Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird's I Want to See the Bright Lights isn't quite an album or EP, but more of a classical piece or movement. A classical movement with an outstanding single at the heart of it. Numerous themes are returned to throughout the release. With the middle trio of songs "Logan's Loop"/"Pulaski at Night"/"Hover 1" exploring and morphing into one exquisite composition. "Logan's Loop" evokes a feeling of a train at night, with plucks of the violin quickly sinking away. "Pulaski at Night" is the star of the show as the single. It is the lone track with lyrics and one of the best pop songs of Andrew Bird's career. "Hover 1" finishes the filling of being on a train at night, exiting the city and continuing to speed away. "Ethio Invention No. 1" & "Ethio Invention No. 2" open and close the piece and feature almost raga style playing.

Bombay Bicycle Club

You'd be forgiven to think there were two bands going by the title of Bombay Bicycle Club. The quiet, pleasant folk band of mid-2000's has evolved into one of the most interesting pop-psych bands around. BBC has incorporated parts of electronic, psych, and experimental music to become leaders in a new emerging British scene. "Carry Me" features an off kilter beat, gauzy vocals, and synth parts that remind me of a quieter TNGHT. After the success of A Different Kind of Fix it is great to see the band is still exploring and evolving their sound. "Carry Me" is the first single from the forthcoming album out on Vagrant.

Paws

Paws played Brooklyn's Glasslands on Friday, November 15th. On record they sound a little light and flimsy. The songs are certainly enjoyable, but never fully captured my attention. Live they bring a focus and intensity to their songs that isn't always present on the debut album. Where the album is thin, in person they beef up the rhythm section and play classic pop punk. They sounded like a combination of Wavves and Frightened Rabbit.

Paws played most of Cokefloat plus a number of new songs. The new songs seemed to be even catchier, but with extra guitar jams. I am eager to hear what the new album will sound like. Also, these guys are hilarious. Some of the best stage banter I have heard in a long time. Definitely go check them out if you have the opportunity.

More Photos After the Jump!

Fuzz

Fuzz is the latest project from one man tornado Ty Segall and cohorts. Fuzz released its self titled debut just a couple months ago and now its back with a live album for Castle Face's Live in San Francisco series. Above is the appropriately heavy, jamming, and fuzzy take on debut highlight "You Won't See Me". It is three and half minutes of stoned out guitar rock. Fuzz's Live in San Francisco will be released December 2nd on Castle Face Records.

Joanna Gruesome

One of 2013's breakout noisy indie stars covering one noisy indie all time great bands best songs? Yeah, that works for me. Check out Joanna Gruesome's cover of Galaxie 500's "Tugboat". "Tugboat" is the b side for the "Sugarcrush" single out November 18th on Slumberland/Fortuna Pop!

Alvvays

If there is one thing that this site is a sucker for it is indie/garage pop with disinterested female vocals. If PR/Bands/Friends would just put that sentence in the title of the email, I think there would be almost 100% open rate. The latest and greatest band to join this group is Toronto's Alvvays.

First single "Adult Diversions" will generate comparison's to Best Coast, Vivian Girls, and other indie girl groups that work with jangly guitars and love sick lyrics. These comparisons are accurate, but miss the bigger point - this song is freaking infectious. It is one of those instantly repeatable pieces of ear candy that leaves you wanting more immediately. the "Adult Diversion" single is due out early 2014. Alvvays self titled debut album is due in 2014.

Dum Dum Girls

Dum Dum Girls latest single for up coming album on Sub Pop, Too True. "Lost Boys and Girls Club" picks up where "Coming Down" and End of Daze EP left off. "Lost Boys and Girls Club" has the same Chrissie Hynde inspired vocal flare, shoegaze guitars, but with very electronic drums. You can hear a greater Soft Cell & synthpop influence in this track compared to earlier releases. As with any Dum Dum Girls release, I am very excited and will be copping it immediately.

Painted Palms

Painted Palms are a pop group out of San Francisco signed to Polyvinyl Records. "Spinning Signs" is the first taste of their Polyvinyl debut, Forever, due out January 14, 2014. "Spinning Signs" has a vibe very reminiscent to bands like the Turtles or Lovin Spoonful meshed with 80s era power pop bands like Plimsouls or the Smithereens. I can't wait to hear more from Painted Palms.

Diane Coffee

Some mornings you need a little folk, psych jam on your way to the office. 2013 has been very good for those mornings with great new albums/singles from Woods, Fresh & Onlys, Foxygen, MGMT, and now Diane Coffee. Diane Coffee is the new project of Foxygen drummer Shaun Flemming.

Diane Coffee has a very 60's vibe with lush orchestration and ballad tempos. This is the kind of thing that would imagine soundtracking a lot of star crossed star children's first dates. "Gov T" sounds like a long lost collaboration between the Byrds and CCR. "Hymn" has a couple fun tempo changes throughout the song, going from choir backed ballad into Chuck Berry inspired Rock n Roll and back again. Diane Coffee's debut album, My Friend Fish, is out now on Western Vinyl.

White Fence

Lets do a double shot of White Fence today. The prolific Tim Presley has a cover of Filth's "Todays Lesson" on Burger Records' latest charity compilation - The Wiener Dog Comp II: The Ghoulie Tape (out today). The tape also features contributions from Sic Alps, Ty Segall, and Thee Oh Sees.

Speaking of Thee Oh Sees - main man John Dwyer's Castle Face Records is releasing White Fence Live in San Francisco on Nov 5. Get ready for an overdose of warm, lo-fi psych.

Track list for the Live in SF LP after the jump!

Girls Names

Here is the latest video from Belfast's Girls Names. Very enjoyable song and the video has a great vhs found footage feel to it. Girls Names have a remix EP coming out Tuesday, 10/29, on Slumberland/Tough Love. Tour dates after the jump.

Upset

Let's start the week on a sweet and sour note, with new music from former Vivian Girl Ali Koehler's new project, Upset. Upset sound like a cleaned up, slightly slower version of Vivian Girls. The music retains most of the shambalic charm and all the hooks of VG, but without the tape hiss. I am very excited to hear Upset's debut full length, She's Gone, out Oct 29th on Don Giovanni records.

High on Fire

At some point I am guessing High on Fire will stop making incredibly catchy, loud, fast, smash and grab rock - I just hope its not any time soon. I could go deeper into to the song, but why. It's High on Fire turn it on, turn it up, rage.

Pity Sex

2013 seems like it is one of those years where a lot of different scenes are emerging and styles are reconfiguring. Punk, hardcore, & emo are all experiencing revitalization with a host of labels, bands, and people changing what the overall scene looks like. Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Portland all have a plethora of bands that are taking bits and pieces and then mixing them into new takes on takes on classic genres. Look no further than Pity Sex for proof of these changes.

Pity Sex mix the honesty and passion of classic emo with the guitar feed back and vocal fidelity of classic Dinosaur Jr. Their latest album, Feast of Love, blends everything together then throws a wool blanket of self-loathing and desire on top of it. At times the record can be a lot to take in, but it is also incredibly catchy and listenable. I have found myself obsessed with "Keep" and "Wind Up", the first and second tracks of the record. They are the perfect one two punch to set the tone for what the rest of the album holds. Feast of Love is out now on Run For Cover Records.

The Spyrals

The Spyrals are a band out of San Francisco, not that you would have any trouble figuring that out immediately. They have a very northern California/bay area vibe. Reminds me a lot of Ganglians or the Fresh & Only's. The Spyrals released their latest album on Mock Records in June of this year.

Cold Beat

Cold Beat is Hannah Lew's, of Grass Widow fame, new band. You can definitely hear the sonic connection between Grass Widow and Cold Beat, but where Grass Widow is all lofi hiss - Cold Beat is a little cleaner and throws in some dub on the drums. That isn't to say you would call this hi-fi, but it just slightly more polished than her main band. "Worms" is taken from the first EP from Cold Beat, out 11/5 on Crime On The Moon.

Widowspeak

"True Believer" is the first song released from the up coming EP by Widowspeak. The song features a hazy, drifting, meandering sound similar to Real Estate or Beach House, but with a substantial country/folk twang. Makes for very nice wake up and ease into the day music. The Swamps EP is due out on Captured Tracks on October 29.

Woods/The Fresh & Onlys/Jessica Pratt

Last night, 9/27, Woods played the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts with the Fresh & Onlys and Jessica Pratt.

Real Estate/Free Time/Thee Rain Cat

Last night Real Estate played the Observatory in Orange County, Ca with Free Time and Thee Rain Cat's opening.

Morgan Page @ Dive Dayclub

On Saturday, 9/14, Morgan Page played Dive Dayclub at Harrah's Casino in San Diego county. It was a Vegas pool party in San Diego - the people were beautiful, the sun was out, and the music was booming. Morgan Page spun a set of big room house that was perfectly suited for the sunny day. Big pop hits were remixed to feature house beat along with current club fare and the numerous hits produced by Page. The crowd was very into it, even though the relatively early time in the day and high temperatures meant that some were going to relax in the pool rather than full on dance. Page is an excellent DJ and is highly recommend to see when he comes to your town.

If you enjoy our take on electronic & dance music, we have launched a new site focused exclusively on it. The Weak Become Heros will be a new site focusing on the best new tracks, club nights, interviews, and more.

More photos after the jump!

Pussy Riot

Meant to post this last week, but lost track of it - Pussy Riot return with a new video criticizing the Russian oil industry. The song features subtitles in both English and Russian, which is helpful.

Lemuria

I am totally late to the Lemuria party, but wow this new album is fantastic. This song is a basically the album in a nutshell - good guitar work, hoky chorus, and just general awesome. New album, The Distance is so Big, which is out now on Bridge Nine Records.

Check out tour dates after the jump - you will find me at their FYF show in LA.

Temples

Temples are a new british psych band out of Midlands. They have a quintessentially british pastoral folk style, something vacuum sealed from the late 60's Pink Floyd. Where many bands use psych rock as a basis for heaviness, Temple keep a light touch to the songs. Instead of endless guitar shredding and noodling, these songs are relatively compact and efficient. A different kind of musical focus than Tame Impala or Black Mountain.

"Shelter Song" has a very mid-sixties Rolling Stones vibe. It reminds me in some ways of King Khan, except less amphetamized and degenerate. Its a very enjoyable slice of mod-psych pop, sort of like something you would hear on a Nuggets compilation. "Prisms" is very pastoral and country - think mid-period Kinks and you are headed in the right direction. "Shelter Song" is from the forth coming Shelter Song/Colours to Life 7" out July 23rd on Fat Possum Records

White Dove

White Dove are from LA. This is not readily apparent when you first listen to them since singer Alex Johnstone sounds a lot like Chan Marshall. However, the instrumentation is all southern Califronia. The Byrds and Fleetwood Mac are mentioned in the press materials and you can hear the Dave Trumfio (Grandaddy) influence over the song.

 Really, Grandaddy might be the best reference point for "Cold Mountain" the song starts off like it a simple folk tune, but evolves into something much druggier. Johnstone's voice has an opioid property to it - a la Chan Marshall or Victoria Legrand. As the song continues the drums, guitar strums, and slid guitar kick into high gear and make this song an anthem. Its the sort of tune that can soundtrack the end of a night or waking up the next morning. "Cold Mountain" is the first single off The Hoss, The Candle, out July 16 via RSRCH & DVLP.

King Khan & the Shrines

At long last the man, the myth, the legend returns - KING KHAN & the SHRINES!!! Returning a full six years after What Is?!, King Khan picks right back up with Idle No More. If "Born to Die", the first single, is any indication this will be another rocking, rolling, hip shaking good time. Can not wait to hear the rest of it. From the album Idle No More, out September 3, 2013 on Merge Records. Tour Dates after the jump!

John Tejada x Halocyan

It's a summer Friday, so its time to start posting some mixes. Every Friday from here on out, a new mix will be posted to help get your weekend started properly. Kicking it off this week is LA techno god head John Tejada. This mix comes courtesy of the good people at Halocyan and it is exactly as excellent as you would expect. The mix has a great blend of old & new, house & techno. Basically it is exact what you need for a Friday night - minus the scotch and soda.

Arthur Beatrice

There are arguments about what makes a great dance song. For some its the drums, others its having a good vocal hook. To me - its the paino. Get a couple chords and the rest will work itself out. Larry Levan knew that.

Arthur Beatrice do not make anything close to house music, but there is something about "Carter (Cut)" that makes me think of warehouse parties and discos. Its certainly the paino line and how that song could easily be stretched into a 10 minute dance track and I would totally be good with it. Wonder if we can get Lindstøm to do it. From the forthcoming Carter EP, single now available.

Heliotropes

Do you like heavy tunes? Of course you do! Heliotropes latest cut "Quatto/Joy Unfolds" is straight low end thickness. The best way to describe it is what you would imagine a baby between Queens of the Stone Age and Warpaint would sound like.

"Quatto" is a slower grimey song taking a minute to kick into high gear and then rapidly dropping back to a slow chug. When they want to (around 3.51 of "Quatto") these guys can play some absolutely fantastic stoned on the road guitar chug.

 "Psalms" is a cut of straight heavy guitar boogie. This one is a more straight a head go-go tune. It's definitely a song that needs to be played while driving in empty areas for maximum effect.

 Heliotropes' debut album, A Constant Sea, comes out on June 18th through Manimal Vinyl.

Madlib

Madlib is back with another hot tune, this one sampling zambian rock. There is talk of a collaborative album with Mos Def and a Zambian rock compilation for Urban Outfitters. Its always impressive what happens when he (or his brother) commit to using samples exclusively from one source.

Theresa Andersson

I'm going to Jazzfest this week. If you are in New Orleans give me a shout.

Theresa Andersson plays May 2 - be sure to check her out!

Work Drugs

Don't listen to this song if you don't want it stuck in your head for a week. The sugar rush is incredible and it is the sort of thing you will be demanding is played at the bar. I could go into the guitar lines or the silly lyrics, but they are irrelevant compared to one essential fact - Work Drugs' have made the first truly essential song for the summer 2013.

Work Drugs new single "West Coast Slide" is from the upcoming album due outon Bobby Cahn Records.

Swimm

Summer is almost here, so it is time to get jangly guitar pop ready for barbeques and warm days. Todays tune comes to us from Swimm. Swimm just released their debut EP, Feels. Feels is 6 tracks of poppy tropical shoegaze. It is the sound of chilling out after a day in the sun. Really good stuff that will only get better as the days get warmer. Check out tour dates after the jump!

Mikal Cronin

Mikal Cronin returns with "Shout it Out" first taste of MCII out 5/07 on Merge. The tune is much more cleaned up and pop compared to rougher, punkish Mikal Cronin or Reverse Shark Attack with Ty Segall. The chorus is huge and the guitar line is very catchy - so its prefect for the summer and partys. Can't wait to hear the rest of the album and see where it goes.

Warm Soda

Warm Soda are releasing their latest album, Someone For You, out now on Castle Face Records - Dwyer of the Thee Oh Sees label. More crunchy, glam punk for you to get down and boogie too. These guys are really absolutely fantastic.

See the extensive list of tour dates, including SXSW, after the jump! I will be at the San Diego, and possibly Fullerton, shows so stop by and say hi.

Summer Heart

Summer Heart is back with a new single! "A Million Times" is the first single from his latest album About a Feeling. Always good to get the soundtrack to your spring figured out early.

As an added bonus here is the very Baleric "Hit Me Up Again".