EFREN

ARTIST / BAND: EFREN

MP3: Stay High

ALBUM: Always Been A Bleeder

FILE UNDER: Folk Rock / Indie / Psychedelic

LABEL: Slo Pro

INFO: Efren is a folk group hinting on the psychedelic, from areas around Athens, GA. Reaching out into the musical world with introspective lyrics and brooding energy, Efren has composed an EP of new broken heart strung songs and stories. Bleeding on the stage with over 45 shows in 10 months, learning who you are and finding the comfortably challenging sound, Efren is searching for the right vehicle of song expression.

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BAMBARA

ARTIST / BAND: BAMBARA

MP3: "Stay Gray"

ALBUM: Dog Ear Days

FILE UNDER: Rock / Psychedelic / Punk

Bravestation

The Migrant

ARTIST / BAND: The Migrant

MP3: "The Organ Grinder"

ALBUM: Travels In Lowland

FILE UNDER: indie pop

LABEL: s/r

INFO: Denmark's The Migrant invites you on a journey into the underworld of beautiful pop songs and psychedelic folk. For last couple of years, musician Bjarke Bendtsen has traveled around the United States with his guitar and suitcase as the only steady companions. On September 21st, 2010, he is releasing his first album Travels in Lowland.

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Frederik Teige

ARTIST / BAND: Frederik Teige

FILE UNDER: Indie Pop

LABEL: Bad Panda

INFO: Frederik Teige is known for being a live-band member of danish group Efterklang.  He is a multi-instrumentalist (singer, guitar,  sax, bass, etc) based in Copenhagen and as a result has since 2007 toured all over Europe & North America.

Between tour dates Frederik enlisted the help of some of his close musician friends from other bands in Denmark ( Howl Baby Howl, Peter Broderick, A Kid Hereafter, Chimes and Bells) and recorded his debut full length – ‘Body God’.

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Frederik Teige - What Is New? [BadPanda41] by Bad Panda Records

Young Man

ARTIST / BAND: Young Man

MP3: "Five"

ALBUM: Boy

FILE UNDER: Indie Pop

LABEL: Kitchen Music

INFO: You might remember Colin Caulfield, aka Young Man, from his YouTube covers of indie darlings Deerhunter (posted on the their blog) Animal Collective, Beach House, and some band called the Beatles. He also writes his own songs, and a few of them are up at his MySpace: check out "Five", which features some self-harmonizing and hypnotic production of guitars, spacey synth organs, and various percussive flourishes. This is from a forthcoming release simply called Boy.

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Arab Strap

ARTIST / BAND: Arab Strap

MP3: Daughters Of Darkness

ALBUM: Scenes of a Sexual Nature

FILE UNDER: Alternative / Rock

LABEL: Chemikal Underground

INFO: Arab Strap's voluminous box set which comprehensively covers their entire early career up to their brief departure from Chemikal in 1998, will be available in all good independent record shops in time for Record Store Day (that Saturday 17th April in case you didn't know). Full details on the box set and its wondrous contents can be found below and you should be able to pre-order the beast from our online shop shortly.

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Two Hours Traffic

ARTIST / BAND: Two Hours Traffic

MP3: Noisemaker / Happiness Burns

ALBUM: Territory

FILE UNDER:

LABEL: Bumstead

INFO:

Founded in Edmonton, AB (Canada) in 1979, Bumstead Productions Ltd. has had an undeniable impact on the music scene in both Canada and around the world. Bumstead has excelled in the area of artist management and as an independent record label.
Read more:http://www.myspace.com/bumsteadproductions#ixzz0uL6CaT1y

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Embarrassing Fruits

ARTIST / BAND: Embarrassing Fruits

MP3: "Long Distance Breakup Summer"

ALBUM: Frontier Justice

FILE UNDER: Rock / Indie /

LABEL: Trekky Records

INFO: Trekky Records is thrilled and honored to announce the details for the release ofFrontier Justice, the new album from Embarrassing Fruits. In many ways, Frontier Justice is the first fully realized album from the band. After a series of line-up changes, album delays and promising EPs, this will be the first timely artistic statement from a now permanent trio: Joe Norkus, Lee Shaw and John Neville. Bassist Lee Shaw has risen to become an equal creative force in the band, which was previously an outlet for only Joe Norkus' catchy, textural rock songs. Shaw composed almost half of the songs on Frontier Justice, bringing his love for classic rock and aggressive pop into the deepening inventory of Fruits' strengths as rock songwriters. Both Norkus and Shaw expound upon the frustrations and joys of navigating the nebulous world of late 20s life in the over saturated, vanishing frontier of America.

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Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band

ARTIST / BAND: Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band

MP3: "Hurrah" / "Leaving Trails"

ALBUM: Where The Messengers Meet

FILE UNDER: Indie Pop

LABEL: dead oceans

INFO: In an unusual move, the Seattle based Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band gathered considerable attention before releasing a single song. Instead the band relied on word of mouth, their quirky sensibility and several original ‘PSA-style’ youtube videos which don’t even feature their music. Anticipation proved to be a great ally to the band, and upon the release of several songs from their upcoming EP they succeeded in providing a legitimate basis for all the internet hype.

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Lost in the Trees

ARTIST / BAND: Lost in the Trees
MP3: "Walk Around The Lake"
ALBUM: All Alone in An Empty House
FILE UNDER: indie folk
LABEL: ANTI-/Trekky
INFO: Lost in the Trees is a folk orchestra from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Led by composer Ari Picker, the band merges the dramatic symphonic elements of classical music with the accessibility of American folk, creating a sound that is simultaneously intimate and sonically ambitious.

source

FOPS

ARTIST / BAND: FOPS

MP3: , "Solid Copper Huntress" / "Maple Mountain"

ALBUM: Yeth, Yeth, Yeth

FILE UNDER: krautrock, electonica, indie

LABEL: Monotreme Records

INFO:

Thee More Shallows singer Dee Kesler and Ral Partha Vogalbacher lyricist Chadwick Donald Bidwell have joined forces to form a superduo called Fops. In the short time that Fops has been a band, they've already completed two full length albums. The first CD/LP, Yeth, Yeth, Yeth will be released worldwide this fall via UK label Monotreme Records (65Daysofstatic, Nedry, Barzin).
Check out the first MP3s from the album, "Solid Copper Huntress" (HERE) and "Maple Mountain" (HERE).
Taking their musical cues from the syncopated electronic figures of Krautrockers such as Cluster and Faust, and the propulsive, brooding pop of the bands they grew up listening to in the 80's, the duo recorded two albums: Album 1, Yeth Yeth Yeth, will be released in September 2010, and Album 2, Priests In Them Caves, will follow in early 2011. 
Both albums are novels at heart, investigating the possible and impossible, gaudy and fantastical, mundane and downright depressing pasts and futures of a single protagonist. In the world of Fops, Kesler is the narrator, telling stories in Bidwell's singular lyrical style.
The vinyl format comes on 180 gm audiophile vinyl and includes a free promo CD of the album.

Backseat Dreamer

ARTIST / BAND: Backseat Dreamer

MP3: "Gold Dust" / "Consider"

ALBUM: The Colors of Dreams

FILE UNDER: pop, experimental

LABEL: Stickfigure Recordings

INFO: The events of dreams are often impossible, or unlikely to occur, in physical reality: they are also outside the control of the dreamer. The exception to this is known as lucid dreaming, in which dreamers realize that they are dreaming, and are sometimes capable of changing their dream environment and controlling various aspects of the dream. The dream environment is often much more realistic in a lucid dream, and the senses heightened.

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Nick Butcher

ARTIST / BAND: Nick Butcher

MP3: "Minutes Overlap"

ALBUM: THE COMPLICATED BICYCLE

FILE UNDER: experimental, electronica,

LABEL: hometape

INFO: A kindred spirit/long lost friend originally from Tennessee and now in Chicago, Illinois, Nick was introduced to us by Jay Ryan of The Bird Machine. Nick is a talented painter, screen printer, book maker, musician, funny story teller, noise gadget procurement specialist, Southern accent purveyor, and I'm sure some other things we just don't know about yet. He kick started our side label, Placetapes, with his fantastic hand-screened book and cd, The Complicated Bicycle, and is about to head to Europe this Fall for an artist residency. He will be producing new work, which we will show you as we get our hands on some. We can't say enough about him. Look for new surprises on Placetapes.

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Shapes and Sizes

ARTIST / BAND: Shapes and Sizes

MP3: Tell Your Mum / I Need An Outlet

ALBUM: Candle to Your Eyes

FILE UNDER: Indie / Rock / Blues

LABEL: Asthmatic Kitty

INFO: It’s one of the first days of spring here in Montreal. The sun feels warm, and new green is imminent. There’s a buzz all around on days like these. The winter was cold and long, but it makes the spring sweeter. Shapes and Sizes settled here three years ago. I say "settled" because prior to their arrival here they kept a rigorous touring schedule. Touring with The National, Yeasayer, opening shows for the Silver Jews,Sufjan Stevens; too many shows to get into specifics. So when they arrived in Montreal, there was a feeling of resolution, maybe even hibernation. They carried out their daily chores: one sold books, another records, one studied music and perception while delivering groceries at night, and another never kept her eyes too far from the road.

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The Golden Dogs

ARTIST / BAND:

The Golden Dogs

MP3: Permanent Record

ALBUM: Coat Of Arms

FILE UNDER: Rock, Pop

LABEL: Nevado

INFO: At the end of their last year of hard touring in support of their second album ‘Big Eye Little Eye’, which took them by way of Britain and Germany, straight across the USA sharing stages with Canadian luminaries like Feist and Sloan, those who witnessed its fury likely had no inkling it was the end of a chapter for the band. The long awaited homecoming was bittersweet; there were big changes on the horizon. For starters, the band had been released from their record contract; a contract they had been locked into for years that now left them 100% in control of their business affairs. In another twist of fate, their long time bass player, Stew Heyduk, decided to leave the country and get married in Hawaii. Within weeks of being at home and somewhat directionless, the question began looming: “What now?” While there are always songs brewing on lead man Dave Azzolini’s hot plate, the idea of going straight into recording another album wasn’t an attractive one. They needed a break from being Golden Dogs.

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The Knocks

ARTIST / BAND: The Knocks

MP3: Something I Can Dance To

Something I Can Dance To by The Knocks

FILE UNDER: Pop

LABEL: HeavyRoc Music

INFO: Based out of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Knocks are emerging as a force to be reckoned with as far as music production is concerned. Consisting of Ben "B-Roc" Ruttner and James "JPatt" Patterson, the Knocks are named in reference to the early days of their production career when they worked out of their home studios and their complaining neighbors would pound on the walls and ceilings. Years later, they have upgraded to the HeavyRoc Music Studio in Chinatown and are making names for themselves finding and developing talent as well as remixing the likes of other artists and bands.

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Reporter

ARTIST / BAND: Reporter

MP3: Click Shaw

ALBUM: Time Incredible.

FILE UNDER: Experimental / Electro / Rock

LABEL: Holocene Music

INFO: In a dark room, through a haze induced by fog machines, you observe celestial projections and pulsing lights. An infectious sound floods your brain-space, a driving synth-rock voyage guided by a female voice which commands attention in its come-hither breathiness. You can hardly make out the shadowy figures responsible for this electrifying experience, and much to the chagrin of photogs, you won't have much luck capturing their live set on camera. However, this disassociation proves blissful: you find yourself dissolving into their sonic atmospherics, dissolving into the packed dance-floor where your body is part of a massive, churning tide.

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BUSSES

ARTIST / BAND: BUSSES

MP3: Stationary

ALBUM: Busses

FILE UNDER: Classic Rock / Punk / Progressive

LABEL: s/r

INFO: Philadelphia three-piece, Busses, announce the national release of their self-released, self-titled debut album, Tuesday, July 27th.

Drawing from the wells of classic rock, prog, jazz, and punk, their aim is to marry an eccentric approach to instrumentation with the comfort of a songwriter’s voice. The results are anthemic, as well as swooning. Kinetic, while suspended. Seven songs that rock with a confidence not seen often enough. While hints of Television, Animal Collective & Built To Spill may pop into your head, this band invites you in with a sound all enticingly their own.

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Hamacide

ARTIST / BAND: Hamacide
MP3: Carnies (feat. Fielded) / "Broadway Dancers" with Sasha y Malia
ALBUM: Mighty Little Machine
FILE UNDER: Experimental / Electronica / Indie
LABEL: Unsuspecting world
INFO: Hamacide is the solo project of Brooklyn-based producer Yusuke Hama.  Mighty Little Machine is Hamacide's debut release as a solo artist.  In 2007, Yusuke released a record under the name LEYODE with fellow Brooklyn singer Laurel Wells.  It was titledfascinating tininess... and was released by Guillermo Scott Herren's (Prefuse 73) own label, Eastern Developments.
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The Flying Change

ARTIST / BAND: The Flying Change
MP3: "Singer" / Songwriter
ALBUM: Singer/Songwriter
FILE UNDER: Americana / Pop / Rock
LABEL: Scarlet Shame
INFO: One year ago, Sam Jacobs, performing under his moniker The Flying Change, released his debut album of love, loss, and reckoning titled “Pain Is A Reliable Signal”.  The album was a searing and brutally introspective accounting of a family’s journey through hospitals, hotel rooms in Minnesota, emergency rooms on the Upper East Side.  And out again.  Seeking a series of cures and treatments that might alleviate a terrible condition.
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Balmorhea

ARTIST / BAND: Balmorhea

MP3: "Bowsprit" / "Night Squall"

ALBUM: Constellations

FILE UNDER: Acoustic / Classical / Experimental

LABEL: Western Vinyl

INFO: Rob Lowe and Michael Muller, the songwriters and core duo of Austin’s Balmorhea (pronounced “bal-more-ay”), will release their newest full-length, Constellations, on theWestern Vinyl label Februarly 23, 2010. Closely following the release of the group’s critically-acclaimed prior albums – All is Wild, All is Silent (2009) and Rivers Arms (2008) – Constellations further showcases the band’s songwriting and attention to detail, establishing Balmorhea as a major force in contemporary American independent music.

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Roadside Graves

ARTIST / BAND: Roadside Graves

MP3s: "Everything (Ari Why Remix)" / "Everything" / "Liv Tyler"

ALBUM: You Won't Be Happy With Me

FILE UNDER: Indie / Folk Rock / Country

LABEL: autumn tone

INFO: “Alt.country rascals Roadside Graves got heavy metal with a jam about “dirt on my lip and blood in my eye” after the singer split his face open with his mic and bled everywhere. I should have taken video because I can’t find anything that comes close to the level of musicianship these tatted-up guys guys now display.”

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Delphic

ARTIST / BAND: Delphic

SONG (MP3): Doubt / “Halcyon (Michael Mayer Remix)”

ALBUM: Acolyte

FILE UNDER:  Alternative dance

LABEL: modular people

INFO: An act that could have come from no other place and time, Delphic craft a shimmering, genuinely modern sound borne of a combination of futuristic vision and good old fashioned, oft-overlooked feeling. The band came together as an avenue for the likeminded lads to explore the seemingly endless dimensions of music made with guitars, with a keen eye on the future and a dab handle on technology, and incorporating inspirations and ideas not just within music but those apparent in abstract art, Russian film, literature and existentialism.

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Yeasayer

ARTIST / BAND: Yeasayer
MP3: Ambling Alp / "Ambling Alp (The Very Best Remix) / Madder Red (Doctor Rosen Rosen Rx) /

O.N.E. (Makrophone Remix)

ALBUM: Odd Blood
FILE UNDER: Indie / New Art Pop
LABEL: secretly canadian / mute
INFO: As we announced earlier this week, Secretly Canadian will release YEASAYER'S much-anticipated sophomore album ODD BLOOD in February of 2010. However, you won't have to wait that long to have a first listen to the band's new material. "Ambling Alp," the first single off the record is available for free download today at Yeasayer's website HERE and will be released digitally and on limited edition 12" vinyl November 3. The full "Ambling Alp" single features remixes by Memory Tapes and DJ/rupture, with the vinyl packaged in a space age metallic sleeve. "Ambling Alp" is Yeasayer's first new recording since their acclaimed contribution "Tightrope" on the Dark Was The Night benefit compilation released earlier this year.
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Download LEBROSK PROMO MIX @ MUSICHALL

LEBROSK PROMO MIX @ MUSICHALL (Radio Fortuna Plus)
Download

Tracklist:
Intro - Lebrosk
Jackson Jump Reconstruction - Slynk
I want Lynguistics - Zenit Incompatible
Dont Touch The Drummers Beat - DJ S-Man remix
Martin Clancy & The Witness Protection Programme (Pimpsoul Remix) - Flatfoot
Groove Heart - Loasbandidos Viva la remix
Body Rocker (Lebrosk remix) - Philly Blunt (unmastered)
We got the Funk (Original mix) - Jayl Funk
2 Live Crew Party - 2 Bit Thugs Remix (Stereofreakz Breaks Edit)
Cameroon (Funkanomics Edit) - Dolby Anol
Everybody in the Place (STEREOFREAKZ EDIT) - Deadmau5 Remix
Magics Wand - Quivver Breaks Mix
Breakers Revenge (Original mix) - Kid Kenobi
The Mexican (Krafty Kuts rerub) - Deekline & Tim Healy
Mr Big Stuff - DJ Defkline Red Polo vs Dustin_Hulton
Ellie Goulding (At Dawn We Rage remix) - Starry Eyed

jj

ARTIST / BAND: jj
MP3: "Let Go" / "Ecstacy" / "Baby"
ALBUM: jj nº 3 / jj nº 2
FILE UNDER: Indie pop, Balearic beat, Dream pop
LABEL: Secretly Canadian
INFO: Last summer Gothenburg, Sweden's jj quietly released one of 2009's most critically-acclaimed albums. The album was named jj nº 2 and it was the group's debut full-length (their first single was jj nº 1). With the naive swagger of youth, jj have already completed their next full-length. We here at Secretly Canadian are incredibly proud to present jj nº 3 to you. If jj nº 2 was (as it was to many) the quintessential summer 2009 album, jj nº 3 is destined to be the quintessential winter 2010 album, a soft, red smear of blood on a field of fresh snow.
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KRAKÓW LOVES ADANA

ARTIST / BAND: KRAKÓW LOVES ADANA

MP3: A 60s Troubadour

ALBUM: Beauty

FILE UNDER: Indie

LABEL: Snowhite / Clouds Hill

INFO: Personal … minimalistic … passionate … it’s not easy to describe the sound of German duo Kraków Loves Adana. Deniz Cicek and Robert Heitmann use very little instrumentation. It’s just guitar and voice. Yet, it isn’t really what you’d call guitar music. At least not in the traditional singer-songwriter sense. Deniz Cicek’s voice is quite complex and Robert Heitmann accompanies her with very simple, distorted sounds.

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Kraków Loves Adana - Porcelain from Snowhite on Vimeo.

Lille

ARTIST / BAND: Lille

MP3: "Tall Shoulders" / Tall Shoulders - Todd Buchler (of Duchess Leo) Remix

ALBUM: Tall Shoulders EP

FILE UNDER: Melodramatic Popular Song

LABEL: Whale Heart Records

INFO: Coming from a musically eclectic family gave Grace a launching pad into the world of all things melodic and whimsical. She grew up singing Beatles songs on her father's lap, and listening to him endlessly tap out melodies on an old piano until she drifted to sleep.  She took up the mandolin after her first heartbreak, and the ukulele after her second, finding strange beauty in the melancholy nature of brokenness. After a few years of writing songs and melodies she began to play occasional shows for small audiences. In the fall of 2009 she signed onto Whale Heart Records, the home of Pacific Theater, Duchess Leo, and Little Horn. Tall Shoulders is her first EP.

Son Of The Sun

ARTIST / BAND: Son Of The Sun
MP3: "Get Together" / "The Other Side"
ALBUM: The Happy Los
FILE UNDER: Rock / Indie / Shoegaze
LABEL: I Blame Yoko
INFO: This June, Buffalo, NY's Son of the Sun will release their first full-length album The Happy Loss. With the help of co-producer Mike Brown, the album was recorded in part at Temperamental Recordings in Geneseo, NY and mixed by Alan Weatherhead (Sparklehorse, Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker) at Sound of Music Recording Studios in Richmond, VA.
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Teen Daze

ARTIST / BAND: Teen Daze

SONG (MP3): Saviour

ALBUM: The Road Goes Ever On mix

FILE UNDER:  IDM

LABEL: The Road Goes Ever On

INFO: Teen Daze’s latest jam from that killer The Road Goes Ever On mix. I seriously can’t get enough of this track. I dare say it’s his best work to date.

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The Dance Inc. - This Fighting (Album Free Download!)

The Dance Inc. - This Fighting (Album Free Download!) by Audiolith

Tera Melos

ARTIST / BAND: Tera Melos
MP3s: Frozen Zoo
ALBUM: Patagonian Rats
FILE UNDER: experimental, indie
LABEL:Sargent House
INFO: Tera Melos' first proper full-length, Patagonian Rats is packed with melodic hooks and jabs that on paper might seem to defy the band's experimental edge. There's even clear and distinct vocals throughout -- a first for the band, where vocals, if any, were previously awash with distortion and layered in the mix. But, particulars aside, Patagonian Rats is the type of album that sticks with you.
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Foals

ARTIST / BAND: Foals

SONG (MP3): Spanish Sahara (Deadboy Remix)

ALBUM: Total Life Forever

FILE UNDER:  Minimalist / Alternative / Pop

LABEL: subpop

INFO: Foals are a 5-piece band from Oxford, England. They are currently signed to Transgressive Records in the UK and Sub Pop in the USA. They released their debut album Antidotes on 24 March 2008 in the UK, and 8 April 2008 in the USA.^[1]

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Peter Wolf Crier

ARTIST / BAND: Peter Wolf Crier

SONG (MP3): "Hard As Nails" / "Crutch And Cane"

ALBUM: Inter-Be

FILE UNDER:  Indie Rock

LABEL: Jagjaguwar

INFO: It was a situation of all being in this together, this particular Saturday morning, in the middle of last month. Peter Pisano and Brian Moen of the Minneapolis band Peter Wolf Crier had arrived early for a 10:30 a.m. opening slot for the Mr. & Mrs. T and Rachael Ray Feedback Festival that we were asked to help curate and be a part of and the rains were still fucking up the whole morning. Dirty water was gushing along the curbs and sidewalks, washing away the free beer-induced puke from SXSW patrons of the night before. Everyone was watching where they stepped and the mug of coffee that Pisano was nursing and protective of was important for sanity. The margaritas and Bloody Marys, oddly enough were already being mixed at the bar next to the restaurant portion of Stubbs BBQ, where we were setting up our "stage" for the day. We all walked into the room together, all confused together, looking at the piles of heavy wooden tables and chairs that didn't belong. A little while later, Rachael Ray strolled through the restaurant to a side room, where she filmed a short segment for her television program, while sitting at a round table filled with three or four piping hot Mexican dishes that she'd prepared for party-goers that afternoon. She didn't stick around much longer than that and we took over from that point - the skeleton crew of Daytrotter grunts, along with the talent (Pisano and Moen, along with the band's manager, Paul Gillis) - clearing out the room so that we could tape our first-ever Daytrotter sessions before an exclusive live audience. We fell an hour and a half behind schedule - victims to missing rental gear and various other ailments that left us without a working PA system (improvised using spare guitar amps) and improper power cords and strips. We made due and when Peter Wolf Crier finally started knocking out "Hard As Nails," the second song from its upcoming debut album, "Inter-Be," one would have not known the travails of three hours earlier and all was right.

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Kacey Johansing

ARTIST / BAND: Kacey Johansing
SONG (MP3): "Angel Island" /  "Oh, Brother"
ALBUM: Many Seasons
FILE UNDER: Folk / Soul
LABEL: Porto Franco Records
INFO: Kacey Johansing’s debut album, Many Seasons, plays like a travelogue. Sweeping the listener along from her roots in small town Colorado to Boston to a San Francisco where Johansing is at something of an epicenter for a rapidly evolving songwriting scene, the album crystallizes a rich Bay Area indie-folk sound bursting at the seams with creativity.
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Crystal Castles

ARTIST / BAND: Crystal Castles

SONG (MP3): Celestica

ALBUM: CRYSTAL CASTLES II

FILE UNDER:  Indie Pop, Electronica

LABEL: Lies Records, Merok, Trouble Records, Lovepump,

INFO: Crystal Castles is an electronic music band from Ontario, consisting of producer Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass.^[6] Crystal Castles are known for their chaotic live shows and their lo-fi home productions. The duo have released many vinyl EPs between 2006–2007 and also two eponymous albums, in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

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Wolf Parade

ARTIST / BAND: Wolf Parade

SONG (MP3s): Wolf Parade - What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way) (MP3) / Wolf Parade - Ghost Pressure (MP3)

ALBUM: EXPO 86

FILE UNDER:  Indie

LABEL: Sub Pop

INFO: Recorded and mixed at Hotel2Tango, with Howard Bilerman, in late February and early March of 2010, EXPO 86 is the name of the new and third album by Montreal’s Wolf Parade. EXPO 86 follows the band’s 2008 album At Mount Zoomer, which itself followed their 2005 debut,

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BLK JKS to Perform with Alicia Keys at The World Cup, ZOL!

ARTIST / BAND: BLK JKS
SONG (MP3): ZOL!
FILE UNDER: afro beat
LABEL: Secretly Canadian
INFO: The title track of the EP is a grassroots street anthem filtered through BLK JKS' unmistakable and ever expanding sound. With a crazy head-bobbing kwaito beat and bassline, as lyrical guitar work takes the party higher, "ZOL!" finds BLK JKS hosting a house party for the planet. Percussionist Tshepang Ramoba takes the lead on vocals here as the guys back him up with call-and-response and polyrhythmic claps, raucously proclaiming "I can roll and shoot at the same time."
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 Sergi Gvarjaladze MUZORAMA.COM

CANBY

ARTIST / BAND: CANBY
 SONG (MP3): Rat
 ALBUM: Rat
 FILE UNDER: Indie Rock
 LABEL: Aqui Estamos
 INFO: Aqui Estamos Records, an independent label located in Des Moines, Iowa presents its first release Rat, the full-length debut of Canby on July 20, 2010.

Singer-songwriter Scott Yoshimura is a musical jack-of-all-trades. While he is the drummer for another band, The Envy Corps, calling Canby a side-project is being disingenuous. In Canby, Yoshimura pens the songs, plays the guitar, records the drums, and sings the songs. His heart is completely into his music.

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Cosmetics

ARTIST / BAND: Cosmetics

MP3s: Black Leather Gloves

ALBUM: Soft Skin / Black Leather Gloves

FILE UNDER: Minimalist / Disco House

LABEL:captured tracks

INFO: Cosmetics are a two piece from Vancouver, BC. Their music is made for dancing, and with feeling and attention to the details. Their trip is sleek and synthetic meets human emotion. Cosmic glamour meets do-it-yourself. Voice and a rhythm. Frosty tropics and hazy nites. Love on the beat. Nic M and Aja Emma formed Cosmetics in Summer 2008, the first band for both of them. In 2009 they put together the Tuff Trax 8-track studio in their home where they work on sound and visuals every day. Cosmetics is their lifestyle.

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Club 8

ARTIST / BAND: Club 8

SONG (MP3): "Shape up!"

ALBUM: The People's Record

FILE UNDER: Indie / Pop / Electronica

LABEL: labrador

"The duo have expanded their sonic melodic pallet with traces of
Afro-pop, boss nova, and South American jazz. The result is a warmly
inviting album that's as sweet as it is cleverly composed" 8/10
UNDER THE RADAR

"The People’s Record ultimately feels personal and focused on the
public. It’s party music centered upon the fact that we’re all going
to die " 8/10 POPMATTERS

"Club 8 have never sounded deeper, darker, or funkier." PITCHFORK

"The People's Record" is the Club 8's first an outside producer.
Their initial idea was to move to Brazil for a couple of months and
record the album there with a local producer. But after having read
an interview with Jari Haapalainen (Camera Obscura, The Concretes,
Ed Harcourt) where he talked about his love for rythmns from Western
Africa and the Middle East the choice fell on him. The result is a
captivating mix of bittersweet lyrics about death, life affirming
Afro-beats and Swedish pop melancholia.

Walking Sleep

ARTIST / BAND: Walking Sleep
MP3: Final Chapter / "In A Dream"
ALBUM: Measures
FILE UNDER: Glam / Acousmatic / Tape music
LABEL: s/r
INFO: Walking Sleep originally formed in 2007 under the name The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra. The six-piece band came together as a natural extension of lead singer Hunter Curra’s exploratory songwriting, in which he combined male and female vocal harmonies, classic rhythms, and curiously dark lyrics. Drawing influence across genres and decades, their songs include echoes of the melancholy psychedelic pop of The Zombies, the uptempo stomp of classic Motown, and the moody melodicism of Fleetwood Mac, but placed in a modern context, akin to like-minded bands like Belle & Sebastian and The Shins.
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Ariel Pink and Haunted Graffiti

ARTIST / BAND: Ariel Pink and Haunted Graffiti

MP3: "Round and Round"

ALBUM: Before Today

FILE UNDER: lo-fi pop

LABEL: 4ad

INFO: Los Angeles’ notorious lo-fi pop oufit Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti have been unveiled as the latest signings to 4AD. The group are currently recording their first record for the label, due spring 2010.

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Kacey Johansing

ARTIST / BAND: Kacey Johansing

MP3s: Oh Brother

ALBUM: Many Seasons

FILE UNDER: Healing & EasyListening / Folk / Soul

LABEL: Porto Franco Records

INFO: Kacey Johansing’s debut album, Many Seasons, plays like a travelogue. Sweeping the listener along from her roots in small town Colorado to Boston to a San Francisco where Johansing is at something of an epicenter for a rapidly evolving songwriting scene, the album crystallizes a rich Bay Area indie-folk sound bursting at the seams with creativity.

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SOMEONE STILL LOVES YOU BORIS YELTSIN

ARTIST / BAND: SOMEONE STILL LOVES YOU BORIS YELTSIN

MP3: Sink

ALBUM: Let it Sway

FILE UNDER: Indie Pop

LABEL: polyvinyl records

INFO: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin has been playing music in Springfield, Missouri since 1999, when Will Knauer and Philip Dickey met at a Super Bowl party. They came up with their band name shortly after Boris Yeltsin's resignation in the early hours of Y2K. John Robert joined the band in 2001, when he was dorm roommates with Philip at Drury University. SSLYBY played dozens of local shows, often acoustic, from 1999-2004, and released a split EP on a local label, Generic Equivalent, in 2004. The band's first LP, Broom, was a blog-hit in 2005. Jonathan James joined the band after mixing Broom on his computer.

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THE STREETS ON FIRE

ARTIST / BAND: THE STREETS ON FIRE
MP3: "No One's Fucking to the Radio"
ALBUM: This Is Fancy
FILE UNDER: Post punk / Alternative / Rock
LABEL: The Currency Exchange
INFO: With a growing loyal fan base and a reputation for keeping the dance floor moving, The Streets On Fire has been rocking Chicago venues the Metro, Double Door, Debonair, and Empty Bottle and was recently featured on WLUW’s Razor and Die show as well as Q101’s Local 101 show.
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Oval

ARTIST / BAND: Oval
MP3: Ah!
ALBUM: O
FILE UNDER: Electronica / Experimental / IDM
LABEL: Thrill Jockey
INFO: Markus Popp’s first “Oval” release after almost a decade of silence is a spectacular departure from the deconstructivist electronica that made him a laptop legend. Instead, and totally out of nowhere, this 15-track EP establishes Popp as an accomplished musician, who is delivering a glimpse of his very own exciting flavor of "free" music in the best sense of the word.
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Jews and Catholics

ARTIST / BAND: Jews and Catholics
MP3: "Up For Days" / Jews and Catholics -- "Fevers"
ALBUM: Who Are?  We Think We Are!
FILE UNDER: Post punk / Rock / Indie
LABEL: 307 Knox Records
INFO: When Ryan Olson decided to make a record with Solid Gold members Zack Coulter and Adam Hurlburt, it was clear to them what the result would be: a collection of drugged-up keyboards and slick bedroom production almost exclusively inspired by 10cc's "I'm Not In Love." To be fair, they weren't entirely off. What they didn't know was that it would spiral into a project of epic proportions, enlisting the talents of over 25 musicians from various scenes around the country, relocating the base of operations from Olson's Minneapolis bedroom/studio to the Wisconsin-based studio April Base, and the genesis of a musical family, GAYNGS.
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Miniature Tigers

ARTIST / BAND: Miniature Tigers
MP3: Gold Skull
ALBUM: FORTRESS
FILE UNDER: Indie Pop
LABEL: Modern Art Records
INFO: Miniature Tigers haven’t been discussed around here much, but it seems inevitable that they would pop up: The Brooklyn-via-Phoenix band has been around since 2006, picking up spots on many festival to-watch lists along the way to recording their upcoming album Fortress. And morning bender Chris Chu produced Fortress, communing with the band for a three-week recording session at Dreamland Studios in Woodstock, NY earlier this year. Miniature Tigers then spent the spring opening for the morning benders on tour.
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Faded Paper Figures

ARTIST / BAND: Faded Paper Figures
MP3: Invent It All Again

ALBUM: New Medium
FILE UNDER: Indie / Electronica / Rock
LABEL: none
INFO: In their much-anticipated second album, New Medium, Faded Paper Figures return with a richer, fuller sound, even as they maintain all of Dynamo's indie-tronica charm. Fans of the band will be happy to hear all of the familiar blips, harmonies, and intellectual pop-references, but with even more life and energy this time around. Striking melodies, lyrical images, and classic pop forms--New Medium's lush electronica feels both intimately familiar and astonishingly new.
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