15.3.10

Oxford Collapse










Jittery indie-pop three-piece (who released albums on Sub-Pop and Kanine Records) that sounds like Nothing Feels Good-era Promise Ring mixed with Superchunk. This band just got better with each release. Guitarist Michael Pace and bassist Adam Rizer each share vocal duties and their voices blend well with each other when harmonizing. Fuck I wish this band was still together. If anyone has their split EP with The Joggers post that shit in the comments, I need that in my life right now.
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10.3.10

New Idea Society - You Are Awake Or Asleep




Stephen Brodsky (Cave In) and Mike Law (Euclid) teaming up to create beautiful 60's style psychedelic rock mixed with indie and folk. This album has great harmonies and interesting arrangements. If you dig Brodsky's solo stuff (specifically his Octave Museum album) then you'll be into this, although Mike Law handles most of the lead vocal duties here.
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Harkonen












Here you go Demarco. This is everything I have by this criminally underrated band. Their split/collaboration with These Arms Are Snakes was posted here, and their Dancing EP was posted here. On the debut LP Harkonen play noisy hardcore ala Deadguy or Kiss It Goodbye that had a rad Left Hand Path-esque guitar tone. Everything after that is skull-crushing noise rock played with just the right hint of melody.
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9.3.10

The Double - Loose In The Air




Brooklyn indie rock band's final LP (and first for Matador Records). Lots of guitar noise and distortion, woozy organ, pounding drums and a vocalist who sounds like Isaac Brock and Stephen Malkmus' love child. Really great noisy-pop music.
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Harkonen - Dancing




A great noisy hardcore band from the Pacific Northwest. Singer Ben Verellen now fronts Helms Alee, plays in Roy and builds some bad-ass amplifiers. If you like These Arms Are Snakes and Young Widows this shit will blow your dick off.
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Doves - The Last Broadcast




This is my favourite album by this British band (and also their breakthrough). So many bangers on here, but the stand-out track for me is "Pounding". I could listen to that song over and over and never get tired of it. Sweeping indie rock with great melodies (think Coldplay but with balls).
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The Ramones - Acid Eaters




The Ramones covering the songs of their youth. The standouts are the Amboy Dukes, Love, and Max Frost covers. Pete Townshend even shows up to sing back-ups on their cover of The Who's "Substitute". I bet even my dad would like this Ramones album (they do cover Creedence).
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8.3.10

The Helio Sequence










I first heard of this band after drummer Benjamin Weikel joined Modest Mouse for their Good News For People Who Love Bad News album (Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock also brought them to the attention of Sub-Pop records). After checking out their Sub-Pop debut I was hooked. The first two albums have a My Bloody Valentine-esque wall of sound that is pretty incredible considering this band is only a duo. On their Sub-Pop debut Love and Distance they refined their sound into a sort of Flaming Lips/Modest Mouse hybrid that had lots of melody, and plenty of loudness. Their most recent is also their most uneven with half the songs being great, the other half being weak, though the title track "Keep You Eyes Ahead" is my favourite song by the band.
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Foals - Antidotes




Great dancy/mathy indie rock from this british band. Foals sound like Minus The Bear but way more dance-rooted. Foals also have the occasional slow(er) songs with spacier elements that are equally as rad. This album was produced by TV on The Radio's Dave Sitek (he's the white guy), and he made the drums sound huge and left the guitars plenty of breathing room to really stand out, and stand out they do as they are quite intricate.
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Lymbyc Systym










Instrumental duo from Tempe Arizona, Lymbyc Systym utilize laptop beats mixed with live instrumentation, mostly drums and keys. I've already posted some of their stuff here, and this is the rest. If you're like me and were totally blown away by their side of the TWDY split, their new album Shutter Release continues on along those same lines and is really great.
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7.3.10

High On Fire














I can remember downloading the song Baghdad off audiogalaxy and being totally blown away by how fucking loud/punishing and straight up rad this band was. I was even more stoked when I realized they were playing in London, Ontario the next month with Mastodon opening. They never made it over the border for the show (Mastodon did and they were rad), but I did see them 2 years later on the Blessed Black Wings tour at Alvin's in Detroit, and they fucking killed it. High On Fire is Matt Pike's post-Sleep metal juggernaut that takes the bottom end of Sleep and mixes it with the intensity, grit and speed of Motörhead, with lyrics about wizards and shit.

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ASG












I read an interview a couple years ago with Rwake vocalist C.T. about his southern metal documentary (Slow Southern Steel) and he talked this band up huge so I knew I had to hear them, and they fucking slay. ASG plays a mixture of punk rock, stoner rock, hard rock and southern boogie metal. Their two most recent full-length records (Feeling Good and Win Us Over) were produced by Matt Hyde and he makes everything sound absolutely huge, especially the guitars. Win Us Over is basically a perfect record, so catchy and so heavy. If you're into Torche, Kyuss, and Queens Of The Stone Age then get into ASG.
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5.3.10

Sharks Keep Moving



Sharks Keep Moving - Self Titled





These albums can be found elsewhere in the Internet, but I wanted to post them here because if you don't know Sharks Keep Moving, you should. It's Jake Snyder from Minus the Bear playing guitar and singing whenever there are vocals, and the vocals can be sparse. Also members of Kill Sadie, Pretty Girls Make Graves and more. The self titled record was recorded live-off-the-floor by Matt Bayles (formerly of Minus the Bear) and sounds amazing. I first heard the song "Third Instrumental" back in 2000 in a skateboard video; 411 issue 50. Where is was credited as "Open Bay". Thanks for introducing me to many great bands 411.

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3.3.10

Fang Island








Fang Island play super intense/rad/catchy/mathy instrumental rock. The new self titled album just came out on Sargent House Records (Russian Circles, Tera Melos, This Town Needs Guns) and it totally slays. For the first time they've added vocal parts to more than just one song-per-release and its totally killer (still mostly just woah-ohs and chanted vocals though). If you dig Wildcatting, The Fucking Champs and AWK then you'll eat this up. I was a fan of the band before, but this new release is fucking next-level awesome, especially the guitars. They are both more melodic and intricate. Some of the dueling guitar parts remind my of Thin Lizzy in a big way.
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2.3.10

The Forms - Icarus




Debut album (EP? It's only 18 minutes long) produced by Steve Albini from this Brooklyn indie band. This thing is a lot rawer than the follow-up self titled album (posted here). I love this band and wish that I had heard of them a lot sooner. These guys have recorded a new EP that singer Alex Tween says is their strongest material yet and I can't wait to hear it.
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The Futureheads








These Brits fucking rule. The debut self-titled album is one of the best albums of the last 10 years. The band kind of lost me with the sophomore album News And Tributes, thats not to say is sucks, it just wasn't as good as the debut. The band returned to form on This Is Not The World which was easily in my top ten of 2008. The Futureheads take the punk sounds of The Buzzcocks and The Jam and mixes it with the frantic energy of Gang Of Four and the vocal harmonies of XTC.
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VHS Or Beta








Dance rock band originally from Louisville, Kentucky. I saw these guys when they opened for the Secret Machines in Detroit and they blew me away. The debut Le Funk is instrumental and sounds like Daft Punk songs played with live instruments, so if you dig French disco you'll love it. On Night On Fire the band sound like Duran Duran with The Cure's Robert Smith singing. On Bring On The Comets the band stops trying to write epic dance jams, and instead writes concise and catchy pop numbers. It reminds me of late 80's XTC mixed with early 90's Depeche Mode(when they went alternative and started using guitars).
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Foreign Born








Great indie rock band out of Los Angeles. Mix Slowdive and Interpol with Echo And The Bunnymen and you've got Foreign Born. Each release has been handled by a different label: Star Time Intl., Dim Mak, and Secretly Canadian. These guys write big indie rock anthems that only a sociopath couldn't love.
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