Going to bed

I am a huge fan of this band and this is a particular favorite. I realise it's old by now, but I've loved it for too long not to post it... The song, "Heart of Chambers", is perfect for that time just before you fall asleep. A soothing and relaxing song with a great melody. Lovely.

... I also have a slight crush on Ms. Legrand, but that's another thing... and who wouldn't?

It's all about Money

This new one from Maskinen sounds a bit like MSTRKRFT and Justice - if they were Swedish... not bad at all. More money, less rapists.

SXSW '09 Coming Soon

The SXSW festival is just around the corner and final details about the line-up of bands playing official showcases has been released. Among the many fine artists and bands that will attend SXSW this year are The Sonics, GoldieLocks, Abe Vigoda, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Snake and Jet’s Amazing Bullit Band, Soft Pack, School of Seven Bells, Vetiver, Vivian Girls and many many more... heck, I don't even know half.

One of the coolthings about the SXSW festival is that every year, simultaneously with announcing the full list of performing artists and bands, they make a song available for download for many of the bands. It’s a great way of getting new and free songs for your collection as well discovering some of the many up and coming acts.

Here are a few of my select favorites of the available downloads... and since they're all free I don't see why you shouldn't give them all a listen.

GoldieLocks – Cold Sweat (here), Abe Vigoda – Don’t Lie (here), School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep (here), PowerSolo - Pirates of the Oblivion (here), Hatcham Social – So So Happy Making (here), Au Revoir Simone – A Violent Yet Flammable World (here), We Have Band – Hear It In Cans (here), The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (here), Port O’Brien – I Woke Up Today (here), Dananananaykroyd - Pink Sabbath (here), The Von Bondies - This Is Our Perfect Crime (here), Futurecop! - NASA (here), HEALTH - Crimewave (here), The Forms - Red Gun (here), Snake and Jet's Amazing Bullit Band - Ten Cities Beyond (here), and many many more (all here)… you should really check them all out. So much great music, so little time.

Feel Like Dancing?

Dance Area - AA/247 (feat. Austin Boston)



I love the fast and repetitive vocals on this one. The voice and the early '90s-ish electro work really well together. A really great track with an early-90's arcade game inspired video to match.

Filthy Dukes – This Rhythm (feat. Sam Eastgate)



Sam Eastgate from Late of the Pier fills in on vocals, which sort of makes it sound like a "simple" and danceable song LotP just made after hearing some Daft Punk... I like it.

Ra Ra Riot – Ghost Under Rocks (Passion Pit Remix)



By themselves Ra Ra Riot and Passion Pit are two very hyped up'n'coming indie bands. Put them together and you get an awesome synth-house indie anthem. Something for your next hipster-party DJ set. (You can get it at Stereogum.com)

Perfect match of song and video

Circlesquare - Fight Sounds Part 1

This is just one of those cases where the audio and the visual blend perfectly. The two compliment each other so well and just sets the mood excellently... It's redundant to say that I like it, right?

Drenched in fuzz and all good

Two current favorites are Salem and School of Seven Bells. They each represent a brand of electro-shoegaze meets distorted psych meets noisepop, but with very different results. For reasons unknow I see these two bands as related despite their obvious differences in sound. Then again, who cares when the music is this great?

School of Seven Bells features sisters and identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and Benjamin Curtis of Secret Machines. They're by far the most accessible of the two and make lovely pop bliss (within the organic electro-shoegaze-whatchmacall it). Their songs fit all moods and should be a mandatory listen for these cold times.

Peek School of Seven Bells:



Salem on the other hand make evil and twisted electro-shoegaze that is far less accessible, but equally lovely. Distorted vocals over distorted bass with stabbing synths and southern hip hop style beats makes for something completely new and all great. It's definitely not for everyone, but in any case it should be checked out just so you know how evil music really sounds... that's "good" evil of course.

Peek Salem (NSFW by the way... slight nudity involved):

SALEM - DIRT from ACEPHALE on Vimeo.