Since we’re well into the pre-Christmas fallow period for album releases, we’re doing something a wee bit different for our regular Monday roundup of records streaming for free via the web. For those wedded to the LP format, never fear — we’ve got new records by Guided by Voices, Jónsi, and Bear in Heaven (kind of) to stream in their entirety. But since they’re about all that’s out there this week, we’ve also included a couple of noteworthy new singles that are available for your Internet listening pleasure. All this awaits you after the jump. Read More »
One week each year, New York City is positively glutted with indie-music fans, bands, and industry folk for the annual CMJ Music Marathon. It’s madness. To help you navigate things, we came up with a handy guide of pared-down music picks.
LA-based quartet Warpaint create dark, ghostly pop, with help from famous friends including Shannyn Sossamon and Chili Pepper John Frusciante.
The band formed in 2007 around the core trio of Emily Kokal, Theresa Wayman, and Jennifer Lindberg. Frusciante, who mixed and performed on “Billie Holiday,” was an early adopter, while screen star Sossamon played drums live with Warpaint, and on three of the six tracks on their debut EP, Exquisite Corpse. Read More »
New York’s CMJ music marathon is an epic display of music journalism and indie street cred. From October 20-24, over a thousand under the radar bands will perform, hundreds will be blogged about, and a dozen will be become semi-obscure household names (see: Passion Pit) in the aftermath. The 22 initial showcase artist have been announced today, and so we have compiled a guide for your listening pleasure. Six word artist descriptions and song downloads — enjoy!
1. Broadcast
Pensive electro performed by benign fembot. Sample Song: “America’s Boy” [Download Now] via The Decibel Tolls
2. School of Seven Bells Easy listening indie pop cures insomnia. Sample Song: “Conjour” [Download Now] via Stereogum
3. Zac Brown Band Truckers enjoying cold bear and trucks. Sample Song: “Toes” [Listen Now] via MySpace
On Alpinisms, Ghostly International buzz band School of Seven Bells carve out a musical niche somewhere between electro-pop, dreamy shoegaze, and experimental art-rock. The melodic interplay between former Secret Machines guitarist Benjamin Curtis and twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza (both formerly of On! Air! Library!) is fleshed out by electronic beats, synths and an array of live instruments.
Roughly translated, the band have managed a meteoric rise by dropping popular indie sounds into electronic atmospheres so fluid it makes you wonder, “why didn’t I think of that?” We spoke with Curtis about the band’s combination of electronics and rock and their insistence that the music, not labels or scenes, is what defines them.
