Green Clothes Music

The Black Keys are going to play a Myspace Secret Show tomorrow night at the Beachland Tavern in Cleveland, OH at 8PM. There’s a limited capacity to this venue (according to the press release there’s a 170 person maximum) so I definitely recommend to show up early.

This show will be pretty much as close as it gets to seeing them play in their hometown as Akron’s The Lime Spider is now defunct.

Links:
The Black Keys - Official
The Black Keys - Myspace
The Beachland Ballroom and Tavern - Official

Paper Bird is a folky quintet from Denver, CO. The three female vocalists conjure images of the singing sirens from O Brother, Where Art Thou? with some of the sweetest harmonies that will ever caress your ear. The upright bass, banjo and trombone/tuba combination on their debut Anything Nameless and Joymaking only impacts upon this southern-sounding charm. This record is truly a gem.

MP3:
Paper Bird - Pennies

Links:
Paper Bird - Myspace
Purchase Anything Nameless and Joymaking at SNOCAP.com

Links:
Jandek - Myspace
WCBN-FM - Official

Hey guys,

So switching over to a new server wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be, especially considering I’m bullshitting my way through all of this. I’m working on figuring out how to import all of our content and the layout. Kind of scratching my head with this one. Everything is safe and sound on the server, and at least we’re back online. Hopefully we’ll get this figured out very very soon.

Thanks for sticking around,

Ali

Sean Na Na is the stage name for indie pop-rocker Sean Tillman. Those that follow the ironic humor side of indie may also recognize Tillman by another alias, a sexed-up rhythm & blues dance machine known as Har Mar Superstar. While Har Mar Superstar used to be a breath of fresh air, for the past couple years he’s been more like a joke that’s been overheard much much too often, like a YouTube video whose e-fame bubble has finally popped. Fortunately, Sean Na Na is none of that; rather, this incarnation of Tillman is a solid pop singer-songwriter, with smart hooks and addicting arrangements that easily stick in your head and possibly make you fail midterms as a result (stupid Immunology exam…).

His newest album was released last summer; entitled Family Trees or: Cope We Must, it’s quite a varied set of pop songs. Are they all winners? I wouldn’t exactly say so, but there are definitely more hits than misses spread throughout the whole album, and not just concentrated at the beginning like so many promising pop albums lately have been guilty of doing.

MP3s:
Sean Na Na - We’ve Been Here Before
Sean Na Na - Help Me Up the Hill

Links:
Sean Na Na - Official
Sean Na Na - MySpace
Purchase Family Trees or: Cope We Must at Insound

Notable Releases for February 5th:
Basia Bulat - Oh, My Darling (Rough Trade)
Bob Mould - District Line (Anti)
Charlottefield - What Are Friends For (FatCat)
Jason Collett - Here’s To Being Here (Arts & Crafts)
Dead Meadow - Old Growth (Matador)
Devestations - Yes, U (Beggars Banquet)
Die! Die! Die! - Promises, Promises (SAF)
Hot Chip - Made In The Dark (DFA/Astralwerks)
Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off The Lavender Bridge (Domino)
Shelby Lynne - Just A Little Lovin’ (Lost Highway)
Steve Reid Ensemble - Daxaar (Domino)
Nada Surf - Lucky (Barsuk)
Psychic TV - Heaven Is Invisible (Sweet Nothing/Cargo)
Screaming Trees - Clairvoyance (Hall Of Records)
Kelley Stoltz - Circular Sounds (Sub Pop)
Yip Yip - Kinds Of The Same Kingdom (SAF)

Thrushes are a dreamy The Jesus and Mary Chain-like fuzzed out dream quartet that create blissful songs that lead you on a journey into oblivion.

It’s easy to get lost in the tracks that appear on their debut Sun Come Undone, released on Birdnote Records. “Loyalty” borders on a lullaby with vocalist Anna Conner’s whispery voice and the swirling reverent guitars, which is also contrasted by the revved up feedback laden “Aiden Quinn.”

But my personal favorite by far is “Heartbeats” which has been told countless times to be this generation’s “Just Like Honey.”

MP3:
Thrushes - Heartbeats

Links:
Thrushes - Myspace
Thrushes - Official

Notable Releases for January 29th:
Bum Kon - Drunken Sex Sucks (Smooch)
Chris Walla - Field Manual (Barsuk)
Dirty On Purpose - Like Bees EP (North Street)
Dub Trio - Another Sound is Dying (Ipecac)
Ex - Building A Broken Moustrap (Touch & Go)
Future Of The Left - Curses (Too Pure)
The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead (Sub Pop)
Ida - Lovers Prayers (Polyvinyl)
Jeffrey Lewis - 12 Crass Songs (Rough Trade)Joe Jackson - Rain (Rykodisc)
Louis XIV - Slick Dogs And Ponies (Atlantic)
The Mars Volta - The Bedlam In Goliath
Murder Mystery - Are You Ready For The Heartache Cause Here It Comes
Quinn Walker - Lion Land / Laughter’s An Asshole (Voodoo-EROS)Radar Bros. - Auditorium (Merge)
Sons And Daughters - This Gift (Domino)
Thao Nguyen - We Brave Bee Stings And All (Kill Rock Stars)
Two Ton Sloth - Two Ton Sloth (Token Recluse)
Xiu Xiu - Women As Lovers (Kill Rock Stars)
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL)

If you’re like me, you’ve listened to Broken Social Scene’s You Forgot It In People and thought, “man, you know what would be great? If the dudes in the band were Mexican, but still sang in English!”

…okay, perhaps not, but for those of you who’ve seriously contemplated that for some bizarre reason, I present you with Chikita Violenta, an excellent five-piece indie rock band straight out of Mexico City. Their newest album, The Stars and Suns Sessions, was produced by David Newfield of BSS fame, and it really shows; there’s a characteristic BSSesque lush, layered sound about the band that really gives them the oomph to keep you captivated through the whole album. ‘Course, it doesn’t hurt that members of BSS, including Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, lent their voices to a couple tracks on the record.

Judging from their YouTube live videos, they look to be a face-blasting live band as well, which makes it all the more disappointing that, for now, they’re stuck in Mexico City. Luck is with them though; a glance on their MySpace reveals that they’re playing SXSW, which gives all of us hope that they blow up big here in the States.

MP3s:
Chikita Violenta - Laydown
Chikita Violenta - The Last Film

Links:
Chikita Violenta - Official
Chikita Violenta - MySpace
Purchase The Stars and Suns Sessions at Amazon

Notable Releases for January 22nd:
Steve Aoki - Pillowface And His Airplane Chronicles (Thrive)
Apollo Heights - Babytalkk EP (Manimal Vinyl)
Aster - Some Things Seldom Heard Of
Baby Dee - Safe Inside The Day (Drag City)
Birds of Maya - Vol. 1 (Holy Mountain)
Blood On The Wall - Liferz (The Social Registry)
Bodies Of Water - Ears Will Pop Eyes Will Bling (Secretly Canadian)
Castanets - Strong Animal [7″] (Asthmatic Kitty)
Cat Power - Jukebox (Matador)
Collections of Colonies of Bees - Birds (Radium)
Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (New West)
Evangelicals - The Evening Descends (Dead Oceans)
Fleshtones - Take A Good Look (Yep Roc)
Ghislain Porter - No Ground Under (Ninja Tune)
Hello, Blue Roses - The Portrait Is Finished And I Have Failed To Capture Your Beauty… (Locust Music)
Hey Willpower - P.D.A. (Tomlab)
Instruments Of Science And Technology - Music From The Films of R. Swift (Secretly Canadian)
The Jet Age - What Did You Do During The War, Daddy?
King Of Prussia - Save The Scene (Kindercore)
Love Is All - Mixed Up (Phonica)
Mahjongg - Kontpab (K)
Eric Matthews - The Imagination Stage (Empyrean)
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (Columbia)
MONO - The Sky Remains The Same as Ever [DVD] (Temporary Residence Ltd.)
Jack Peñate - Matinee (XL)
Robert Pollard - Superman Was A Rocker (Happy Jack Rock)
Rafter - Sex Death Cassette (Asthmatic Kitty)
Savious - Into Abaddon (Kemado)
Steve Smith - This Town (G.A.S. Records)
Times New Viking - Rip It Off (Matador)
Vetiver - You May Be Blue [12″] (Gnomonsong)
Whigs - Mission Control (ATO)
Whitsundays - The Whitsundays (Friendly Fire)