Oh, Canada

I'm a sucker for bands that have a great time on stage. If you really look like you're enjoying what you're doing I just can't help but get into the songs, especially if the music matches the spirit of the performance. I had a chance to check out Page France last weekend and one of the nice surprises was opener Canada. Canada is a seven-piece collective from the Ann Arbor area (I'm telling you Michigan is on fire). Their lineup includes two cellists and ample use of melodica which really help them achieve a full and interesting sound. Their songs are joyus and heartbreaking at the same time and truly a spectacle performed live. I highly recommend checking them out if they roll through your town. You can check the band out at myspace or pre-order their upcoming full length from Quite Scientific.

Download these tracks from their EP "How Dare You"
Hexenhaus
As Dry As A Bone

While I'm on the subject of great live performances, the second great surprise of the night was Page France's live set which was equally stunnning and full of great communal spirit, instrument swapping and excesive auxillary percussion. Page France's last album "Hello, Dear Wind" is being rereleased on Suicide Squeeze soon and if you haven't heard it you should definitely make an effort to check it out. You can view news and tour dates along with information on purchasing their releases at the bands site.

Download this track from "Hello, Dear Wind."
Grass

Roommate

I've been listening to Roomate's album Songs The Animals Taught Us off and on for a few weeks now, and it gets better with every listen. I think the biggest achievement made with this album is the effortless execution of epic sound and melody fashioned with the smallest and most unexpected tools. Roomate combine the sensibility of an am radio folk rock band with the instrumentation and musical audacity of Xiu Xiu and M83. This album is definately a surpise and gift that keeps on giving. A great addition to the Plug Research family. Oh, and they use keytar!

Download Fairgrounds.mp3 Dinner With Ivan.mp3 (Big Head Todd & The Monsters cover) Visit them at Myspace.

Metallic Falcons

Metallic Falcons are Sierra Casady (CocoRosie) and Matteah Baim. Together they are making some pretty haunting music, self described as "soft metal". Be it from a desert clan of the sun or some nocturnal ritual performed under the stars, these songs come from a pagan stance of mysticism and longing to be both closer to the earth and to the sky.

Download Airships.mp3 Pale Dog.mp3 Check them out at Myspace and look for their debut album to be released June 6th on VoodooEROS.

Anathallo

I can't believe I'm behind on this one. This band hails from Michigan, former home turf for me. I've just heard their latest album "Floating World" and they're every bit as good as I remember and probably even better. I remember seeing these guys in a rec center in Mount Pleasant opening for my friends Juneau. Most members were still in high school at the time but their intensity stole the show even then. They are a sprawling eight piece who write epic masterpieces packed with fragile melodies that build to towering finishes. This album is a bit of a concept based around a Japanese Folktale but the concept never distracts from the overall quality of the music. On stage they bring a new meaning to their self description as a "marching band gone haywire," like Sufjan sitting in for an improptu session with the Arcade Fire for lack of a better comparison. Certainly one of the best bands to come out of Michigan recently (and that's saying something). You can buy the album from their site or check them out at myspace.

Download these tracks from "Floating World"
Dokkoise House (With Face Covered)
Hanasakajijii (Four: A Great Wind, More Ash)
Hanasakajijii (One: The Angry Neighbor)

A History Lesson

Said The Gramophone just did a post (well, guest post) by Will Butler of The Arcade Fire. He wrote a really interesting and extremely abridged version of rock n' roll history in the Czech Republic. Prague is one of my favorite places in the world; if I could sit on the St. Charles Bridge and watch the sun go down one more time before I die, I will be a happy man. Mr. Butler’s offering brought back a lot of great memories for me and he shows us some great music by way of the Czech Republic; music that was "outlawed" in its time, music that remains as strange and dark as the days it was being passed under the noses of the law by the youth of the nation.

Download Psi Vojaci - Psi Vojaci.mp3 Psi Vojaci - Narod Psich Vojaku.mp3 Filip Topol and Agon Orchestra - Ziletky Ex Orkest - Kokend Asfalt.mp3

I had to repost these songs after I heard them but you should really check out the original post at Said The Gramophone for the history behind this music.

Tomorrow's Friend

There's not to much out there on these guys. I've seen some press here and there, snippets from Spin, Stop Smiling Mag., and Unregistered Offerings at The Social Registry. Insound carries their vinyl only self titled 12" single, but other than that, i could only find a few mp3s. Tomorrow's Friend is a folk, psych, alt blues country, indie noise collective from where else but Brooklyn, New York. I'm amazed they haven't seen more coverage playing with the likes of Vietman andThe Gris Gris. Be on the lookout for these girls on the road or in your local record store, I promise you won't be disappointed. Download Banging Everything In Sight.mp3 Since We're Friends.mp3 Jumping At Shadows.mp3

Type Records

Type Records has a great lineup of bands. I was just recently introduced to Sickoakes and through them have also discovered a new favorite, Khonnor. One's post rock, one's glitchy folk, both are excellent.

Sickoakes, a Swedish post rock outfit have just released a masterpiece or swirl and echo, clatter and hum, making the quiet to loud aesthetic exciting again. Download Wedding Rings & Bullets II.mp3 (20 min.)

Imagine a blend of classic American folk music, 80s new wave sentiment, all with the modern gloss and production techniques of electronica. Khonnor, only 17 years of age at the release of his debut album is considered by his peers to be a musical prodigy, evoking the talent and skills of predecessors like O'Rourke and Pajo. Download Daylight & Delight.mp3 Apes Is Loose.mp3 Stoned Night.mp3

Charalambides

With all the attention focused on the rising free-folk scene its a perfect time for the return of Charalambides. "A Vintage Burden," comes out this week on Kranky records and its a definite return to form for the group. Sparse folk-blues songs that ache with the kind of conviction that many current revivalists can only hope to achieve. Christina and Tom have returned to a lighter feeling reminiscent of their earlier records. Chistina's vocals wrap around the record like a knit blanket but still can't steal the spotlight from the 17 minute plus sprawl of bottleneck blues that Tom Carter lays down on 'Black Red Blues.' Certainly one of their best albums to date and just in time to teach a few lessons. Checkout these tracks from "A Vintage Burden"

Spring
Dormant Love

Lost in the Woods

There is finally enough information available for me to post on this band. I first heard an MP3 of their song Holes about a month ago an I've been eager to share it ever since. Woods are the duo of Jeremy Earl and Christian DeRoeck of New York band Meneguar. Woods, though, is a far departure from the 90's rock clatter of their alter ego. Jeremy and Christian bang, strum and croon outsider folk with giant nods to an underlying pop sensibility. Their album "How To Survive In/ In the Woods" was originally released as a cassette only run on the small label Fuck-It Tapes but has thankfully been reissued in a nicely packaged CD version by Release the Bats. The tape is long out of print but the CD can be found at RTB store woefully only available as an import but should be worth the extra shipping.

Download the tracks below to see for yourself.
Holes
Bonus Track from 'Ram' 7"
Do They Smoke Cigarettes In Heaven

Vetiver

Andy Cabic and and his motley assortment of cohorts return with the long awaited follow up to their 2004 debut. "To Find Me Gone," comes off as a more thoughtful affair. Lush production supports Cabic's naturally endearing songwriting. The album is steeped in a sunny 70's West Coast sound which bumps nicely against the already prominent hazy folk influence that permeated the debut. Aided again by the distincive warble of Devendra and a host of other friends from the road. You can pre-order a copy here and check out the tracks below for a bit of a preview.

Maureen
Idle Ties

Rainy Day Music

It's rainy and unseasonably cold in NYC today, and it's supposed to stay that way all week. The best way to make it through is with a little help from the weatherworn side of the pop tracks. Here's a few songs to help embrace the chill and to kill the time until the sun shines. Download Boduf Songs - This One Is Cursed Great Lake Swimmers - Where In The World Are You? Talkdemonic - Bering Stone Jack Jones - Hey Love Spenking - Accounts M. Ward & Coykendale - O Lazy Days

Sparrow House

Sparrow House (which is Jared Van Fleet from Voxtrot) has been recording some beautiful tracks for a hopefully soon to be released album. These are strikingly effortless and lovelorn, one of which is recorded with Red Hunter (Peter & The Wolf, The Silver Age). Give him a few listens at Myspace.

Download When I'm Gone.mp3 The Reflection (with Red Hunter).mp3

Plastic Crimewave Sound

Chicago's Plastic Crimewave Sound return to the fray with a new double LP, 'No Wonderland.' Fronted by the ubiquitous Plastic Crimewave (Steve Krakow) whose influence has been felt all over the expieremental psych-noise scene and backed by his largest ensemble ever. The album is a wave of doom and squall and calm undercurrents of heavy psychedelic sludge. No Wonderland has a roster of guest appearances that include Fursaxa, Devendra Banhart, Josephine Foster, Chis Connelly, and Spires That in the Sunset Rise. You can check out the band at Nihilist Records. Releases can sometimes be hard to come by but are certainly worth it when you find them. Buy No Wonderland at UK purveyors Second Layer and check out this track from the album.

Korean Ghost Ship

Flying Canyon

Flying Canyon is a new band on the Soft Abuse label. I've been listening to the only three songs I can find of theirs streaming on their Myspace page. Sharing members with The Birdtree, The Skygreen Leopards, and The Giant Skyflower Band, these guys are laying down the psych folk doom just as you would expect. As soon as I get my hands on some mp3s or better yet a copy of the album I'll post 'em. But for now check out their songs streaming at Myspace.

Think About Life

Again, I’m not the first, but I only post on the best. Think of swirling guitars, echoing synths, relentless skin slapping. It's spastic pop teetering on the edge of insanity. Noisy enough not to be boring and poppy enough to actually make it through the entirety of the album without a collapsed eardrum. (I don't believe anyone who says they just had an awesome listen to the AIDSWolf album.)

Download a few songs won't you. Paul Cries.mp3 Fireworks.mp3 What the Future Might Be.mp3

Beirut

I know everyones been bloggin' and buzzin' about Beruit. The album wasn't exactly what I expected from the few mp3s that I had heard. A little more Yann Tiersen than Jeff Mangum, but beautiful and dramatic none the less. Here are a few songs you may not have heard. Enjoy.

Download Rhineland (Heartland).mp3 Scenic World.mp3