One thing that WAVVES, Deastro and Alaska in Winter have in common is that they are essentially one-man bands that all have emerged to prominence in the past year and each use monikers rather than their real names, adding an extra element of intrigue to their art.

Attendees of the ultimate indie music event, South by Southwest, will have multiple chances to see all three artists perform at different venues at different times during SXSW in Austin next week - March 18-22.

So we decided to do a little feature on each artist because they share so much in common - not to mention that they are each amazing musicians. First up is WAVVES. From mixing and recording his own songs influenced by The Beach Boys, Nirvana and Sonic Youth on the Mac software GarageBand to near instant stardom in the alt music world, 22-year-old San Diego resident Nathan Williams is on his own wave of success.

WAVVES debut album quickly became one of 2008's 'surprise' hits with raves on influential music blogs and even in the mainstream music press. And for good reason - this kid can rock - and do it all by himself. When performing live he has friend and drummer Ryan Ulsh lay down the beats. WAVVES new album, Wavvves, is set to drop March 17.

"So Bored" - WAVVES from new album Wavvves
"Beach Demon" - WAVVES from new album Wavvves

WAVVES is slated to perform no less than nine shows at SXSW.

Labels: GarageBand, Nathan Williams, One Man Bands, SXSW 2009, SXSW Performers, WAVVES

Thrust into the national spotlight in recent weeks as the city with the highest unemployment in the United States, Elkhart, Indie-ana has more to offer than a magnet for misery-seeking TV crews; it's also the "RV Capital of the World."

And, Elkhart has inbirdseye (how they spell it), a math rock band featuring Garrett Fitzgerald (guitar, vocals), Ty Thomas (guitar, vocals), Andrew Bozymowski (bass) and Ryan Lackner (drums). Personally I like the promise and rawness of their sound. InBirdsEye has the potential to accomplish big things, yet they may need a good producer to help them 'get there'.

One of their fans wrote on their MySpace page, "like the Appleseed Cast meets Sonic Youth meets My Bloody Valentine." What do you think?

"They Won't See" - InBirdsEye from Tres Songs
Visit InBirdsEye new MySpace page

Download all three songs from InBirdsEye via Mediafire.

Labels: InBirdsEye, Indieanna, Unsigned Artists

The Seattle garage rock-pop band The Lonely Forest is set to release their third album, We Sing The Body Electric!, on April 21 via Burning Building Recordings. In the interest of full disclosure, I was unaware of the band until their latest album came in dee mail.

As I listened to We Sing The Body Electric!, it became apparent that I was hearing one of the best albums so far this year. Song after song reveals rich, raw, sophisticated, emotional, party-ready and wonderfully crafted music; there are no gimmicks or cookie cutter rock here. What worries me about bands that are this good is what can happen to them if they become too popular.

Music producer Jack Endino, who worked with Nirvana, Mudhoney and Soundgarden said of The Lonely Forest: "These guys came out of no where...and blew my mind!"

For reals. We Sing The Body Electric! may likely be on some best rock album lists for 2009 by year's end. Band members include Eric Sturgeon (bass and vocals), John Van Deusen (piano, lead vocals), Braydn Krueger (drums) and Tony Ruland (guitar).

Some of the bands The Lonely Forest have played with include The Velvet Teen, The Thermals, Appleseed Cast, Mates of State, Viva Voce, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Cloud Cult, YACHT, Maritime and many others.

MySpace has become one fairly reliable measure of a band's popularity. The Lonely Forest opened their page in July 2004 and have since racked up 265,824 profile views and amassed 5,958 friends in the extended (and sometimes over-extended) MySpace network.

"We Sing In Time" - The Lonely Forest from We Sing The Body Electric!
"Stars and Moons" - The Lonely Forest from Nuclear Winter (2007)
The Lonely Forest on MySpace

Both songs are currently available via Burning Buildings Recordings

The gorgeous Pacific Northwest has played a major role in popularizing alternative and indie rock music for nearly two decades now, and The Lonely Forest are clearly one of the big shots in modern Seattle rock.

Labels: Best Indie 2009, Garage Rock, New Releases, Seattle Bands, The Lonely Forest

Today's batch of new songs features artists who will be performing at this year's South by Southwest conference in Austin, from March 18-22. IRC will be featuring dozens of artists and bands from now until the end of SXSW, including live performances, updates, playlists, features and more.

Here are new tracks from Portland's Gavin Castleton, Brooklyn's newest electro-pop sensation BELL, Texan singer songwriter Robert Gomez, Alabama's indie rockers All The Saints and another Portland artist Tara Jane O'Neil.

"Coffelocks" - Gavin Castleton from Home
Gavin Castleton on MySpace

"Magic Tape" - BELL from Magic Tape coming out March 24nd
"New Bridge"
BELL on MySpace

"Fire on Corridor X" - All the Saints from Fire on Corridor X
All The Saints on MySpace

"On This Day" Robert Gomez from Pine Sticks & Phosphorus out April 14th
Robert Gomez on MySpace

"Drowning" Tara Jane O'Neil from A Ways Away out May 5th
Tara Jane O'Neil on MySpace

To see the full list of artists and schedules for SXSW 2009, click here.

Labels: All The Saints, BELL, Brooklyn Bands, Gavin Castleton, Portland Bands, Robert Gomez, SXSW 2009 Schedule, SXSW Performers, Tara Jane O'Neil

The following is a batch of new songs from current and upcoming albums from indie rockers Coltrane Motion, Ottawa folk inspiration The Acorn and Brooklyn lo-fi pop slickers The City and Horses. Enjoy.

"The Year Without A Summer" - Coltrane Motion from The Year Without A Summer
"Blue Maya" - Coltrane Motion from The Year Without A Summer
Coltrane Motion's Official Website

Ottawa's The Acorn are an indie folk band that have a sound similar to Fleet Foxes. Their new release, Heron Act, features a collection of songs from live recordings and demos. Heron Act is a must-have for fans of The Acorn and a good place to get to know the band for newbies to their sound.

"Crooked Legs" - The Acorn from Heron Act
The Acorn on MySpace

While it's nothing new in recent years to say there's another interesting and talented band based in Brooklyn, The City and Horses is one of the bands to watch in 2009.

"I Love The Girls" - The City and Horses from I Don't Want to Dream
The City and Horses on MySpace

Labels: 2009 Indie Songs, Coltrane Motion, MP3s, The Acorn, The Flying Change

It was no accident. Back in January, after reading a post on the blog I Guess I'm Floating, we featured Blind Man's Colour as a band to watch in 2009.

Not long after, Kanye West (yup, that Kanye West) gave a thumbs up to the band (and their art?) on his personal blog and linked back to our post. Needless to say, a nod from Kanye, and kudos from fellow bloggers, was enough to get the attention of various record labels.

The St. Petersburg, Florida musical duo that comprise Blind Man's Colour is Orhan Chettri and Kyle Wyss. The guys create dreamy, trippy, chorus laden and synthesized electro pop with obvious influences from Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Animal Collective (more about that below).

Last week, and not surprisingly, Chettri and Wyss announced that they had signed with Kanine Records to release their full length debut Season Dreaming this summer. We have been listening to the demos of Season Dreaming from BMC for six weeks now and look forward to the studio release.

While those demos are no longer available on the band's blog, there are plenty of other songs available for free from the band's EPs 2006 - 2007 Recordings and Rainbow Faces to unreleased solo work recorded by Wyss under the moniker Chromatic Flights.

Here is a selection of the band's downloadable songs from the band's free EPs.

"Waterfall Freedom" - Blind Man's Colour from The Rainbow Faces EP
"Heliocentrics (Tell Me Why I Fall)" - Blind Man's Colour from 2006-2007 Recordings

The following video is the only known video featuring the band. It was filmed and produced by a fellow high school friend Sean Sekas for his digital film class.




And the beat goes on; the duo also released four cover songs from Animal Collective's masterpiece Merriweather Post Pavilion. The covers are available as part of compilation produced by a group of independent musicians who met up on an Animal Collective message board. BMC's covers are quite impressive, as are a few others. Download Collected Animals.

"Brother Sport" (Animal Collective cover) - Blind Man's Colour from the Collected Animals
"Daily Routine" (Animal Collective cover) - Blind Man's Colour from the Collected Animals

In case you missed the first posting we published on BMC, here is an awesome song - the one that really created the 'blogger buzz' about BMC - and a good indication of what their debut LP will sound like.

"Jimmy Dove" - Blind Man's Colour from the upcoming release Season Dreaming

Labels: 2009 Indie Rock Albums, Animal Collective, Blind Man's Colour, Cover Songs, Kyle Wyss, Orfan Chettri

After some time away composing, recording and touring, Bay Area musician Jason Roberts Quever has put together another strong collection of dreamy, introspective songs - all taped in analog - for the April release You Can Have What You Want.

Quever carved out his place in the indie music industry with the release of Can't Go Back in February of 2007 on Devendra Banhart's San Francisco indie label, Gnomonsong.

Unlike Can't Go Back, this new release is much more subdued and sluggish whereas Can't Go Back reached out with lighter songs and an emphasis on a mix of electro-pop and folk rock.

In an interview in December 2007 with Salad Days Music, and with the buzz factor on high after the release of Can't Go Back, Quever talked about some of his major influences at the time, stating: "I have been listening to Broadcast a bit. My Bloody Valentine, of course. Leonard Cohen, Beach House, Issac Hayes, [and] Curtis Mayfield. I’m thinking of orchestrated stuff lately…Nuggets, always. Air." All good choices.

The new album is good throughout, but the most notable songs include "Fatal Primitive", "Dictator's Lament" and the title track. If you are a big fan of melancholy, dream-like shoegaze, this album may be worth some of your precious bills. The album's overall sound weighs in heavily on stumbling organ layers with emphasis on vocal reverberations.

After listening to it a few times, You Can Have What You Want is one of those albums that gets better with each subsequent listening, and again, especially if you like retro melancholy indie high on reverb and tracked in analog. You won't be jumping around your apartment so save this one for listening to when you are relaxed or even in a somber mood.

"Future Primitive" - Papercuts from You Can Have Want You Want available April 14th - everywhere or via the band's label, Gnomonsongs.

Other great songs from previous Papercuts' releases:

"John Brown" - Papercuts from Can't Go Back
"Take The 227th Exit" - Papercuts from Can't Go Back

Prefix Magazine compared Papercuts' music to "paisley underground ’60s revival" and repeated the over-done comparison to Beach House with a different spin, which I think is spot on. Here it is: "Comparisons to label mates Beach House wouldn’t be inaccurate, but Quever has an idiosyncratic voice all his own." Indeed and indie.

Listen to more tracks and get more information at Papercuts' MySpace page.

Labels: Gnomonsongs, Indie Album Releases 2009, New Indie 2009, Papercuts, San Francisco

People across the northeast and even as far south as North Carolina don't need anyone to remind them that it is still winter. And out here in California the rain has been coming in buckets for the past couple of weeks - well-needed bands of storms. Even the mountaintops around the Bay Area are covered with snow.

In the spirit of winter, and the knowledge it will soon give way to spring, here is the second installment of a winter time mix featuring solid songs from artists and groups such as Sea Wolf, Belle and Sebastian, Yeasayer, The Amazing Pilots and The Fairways.

"Winter Wooskie" - Belle and Sebastian from Legal Man (2000)

"Winter Windows" - Sea Wolf from Leaves In The River (2007)

"Wait For The Wintertime" - Yeasayer from All Hour Cymbals (2007)

"The Price of Winter" - The Amazing Pilots from South by Southwest (2005)

"Winter Song" - The Fairways from Permanent Vacation (2000)

Popular posts you might have missed:

- Winter Time Fix Mix, Vol. I

- Indie Bands' Paul McCartney Cover Songs

- The Great Unknowns, Vol. I - Eric Bachman, Bill Richinni, Slowdive and more

Labels: Belle and Sebastian, Indie Playlists, Seawolf, The Amazing Pilots, The Fairways, Winter Playlist, Yeasayer

Seattle's Barsuk Records is the mother label of indie bands like Ra Ra Riot, Death Cab for Cutie, Mates of State, Rilo Kiley, Nada Surf and The Long Winters, and the list goes on. From time to time, we like to give shout-outs to record labels that we like - so cheers to Barsuk!

The cleanly designed site features MP3s, albums, artist profiles and more, including a Flash rendition of the Barsuk Records Songwriters Show from April 2005 featuring Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, John Roderick of The Long Winters, John Vanderslice and Jesse Skyes.

"November Was White, December Was Grey" - Say Hi from new release Ohhs and Ahhs
"Soul Meets Body" - Death Cab for Cutie from 2005 release Plans
"See These Bones" - Nada Surf from 2008 release Lucky

Check out more free MP3s of artists in the Barsuk Records line-up and get some of the albums to hear all of the great songs from your favorites.

Labels: Anti-Flag MP3s, Barsuk Records, Death Cab For Cutie, Indie Record Labels, Nada Surf, Say Hi

Who doesn't like a well-done cover song? There are countless numbers of brilliant cover songs that have been recorded through the years, most notably in alternative and indie rock. This is the beginning of yet another playlist series right here on IRC.

Kicking off this debut playlist series are two cover songs from the new benefit album RAM On L.A., a compilation of Paul McCartney cover songs based on his 1971 solo release RAM.

The album is a free download from Aquarium Drunkard, but you are encourage to donate to the vital work of the organization called No More Landmines. The artists who performed these cover songs gave their free time for this cause, so please help as you can by visiting the NML link above. (There are two cover songs in this playlist from the album; the others are various covers.)

"Dear Boy" (Paul McCartney) - Bodies of Water
Bodies of Water Official Website

"Ram On" (Paul McCartney) - The Parson Red Heads
The Parson Red Heads Official site

"Waiting For War" (The Morning Benders) - The Submarines
The Submarines on MySpace

"Outlaw Blues" (Bob Dylan) - The White Stripes
The White Stripes on MySpace

"Taste" (Animal Collective) - Blind Man's Colours
Blind Man's Colour on MySpace

"Sweet Jane" (Velvet Underground) - Cowboy Junkies (live)

Stay tuned for more cover songs. This is playlist series will run throughout 2009. You can grab the media feed, follow IRC on Twitter or add us to MySpace.

Note: Because Facebook threatens its users' privacy, we are not using Facebook as a social network.

Labels: Bodies of Water, Cover Songs, Indie Compilations, Music with a Cause, Paul McCartney, Ram on LA, The White Stripes