Video: Tim Fite - We Didn't Warn You

"We Didn't Warn You" is one of the standout tracks from Tim Fite's latest freebie Under The Table Tennis, an insanely good & bizarre hip-hop album about the current financial shithole the USA has gotten itself into. The video, inspired by Clu Gulager's short A Day With The Boys, is full of wacky kids playing Red Rover in the forest, vomiting strawberries, and burying their friends alive. You know, the usual kid stuff.

Video: The Station - No Homo

Two reasons I'm posting this. 1: The phrase "No homo" is endlessly funny. 2: That dude with the soul patch and emo hair is super hot.



via TDW

Woolgathering - Jamaica Plain Bedroom Recordings (self released, 2010)

Woolgathering - It's Called "Found Footage," Not "Worthless Filmstrips."


The dude over at Mango Nebula, the totally rad Boston based blog that keeps you abreast of all the new cool shit going down around town, is a sweet creator of lo-fi bedroom folk pop.

Woolgathering, which means something along the lines of absentminded daydreaming, is pretty straightforward stuff, a lonely guy singing soft with a guitar and the occasional glockenspiel. Great lyrics & voice, solid picking, and poor recording quality with lots of hiss, but for demos it sounds damn good and I wouldn't mind some of this haphazardness finding its way into a legit record.

Grab digital copy for however much you want on Bandcamp, or swipe a limited hand numbered/doodled physical copy for a mere $5.

P.S. For context, Woolgathering is also the same guy I caught bein a boss at Weirdstock playing rockabilly guitar for Cave Bears.

WYLD WYZRDZ / Stag Hare - Antelope Island (Inner Islands, 2010)

WYLD WYZRDZ - Antelope


Utah DIY chieftain Braden J. McKenna brought a lot to the SLC scene. Lots of sweet music under various guises (WYLD WYZRDZ, his own name, etc), dozens of free releases through The Magic Goat, and general awesomeness. He's since gone to Portland, killed The Goat, and started a physical label called Inner Islands.

One of the first releases is a split seven inch mini wax with him and psych drone extraordinaire Stag Hare. Pretty much a match made in heaven. WYLD WYZRDZ puts on his fancy suit and goes to town with "Antelope." A delicately lush tropdrone, everything looped to infinity, equally perfect for a party scorcher or nap time chiller. Stag Hare's track, "Island," is a lazy shaker with faded lazers & a muted beat. The hazy guitar meanders along with echoing obscured vocals, making a supreme droney jam.

Regardless of where and when you play this, it's a sunny primer that always seems to require one more spin. Braden's got his shit together and I highly recommend grabbing this when it's officially available and then keeping your hawk eyes on Inner Islands waiting to see what's next.

The Maine Coons - The Maine Coons (self released, 2010)

The Maine Coons - Ghetto Queen


The Maine Coons are two dudes from Boston that have been playing local shows like crazy for a year or so and now that they've finally put out an actual record, they're ditching us and heading to Austin. Ain't that some bullshit? I guess it's hard to blame them when they've got a song that goes "I am a motherfucker living out my dreams."

Well, regardless of where they are in this glorious country of ours, they'll be rocking the fuck outta anyone who gives a shit. The Maine Coons play some rock n roll scuzz pop straight from a '70s garage. Seriously awesome stuff. The best of the best, crunchy buzz guitars, humming catchy organs, jangly hooks, and frequently hilarious lyrics (see "Ghetto Queen," "Hey Dickhead," "Hologram (Urinals)," or "Pull The Plug On Grandma"). It's just begging to be blasted from a boombox on your shoulder, walking to the pizza shop sportin your jean jacket & Ray Bans.

If you've been digging Girlfriends or The Needy Visions or any other of Boston's new wave old fashioned rock bad-assery, then The Maine Coons are essential. I've pretty much been playing this nonstop since I got it. And you'd be doing everyone a great disservice if you didn't crank this motherfucker until your ears ring & every last one of your pals hears it and comes over to party.

And just look at that fucking cover. Fucking brilliant, man.

MP3: Huntronik - Twin Doctor

Huntronik - Twin Doctor


Really digging this "Twin Doctor" track from Huntronik. Nice 'n' chill electronic alt-folk rock stuff with a solid groove, sounding like it belongs on a Baumbach or Anderson soundtrack. Great for these rainy days we've been having.

MP3: Hipster Youth - I Lost My Corpse Paint

Hipster Youth - I Lost My Corpse Paint


I'm not sure it's possible to be more self aware than this dude. But at least he's making some good tunes instead of writing a snarky blog full of hipster loathing. "I Lost My Corpse Paint" is nearly 9 minutes of synthy electro pop. Super heavy on the chiptunes (authentic or not is your guess), with a hearty mix of crisp beats & gritty blown out melodies. Sweet enough to put on your next dance party mix although I'll leave it up to you if you ever want to reveal to your friends that you enjoy music from a guy called Hipster Youth.

It looks like the 50 limited hand numbered CD-Rs are sold out. That means you should stream & download the whole album, Teenage Elders, at Bandcamp, highly recommended for song titles such as "Crying Outside Clubs," "Pop Song For Those With Short Attention Spans," and the ridiculously catchy "Super Fun Hipster Suicide Party."

Video: Donato Epiro - Fiume Nero

I have an old split tape with Donato Epiro that I really enjoyed but never paid much attention to. Guess I should go revisit it because his new video for "Fiume Nero" is straight from the jungle, with human sacrifices, a snake & frog who aren't friends, kaleidoscopes, guns, voodoo, and some crazy dancin beats. Sweet stuff.

America Addio - Cotton Kingdom (Enemies List, 2010)

America Addio - Monster Show


Ok, so I have a bit of a love affair with/hard on for Enemies List. I remember feeling this way about some other labels when I first found out about them (Temp Res, T&G) but I wasn't always 100% in line with their aural aesthetic and I wasn't with them from the beginning. Not so with Enemies List. Every release is a fucking winner and I feel like that creepy fan who pretends they're best friends with a celebrity and has a bizarre unfounded sense of pride every time they do something awesome.

Anyway... America Addio is EL pal Cody, who played with Have A Nice Life in their live incarnations, but he's not just some lame sidekick. He's got his own shit that dominates your face with unrivaled coolness.

Cotton Kingdom is just plain insane. It's the kind of insane that I think is super fucking rad but could be harsh on other less cultured ears (SNOB ALERT). For serious though, I could understand someone not liking this because the vocals sound like he's singing under liquid helium and it's brute force wonky synth orchestra drum machine party rock. Not your bag? Leave now.

But you should all definitely stick around. Even if you have no loyalty to Enemies List (yet), Cotton Kingdom is worth being a bit musically adventurous for. It's a man's record meant for partying in the year 2525 with hot chicks (or vice versa depending on your thing) and WHO DOESN'T WANT THAT?

There's only one way to listen to this record, so make sure you don't fuck it up. Throw every thing in your living room out the window (except for your bangin stereo), pour grenadine & glitter all over the floor, cover the walls with the future, open your windows, crank the SHIT outta this record, and let the cool passersby wander inside to join you for the party of the century.

P.S. When (not if) you buy this record, your money goes towards Heifer International which is a super fantastic charity that donate cows, sheep, goats, chickens, llamas, pigs, etc to people in need.

Video: Walls - Burnt Sienna

A truly fine slow burning jam by Walls off their self titled debut on Kompakt. Listen to the song on repeat and it creates a nice ebb & flow of beats & drones. So super awesome. The video reminds me a bit of the artwork for Unknown Pleasures mixed with A Place To Bury Strangers' aesthetic.

Chicagojazzen - Misantropi För Nybörjare (Irrlicht, 2010)

Chicagojazzen - Bränn Ner Jörn


The Swedish dude who put out that sweet Brachiosaurus tape on Native Parts last year is back with his debut vinyl slab on Irrlicht. If you loved that tape, then you're really gonna love Misantropi För Nybörjare. And if you're new to the whole Chicagojazzen thing, let me introduce you.

I think the heart of this music is in pop, although it takes many strange routes and uses some irregular means in getting there. The best comparison might be if A Faulty Chromosome and Madagascar joined teams to make a blown out beat heavy pop folk record.

The artsy collaborative feeling found on Brachiosaurus is still in full force here. Tons of instruments, all the usuals plus melodica, xylophone, some electronics shit, and who knows what else, making sweet drone lullabies, waltzy carnival tunes, and weirdo basement dance jams.

And then there's the black metal influence. Yup, this guy is all over the fucking place and it's awesome. "Bränn Ner Jörn" is a perfect example of the bizarro fucked sounds from Misantropi. It's totally in the red, thick with a hundred layers of nondescript buzzing & tweaking making a mostly danceable song with scratchy roaring demon vocals.

There's no way to really peg this record without omitting a dozen plus elements. Every song is its own mini-album, and the record as a whole speaks for itself. There's no use trying to translate it or help finish its sentences. It's a wild beast. And you know not to fuck with those things.

Video: Tobacco - Super Gum

ET's sister gettin her fuck on to some sexy Tobacco jams. I mean let's face it, that's all anyone ever wants to do when Tobacco is playing. And strangely this is safer for work than most other Tobacco videos.

And don't forget the man himself is stopping by The Middle East in September. Awwww yeah.



via

Spermwhales - Time Warp EP (self released, 2009)

Spermwhales - Time Warp


Spermwhales, the dude who crafted that burlap cased Endless Sea Of Clouds, has offered up a free 20 minute EP and it's glorious. It's a textured drone love affair with lots of water squiggles & warble glitches thrown over some unhindered hypno-drone. It sounds like The Snorks partying in a champagne ocean, or The Jetsons buzzing along in their aerocars during a golden sunset. So, obviously, there's no reason not to grab this.

The Besnard Lakes At TT The Bear's

Grandiose dark psyche pop in love with The Beach Boys, The Besnard Lakes always get it right. They played all the good stuff (including "Light Up The Night") and closed with "Disaster."

Poor lighting on everyone except Jace (lead guitarist) and me standing dead center means he's the only one I took any pictures of. At least he was animated.

More photos on Flickr.

Forest World - MMX (self released, 2010)

Forest World - Bury Me With My Money MMX


Forest World are honestly one of the best bands out there right now. Not sure how they're not blowing up all over the fucking place. They do the raddest minimal chiptunes ever (like on Fvtvre) and then they do sweet electro pop (with plenty of chiptune elements like on Super Bright Skullz) and all of it is just super fucking great.

MMX is their newest output and it's mostly the electro pop stuff, although there are a couple of straightup chiptune tracks. The music they make isn't some lush elaborate grandeur of emotions, it's just really straightforward and stripped down pop. And for music this basic to be so goddamn good means these guys are seriously fucking talented. They must have this super secret formula for all the right buttons to push to elate you and get your feet moving.

I really don't know how they do it. I mean, there seems to be an infinite number of other people doing almost exactly the same thing, but everyone else just falls flat. Forest World nails it every fucking time. And they're making sure you have multiple options for listening to MMX: buy the handmade physical copy for $5, stream it or download it for $4 on Bandcamp, or share it and get a free download.

They're on tour right now and you should definitely go out to seem them because I missed them when they stopped in Boston and that's a fucking tragedy. :(

P.S. There's a "hidden track" that's a MIDI cover of "Like A Prayer" that is probably the funnest Madonna cover ever.

P.P.S. Watch the insanely twisted video for the single "Jodie Jensen" because it gives an entirely different meaning to the song.

MP3: Doomstar! - Rainbow Bloodsucker

Doomstar! - Rainbow Bloodsucker


"Rainbow Bloodsucker" is the title track from Doomstar!'s latest BandCamp EP. It's a loud jangly mess of garage psych pop from Boston that's ridiculously pleasing on the ears. The echoed vocals, the sweet catchy riffs, the relentless drums, this is some high quality/high energy shit that fits right into what's going on in Boston right now. You can grab the whole EP for just $5.

Bunny's A Swine - Nothing Bad Will Happen (self released, 2009)

Bunny's A Swine - Valium Bread


More awesomeness by way of Western Mass! Bunny's A Swine hail from Northampton, which means I won't get to go out and see them in Boston whenever I want to, but that doesn't stop any of us from gettin down to their fantastically awkward pop rock.

Nothing Bad Will Happen has an unnatural feeling to it and I think it's mostly due to the male vocalist. He's got an abrasive voice similar to Falco from McLusky, and it's always got this discordant sound to it, even if he's in the right key. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but the one thing I need to get across is that it's not annoying. It might be if it were on its own, but it's paired with a girl singer, and it ends up being just totally fucking magical. A beauty & the beast kinda thing.

The tunes on this are some of the catchiest anti-twee indie rock I've heard since A Faulty Chromosome, although here we have a lot more buzzing walls of guitars and feedback than busted Casios and handclaps. But they fucking rock. This is the stuff I want to blast when I'm done with Pavement or Built To Spill. These are the songs I'm gonna put on mixes for when my friends come over (the friends who aren't really into the weird noise/drone shit I so often listen to) and they're gonna be like "OMG what is this it's fucking great make me a copy i'm gonna put this on my ipod and listen to it everywhere i go and learn all the words and be their biggest fan ever thank you so much justin for turning me on to this amazing stuff." And I'll be their hero.

Honestly, it took me a few listens to really get ahold of what Bunny's A Swine was going for, but their website claims they're "your new favorite band" and while there are a couple of stipulations that go along with that (add a couple of subgenre terms, then we're talking), they're absolutely right. I fucking love these guys. I can't get enough. I just want more and more of their off-kilter rock. PLUSSSS it's all Creative Commons so everyone hop on the remixin train and have a fucking BLAST.

Video: The Besnard Lakes - Albatross

The Besnard Lakes are a band on the cusp of fame that kind makes me feel I shouldn't really write about them too much on AGB. BUT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. Thankfully, I have absolutely no problem posting a video of theirs.

"Albatross" comes from their newest ...Are The Roaring Night and is totally single worthy. Superb cinematography, the video is a weird drama noir type thing with a couple of mysterious movie critics and it has the most contextually relevant "found footage" I've yet to see in any music video. And the obligatory sweet climax, like most Besnard Lakes tunes. If you're not listening to them, you should be.

MP3: Nikoo - Marquee

Nikoo - Marquee


5 dudes from the Netherlands call themselves Nikoo and made a free 6 song EP of '60s psych pop/rock, shoegaze, punk, and whatever else. Most of the stuff is really fuckin good but OMG "Marquee" is like the catchiest song ever. Kinda blissful, gets in a solid groove, climaxes, and all in just over 2 minutes. Plus, I work at a sweet movie theater so I'm always having more fun at the marquee.

I've been listening to Nikoo pretty much non-stop for the past week. It's getting harder and harder for me to pull myself away from it and listen to something else. If you need more convincing, check the track "You've Got A Strange Effect On You" on their Myspace and then fuckin download the EP already.

Easter Pop Mix

I'm going to Connecticut for Easter to visit the fam and made a mix for the drive. This is that mix. There's vintage faves La Roux & Ms Boots, new classics like Jónsi, CocoRosie, & Gorillaz, hipster hits from Tanlines, Kisses, & Pill Wonder, and hopefully some fun weird shit you might not have heard of before. At least, that was the plan.

This is going to make the trip tomorrow 100 zillion times more awesome, and maybe if you're going somewhere that's at least 1 hour and 10 minutes away, it will also enhance your trip.

I feel like a motherfucking genius coming up with such an amazing title for this mix. Easter Pop might go down as one of the best mix titles ever.

Major props to my bunny Hodge for being so inspiring and helping out with the custom album art.

Easter Pop
1. Boas - Reaching
2. Tanlines - Policy Of Trust
3. Parallels - Ultralight
4. La Roux - Quicksand
5. Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat
6. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
7. Baby Sloth Spirit - UU7X
8. Kisses - Lovers
9. Gorillaz - Empire Ants
10. Glitter Bones - Race To Heaven
11. Panda Teeth - I'm Sick Of Chip Breaking The 4th Wall
12. Pill Wonder - Wishing Whale
13. Jónsi - Go Do
14. The Knife - The Height Of Summer
15. Dustin Wong - Breezy Comfort
16. Turtle Ambulance - Child
17. Yeasayer - Ambling Alp
18. CocoRosie - Fairy Paradise