Hyperheart Will Fill You Up

Unlike so many Swedish bands, Hyperheart doesn't sound frivolous, jolly, or jangly,  Oh no, Hyperheart are far to detached and electronic for that.  This is a group who embraces the stark conditions in which their country is often thrown in and use it to their advantage.  The result is clinically precise synth pop that sounds as expansive as a snow covered continent.

Hyperheart's latest single Fill Me Up is just like that...detached and epic but none the less absolutely gorgeous.  If you can imagine the Tindersticks and Depeche Mode lost in a land of synths and snow you know exactly where Hyperheart are coming from.  It's all a bit harsh and blunt but in that tough love kind of way.

Download: Swallow
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Harlan Relives 1984

LA-based artist Harlan is pleased to announce his second release, the 1984 EP, out digitally on September 25th. This follows his previous Native Son EP which was the perfect blend of funk, soul, and R&B.

Harlan grew up studying classical music. While studying cello at Berklee School of Music, Harlan decided one day to pick up his roommate's guitar, having never played before, and wrote his first song. Soon the cello was replaced by the electric guitar and a musical style influenced by funk, soul, rock, R&B and 90's hip-hop began pouring out. Harlan's music is filled with memorable hooks and stone cold grooves and sounds something like Frazier Chorus meets Prince.  Check out a few tracks below and relive 1984.

Download: 1984
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Mirror Talk Talks To Itself

Mirror Talk is the creative partnership of 5 disparate, culturally varied artists; a gay father, a straightedge punk kid, a Nuyorican street kid, a Jazz-fusion session player and a college professor. Together, they aim to create richly detailed, fully-earnest pop music in the chimerical, song-focused and technologically adventurous vein of their heroes; Prince, The Knife, Beyonce, and Peter Gabriel. And the voice; a singularly soulful and weightily large charismatic instrument in the tradition of the heroic frontmen of old - Bowie, Mercury, D'arby; capable of a uniquely simultaneous largeness and intimacy, while the band synthesizes choice elements of R&B, New Wave and early Electro into something truly new.

Children of the social-media age, the 5 were brought together entirely via MySpace and Facebook, and established a fast musical kinship during their college years. This kinship eventually turned itself into their debut six song Mirror Talk EP. While thoroughly entranced by the 80's the band attempts to side step the cliches and attempts to marry the future and past into a sonically anachronistic romance, against which they tell an honest story of youthful experience as diverse as the band itself.

Download: Like Magic
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Watch Out For the Superhumanoids

LA-based Superhumanoids are pleased to announce that they will be supporting Active Child and Balam Acab on their upcoming North American tour. The dates will follow previously announced tours supporting Cold War Kids and Class Actress. A full list of dates is below.

Superhumanoids make dreamy pop that shouts summery '60s harmonies, garage rock's raw tonality, slick new-wave electronics, and the adventurous dissonance of '90s indie rock. Originally the solo bedroom project of Cameron Parkins, the LA band quickly evolved into a multifaceted outfit featuring Sarah Chernoff (Vocals and keys), and Max St. John (Bass, vocals, and programming)

Tour Dates...
2/09 Los Angeles CA, The Echo!
2/10 San Diego CA, The Casbah!
2/11 Costa Mesa CA, Detroit Bar!
2/26 Portland, OR, Doug Fir Lounge^
2/27 Portland, OR, Doug Fir Lounge^
2/28 Portland, OR, Doug Fir Lounge^
3/01 Seattle, WA, Columbia City Theater^
3/02 Seattle, WA, Columbia City Theater^
3/03 Seattle, WA, Columbia City Theater^
3/05 San Francisco, CA, Bottom of the Hill^
3/06 San Francisco, CA, Bottom of the Hill^
3/07 San Francisco, CA, Bottom of the Hill^
3/13 - 3/17 Austin, TX, SXSW
4/27 Pomona, CA, The Glass House*
4/28 Phoenix, AZ, The Crescent Ballroom*
4/29 Tucson, AZ, Club Congress*
4/30 Santa Fe, NM, Sol at Santa Fe Brewing*
5/02 Norman, OK, Opolis*
5/03 Dallas, TX, Sons of Hermann Hall*
5/04 Austin, TX, Mohawk*
5/05 Houston, TX Fitzgeralds*
5/07 Atlanta, GA, The Earl*
5/08 Carboro, NC, Cats Cradle*
5/09 Washington, DC, Black Cat*
5/10 New York City NY, Bowery Ballroom*
5/11 New York City, NY, Mercury Lounge*
5/14 Montreal, QC, Il Motore*
5/15 Toronto, ON, Lee's Palace*
5/16 Chicago, IL, Lincoln Hall*
5/17 St Louis, MO, Firebird*
5/18 Lawrence, KS, The Jackpot Saloon*
5/19 Denver, CO, Bluebird Theater*
5/20 Fort Collins, CO, Aggie Theatre*
5/22 Salt Lake City, UT, Urban Lounge*

! w/ Class Actress
^ w/ Cold War Kids
* w/ Active Child, Balam Acab

Download: Geri
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I'm In A New Mood

The seeds of New Moods sprouted a couple years ago in small house on the outskirts of Bushwick. After hours of overhearing his housemate artist/vocalist Billy Jones (Other Passengers) feverishly writing and recording rough demos for a solo project, producer/engineer Sean Maffucci (Icewater Scandal) was quickly inspired to get involved.  The rest as they say is history.

While not denying any genre as an influence, New York City Post-World dance rock band New Moods is constantly looking forward through hazy borders of objectivity. While never forgetting the 80's New Wave movie soundtracks they heard growing up, the music is consistently focused on new directions in sound.

What's that all mean?  Well it means they sound a bit like a confused manic depressive mixed with commerical trance, electro, and the Top 40.  Throw it all  that together and come up with something that sounds like newer Mount Sims lost in dry ice.  It's synth pop to rave to while talking to your shrink and really, who doesn't want something like that?

Download: Playtime
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Prepare The Death Kit

Death Kit is a band formed in response to a Los Angeles indie rock scene too witheringly lazy to pursue the potential and precision of electronica. To a dance music culture that’s chained to its laptops and bereft of its original sex and violence. To the cigarette-jeaned maw in their neighborhood of Echo Park who don’t take a certain joy in the craven niceness and seasonless daze of their hometown at the end of the world.

And that's why Death Kit are so good at what they do...they take a different approach.

Devadasi is Death Kit’s first single for Fort Lowell Records. There are shards of Liquid Liquid, Arvo Part, Sade and Basic Channel in it. A “devadasi” is a young woman conscripted into prostitution in the service of a Hindu deity. The B-side, meanwhile, is a remix of “I Can Make You Love Me.” It will be available from Fort Lowell on the 22nd of February.

Download: Devadasi

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James Yuill Preps New Record For US Release

London-based electronic musician James Yuill has announced the US release of his sophomore album, Movement in Storm via Moshi Moshi on February 22nd. The followup to Yuill's acclaimed debut, Turning Down Water For Air, Yuill was inspired by the likes of Modeselektor and Apparat for Movement, which has a decidedly more electronic feel to it, yet still includes the decidedly delicate songs that he is known for.

A man with a quasi-monastic lifestyle, Yuill is never happier than when he's making music, alone in his Dalston flat, entirely oblivious to the whims of the east London scene, or the rules and regulations of wider music culture. Here, in his spare bedroom studio, there's no contradiction between delivering a series of acclaimed remixes for other artists (We Have Band, Tilly & The Wall, Au Revoir Simone....), raving about Take That - "Gary Barlow is a genius" - or his teenage obsession with Nirvana. That's James Yuill's world. And he's happy in it.

Download: Give You Away (Finale Edit)

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Pay The Goddamn Electric Bill

When Jason Torbert began writing new material for his solo project, Goddamn Electric Bill, he wasn’t picturing his most enthusiastic audience as a conservative Middle Eastern emirate. But after releasing a few tracks to radio, he noticed that he was getting a whole lot of play in … Qatar. His music continues to float around at the top of the Qatar QBS Radio charts this year, garnering attention from DJs and fans in the Arabian Peninsula.

It’s a good omen for Jazz, the third full-length album from Goddamn Electric Bill. Torbert began to write and produce the tracks from Jazz as a score for the indie film, “Douchebag,” which was nominated for the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize last year. But when inspiration hit and Torbert found himself swimming in tons of new material, he began to imagine the tracks as one solid album.

“This is the first time an album has felt truly cohesive to me,” Torbert says. “I think it’s because I wrote it all at the same time and it just clicked.”

The album is a departure from Torbert’s usually melancholy work. It’s hopeful. It’s youthful. It’s feisty. Deft hand-claps propel “Pull the Lever” through rolling synth and a reverb vocal chorus. “Fairytale Orchestra” is a playful plod through the sunshine. These are all glass-half-full tracks that master the art of optimism.

Download: Pull The Lever
Download: Fairytale Orchestra

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Fol Chen Keep Busy

2010 has been a busy year for Fol Chen with the release of their second full length Part II: The New December, a pair of remix EP's and tours with Liars, !!! and The Apples In Stereo, but they've got a few more surprises in store before the year is over. The band recently took a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia when they were invited by CEC Artslink for a special performance. The day after the show the band held a workshop where they invited local musicians to help them create samples, loops and sounds for a song that they'll release next summer.

The band also lent a hand to KRCW DJ Eric Lawrence in remixing David Bowie's classic "Golden Years" as a part of KCRW's celebration of the release of Bowie's remastered Station to Station. You can check out the remix right here. Additionally, Part II single "In Ruins" was recently featured in a decidedly NSFW scene between Mary Louise Parker and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack from Saved by the Bell) in an episode of Weeds.

And now the band have recently collaborated with director/animator Nancy Jean Tucker to create a video for Part II standout "C/U" and had the track remixed by the UK producer Star Slinger.

Oh and they're hitting up a few places in January on tour...
01/14 - Chicago, IL - Schubas $
01/15 - Rock Island, IL - Daytrotter
01/17 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Entry !
01/19 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge !
01/21 - Salt Lake City, Utah - Kilby Court !
01/22 - Boise, ID - Neurolux !
01/24 - Vancouver, BC - Media Club !
01/25 - Seattle, WA - Vera Project !
01/26 - Portland, OR - Holoscene !
01/28 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern !
01/29 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo !

! = w/ Friends & Darwin Deez
$ = w/ Twin Shadow, Apache Beat & BRAHMS
* = w/ Exrays, Bret Hamler and the Rodeo & Maus Haus

Download: C/U (Star Slinger Remix)
Watch:

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Modern Skirts Skirt Convention

Born of four hopeful rednecks and numerous misconceptions, Athens, GA's Modern Skirts crept onto the scene in 2005 with a piano-laden debut, Catalogue of Generous Men. The record was well received, landing at #11 on Paste Magazines' 50 Best Albums of 2005 and praised by Pop Matters for its “impeccably structured, gorgeous pop.” After successful tours around the South and sold out shows at Athens’ legendary 40 Watt Club, Modern Skirts took to the road nationally for almost two years. They quickly gained a small but passionate following, while losing massive amounts of steam and developing a creeping ambivalence towards their initial musical output.

Fearful of being pigeonholed as a piano-pop band, Modern Skirts began writing a follow-up to Catalogue of Generous Men. Darker and more electronic than its predecessor Gramahawk will definitely keep the pigeonholes away. That is, unless Ben Folds starts doing heavy doses of acid and begins listening to Larry Heard.

Download: Bumper Cars

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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

James And Evander

After meeting in college in 2005, Oakland based duo James & Evander began making music together in the bedrooms of their apartments. There they discovered a shared love of Moog synthesizers and analog delays and began writing the twee electronica that would make up their first EP.

In the time that’s passed, James & Evander have constantly been making music, releasing a full length, starting an ongoing remix series, and now present a new EP: Sunlight and Circuitry.

Sunlight and Circuitry finds James & Evander wrapped inside their synthesizers and drum machines, exploring new territory while continuing to reference their long standing influences (Dntel, The Album Leaf, and Kompakt Records).

The six songs that make up the EP are moody pieces of electronica that can best be described as weedwave, the stonier more introspective cousin of chillwave. Processed and glitched drums drive the songs while melodies bleep and bloop through thick layers of delay.

Download: Turtle Two

Oh My Oh Land

We're going to keep this introduction very brief so that all your attention can focus on the music. World, meet Oh Land.

Oh Land, born Nanna Øland Fabricius, translates the sounds live via her "contraption" - a homemade one-woman-band music box topped with balloon video projections (seeing is believing). Don't miss Oh Land on a string of east coast dates with Mates of State.

Her soundscapes are lavish, crunchy, symphonic, brute and captivated with rhythms that fly apart. Oh Land's self-titled EP will be available in October via Epic Records, with her US debut album to follow in 2011.

Tour Dates
09.17.10 - Littlefield - Brooklyn, NY ##
09.22.10 - The Monkey House - Winooski, VT **
09.24.10 - SPACE Gallery - Portland, ME **
09.26.10 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA **
09.27.10 - The Met - Pawtucket, RI **
09.29.10 - Webster Underground - Hartford, CT **

## w/ Unicycle Love You and Frances
** w/ Mates of State

Download: Sun of a Gun
Download: Sun of a Gun (Yuksek Remix)
Download: Sun of a Gun (Savage Skulls Remix)

Meet LexiconDon

Forged during a colorful year spent working at Hollywood Sound Studios in 2008, LexiconDon is the synthpop union of Alex Koons and Fabian Ordorica. Taking inspiration from their daily lives enjoying the struggles of getting by in Los Angeles, the songs are equal parts soulful heartbreak and late-night party jam.

Their debut release, Pink and Blue, is a unique blend of singable melodies and heartfelt lyrics over a vibrant storm of funk-laden pop. Capturing the youthful American spirit with summer serenades and hard hitting electronic production, their songs are a refreshing foil to the increasingly hazy lo-fi indie rock dominating the scene. Like a grown up twist on a John Hughes soundtrack, themes of innocence and young love flirt with darker moods, giving LexiconDon's music a nostalgic take on the simpler days of youth and the freedom of life on your own in the city. For LexiconDon and frontman Koons, moments of late night contemplation are matched by sing along anthems, adding up to something richer than your average dancepop.

Pink and Blue, is out now on dubFrequency.

Download: Student Body (Bit Funk Remix)

Join the Halloween Swim Team

LA triple-synth band Halloween Swim Team has its feet on the ground and its beats in outer space. Put them in a pile with synth heavy pioneers OMD, Gary Numan, Kraftwerk (sans vocoder), Hot Chip, Devo, and Flaming Lips (circa 2002), with traces of Can, pursuing psychedelic soundscapes like Animal Collective. The vocals range from galactic whisper to an intensity similar to Cedric Bixler (Mars Volta/At The Drive In) or Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), and at times the playfulness of Beck, Liars, and even Beastie Boys.

The band has spent the last few years living at the notorious Vermont House- an underground venue where HST wrote and released The End Of The Sky, and established a command post for the D.I.Y. community. When time came to move on, HST packed up and sought solitude in the suburbs to finish recording material for their new psychedelic synth-pop project, ANTENNAAA.

The band has since emerged with a vengeance, racking up miles in its graffiti-covered van playing endless shows at rock and roll clubs, living rooms, restaurants, barns, rooftops, and even lugging its instruments up desert rocky mountains to play in middle of nowhere. There aren't many swim teams that can do that!

Download: Pitch Black

The Mouth's Cradle and a Silver Spoon

The oddly named Mouth's Cradle is making waves; seamlessly combining pop and hip-hop into a unique blend that's tastier than Starbucks House Blend. This Syracuse based duo are Orangemen by day, but artists at night. Or as they put it...Mouth's Cradle is undoubtedly on its way to emerging as a leader in the new class of college artists, who create buzz for themselves while sitting through lectures.

Taking bedsit pop to the next level, these guys make sugary sweet tunes that utilize a left field production/writing technique fuses it with Casio-like synth pop and then adds a certain degree of silliness to get something that's as sweet as Cracker Jacks. If you can imagine Supergrass being a synthpop band instead of being caught by the fuzz you can kind picture where Mouth's Cradle are coming from or at least what class they're taking.

Download: Honey From A Stone
Download: Front Porch Back Porch

We Frame This City

Frame the City is the electronic pop project of Nate Moceri. Nate hails from Seattle, Washington, but now permanently resides in Portland, Oregon. Nate is an accomplished songwriter and composer with film/TV credits including several shows on MTV.

Frame The City recently self-released the "We Were Wolves EP" on February 9, 2010. Nate's frequent collaborators include vocalist Katie Byron and vocalist Ashley Ennis, who both contributed vocals to the new EP. Katie sings on the track below. Nate has referred to the We Were Wolves EP as the "official introduction of Frame The City" as their debut release in 2008 was more of an experimental record as he was trying to develop his sound.

With all his professional experience, it should be no surprise that Nate clearly knows how to write a pop song; and he does...repeatedly. Taking bits and bobs from the Postal Service but making something far lusher and shoegazey, We Are Wolves is anything but a clone. In listening to the EP you can tell that Frame the City is definitely in touch with it's inner heartbreak but that heartbreak gets caught in a swirly haze of guitars and synths. It's heavenly stuff that might just bring some of you to tears. In fact, this record is so good that if you listen closely you can hear Ben Gibbard running to Zoey D for a hug because of 1) how good it really is 2) he's jealous he didn't write any of the songs.

Download: We Were Wolves
Download: Whisper In Winter