The Minor Leagues Are Back

Some time ago, about two years three months to be precise we posted about The Minor Leagues. A lot has happened since that post eons ago. This is what we said then… Ben Walpole wishes he were British, fronting Pulp in 1995. Patrick Helmes wishes he were playing lead for Megadeth in 1988. But cruel fate has instead placed them both in the Minor Leagues, playing insidiously catchy indiepop for most of the last decade from their Cincinnati, Ohio homebase.

Since that time the band has been busy but has apparently forgotten to let us know. So while we’ve been wondering like a lonely parent, the band has been touring, recording, having fun and not letting us share in the joy. Until now. Guess who just happened to pop up in our in box. The Minor Leagues. And believe it or not, they’ve not gone Major. They’ve kept it real and kept that strange amalgamation of darkness and light going and recorded another album.

North College Hill is the new album from The Minor Leagues, the latest in a string of releases from the Cincinnati seven-piece to pair stinging melancholy with insidiously catchy melodies. The Leagues' last two records covered the end of a relationship and the end of the world in overblown concept-album fashion, and this new album continues the streak with ten songs of bittersweet rust-pop about North College Hill, lead singer Ben Walpole's crumbling Midwestern hometown. The band paints a baroque portrait of the neighborhood-as-history, detailing childhood memories in a faded palette of strings, bells, and guitar jangle.

Download: Ghost Maps
Download: Please Don't Throw My Love Away
Download: Secret Codes
Tweet

2 Bears Head To Work

2 Bears are a London production duo made up of Joe Goddard of Hot Chip and Raf Daddy.  These two odd dudes have thrown on a couple of bear suits, dug out all their favorite 80's and 90's Chicago house records and made one heck of a tribute to it on their new album Be Strong.

An album laden with incessant mind numbingly sexy grooves, Be Strong harks back to the days when dancing was fun and when dance music was about energy and movement not excessive noise and wobble. While influenced by the Chicago and New York scenes, the album is most definitely rooted in the London underground scene and you can tell. Ridiculously deep at times and so upfront at others this is a record that weaves and bobs around sub genres faster than an Intercity 125. Garage, electro, piano house, disco house, deep house, it's all here and represented so well that you can't help but throw your hands up in the air and just move.

In addition to the ridiculously addictive grooves that are so persistent the album works because the 2 Bears are able to write instantly memorable lyrics that pump along to the rhythm and drill themselves into your subconscious. Even at their deepest and most chilled moments Be Strong remains, um, strong. Pretty much the party album of 2012 thus far, the 2 Bears have brought proper house, electro, and garage back and pumped it up a few notches. This record is so flawless and so filled with banger after banger that it couldn't not fill a dancefloor if it tried. Essential.

Download: Work (St. Etienne Remix)
Tweet

Young Magic Cast's It's Spell

Although now firmly settled in New York City, Young Magic's three members came together through equal helpings of openness and fortuity. In 2010, singer and producer Isaac Emmanuel had left his home continent of Australia to travel across Europe, over to New York, and down through Mexico, all the while creating and recording music with whatever instruments he found along the way. While in Mexico, Emmanuel kept a tight correspondence with fellow Australian expat Michael Italia, who for months had been similarly traveling across Europe and South America with portable recording gear in tow. They decided to meet up in New York, where their good friend from a few years prior, Indonesian-born vocalist Melati Malay, had been living and making her own recordings. In early 2011 the three friends, who had initially bonded over their broad musical palettes, began recording together and contributing songs to the record, culling influences and finding their own footing among them.

The immediately fruitful collaboration brought forth singles "Sparkly", "You With Air" and "Night In The Ocean," all of which were fitting indicators of the band's chameleonic sound, heavily informed by West African rhythms, Brainfeeder hip-hop, UK bass, and 60s psychedelic soul. Young Magic's full-length debut, Melt, comprises both of these tracks-as well as their B-sides-and expands on their varied aesthetic, at once electronically sequenced and completely organic.

Young Magic's debut album, Melt, is out on Feb. 14 on Carpark.

Download: Sparkly (MatthewDavid's Odyssey Remix)
Watch: Night In The Ocean

Tweet

Just Barelys

Stephen Kelly and Eleanor King are The Just Barelys. A two-piece art/pop project focused on the basics of danceable beats, thoughtful guitar playing, slanted lyrics, and poppy vocal harmonies. Independently recording and releasing three albums and a variety of singles since 2001, JB’s home recordings feature King on drums and Kelly on guitar, and incorporate a wide variety of instruments, computer manipulations and home-made noise devices.

Their most recent output Mad Bits was crafted slowly over a couple of years, developed playfully with constant additions and subtractions. The album is neither a document of their live shows nor a studio creation. It sits somewhere in between, like a distant blurred memory or a dream about the future. You’ll find songs about software problems in the patriot missile, working out and building muscle, skateboarding legends, and missing home. When The Just Barelys aren’t making music, they each spend their time on separate art practices, producing installations throughout Canada and abroad.

The Just Barelys release their long awaited new album Mad Bits on Tuesday, February 14.

Download: Lions
Tweet

The Rising Milano Sun

Milano Sun are 3 guys from Gothenburg, Sweden, who formed a band after they met on an escapism trip around Europe in 2010.  As you might guess Milan, Italy was amongst the many stops along the way. They all had long connections within the Swedish music scene as session musicians and felt they had their own sound and something different to contribute.  So what better way to contribute than to form a new band.

During 2011 they started to record an album which has just recently been completed.  With a Balearic soundscape that evokes the sea, cliffs, wind and a clear sky, the trio express their feelings in songs about love, loss, regret, betrayal and fear, and well, how to handle (or fail to handle) life as a teenager on the run.  A post trip autobiographical story in a sense, "Already Gone," is a hint at things to come.

Download: Already Gone
Tweet

Josh And Mer Are From Planet Music

Soon after meeting in their home state of Oregon, Josh Schroeder and Meredith Adelaide discovered that they share common ideas about music, art, life, and their love of the beautiful Pacific Northwest. This connection fostered a creative match that quickly evolved into a musical project as Josh and Mer.

Their debut album, Planet Music, was recorded with producer Jason Carter (Frank Black, Pete Yorn, Art Brut) and evokes a dreamy, experimental indie rock sound. The Portland duo furthered their artistic vision by filming and photographing elements of their collaborative process. "We each bring something to the table that we otherwise couldn't do alone, and I think that's why it works," says Josh, while Meredith adds, “We're always trying to one-up each other with concepts, visuals, and sounds." You can hear that on their single, "From The Sea."

Planet Music, the debut LP comes out February 14th as a free download.

Download: From The Sea
Tweet

Head To The Weatherhouse

George Cochrane met Christopher Vick in the wee hours at a San Francisco house party. George, an electronic music producer, DJ, and label owner, and Christopher, a disco evangelist and party thrower, spent much of the night talking Disco, and became fast friends. Soon enough, Chris moved to Los Angeles, forming a tropical goth band and a clothing company, while George continued his electronic music career.

A "Hey, we should make music sometime" chat eventually became reality, and before long, Chris and George began to collaborate long-distance as Weatherhouse, creating the blueprint album for their new sound, 2011's E Pluribus Calo Disco.

Single handedly creating a new sub genre, Calo Disco is everything you'd expect from someone from California; sun drenched, chilled, and gorgeous. 

As for what 2012 holds for Weatherhouse,  that's easy.  More EPs, a gang of remixes, and a growing list of live and DJ bookings are in store for 2012. Wax the starship and sequin up the space suits, crank up the sunshine and lets get Balearic.

Download: Koala
Download: Discasio
Tweet