Indie Alternative Record Label of the Month: Dead Oceans Records
There are few things more enjoyable regarding online music experiences then to discover a great record label that you didn't already know of. This month's indie label honor goes to Dead Oceans Records.
The label is based in Austin, one of the country's top indie/alternative rock cities, where each year two of the music industry's biggest events - the South-by-Southwest Conference and the Austin City Limits Music and Arts Festival - are held. Smart place to start a record label if you don't mind the Texan heat.
Dead Oceans has a great line-up for a relatively small and new label, including indie and alternative rock bands like Explorers Club, Bishop Allen, White Hinterland, The Bower Birds and Evangelicals.
The label has just released The Explorer's Club new debut album, Freedom Wind. This is an interesting album and definitely worth a try, especially if you enjoy the following free track from the album.
Another recent release from the Dead Oceans indie record label worthy of checking out comes from The Bower Birds. This is a new and pleasant discovery here at IRC. Many fans are enticed by the band's Middle-Eastern influenced tracks that are adeptly mixed with a kind of indie rock that is rarely heard.
The band's song "In Our Talons" embodies this ecelectic offering of influences on The Bower Birds sound.
View amazing artistic, albeit low budget, music video for "In Our Talons" featured on MTV2 and YouTube.
Canadian Director Alan Poon describes the making of the video to subterraneanblog:
"The images were created by taking individual snapshots of each animal in each position [for] approximately 5 seconds...per day...features three different nature vignettes - a crow (we think), a pair of preying mantises and a crab - and there are three members of Bowerbirds."
In a way coming upon the Dead Oceans Record label was a bit jarring and coincidental for me . Only two days earlier, I had heard a report on NPR about "dead ocean zones" increasing worldwide. The dead zones, a major concern of enviornmentalists and governments worldwide, are growing at an alarming rate worldwide.
The dead ocean zones take over when high concentrations of oxygen-sucking algae form at the mouths of major rivers. Fertilizer run-off from farms flow into streams and then major rivers where they amass in piles, choking the ocean zone's oxygen and killing marine life.
In places like Florida, Japan and Europe, there have been an alarming increase in the number and size of dead ocean zones during the past four decades. Marine environmentalists and oceanographers around the globe say that dead ocean zones are the greatest threat to the world's already threatened oceans.
New Indie Rock Songs, July 2008: Conor Oberst, iForward, Russia!, Hot Little Hands, Cold War Kids and Others
The long-awaited solo album from Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes is set to be released on August 5, 2008.
The release will mark the talented Oberst's first solo project, and because of the success of Bright Eyes in recent years, there are rather big expectations, which can often be unfair to the artist.
But that's just one of many ironies that can happen to musicians who create a buzz with a band and then go solo.
mp3: "danny callahan" by conor oberst from his self-titled debut album
note: some mp3s expire or are removed and become no longer available over a period of time; irc has no control over this since they are external media files. we also fully support indie artists and ask that you do too.
New Indie Rock Songs, July 2008: Earlimart, Wolf Parade, The Great Northwest, Tilly and the Wall
There's been surprisingly few notable new indie releases so far this July. Still, there's some great music that has come out in the past two weeks, including new albums from artists like Earlimart, The Great Northwest, Tilly and the Wall, Girl Talk, Travis and Wolf Parade.
The two remaining band members of Los Angeles band Earlimart, Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray, have released their newest album, Hymn and Her, this month, building off the success of last year's Mentor Tormentor.
"Acoustic guitars chime over drum loops, keyboards bubble in the background, and harmonies thicken the melodies,' according to Allmusic.com.
"Yet Hymn and Her still sounds intimate, as if the band mates have discovered how to funnel their densely populated songs into warm, mellow washes of sound."
Following a three-year hiatus recording solo projects, Montreal's Wolf Parade band members Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner with a new album titled At Mount Zoomer, and an impressive follow-up to their 2005 hailed debut Apologies to the Queen Mary.
Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones once sang "time waits for no one." Man, is that true. There have been so many indie rock releases so far in 2008 that's it's nearly impossible to keep up with it all.
Therefore, the following, free, legal MP3s feature some of this year's most popular new releases, including Nine Inch Nails, The Ruby Suns, The Helio Sequence, Band of Horses, The Gutter Twins and many others.
New Indie Rock Songs, June 2008: The Fleet Foxes, Celestial, The Afternoons, The Mars Volta, Destroyer, The Jukebox Ghost, Tyler Ramsey and More
Summer brings the heat and long days, and with that the music industry shifts into full throttle - music concerts, tours, festivals and new releases.
It is literally impossible for any one blogger - much less a staffed music publication - to seek, listen to, review, write and post all of the great music that comes from the 'indie' music world.
So, in the spirit of supporting indie music, here is a collection of recent free MP3 songs from indie artists, including one of this year's new 'buzz' bands (and well deserved at all), The Fleet Foxes, plus Celestial, The Afternoons, The Mars Volta, Destroyer, The Jukebox Ghost, The April Skies and Band of Horses guitarist Tyler Ramsey.
MP3:"White Winter Hymnal" by The Fleet Foxes from Emerald City, Washington off the self-title debut album. Perhaps a strange title for a song premiering in the summer. Yet it is also odd to hear a song about winter time from a band that is so strongly influenced by The Beach Boys.
Of course, The Beach Boys are famous for creating some of the biggest summer time hit songs in rock history. Nevertheless, Fleet Foxes has carved out its own piece of the musical landscape, and were a favorite at this year's South by Southwest festival in Austin.
MP3:"Ships" by Tyler Ramsey (guitarist for Band of Horses) from Asheville, North Carolina off the album A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Ocean (Echo Mountain Records)
Note: MP3 links may expire or be removed. A label or artist who wants an MP3 link removed, see IRC's MP3 policy below. IRC encourages listeners to buy music, and attend concerts, from artists and bands they enjoy.
Increasingly, rock radio stations play 'indie rock' and more so-called indie bands and artists are getting mainstream press as the popularity of indie grows. One sign of the explosion of indie rock is the number of rock festivals that are overwhelming packed with what are mostly indie music artists and musicians.
The definition of what constitutes indie music is definitely not set in stone, and it means different things to different people, but it's generally accepted that indie music is created by bands and artists who are signed, or not signed at all, with an independent record labels.
Stay tuned to the best indie music and events by subscribing to the Feed Me Indie RSS feed.
Music Video Highlights from Live 105 BFD Fest 2008 in Mt. View
This year's Live 105 BFD Festival was a completely different gig than last year's fest. For one, tickets sold out fairly fast (being that they were only $10.53 base price; one-third the cost of last year's tickets), whereas in 2007, they were still available on the day of the event, and not only that, but they were giving out free tickets.
Another change to this year's BFD was the fact that the venue was slightly moved around with the stages being set up in the parking lot area. There is still no official explanation for this, but it may have limited the number of tickets sold over last year.
On top of all of that, the 2007 BFD had a better line-up than this year's show, as many fans and reviewers have pointed out (including the San Jose Mercury News): Interpol, Social Distortion, AFI, Bloc Party, The National, Kings of Leon, CSS, Queens of the Stone Age and many others.
But again, for only $10 a pop, it's no wonder this year's BFD sold out, but it would have been a much better festival if they had anywhere near the same amazing line-ups as years past; and people would have paid the $30 or more for more headlining acts - that is pretty apparent from what so many are saying.
Based on the number of new festivals this year, it is not a stretch to conclude that BFD organizers had a hard time filling the line-up with 'top name' bands and artists for this year's event, and thus, the lower price for tickets.
Additionally, they make more money from advertising and vendors than the tickets anyways. Therefore, as one very disappointed past-BFD fan wrote, it's not like the festival-goer is really getting a break, especially if the line-up is such a drag compared to previous BFDs.
So far, there is not a very good selection of YouTube videos to show - which is amazing considering the Bay Area is a major tech and music center of the world. Perhaps, more videos of BFD 2008 will surface later on, but for now, here's the IRC picks:
Alkaline Trio - "Help Me"
Alkaline Trio was one of the best bands in the lineup for BFD 08, so here's another clip - "Radio"
Here's another view of Alkaline Trio playing "Radio"
MSTRKRFT performing with lightshow at 2008 BFD:
More from MSTRKRFT's BFD set:
MGMT serves up "Of Moons, Birds & Monsters"
Airborne Toxic Event bangs out "Sometime Around Midnight"
LoveLikeFire performing "Signs"
The Kooks performing short clip of "Naive"
PlayRadioPlay performing "I'm The Pirate, You're The Princess" at BFD 08
Magic Bullets performing "Yesterday's Seen Better Days"
Thought this was cute; little kid dancing to Cypress Hill
AntiFlag - Song title? (short clip, not best quality)
Santogold performing "You'll Find A Way"
From inside the tent: Cover version of Daft Punk's "One More Time" by (anyone know? Bueller? Bueller...)
YouTuber OHteenhearts offers a bunch of videos from BFD, but they are fairly low quality and short. Yet if you are a crazy Kooks or MGMT fan, and you just must see no matter what, check them out.
New Tracks Tuesday: Dandy Warhols, Altas Sound, Culture Reject, Gentlement Auction Houses, No Age
The Dandy Warhols celebrated Cinco De Mayo yesterday with a CD release party in San Francisco; Deerhunter's lead singer Bradford Cox has released a free EP under the moniker Altas Sound; Culture Reject's debut album has hit the airwaves; the Gentlemen Auction Houses released an EP and is set to release a full feature album; and LA's duo project No Age has released their Subpop debut album.
Portland's indie trailer blazers The Dandy Warhols are back with a new album Earth to The Dandy Warhols (MySpace) which was launched yesterday at a listening party in a San Francisco art gallery.
Michael O'Connell, the man behind the Toronto indie project, Culture Reject, has released his first official solo debut record. Read the Culture Reject review from the popular indie blog SixEyes.
Deerhunter singer Bradford Cox, known for his prolific song writing and on-stage antics, has released a new EP titled Things I'll Miss and is offering for free via his blog, containing five songs - three instrumentals and two full songs.
Gentlemen Auction Houses' The Book of Matches EP is out today, May 6, and features two songs from the upcoming full album release, Alphabet Graveyard, via the band's new label, Columbia, Missouri's Emergency Umbrella Records.
After garnering praise from The Los Angeles Times for a variety of indie releases last year, the L.A. duo No Age has completed its official debut release with Subpop Records.
New Tracks Tuesday: Tokyo Police Club, Elf Power, Tapes N Tapes, Sleepercar, Sarandon and Flight of Conchords
The best indie, alternative, rock and pop new CD and MP3 releases of 2008 are pouring in at a dizzlingly pace. This week's New Tracks Tuesday features Tokyo Police Club, Tapes N Tapes, Elf Power, Sleeper Car, Sarandon and The Flight of the Conchords.
Ontario, Canada's quirky quartet Tokyo Police Club mix straight away garage rock with poeticism and post-punk overtures, accompanied by catchy guitar hooks, energy-drenched drumming and infectious melodic bass lines, in their new full-length CD, "Elephant Shell."
Minneapolis' lo-fi, jamming indie rock outfit Tapes N' Tapes has released their first new album since 2006's widely-acclaimed "The Loon". The CD is full of spirited rock mixed with dark keyboards, experimentation and the band's signature shaky vocals.
Athens, Georgia's psychedelic indie pop band Elf Power has returned from sabbatical with a new album In A Cave. The album is a collaborative effort featuring Olivia Tremor Control hero Eric Harris, the Instruments Heather McIntosh and former Of Montreal music man Derek Almstead. MP3: Elf Power - "Paralyzed" from In A Cave
The El Paso band Sleepercar mixes Americana jingle-laden pop with swirls of alternative folk on their debut album West Texas. Jim Ward, a musician well-heeled in the indie music world for his work with At The Drive-In or Sparta, spent six years working on this album. "Even if you are a bit wary about the whole “Americana” tag, this album is worthy of your attention and may even help expand your musical horizons" says music writer Rich Duncan.
New Tracks Tuesday: The Breeders, Cut Copy, SSLYBY, Foals, Throw Me The Statue, SSLYBL and Airfare
Each Tuesday, IRC features a half-dozen new indie tracks from alternative musicians and groups.
This week's featured tracks include songs from Australia's indie electronic band Cut, Copy; Prague's new indie buzz band Airfare; Seattle's newest hot indie popsters Throw Me The Statue; Oxford, England's electronic pop group Foals; Missouri's oddly named Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Louisiana's own The Breeders.
If you like a musician or band, you can click on their name to get more information on purchasing their merchandise. IRC is committed to helping independent artists and groups get a fair shot at making a living in an increasingly difficult music industry.
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Note: Please submit CDs with a press kit to POB 722, RE, CA 95044 for review.
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Note: Musicians, bands, promoters and labels, please submit CDs and music along with a press kit for review to POB 722, RE, CA 95044.
New Tracks Tuesday: Helio Sequence, Georgie James, Grand Archives, Bodies of Water, Panda Bear, Shearwater
This week marks the launch of New Tracks Tuesday. Each Tuesday, six new, totally legal and free MP3s will be posted from musicians and groups who make good music.
Subscribe for the Feed Me Indie feed via RSS, Atom, iTunes or your favorite reader and podcaster.
Note: Musicians, bands, promoters and labels, please submit CDs and music to review with press kit to POB 722, RE, CA 95044. All other contacts via email are welcome but please use Comments section for site discussions.
Six-Pack MP3 Stack: New Songs from Band of Horses, Ruby Suns, Helio Sequence, Steve Malkmus
This week's indie music playlist features recent releases from musicians and groups that are creating buzz among the music bloggers.
The single "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses appeared on their latest album released almost six months ago. Yet, it wasn't until yesterday (March 19, 2008) that the single was 'officially' released.
The psychedelic and Middle Eastern influences of The Ruby Suns is apparent on their latest single and The Helio Sequence returns with a new single after a four year new material drought (but the wait was worth it for HS fans).
Each of this week's songs and the artists who created them were selected not just because they are recent notable releases, but their unique talent and important contributions to the silly thing we like to call 'indie' rock, aka independent music, helps keep the spirit, freedom and creativity of music alive in an age when overly polished and marketed music dominates the mainstream media.
Check out these free and legal MP3s from Band of Horses, The Ruby Suns, The Gutter Twins, The Helio Sequence, What Made Milwaukee Famous and Steve Malkmus and the Jicks.
Stay tuned for a complete band profiles of each of this week's playlist winners or subscribe to the feed to get them as they are published.
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Artist of the Week: Vicious Vicious (Well Not Really, But Dang Good Music)
With a new album out and an eclectic and exciting discography behind them - albeit it's only a few dozen songs over six years - IRC's artist of the week is Minneapolis band Vicious Vicious. (photo above: the band looking really vicious.)
Originally a solo project and moniker of musician Erik Applewick, who recorded a set of songs on a four-track 2002 self released album titled Blood and Clover, Vicious Vicious sparked a passionate reaction from their hometown Minneapolis indie community, thanks to the additions of band members Darren Jackson, Alex Oa, and Martin Dosh, who helped provide the musical talent that made Applewick's songs even more impossible to ignore.
Since then, Vicious Vicious, an unlikely name for a band that is about as vicious as a poodle, has released only two additional albums. Nevertheless, the wait paid off with each release demonstrating a maturing, exciting and eclectic mix of pop, funk, psychedelic and rock influences that essentially make the band's sound stand out among so many other indie groups that are praised but really aren't half as good as Vicious Vicious are.
Parade was released in September of 2007 to rave reviews - even making the 2007 best album lists of many popular blogs and music sites.
You can stream many of the songs from Parade, and their other releases, on the band's official website. Don't be surprised if you find yourself listening to the entire stream of songs more than once - they are just that good. Vicious Vicious first caught the attention of the indie underground fan base and bloggers in a significant way with the release of their 2005 album Don't Look So Surprised, which contains a number of memorable songs, not the least being the catchy, 'play that again' song "2 Much Time on My Hands" (not a cover of the 70's band Styx's song by the same name).
Vicious Vicious - 2 Much Time on My Hands Since the release of their latest album Parade in September 2007, songs like "Rain Parade", "Ho Baby" and other well-produced indie pop songs have increased the band's popularity.
According to Vicious Vicious' official website, Applewick and the others are working on new material for yet another album to possibly be released in 2008. Let's hope so, because these guys are on a serious roll.
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Over the next couple of days, IRC will publish complete updates on the latest news for 2008 music festivals, including Bonnaroo, SXSW, Coachella, Rothbury, Bamboozle, Sziget, Glastonbury, Austin City Limits, Virgin Festival and many others.
Next month, a comprehensive guide will be published and feature all of 2008's indie-relevant music festivals including the latest news, ticket info, line-ups, artist profiles, discussions, photos, MP3s and videos of past performances.
Lollapalooza (August 1-3, 2008) - While ticket sale dates and the line-up for Lollapalooza 2008 have yet to be announced (as of 2/26/08), rumors are flying everywhere about which artists and groups might be playing at this year's Lolllapalooza.
If the lineup is anything like last year's (see flashback to 07 below), there will be more lolla than looza.
The following artists are rumored to be set for Lollapalooza, according to the official website's board moderator sixtimes:
The rumor mill seems to be favoring the following artists as headliners: The Smashing Pumpkins (not a SP reunion, so it's really Billy Corgan and the band), Radiohead (who wouldn't love that, especially since In Rainbows is crazy popular in and of itself with a whole new generation), Wilco, Bjork, The National, Tom Petty and The Police.
Rumor mongering is dangerous, so let's just say that as soon as the line-up is announced, it will be published here (got folks in the mix but they are staying mum right now).
In the meantime, let's warp back to six months go for a memory fest of 2007's killer lineup:
Headlining Lollapalooza 2007 was an eclectic mix of popular alternative, indie, rock, mainstream and electronica artists like Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Modest Mouse, Ben Harper, Muse, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Patti Smith, The Roots, Amy Winehouse, LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, The Black Keys, Kings of Leon and others.
The headliners did not come at the expense of 'second-bill' artists and groups Tokyo Police Club, !!!, My Morning Jacket, Yo La Tengo, Ted Leo and Pharmacists, Snow Patrol, CSS, Annuals, Blue October and many other indie artists who rocked Grant Park.
Where is Lollapalooza? The annual event is held in Chicago's Grant Park on the shores Lake Michigan right off the Miracle Mile. Here's a map of last year's festival grounds.
Last year, festival goers endured blistering heat and suffocating humidity (as did festival attendees at the Austin City Limits fest in Austin).
Some folks may not realize this, but it's a fact that festival organizers deliberately schedule such outdoor summer events during the 'doggiest' days of summer. Why? They sell more drinks at ridiculous prices.
Now, in fairness to event organizers, there are tremendous costs to put events like popular music festivals together. Still, don't shed a tear for the organizers, corporate sponsors and vendors, they are raking in money.
The other point is that most music festivals are attended by students - whether college age or under - who obviously have the most free time during the summer months.
Stay tuned to this site's feed for updates on Lollapalooza 2008 line-up and ticket sales dates. Coachella single-day tickets sold out in hours.
Arcade Fire's New Album "Neon Bible" Leaked On Internet
Rumors have been swirling on the Internet that someone had set up a directory containing the MP3 files for Arcade Fire's new CD, Neon Bible, which is not officially available in the U.S. until Tuesday, March 6.
There have been no messages on the band's MySpace page or official website about the leak, but plenty of chatter in chat rooms, instant messaging, boards, websites and social networking sites like MySpace.
An anonymous reader contacted me and told me the album was available in a number of locations by setting up a specific search function in Google. See more here.
There are few things more enjoyable regarding online music experiences then to discover a great record label that you didn't already know of. This month's indie label honor goes to Dead Oceans Records.
Portland's indie trailer blazers The Dandy Warhols are back with a new album 
Michael O'Connell, the man behind the Toronto indie project, Culture Reject, has released his first official solo debut record. Read the 
Deerhunter singer Bradford Cox, known for his prolific song writing and on-stage antics, has released a new EP titled 
Gentlemen Auction Houses' The Book of Matches EP is out today, May 6, and features two songs from the upcoming full album release, Alphabet Graveyard, via the band's new label, Columbia, Missouri's Emergency Umbrella Records. 
After garnering praise from The Los Angeles Times for a variety of indie releases last year, the L.A. duo No Age has completed its official debut release with Subpop Records.
Minneapolis' lo-fi, jamming indie rock outfit Tapes N' Tapes has released their first new album since 2006's widely-acclaimed "The Loon". The CD is full of spirited rock mixed with dark keyboards, experimentation and the band's signature shaky vocals.
Athens, Georgia's psychedelic indie pop band Elf Power has returned from sabbatical with a new album 
The El Paso band Sleepercar mixes Americana jingle-laden pop with swirls of alternative folk on their debut album West Texas. Jim Ward, a musician well-heeled in the indie music world for his work with At The Drive-In or Sparta, spent six years working on this album. "Even if you are a bit wary about the whole “Americana” tag, this album is worthy of your attention and may even help expand your musical horizons" says music writer Rich Duncan.
Vicious Vicious - 
