Compared to July, the quality and quantity of new album releases for the month of August 2012 went a long way in saving this summer from being a bummer for new indie rock music.
There are still two weeks of releases until summer officially ends on the fall equinox of September 21st. This is important because there are some big-time releases for September, including this week’s new albums from Animal Collective, Cat Power, Stars, Two Door Cinema Club, among others, and the upcoming new albums from Grizzly Bear, Band of Horses, The XX, The Vaccines, and many others that we’ll be telling you about in our upcoming Anticipated Fall Album Releases feature.
Back to August. There were some great albums dropped in August, in case you missed them, including releases from Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Yeasayer, Bloc Party, Wild Nothing, Poor Moon, Divine Fits, Blonde Summer, Teengirl Fantasy, Dead Can Dance, and Bear Mountain.
Because of when August started and ended, there are a total of five week’s of Top Ten Songs playlists, with a little overlapping at the beginning with July and at the end with September. The Top Ten Songs playlists always span from a Tuesday to a Monday because Tuesday is the traditional day of the week that new albums are released in the United States. In the U.K. and many other parts of the world it is Monday.
August 28th – Sept. 3th
This week’s Top Ten Songs playlist mix is based on three separate posts – Best New Music Releases, Week of Aug. 28th, plus the latest Fresh Tracks mix and DIY Artist of the Week: Dalton.
But it was the spectacular new single from Divine Fits, “Would That Not Be Nice,” that beat out all of the competition for the No. 1 most streamed and downloaded song of the week. The new power pop single from The Raveonettes, “She Owns The Streets,” captured the No. 2 spot, followed by Cat Power‘s “Cherokee” at No. 3, and Wild Nothing‘s new track, “Paradise,” took the No. 4 slot. To round out the top five was Poor Moon‘s “Holiday.” Now that’s an impressive first half for any Top Ten Songs mix. The second half featured fresh album tracks from Matthew Dear, Teen, DIY artist Dalton, Richard Hawley and Dan Deacon, respectively. We were surprised to see Deacon’s off-the-wall techno dance trip out single, “Lots,” (No. 10) wasn’t higher up in the charts, but in the last four positions, there were often only one or two ‘votes.’
There are many other ‘keeper’ tracks from the three post playlist links above, so you might want to click through to each one individually. We try to make as many songs ‘keepers’ as possible – can’t satisfy all the people all the time, but if we can satisfy most of the people most of the time, that’s golden. Think of us as your new music filter because you don’t have time to go through hundreds of songs a month to pick out the best.
“Would That Not Be Nice” –Divine Fits from A Thing Called Divine Fits on Merge Records
“She Owns The Streets” – The Raveonettes from Observator – Sept. 11th
“Cherokee” – Cat Power from Sun
“Paradise” – Wild Nothing from Nocturne on Captured Tracks
“Holiday” – Poor Moon from Poor Moon on Sub Pop
“Headcage” – Matthew Dear from Beams on Ghostly International
“Electric” – TEEN from In Limbo on Carpark Records
“Breaker” – Dalton from Dalton EP
“Leave Your Body Behind You” – Richard Hawley from Standing At The Sky’s Edge on Mute
“Pieces of You” – Mad Planet from Ghost Notes on Planetary Fro Records
August 21st – August 27th
The last week of August, which often signifies the wind-down of summer for students and vacationers, for IRC included two main posts that were competing for the top singles of the week – a new Fresh Tracks playlist and the weekly Best New Music Releases. In the past, we would only count singles for the Top Ten Songs if there were part of the best new releases playlists. However, with efforts underway to include more Fresh Tracks and other such MP3 playlist posts, it only makes sense to also include those as well.
The last No. 1 single of the week, by only four ‘votes,’ was Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti‘s lead single, “Only In My Dreams,” followed closely at No. 2 by Yeasayer‘s new single, “Henrietta” from the new album, Fragrant World. Bloc Party’s new lead track, “So He Begins to Lie,” from their new album, Four, trailed Yeasayer by more than a dozen votes to grab the No. 3 spot. Three huge bands battled it out all week for the No. 1 spot, and APHG won. The No. 4 track for the week of August 21st, “No Sense,” is from a band we’ve never heard of before, Bailterspace. A buzz band of the past couple of years, Teengirl Fantasy, rounded out the top half of the playlist with their new single, “End.” The lower half of the Top 10 features new singles from Six Organs of Admittance, Grizzly Bear, Happy New Year,
“Only In My Dreams” – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti from Mature Themes on 4AD
“Henrietta” – Yeasayer from Fragrant World on Secretly Canadian
“So He Begins to Lie” – Bloc Party from Four
“No Sense” – Bailterspace from Machine on Fire Records
“End” – Teengirl Fantasy from Tracer on True Panther Sounds/R&S
“Waswasa” – Six Organs of Admittance from Ascent on Drag City
“Yet Again” – Grizzly Bear from Shields (pre-order) – out Sept. 18th
“Twins” – Happy New Year from Happy New Year on Brooklyn’s Crikey! Records
“Another Stitch” – Gregory Pepper and His Problems from Escape From Crystal Skull Mountain on Fake Four, Inc.
“Pyrakantha” – Balmorhea from Stranger – Oct. 2nd
August 14th – August 20th
Our main focus for this week was the three-day outdoor music festival, Outside Lands, which celebrated it’s fifth anniversary with one of the best lineups in its five years. Headliners on two main stages in San Francisco‘s Golden Gate Park included Neil Young, Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Jack White, Beck, The Kills, Franz Ferdinand, Andrew Bird, Passion Pit, Silversun Pickups, and many others. See our pre-fest post, plus our coverage of Day Two and Day Three.
The indie rock band, Black Pistol Fire, released their new album this week from which the lead single, “Crows’ Feet” topped all others to take the No. 1 song of the week. Due to a thin week of releases, this is the first time we are a couple of songs short of a full Top Ten list, but they’re still great songs.
“Crows Feet” – Black Pistol Fire from Big Beat ’59
“Opium” – Dead Can Dance from Anatasia
“Wild Light” – Wild Cub from Youth
“I Can’t Stand to Be Refused” – Height with Friends from Rock and Roll on Friends/Cold Rhymes Records
“Bombs and Bruises” – Black Pistol Fire from Big Beat ’59
“If I Left Tomorrow” – Simon Joyner from Ghosts on Ba Da Bing
“Alone” – Asteroid Shop from Distance Luxury
“#1 in Heaven” – MNDR from Feed Me Diamonds on Ultra Music
August 7th – August 13th
The first August No. 1 of 2012 goes to the new title track off the new album by Redd Kross, Researching The Blues. The band Niki and the Dove came in with the No. 2 song of the week – voted by all of you by your streams and downloads – with the single, “DJ, Ease My Mind.” The indie folk rock band Bear Mountain secured the No. 3 position of the week, followed at No. 4 by an artist to watch, Erik Blood. The catchy, memorable track, “Mallrats (La La La)” from the indie band The Orwells rounded out the Top Five with the No. 5 song of the week. The lower half of this week’s Top Ten Songs playlist features, in order, Permanent Collection, Kid Smpl, Ormonde, Birds and Batteries and Koko Beware.
“Researching the Blues” – Redd Kross from Researching the Blues
“DJ, Ease My Mind” – Niki and the Dove from Instinct
“Two Step” – Bear Mountain from xo (self-released)
“Today’s Lover” – Erik Blood from Touch Screens (self-released)
“Mallrats (La La La)” – The Orwells from Remember When on Autumn Tone
“Escape Pod” – Kid Smpl from Escape Pod EP on Hush Hush Records
“Cherry Blossom” – Ormonde from Machine on Hometapes
“Let The Door Swing” – Birds and Batteries from Stray Light on Eightmaps
“Beach Babe” – Koko Beware from Something About the Summer (self-released)
July 31st – August 6th
The first No. 1 song of August 2012 went to Blonde Summer‘s new single, “Slow Days Fast Company.” The track is an uptempo indie pop anthem with jangling guitar riffs, echoey, reverb vocals, a catchy rhythm and a hook and infusion of airy synth layers that accompany the song’s climaxes- one of the finest ‘summery’ singles of the season. The relatively new band, Wildlife Control, released their self-titled, debut album, from which the lead single, “Analog or Digital,” took the No. 2 song of the week. Another fairly new band, Buttonhead, has the No. 3 track of the week with the single, “Champion Bread.” At No. 4 for the week is the new single, “Growing Pains,” from the band Junk Culture. Rising singer/songwriter Allen Stone’s lead single, “Sleep” from his self-titled, debut album, rounded out the Top Five at the No. 5 position. The lower half of the Top 10 features songs from NIKU, Shovels and Rope, The Black Swans, Sacred Caves and Jason Haywood, respectively.
“Slow Days, Fast Company” – Blonde Summer from Slow Daze EP
“Analog or Digital” – Wildlife Control from Wildlife Control
“Champion Bread” – Buttonhead from 3D Opera Whale
“Growing Pains” – Junk Culture from Wild Quiet
via MusicUnderFire.com
“Sleep” – Allen Stone from Allen Stone on ATO Records
“Broken Seashells” – NIKU from In the Tidelands
“Birmingham” – Shovels & Rope from O’ Be Joyful on Dualtone Records
“Basket of Light” – The Black Swans from Occasion For Song on Misra Records
“On The Outside” – Sacred Caves from Sanctuarium EP on hausKat Records
“The Longest Walk” – Jason Haywood from A Thousand Miles Since Yesterday
