Their lyrics are worth listening closely to, Rie’s voice is perfect for the music, Tommy’s voice compliments it well, and I love the somewhat abrupt pronunciations and syllables matching the beat. It’s one of the few albums that sounds seamless from song to song without sound monotonous. I’m never sure where one song starts and another ends, and it really works for them.

Check out a few of my favorite tunes, and connect with the band on Facebook too – they’ve got a decent page.

Oliver the Penguin – Button Pusher – Girls and Boys

[See post to listen to audio]

Oliver the Penguin – Button Pusher – Paper Airplane

[See post to listen to audio]

Oliver the Penguin – Button Pusher – Do I Leave My Heart Here

[See post to listen to audio]

Additionally, you can listen to the entire album on Relevant’s “The Drop”.

Thanks to Rob for the tip!

Go listen to “First Train Home” – and check out her video blog and my previous posts on Imogen.

One of the reasons I love Imogen is because of how much she cares about her fans. Follow her on Twitter and you’ll see her constantly replying to her fans, you’ll find her in chat rooms, and you’ll find her music being remixed for charity, and you’ll find her making one 12 seconds after another.

Can’t wait for the new disc!

The album “LP” will arrive in the US on July 7th, so mark you calendars!

There are strong elements of both bands (you can really hear Rostam’s harmonies coming in strong); but it’s just a unique and chill sound. You can listen to four tracks off the upcoming album “LP” in the player; so sit back, relax, hit play, and enjoy.

Fantasies has a very interesting story behind it — a story of real honesty and brokenness, and yet it’s also a story of hope and joy. In the words Metric:

Haines had an epiphany during [a] Phoenix show — she didn’t want to be sad anymore. And she didn’t want to play those songs. So, about 40 minutes into the show, she stopped “Dr. Blind” mid-verse and said just that: “I don’t want to play these songs anymore.”

This album is anything but sad. It can be a bit dark, but never sad. Haines was so sick of the hipster indie scene, that she decided to head to Buenos Aires, and the band later decided to hang out and play in the woods to escape it all.

The video below is a bit of Haines from Buenos Aires discussing Fantasies and why she left North America to get it done. If this video sparks your interest, then you’ll love their bio. As always, a few of my favorite tracks are below, and you can listen to the whole album on the site! And it’s only $7.99 on Amazon, so go buy Fantasies!

Metric – Fantasies – Help I’m Alive
[See post to listen to audio]

Metric – Fantasies – Sick Muse
[See post to listen to audio]

Metric – Fantasies – Gimme Sympathy
[See post to listen to audio]

As Pitchfork notes, “Merriweather is the kind of album on which any song could be someone’s favorite” and I have to agree (Read the full article, it’s great). My favorite tracks are In the Flowers, My Girls, and Bluish (all of which are posted to the music is for lovers mixtape). All absolutely amazing and intricate songs which require multiple listens — each listen revealing something different.

Not only is the album amazing, Animal Collective produced a sick little video for My Girls and made it highly shareable by adding it to its own URL. You visit MyAnimalHome.net and all you see is this amazing video — nothing more, nothing less. I received multiple emails from friends with this URL and the words “soooo good”. Check it out:

Listen to the entire Merriweather Post Pavilion album by Animal Collective – top right.

Hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark, Mew first broke onto the scene in 2003 with their album, Frengers which won the “Album of the Year” and “Band of the Year” at the 2003 Danish Music Awards (DMA). Frengers made my favorites of 2008, and here is a video of Mew performing Snow Brigade from Frengers at the DMA’s. In 2005 they released And the Glass Handed Kites in Denmark, dropping in the UK a bit later, and finally in the US in July of 2006.

Spin magazine had the privlidge of interviewing what I would call the weirdest band I know, and here are a few snippets:

The band also moved away from the continuous manner in which Kites was mixed, where one song basically bled seamlessly into the next. “The last record we did was like one long thing, and I love that about it,” Bjerre says. “We didn’t want to do that again, we wanted to have separate songs. I think it’s like a counter reaction to what we did last time.”

In 2006 the bassist Johan Wohlert departed the band to hang with his lady friend Pernille Rosendahl from the now-disbanded band Swan Lee and they then formed The Storm. Mew fanatics are of course wondering if this will change the Mew sound, but only time will tell. Regarding the tone and feel of the album, Bjerre says,

“Oftentimes, even if the song’s not happy, the lyrics are,” he explains. “I think that this record’s probably a bit weirder in some ways, but also there’s some really very clear stuff.”

The band has been eerily quiet about the new record with only a few interviews popping up here and there, a few comments on the Mew forum. The only real communication from the band has been in the form of their rather outdated video diaries — which mark them as the weirdest dudes in music. Some indie bands feel the need to don the facade of weirdness because…well…that’s just cool. I’m pretty sure these guys aren’t acting. Have a gander below.

You can pick up Frengers as well as read others reviews at the music is for lovers Amazon store. Also, Purevolume has a great bio and a few streaming tunes, as does Last.fm and MySpace.

• Rosie Thomas – Why Can’t it Be Christmas All Year?
• Leigh Nash – Last Christmas
• Sixpence None The Richer – Angels We Have Heard On High

There are plenty of others and still 8 more to come! Check it out.

And who knew Weezer had a Christmas EP?

So after purchasing the album, I think it lacks a bit of punch. I still like it, and it’s growing on me; but it’s not as good as the last few albums. They’ve chilled it out a bit–and while I like chill, this feels a bit more disheartened to me than it does chill. That being said, I would most certainly buy it again.

Check out a few tracks:

Grey Man:
[See post to listen to audio]

Good Morning Fire Eater:
[See post to listen to audio]

What Do I Know? (the Copeland I know and love):
[See post to listen to audio]

Go buy it!

Original Post (09.06.08):
Copeland news! Finally! Copeland has a new album arriving October 14th. Copeland is one of my favorite bands of all time–I love these guys. If you’re not familiar, you should be. Now on the label Tooth and Nail, their first and second albums “Beneath the Medicine Tree” and “In Motion” were released on The Militia Group. Their next disc, “Eat, Sleep, Repeat” was released on Columbia Records. Each album has gotten consecutively better, and I have loved them all.

Rather than tell you all the details, I’ve got quite a few links for you to check out:

A mysterious video of frontman Aaron Marsh playing a song in reverse.

A loyal fan who reversed the reverse song and is streaming it on his MySpace page — turns out it’s “You are My Sunshine.”

The official press release for their new album.

An “online maze” built by the band that contains song titles and (I’m guessing) lyric snippets — a bit over the top.

An announcement that they will be going on tour with Lovedrug. Yes please.

In case you’re not familiar with the band – a few other times I’ve blogged about Copeland.

I just added this track to the music is for lovers mixtape and you can also hear “Careful Now” on the mixtape as well.

“Eat, Sleep, Repeat” off “Eat, Sleep, Repeat”

[See post to listen to audio]

Hailing from Arkansas, they themselves say they’ve been influenced by Death Cab and Mew, and it certainly shows. They sound like a cross between Mae and Mew with a splash of Copeland every now and again–but, they’re certainly not copycats and are carving out their out sound.

After a brief opener, the album begins with a piano driven track entitled “Light as Air” that has a tight baseline driving the beat. I think this song really sets the stage for the rest of the disc. The whole album has walks the line between upbeat and slightly depressed. I love it.

Something else kind of cool (I’m a sucker for this…): keys are played by, Laura Baylock, who is married to Wes Baylock (lead vocalist).

My only complaint against this record is that I want Wes to switch out of falsetto once in awhile and hit the top of his range. That being said, I love the falsetto. And, I can’t get enough of the clean tone of those guitars–so good. Deas Vail just released a new EP, and Wes is really belting it on the few tracks I’ve heard–just verging on a scream, so maybe that’s the direction they’re moving. You can check out a few tracks from the new EP, White Lights, at PureVolume.

Their new album is slated to arrive in 2009. In the meantime, enjoy one of my favorite tracks off “All the Houses Look the Same” entitled, “Rewind” (and don’t forget it will be on the mixtape!)

[See post to listen to audio]

Buy both the “All the houses Look the Same” and “White Lights” at Amazon.

Check it out at Bloc Party’s site.