Jan Works For The City

JAN, aka Kim Talon, will release a self-titled debut album on November 13th. With riot grrrl-infused vocals, fuzzed out guitar lines, and blissed out grunge rhythms, JAN is a genre-straddling album that packs a mean punch.

Known for being the latter half of art-rock band Eagle and Talon, Kim is now joined by Chloe Saavedra (Smoosh) & Melinda Parks (Har Mar Superstar) when performing live. The album was produced by John Goodmanson (Blonde Redhead, The Gossip, Sleater-Kinney) in Seattle at London Bridge Studios.

Having collaborated with Reggie Watts and toured with Sia and Obi Best to name a few, Kim Talon’s talent explodes into the forefront on her new solo foray. JAN will be on tour in Fall 2012 – stay tuned for North American dates coming soon!

Download: Work For The City
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Ida Long Crashes

The Swedish singer Ida Long’s new release Crash is taken from her upcoming debut album Walk Into The Fire. Crash started out as a dark winter poem in Ida Long’s personal diary (”it’s kind of cold out there…”), but on a sunny summer day in Spain Ida Long embellished the lyrics with the bright melodies of the kaleidoscopic pop song.

Last year Ida Long was noted for her highly acclaimed interpretation of the song Mad World in the award winning trailer for the American TV series Mad Men (4th season). Since her first solo performances in New York City in the summer of 2010, Ida Long has toured extensively all over Europe, where she’s been compared to Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Lykke Li, Feist, and Björk. In Sweden her first release – the ambitious CD/DVD project Into Dark Woods EP – topped the official Swedish sales chart in November 2011.

Ida Long is also singer in the Swedish indietronica project Baron Bane, whose album LPTO was awarded a 4/5-review in the January 2012 issue of the British music magazine Uncut: ”Ida Long edges towards Madonna-style disco ecstasy”.

Her first solo album Walk Into The Fire will be released internationally in April-May 2012.

Download: Crash (single version)
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Escort Head Back To The Space Disco

Despite it being impossible, do you wish that Donna Summer and Georgio Moroder would work together once again? Well say hello to Escort...they're your new disco buddies.  No other band I've heard recently embraces that dynamic duo better than these guys.  Writing songs as if it were still 1980, Escort have a retro-futurist sound that feels like it came from the great big dance floor in the sky.

Escort is a seventeen-member “disco orchestra”, founded by producers Eugene Cho and Dan Balis, and fronted by lead singer Adeline Michèle, features an incredible cast of musicians who have played with everyone from indie-rock titans Arcade Fire to avant-classical luminaries Alarm Will Sound.

Escort’s long-awaited debut LP will be released on vinyl and CD January 31st and is out on iTunes and digitally retailers now through Escort Records. 

Download: Why Oh Why(Pound Sterling Remix)
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Fanfic Love Nights In Berlin

Back when I used to do radio there used to be this guy named Marco. Marco was a cool kid. He was all combat boots and Front Line Assembly t-shirts. He was Belgian and was the only person I knew who could say Einsterzende Neubauten. He did a show where he played industrial/nu beat and he used to play tapes because the stuff he had was so underground it didn't know it existed yet. He also ALWAYS ran over his allotted time, which used to drive us metal kids NUTS.

Why am I telling you this? Well this band called Fanfic from that most European of areas, Texas, seem to look like they'd be some sort of post electroclash unit but in fact may actually be the children of Marco! Fanfic create dark electronic pop which has its roots closer to old school industrial and Depeche Mode than it does anything post 2003. These guys write songs you pull rope to while smoking illegal Clove cigarettes.

Are they good? Oh heck yeah they're good. They're so good in fact, that you'll want to don a trenchcoat and speak with a thick Belgian accent after listening to them. So why not get in touch with your inner goth and join Fanfic in a graveyard!

Download: Damaged
Download: Touchmachine
Download: Nights In Berlin
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Metallic Havoc N Deed

Ok...if you're like me, you're an old fan of metal.  Yeah electro is great...but nothing beats Slayer's "Raining Blood."

Long before The POP! Stereo came into existence, I used to do a fanzine (Cerebral Holocaust) that covered death metal, grind, and thrash.  I used to be somebody back then!  Ha.  Anyway, while I don't listen to new stuff that frequently, I always have time for the classics.

So, when HavocNDeed sent this mix to POP! Stereo HQ today, it was like Satan himself presented us with a Christmas present (get the irony) of epic proportions.

This is like amazing beyond all amazing and has so many thrash classics on it that it makes me feel like I'm 18 again. Laaz Rockit even makes an appearance! Holy Hell...they only ever had like five fans to begin with!

Anyway, download this like now and praise the goat!  Speaking of the goat...nice "cover version" of the Venom classic for the cover art.

Bound By Metal Mix by HavocNdeeDsounD
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Bush Doctors Have The Prescription

Bush Doctors are the highly-esteemed, multi-award-winning producers Rennie Pilgrem and Jem Panufnik who are behind two of the most successful indie electronica labels of the last decade: TCR and Finger Lickin’ Records respectively. The duo have not only individually DJ’d the world over, leaving a wake of hugely successful club smashes between them, but also played their part in defining the dance scene as we know it. They now join forces in a whirlwind of black magic and sinister grooves that will send shivers up your spine and cold fear into the hearts of the funkless.

Concocting evil potions spiced with ‘70s funk and disco and whisking up rhythmic rituals that make young virgins dance like crazed banshees, the Bush Doctors are out to get your soul!  You'll pretty much hand it over to them after hearing how they've somehow brought back big beat added more funk and made it bang up to date.   If the 90's revival is underway, lets hope these guys are a HUGE part of it...god knows they were around.

Download: There's A Ghost In My House (Pimpsouls' "Get Scarey With Me" Edit)
Download: Night Booty
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All The Apparatus Can Handle

Portland, Oregon's avant-garde/indie-folk 11-piece outfit, All the Apparatus are celebrating the release of their sophomore, self-titled full-length (Faultvo Records).

The new, self-titled album from All the Apparatus is like the best pirate radio station you've ever heard, skipping around the musical spectrum, offering original gems to lovers of all genres with each song sounding almost as if a different band is playing. Forged during countless hours of street corner performances, this eleven piece band's raucous energy was captured by producer David Eaton, who formerly worked with the likes of Polyphonic Spree and Dynamite Hack. Eaton followed his ears down the city streets and found All the Apparatus playing their hearts out to Portland's pedestrians and the rest was history.

Part circus sideshow, part bourbon-soaked blues, and part enchanting musical ruckus, All the Apparatus' new album delivers a banquet of intriguing eclectic music.

Download: Lets Go Ride Bikes
Download: Portland Rose
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Pallers Are Lost In A Sea of Memories

Pallers is an interesting lot. Named after a suburb of the Swedish town of Ahus, the band creates a fusion of their interests. Comprised of two members the guys have known each other for half their lives as friends, explored half of Europe, hung out in clubs, but never ever thought of forming a band together...until now. That's where Pallers comes in.

Half of the duo nurtures a love for love for ambient, trip hop and electronica while the other is deeply involved in the world of pop. Pallers integrate the seemingly tricky components with such ease it almost seems effortless – turning it into something new - something of their very own.

Download: Come Rain
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Moonbell Cast A Spell

San Francisco's Moonbell was formed in 2010 by Garen Ingleby, David Paslay, and Lisa Colvin, after two thirds of the trio had departed another outfit in pursuit of their own project with a more primal, hypnotic sound.

Fixated on varied elements of light and dark, Moonbell draws on influences as diverse as Spacemen 3, early Ride/Verve, Broadcast, and Harmonia for inspiration. Built on a unique bass groove of crackling analogue synth, a swirling haze of guitar and spacious percussion combine to deliver a compelling sonic storm, best experienced via their live performances.

Their sound continues to evolve and expand, as their creative output increases and it all sounds like the greatest exploration of inner space ever recorded. The group just finished recording its first e.p. Figurine at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco.

Download: Figurine
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The Shivers Aren't Cool

The Shivers hail from Queens, NY, and are fronted by songwriters Keith Zarriello and Jo Schornikow.

The band scraped together enough cash together to travel across the pond to Manchester to record to tape in an all analog studio. The resulting album, More, runs the gamut of American rock ’n’ roll, delving into everything from gritty Lou-Reed-inspired rock to the swaggering soul of Nina Simone.  The single below...really sounds nothing like any of that...but I promise you those elements are in there somewhere.

Anyway, while I go pass out...enjoy the single below. 

Download: Used To Be
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Mister Heavenly's Doom

Mister Heavenly is comprised of indie rock veterans Nick Thorburn (Islands/The Unicorns), Ryan Kattner (Man Man), and Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse). The band is at the forefront of “doom wop,” which is a state of mind rather than a nitpicky micro-genre.

Born from a shared love of 1950s vocal-based R&B classics by ensembles like the Penguins, the Platters, and the Moonglows, as well as a fascination with ill-fated romance Mister Heavenly came to be . The album title, Out of Love, is both a nod to passion as a motivator (“I did it out of love”) and also the absence or dissolution of same (“She fell out of love with me”): two seminal lyrical themes in the annals of pop music.

As it happens, the actual Mister Heavenly song “Doom Wop” owes as much to grunge and art-punk as it does ’50s pop. When you mint your own style you can take such liberties.

Mister Heavenly will embark on a 14-date musical voyage in support of their debut release, Out of Love in-stores on August 16th.

The Tour...
8/18 Portland, OR @ Branx
8/19 Vancouver, BC @ The Bilmore Cabaret
8/20 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
8/22 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
8/24 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
8/25 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
8/26 Omaha, NE @ Toyota Antics Block Party
8/27 Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
8/28 Norman, OK @ Opolis
8/29 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
8/30 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
9/1 Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
9/2 San Diego, CA @ Bar Pink
9/3 Los Angeles, CA @ FYF Festival

Download: Pineapple Girl
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Remove My Gold Mask!

In the tradition of the great artistic couples (Fred and Ginger, Gram and Emmylou, Kinski and Herzog) Rochelle and Armondo better known as  My Gold Mask conjure a mood rather than a simple sound or idea. Their music is a part art-pop, part sonic poetry, and part personal chemistry and in a word moody.

Slightly Gothic in their aspirations, My Gold Mask hide behind a veil of sweeping beats, soaring vocals, and an impending sense of doom.  Believe it or not, it's good stuff that might remind you of later period Siouxsie & The Banshees.

The band has recently had several tracks remixed, two of which are below.  They've also been working on their follow up to last years EP and are planning on bring the Mask to a city near you this summer.

Those dates...
•Chicago, IL @ Ribfest 2011 (South Stage)
Friday, June 10 at 7:00pm

•Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub
Wednesday, June 15 at 9:00pm

•Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks w/ Super Vacations
Thursday, June 16 at 8:00pm

•Easton, MD @ Nightcat
Friday, June 17 at 8:00pm

•Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
Saturday, June 18 at 10:30pm

•Cambridge, MA @ T.T. The Bear’s
Tuesday, June 21 at 10:30pm

•Brooklyn, NY @ The Rock Shop w/ Smoke Fairies
Wednesday, June 22 at 7:30pm

•New York, NY @ Pianos
Thursday, June 23 at 9:00pm

•Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern w/ Fangs Out
Friday, June 24 at 9:00pm

Download: Violet Eyes (Eyes In The Forrest RMX by Baryshnikov)
Download: Ghost In Your Bed (Robots With Rayguns RMX)
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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
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Plant Plant's Go About Things The Weird Way

As the lines between underground electronic music and savvy, accessible pop continue to blur London duo Plant Plants are set to strike while the iron is hot and show the world the leftfield pop that they've been honing to perfection quietly on their own.

Spawned by two friends, the band share a mutual love of films scores, weird guitar tunings, and heavy beats. They're quirky but not in that cute, cuddly way, but rather in a head scratching way. They mix the widescreen vibe of a film score with some sort of downtempo indie thing to get an atmospheric effect that's hypnotically intriguing.

What's really cool about Plant Plant's is just how easily they shift between influences and how smoothly that blend it all together. It's impressive how things can be almost hip hop like and then nearly ambient. It's a strange mix that shouldn't really work at all but somehow does and I suppose that's why they're hard to turn away from.

Download: She's No One
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Brilliant Colors Release Album, Hit Road.

Inspired by post-punk fervor, the spiky pop of C86 and early Flying Nun / Creation label output, San Francisco's Brilliant Colors stake out their own spot in the indie music landscape.   They jangle, they sigh, they shuffle, and together they sound as if the Pastels were from California.

Not really produced and not really polished in anyway, Brilliant Colors manage to be, err, brilliant thanks to their shambolic pop sensibility.  Sounding like they may just shatter into a million pieces and only too happy to do so, Brilliant Colors know the joys of fragile pop songs.

Their new album, Again and Again is filled with such delights and sees them moving further into the classic C86 thing.    The album is released on July 19th on Slumberland and the band will head out on the road in June to pre-promote.

Here's the dates... 
06/09 Charlotte, NC The Milestone ~^
06/10 Athens, GA Farm 255 ~
06/11 Nashville, TN Glenn Danzig's house ~
06/12 Columbus, OH Bat Chapters ~
06/13 Ann Arbor, MI Arbor Vitae ~
06/14 Toronto, ON Parts N Labour ~
06/15 Montreal, QC Le Cabigi ~
06/16 Boston, MA Problem House ~
06/17 Brooklyn, NY Glasslands *
06/18 Philadelphia, PA Cha Cha Razzi
~ = w/ The Beets
^ = w/ Eternal Summers
* = w/ Frankie Rose

Download: How Much Younger
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Twiggy Frostbite Returns...Again.

We don´t know exactly when, what or even if it will happen but this is how it goes when you give an artist total freedom. No demands on format, no deadlines. no nothing...

"By The Ocean" is a new track from Twiggy Frostbite featuring members from The Deer Tracks. To be honest, we don´t know if it´s a part of an upcoming album, if it´s a single or maybe a part of a limited 7" vinyl but what we do know is that this song is yet another brick in a dream that started off with the track "Written Within" a couple of weeks ago. A track that Twiggy Frostbite defined like this..."What can we say you about that feeling? The feeling when you wake up and realize that this might all just be a part of that dream you had. You're neither asleep, nor awake, you're somewhere in between. The only thing you can be sure of is that you exist, or can you?"

While you're thinking about that...download away.

Download: By The Ocean
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Tristy Nesh Gets Dark and Insane

The Croatian wonder boy Tristy Nesh is back on Absolut Freak Records, with elektro frau Xenia Beliayeva and together they've come up with a beast of dark tune called, Acting Sane.

Sounding something like a well medicated Siouxsie the tune saunters it's way across the dance floor covered in a cloud of Clove smoke.  It's dark, subdued, and fantastic. 

The single, out now, features a whole host of mixes featuring, John Lord Fonda, (the French sensation from Vitalic's label Citizen Records), Latvian producer(!!) Max Brannslokker, and Nicolas Chenard brings the techno.

Throw in the B-side, "Turkish Bass," and you have a pan-European/Balkan tour de force that covers all it's bases and then some.

Download: Acting Sane
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FM Belfast Don't Want to Sleep

Icelandic electro-pop group FM Belfast has announced the US release of their sophomore album, Don't Want To Sleep on Morr Music. Out on June 21, the album follows their breakout debut, How To Make Friends, and is a perfect follow up to two years of making friends, taking in experiences, sounds, and adventure

Don't Want To Sleep was written and recorded by FM Belfast (guests include Retro Stefson's Unnsteinn Manúel, Borko's Borko and mighty trumpeter Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson). It retains the bouncy and joyful spirit of How To Make Friends, yet veers off into territories that the band have hitherto left unexplored. There are slow songs and introspective ones; calm, drifting meditations mixed with calls to arms and potential dancefloor workouts. And lots of fun, of course.

Download: New Year
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Ira Atari Shifts Gears

Ira Atari was not named after the famous video game manufacturer, although judging by her music one has to wonder whether or not it was an influence.

Creating electro as if it were second nature, she, along with Frittenbude’s mastermind Ja!kob know how to balance pop with underground dance with mathematical precision.  Balancing pop with dance music, Ira Atari's debut album Shift is a fantastic record that has its eyes on massive hooks and dark recessed corners of the dance floor.  Ira seduces you with her voices and then has her way with you thanks to beats.  It's expertly engineered to wear you out.

Put it this way...With new Divas like Robyn leading the way it’s time for Ira Atari to take the world over one console at a time.

Download: Don't Wanna Miss You (ULTRNX - Remix)
Download: Back To Zero (Fuzz Galaxy Buzz - Remix)
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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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