People won't leave you the fuck alone.
They bother you at work, pushing contracts into your face when you're trying to weave through rush hour traffic. You've had a rough day to begin with; you just sat through a 3 hour meeting with your lawyer and ex-wife concerning the restraining order for her stalker. Shifts done, you go home hungry, but can only find baked goods in your cupboards; not a rice cake in sight. You try to relax to Bach's No. 2 Concerto, but are interrupted constantly by pleading calls from Ron Jeremy. You wear a card around your neck that reads "COUNTRY", but the teenager who makes minimum wage working at the grocery store calls you "freaky" anyways.

MP3: Buck 65 - Centaur (Acoustic Version)

Buck 65 releases free EP on website



Buck 65 released a free, legal, downloadable EP called Dirty Work on his website, through which he hopes to present some solo work of his, thinking perhaps fans have seen more than enough collabo operations in the past year (which is undoubtedly true). You can download the EP in its entirety here.

MP3: Buck 65 - Indestructable Sam
MP3: Buck 65 - Rebel (Acoustic Version)

Beirut's new record!



Oh sweet jesus, I don't know how I missed this one (must have been during my absence from the blogging world) but a while ago, Zach Condon of Beirut talked to Pitchfork Media about his new record coming out this year. After the wild success of last years Gulag Orkestar and the Lon Gisland EP released earlier this year, my expectations are through the roof for this next one, to be released October 9th on Ba Da Bing. The name hasn't been officially confirmed but Condon told Pitchfork that it will be called The Flying Club Cup.
Evidently, Condon's phase of middle-eastern, Balkan-influenced indie pop has eclipsed to make way for a more classical pop influenced sound.

I was listening to a lot of Jacques Brel and French chanson music-- pop songs shrouded in big, glorious, over-the-top arrangements and all this drama...very much throwing myself in the world of classical pop music

As was seen on Lon Gisland, Condon has been growing from one-man-band status to full orchestral numbers, which we can expect to upgrade once again on this record with help from Owen Pallet of Final Fantasy contributing string arrangements and guest vocals.

Tracklist:
00 A Call to Arms
01 Nantes
02 A Sunday Smile
03 Guyamas Sonora
04 La Banlieu
05 Cliquot
06 The Penalty
07 Forks and Knives (La Fête)
08 In the Mausoleum
09 Un Dernier Verre (Pour la Route)
10 Cherbourg
11 St. Apollonia
12 The Flying Club Cup

Tour Dates
06-22 Dublin, Ireland - Tripod
06-24 Pilton, England - Jazz World Stage (Glastonbury Festival)
06-26 London, England - KOKO *
06-28 Malta, Poland - Malta Festival
06-30 Istanbul, Turkey - Radar Festival
07-03 Paris, France - Trabendo *
07-05 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof *
07-08 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07-10 Athens, Greece - Vrahon Theater (Gagarin Open Air Festival)
09-23 Princeton, NJ - Terrace F Club #
09-24 New York, NY - Society for Ethical Culture (Wordless Music Series) #
09-26 New York, NY - Delacorte Theater #
09-30 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa #
10-02 Toronto, Ontario - Danforth Music Hall #
10-04 Chicago, IL - Portage Theater #
10-08 San Francisco, CA - Herbst Theater #
10-09 San Francisco, CA - Herbst Theater #
10-10 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon #
^{*with dirty projectors
#with Colleen}

...and a little Gulag Orkestar to get you psyched:

Icky Thump released today

Jack and Meg's latest was released today on Warner. Pick it up in the old, conservative compact disc format (ho hum) or in these Jack and Meg USB drives.


^{Yeah, I thought they were both supposed to be Meg too}

The custom designed, 512-megabyte drives holds the new album and can be bought at The White Stripes online store, but act fast as there are only 3,333 of each drive created.

MP3: The White Stripes - Icky Thump

Also, I found this indie music blog where you can download full albums and mixes in handy zip files...legally. Pretty intruiging, yes? I'm glad to see another anti-piracy advocate, fighting illegal downloading by providing you with loads of free, awesome, legal tunes. Please enjoy this!

FreeIndie.com

Daft Punk got new suits!



Fresh face for the band, just in time for the concert in Montreal. Can't wait!

Time for a glorious comeback...

okay, yes, I haven't posted in a long, long time, and no I don't really have a valid excuse other than I needed a break, especially with my exams. But, break's over, or break has begun rather, now that i'm free from the man for 2 months of summery-bliss and it's a perfect time to dust off the old blog.
But the title of this post doesn't refer to my absence. It refers to these guys' absence..from the music scene in the past year or two rather.

Spoon



They're back, and this time they're one hit-TV show/super-power promotional force free! Lucky for Spoon, hype proves to be resounding. This one, called Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga looks like it'll be one of the albums of the summer. Pick it up July 14th, out worldwide on Merge.

MP3: Spoon - Underdog

White Stripes



After listening to the first single from the stripes newest album, Icky Thump, I was delighted to hear that it's the same noisy, guitar-riff-driven rock and roll that I was hooked on two years ago when Get Behind Me Satan was released, save for the rockin'-est bagpipe solo I've ever heard. Looking forward to picking this up June 19th on Warner, and you should too!

MP3: White Stripes - Icky Thump

New Pornographers



They're coming around the rocky mountain one more time with some pure-bred, British Columbian folk-pop with Challengers, and this time, they're going "epic". The bands fourth studio album will hold string arrangements and overtly sexual lyrics. Out August 21st on Matador

MP3: New Pornographers - My Rights Versus Yours

Good News For People Who Love Bad News: Modest Mouse @ Hummingbird Centre



Bad news is my hard drive crashed and all my music is gone, which is why I haven't posted in a millenium. Good news is I saw Modest Mouse last Tuesday, on my birthday, in Toronto at the Hummingbird Centre.
Opening was Love As Laughter, a mellow prog-rock band who reminds me of Black Mountain/Stephen Mcbean. They were decent, but again, I would have really loved to see Man Man open.
When Modest Mouse came onstage, my first appearance after seeing the stage setup was that clearly they didn't want to put either Marr or Brock center stage, as they were both on either sides of the stage. They opened with 'Paper Thin Walls', followed by 'Ocean Breathes Salty' and 'Dashboard'. The energy was high, so were the group of kids a couple rows ahead of us blowing smoke signals to the securty, who surprisingly overlooked it. Fortunately, there was no self-mutilation.
Sorry that's kind of a half-assed review, but it was almost a week ago and I have been pretty stressed out over this computer deal.
This weekend, pretty stupidly, I missed Basia Bulat in London, but I did ring in my new year with a group of friends so it was still a worthwhile weekend. Come back to London soon, Basia!

Modest Mouse Goes the way of The Decemberists: Green Screen Challenge Pt. 2



Remember the Decemberists' fresh idea of having their fans finish their music video for 'O Valencia!' in their Green Screen Challenge, the winner, and the ensuing power struggle it sparked over at Colbertnation? Modest Mouse have released their own green screen footage for their second single off their latest LP We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, 'We Have Everything' to be finished by you, the fans.
You can download the footage here.

Chicagoans Have All The Luck



With the announcement of the ongoing lineup for the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this summer, I was already shooting the green eye towards our Sufjan-loving, midwest friends, but with the lineup for the annual Lollapalooza music fest just being announced yesterday, I hardly think I can contain myself.

It's as follows: Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Ben Harper, Muse, Iggy & The Stooges, Modest Mouse, Interpol, My Morning Jacket, Satellite Part, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Snow Patrol, The Roots, Patti Smith, Kings Of Leon, The Black Keys, Regina Spektor, Spoon, Lupe Fiasco, TV On The Radio, Pete Yorn, G. Love, Paolo Nutini, Amy Winehouse, LCD Soundsystem, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Silverchair, Femi Kuti, Yo La Tengo, The Hold Steady, Jack's Mannequin, Stephen Marley, STS9, M.I.A., Slightly Stoopid, Blonde Redhead, Sparklehorse, Sean Lennon, !!!, Blue October, Son Volt, Motion City Soundtrack, Polyphonic Spree, Peter Bjorn & John, Sliversun Pickups, Cansei De Ser Sexy, The Raptures, The Wailers, Roky Erickson, Tapes 'N' Tapes, Heartless Bastards, The View, The Cribs, The Fratellis, Ghostland Observatory, Tokyo Police Club, Rhymefest, Soullive, Cold War Kids, Annuals, Fields, Electric Six, Jim Noir, Elvis Perkins, Sam Roberts, Black Angels, Charlie Musselwhite, Aqueduct, Juliette & The Licks, Dios, Viva Voce, David Vandervelde, Los Campesinos!, Chin Up Chin Up, Ryan Shaw, Colour Revolt, Satin Peaches, Illinois, Arckid, Mickey Avalon, The 1900's, Bang Bang Bang, High Class Elite, Carry Ott, Matt Roan

whew.

Shadrach Kabango



I don't follow hip hop nearly as closely as I follow indie, but I do know that Shadrach Kabango (Shad K to fans, Shadrach to fellow Londoners) ain't kidding around. His first release When This Is Over was incredible and he remains the best hip hop lyricist I've heard of. Apparently he was signed to some independant label within Sony Records but my facts may not be quite straight on that one. Regardless, he's awesome, he's from London, he went to my highschool, (he once performed at our end of the year "Centralpalooza" bash) and these singles should be in your library.

MP3: Shad K - "I Get Down"
MP3: Shad K - "Out Of Love"