La Roux

ARTIST / BAND: La Roux

MP3s: In For The Kill (Skream´s Let´s Get Ravey Remix) / Fascination]

ALBUM: La Roux

FILE UNDER: synthpop

LABEL: Polydor

INFO: La Roux (pronounced "La Roo") are a British electropop synth duo band made up of singer and synth player Elly Jackson, and co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid, with Jackson describing their respective roles as "very much a half and half sharing situation... not like a singer producer outfit", but also recognising that it often can "look like a solo act".^[1] Their music is influenced by 1980s synth pop including Human League, Heaven 17, Blancmange and Yazoo.

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His Clancyness

ARTIST / BAND:His Clancyness

MP3s: "So Bored" (Wavves cover)

FILE UNDER: shoegazer

LABEL: We Were Never Being Boring

INFO: His Clancyness hails from Italy, but his Myspace says he also spends time in Canada. This dude has been tearing up the blogs lately with his haunting cover of Wavves’ “So Bored”.

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Discovery

ARTIST / BAND:Discovery

MP3s: I Want You Back (The Jackson Five Cover) / Orange Shirt

ALBUM: LP

FILE UNDER: Electronic / Pop

LABEL: XL Recordings

INFO:Discovery features Vampire Weekend keyboardist/producer Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot singer Wes Miles. Started as a fun, electro-pop hobby four years ago, the duo are finally ready to release their debut album, simply called LP, on July 7 via XL.

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THE DELFIELDS

ARTIST / BAND: THE DELFIELDS

MP3s: "Fawn Fight" / "Ogres"

ALBUM: Ogres

FILE UNDER: Indie Pop

LABEL: (Self-Released)

INFO: A presence since early 2006, The Delfields have been altering the musical landscape in New Jersey for almost four years. In their hometown of New Brunswick, the term “indie” is used loosely to describe anything which doesn’t smack of the town’s long love affair with metal, punk, and more recently emo. This makes The Delfields’ self-proclaimed categorization of indie pop virtually non-existent.

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Youth Group

ARTIST / BAND: Youth Group

MP3s: Two Sides

ALBUM: The Night Is Ours

FILE UNDER: Indie Rock

LABEL: Ivy League

INFO: Any journey to a heart of darkness requires a sturdy boat, and Youth Group – a band never afraid to circumnavigate the glowering cliffs and rocky shoals of the human heart – needed, to paraphrase Roy Scheider in Jaws, a bigger boat for the bold voyage of their fourth album, The Night Is Ours.

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Darlings

ARTIST / BAND: Darlings

MP3s:  If This Is Love /  Teenage Girl

ALBUM: Yeah I Know

FILE UNDER: Garage pop

LABEL: famous class

INFO: Darlings formed in the front room of an apartment on Bleecker Street in New York City. Peter Rynsky, Matt Solomon, Maura Lynch and Joe Tirabassi all met while they were killing time in college. They practice a brand of guitar pop that's equal parts sun-soaked '60s melodies and the noise of their hometown

Minus 8

ARTIST / BAND: Minus 8

MP3s: Last Nite

ALBUM: slow motion

FILE UNDER: Downbeat, Drum & Bass, Nu-Jazz

LABEL: Compost Records

INFO: Minus 8 masters the whole spectrum of Downbeat, Drum & Bass and Nu-Jazz. There are only a few internationally known DJs, producers and remixers from Switzerland. Robert Jan Meyer, aka Minus 8, is one of them. As a leading man in this group, his name is mentioned together with the names of Alex Attias (aka Beatless / Mustang / Catalyst / Bel Air Project) and the Straight Ahead label posse

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Miss Platnum

ARTIST / BAND: Miss Platnum

MP3s: Drink Sister, Drink

FILE UNDER: Balkan-Pop-und HipHop

LABEL: Four Music

INFO: Miss Platnum (born Ruth Maria Renner in 1980), formerly known as Platnum, is a Romanian-German singer, songwriter and musician, currently signed to Four Music.

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The Honey Brother

ARTIST / BAND: The Honey Brother

MP3s: Demonstration

ALBUM: Demonstration EP

FILE UNDER: indie-pop

LABEL: velourmusic

INFO: The Honey Brothers like to tell people they formed one dog year ago at ukulele fantasy camp, then took to the streets of New York City, serenading street people and pretzel vendors with their whimsical new-wave folk tunes. This anecdote might tell you something about the spirit in which The Honey Brothers were conceived, way back in 2001 in the wake of 9/11. “The band began as a way to find joy in life,” says Ari Gold, who, with his college friends Andrew Vladeck and DS Posner, formed the group’s original nucleus.

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Black Moth Super Rainbow

ARTIST / BAND: Black Moth Super Rainbow

MP3s: "Twin of Myself" (The Go! Team) Remix / "Twin of Myself"

ALBUM: 'Eating Us'

FILE UNDER: Experimental / Pop / Psychedelic

LABEL: Graveface / Memphis Industries / moamoo / Rad Cult

INFO: After a year of eerie, stilted silence, the sun shines and the shadows reappear. Black Moth Super Rainbow has crept from the forests and cities to make Eating Us, their dark bubblegum freakout for 2009. The first fully hi-fi BMSR record, Eating Us, adds space and dimension to the band's sticky, off-kilter melodies. This isn't an album about witches and woods, and this time around the band isn't letting on to what it all might mean. Because to them, it's just better that way.

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Morrissey

ARTIST / BAND: Morrissey

MP3s: Maladjusted

FILE UNDER: Indie Pop

LABEL: Universal

TINY VIPERS

ARTIST / BAND: TINY VIPERS
SONG (MP3): Dreamer
ALBUM: Life On Earth
FILE UNDER: Tropical / Acoustic / Zouk
LABEL: Sub Pop

INFO: A new recording by Tiny Vipers calls out to the void for an answer or a reason. Tiny Vipers is Jesy Fortino, a musician living in Seattle. Creating and performing the music for her new album with a singular approach, Life on Earth is a private vision unfolding, at times crystal-clear and at other times shrouded in a mystical fog. People and times past wander through these songs like ghosts looking for a home. And questions arise for anyone listening: Where did they go? Where have they been?

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The Legends

ARTIST / BAND: The Legends

MP3s: You won

ALBUM: Over and over

FILE UNDER: Indie / Alternative / Electronica

LABEL: LABRADOR

INFO: Over and over" is a brilliantly modern mix of white noise, 60’s girls pop, indie, ambient and krautrock.
The album includes contribution from Club 8's Karolina Komstedt, The Mary Onettes' Philip Ekström, Tralala's Liane Moccia and more.

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Cassettes Won't Listen

ARTIST / BAND: Cassettes Won't Listen

MP3s: "Into The Hillside"

ALBUM: Into The Hillside

FILE UNDER: Rock / Electronica / Pop

INFO: Cassettes Won't Listen (a/k/a Jason Drake) has been recording, producing and remixing in the depths of New York for many years, amassing fans and critical acclaim by the likes of Spin, MTV, Perez Hilton and many more. New York City has always been home and the main focus of inspiration for CWL....until now. The warm tones of Los Angeles are now home to Mr. Drake and his nom de plume.

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Lightning Dust

ARTIST / BAND: Lightning Dust

MP3s: "I Knew"

ALBUM: Infinite Light

FILE UNDER: Folk Rock / Melodramatic Popular Song / Psychedelic

LABEL: Jagjaguwar

INFO: Infinite Light, Lightning Dust's sophomore album for Jagjaguwar, finds duo Amber Webber and Joshua Wells (both of Black Mountain) calling upon the powers of classic pop arrangements and making the most of five days with a Steinway Grand piano. While Webber and Wells met through their involvement in what they described as two of the saddest bands in Canada, the songs written for Infinite Light found the two moving away from the uniformly downbeat. Rather, the songs were more suited to lush and melodramatic arrangements. Cue the strings. Lightning Dust have delivered a cosmic record about the adventure in finding love and the journey in losing and rediscovering "the light."

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Dodd Ferrelle

ARTIST / BAND: Dodd Ferrelle

MP3s: "I Can't Wait"

ALBUM: Lonely Parades

FILE UNDER: Rock / Indie / Americana

LABEL: Two Sheds

INFO: For anyone who has followed Dodd Ferrelle's music since the critically-acclaimed album A Carriage On the Hill, it will seem like he has come full circle with the release of Lonely Parades. The new CD not only features the return of players who appeared on Carriage, including Jon Mills, John Neff, David Barbe and Betsy Inglesby, but also comes closer to capturing the feel of Carriage. Dodd's familiar wail is upfront and center onLonely Parades, but with even more exuberanence.

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Lord Cut-Glass

ARTIST / BAND: Lord Cut-Glass

MP3s: "Even Jesus Couldn't Love You"

ALBUM: Lord Cut-Glass

FILE UNDER: Indie

LABEL: Chemikal Underground

INFO: Alun Woodward is a singer/songwriter from Motherwell, formerly of the influential Glasgow based band the Delgados. As a solo artist he has contributed two tracks under the moniker of Lord Cut-Glass. The first, A Sentimental Song, released in March 2007, was part of the Scottish indie/folk compilation Ballads of the Book with lyrics written by the author Alasdair Gray. It was released by record label Chemikal Underground which, as part of the Delgados, Woodward helped create in 1995. Woodward has subsequently released one further track Maybe as part of the compilation Worried Noodles.

He played his debut solo set as part of Tigerfest in Dunfermline on 16th May 2009 where he premiered material from his first solo album.

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Sugarplum Fairies

ARTIST / BAND: Sugarplum Fairies

MP3s: First Rate Show

ALBUM: Chinese Leftovers

FILE UNDER: Indie / Down-tempo / Folk Rock

LABEL: Starfish Records

INFO: The Sugarplum Fairies are comprised of Vienna natives Silvia Ryder (vocals) and Ben Bohm (guitars, background vocals), supplemented by an array of rotating guest musicians. The sound of SPF bridges the transatlantic gap with an amalgamation of European guitar pop and Americana folksiness, all tied together by Ryder's sultry, hypnotic vocals.

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The Honey Brothers

ARTIST / BAND: The Honey Brothers

MP3s: Demonstration

ALBUM: Demonstration' EP

FILE UNDER: new wave folk

LABEL: Self-release

INFO: The Honey Brothers like to tell people they formed one dog year ago at ukulele fantasy camp, then took to the streets of New York City, serenading street people and pretzel vendors with their whimsical new-wave folk tunes. This anecdote might tell you something about the spirit in which The Honey Brothers were conceived, way back in 2001 in the wake of 9/11. “The band began as a way to find joy in life,” says Ari Gold, who, with his college friends Andrew Vladeck and DS Posner, formed the group’s original nucleus.

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Soft Black

ARTIST / BAND: Soft Black

MP3s: The Lions / I Am An Animal

ALBUM: The Earth Is Black
(and Other Apocalyptic Lullabies for Children)

FILE UNDER: folk-psych rock

LABEL: Plays With Dolls

INFO: "The Earth is Black," Soft Black's second LP, was recorded to analog tape over an eight month period. Vincent Cacchione, the bands principle songwriter, began tracking in the New Jersey basement of a dear friend, Nick Coleman, on modest 8 track home recording gear.  Most of the basics carved out in just a few takes, the duo of Cacchione and Coleman meticulously crafted each track, orchestrating the album with bursts of noise and melody.

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LITTLE TYBEE

ARTIST / BAND: LITTLE TYBEE

MP3s: Glass Brigade

ALBUM: I Wonder Which House The Fish Will Live In

FILE UNDER: Indie Pop

LABEL: Self-Released

INFO: Little Tybee was formed in the winter of 2009 by Brock Scott, Josh Martin and Ryan Gregory. The roots of LT stemmed when Brock Scott and Josh Martin met during college and began writing instrumental music together, which culminated as their first band, Fountain. After one house show, Fountain disbanded and a lull couple of months followed. A year later, with the addition of Jason Ussery on drums and Ryan Donald on bass, The BSQwas formed.

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The Color Turning

ARTIST / BAND: The Color Turning

MP3s: New Hooligan

ALBUM: Good Hands Bad Blood

FILE UNDER: Rock

LABEL: Softdrive Records

INFO: Good Hands Bad Blood is an auditory adventure and introduction to modern indie/experimental rock. Displaying flagrant mastery of their instruments and genre, The Color Turning represents an expansion of Los Angeles’ indie psyche with dancing musicianship and detailed composition. Orchestrating their instruments in a fashion of a movie score or soundtrack, the band rarely begins any track at 11 but rather draws their listeners in with curious melody and progression. Providing an auditory blueprint of communication between vibrations and emotions, reacting to each other and growing to a common core and evocation. Structuring the album around the rising download culture in music, the band creates a visceral experience to be listened to in its whole as a story or broken into its chapters of tracks.

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The Cubists

ARTIST / BAND: The Cubists

MP3s: She's Got Blood

ALBUM: Mechanical Advantage

FILE UNDER: Psychedelic / Shoegaze / Experimental

LABEL: Semi-Precious

INFO: True to their name, The Cubists are taking a Picasso and Braque approach to pop. All the structures and strictures remain intact – the chorus and verse, the bridge and hook – but they have been bent, twisted and manipulated, expanded and enhanced beyond expected boundaries.

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Deaf Judges

ARTIST / BAND: Deaf Judges

MP3s: Deaf Sentence / Space Cadet Setlist

ALBUM: All Rise

FILE UNDER: Hip Hop

LABEL: Emerald City Ruins

INFO: Deaf Judges are a four man Hip Hop crew out of Athens, Georgia consisting of three MCs (Rorshak, Produce Man and Louie Carlysle) and one DJ/ producer (Cubenza). This conglomeration of talent pulls together vast influences from all over the musical map into a secret formula that exhibits the freewheeling fun of the old-school eighties together with the grimy lyric-driven pulse of nineties NY underground. All of this is spiced with a distinctly Southern flavor that is undeniable, while at the same time far removed from the regional sounds of their dirty south contemporaries.

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Hermit Thrushes

ARTIST / BAND: Hermit Thrushes

MP3s: "Snowflake Heart" / Push

ALBUM: Slight Fountain

FILE UNDER: Thrash / Folk / Experimental

LABEL: Joyful Noise

INFO: Harsh chords, complex rhythms, strange orchestration and awkward melody interchangeably weave throughout the songs of Hermit Thrushes. With their sophomore album "Slight Fountain", this Philadelphia-based five-piece displays touchingly naive bedroom lo-fi juxtaposed with disjointed arrangements, noisy multi-instrumental blasts, and nasty pitch-shifts - offering a thoroughly artful blend of indie rock. This is what the Magic Band would have sounded like if they were raised on Joan of Arc and Polvo, and had a singer that was void of any serious mental illness (though probably not the less serious kind).

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Royal City

ARTIST / BAND: Royal City

MP3s: A Belly Was Made For Wine" / Royal City - "Can't You Hear Me Calling"

ALBUM: Royal City

FILE UNDER: Alt Folk

LABEL: Asthmatic Kitty

INFO: In October of 2000, a little band changed my life. The rock-tinged folk (or folk-tinged rock-it was never clear) four-piece in question called themselves Royal City, after their Canadian hometown of Guelph, and I accompanied them on their first-ever U.S. tour, their road manager by default. While Royal City’s greatest artistic achievements were yet to come (please pause to go listen to Alone at the Microphone), over those three weeks I saw the band find their feet and create a lasting chemistry. When I listen to this collection of unreleased songs, I’m taken back to that formative tour where much of this material-and Royal City itself-took shape.

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Bygones

ARTIST / BAND: Bygones

MP3s: Click on That (Smash The Plastic Death)

ALBUM: By

FILE UNDER: Punk, Indie

LABEL: Sargent House

INFO: What can be said about Bygones? Have you heard of Hella? Tera Melos?
These bands don't need words to get their point across. So logically, a project bred from their members Zach Hill (drums, vocals) & Nick Reinhart (guitar, bass, vocals) is equally successful at rendering listeners speechless.

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Céu

ARTIST / BAND: Céu

MP3s: Bubuia

ALBUM: Vagarosa

FILE UNDER: world

LABEL: Six Degrees

INFO: Ever since Brazilian phenomenon Céu captivated the world with her self-titled debut album in 2007, her follow up release has been widely anticipated. After being chosen as the first international artist featured in Starbucks’ Hear Music™ Debut series, Céu earned both Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations, countless press accolades, and chart topping numbers. So how does one of the most successful Brazilian female artists of our time respond? With her typical grace and charm.

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Zechs Marquise

ARTIST / BAND: Zechs Marquise

SONG (MP3): Chase Scene / Sirenum Scopuli

ALBUM: Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare

FILE UNDER:Rock / Progressive / Psychedelic

LABEL: Rodriguez Lopez Productions

INFO:Zechs Marquise formed in El Paso, Texas during the spring of 2003 when brothers Marfred and Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez came together with childhood friends Matthew Wilkson and Marcos Smith. The group soon named itself after a popular Japanese anime character and hit the studio to record its first album during the late summer months of 2004. That studio effort was later scrapped and in June 2006 the band instead released 34:26, a live improv set that showed its great range of talents and influences. By fall of 2006, Zechs was touring the west coast consistently, sharing the stage with such eclectic acts as Daedelus, Busdriver, The Album Leaf, (DJ) Nobody, Daddy Kev, The Gaslamp Killer, and Totimoshi.

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BONFIRE MADIGAN

ARTIST / BAND: BONFIRE MADIGAN

SONG (MP3): “LADY SAVES“ | “LADY SAVES (ACOUSTIC MIX)“ | “OUR LADY SAVES (NEOTROPIC MIX)“ | “LADY DUBS THE DRAGON (DUB I.D. MIX)“

ALBUM: Lady Saves EP

FILE UNDER: Punk / Soul

LABEL: Moonpuss Music

INFO: Shive has collaborated onstage and in studio with artists as diverse and influential as iconoclastic music producer Hal Willner (Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, Allen Ginsberg, Laurie Anderson), Joan Jeanrenaud (Kronos Quartet), David CoulterThe Black Rider, The Pogues), Kimya Dawson, Neko Case, Cat Power, Gossip, Fugazi, The Good, the Bad and The Queen, Jolie Holland, Slovenian industrial-music-theater artists Laibach, Finnish chamber-metal showmen Apocalyptica and Academy Award nominee Elliott Smith.

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The Radio Dept

ARTIST / BAND: The Radio Dept

SONG (MP3): David

ALBUM:Clinging to a scheme

FILE UNDER: Indie Pop

LABEL: Labrador

INFO: The band was conceived in 1995 by schoolmates Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson, who named the group after a gas-station-turned-radio-repair-shop called "Radioavdelningen" (The Radio Department in Swedish). However, Almered and Duncanson soon stopped playing music together, putting the band on hiatus. The group was reborn three years later, in 1998, when Duncanson starting making music with Martin Larsson. In 2001, Larsson's then girlfriend Lisa Carlberg joined the group on bass, followed by Per Blomgren on drums and Daniel Tjäder on keyboards.^[1][2]

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