Quiet Folk From Soft Cat

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Looking for an intricately crafted folk tune? Well, Baltimore’s Soft Cat has you covered on that end with “Somebody.” Here you’ll hear a gorgeous blend of guitars, strings, piano and mild, yet beautifully tempered vocals. I dig this song because it beautiful and calm, simply the perfect start to your week or day, or a reprieve from your reentry into the work week.  This group is coming back with their third full length album, All Energy Will Rise, come April 7th via Father/Daughter Records, so be sure to get your hands on that.

 

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The Fireworks – Switch Me On

unnamed (1)Rating: ★★★★☆

The Fireworks are a self-proclaimed loud fuzzy pop band from London who have released a bunch of material thus far, but Switch Me On marks their first trip down full-length LP lane. And it is an exciting one, filled with gritty feedback, alluring pop hooks and dueling vocals coated in reverb to pull you into this groups infectious sound.

Switch Me On is an exhilarating chase at high speeds—you’re constantly trying to keep up with The Fireworks in their never-ending energy, but its one that you’re willing, and wanting, to keep pace with, as the lo-fi fuzz rock is as good as it gets. The band bursts through the door with their squalling feedback, utterly distorted guitars, popping percussion and the trading off of vocals between Emma Hall and Matthew Rimmell. “With My Heart,” is just the beginning, breaking the ice so that you can jam along with the band. The chorus is infectious, as Hall and Rimmell share the hook; their voices collide to add to the collected messiness of the sound. It’s not clean and it’s not delicate, but the ferocity gives the band the right amount of grit they need to push forward to other places. For example, “Let You Know” is the least fuzzy track on the record, and it pushes on the jangly nature of the guitars and the smooth vocals rather than the intensity of the feedback. The Fireworks aren’t a one trick pony.

Halfway through, you’re refreshed with “On and On,” which is championed by Emma Hall’s vocals and a killer guitar solo at the end. Like the other songs on this album, this one is also fast and furious, streaming by in a blaze of buzzing guitars and pop hooks and its one of the best tracks on the album. As Hall chants “on and on and on…” as the title suggests, you wish her and the band would just keep on. And they do; later on you get “Corner of My Mind,” which is as close to shoe-gaze as this band gets, and the guitar riffs that cut through the feedback are sharp and crisp, grabbing you with their clarity in the fuzzy cloud of noise. It’s the little nuances such as these that vary from song to song that keep the tracks from getting too redundant or falling down the well of sound.

So you reach the end of the album, and you realize just what’s happened to you: your hair has been blown back a bit, and your socks have been knocked clean off your feet, and you find it a little hard to stop shaking your hips. You’ve been switched on by The Fireworks, and the only cure is to spin Switch Me On again and accept your grunge-y, fuzz pop fate. As far as this genre goes, this is some of the best music you’ll find. Turn it up loud and get down.

Relax With A Sudden Burst Of Colour

1658505_757755130914754_1292556940_oSo you’re struggling to get through your Friday, the week and the work day is just dragging on and on. You need something to pick you up and refresh your energy. Well, I’ve got just the thing for you and its in the form of this music video from Motherwell, Scotland’s A Sudden Burst of Colour. These lads are great at crafting instrumental tunes that may be lacking vocals, but are far from lacking depth and beauty. This video for the lead single off their forthcoming Waves Will Rise On Silent Water EP “Riptide,” has some stunning footage of, you guessed it, waves. The calming nature of this video aside, the song is a jam; it’s got the glittery percussion and hooky guitars you would expect from a band like Foals. Get through your day with this track and make sure you stick it out through the end for the build.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/1uqEfxW026Y[/youtube]

Something Different: Blossomer

awesomeblossomI’m all over the place musically today, so why not go down a whole different road? Blossomer, a band from the U.K. have their debut single, “Foreign Nature” available for your listening pleasure and it’s most likely a little different to you than your average electro pop song. This has to do essentially with the vocals, which are the soulful, yet almost solely falsetto. It’s an interesting twist to this genre, and hopefully you find yourself engrossed in the different kind of tune. “Foreign Nature” debuts officially on February 23rd and you can check out more about it here.

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If It Ain’t Baroque(Pop) Don’t Fix It

0003486049_10 While I may have been waiting my whole life to make that pun, that doesn’t mean you get to gloss over the rest of this! Puns aside, the song that I’ve got for you at the bottom of this post is weird…orchestral, baroque, crawling, haunting. Weird, but good: Mirage is a band from L.A, but really you would think they were from the far distant past with “Angel.” This track comes off a fresh EP, Love Songs that just dropped yesterday via Mirage’s bandcamp page. I’m digging the strings and the shrieking vocals, and the rest of the EP offers you some other strange dream pop. Try it out, get weird.

Goodly Thousands Bring The Jangle

goodlythousands

Goodly Thousands are a three piece band that formed five years ago in the small city of Dundrum, but are currently based out of Dublin, Ireland. They put out their debut 7″ to much success, selling out that record and gaining a bit of attention. Now they’ve got this new song for you called “Sunshine Hair” which is a the title track off their upcoming EP, which is set to come out March 24th via Shelflife Records, so you know it’s gonna be great. This song already is– it’s got a kind of Pains of Being Pure at Heart jangly guitar riff that starts it out, but then the super crisp percussion kicks in and takes you down the road of twee. Looks like you won’t want to miss out on this band or their Sunshine Hair EP, which you can preorder here.

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Show Review: Zola Jesus @ Red 7 (02.03)

Zola JesusAfter a dreary and wet Tuesday, there was a last minute change in venues and door times from The Mohawk, but if anything, this seemed to draw more people to the warmth and comfort of Red 7. The eclectic hodgepodge sound of opener Deradoorian served as an interesting juxtaposition to the drama of Zola Jesus‘ pop music.

Read on to see how the night unfolded and see some pics from the ever talented B.Gray.

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Sorry I Missed This (ish): Froth

frothyOccasionally, when wading through the murky depths of recently released on Bandcamp, you find something worth sharing. Then, sometimes you have the misfortune of discovering that sweet garage rock single you just found actually came out a few months ago, but then you realize you don’t care and you’re gonna post it anyways. And THEN, you’re diving in to research about the band only to realize they’re apart of the Burger Records line up and have just released another single and have an upcoming LP for you to talk about. So meet Froth, a lo-fi four piece outfit from L.A. who will wow you with their jangly guitars and gritty rock and roll. The track below, “Postcard Radio” is off their forthcoming record, Bleak, which is out May 5th.

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Other Lives Go A Slightly Different Direction

10917143_10152732535224958_8315073691152214820_oOther Lives, from Stillwater, OK, are essentially a household name in the indie world, making ominously beautiful tunes. After their 2012 release of Tamer Animals, they’ve taken their time to put out another album, but now they’ve returned with this new single and the announcement of their third LP, Rituals, which is set to come out on May 5th here in North America (preorder it here). Fittingly enough, the track is called “Reconfiguration,” and gone is the sweeping nature you grew accustomed to on those earlier records and in its place is more to appeal to your electro pop sensibilities. The track is still somewhat haunting, but its clear the band is going in a different direction than their first two records. What do you think?

Playful Psych From Mild High Club

mildhighLet’s be real: not too much information is out there about Mild High Club, other than that it is the project of Alexander Brettin, who is currently based out of L.A. This song below, “Windowpane,” is off of his debut 45 and it’s got enough electro-psych to knock your socks off. There’s a Mac Demarco kind of playfulness that comes out of this rad tune, and it makes me excited for what’s to come from Mild High Club and his synth swirling jams. I particularly like the grooving bass line that holds your hand all the way through. Take a listen and enjoy.

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