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Hollows

Hollows, a quintet (four ladies and one gentleman) out of Chicago, just released their second album Vulture with Trouble In Mind. Their musical style utilizes multiple vocal harmony layers that when mixed with jangly guitars and driving drum beats creates a killer garage pop groove. Trouble In Mind was kind enough to share a couple songs with us. Give them a try below then run out to your favorite local record store and buy this.

Hollows – V Is For Vulture from Vulture (2012)

Hollows – Golden Chain from Vulture (2012)

Hollows

Trouble In Mind

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M. Ward

M. Ward is releasing his new album, A Wasteland Companion, with Merge on April 10. The album was recorded with 18 musicians from bands like Oakley Hall, Devotchka, Sonic Youth, and Dr. Dog to name a few. Ms. Deschanel sings on a couple of tracks as well. Merge was gracious enough to send us the song “Primitive Girl” from the forthcoming album to share with you. “Primitive Girl” is in classic M. Ward form, although it’s a piano driven track with his guitar skills taking a back seat. The song moves along quickly, finishing well before you want it to. I guarantee at least two repeats. Check it out below, and make sure you get out to your favorite record store on April 10 to get yourself a copy.

M. Ward – Primitive Girl from A Wasteland Companion (2012)

M. Ward

Merge

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La Sera

La Sera is the side project of Vivian Girls’ bass player Katy Goodman. Sees The Light, her second album on Hardly Art, has a great in your face pop/rock feel to it which I really enjoy. She recorded this album with the help of Rob Barbato (The Fall, Darker My Love) who lent his guitar and production skills to the recording. The result is a great pop record, full of what great pop records are made of, songs about breakups and heartbreak. Enjoy.

La Sera – Please Be My Third Eye from Sees The Light (2012)

La Sera – Break My Heart from Sees The Light (2012)

Hardly Art

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The Spyrals

Keeping with the genre that Sean just posted, I present for your listening pleasure, The Spyrals. I stumbled upon this San Francisco trio the other night while browsing through bands on bandcamp. They play a very similar brand of 60’s lo-fi/dirty/garage rock, like the said previous post. Their music is irresistible to these ears, it’s almost like they saw me coming. They were kind enough to provide the track below. You can stream or buy their new S/T album on their bandcamp page, and I highly suggest that you do.

The Spyrals – Disguise

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The Black Tambourines

Not to be confused with the singular Black Tambourine (U.S.A.) that released an album in the late 80s on Slumberland Records, The Black Tambourines (U.K.) record in the here and now yet sound straight out of the 60s. They do, however, share an affinity for noisy, pegging the red, wall of sound guitars. Their lo-fi aesthetic jibes well with such contemporaries as Wavves and No Age, but their musical style leaves me longing for LA’s neo-psychedelic sound of the mid-80s, especially on “27-25 Blues.” No matter your generation, if you need a dose of fuzzed-out rock ‘n’ roll that sounds like it was recorded in your garage, The Black Tambourines can fix you up.

The Black Tambourines – 27-25 Blues

Art is Hard Records
The Black Tambourines

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Albino Father

Utah has always had a pretty cool underground music scene, and Salt Lake City’s Albino Father is just one of the bands making the scene as cool as it is. They released their debut album AGE in 2011. Their style is all over the map, mixing it up with almost every song. In an attempt to sum up their style, I would say that they play a psychedelic/garage/lo-fi/rock hybrid. Check out the tracks below, then head over to their Bandcamp page and make their music part of your collection.

Albino Father – Meth Truck from AGE (2011)

Albino Father – Gorilla Cat Lady from AGE (2011)

Albino Father – The Light from AGE (2011)

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Pontiak

Pontiak is a trio out of Virginia. They are set to release their newest album Echo Ono with Thrill Jockey on February 21st. Their style is a blend of several different genres. No matter how you try to clasify them, psych, stoner rock, prog rock, they are simply a great rock band.

“Lions of Least”, the song provided below for your listening/downloading pleasure, has everything that makes a great rock ‘n’ roll song. Loud guitar, loud vocals, pounding drums, and a great driving bass line. This song is just a taste of  how good this entire album is, I highly recommend going out and picking it up.

Pontiak – Lions of Least from Echo Ono (2012)

Thrill Jockey

Pontiak

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The Barr Brothers

I love being on the prowl for new music, scouring the web, looking for one of the thousands of musical gems that are out there hiding in cyberspace. I hang out in the WOXY Lives room at turntable.fm quite a bit, I have found this place to be a great place to hear new stuff and talk with people who have similar musical tastes. This is where I first heard The Barr Brothers. I don’t remember which song was played, I just remember having the “I have to check these guys out” moment. I am sure glad that I did.

Founded in Montreal, Quebec, The Barr Brothers are a four-piece folk band comprised of brothers Andrew, and Brad Barr on drums and guitar, with Sarah Page on the harp, and Andres Vial on keys, bass, vibes, and percussion. Their self-titled debut came out in September of 2011, it is a must have. Secret City provided us with two songs for your listening/downloading pleasure. Enjoy these tracks, then go out and buy their album.

The Barr Brothers – Beggar In The Morning from S/T (2011)

The Barr Brothers – Give The Devil Back His Heart from S/T (2011)

The Barr Brothers

Secret City Records

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Love Inks

It’s a Wednesday night, we are 4 days away from 2012 and the end of the world, my wife and kids are playing Rock Band in the background and I am searching through all the music that I’ve acquired this year trying to find any hidden gems that didn’t get enough attention when originally purchased. One of those gems is Austin, Texas 3-piece band Love Inks. They describe their sound as “minimalist dream-pop”, using just an electric guitar, bass guitar, and a drum machine, along with the simple, yet satisfying vocals of Sherry LeBlanc.

The songs below are great examples of their minimalist ways. While Love Inks isn’t the most musically or lyrically complicated band out there, their brand of pop music grabs hold of you, and before you know it you’re nodding your head and have listened to these songs several times and you don’t know where the last hour of your life went.

Love Inks – Blackeye from E.S.P (2011)

Love Inks – Leather Glove from E.S.P (2011)

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French Miami

Many a night I will lie in bed with my headphones on, listening to music to help me fall asleep. The other night I was listening to a collaborative woxy.com playlist on Spotify trying to relax and hopefully fall asleep. That hope of sleep was destroyed when “Multi Caliber Rifles” from French Miami started playing through my headphones. The angular guitar riffs mixed with throbbing synths, somewhat reminiscent of Fugazi, made me take notice. Why hadn’t I heard this before?

From what I can find about these guys, they formed in 2006 in San Francisco and now reside in Brooklyn, NY. They released their self-titled debut in 2009 and followed that up with an EP Motor Skills last year. According to their website they are recording a new album now. The songs included below offer a heavy dose of synth and jangly, finger-tapping guitar grooves for your listening pleasure. Enjoy.

French Miami – Motor Skills from Motor Skills (2010)

French Miami – Suge Knight from Motor Skills (2010)

French Miami – Science Fiction from S/T (2009)