Trials + Tribulations

I asked Mike what his favorite tracks from this year were. He didn’t order his albums, but he did the songs, so enjoy. Sidenote: He’s getting to where he dreams in Spanish and speaks Spanish in his sleep. Totally cool.

#1 Turn Into by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
#2 Parentheses by The Blow
#3 In The Morning by Junior Boys
#4 Let’s Make Love & Listen To Death From Above by CSS
#5 Gravity’s Rainbow by Klaxons
#6 Listen Up by The Gossip
#7 We Were Sparkling by My Brightest Diamond
#8 When You Were Young by The Killers (thanks underrated)
#9 Body Work by MSTRKRFT (sorry, i couldn’t find my cd)
#10 Hustler by Simian Mobile Disco

Well, I’m a little hmph about the whole 12 days. Might as well go out on a high note. So, I’ll make 12 days 4. Thanks to everyone who reads and those who entered, including Sam who won yesterday.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program.

The Affair hails from New York and will be releasing an album on Absolutley Kosher, home to many awesome bands including, Xiu Xiu, Hidden Cameras, The Court & Spark, and recently +/-.

“With a swagger in their sound that could only come from the five boroughs, the band channels bits of New York acts like the Shangri-La’s, The Ronettes, and Blondie. Throw in dashes of the Cars and the Runaways and distill them in gin and thorns, it give them a distinctly modern voice.”

Andy

Anything But Disco

Well, I’m a little hmph about the whole 12 days. Might as well go out on a high note. So, I’ll make 12 days 4. Thanks to everyone who reads and those who entered, including Sam who won yesterday.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program.

The Affair hails from New York and will be releasing an album on Absolutley Kosher, home to many awesome bands including, Xiu Xiu, Hidden Cameras, The Court & Spark, and recently +/-.

“With a swagger in their sound that could only come from the five boroughs, the band channels bits of New York acts like the Shangri-La’s, The Ronettes, and Blondie. Throw in dashes of the Cars and the Runaways and distill them in gin and thorns, it give them a distinctly modern voice.”

Andy

Anything But Disco

Let’s see how this goes. Day 4′s winner will receive The Beatles-The Capitol Albums V.2 (4cd) boxset. It includes all of the albums pictured above in both mono and stereo.

All of these tracks are from This Bird Has Flown: A 40th anniversary tribute to Rubber Soul

Fiery Furnaces-Norwegian Wood(This Bird Has Flown)

Ben Lee-In My Life

Nellie McKay-If I Needed Someone

Again, if you’d like to enter, please post your email in the comments. Congrats to Jamie for yesterday’s coup.

Day 3 (a little late in the day)brings you 3 little items. First is the UK import from Semifinalists. This full sounding 3 piece has been recommended if you like Flaming Lips or Secret Machines. They even made some top 10 lists this year.

I also have the KCRW Alive & Rare compilation and the Feist Mushaboom cd with a Postal Service remix, Knock Knock remix, and video.

Semifinalists-Show The Way

Semifinalists-You Said

If the prizes haven’t done it for you yet, hopefully, I’ll part with something you’ll want. It’s hard giving away you’re own stuff.

p.s. Nick, you won day 2. Eenie meenie was all I needed for the 2 of you.

Okay, so #4 was drawn out of a blank cd spindle top, which means born_on_the_floor wins! I’ll get it in the mail asap. Send me your addy.

Today, up for grabs is a 50 Foot Wave self-titled ep and Lisa Papineau‘s Night Moves. 50 Foot wave is Kristin Hersh’s side band. And, Lisa’s lent her voice to Air and M83.

50 Foot Wave-Animal

Lisa Papineau-Shucking, Jiving

As a thanks for reading, I wanted to start an annual give-away. I was going to call this the 12 days of Diss-mas, but that’s pretty lame. Every day for the next 12 I will be giving away something. It may be big. It may be little, but hey, it’s free. Let’s start out slow. One cd by Immad Wasif and a couple of YYYs stickers from Show Your Bones. It’s his solo release on Kill Rock Stars. He’s been in alaska!, The New Folk Implosion, and toured with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

So, please leave your email in the comments. I will randomly draw a name and announce it before the next day’s giveaway.

Out In The Black by Imaad

Run, do not walk to the New Year’s Eve Party that Urban Pollution is throwing down in Austin. I wanted to give it full props by waiting until people were back from xmas break, so listen here. You will regret not being at this show. If you’re even mildly thinking about it, just decide to do it. Here are the specs. This is why I’m freaking out.

December 31st at The Mohawk in Austin, TX
Doors at 8pm
only $10!!

Inside Stage:
09.00pm Loxsly
10.30pm Jonathan Meiberg
12.00pm A Hawk and a Hacksaw

Ouside Stage:
09.45pm Cari (of Belaire) & Jason (of Voxtrot)
11.15pm Evangelicals
12.45pm The Blow

More info here

The Blow-Pile of Gold

Belaire-RIP

Evangelicals-Here Comes Trouble

Run, do not walk to the New Year’s Eve Party that Urban Pollution is throwing down in Austin. I wanted to give it full props by waiting until people were back from xmas break, so listen here. You will regret not being at this show. If you’re even mildly thinking about it, just decide to do it. Here are the specs. This is why I’m freaking out.

December 31st at The Mohawk in Austin, TX
Doors at 8pm
only $10!!

Inside Stage:
09.00pm Loxsly
10.30pm Jonathan Meiberg
12.00pm A Hawk and a Hacksaw

Ouside Stage:
09.45pm Cari (of Belaire) & Jason (of Voxtrot)
11.15pm Evangelicals
12.45pm The Blow

More info here

The Blow-Pile of Gold

Belaire-RIP

Evangelicals-Here Comes Trouble

So, you want more new music, eh? Well, I’ve been sitting on the new Explosions in the Sky for a couple of days and don’t want to ruin the whole album for you, but you can check out 3 of the 6 songs from their upcoming cd here. They’ve all been posted this week. Anyhoo, the Texas instrumental band’s cd All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone drops February 20th.

And, Low‘s new album Drums and Guns will be in stores March 20th. Using a couple of new elements (drum machines, looped vocals, etc.), they re-interpret a couple of their live show staples as well as bringing the subtle beauty and power that you’ve come to expect from Low.

Pretty People

Violent Past