Cults – Go Outside 7″

It’s never too early to fall in love with a band. When the brand new band Cults put out their first release ever – a 7″ record on Forest Family Records – that’s exactly what happened. Ever since their mentioning on websites like Gorilla vs. Bear and Pitchfork, this band has been making some serious waves all throughout the blogosphere. In the beginning, background information on the band was severely inadequate and practically impossible to find anywhere on the web, but that’s not a problem anymore (Now the biggest problem would be when their next release is due out). Cults is a two-piece band fronted by the couple Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin, and they’re both 21. Currently they both study film in New York, and they both originally came from San Diego…which of course in German means a whale’s vagina. Right? Am I right?

The 7″ starts off beautifully, with the already-much-talked-about opening song “Go Outside”, which is simply about going outside and not being a lazy, bedridden scum bag all day. Singer Madeline Follin tells us she knows “What’s good”, because she’s been there before, and I’d have to take her word for it on this one. Whatever it is, it’s got to be better than spending the entire day in bed. Similar to laying in bed, “Go Outside” never quite takes any unexpected turns, and that’s part of the plan. They take a sort of minimalistic approach to the music; never over complicating anything or letting anything get too unorganized – it’s all there all the time. If you haven’t heard these totally blissed-out songs yet, be sure to check them out below. If you’re still interested, follow the link below over to their Bandcamp page, where you can download the entire 7″ completely for FREE! And Happy Mothers Day to the moms of the world!

Go Outside –

Most Wanted –

The Curse –

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Pop, Lo-Fi
Go Outside 7″: Tracklist
1.) Go Outside
2.) Most Wanted
3.) The Curse

Download the entire 7″ FOR FREE on Cults Bandcamp page
~~BUY~~ SOLD OUT – the Cults 7″ directly from Forest Family Records

Twin Sister – Color Your Life

Not too long ago it was announced on the interweb that the band Twin Sister would be touring with Bear in Heaven this summer. It’s really too bad that they’re not going to make it to Philadelphia, because that would kick ass. Unfortunately the closest they’ll be to Philadelphia is when they play in Ohio, and that’s just a bit too far. Oh well. Instead why not just listen to their mesmerizing most recent effort “Color Your Life”, which is due out on May 25th by Infinite Best Recordings?

“Color Your Life” certainly does just as it says. It doesn’t take long for you to realize that either. Right off the bat they’re going for the gold, and if that means we get to listen to more “dream sequence” music like this, then keep it coming! The album starts off on the track “The Other Side of Your Face”, which sort of leaves you on a dreamy, mysterious path right at the beginning of the album. Not long into listening you will notice that the music is drowned in an increasingly atmospheric environment, almost as if you can reach out and grasp the sounds themselves (hence the “dream sequence” comment above). The last minute and a half brings out some entrancing sound effects, and suddenly the song takes a random turn into a land of ridiculously spaced out guitar and an unexpected, almost dancey drum beat. Then it all stops and you’re listening to the next song, “Lady Daydream”, which is probably the most accessible on the album. The twangy guitars that dominate the song do a great job of holding everything together, while the bass guitar does a great job of guiding us through the song. Not only does it act as a guide, but it’s guaranteed to keep your feet tapping along to the beat. Make sure you listen to this one below, you’ll be happy you did.

Next up on the album is “Milk & Honey”. This track starts off slow with the organ until that twangy, metallic sounding lead guitar comes back in to kick off the song. Shortly after the one minute mark the song suddenly takes an unexpected turn in a direction that you probably didn’t see coming at first. The repeating bass line takes charge and pulsates through the rest of the song until it’s suddenly cut short by the intro to the next track, “All Around and Away We Go”. Definitely one of the more accessible songs on the album again right here. Once again, the bass line in this one is sure to keep you moving. Right before the three minute mark everything stops except for some heavenly sound effects, and shortly after the bass line and drums start up again. Now you probably have this unexpected urge to dance, and you’re not really even too sure how it happened. This song sounds like it could have been straight out of the 1980’s.

Next up is the instrumental track “Galaxy Plateau”, but it doesn’t quite serve as an instrumental track – it’s more of a soundscape, or a “dreamscape” if you will. This song sort of came out of nowhere; I wasn’t expecting anything like this, but it’s a hell of an experience. The first minute or so is incredibly creepy, as you can hear a bell ringing far away in the distance. It sounds pretty gruesome, almost as if this were the foreshadowing music to somebody’s death in a movie. This first part really leaves you wondering what direction this song is going to take, but suddenly, right before the two minute mark, it changes directions significantly. You’re greeted by an organ and shimmering, icy sound effects, which almost gives you the feeling that you’re somehow in a wintry atmosphere now. The shimmering sounds you hear remind me of those days when you would trek through the Ice Cavern as adult Link in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Just listen to the song in this video, you’ll catch my drift. Along with the shimmers you can hear harsh winds, and footsteps trudging through what sounds like snow, with the crunching sound of the snow being mashed up under your feet. It’s almost like you’re in an abandoned snow-town in the dead of winter with nobody else around but the menacing sound of a distant bell calling your name, slowly but surely driving you mad. The way they paint the picture here is bound to leave you speechless, and possibly even begging for more. The last 30 seconds of the song reveals a transition which leads you into the final track of the album, “Phenomenons”. Unlike the previous track, the good vibes really come through on this one. Everything sounds like it’s going to be okay now, almost as if you made it out of that wintry wasteland you were just trapped in. They way the end the album here should leave any listener with high hopes for the next release from Twin Sister. Thanks for reading and check out the mp3’s below.

Lady Daydream –

All Around and Away We Go –

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Dream Pop, Experimental, Pop
Color Your Life: Tracklist
1.) The Other Side of Your Face
2.) Lady Daydream
3.) Milk & Honey
4.) All Around and Away We Go
5.) Galaxy Plateau
6.) Phenomenons

Twin Sisters Official Website
Twin Sister on Myspace
Pre-Order “Color Your Life” directly from Infinite Best Recordings

The Babies – Meet Me in the City 7″

The Babies are a band from Brooklyn, New York. It’s probably not a surprise that their from Brooklyn either, because what band isn’t these days? The Babies formed somewhat recently, and thus far into their short existence they have released two equally awesome 7″ singles. The first one, “All Things Come to Pass”, was put out on Wild World Records, but it is currently sold out at Wild World. If you’re looking to buy that 7″, you can still get it at Midheaven Mailorder, just follow that link. Probably better to do that sooner than later. Their second 7″, “Meet Me in the City”, came out not long after the first, and you can still grab it for a very fair price from Make a Mess Records. Kevin Morby takes care of the singing on “Meet Me in the City” while Cassie Ramone adopts the backup vocals. For the earlier single they switched positions and Ramone dominated the singing on “All Things Come to Pass”. With that being said, it’s almost like two entirely different bands when switching from one single to the other.

If you’ve read about the Babies elsewhere on the web, then you probably already know the story. Kevin Morby, bassist of the band Woods, plays guitar in the Babies. Cassie Ramone of the Vivian Girls also plays guitar in the band, along with drummer Justin Sullivan who once played in the NYC band Bossy. Last but not least is bassist Nate Stark, who also plays in the band Stupid Party. In other words, you could say these guys are a bunch of hometown hero’s coming together and breeding the latest Brooklyn pop sensation. Hear for yourself and check out the mp3 below. This post is also a great excuse to re-post videos from the Babies/ Titus Andronicus show that recently went down in Philly. Enjoy.

PS – Oh yeah, and Happy Cinqo de Mayo to all! Except that Mike Hunt asshole guy…

Somebody Else –

All Things Come to Pass

Caroline

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Pop, Lo-Fi
Meet Me in the City 7″: Tracklist
1.) Meet Me in the City
2.) Somebody Else

The Babies on Myspace
Buy the two 7″ records directly from Midheaven Mailorder
Buy “Meet Me in the City” directly from Make a Mess Records

Free Energy – Stuck On Nothing

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Alternative, Indie Rock, Pop

Free Energy formed in the Fall of 2008. Most of the band had already known each other from playing in a previous band called “Hockey Night” together. Originally from Minnesota, Scott Wells, Evan Wells and Paul Sprangers moved to the wonderful city of Philadelphia. When in Philadelphia they met guitarist Geoff Bucknam and drummer Nick Shuminsky, and shortly afterword, the band Free Energy came into existence. Their time as a band has been relatively short thus far, but they already have an EP out, and their first full length album “Stuck On Nothing” is due out on May 4th by DFA Records. If you’ve read about Free Energy anywhere else on the web, then you already know this album was produced by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.

Before getting into this record, I didn’t know what I should be expecting. The most I knew about these guys were that they were from my city, Philadelphia, which is probably the original reason I decided to listen to them. It’s always cooler when the band is from the same city you’re from. But moving on. “Stuck On Nothing” holds a lot of talent on both ends, musically and lyrically. With that being said, I’d like to say that “Stuck On Nothing” was an extremely refreshing listen the first time around. It’s great that a band still wants to make a record like this, reminding many listeners of the classic rock days and the classic rock radio stations that play all of your beloved bands from the past. Lead singer Paul Sprangers guides us through the album with his reassuring vocals, and that becomes clear shortly after the album begins.

According to Sprangers, the first track “Free Energy”, is “kind of a survey of everything that we’re about. That song has a lot of elements of what we’re trying to do. It’s got really driving choruses, big simple riffs, really melodic harmonies, and wild guitar solos.” (via the LAist). Take it from the band member himself, because he’s right on the money. If you have a moment, read the rest of that interview too; it’s quite entertaining and insightful. But you heard the man, and he’s not just pulling our leg either. The album really is chock-full of this stuff. The “wild guitar solos” are constantly popping up left and right, like in “Bang Pop”, “All I Know” and especially “Bad Stuff”. “Bad Stuff”, the second longest on the album, is kind of a song on its own. Sprangers sings “If you feel my heart, then we’re tied by fate,” shortly before the epic ending begins. It’s slower and still full of excellent guitar work, but it evokes a different feeling that you don’t quite get anywhere else on the album. If you haven’t already been able to tell, this album is certainly worth all 45 minutes that it carries. Just about every last song would qualify as a highlight, including “Dream City”, “Light Love”, “Hope Child”, and “Wild Winds”. Just wait until May 28th, when most of these highlights will come to life at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. I think I speak for us all when I say that this show won’t come soon enough.

Bad Stuff –

Hope Child –

Free Energy Official Website
Free Energy on Myspace
BUY the Free Energy 7″ directly from the DFA Records webstore
Check out this awesome interview with Paul Sprangers by the LAist

Happy Birthday – Shampoo 7″

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Pop

Last Saturday was Record Store Day, which means you should have had plenty of new records to spin this week. One record that I have been spinning more than others would be the latest from Happy Birthday, the glamorous pop-punk trio that recently put out their first full length record on Sub Pop. Sub Pop released a staggering amount of new records for the wake of Record Store Day, and one of those records just happened to be a brand new 7″ single featuring two unheard tracks from Kyle Thomas and the Happy Birthday gang.

In the first track “Shampoo”, you’re instantly met with an intense, shape shifting sound effect that’s bound to catch any listener off-guard upon the first listen. The bass that you hear in the beginning sticks around for the length of the song, which helps keep a steady, easy-going pace for the listener. Right before the 40-second mark is when the song really takes form, where the bass line and drums are introduced for the first time, which is a dangerously catchy combo. After things get moving, the music never quite takes a turn in any unexpected direction. Instead, you’re thrown into the middle of a well organized song, complete with shimmering sound effects, bell hits, hi-hat rolls and high-pitched vocals that compliment the sound quite nicely. Kyle Thomas is once again addressing a member of the opposite sex in his lyrics, singing “I got to look good for my girl, that’s you.” Instrumentally, this song sounds like it could be the background music for a bunch of people working together on an assembly line in a factory somewhere – sort of like this song right here, but I’m sure not everybody is thinking the same thing. Either way, this song has a nice sound to it. I have the b-side “Alien” below for you to listen to, so hopefully that works for ya. If not, this was a great excuse to post up the amazing “Girls FM” again, the opening track from their full length record.

“Alien” –

“Girls FM” –

Shampoo 7″: Tracklist
1.) Shampoo
2.) Alien

Happy Birthday’s self-titled LP previously posted on the Styrofoam Drone
BUY Happy Birthday’s self-titled release directly from Sub Pop Records
Happy Birthday on Myspace

Happy Birthday – Happy Birthday

My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Pop, Punk

Today’s record comes from three piece band Happy Birthday. They hail from the hilariously named town of Brattleboro, Vermont, and if it wasn’t for this band, I don’t know how else you would have heard of Brattleboro. The band is comprised of Kyle Thomas on lead guitar and vocals, Chris Weisman on “inverted-tuning” guitar/bass/vocals, and drummer Ruth Garbus. And if anybody can shed some light on what exactly “inverted-tuning” guitar would be, please do!

The Sub Pop description of the album says that the songs are mostly the work of Kyle Thomas, while the rest of the band helps arrange and put the finishing touches on them. Apparently when Kyle Thomas originally wrote the songs, he was a bit “too scared” to play the songs alone, so he went out and recruited band members to play with him. They played one show together, and they enjoyed it so much that they continued to be a band together! How awesome! We’re so lucky they enjoyed it. If they hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t be writing this right now.

The material on the album could most easily be described as pop music, and I don’t think many would argue. The album kicks off with the wonderful first track “Girls FM”, complete with gorgeous choruses, fuzzy bass lines, jangly bells, and the power to put a huge smile on your face. Kyle Thomas sings “I’m always on the frequency – Girls FM, Girls FM” talking about none other than the opposite sex, which becomes clear immediately after hearing the song for the first time. It’s probably a good idea to let you know now that these songs have the power to seep into your brain and linger around for days. I’m not kidding. I listened to “Girls FM” at least 30 times last week, just check my Last.fm charts. The worst part of it all is that “Girls FM” is only the first track on the album, which means you have another 10 tracks to become addicted to once you finally take “Girls FM” off repeat.

Other tracks sure to get stuck in your brain are “2 Shy”, and “Perverted Girl” which includes some awesome guitar soloing and some great little licks throughout. “In a perfect world I’d be perverted girl!” screeches Thomas towards the end of the song, suggesting that our world isn’t quite what he’d like it to be. The following track on the record “Subliminal Message” is a love song of sorts, with Thomas again speaking to the opposite sex. This time he’s attempting to send his loved one a subliminal message in hopes that she will want to be his girl – “You say you don’t wanna be my girl, but will you just be anyway?” says Thomas. About halfway through the track you’ll find a nice guitar lick too, all while Thomas claims “Without you I just go mad.”

This album definitely caught me off guard, and I think it will do the same for you. If the mp3’s below decide to work, then you should listen to them right away. If you like the mp3’s, why not buy the record? Not only will you own the songs, but you’ll have that wonderful record sleeve featuring their all-to-awesome minimalistic album cover – it’s just a bent music note, but it’s so cool! I think I know what I want my first tattoo to be! Just kidding Mom.

PS – Titus Andronicus show tonight. Also check out their show from Fords, NJ while you’re at it.

Girls FM

Subliminal Message

Happy Birthday: Tracklist
1.) Girls FM
2.) 2 Shy
3.) Cracked
4.) Perverted Girl
5.) Subliminal Message
6.) Eyes Music
7.) Maxine the Teenage Eskimo
8.) I Want to Stay (I Run Away)
9.) Pink Strawberry Shake
10.) Zit
11.) Fun

BUY the self-titled LP directly from Sub Pop, and don’t forget to pick up their new single on Record Store Day this Saturday!

Pains of Being Pure at Heart/ The Parallelograms 7″

My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Dream Pop, Pop, Shoegaze

Considering that 67% of the nation was covered with snow at some point this week (more info. here), I’m going to assume you also had tons and tons of snow to deal with. Along with the massive amounts of snow, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were also plagued with power outages, being snowed in, and having to dig your car out, not to mention crappy cable companies claiming that the internet and cable for “your area” have been “totally knocked out” for days (When we talked to our neighbors from “our area”, their cable and internet worked fine). The first day was excusable, because it’s totally possible that the snow could knock the cable and power out, but as the days go by and nothing changes, that is when people start to get a little fed up. The internet and cable have now been down since Wednesday of last week, and this would be the main reason I have not made any new posts here on the blog. You could thank the wonderful folks over at COMCAST for that. But the funniest part is, my house still doesn’t have access to cable and internet. I’m doing this post elsewhere, but apparently COMCAST is sending out someone to fix the problem “right away”, and by “right away” they meant next Tuesday.

Alright, let’s forget those bastards over at COMCAST for a few minutes and remember the real reason why we all come to this part of the internet: MUSIC!!! Okay, so, today I have a 7″ single for you guys with two different bands. One you may already be familiar with, and they’re known as The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and they split their 7″ with another band known as The Parallelograms. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart hail from (yet again) New York City, while The Parallelograms come from across the Atlantic from a place known as Sheffield in the United Kingdom. This split 7″ came out back in March of 2008 on the Atomic Beat Records label which is based in the UK. The 7″ features three songs; two from The Parallelograms, and one from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The two tracks from The Parallelograms are short, almost perfect pop songs in their own right. They’re fast, catchy, they have a female singing, and I’d be lying if I said they didn’t put a smile on my face. Especially the undeniably catchy track “Pop the Bubbles”, which I can’t help but bob my head along with the rhythm. It’s seriously too catchy. The third track is by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and compared to The Parallelograms songs, The Pains change the flow by adding a male singer and slowing things down a bit, but not too much. If you’re feeling a bit down on the dumps for whatever reason, this little 7″ might be able to change your mood for the better. So please enjoy it. Hopefully I’ll be posting again shortly. In the meantime while I figure out a way to not pay for the cable/internet bill, I think I speak for all of us when I say, “COMCAST, go fuck yourself.”

Split 7″: Tracklist
1.) The Parallelograms – 1, 2, 3, Go!
2.) The Parallelograms – Pop the Bubbles
3.) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Kurt Cobain’s Cardigan

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart on Myspace
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Official Website
The Parallelograms on Myspace
The Parallelograms Official Website

Ganglians – Captured Tracks 7″

My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Psychedelic, Pop

California’s Ganglians are a band you may have already heard of. Last year was a good one for the band, seeing that they released two full length albums, one being a self-titled 12″, and the other album “Monster Head Room”, which was a step up from the original self-titled. If you haven’t heard either of those albums yet, you shouldn’t waste any more time. Follow the links and get listening.

If you haven’t heard Ganglians at all up until this point, then today is your lucky day. Basically I just linked you to their entire discography (as far as I know). If you end up listening to everything, you might notice how the band begins to solidify their sound by the time you listen to “Monster Head Room”. When they finally are comfortable with their sound, that is when they can really start to deliver their contagious blend of psychedelic-pop music. This becomes noticeable on their most recent release, which is what I have here for you today. It’s two songs that were released on 7″ vinyl only, and the Captured Tracks website description doesn’t beat around the bush. These are by far the best songs we have heard from Ganglians up til this point. Let’s hope they keep following this pattern in the future.

Captured Tracks 7″: Tracklist
1.) Blood on the Sand
2.) Make It Up

Ganglians on Myspace
Captured Tracks 7″: BUY