I'm Listening To..

I promised that my sidebar would be updated every 2 weeks with new releases that I like. It's been 3 weeks. I think I'll start doing the updates monthly.. another way to prolong laziness.

So then. Last month's sidebar albums/singles/surprisingly good releases were:

Ten New Messages - The Rakes
Rainbow Man - Busy P
Dumb Luck - Dntel
The Magic Position - Patrick Wolf
Action Replay - Surkin
Turn The Lights Out - The Ponys
1986 - Kavinsky
Trompe-L'Oeil - Malajube
Technicolour - The Loves
I'll Sleep When You're Dead - El-P

This month, from top to bottom, I'm listening to (but not limited to listening to):
Muzzle No. 1 - The Whip
Porcelain Empire - The Winter Sounds
The Twelve Inches EP - Digitalism
Reflector - Antelope
I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real - YACHT
Our Earthly Pleasures - Maxïmo Park
The Book of Lists - The Book of Lists
Unbreakable: A Retrospective (Compilation) - Afghan Whigs
Friendly Fires EP - So So Modern
Ma Fleur EP - The Cinematic Orchestra

I can't just list without some explaining. That would be too easy, and would make my blog seem simple and unappealing.


The Whip. Southern Fried might just be my new favorite label, solely because of The Whip and The Black Ghosts. I'm going to be like everyone else and tell you that The Whip are on the breaking point of becoming huge. Now, if they don't become huge, I'll just go; "Hey, I only went by everyone else." I'm kidding. The Whip are wonderful..

.. as are The Black Ghosts remixing them:
MP3: Muzzle No. 1 (Black Ghosts REMIX) - The Whip (YSI)



Next up, Athens band, The Winter Sounds managed to make my list. One strange thing though, is that I find their name unnerving. Are they titled The Winter Sounds, because they sound like various winter sounds? Are they reffering to slush? Because I know what slush sounds like when I drive through it. But they don't sound like slush.

Here's a song from their upcoming album (which is very good, and is out June 26.. so what if I'm early) Porcelain Empire:
MP3: You Can't Give Up - The Winter Sounds (YSI)



Digitalism's newest 'The Twelve Inches' is a 7-track CD single. That's right, twelve inches of compact-disc goodness. So if I purchased Digitalism's CDS, I could go around asking people to check out my new awesome 12"- but.. it would be a CD! How weird! That's like dubbing your fish "Parrot".. or like introducing your Aunt Julia as your Uncle Julia! Alright.. maybe I shouldn't be that excited over the single's title, but rather more excited over the single itself. If you can recall, which I think that you can, Zdarlight came out last September on French label Kitsune. The Twelve Inches came out on Virgin March 12th. Quite the difference. The single has two new editions of Zdarlight, and two mixes of Idealistic.

Have a listen:
MP3: Zdarlight (Discodrome Edition) - Digitalism (YSI)
MP3: Idealistic (Voyage Mix) - Digitalism (YSI)



The Book of Lists need hardly an introduction. They're that flawless candidate for a Brit-pop 90's comparison; disarrayed grunge meets rock meets psych meets subtle arrangement. Pet Politics, a one-man band from Sweden, reminds me of them, which I know is really random, but what I thought upon first listening. The vocals remind me of The Ponys' vocals, Dandy Warhol-esque. They're an easy band to compare with other bands.. which may or may not be saying much..

Taken from their S/T April 10th release:
MP3: Journey East - The Book of Lists (YSI)



I ran into a little problem when including So So Modern's EP on the side bar. Friendly Fires is undoubtedly awesome, but I couldn't find an actual album cover jpeg. If you travel on over to their myspace and play Fire Fights though, I'm pretty sure the image shown is what the album cover is going to look like.. So So Modern are crazy-good. Experimental electro combined with a rock-like twang isn't easy to come by nowa'days, So So Modern are a rare breed.
Off of Friendly Fires:

MP3: Synthgasm - So So Modern (YSI)
MP3: The Love Code - So So Modern (YSI)

That's all I'm going to review for now. This is probably my longest post to date. You can tell I'm enjoying my time in Florida very, very much. The rest of what "I'm Listening to.." are sort of obvious picks so to speak. Paul Smith and the rest of Maxïmo never let down.. Afghan Whigs are classic (plus, I love compilations), Antelope's new album I mentioned a few posts down. YACHT-another awesome one-man band, and The Cinematic Orchestra perhaps I'll touch on later this week, or later this month. Regardless, all bands are linked. Buy the music. Or else..

-D