Listen: Grizzly Bear - "Yet Again"

It's a tad bit produced, but the ending is a payoff.

Listen: Woods - "Cali in a Cup"

The always reliable Woods are putting out another album, Bend Beyond, on September 18. "Cali in a Cup" is their first single and it follows the same path Woods has been on in a while; never a bad thing when you've got your sound down as tight as Woods does. This song makes a slight excursion into harmonica territory, however, and damnit I love it. More harmonica in every song, please.

Listen: Dean Blunt - "Flaxen"

. This will apparently be on Blunt's next mixtape, The Narcissist III. I dug The Narcissist II very much, stoked for this one.

Turn It Up: Halasan Bazar - Tin Foiled

Halasan Bazar - Tin Foiled from Halasan Bazar on Vimeo.

Laurel Halo - MK Ultra

SSHHHIIII: Julia Holter - Ekstasis

Been waiting for this one for quite some time. Ekstasis, the sophmore Julia Holter album, is up for streaming on NPR.. This thing is good. Really good. So good you'll want to own it. Buy it from the RVNG Intl.. You can also listen to the first song "Marienbad" directly below, in case of, like, laziness or some thing. 

Hypnotic: Death And Vanilla - "Rituals"

Movie Trailer: Beyond the Black Rainbow

 Holy shit. I hope the admission price includes a free vial of LSD.

Listen: Eric Copeland - "Car Alarms"

Here's one more thing I forgot to add over the week. Mainly because my love for this song wasn't apparent at first, but it grows with each listen. From Black Dice dude, Eric Copeland, comes "Car Alarm." I don't even feel the need to describe this one. Imagine if Animal Collective and Ween fused into one weird, fucked up noise band. That's basically what you get. It's a grimey, stuttered sort of melody, and completely different than anything else out there. Hey, that's Eric Copeland for you.

 

Check out Pitchfork to listen.

From the Week: Vidz & Stuff

Roman Ruins - "Wildflower"
There really wasn't much in the way of awesome music videos this week, at least not in the sense that they also had compelling music. However, two notable ones come from Roman Ruins and LHF. Both are pretty psychedelic. And then there's one from LX Sweat. The video is terrible. The music is not. Isn't that what really matters? Dude? Check 'em out?

Listen: Willis Earl Beal - "Take Me Away"

Willis Earl Beal is quickly becoming an incredibly noteworthy act. His style of barebones blues isn't one visited too often in the realm of indie pop blogospheres and all that nonsense, but it's one that we've been quietly starved of. "Take Me Away" is one of the new cuts from his new album, Acousmatic Sorcery, and it's as good as the last. Sad and emotionally compelling, it smells of Lightnin' Hopkins but with such a refreshing scent that I don't even care to explore what it sounds like and doesn't sound like. 

Acousmatic Sorcery comes out March 20th via XL. I hope you're ready for this one.

MP3: White Fences - "Swagger Vets and Double Moon"

White Fences - "Swagger Vets and Double Moon" 

Some people still know how to rock my fucking face off and one of those is Tim Presley. As White Fences, Presley released the unbelievably overlooked 2011 album "Is Growing Faith" but he's got much more than that planned for this year. "Swagger Vets and Double Moon" is a first rate cut from his new freaking double album Family Perfume, Vol. 1 which drops proper on April 3. Then soon after that a collaboration album between himself and Ty Segall called Hair is released via Drag City. 

Shit dude. Chill out.

Streaming: Young Magic - Melt

Got nothing to do today? Great. Check Melt, the debut album by Young Magic. It's a rather cleve affair, blending chaotic noise and pop, at times sounding like Animal Collective and Flaming Lips, but usually sounding like nothing else around. It's worth your time. Melt officially releases February 14 via Carpark Records. You can find the stream after the jump thanks to Hype Machine. 

MP3: Cities Aviv - "FLEX YOUR GOLD"

Cities Aviv's last album, Digital Lowswas vastly underrated, specifically when it comes to last year's best of lists. It did get Gavin Mays attention, however. This new song he recently released is just a single song, but it's a sign that he's not resting on just making such an distinguished album and is instead looking forward to his real breakout hits. "FLEX YOUR GOLD" doesn't stray too hard from established territory, but it doesn't need to. Mays seems to still have much room to work with while retaining all the similar spaces his music had before.

Download it from his bandcamp on a pay what you want basis.

From the Week: Vidz and Stuff

Lia Ices - "Little Marriage" I don't post everything I see and like, so sometimes you just gotta cram it all in with one article. First up, and probably the video I like the most is from Lia Ices. The song itself is really the hook here, but the video keeps up an elegant class to complete the audio/visual package. After the jump see a really interesting film from shabazz palaces and a disturbingly jaring piece alongside a tune by Phèdre. All that wraps up with two soothers from M. Ward and SOKO.

Podcast: Colossal Radio - January 21, 2011

This week I bring you my radio show...from two weeks ago. Most weekends, 2-4pm, I present a round up of the week's blog givings, as well as personal favorites. Last time's show featured new music from Real Estate, Daniel Rossen, Sleigh Bells, Lower Dens, Julianna Barwick, and more. Track listing after the break. Download it here.

Watch: Unicycle Loves You - "Piranha"

I have to say, this is one of the best Thurston Moore soundalike songs I've ever heard, and that's not a slam. This is some classic Sonic Youth sounding stuff here. This has 90's level greatness written all over it. From their new album Failure, which comes out Feb 14. Can't wait to hear the rest.

Listen: Julia Holter - "In the Same Room"

I shouldn't even have to write about this song. If you have glanced at this blog in the past few weeks or know me personally, you know I'm all up Julia Holter's butt. Beautiful, ethereal, and most importantly, uniquely catchy, she completely does her own thing, and "In the Same Room" is no different. I'm waiting as patiently as I can for Ekstasis, even though I'm pretty sure it's going to be the first thing of this year that just completely blows me away. 

Comes out March 8, which can't come soon enough.

Podcast: Colossal Radio - January 14, 2011

Colossal Radio - January 14, 2011 

Every Saturday, 2-4pm Central, I take to the airwaves on the University of Arkansas college radio to broadcast the latest and greatest indie tunes as well as classics from the past. Check out last week's show up above, and be sure to tune in today! Tracklisting after the bump

Infectious Listening: Cleaners From Venus - "A Personal Issue"

I feel like one of the unwritten rules of music blogging is to never admit that you've never heard an older, obscure band. I'm going to break this rule right now. Cleaners From Venus is apparently quite the influential homerecording outfit. Captured Tracks is reissuing their first three albums, along with some previously unheard recordings. One of those pieces, "A Personal Issue," rolls and hops along with an infectious as they come guitar riff. As the bass chugs along, frontman Martin Newell ponders about, well, personal issues. You know. GIRLS and stuff. Getting more from these guys right the fuck now. This song will be on the reissue of Blow Away Your Troubles, which comes out on Record Store Day, April 17.

Listen: Daniel Rossen - Saint Nothing

I miss Grizzly Bear. I have to say that right up front. I miss the emotional complexities of the songs, ramped up with a certain calming pseudo-psychedellic rock-out washing over everything. 

 Last year, Grizzly Bear bassist Chris Taylor released a solo album under the name CANT. It...left much to be desired, opting for an electronic R&B vibe that just wasn't all there. It didn't fill the void. Now Grizzly Bear and Department of Eagles guitarist Daniel Rossen is trying his hand at the solo artist game with a five song EP called Silent Hour/Golden Mile. The first taste we're hearing is "Saint Nothing," above, and oh man does it ever remind me what there is to love about Grizzly Bear. It's almost all here, too. The track features a sullen combo of piano and vocals, with horns being drowned in the background. It all sounds as if it might reach a classic Grizzly Bear climax, but it never quite does. Instead, it's a simply stated song, working within the confines of one man's abilities and sensibilities. I'm pretty much dying to hear the rest of this thing, which releases March 20.

MP3: Lee Ranaldo - "Off the Wall"

Lee Ranaldo - "Off the Wall"

Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat, worrying about the uncertain future of Sonic Youth, but then I find solace in the knowledge that, hey, Lee Ranaldo will always be there for me. Indeed, the vastly underappreciated Sonic Youth guitarist has a new solo album coming, Between the Times & the Tides, due out March 20. "Off the Wall" is the first track from the album that we get to hear and it stays in firm line of Ranaldo's sound, something I'm thrilled to find. It's much more minimal than Sonic Youth, but that was obviously going to be the case. He stands out now among all the old distorted riffs of the past into the forefront, pronounced and clear, and not just as that guy who also sings in Sonic Youth, but isn't Thurston Moore. 

Between the Times & the Tides out March 20 via Matador

Free Music: Miró Belle - Kiss This (Vol. 01)

This is, overall, a very nice EP-sized beat tape. The song "S-Car! Go!" is fucking awesome. Miles beyond the rest. It's getting a ton of plays right now so I can get my fill of the sweet swooning synths and infectious little robot girl. It's lighting my brain up in all the right places. The rest of the tape offers some other very eclectic beats, but at just 13 and a half minutes, it's entirely too short. Can't say it isn't good to keep me wanting more, though. Grab it at their bandcamp.

Watch: Julia Holter - "Marienbad"

Last year, Julia Holter put out an excellent, if not a tad unnoticed LP, Tragedy. Mixing ambient experimentalism with the occasional pop hook rising up through the torrential climaxes that punctuated the pacing, it was quite the stunning debut. Listen to the track below, "Goddess Eyes," for a good taste of what that sounds like.

 With that being said, I'm glad to know she's already at work on a second full-length, Ekstasis, which seems to continue pushing and expanding that sound. "Marienbad," above, is the beginning track off the new LP, starting things off with multiple staccato vocals and piano work, all rising and falling and then rising again in a climax taken right out of Tragedy. Really looking forward to this, and as good as her debut was, the meandering nature of that album means that there is still much room for improvement. Improvement that, hearing this song, Holter seems to be making. Ekstasis comes out March 8th. 

Julia Holter - "Goddess Eyes"

Listen: Shlomo - "wen uuu"

When it comes to chilled beats of the slick variety, Shlomo has proven to be quite competent in said category. Following last year's contradictory-titled LP, Bad Vibes, Shlomo plans to put out a new EP, Vacation, that continues his downtempo, electronic styles. "wen uuu" features more sampled vocal work than previous work, but it largely remains in the same area. That, for now, is a good thing. Vacation comes out February 7th via Friends of Friends.