God bless the internet. It used to be the only way you could hear a record before investing in it was listening for the singles on the radio and/or convincing the surly dude at the record shop to let you give the album a spin on the turntable before handing over your hard-earned cash. These days, more and more bands are embracing the pre-release stream concept, and here at Flavorpill, we’re making it even easier – every Monday, we’ll round up the best and most noteworthy album previews floating round the internet. This week: Fleet Foxes, The Antlers, Beastie Boys (sort of), and more. Listen after the jump.
This week’s mixtape brings bands back from hiatus (Menomena, Miniature Tigers), from the depths of obscurity (Sunglasses, Coma Cinema), and from the back of our heads (Toro Y Moi, The Drums). Right Click + Save As individual tracks to remember the past and make way for the future of indie, or scroll to the bottom and download the whole thing.
French music site La Blogothèque’s self-produced Take Away Shows feature exclusive, unedited footage of top indie artists performing in public places.
Shooting bands on the street, in the subway, or in a restaurant, auteurs like Vincent Moon (also a co-founder of the site) capture the devil-may-care nature of impromptu performances by artists such as Phoenix, Fleet Foxes, Arcade Fire, St. Vincent, and even R.E.M.
In addition to the bigwigs (Blonde Redhead/Band of Horses) and mainstays (Woods/The Antlers), this week’s mix also features bands that have been under the radar because they’re either from across the Atlantic (Mystery Jets/Pony Pony Run Run) or just completely new to us. Get familiar with the next ten, and be sure to Right click + Save As the songs you like after the jump.
Today is the first edition of Flavorpill’s artist mixtape series. To kick it off, The Antlers’ Peter Silberman has compiled a fantastic mix of trip-hop for your listening pleasure.
Trip-Hop, etc.
Peter Silberman / The Antlers
“Some years ago, for whatever reason, I decided to try having a trip-hop radio show in college,” he explains. “Little did I know that I was going to be given three hours a week to fill with what I quickly learned is somewhat of a narrow genre. Granted, a ton of amazing music came from Bristol and wherever else in England in the nineties, but there’s also a good deal of awful trip-hop. The trick of the show became branching out — finding music that might not necessarily be categorized under the same name but shares some of the same qualities. Here’s a collection of some of the genre’s most well-known tracks, alongside some newer songs that clearly seem to share something on common with their predecessors. The truth: trip-hop may be over, but it’s still alive.”
Best of the Year lists aren’t just about closure. After all, these lists make for a great way to catch up everything you missed while you were spinning that new Phoenix album endlessly. Making this time of discovery easier yet, InSound has rounded up their 50 most downloaded albums of 2009, and is offering everyone 10 free MP3s for download.
Looking at their list, we’ve eliminated albums that weren’t from 2009, and skipped over the obvious choices — the Grizzly Bears, the Phoenixes, and the Passion Pits. Those are for everyone else’s lists.
Today at Flavorpill, we decided to book a trip to the life size candyland. We learned all of Quentin Tarantino’s favorite films since 1992, one of which includes Blade. We held a Battle of the iPhone Bands in the office, inspired by this guy. We contemplated the future of the record label. We were intrigued by Al Gore’s endorsement of scalping. We were relieved to find that the MGMT-Jay-Z collaboration is decidedly absent from The Blueprint III. We blew bubbles and watched the new Antlers video for “Two.” And finally, we watched in awe as the lines between painting and reality were blurred.
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
The August drought of album releases is coming to a close. This week’s Viva la Mix is about the death of summer and the rebirth of new albums come September. So give your fingers a little warm-up stretch and get ready to “Right Click, Save Link As,” because after the jump we present 14 essential downloads from our latest Viva Radio show that we consider required listening at Flavorpill HQ. Enjoy! Read More »
