Listen: Princess Music – "White Wave"

Despite what their name may imply, Princess Music are not a cover band specializing in Disney musicals and the Legend of Zelda soundtrack, but instead a budding new folk band from Denver, CO. The six-piece collective has a unique style that owes debt to baroque and classical music as well as modern folk virtuosos such as Sufjan Stevens and Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors. The band’s debut track “White Wave” has been on the internet for just one week and already has earned rave reviews from bloggers like I Guess I’m Floating and The Needle Drop.

The track immediately transports you to a simpler time with a pretty piano melody and fingerpicked acoustic guitar, with lush, evocative strings and Tyler Ludwick’s soothing vocals following to give the piece a grand, sweeping feel. The arrangement is so organic that time seems to float right by as the verses and chorus flow naturally into each other. It makes for just about as promising a debut track I’ve heard this yea and I’m looking forward to seeing where Princess Music go from here.

Cold Showers

Today, Pygmalion Music Festival announced its schedule and some updates to the line-up, which included a couple big adds with Lower Dens and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Among the lesser-known additions is Los Angeles band, Cold Showers who’ll be playing with Eternal Summers and Craft Spells on Saturday night (in what should be an amazing show).

The sonically rich quartet combines influences like Jesus and Mary Chain and Joy Division into a wonderfully hazy post-punk sound where noise-pop guitars, throbbing bass and otherworldly vocals abound. Download their propulsive new single “BC” and gritty jam “I Don’t Mind” below.

MP3 BC
MP3 I Don’t Mind

The band’s debut album Love and Regret will be out 10/9 on Dais Records.

Alt-J (∆)

If you follow any music websites, you’ve probably heard of Alt-J (∆), likely in the comments section from one of the band’s enthusiastic fans who sing their praises every chance they get. I covered their great “Breezeblocks” video over at Seen Your Video, but it wasn’t until recently that I heard the UK alt-pop band’s debut album. I’ll admit what sold me at first was the fact that their single “Matilda” is named after Natalie Portman’s iconic character from Léon: The Professional, but after a few good listens I now count myself among the Alt-J faithful.

Their debut album An Awesome Wave spans multiple genres and influences and it’s experimental tendencies has garnered comparisons to Radiohead and TV on the Radio. Guitarist / singer Joe Newman is certainly one of the most interesting vocalists I’ve heard in some time, his peculiar, hushed falsetto is one of the unique highlights of the album. The whimsical, scatterbrained instrumentation is beautifully arranged to give the music an intelligent, avant-garde feel, while being centered in melody pop enough to remain accessible and catchy. It’s a fantastic balancing act and the band pulls it off with incredible ease.

MP3 Breezeblocks
MP3 Something Good

Listen to all of An Awesome Wave at Alt-J’s Soundcloud.

Hundred Waters

On their self-titled debut album, Hundred Waters perform the rare feat of making songs that are both incredibly melodic and challenging. I’ve seen them described as “folktronica” a few times, but I think “experimental pop” is a better descriptor of band’s playful use of rippling synths, syncopated drums, inventive harmonies and electronic flourishes. “Me & Anodyne” and “Boreal” are both standouts on the album, showcasing the band’s ethereal tapestry of sounds. I’d suggest listening with good headphones and little distraction, otherwise it may be easy to miss all the complexities of these lovely songs.

MP3 Boreal 
MP3 Me & Anodyne

Listen to the full album at the band’s website.

Francisco The Man

Francisco The Man play a type of sunny, post-punk guitar rock that’s all been all but absent from the indie rock scene since the early/mid-2000’s when bands like French Kicks, Rogue Wave, Snowden and SOUND Team were all the rage. The Los Angeles-based band entered my radar through the guys at I Guess I’m Floating (who may or may not be releasing some of FTM’s stuff on their Small Plates imprint).

“Broken Arrows” won me over immediately with it’s hook-filled, shoegaze-y guitar riffs and exuberant melody. The last half of the song is absolute bliss, indulging in nearly four minutes of some seriously enthusiastic guitar jamming. Also make sure to check out “Tiger”, another great guitar jam with an opening riff that sounds straight out of Surfer Blood’s “Floating Vibes”.

MP3 Francisco The Man – Broken Arrows
MP3 Francisco The Man – Tiger

Listen to some more of Francisco The Man at their soundcloud.

 

Desert Stars

Desert Stars have delivered me something I haven’t heard in awhile—and it’s been a long time since I’ve discovered a band I can listen to so repeatedly. With catchy choruses that somehow never seem to get old, front woman Janelle Best’s deep vocals prove to be strikingly similar to Beach House’s Victoria Legrand, especially when up against a Teen Dream-esque backdrop of organ, keyboard, and groaning guitar riffs. With a distantly eerie yet emotional vibe, I look forward to day this quintet released their breakthrough LP.

MP3 Boys I Like
MP3 Farewell Decade

Check out Desert Stars on bandcamp / tumblr.

Kindness

London-based electro-pop producer Kindness (moniker for Adam Bainbridge) made some waves a couple years back with his chilled-out disco-funk cover of The Replacements classic “Swingin Party”. Instead of turning around a quick album though, he’s taken his time and crafted a wonderful debut, World, You Need a Change of Mind, which is full of soulful, airy synth-pop and oh-so-smooth dance beats. I’d describe it as sort-of like a cross between Hot Chip’s slower jams and Destroyer’s Kaputt (there’s even some sax!).

The track that’s got me most excited (other then the still-amazing “Swinging Party”) is “Cyan”, an incredibly infectious tune which abounds in dreamy synthesizers, funky bass lines and Bainbridge’s velvety, reverb-laden vocals.

MP3 Cyan
MP3 Swinging Party

World, You Need a Change of Mind will be out on Terrible Records (Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear’s label) in May. You can stream it now at Guardian.

The Explorers Club

I came across The Explorers Club through the track “Forever” which I included on one of my “Be My Baby” drum beat mixes a couple years back and I recently re-discovered the Charleston, SC band as they’ve just released their sophomore album, Grand Hotel. Whereas their 2008 debut was practically impossible to listen to without thinking about the Beach Boys (not a bad thing by any means), the new album draws from a broader palette of classic American pop from the 60’s and 70’s.

The exuberant first single “Run Run Run” is a great example, with it’s lively orchestra-pop bringing to mind pop standards like Burt Bacharach and Dusty Springfield, while the lush harmonies of the chorus sounds like something Brian Wilson could have created in his heyday. Even when the music teeters on the edge of schmaltzy (some of the big-band horn sections and swingin’ rhythms will bring to mind “Not Unusual”-style Tom Jones) their music is so enjoyable and infectious, and their throwback pop convictions so genuine, that it’s all the better for it. Download “Run Run Run” and the folky “Bluebird” below.

MP3 Run Run Run
MP3 Bluebird

You can download Grand Hotel at Amazon. Only $5!

Bear Cavalry

Bear Cavalry are a genre-defying band from Gosport, England who caught my ear with their debut EP, Maple Trails. The band is stylistically all over the place, but in a good way. Coming off like a more schizophrenic Local Natives, they mix upbeat Afro-pop rhythms, intricate mathy guitars, bursts of trumpet and the occasional chanting harmonies. The melting pot of sounds keeps it interesting and matched with sunny, danceable melodies it makes for some memorable tunes like exuberant opener “Roman Summer” and the humorously-titled “Will Smith Solve’s The Rubik’s Cube”.

Roman Summer by Bear Cavalry

Will Smith Solves The Rubik’s Cube by Bear Cavalry

Hear the rest of the Maple Trails EP at the Bear Cavalry’s bandcamp.

 

Eli Mardock

Former Eagle Seagull-frontman Eli Mardock will be releasing his solo debut this year, and it’s one of my most anticipated albums of 2012. I was a big fan of Eagle Seagull’s self-titled album from 2005, which at the time, earned the band plenty of buzz and comparisons to indie-rock contemporaries like Arcade Fire & Wolf Parade. Some tracks from their follow-up album, The Year of The How-To Book hit the web in 2007, and sounded extremely promising, but the album suffered delay after delay and wasn’t made available until years later. The band quietly released a digital-only copy of the album in 2010 before parting ways, leaving Mardock free to explore a solo career.

“Everything Happens for the First Time” is the title track to Mardock’s new album and a great intro to the artist. The uplifting track opens with a piano riff which sounds a bit like Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up”, before adding an array of grandiose instrumentation and soaring melodies that should make Eagle Seagull fans feel right at home.  Another track to check out is the dark, majestic “Theologians Tell Me”. Everything Happens… is set to release later this year. Listen to the two aforementioned tracks below and download another one at his website.

Everything Happens for the First Time by Eli Mardock

Theologians Tell Me by Eli Mardock