After numerous tours together, indie singer-songwriter Kevin Devine and Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra have formed Bad Books. A super group of sorts, they have recorded a self-titled album due October 19th via Favorite Gentlemen, the record label founded by Manchester Orchestra. The lyrically strong 10-song album includes five songs written by each songwriter and showcases their hidden pop sensibilities.

The churning “You Wouldn’t Have To Ask” is the first mp3 released and is a great introduction with Andy’s gruff howl and Kevin’s rich and gentle voice blending seamlessly into the straightforward power-pop.

DOWNLOAD “You Wouldn’t Have To Ask”
VISIT Bad Books

America’s indie rock community stuck their noses so far up Phoenix’s ass that they came out sniffing somewhere around The Bewitched Hands on the Top of Our Heads. Unfortunately, that is a band’s name. Fortunately, like their compatriots they can also make some decent music. Of course we take great pride in hearing the French attempt to sound American–we already gave our endorsement (along with their premiere download of the MP3) to “Hard to Cry” a few months back. And “I Don’t Know” is a much better song, by a band with apparent range. The fact that I don’t know the significance (or insignificance) of lines like “Going down in my life//I wanna think but it was wrong//falling down in my eye//I wanna think but I don’t know” doesn’t necessarily bother me. What does bother me is that the song comes from the Hard to Cry EP, due out on the 26th via Sony, and i haven’t even heard the whole thing yet. Hopefully it’ll be more of what “I Don’t Know” is, unpretentious indie rock from a French band.

The Bewitched Hands On The Top Of Our Heads – I Don’t Know

YellowFever is a name you should already know. The Austin band released a quite solid self-titled LP earlier this year through Vivian Girl’s Wild World label. The boy/girl duo do liquid smooth, minimal (call it garage if you like) rock accented by Jennifer Moore’s sedated, not-sooooo-girly vocals. YellowFever have now released a 6-song EP “Bermuda Triangle,” and we got the title track for your downloading pleasure:

YellowFever – Bermuda Triangle

They are currently on tour (hence to tour EP, err) so check out the dates below:

07/18 – Lawrence, KS – Jackpot
07/19 – Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
07/20 – Madison, WI – Project Lodge
07/21 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
07/22 – St Louis, MO – Antartica
07/23 – Nashville, TN – Little Hamilton
07/25 – Hot Springs, AR – The Exchange +
07/26 – Norman, OK – The Opolis
07/27 – Denton, TX – TBA
07/29 – San Antonio, TX – Korova Basement
07/30 – Laredo, TX – Old No. 2
07/31 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
08/01 – El Paso, TX – Hideaway Lounge
08/02 – Phoenix, AZ – Trunk Space
08/03 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
08/04 – Los Angeles, CA – The Smell ^
08/05 – Los Angeles, CA – Day Off – Going to Disneyland!
08/06 – Sacramento, CA – The Hub
08/07 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent !
08/08 – Klamath Falls, OR – Contemporary Arts Kitchen
08/09 – Portland, OR – East End
08/10 – Olympia, WA – Northern
08/12 – Vancouver, BC – Honey
08/13 – Seattle, WA – Cairo
08/14 – Provo, UT – The Compound
08/15 – Denver, CO – Rhinoceropolis
08/16 – Albuquerque, NM – Wunderkind
08/17 – Lubbock, TX – Bash Riprocks

% = w/ Titus Andronicus
+ = w/ Halloween Swim Team
^ = w/ Ty Segall, Royal Baths
! = w/ Thee Oh Sees

Not Even in July is the kind of record you have to live before you can write. The album is an exquisitely crafted and painfully human collection of songs that exhibit the measured persistence and spectral beauty of a breaking dawn.  It feels as weathered and wise as an old home –alive, lived-in and loved. Like the family cabin in the Adirondacks where he writes, Not Even in July is Marchant’s safe and solitary haven  –his place of emotional harborage.

Jesse Marchant, who records under his initials, JBM, was born and raised in his family’s homes in the Adirondacks and Montreal. Classically trained on guitar from the age of 7, he had always written instrumental songs as a means of expression, but it wasn’t until recent years that he began writing lyrics, singing and recording. After a decision to withdraw, he retreated to his family’s home in the mountains, to live in seclusion and fully realize songs that he’d written while living in Los Angeles, in what he’s described as a somewhat strange and solitary three-year existence.

After shaping and working an album’s worth of music, Jesse got in contact with Henry Hirsch who took instantly to the demos and the two, with a few visiting musicians, made the record in just two short weeks at Hirsch’s 19th Century church studio in Hudson, NY.

Not Even In July is a mostly acoustic venture, textured thoughtfully by Marchant’s atmospheric arrangements, lyrical purity and unaffected baritone –that is as grand in its haunting restraint as it is in its emotional vitality. “Years,” a lulling, finger-picked instrumental slips into “Cleo’s Song,” a ghostly reverie on loneliness and despair, while “Ambitions & War” targets Los Angeles, in a shuffling indictment of greed and inhumanity. “July on the Sound” crashes delicately and darkly through scenes of death, love and life; “From Me to You and You to Me” weaves a lazy, spiraling plea; and the resolute beat of “Friends For Fireworks” swings from the optimism and beauty of sunset to the dark finality of night. The album closes with “Red October” and its piano-drenched memories of a love lost, and “Swallowing Daggers”, a hopeless declaration of concern for a loved one gone off the rails.

Not Even In July is an improbably stunning feat from a man who, until this point in his life, had never considered being a musician or playing his songs live until this year (he’s now shared the stage with St. Vincent, Elvis Perkins, Tallest Man on Earth). It plays out like a painstakingly elegant, yet brutally honest break-up letter written by Marchant and addressed to many: a lover, a dying friend, a piece of himself and a passing phase of life. But it’s also a love letter – to what comes next, and to finally coming home.

Download – JBM “Cleo” here

Have Tera Melos gone pop? Well, no….but yes. Much like the band’s intricate and complex song structures, it’s not quite that simple. Tera Melos’ songs have traditionally been densely packed with so many wild shifts of time signature and chord structures that guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Nick Reinhart jokes they were sounds that, “only wizards could decipher.”

Patagonian Rats is packed with melodic hooks and jabs that on paper might seem to defy the band’s experimental edge. There’s even clear and distinct vocals throughout — a first for the band, where vocals, if any, were previously awash with distortion and layered in the mix. But, particulars aside, Patagonian Rats is the type of album that sticks with you.

Occasionally, “pop” music has really meant daring music. Like the Beach Boys in the late 60s, The Clash in the 70s, Devo in the 80s, Flaming Lips in the 90s — the greatest artists have dared to make music that is hooky while also being groundbreaking. Patagonian Rats evokes images of bizarre and fantastic alternate realities. Think about the first time you heard “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys; jarring collisions of a cappella harmonies, tremolo-washed bass and chirping theremin. The key is not to understand it, but to let the music transform everyday reality into something new. And, that is the essence of Patagonian Rats.

The album opens with whispered vocals and waltzing organ notes of 35-second intro, “So Occult” that just barely settles in before abruptly tumbling into the blitzkrieg haunting refrain of “Kelly”. The latter a simple, ascending riff of phased-out guitar, reverb-drenched vocals and marching rhythms that plays out like that single line from a favorite pop song that gets stuck in your head, constantly on repeat. “The Skin Surf” juts in to the proceedings, quickly shifting to a freneticBlack Flag-meets-the-Ventures wrestling match that truly showcases the impeccable musicianship of Reinhart, bassist Nathan Latona and drummer John Clardy. “All my friends will try and say,” Reinhart sings — not so much with foolhardy bravado, but rather as if from the view of eternity. Elsewhere, “Trident Tail” evokes Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd; the music is studious and deliberate, while also infectious and hummable.

Tera Melos formed in 2004 as a quartet, releasing their first self-titled disc in 2005 (later re-released by Sargent House in 2008). The band became a trio in late 2006, releasing the all-instrumental Drugs to the Dear Youth EP early the following year. A split disc with By The End of Tonight (2007) on Temporary Residence and an EP of cover songs, Idioms, Vol 1 followed in 2009. In the meantime, Reinhart collaborated with prolific drummer Zach Hill under the band name bygones, releasing the by- album in 2009 and Spiritual Bankruptcy EP in 2010, both on Sargent House. Clardy has also recently spent downtime as the touring drummer with guitar goddess Marnie Stern.

Patagonian Rats will be available everywhere via Sargent House on September 7th, 2010.

Download – Tera Malos “Frozen Zoo” here

The Strange Boys - BE BRAVE

Calling this “Best New Music” may be misleading considering “Be Brave” comes from the Austin band’s similarly-named sophomore LP–released  waaaay back in February. But in my defense if this the first time you’ve heard The Strange Boys then it is surely “new” to you and it follows that it’ll probably be one the “best” songs you’ve heard in a while. And it should also follow that you’ll run out and buy Be Brave or at least go check out the band at one of these upcoming shows:

08-15 Brooklyn, NY – East River State Park / Jelly NYC Pool Party %
09-01 Austin, TX Emos Inside
09-02 New Orleans, LA Saturn Bar &
09-03 Tallahassee, FL Club Down Under &
09-04 Tampa, FL New World Brewery &
09-05 Miami, FL Churchills #
09-07 Gainesville, FL The Atlantic &
09-08 Birmingham, AL – Bottletree *
09-09 Atlanta, GA – The Earl *
09-10 Atlanta, GA – The Earl *
09-11 Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle *
09-12 Nashville, TN Glenn Danzig’s House $
09-14 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506 *
09-15 Washington, DC – Black Cat *
09-16 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom *
09-17 Cambridge, MA – TT The Bear’s *
09-19 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie: 2 shows: matinee (all ages) and evening (21+) performances *
09-20 Ithaca, NY The Shop &
09-21 Montreal, QB Casa Del Popolo &
09-22 Toronto, ON The Garrison &
09-23 Detroit, MI  Lager House $
09-24 Cleveland, OH Now That’s Class $
09-25 Cincinnati, OH Mid Point Festival $
09-26 Columbus, OH The Summit $
09-27 Ft. Wayne, IN The Brass Rail $
09-28 Chicago, IL  Empty Bottle $
09-29 Milwaukee, WI Cactus Club $
09-30 St. Paul, MN Turf Club $
10-01 Des Moines, IA Vaudeville Mews $
10-03 Memphis, TN Hi Tone $

Holy Hail is super radness.  They are the kind of music that make your feet move, but move in algorithms far beyond your own prescient mind.  Intelligent Dance Music!! What a label!! They have the mixing of the sexes in their sound and that is never a bad thing.  We slept a bit on the recent release of “The Dying (After) Party” which came out 2 weeks ago.  To make up for it we have this delightful free download for you.  Peruse at your own pleasure!!

Download – Holy Hail “Riverine” here

All Saints Day is the new band from Gregg Foreman (Cat Power / Delta 72) and Katy Goodman (Vivian Girls).  The two met in 2008, reconnected in early 2010 and began exchanging music long distance.  All Saints Day are played their first live shows in California throughout June, and will release their debut 7″ on Art Fag records.

Download – All Saints Day “You Can’t Be Alone” here

Download – Crocodiles “Sleep Forever” here

Welcome to the art-punk renaissance”, declared Rolling Stone magazine last year, triumphantly heralding Crocodiles’ debut album. It was all just deserts for a San Diego duo who’d spent years kicking against the mundanity of their sprawling military town.

Last year the pair released Summer of Hate, their acclaimed debut album as Crocodiles. The album garnered them endless blog buzz and tours across the US and Europe supporting bands like Holy Fuck and The Horrors. Straddling vast sonic terrains from the jagged guitar stabs of street-strutting lead single ‘Neon Jesus’, to throbbing kraut rock, expansive shoegaze and irresistibly danceable disco-punk jams, Summer Of Hate drew comparisons with The Velvets and Primal Scream.

Sharing both Brandon’s love for girl groups and punk, and his feeling of small-town-alienation, was guitarist Charles Rowell. Meeting at an anti-fascist rally when they were teenagers, the two have been in countless bands together since.

As singer Brandon Welchez remembers it: “My neighborhood was just so boring that a lot of my friends started doing hard drugs at an early age. A lot of kids were growing up too fast, like, in a gross way – losing teeth.  Plus my high school was full of racists and homophobes. Music was an escape from all that.”

Significantly, Summer of Hate also caught the ear of one James Ford – Simian Mobile Disco man and producer of Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons and Florence and the Machine amongst others. Together, all three headed into the desert in early 2010 to create ‘Summer Of Hate”s psychedelic, hypnotic and anthemic follow-up. An album that would later be christened, somewhat fittingly:Sleep Forever

“It was this home made studio in the middle of Joshua Tree that was just bulging with vintage equipment,” remembers Brandon. “You’d open a cupboard and a 60s organ would fall out or there’d be a 1950s hollow-body guitar under your bed!”

James Ford adds, “The studio in Joshua tree was a perfect place to record. It’s a magical place and the studio had lots of otherworldly toys and instruments to play with! We bonded over a love of Harmonia and the Monks and got excited by the idea of combining these krauty rhythms and textures with the bands’ psychedelic songs and melodies.”

“More krauty, more dub” are the watch-words that Brandon and Charles use to describe Sleep Forever. “James was really great,” says Brandon of its producer. “I guess there was a small fear that because he is someone who produces hit records that he’d clean us up a lot, but he did a great job of keeping it raw.”

Raw it may be, but Sleep Forever is still an unmistakably more refined beast than its predecessor. Drums and organ whirls envelope you on tracks like ‘Mirrors’ and ‘Sleep Forever’, which nod to ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ era Spiritualized as much as they do Neu! andThe Velvet Underground. Meanwhile, Brandon’s tough Cali sneer gives it’s most emotional performance to date in ‘All My Hate and My Hexes Are For You’.

“The album’s still gritty and punk,’ says Charles rightfully. “ but it’s also really big and loud and psychedelic. It’s just a lot more organic.”

Indeed, ‘Stoned to Death’ and ‘Hollow Hollow Eyes’ still buzz with Crocodiles’ trademark jerk and noise punk jut, but there’s tenderness and romance too – as heard on  ‘Girl in Black’ and ‘Hearts Of Love’ or the euphoric first single ‘Sleep Forever’.

If this album has a manifesto it’s escapism and adventure – both sonically and metaphorically.  “All I’ve ever thought is, ‘what can we do to make sure our lives aren’t ordinary and boring?’ I don’t wanna go back to school or get a real job!” laughs Brandon.

Back with a full five-piece live band – including drummer Alianna Kalaba, bassist Marco Gonzalez and keyboardist Robin Eisenberg – and a summer of open roads ahead of them, it seems unlikely that Crocodiles will ever have to do anything more mundane than soundcheck again

Before you fully subscribe to the notion that the blogosphere killed the cult band, take a moment to consider Soft Tags. Sounding like college radio, one a.m. circa 1982 and tirelessly recording, and releasing as many as three records a year, this band is keeping the DIY, screenprinting and four track ethos alive from their home base of Portland, Oregon.

Mathematical Monsters is the new record from Soft Tags. A double record that spans the range of their current inclinations, containing fuzzed-out beatnik indie-rock, whisper quiet, spooky folk and buzzing guitar ‘n’ hammond organ rock’ n’ roll. Soft Tags have put proof to tape that they are one of the strangest, most surprising and original bands in Portland right now.

Download – Soft Tags “The Pine Barrens” here

Tour Dates

06.29.10 – Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio
06.30.10 – Brooklyn, NY @ the Bell House

07.01.10 – Cincinnati, OH @ May Day
07.03.10 – Lincoln, NB @ the Bourbon Theater
07.06.10 – Denver, CO @ the Hi-Dive
07.08.10 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux