust your dreams and expectations any further. It becomes absurd and disorienting, and the feeling multiplies in your brain until you just boil over.” It was at this boiling point Morris crafted the songs to become the core of the band’s long-awaited second album. Within a few years Morris found himself unemployed, divorced, and in a deteriorating band dropped by their long-time record label. “I didn’t know how to cope with any of it, and I guess I just kind of exploded.”

Download: Black Jesus Knocking

Blonde Redhead Sparkles

Penny Sparkle is the newest album from Blonde Redhead, due out September 14th on 4AD!

Penny Sparkle marks yet another sonic twist in the adventurous canon of this New York City based group. The band opted to journey between New York and Stockholm in order to work closely with production duo Van Rivers and the Subliminal Kid, the Swedish artists/remixers/producers who have worked with such artists as Fever Ray, Glasser, Massive Attack and Bat For Lashes to name a few.

The trio, made up of Kazu Makino who originally hails from Japan, and Italian twin brothers Amedeo and Simone Pace, will tour the U.S. this coming October in support of their first album in 3 years. They will be joined by German electronic musician and producer Pantha Du Prince as opener on some dates.

10/15 Philadelphia PA Electric Factory*
10/16 Montreal QC Metropolis*
10/17 Toronto ON Phoenix Concert Theatre*
10/18 Detroit MI Magic Stick*
10/20 Newport KY Southgate House*
10/22 Chicago IL Vic Theatre*
10/23 Milwaukee WI Turner Hall Ballroom*
10/24 Minneapolis MN First Avenue*
10/25 St Louis MO The Pageant*
10/27 Nashville TN Mercy Lounge*
10/29 Atlanta GA Variety Playhouse
10/30 Carrboro NC Cat's Cradle
10/31 Washington DC 9:30 Club*
11/1 Boston MA Paradise Rock Club*
11/3 New York NY Webster Hall*
11/14 San Diego CA House of Blues
11/15 Pomona CA Glass House
11/16 Los Angeles CA The Music Box
11/19 San Francisco CA Warfield Theatre
11/20 Portland OR Roseland Theatre
11/21 Vancouver BC Commodore Ballroom
11/26 Salt Lake City UT The Depot
11/29 Houston TX Warehouse Live Studio
11/30 Dallas TX Granada Theater
12/1 Austin TX La Zona Rosa

Download: Here Sometimes

Back To Air Conditioning School

Air Conditioning School is the latest project of Chris Heidman, formerly one half of indie-electro band Sukpatch, whose releases on Grand Royal, Moshi Moshi, and the mighty Sub Pop garnered much critical praise.

The beauty of ACS is the fact that Chris is no longer hiding behind the veil of collaboration. What's left is Heidman being exposed to the world by himself and the fact that the guy can actually write a pretty decent song.

While ACS is nothing like his former band, ACS is like listening to a long lost Yo La Tengo meets Beck record in love with the Silver Jews. It's a classic sound that's destined to be a classic itself. Having recently completed school...not the Air Conditioning kind...Chris has recently released his debut album as ACS.

Download: Up On

Hang a Left at Downtown/Union

LA’s band Downtown/Union formed in 2006 as a two-piece pop outfit by its principle songwriters Bo Bory and Jeff Electric. Andy and Joey Siara joined in 2008 and took up bass and lead guitar duties for D/U's debut LP Aurora Ahora, which made Web IN Front's ‘Best of 2008’ local music list.

As a four-piece, Jeff and Bo saw the potential in furthering their songwriting ideas and in 2009 with Johnny Seasons on bass and Adam Bomb on lead guitar the quartet was perfected.

D/U hit the studio and recorded their newest effort to date, five song EP "Astral Turf" which is available on 12" 180 gram black vinyl, itunes worldwide through Jaxart Records & digitally at: downtownunion.bandcamp.com

Oh and if you never see Pavement again...don't ask Downtown/Union because they wouldn't know or anything like that....

Download: Keep The Engine Running

Shooting White Arrows

In the summer of 2008, fresh out of NYU with a degree in Ritualistic Shamanism, LA native Mickey Church began White Arrows. Fusing his studies with a drum machine and the looming, immediate presence of a booming NYC club scene, White Arrows was intended less as a band, than as a social document, detailing the experiences of Church's age cohort - the young, ambitious, f*cked up, beautiful children of a new cosmopolitan America; an America - all coastal culture and no middle.

It didn't take long before Church began seeing his band's name spray-painted all over the lower east side, and tattooed on the arms of friends and acquaintances. White Arrows isn't a band; it is a youth cult to the now.

White Arrows’ debut EP, Hearts and Lungs, is slated for a late August release, to coincide with the group's 5 week August Monday night residency at Spaceland.

Download: Coming or Going

Download: Coming or Going (RAC Remix)