New Kill For Love music video for (the sixth single from the album) “These Streets Will Never Look the Same” is directed by Alberto Rossini shot on location in Vegas / Mexico City / Montreal. Kill for Love is available from Italians Do It Better HERE
Longtime fans of The Walkmen might be tempted to brush this album aside. For well over ten years, these five New Yorkers have been the yeoman voice of good kids behaving badly. With their sixth full length of new material, Heaven, there is an unmistakable shift towards social rehabilitation. These East Coast dilettantes are no longer opening their records by getting kicked out of bars (see Bows and Arrows). Instead, they open with a statement of slowing down: "I was the pony express, but I ran out of gas." It's not even the confession of exhaustion that is the most startling thing you'll first notice about Heaven but it's the way it's communicated: calmly, without detachment, and in tune. Long gone are the days of clanky speakeasy pianos, of bass lines played off time, of a singer so far past last call that all he can do is slur his lyrics or screech them so loudly that you can hear the veins in his forehead bulging.
Credit the encroachment of adulthood or credit producer Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues), because the entitled, misbehaved, and emotionally detached prep boys of The Walkmen have finally straightened their ties, tuned their instruments, sobered up, and delivered a record that reflects their decade long commitment to songwriting. Heaven is a beautiful, well structured, and--in a most un-Walkmen way--calm record. As it rolls forward through country-tinged ditties like "We Can't be Beat", delicate acoustic numbers like "Southern Heart" and "Line by Line" and deliberately paced upbeat tunes like "Song for Leigh", one keeps waiting for the inevitable emotional dam burst that never comes. We've become so accustomed to vocalist Hamilton Leithauser temporarily losing his shit, taking a breather, combing his hair, and tucking his shirt back in that we take it for granted this will happen every time he gets in the studio. Songs like "The Rat", "All Hands and the Cook", "In the New Year", and "Angela Surf City" were all unexpected, unchecked geysers spewing from a repressed id. Heaven's geyser never comes. When the fast paced "The Love You Love" barrels through your speakers, you might mistakenly think they've left their therapy for the end of the record. Then he sings "Baby it's the love you love, not me." I don't think he would have cared before, as this is the same guy who recently said "You're with someone else tomorrow night, doesn't matter to me. Cuz as the sun dies into the hill, you've got all I need."
Nevertheless, Heaven is something special and it will most likely grow on you. For longtime Walkmen fans, it will take several listens for its charms to grab you. Whether it be the humid, sleepwalking vibes of "No One Ever Sleeps" or the early U2 guitar lines of title track "Heaven", there will be an entry point where you realize that this record deserves multiple listens. The Walkmen are still a great rock and roll band; as they've become parents, they've oddly began to sound like their parents' rock and roll bands. Like that unwanted shock of grey hair that's shot across your previously flawless black mane, you should embrace the change with dignity. The Walkmen have.
M83releases a sequel to the music video for "Midnight City" titled "Reunion". Check out the video above and pick up the latest EP that features a bunch of remixes of the track from Amazon HERE
Yesterday, The Walkmen released their latest album "Heaven", and today they’ve unveiled the music video for the album’s title track. It's a cool piece of Walkmen history filled with nostalgic montage of archival footage and photographs featuring the band.
Leanne Macomber of Neon Indian releases a collection of dark seductive torch songs according to GVB... Listen to "Charlotte Iris" below and download the album via Bandcamp HERE
Internet-age pop project that begs to be blogged about, MS MR is a NYC based duo that plays moody and sensual electro pop, with a dark soul component... Check out the Lana Del Rey inspired video for the single "Hurricane" which is available via Bandcamp HERE
New from Brooklyn-based indie electro-pop band Body Language: the official music video for "You Can," off of their "Social Studies" EP on the Lavish Habits. Dreamy vocals soar over lush layers of synth; a sweet electro tune with lots of early-eighties charm. Directed by Ian Perlman, filmed in Long Island, NY.
New music video from electro dance artists Hot Chip "Night and Day" is taken from there forthcoming album 'In Our Heads' to be released on Domino on June 11th! Apparently "Many animals were harmed during the making of this video. Regrettably, none of them made the final edit." according to the director Peter Serafinowic. Pre-Order In Our Heads from Insound HERE
Lo-fi pop experimentalist John Maus will release "A Collection of Rarities and Previously Unreleased Material" via Ribbon Music on July 17 in North America, and July 16 elsewhere. The collection includes sixteen recordings from 1999-2010, remixed and remastered, with many culled from Demos 2011. Download the track "Mental Breakdown" below and Pre-Order the Translucent Pink Vinyl LP (limited to 500)HERE
California Wives are currently in the midst of wrapping up their debut full-length album, which is due later in 2012 via Vagrant. Listen tothe first single "Marianne" below and get more info on the yet untitled album HERE
Here is a cute music video for the title track off of Summer Girlfriends debut album Shockwaves out June 5th on Addenda Records. You can pre-order the LP HERE
Indie Folk Garage band The Buddies just released a music video for the song "All The Beer Is Gone" produced by Ryan Perry's Rome Productions. Check out the lastest album F*** The Buddies on Bandcamp HERE.
Fans of Beach House, listen up. Their new album dropped and it sounds just like their last album. This is great news because when a band hits its stride the way Beach House has, you don't want them to change a thing. Teen Dream was the aural equivalent of being day drunk on wine, dutifully holding the dull of reality slightly at bay for its full running time. If you are like us, you wore Teen Dream's record grooves down to a smooth sheen from overuse and are ready for some new material capable of sending you on those short journeys of emotional detachment. Bloom gives us that. These ten songs take us to the same place and uses the same tools to get us there: slowly oscillating guitar lines, droning synth waves, tinny electro drum beats, and Victoria Le Grand's plummy, androgynous voice. Even when sticking so close to the original palette, Bloom manages to somehow sound more colorful than its predecessors, like it's painted on a larger canvas.
Opener "Myth" reaches ridiculous heights of glorious melancholy. How are they doing that? The guitar is only playing four notes over and over and it sounds like they brought in some bro to hit a crash cymbal in the back of the room every eight beats. Same as with most good music, the songs here are greater than the sum or their parts. "Wishes" is another example of this phenomenon. Its pace is so deliberate and unhurried, the vocals so swollen and restrained that its slow burning power sneaks up on you.
In a way, these are perfect summer songs. They're not sunny pop jams like most typical summer songs. These songs inhabit quieter summer moments, effectively grabbing the hands on your clock and bringing them to a temporary halt, stretching out the notoriously short season for a few fleeting moments.
Claire Boucher, otherwise known as the Canadian musician Grimes, just launched a new jewelry line of “pussy rings” in collaboration with Morgan Black Jewelry. Previews of the line are available to view on Grimes' Tumblr Blog HERE
Sam Roberts Band has a special place in my heart. They are one of the few bands that still make me giddy, and I can't believe I have had the pleasure of knowing them for almost six years! I was lucky enough to see all four of their Midwest stops earlier this month (Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Chicago) supporting the Old 97's. Unlike most concerts I see these days, the band always delivers a driving energy that draws in an uncertain crowd and leaves with a slew of new fans. Whether it be on stage or chatting at the bar, they have a certain chemistry that never disappoints.What I'm trying to say is… these Canadian gentlemen write the catchiest music on the other side of the Niagara, that's what I'm talkin' aboot!
We Have Band releases a music video for the track Tired Of Running apparently was shot in Marley Le Roi, the woods were French Presidents used to go hunting a long time ago. Directed by Arthur Castillon & Fabien Pochez.
Following the release of Tennis's latest album Young & Old, the band released a new video for the song "My Better Self." The very Twin Peaks-influenced video has an old-school feel to it, as well as back-up dancers, which is perfect for this song. Young & Old is available via INSOUNDHERE
