All Saints Day – It’ll Come Around 7″

Hey! Getting back on schedule after a hectic weekend here. Got something for you guys today that you may have stumbled upon yourselves already. But hopefully not. It’s the debut 7″ from ALL SAINTS DAY, the combined project of Vivian Girl Katy Goodman and Cat Power helper/ The Delta 72 member Gregg Foreman (who I am learning is originally from Philadelphia). This little gem comes from the Art Fag label, and it comes in a limited edition of 500. I tell you this because the stuff over at Art Fag looks like it usually sells out pretty quickly, so if you want this one you better snag it up soon.

Included on this 7″ are two new songs, both of which have equally dreamy and space-like qualities, alongside of that all too familiar scratchy lo-fi sound that’s popping up everywhere these days. Katy Goodman’s gorgeous voice with the combination of hazy textures and twangy guitars is a great way to make some addicting music. If you were to come up with background music that goes along with the album art above, it would probably sound EXACTLY like All Saints Day! Basically meaning that the art is spot-on. But don’t sleep on this stuff – it’s addicting and I’m already having a hard time turning off “Only Time Will Tell”. I’m gonna upload both sides of the 7″ for you guys below, so check’em out. That is all. More record downloads on the way for you people too – keep checkin’ my Tumblr.

It’ll Come Around –

Only Time Will Tell –

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Lo-Fi, Dream Pop, Electronic
It’ll Come Around 7″: Tracklist:
1.) It’ll Come Around
2.) Only Time Will Tell

All Saints Day on Bandcamp
All Saints Day on Last.fm
BUY the 7″ from Insound, but it’s probably cheaper directly from Art Fag

PAVEMENT Live in Philadelphia (9/17/10)

Well, first off, I’d like to say one thing – I was TOTALLY wrong about the Mann Center allowing cameras at the show. People were snapping pictures and filming videos left and right like it was their jobs. This made me VERY upset, because I didn’t bring along ANY of my cameras or camcorders, and for this I apologize. I would’ve been able to film vids and snap pics with no sweat whatsoever. Maybe we’d be watching a live video of the song “Grounded” (because it was fucking awesome) right now if I had brought my camera. Seriously, I could have had front row, ‘Class A’ videos to share with you guys today. Instead I have a couple of mediocre (but right up to the stage) pictures I snapped with my cell phone. And quite frankly, the fact that I didn’t get any videos totally urks me. Basically I feel like I let ya’ll down. I didn’t lose any sleep over the matter, but still – I didn’t get any videos when I could have. A once in a lifetime happening – seeing fucking Pavement with a fourth row, pit seat. Huge-ultra-mega-bummer. Oh well, I’ll make double the effort for footage when I see them again next weekend at the Central Park Summerstage in New York Cityyyy. It won’t be nearly as easy to get as close as I was last night, but I’ll do what I can.

They definitely didn’t disappoint when it came to the music though. They played for nearly two hours, and they came back for two different encores. They covered a ton of different songs ranging from all of their five studio albums, but they definitely ignored “Terror Twilight” the most. Some songs that I can remember them playing were Silence Kit, Stop Breathin’, Cut Your Hair, Gold Soundz, Range Life, Stereo, Shady Lane, Date w/ IKEA, Starlings of the Slipstream, Trigger Cut, Conduit for Sale!, Two States, Here, Box Elder, Spit on a Stranger, We Dance, Rattled by the Rush, Grounded, Grave Architecture, and Fight This Generation.

I know there’s a few more mixed in there that I missed, so if you were at the show and remember some others, leave a comment and share your experience! And I’ve got a couple more pictures for you guys below that I took with my camera. Mind you, they’re not the greatest quality, but they’ll suffice. Cell phone cameras can only do so much. Also uploaded some Pavement songs at the last minute, so check those out. All in all it was a great show, and probably the most awesome way I can think to spend my 21st birthday. Fucking Pavement.

PS – I still have more record downloads for everybody. Keep checking back here and on my Tumblr for that.

Date w/ IKEA –

Rattled by the Rush –

Cut Your Hair –

Free Music Downloads for YOU!!!

YO!!! Today is my 21st birthday!! You know what that means? Free music downloads for all you folks out there!!! And I get to see Pavement tonight!!!

As you can probably guess, I buy a lot of records. Most of those records come with free downloads of the entire record. Instead of using those, I normally rip the records myself (don’t ask why), so I went through my record collection the other day and gathered up all the free download coupons that have been wasting away in my record sleeves (30+). Now I want to pass those downloads on to you readers! Somebody’s gotta make use of them, right? I’m pretty sure most of you guys will, and I’ve got a lot of them to share, so check out the rest of this post for a good bunch of them.

I’m also going to let some of these go via my two Twitter accounts (1 and 2), and my Tumblr account. So if you’re looking for some new music to download, these are the places to check. Just about every last download will be of a record that has been featured here on the Styrofoam Drone, ranging from the most popular bands to the ones that haven’t quite taken the world by storm just yet. Oh yes, also keep in mind that many of these downloads can be download multiple times (usually up to 3), so don’t bail on them because you think you’re too late! Just copy & paste the ‘go to’ link in your browser, and use the codes provided for each individual download! Here’s the first batch:

JEFF the Brotherhood – Mellow Out 7″
go to: http://www.suicidesqueeze.net/mp3download/
ID: JEFFTB
code: DS8R3OPY

Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
go to: http://kaninerecords.com/soundcard
code: s6Aes27K – you’ll need to enter an e-mail address

Pavement – Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement (Record Store Day 2010 Exclusive)
go to: http://www.matadorrecords.com/mp3promotion.php
UPC: 744861093312
code: BEST2722S543 – you’ll need to enter an e-mail address

Happy Birthday – Happy Birthday
go to: http://www.subpop.com/download_code
code: i5trqzx2xn26

Cap’n Jazz – Analphabetapolothology
go to: http://www.download.jadetree.com/
code: 35714987696

Magic Bullets – Magic Bullets
go to: http://www.dropcards.com/magicbulletssf/content/index.php
code: WS9N4FRCJ3

Mi Ami – Steal Your Face
go to: http://www.thrilljockey.com/dlcode
code: 6jncxrvm6zd2

Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind EP
go to: http://digital.dominorecordco.com/coupon/
code: 9NRQWCVH – this download requires a Domino Digital account, they tell you what to do

Twin Sister – Color Your Life EP
go to: http://www.bwscd.com/digital/
code: BEST003LP.1MALqcbsRmg – you’ll need to enter an e-mail address

Double Dagger – More
go to: http://www.thrilljockey.com/dlcode
code: hj2sqxvbtb43

That’s all the codes I’m going to list on this post, but like I said, there’s PLENTY more. Keep checking my Twitter accounts (1 and 2) and my Tumblr account for even more downloads. If you encounter a problem with any of the codes or anything else above, send me an e-mail and we’ll work something out, styrofoamdrone AT gmail DOT com. Also try talking to me on AIM (yes, people still do that), I’ll probably answer quickest there – IM: StyrofoamDrone.

Talk to ya soon. I’ll try and get some good pics/videos of Pavement tonight @ the Mann, but I don’t think they allow cameras. That usually doesn’t stop me though. See ya!

The Eeries – Feel Right Cassette

Yo! Here’s something today that I don’t think many of you bros are going to be familiar with. That would mainly be due to the fact that these guys are a local Philly band. I had the pleasure of seeing them open for DOOMSTAR! the other night while I was at the Millcreek Tavern. By the time the night was over, one of the dudes from The Eeries was still hanging around, and I ended up talking to him for a bit. The result? He hooked me up with a couple of brand new Eeries cassette tapes, and we left it at “Yeah man, we’ll be talking through e-mails soon enough,” or something like that. I don’t know if I’m getting around to this sooner than he thought, but The Eeries definitely deserve to be heard. So let’s hear them!

For starters, I’m pretty sure these guys do all of their recording themselves. Not exactly sure how they go about it, but this Blogspot post may help shed some light on that. I know it’s not the same EP we’re talking about here, but it gives us some insight, right? “Instruments live in the basement, vocals in the bathroom, dishes in the sink.” He actually gave me that cassette too, but we’ll talk about that one some other day in the near future. Now onto the music – I kind of had a slight idea of where there sound was going after seeing them live, but I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions too quickly before listening.

A ridiculously twangy guitar dominates all of the songs, sometimes with a more poppy flare (Walk You Home), and then other times with a moody blues-rock feel (Feel Right, In Your Head). The guitars have an extremely concentrated sound, and they’re always backed by constantly rolling drums and lazy, punchy bass lines. For the last song of the cassette, they kind of bring all of these elements together in one single song, called “Pocket”. Honest lyrics like “Somewhere in your pocket I found love” complement the twangin’, country-esque feel of the song, and once the final minute rolls around they slow it all down for a true blues vibe. They even do some nice howling over the mix for good measure. You can check out all of the songs from the cassette tape below, and then the Eeries were cool enough to set these tracks free for anybody to download, which you can do RIGHT HERE. Go through their Blogspot page for even more downloads, too!

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Lo-Fi, Blues Rock, Garage Rock
Feel Right Cassette: Tracklist:
1.) Feel Right
2.) In Your Head
3.) Walk You Home
4.) Pocket

DOWNLOAD the cassette completely for free !!!
The Eeries on Blogspot – Plenty more free downloads here
The Eeries on Last.fm

Dead Luke – Record One 7″

Can you remember when we covered DEAD LUKE back in July? Probably not, but I do! It was his full-length LP “American Haircut”. This time around, we’re going to go back in time a little bit and check out some of his earlier 7″ singles that came out before “American Haircut” was probably even an idea. But what do I know? I do know that this was the first Dead Luke single to be put out on vinyl, and he had two other 7″ singles that came out later in 2008. So there’s three of them total. Two came from the Sacred Bones imprint, while the 3rd came from Sweet Rot records. There’s also some cassette tapes that were put out somewhere in the mix of things, but basically all of this material led up to the release of the “American Haircut” LP that was put out by Florida’s Dying earlier this year. So let’s talk about the music that led us to such a wonderful LP…

Kicking things off is a song called “I Want You”. Right away you’re face-to-face with some electronics that don’t exactly give any hints to where the song might be going. Then about ten seconds later some buzzing bass lines join in to help give the sound some direction and substance. Shortly after this our main man ‘Luke’ (who is definitely not dead) comes in with a creepy, zombie-like voice that certainly works wonders for the dark, sludgy sound. I wish I could figure out this dudes name, because I don’t think it’s Luke, but I can’t seem to find any other information. If you know, leave a comment or something. But moving on!

Wait for a short bit after the one minute mark, and ‘Luke’ fucking wails a blood curdling scream into the mic, and then some guitar reveals itself for a nicely done and unexpected short solo. This certainly helps create a fine balance between the electronics and the instrumentation of this song. Upon first listening, I definitely didn’t expect any guitar like that. The somewhat trippy sound effects continue on until the song ends, where you’ll hear more horrifying screams before it’s all actually said and done. Now it’s time for the B-side, which is a song called “Waste of Spaces”. Again this one starts with some inviting electronics – possibly with the intentions to make you get up and dance. ‘Luke’ comes in with a little more subtlety this time around, ditching the screaming for this song. But once again there is a great balance of guitar and electronics in this song, but the guitar is somewhat-less noticeable than it was from “I Want You”. Probably because it’s not a solo. But this stuff is awesome and you should definitely listen to it. If you like this shit, you should definitely check out the full-length too, because you’ll probably like that batch of songs even more.

I Want You –

Waste of Spaces –

My Rating: 7/10
Genre/ Tags: Electronic, Lo-Fi, Psychedelic, Slowcore
Record One 7″: Tracklist:
1.) I Want You
2.) Waste of Spaces

BUY the 7″ directly from Insound – $4.80 is a damn good price
Dead Luke’s “American Haircut” previously posted on the Drone
Dead Luke on Myspace
More info. on Record One at Sacred Bones

Desolation Wilderness – No Tomorrow 7″

What’s up people. Here’s a band we haven’t talked about here on the Drone just yet. Their name is DESOLATION WILDERNESS, and they hail from Olympia in Washington state. There’s just one problem now – Desolation Wilderness isn’t a band anymore. It’s a huge bummer too, because these dudes had quite a unique sound going for them. Nic Zwart made a post on their Blogspot page back in Feburary of 2010 saying that he is moving to San Francisco, thus proving that Desolation Wilderness is no more. But it doesn’t mean that’s the end of their career in music for good, oh no. Zwart has been working on another project for at least a year now, and you may already know it as Electric Sunset. If not, go check’em out. But I kind of got off task here. Desolation Wilderness is our band of focus today. Maybe we’ll have something from Electric Sunset some other day…

So yeah, basically the A-side of this 7″ comes from their last full-length album before they called it quits, called New Universe. The B-side doesn’t come from any of their albums, so it must be extra material that never made it on an album…or something. Whenever I hear Desolation Wilderness, I have a tough time NOT thinking of a band like Galaxie 500, due to the slow but dreamy nature of the songs. On top of that, they’re always catchy as can be with dazed-out, dream like textures that kind of give you the feeling you’re staring into a blinding light with a good bit of drool spilling out of your mouth – which probably helped give them the name for their first full-length, “White Light Strobing”. The B-side of this 7″ fits perfectly with that description too, so if you’re looking to get your drool on…I have both sides of the records uploaded below, so you should definitely check those out.

No Tomorrow –

Pacific Palisades –

My Rating: 7.5/10
Genre/ Tags: Dream Pop, Slowcore, Ambient
No Tomorrow 7″: Tracklist:
1.) No Tomorrow
2.) Pacific Palisades

BUY the 7″ directly from Insound – it’s only $4.40 – a steal if there ever was one!
Desolation Wilderness Blogspot
Desolation Wilderness on Myspace !
Desolation Wilderness on K Records
The new Desolation Wilderness – Electric Sunset

Tennis – South Carolina 7″

Sooo I have to be honest here. If it wasn’t for an awesome friend that I have looking out for me up in the North Jersey/ New York area, I probably wouldn’t be making this post about this 7″ right now. On top of that, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here with the actual record in my hands either. I speak of my friend Christen, who totally hooked me up with both of the SOLD OUT Tennis singles that have been driving people mad lately. She went to one of their shows and picked up both of the singles, and then sent them to me. How fucking cool is that? The best part is I had absolutely no idea it was coming, so when I first opened her package I was pretty psyched. Thanks again for that Christen, this stuff is AWESOME.

If you remember where we left off with the other Tennis 7″, then you probably already know what to expect. These songs pretty much fall in the same vein as the others, and it’s a great thing too, because I don’t think there’s enough of this lounge-around-on-a-Sunday-morning Tennis music that’s oh so delightful. These songs bring you to that place somewhere up in New England on a bright, sunny afternoon without a cloud in the sky. Both songs on the record evoke a nautical, seashore-bound feeling, while Alaina Moore continues to grace us with her gorgeous voice over both of these two awesome new Tennis songs. If you haven’t heard either of them yet, I have both of them right below for you to check out, so get on that!

South Carolina –

Sea Farer –

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Pop, Lo-Fi, Lounge
South Carolina 7″: Tracklist:
1.) South Carolina
2.) Sea Farer

Tennis on Myspace
Tennis on Bandcamp
Tennis – Baltimore 7″ previously posted on the Drone

Styrofoam Drone presents: the VERMILLION SANDS (In Philly!)

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! I am absolutely ecstatic to reveal to you that thee VERMILLION SANDS will be coming to tour these United States in the coming days at the end of September and the beginning of October, and their stop in Philadelphia on October 2nd will be presented to you by no other than the Styrofoam Drone – along with some awesome friends who are also helping to put the show together. That’s right. They’re coming out here initially for the Gonerfest in Memphis, and then they will be coming to the East coast to play some dates. They needed one more show between their NYC date and their Baltimore date, so what better place to play then Philadelphia?

So I’ll just repeat that one more time. On October 2nd @ the Drone Duplex (Park Ave. & Dauphin St. in North Philly) Italy’s own VERMILLION SANDS will be playing along with local Philly favorites OMAR and FACTORS OF FOUR. “THIS IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL.” Everyone in the area should definitely come out and support, as well as people who aren’t from the area! The show will begin promptly at 8pm, and the cover charge won’t be any more than $5.00 – but please understand, these guys need to get back to Italy a few days after the show, so no bullshit when it comes to the price. Seriously though, this is happening, and you really should come. This is the first of shows we’re presenting here at the Styrofoam Drone, and hopefully this won’t be the last. So please come out. October 2nd, Park Ave. & Dauphin St. in North Philadelphia, about two blocks off Temple’s campus. In case you’re not sure about who the Vermillion Sands are, check out the songs and all VS posts from the past right below. Thanks! See you at the show!

Mary –

Miss My Gun –

I’m a Little Mixed Up –

Wake Me When I Die –

The Last Day –

Facebook Event page for the Show – please RSVP!

Past Vermillion Sands Posts:
Mary 7″
Miss My Gun EP
In the Wood 7″
Something Wrong 7″
and their full-length, Vermillion Sands
and the Vermillion Sands on Myspace

A Day w/ DOOMSTAR! – Live in Philadelphia (9/9/10)

Who?: DOOMSTAR!
Where?: The Millcreek Tavern in Philadelphia, PA
When?: September 9th, 2010

It’s not everyday that you get to meet the people responsible for all those awesome songs you have stuck in your head for days at a time. Well believe it or not, I had that privilege when the fine men who make up DOOMSTAR! came into town just yesterday. In case you’re not aware, DOOMSTAR! is a three-piece band, including Spenser Gralla on guitar and vocals, Jeff Johnson on bass guitar (and awesome stage outfits & beards), while Noah Bond holds down the drum set.

DOOMSTAR! rolled into town in the late afternoon, and then around 5pm or so they headed on over to my place (the Drone Duplex – more on that later…) for some pre-show chilling out and TV watching. After traveling around in somewhat unfamiliar places, it’s probably nice to take a seat and sit back and watch a good bit of “Eastbound & Down”, which is exactly what we did. That show seriously never gets old. I actually have it on in the background as I’m typing this post. We watched something called Animal Hoarders as well, but it doesn’t even come close to the hilarity of Kenny Powers.

DOOMSTAR! hail from Cambridge in Massachusetts, so they had a good bit of information to share about the local band scene, as well as anything cool about the city of Boston and all of the surrounding areas. They’re actually friends with another sick band that has been featured here on the Drone – a band you might know as Girlfriends, and then this band Ski Mask who I would love to get a bit more information on. They also filled me in that when they were finished up with their current tour, they would be heading back into the studio to lay down some fresh new tracks. Totally looking forward to that. We talked about countless other things as well, including their van the “Baby Cave”, their “mid-fi” sound, and the fact that they have a fucking Super Nintendo in their van. I thought that was great. But moving on – their show started promptly at 9pm at the Millcreek Tavern in Philadelphia, and I was there to capture all of the madness on camera. See for yourself after the jump: Continue reading “A Day w/ DOOMSTAR! – Live in Philadelphia (9/9/10)” →

SD Guestmix on Tropical Daze!

Hey again. I would like to divert your attention to the Tropical Daze blog today. Not too long ago they requested a Guestmix of all the best music that has been featured here on the Styrofoam Drone, and I graciously obliged. Putting together the playlist wasn’t exactly easy either, but it all came together quite nicely with 14 tracks from 14 different bands that have all been featured here on the Drone. Head on over to Tropical Daze right now, where you can download the entire mix and get a feel for what we love most here at the Styrofoam Drone. Most of the tracks have been featured pretty recently, as well as some that came from a few months back. Also – I have quite an exciting announcement for all you guys coming very soon, so please stick around for that. I think yr gonna like it. But don’t waste any more time – go check that shit, because I don’t think it’ll be there forever! And in case yr wondering, that’s my dog in the picture above. Her name is Duchess.

Or if yr feeling lazy you can just download the mix right here from Mediafire, yr choice! – Guestmix.rar