NEWS // Modest Mouse announce new album, Strangers to Ourselves

Well the wait is almost over everyone. Last night an apparent special fan of Modest Mouse received his copy of the band's test pressing of "Lampshades On Fire" (which I am beyond jealous about. How much do you want for it?). In a twitter post from the fan you can see that this pressing came with an accompanying letter which read:

"...'Lampshades On Fire' is a new single from our new album Strangers to Ourselves, which will be released on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015."

You can listen to the new single, "Lampshades On Fire" below.

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NEWS // New album on the way for Cymbals Eat Guitars. Hear the opening track.

This week Cymbals Eat Guitars announced their new album, LOSE as well as shared a new song called "Jackson". LOSE will be the third album from the New York based rock group and possibly their most emotional release to date. This is because the album is about coping with loss, specifically the loss of frontman Joseph D'Agostino's friend and collaborator Ben High. Below is a statement from D'Agostino on LOSE:

LOSE is a very apropos title because it refers not only to losing Ben, but also it's about a sort of nostalgia, a longing for a time when music meant everything to you and your friends, and it seemed like one great rock record could change everyone's life the way it changed yours. It's about being in mourning for your long-held belief that music could literally change the world. That's the contradiction at the heart of LOSE... You're disillusioned, but somehow you can do nothing else but rail against that feeling mightily and try, once again, to make a record that makes you and everyone else "wake up wanting to listen to records."

As for the song, "Jackson" is wonderful and powerful return for the band. The piano in the opening of the song is actually very reminiscent of the guitar from "...And the Hazy Sea" and is a great introduction for those less familiar with Cymbals Eat Guitars, and it only gets better from there. "Jackson" has already become one of my most favorite CEG songs, and will definitely be making a return to the blog in this years Best of 2014. You can listen to the modern masterpiece below and make sure to mark you calendars for LOSE, out August 26!

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WATCH // Commander Chris Hadfield of the International Space Station sing David Bowie in space.

And just like that, Commander Chris Hadfield became my hero. Happy Monday everyone!

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NEWS // Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros to release new album this July

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros will release their self-titled third album on July 23rd in the U.S. and Canada and worldwide July 29th.

“These songs mean everything to me – It’s the rawest, most liberated, most rambunctious stuff we’ve done.” -Alex

Track Listing:
Better Days
Let’s Get High
Two
Please!
Life Is Hard
If I Were Free
In The Lion
Country Calling
They Were Wrong
In The Summer
Remember To Remember
This Life

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NEWS // Toro y Moi announces upcoming tour

Today Toro y Moi announced new North America tour dates to go a long with his European dates. So all you non-europeans out there (like me) get excited to see Chaz come to your town and turn up the funk! Full list of upcoming tour dates below. 

05-27 George, WA - Sasquatch! Music Festival

05-30 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia

05-31 Vilnius, Lithuania - Loftas Festival

06-02 Dublin, Ireland  - Forbidden Fruit Festival

06-03 Paris, France - Cabaret Sauvage

06-04 London, England - KOKO 

06-05 Brighton, England - Concorde 2

06-06 Bristol, England - Thekla

06-07 Birmingham, England - Academy 2

06-08 Glasgow, Scotland - The Arches

06-09 Manchester, England - Parklife Weekender

07-11-13 Mariaville, NY - Camp Bisco

07-12-14 Louisville, KY - Forecastle Festival

07-15 Millvale, PA - Mr. Smalls Theatre 

07-16 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop 

07-17 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick 

07-21 Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival

07-23 Honolulu, HI - The Republik

08-03 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre 

09-07-08 St. Louis, MO - LouFest

10-08 Tulsa, OK - Cain’s Ballroom 

10-15 Nashville, TN - Exit In 

10-16 Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theatre 

10-17 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club 

10-18 Columbia, SC - Columbia Museum of Art 

10-19 Charleston, SC - Music Farm 

10-25 Boston, MA - House of Blues 

10-26 Montreal, Quebec - SAT 

10-27 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre 

11-01 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom 

11-02 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue

11-04 Omaha, NE - Waiting Room 

11-07 Aspen, CO - Belly Up 

11-10 Vancouver, British Columbia - Vogue Theatre 

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NEWS // Noah and the Whale release a new album called "Heart of Nowhere"

After about a year of nothing Noah and the Whale are back with a new album called Heart of Nowhere. This new LP came out today and is available at various online music stores like iTunes, their website, Amazon, and others. 

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NEWS // Generationals announce the release date of their newest thing.

Good news for all you Generationals fans out there. They've recently announced the release date for their newest LP. Heza will be out April 2nd on polyvinyl records.

Download a free song off the upcoming album from their twitter here: http://www.twitmusic.com/generationals/songs/spinoza

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NEWS // Listen to Wavves' new album Afraid of Heights now on NPR.

Notice anything different about the website? Yeah, me neither, looks pretty much the same. There definitely wasn't a complete overhaul of ALL the things over the weekend. I am really happy with the way it's turning out right now. I still have some things to do to make it perfect but it's pretty stellar for now.

Do you know what's also stellar? You can listen right now to Wavves' new album Afraid of Heights in full below thanks to NPR! I'm about a third through it as I type this and so far it's sound pretty damn awesome. A full review will come soon but for now listen to the entire album for free below.

As a sort of post-script: I have that exact same varsity jacket.....just saying...

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NEWS // Hear four new Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs from SXSW.

Happy Thursday readers! If you're there, are you enjoying SXSW? One of these years when I have the time man...one of these years. Anyway, yesterday New York indie rock group Yeah Yeah Yeahs performed a few new songs at SXSW from their upcoming album Mosquito (due out April 16). These songs performed include the title track, "Under the Earth", "Subway", and the new single "Sacrilege" along with other older songs. Watch their performance below but be warned, the audio in this video isn't amazing.  

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NEWS // Animal Collective reschedules shows due to sickness.

Due to recent sickness Animal Collective will be rescheduling a few upcoming shows, they announced yesterday. Their full post about this can be read below as well as the rescheduled dates.

From the band's Facebook:

"Due to a band illness, Animal Collective regretfully has rescheduled five dates of their North American tour. The dates have been rescheduled for mid-July. All tickets will be honored for rescheduled dates or can be refunded at place of purchase. All other dates will continue as planned."

3/9: Toronto, ON @ The Danforth Music Hall rescheduled for 7/9

3/11: Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues rescheduled for 7/16

3/12: Covington, KY @ The Madison Theater rescheduled for 7/18

3/13: Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works rescheduled for 7/19

3/15: Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Hall rescheduled for 7/15

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NEWS // Matt & Kim release the music video for It's Alright

Not sure if soft-core or music video...

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NEWS // Check out this year's Bonnaroo lineup.

I still love you Postal Service.  :)

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NEWS // Crystal Fighters release artwork for upcoming album.

Yesterday Crystal Fighters released the album cover of their upcoming album Cave Rave to their Facebook page. Cave Rave will be the Electronic/House band's third full-length and will be released this May. Listen to a preview track from Cave Rave below and get excited!

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NEWS // The Postal Service release new single.

A Tattered Line of String is the newest single from The Postal Service off their upcoming 10th anniversary  re-release of 2003's Give Up. Scheduled to be released this March, Give Up will include all the original songs fully remastered along with two new songs and covers by The Shins and Iron & Wine.

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NEWS // MillionYoung releases new album Variable.

Happy Tuesday readers! And man, is it a happy Tuesday or what? Not only did we just today get a new album from long-time TBAM favorite MillionYoung, but today also marks the release of Darwin Deez's new album Songs For Imaginative People! MillionYoung's newest album, Variable,  is the Florida native's second full-length album and features 10 completely new songs, two of which can be heard below. Make sure you head over to Amazon or Old Flame Records to buy this album and then check back here later for my review. 

Millionyoung - Variable by Old Flame Records

Millionyoung - Lovin by Old Flame Records

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NEWS // Strange Talk release their debut album Cast Away.

I know, I know, I along with a lot of people were upset that Tegan And Sara released an electropop album but that doesn't mean I don't like electropop. In fact, one of my favorite electropop artists, Strange Talk, has just released their debut album a couple of days ago. Cast Away is the Australian band's newest release and first full-length album. This 11 track album is currently available on iTunes and other online music retailers as-well as in stores. A full review will be coming soon but for now listen to the first two tracks off of Cast Away below. Happy Monday readers!

Cast Away by Strange Talk

Falling In Love by Strange Talk

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NEWS // The Bilinda Butchers announce new single.

Yesterday The Bilinda Butchers (no affiliation with MBV aside from their love for them, hence the name) announced news of an upcoming single that is due to be released in early March. The dream-pop band released this two-part teaser of the upcoming single featuring new music (with almost a new sound) and clips from Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan. 

The teaser for The Lovers' Suicide! sounds great, it really does, but what's up with that first half? That doesn't sound at all like the Bilinda Butchers I fell in love with, and then fell in love with even more when goodbyes was released last fall. Is this a hint that the band is slowly changing it's sound? I mean don't get me wrong, I have faith in them. Regardless of what genre they are The Bilinda Butchers will continue to put out great, quality music but, if they did steer more towards electro-pop as this video could be suggesting, I would miss songs like Little Leaf. Luckily, the second half of this video assures me that they wont completely change.

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NEWS // Line-up for Sweetlife festival announced

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NEWS // My Bloody Valentine releases new album "m b v"

Well it's finally here and it only took a little over two decades. My Bloody Valentine released a follow up to their 1991 classic Loveless this past week called m b v and it has already broke the internet with it's epicness. Upon hearing the news that the Dublin based band would be releasing a new album, people all over scrambled to their computers in an attempt to get their hands on this long-awaited LP causing the band's new and still buggy website to crack under the pressure. For the next couple of hours eager fans waited patiently (and not-so-patiently) for the website to go back up.

Well now the website is back up and has been for a while so we can all sleep easy now that we're able to buy, listen, and fall in love with m b v, even if it is a whopping $16. If you are like the many who are unsure whether you want to shell out that much cash for a 9 track album (a price which is almost doubled if you want a vinyl!) then don't worry there are still ways of hearing the album. MBV has also uploaded the full album to Youtube so you can find it there while you wait for the price to go down.

A full review of m b v will come in the future but for now I'll say this. My Bloody Valentine and a lot of shoegaze music for that matter can be hard to listen to if you are unfamiliar with what shoegaze sounds like. It's a very dense and layered genre of music and requires multiple listens to experience completely. I for one love the genre along with it's cousin dream-pop and think that this is a great example of what shoegaze is. Just remember that if you start listening expecting to hear really up-beat and fast rock you're going to be disappointed. These songs are as obscured and dreamy as the album cover that accompanies them. 

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NEWS // FIDLAR announces upcoming shows in CA

Happy Thursday! Today I have a bit of good news for anyone that lives in California. I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that FIDLAR has announced that they will be playing multiple shows this coming January with  the bands Pangaea and Meat Market. The times and locations can be found below and if you haven't familiarized yourself with FIDLAR click here to hear one of their songs.

Califonia Dates  / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Jan 17  Davis // House Party at Babeylon
Jan 18  San Francisco // Amoeba at 6:00 PM Bottom of the Hill
Jan 19  Santa Cruz // The Atrium (inside the Catalyst)
Jan 20  Santa Ana // Constellation Room (inside the Observatory)
Jan 22  Los Angeles // location TBA
Jan 24  Los Angeles // Amoeba at 6:00 PM
Jan 25  San Diego // Che Cafe

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