Reminds me of TV on the Radio meets Gnarls Barkley.   This track would be great to remix.  So Maps & Atlases, if you’re reading this, I would love to remix this track.
Maps & Atlases – Solid Ground

Combine the drums sound of Love and Rockets, mix in some 80′s indie pop music stylings and top it off with a very catchy chorus and you got the leading track off of Trouble Andrew’s self titled freshmen release.

Trouble Andrew – Chase Money

Bio (taken from Last.fm bio):

Born and raised on the East Coast of Canada in Windsor, Nova Scotia, lil’ Trey, age 9, dressed in his mother’s over sized hiking boots, wrapped in socks and taped into the bindings of an old snowboard three times his size. He was determined to conquer the slight and icy mountain at Martock, the local ski resort where his mom worked. As fate would have it, Trevor’s determination paid off. He is now one of the top-ranking professional snowboarders worldwide, sponsored by industry heavyweights Burton Snowboards, Analog Clothing, Gravis Footwear, and Oakley Optics. He holds numerous national titles and World Cup victories and has had feature parts in many of the industry’s biggest magazines and video productions. He competed in the 1998 and 2002 Olympics.

After a fall in his final run, he landed in 8th place as the highest ranking Canadian in the half pipe. In 2004 Trevor suffered a knee injury forcing him to sit out much of the season. By the time the 2005 snowboarding season rolled around, Trevor was not only ready to ride, he had recorded half of what would become his debut, under the name, “Trouble Andrew” (a collaboration with renowned New York-based production team, Shitake Monkey). The sound is a blend of synth/programmed beats, and danceable skate and punk rock, drawing from musical influences through out his life. Trevor spent the summer of 2006 in Brooklyn, New York assembling and touring with his band of musicians Ian Longwell, Johny Rodeo, and Joao Salomao. They have been playing various parties and events and supporting groups such as De La Soul, GZA, Controller Controller, Rick Ross, Pit Bull, Silverstien, and McRad. The band is currently living together in Whistler, Canada snowboarding, producing new music, and jet setting across the globe to rock crowds and appear at snowboard/skate related functions. He has placed songs in six snowboard films out this year, aroused interest from several major record labels, and the band is selling out shows everywhere. The album is set to come out January 25th. Trevor and the band will be appearing at numerous events such as the X-Games, the SIA winter sports trade show in Las Vegas, and the Toyota Big Air in Japan

Indie rock track with a haunting vibe to it.  I know, it’s been out for awhile, but I’m just getting around to posting it… what can I say, slow day for new tunes here.

St. Vincent – Actor Out of Work

last.fm bio

Annie Clark (born 28 September, 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter who performs under the moniker St. Vincent. She was a member of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she began playing the guitar at the age of 12 and as a teenager worked as the tour manager for her uncle’s band Tuck & Patti. She grew up in Dallas and attended Lake Highlands High School, graduating in 2001. Following this, she went on to attend Berklee College of Music, before dropping out 3 years later to join The Polyphonic Spree. In 2003, during her time at Berklee, she released an EP with fellow students, entitled Ratsliveonnoevilstar.

Clark joined Sufjan Stevens’ touring band in 2006, bringing with her a tour EP entitled “Paris Is Burning”. It contains three tracks, including a cover version of Jackson Browne’s “These Days”.

Clark released her debut album, “Marry Me”, 10 July, 2007 on Beggars Banquet Records. Named after a line from the cult-hit television show Arrested Development, the LP features appearances from drummer Brian Teasley (Man or Astro-man?, The Polyphonic Spree), Mike Garson (David Bowie’s longtime pianist), and horn player Louis Schwadron (The Polyphonic Spree).

In 2008 Clark was nominated for three PLUG Independent Music Awards: New Artist of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, and Music Video of the Year, and on 6 March 2008, she won the Female Artist of the Year award.

Video:

Nothing like a indie folk pop track to produce a disturbing video — of course, I kid.   But in all seriousness, this is truly a striking and delicate piece of work.

Damien Rich – 9 Crimes

In the mood for something dirty — something just told me you would be — well then Whitey should fill the void nicely.  Here is the title track from his EP of the same name, “The Made Of Night” EP released earlier this year.  If you’re not familiar with Whitey (aka N.J. Whitey), see my previous post for more flavor:

Whitey – Made of Night

He also just released a new 7″ with two new tracks one of which, “Do The Nothing”,  was written and produced by Erol Alkan  which you can purchase from Pure Groove.  Whitey has another myspace page up here with rare tracks, have a go at it!

ON the Pure Groove tip, check out their free downloads here.

This is taken from The Dears forth album, titled Missiles, which is due out on 10/21/08.

The Dears – Money Babies

And here’s a novel idea, MTV actually playing just Music Videos — MTV just rolled out a new Hulu site with nothing but Videos — about time…  you can sign up for your own account here: http://www.mtvmusic.com/

video for Money Babies:

Been following String Fellow Hawk (aka Dexter Cabellon) for about a year now, and when I initially heard his music it was very raw but powerfull.  I love his vocal style and musical sensibilities.  Posted below are two tracks that are in the indie acoustic vein — think Bright Eyes meets The Moldy Peaches.

String Fellow Hawk – Move Along

String Fellow Hawk – A OK
For all those that perfer Jolt soda over Coke, be sure to Check out Dexter’s pop rock’n'rollin’ band “Lavendi”.  www.myspace.com/Lavendi

From their forthcoming EP titled “Another World”, comes this very heart felt song by Antony and the Johnsons.

Below is the press release:

Antony and the Johnsons emerged onto the international stage in 2005 with their breakthrough I Am A Bird Now. The group were awarded the Mercury Prize in the UK and toured the world. Since then Antony has participated on tracks with Bjork on her latest album “Volta”, appeared in the Leonard Cohen documentary “I’m Your Man”, featured as vocalist with disco act Hercules and Love Affair, recorded for the Todd Haynes bio epic of Bob Dylan “I’m Not There”, and collaborated with Charles Atlas on a European tour of their stage spectacle “TURNING”.

Now Antony and the Johnsons have emerged with a new album, ‘The Crying Light’ which will be released January 21st 2009. “Another World” is the first single, and it will be released as part of the five-song Another World EP which is being released on October 7th.

On “Another World”, Antony sings of a disappearing world. The EP also includes “Shake That Devil”. Part exorcism and part Shangri La, Antony calls out shape-shifting perpetrators and banishes them one by one. Two other songs, “Crackagen” and “Sing For Me” are pastoral and surreal. Finally the epic “Hope Mountain” closes the EP, an episodic narrative set after a flood; people gather on a mountain to witness the emergence of a luminous girl.

The cover features a portrait of Japanese Butoh co-founder Kazuo Ohno, taken by Pierre-Olivier Deschamps in 1984.

Antony and the Johnsons  – Sing For Me

(track removed by request)

Here’s a lovely song for a lovely day (espically when that day is my daughter’s 7th b-day   This sounds like a mild summer day, laying on grass and making shapes out of clouds.

This song from Eulogies can found on the forthcoming EP due out October 7th, followed by a full length titled, “Here Anonymous” in Spring 09.

Eulogies – Two Can Play (ft. Nikki from Silversun Pickups)

bandsite

myspace

Latest release from their fortch coming album, “Skeletal Lamping”, which is due out October 7th, 2008.

last.fm bio:

of Montreal (formed in 1997) are an indie pop band from Athens, Georgia, United States, fronted by Kevin Barnes.

They were among the second wave of groups to emerge from The Elephant 6 Recording Company and the group has a style that is typical of many Elephant 6 bands due to their interest in combining musical experimentation with the basic tenets of pop i.e. catchy melodies and sing-along choruses. The band’s style has been influenced by conventional indie pop, psychedelic music, vaudeville and music hall on their earlier releases and by afrobeat, funk, krautrock and reggae on their recent releases.

The band’s style has been known to change between albums. At first, the band embraced a more simple, quirky, lo-fi indie pop sound, which occasionally bordered on twee pop. The band was created by Kevin Barnes and named after a failed romance with a woman from Montreal, though the story changes in various interviews. Barnes was the only member of the “group” prior to his relocation to Athens, Georgia. There, he met Derek Almstead, later of Circulatory System, M Coast, Elf Power etc., and Bryan Poole, who also performs as The Late B.P. Helium.

Together, they recorded their first album, Cherry Peel, as well as The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower and The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy.
A number of singles and a re-release of The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower occurred before the release of the band’s third album, The Gay Parade in 1999. With contributions from several members of the Elephant Six collective at the time, it also featured artwork from Kevin’s brother David Barnes, who would continue to do artwork for future albums.

This album marked that the band had moved to a fuller sound, which is also found on its follow-up, Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse. These two albums contain more narrative lyrics, as opposed to the rather personal lyrical matter of those preceding it, and often imitating the style of old 1950s radio plays.
After production on The Gay Parade began in 1998, Poole left the band to focus on his duties with Elf Power, another Elephant Six band from Athens. Barnes also recruited Jamey Huggins and Dottie Alexander, who had been performing together as Lightning Bug vs. Firefly, to play various instruments. Derek moved from drums to bass. The band was joined soon after by Marshmallow Coast’s Andy Gonzales.
Following the release of The Gay Parade, the band signed with Kindercore Records, who would release a number of singles and compilations. It wasn’t until 2001 that Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse would be released as a new album with original material. The album again featured contributions from across the Elephant 6 spectrum.

In 2002, Aldhils Arboretum was released, with a slightly different sound than its predecessors, as the songs were more directly structured. This album marks the beginning of the change in of Montreal’s sound, with more danceable rhythms than ever before, especially on the album’s closer, “Death Dance Of The Omipapas and Sons For You”. A successful tour ensued, including of Montreal’s first trip to the UK, along with a tour-only EP.
Kindercore Records would fold shortly after the release of Arboretum, and of Montreal’s status was also threatened. Kevin got married, and Andy and Derek left the band. Barnes, being uncomfortable with the unrest, as well as some divisions within the band, took to writing and performing their 2004 album Satanic Panic in the Attic mostly by himself. Released by Polyvinyl Records, it became one of their more successful efforts to that point. The 2004 tour saw The Late B.P. Helium (Bryan Poole) rejoin the band, with some bass played by Kevin’s partner Nina Barnes. The album marked a shift to an The sound shifted to something more electronic with traditional structures, to be further advanced in later albums and new songs. In their most recent releases and concerts, the band has fully embraced a sort of techno-pop glam image, with little of their previous incarnations surfacing. This style is featured in singles such as PlayDisconnect the Dots. The style would continue to evolve into 2005’s The Sunlandic Twins, which was even more a Barnes solo effort. Recorded in Athens, with the exception of one track recorded in Norway, it was a much more pronounced electronic album. The album became a success, mostly due to the singles “So Begins Our Alabee” and the MTV clip for “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)”.

The band released several collections of singles in early 2006. Barnes recorded most of the band’s 2007 release, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, by himself while living in Norway and Athens, Georgia. The switch to autobiographical themes of suicide, depression and isolation of the album was a direct product of his troubled personal life during that period.

of Montreal’s next album, Skeletal Lamping, is scheduled to be released in October 2008.

Lyrically, their style has changed dramatically throughout the years. In the beginning, many songs were narratives of personal or humorous situations, such as “Tim, I Wish You Were Born A Girl”, from Cherry Peel. This style, however, changed with The Gay Parade, where many songs involve small narratives surrounding invented characters (in songs such as “Jacques Lamure”, “The Autobiographical Grandpa”, “Mimi Merlot” and “Rose Robert”). Others act as extracts from fictional conversations (“Advice From a Divorced Gentleman to His Bachelor Friend Considering Marriage” and “Good Morning Mr. Edminton” as examples). With Aldhils Arboretum came a slight return to the previous writing style, except following more poppy, classical lyrical structures (such as the use of choruses, which are generally absent in the Gay Parade/Coquelicot years). This style continued throughout Satanic Panic and The Sunlandic Twins to some extent. On the band’s most recent album, Hissing Fauna: Are You the Destroyer?, the lyrics are much more personal than previously used, with songs detailing emotions within the speaker.

Another unique quality of the band is the fusion of ostensibly gloomy lyrics with bouncy, upbeat melodies and hooks. On Aldhils Arboretum, for example, the lyrics for tracks like “Doing Nothing” and “Old People in the Cemetery” focus on apathy, loneliness or death while being contrasted with cheerful instrumentation. Another example of this tendency is shown in their choice of covers; for example, Yoko Ono’s “I Felt Like Smashing my Head Through a Clear Glass Window” from The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower.

True to the style of most Elephant 6 recording artists, of Montreal’s members have been in a variety of side projects and other bands:
The band itself has performed as the backing band for Marshmallow Coast on record and on tour.

My First Keyboard was the pseudonym used by Dottie Alexander to release the song “The You I Created” on the Kindercore singles club. of Montreal acted as her backing band.

Kevin Barnes did a comedy tour with his wife, Nina, and his brother, David, called “A Pollinaire Rave”.
Jamey Huggins released an album under the name James Husband, which featured a cover of The Beatles’ “We Can Work it Out”.
Bryan Poole has a solo career as The Late B.P. Helium.
Kevin Barnes has recently been collaborating with Andrew VanWyngarden from MGMT, on a project called Blikk Fang (formerly Ocelot Fang).
Derek Almstead has worked with many artists as a musician and engineer including his collaboration with Andy Gonzales – M Coast, Elf Power, Circulatory System, and many more.
Kevin Barnes played keyboard in a song on Bright Eyes’ album Letting Off the Happiness.
The song “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)” can be heard on radio and television commercials with words changed for an advertisement for Outback Steakhouse. Similarly, their song “Every Day Feels Like Sunday” was used in television commercials for NASDAQ and Garmin GPS systems.

of Montreal – Nonpareil of Favor