Urban Outfitters

Original Soundtrack permalink

Columbia

Buy It: Insound

On what should have been a desperately tough mountain to climb, the 29 singers that take on the broad swath of Bob Dylan’s shapeshifting and nebulous musical phases for this soundtrack project do more than just tip their hats while dutifully covering their songs. Instead, they sidle up to the mic in their best poet-laureate-from-Up-North stance and faithfully channel the swagger, the conviction and the mischief that the chameleonesque crooner was known for. 

http://www.myspace.com/imnottheresoundtrack

Autumn Of The Seraphs permalink

Touch And Go

Buy It: Insound

Like messengers tapping out musical morse code, Pinback’s latest hypnotizes. It’s repetition and post math-rock pulsations lull you into a poppy, other-worldly dream place. 

http://www.myspace.com/pinback

Cease To Begin permalink

Sub Pop

Buy It: Insound

Band Of Horses don’t open a can of whup-ass on their new CD insomuch as they pop a tall can of Bud, stock the tackle box, and drive their Chevy stepside nice and slow down to the old fishin’ hole. Now that the band is comfortably ensconced back in their old homeplace (South Carolina), you can hear the cricket chirps and the baying of the bloodhounds coming through every soaring epic and lonesome dirge. It’s hard to find rays of sunshine as heavy as these.

http://www.myspace.com/bandofhorses

Fur And Gold permalink

Caroline

Buy It: Insound

A trip-down-the-rabbit-hole, mind expander of a CD. We haven’t had chills like this since Mary Timony/Helium’s The Magic City. Renaissance Faire motifs, unicorns, fairies and sprites tangle with a dreamcatcher’s worth of reference points: Cat Power, Kate Bush, Bjork, early Sinead, Tori Amos. Bewitching and enriching.

http://www.myspace.com/batforlashes

Boxer permalink

Beggars Banquet

Buy It: Insound

The mysteriously dark and brooding strains of The National would make the perfect soundtrack to a noir film, or scenes from a back-alley speakeasy, or a break-up discussion, or even a first kiss. This album is a definite grower so give it multiple listens in order to catch all the subtleties: the plaintive spanish guitar, the slap dash drum rolls, the lush production and the singer’s poetic turns-of-phrase. 

http://www.myspace.com/thenational

Asa Breed permalink

Ghostly International

Buy It: Insound

Matthew Dear jumps off the minimal techno producer ledge into a cool, deep pool of pop on his latest, Asa Breed. Dear’s warm and comfy baritone rides over tracks peppered with live drum sounds, meditative loops and African rhythms, sounding something like mid-period Bowie/Eno or Bodily Functions era Herbert.

http://www.myspace.com/matthewdear

Tromatic Reflexxions permalink

Domino

Buy It: Insound

Futuristic soundsystem purveyors Von Südenfed serve up hot skronk on a platter. And who is Von Südenfed you ask? Only Mark E. Smith from The Fall sharing a brain with Jan and Andi (bka Mouse On Mars). Get thee to a dancefloor.

http://www.myspace.com/vonsudenfed

No Shouts No Calls permalink

Too Pure

Buy It: Insound

We like flying in invisible planes like Wonder Woman. It’s empowering. Girl pop is empowering too and Electrelane bring the ruckus with soaring guitars, hopeful melodies and breathy vocal harmonies reminiscent of Stereolab circa 1994.

http://www.myspace.com/electrelane

We Can Create permalink

Mute

Buy It: Insound

If you’re searching for an album for your summertime pursuits, like laying back under a weeping willow or maybe some skydiving - look no further. Maps’ debut is dreamy, post-shoegazer bedroom electronica a luxurious mix of My Bloody Valentine, Postal Service and The Stone Roses.

http://www.myspace.com/mapsmusic

Burn Your Own Church permalink

Play Loud Recordings

Buy It: Insound

Rising from the ashes of their former electro-house incarnation, this new Black Strobe is a phoenix clad in black leather. Picture a young Trent Reznor crossed with one of Norway’s finest death metal acts. Now add a dash of camp, a smidgen of irony and unleash that onto the dancefloor.

http://www.myspace.com/blackstrobe

Tio Bitar permalink

Kemado

Buy It: Insound

Dungen’s latest release is like being in your room reading Tolkien, then poking your head through a velvet poster of a dragon and falling through the clouds to land on a mushroom in a misty field on the other side. Oh yeah, all this is going down inside a crystal ball. For the non-tripping members of our readership: This is swaggering, soaring stuff, dankly organic, and totally beyond the pale for a psych-rock album. 

http://www.myspace.com/dungen

Hope For Men permalink

Sub Pop

Buy It: Insound

Pissed Jeans is what you get when you build a belligerent, snot covered Frankenstein out of David Yow, Henry Rollins, PW Long and Killdozer and give birth to him via the gnarly, end-of-the-line toilet at the back of CBGBs.

With Lasers permalink

Domino

Buy It: Insound

Bonde Do Role stay true to the favela while exposing the masses to the type of nashty, ADD-addled fun their baile funk brethren are accustomed to. It’s the perfect mix of spartan electro, jacking 808 beats and sexual innuendo, all heated up to a 130 bpm boiling point.

http://www.myspace.com/bondedorole

Colour It In permalink

Geffen

Buy It: Insound

More urgent, taut and angular guitar pop from the British Isles. Chock full of every day ennui, loves lost and found, and tales of the community center wave machine.

http://www.myspace.com/themaccabees

Mirrored permalink

Warp

Buy It: Insound

In short, Battles play relentlessly technical math-rock. Blackbelts in the art of building and releasing tension, their skittering rhythms and zen-like repetition of phrases will have you scrambling for some mid-period King Crimson as well (Discipline anyone?).

http://www.myspace.com/battlestheband

Let Me Introduce My Friends permalink

Mute

Buy It: Insound

For us, summertime means lounging on a hammock with a tall glass of lemonade, the glass all sweaty with condensation. The perfect soundtrack for this leisurely pursuit is the 29-member I’m From Barcelona, who play pop so pure and sugary sweet it’ll make you want to kiss girls (or boys), kiss puppies, and maybe even kiss unicorns. 

http://www.myspace.com/imfrombarcelona

Everything Last Winter permalink

Atlantic

Buy It: Insound

This album has earned a spot on our makeshift altar, draped in crushed velvet, alongside our mushroom candles, J.R.R. Tolkien compendium, Dungeon Masters Guide and amethyst runes. Part prog and part majestic shoe-gaze, Fields’ swirling space-rock exists somewhere on the same plane as My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, and latter-day King Crimson.

http://www.myspace.com/fieldsband

Volta permalink

Atlantic

Buy It: Insound

It took some time but it finally hit us like a bolt of lightning: Bjork is the female Tom Waits. OK, slow down now, don’t scoff; just consider the following: 1. Esoteric arrangements. 2. Far-flung instrumentation (c’mon, foghorns?!?). 3. Vocals delivered in whispers and growls. 4. Ballads and bangers. 5. A deliberate lack of melody. All this in mind, we think Volta would be her Swordfishtrombones.

http://www.myspace.com/bjork

What The Hell Do I Know? permalink

Ace Fu

Buy It: Insound

If you’re not going to sit out on your front porch to pluck out some melodies on your banjo then you damn well better let Illinois do it. Who cares that they’re actually from Pennsylvania when they write hooks this sunny and earnest?

http://www.myspace.com/illinois

Ode To Ochrasy permalink

Mute

Buy It: Insound

These are rave-ups. And when we say rave-ups we mean, “ballsy football anthem chanting whilst high on pills with your brain going 100 mph at an old pub gig where everyone is spastically pogoing and soaked in sweat garage rawk” rave-ups. All courtesy of a Swedish band who’ve drunk so deep from the Kinks and James Chance tap that they’re basically Brits. 

http://www.myspace.com/mandodiao