Mahler's 2nd

Marco Mahler

From: Portland, Oregon, United States

There is beauty in simplicity and the music of Marco Mahler is simply beautiful. It takes guts to be gentle and kind, the music of Marco Mahler has guts, it's gentle and kind. In an era when mass produced, conveyor belt, corporate rock is killing music the world needs music that is natural, home produced and organic. Step forward Marco Mahler.

Marco is about to release his second album 'Laptop Campfire Speed' and it's simple, it's beautiful, it's gentle, it's kind. it's home produced, it's organic. It sounds like Nick Drake indulging in some mild frottaging at a Pavement gig.

Go Try

MP3 - Marco Mahler - Beautiful Monsters
MP3 - Marco Mahler - The Trees Have Fallen & The Birds Are Ripe
MP3 - Marco Mahler - I'll Just Find A Million Other Things To Do
These tracks are published with the permission of Marco Mahler so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Marco Mahler - Myspace : Website: Last.FM

Canby Street

Canby
From: Des Moines, Iowa, United States

Canby started life as a side project of musical jack-of-all-trades Scott Yoshimura, drummer for the inde rock band The Envy Corps. It has since grown arms and legs and is more, much more, than a mere bit of extra curricular activity. Yoshimura, who has successfully worked on several other 'side-projects' like The Magazines, throws himself into his music like his life depends upon it. With Canby Yoshimura's baritone smoothness adding serious weight to the themes he paints with his music it surely won't be long until The Envy Corps is a Canby side project.

Go Try

MP3 - Canby - Rat
This track is published with the permission of TeamClermont so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

Canby - Myspace : Last.FM

If you want to listen to Yoshimura's other extra curricular activities check out The Magazines...

MP3 - The Magazines - Young Hearts
This track is linked direct from The Magazine's Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

The Time Is Nigh

11:17
From: Austin, Texas, United States

11:17 is the pseudonym of singer songwriter Alex Daniel, who creates nice acoustic tunes. Without wishing to sound like I'm damning 11:17 with faint praise his songs are nice, laid back and restful. His sound nervously approaches you and politely asks if you'll take notice rather than pushes itself in your face screaming look at me. Wallflower pop anyone?

Recommended if you like Sufjan Stevens.

Go Try

MP3 - 11:17 - hidden in the moment
This track is published with the permission of Alex Daniel so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright
MP3 - 11:17 - Push Away
MP3 - 11:17 - when i leave home
MP3 - 11:17 - i said what?
These tracks are linked direct from the 11:17 Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

11:17 - Myspace : Last.FM

Poly Techniques

Polynya (an area of open water surrounded by sea ice) sound like they're auditioning to be the 4AD house band. Orlando, with it's isolated, whispering vocals, guitars ringing with reverb, the basslines wriggling along underneath the song sounds like it's been created from a 4AD flat pack. It's not all epic shoegazing, it's not all updated Cocteau Twins and Lush for the 21st century. No there's more to Polynya than mere 4AD mimickery.

Taking their cue from the source of their band name for Polynya shoegazing is merely the solid sea ice surrounding a more fluid sound. A sound that grabs fragments of their favourite bands, Wire, Can, Boards of Canada, Augustus Pablo and Pere Ubu and moulds them into something new. People in Pictures sounds like The Cranberries being regularly interrupted by My Bloody Valentine. The Devil's favourite track Tarantula is a psych pop echo from the summer of love.

Polynya is a cracker.

Go Try

MP3 - Polynya - People In Pictures
MP3 - Polynya - Orlando
MP3 - Polynya - Tarantula
These tracks are published with the permission of Polynya so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Polynya - Myspace : Website : Last.FM

Go View

Polynya
Sweatshop

Villagers Video

Villagers
From: Dublin, Ireland

Villagers have unveiled a mysterious new music video for "Ship of Promises," the second single from their highly acclaimed and hauntingly beautiful debut, 'Becoming a Jackal' (Domino). The kaleidoscopic video, directed by Kathryn Ferguson with cinematography by James Moriarty, depicts Villagers' frontman Conor J. O'Brien embarking on a dreamlike journey to the sea under the spell of three translucent angels. Watch it below.

Go Visit

Villagers - Myspace : Website : Last.FM

Go View

Villagers
Ship Of Promise

Pole Dancers

Antarctica Takes It!
From: Bay Area, California
United States

If you own California lo-fi sextet Antarctica Takes It!'s first album, then you'll know that songwriter Dylan McKeever is an incurable romantic. The band's debut was awash with magical songs that conjure up the ghosts of late 60s pioneers like Love and Nick Drake, 80s visionaries like Martin Stephenson & The Daintees and Aztec Camera and more recent arch romantics such as Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists and Belle & Sebastian.

The band's debut, a clattering, charming lo-fi masterpiece, was recorded directly into the internal mic of Dylan's laptop. This clearly sold enough copies for him to be able to afford a microphone and some time in a proper studio, because the band's new album Constellations takes the lo-fi spirit of their debut and introduces it to all the clarity, beauty and sparkling perfection that the modern recording process can offer without losing any of it's charm. The album also broadens the palette with the lo-fi indie being expanded to include soaring Aislers Set-style pop, gorgeous Beach Boys-esque harmonising, the kind of stumbling, good-hearted folk that Bright Eyes might have produced in recent years, and a joyous, wild-eyed, creatively-ablaze energy that has you wondering what the hell he's going to do next.

Go Try

MP3 - Antarctica Takes It! - Constellations
This track is published with the permission of How Does It Feel To Be Loved Records so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
MP3 - Antarctica Takes It! - I'm No Lover
MP3 - Antarctica Takes It! - Antarctica
These tracks are linked direct from the Antarctica Takes It! Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Antarctica Takes It! - Myspace : Last.FM

Go View

Antarctica Takes It! Circuits



If you like this you'll love Constellations...

MP3 - The Aislers Set - Long Division (Peel Session)
MP3 - The Aislers Set - Walker In Line (Joy Division Cover)
These tracks are linked direct from the Aislers Set website and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

The You And Me Ensemble

The You And Me Ensemble
From: Melbourne, Australia & Liverpool, United Kingdom

I can find next to nothing on the internet about The You And Me Ensemble. I can't find them on Last.FM or a Myspace site or website. All I know is that The band's members hail from Liverpool & Melbourne, composer, musician and music producer Chris Read is a member, and er, well that's it. Oh and their mini album 'Through The Forests and Into the Fields' is the first release on new label, Special Blend Records. They're profile is so low that they're not even recognised in their own house. At least you can't accuse them of over exposure!

In an attempt to raise their profile a notch or two they've released a video for 'See You' a track which sounds like Lily Allen fronting Feist and is so good it won't be long before Chris Read and his fellow band members are on the front cover of magazines on every table in every lounge.

You can hear a few tracks from the You And Me Ensemble by heading over the Special Blend Records website.

Go View

The You And Me Ensemble
See You

'See You' by The You And Me Ensemble from Special Blend Records on Vimeo.

Guest Appearance

The Gentle Guest
From: Eau Claire, Wisconsin United States

The circus at its best is not only a celebration of imagination and other worldly-wonders, but also of fear and danger. Each leap is made daring by rings of fire, and every trapeze swing or balanced walk across a tight rope made treacherous by the depth of the plunge beneath it.

So what has the circus got to do with today's featured band the Gentle Guest? It's a perfect metaphor for their Delta blues inspired Americana sound which is daringly and fearlessly colourful in a drab functional world. Everything but the kitchen sink is thrown into the mix. Blaring trombones and slide guitar battle a barrage of wild hollers and boot stomps for supremacy. Despite constantly teetering on the brink of collapse The Gentle Guest manage to pull it through to deliver a brand of raggle taggle hobo folk that'll have them rocking in the soup kitchens.

Go Try

MP3 - The Gentle Guest - Judgement
MP3 - The Gentle Guest - Down At The Still
MP3 - The Gentle Guest - Longfellow
These tracks are linked direct from the Ambledown Records website and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

The Gentle Guest - Myspace : Last.FM

Go View

The Gentle Guest Scatter The Ashes

Twisted Sister

Twin Sister
From: Long Island, New York, United States

New York quintet Twin Sister make wispy, dreamy exotic pop that I defy you not to love. With Andrea Estella's distinctive breathy vocals floating effortlessly over the band's Stereolabesque sound they are surely destined for greatness.

Their debut EP, Vampires With Dreaming Kids, released a while ago, but still available for you to download free from their website, is almost 14 minutes of the most perfect alt pop you'll hear this year. The stand out track on the EP I Want A House sounds like the brilliant Liverpool band Pink Military Stand Alone hooking up for an unforgettable one night stand with Stereolab. 'Nectarine' is a gentle, fragile track that flirts with alt-folk before deciding it wants to be a pop song. It's the perfect song to drift away to while the campfire embers slowly die. The other two tracks 'Ginger' and the brilliantly titled 'Dry Hump' provide further proof of a band on the verge of greatness.

With their latest EP Color Your Life, released in April and also available for free download from their website, Twin Sister seal the deal. The stand out track is the thumping All Around And Away We Go which sounds like a menage a trois with Prefab Sprout, The Cocteau Twins and St Etienne. It must be the best indie disco makeover since Blondie ditched their leathers and headed for the dancefloor with Heart of Glass.

By adding a funky, indie-disco sheen to the translucent qualities that made Vampires With Dreaming Kids so special Twin Sister have hit pay dirt.

Go Try

MP3 - Twin Sister - All Around And Away We Go
This track is linked direct from the Twin Sister website and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

MP3 - Twin Sister - I Want A House
MP3 - Twin Sister - Dry Hump
MP3 - Twin Sister - Ginger
These tracks are linked direct from the Twin Sister Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Twin Sister - Myspace : Website : Last.FM

Go View

Twin Sister
Milk & Honey



Twin Sister
All Around & Away We Go

Could It Be Magic?

Magic Man
From: Boston, United States

Magic Man is a Boston-based duo that grew out of spare moments and idle hours during a summer spent volunteering on organic farms in the French countryside.

On their debut album 'Real Life Colour' they've blended the French influence with the fashionable world music influences that have propelled Vampire Weekend to (undeserved in the Devil's view) world fame and fortune.

But don't think that Magic Man are just another box ticking, airfix kit 'indie' band created from various bits of the bands currently getting the blogosphere over excited . They are more, much more, than mere indie fashionistas with tracks on their debut recalling unfashionable bands such as Tears For Fears, Talk Talk and The Postal Service.

Could it be magic? With Magic Man the answer has to be yes.

Go Try

MP3 - Magic Man - Medicine
MP3 - Magic Man - Daughter
MP3 - Magic Man - Polygons
These tracks are linked direct from the Magic Man Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Magic Man - Myspace : Last.FM

They Say It's Your Birthday

Happy birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Ann, Happy Birthday to you.

It's my wife Ann's birthday today so what better gift than a post on London indie popsters Birthday Club? Happy birthday Ann.

Birthday Club
From: London, United Kingdom

Birthday Club are Lindsay Haynes and Luke Hall who met as 14 year olds in Bristol and formed a band called The Metro. Their band has long since disappeared but they've continued to collaborate writing songs via e-mail and post.

Despite, or maybe because, of their unusual writing approach Birthday Club have a pure and uncluttered sound that recalls dusty Cherry Red Records compilation albums. The tracks on their myspace site sound like off cuts from early Everything But The Girl albums before Ben and Tracey discovered Drum 'n Bass.

Blow up the balloons, put the birthday cake on the table and get the paper plates out it's time for the Birthday Club.

Go Try

MP3 - Birthday Club - You Want To
MP3 - Birthday Club - Guardians
These tracks are linked direct from the Birthday Club Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

Birthday Club - Myspace : Last.FM

Just What The Doctor Ordered

National Health Service
From: Worthing, United Kingdom

National Health Service is the solo music project of the precocious and clearly old before his time 16 year old Jamie Turner. NHS is a brand new kid on the block, so brand new that his myspace site has had just over 500 profile views and he has just 56 friends which is the myspace equivalent of being an unwashed hermit in the Hindu Kush mountains.

Jamie is clearly a serious young man eschewing frivolous throwaway songs about cars and girls for something deeper, darker and more spiritual. Birth and Crib & Blanket are more stripped back than a Bon Iver demo and sound like David Sylvian at his most reflective and psycho-analytical. They are intensely intimate tracks that are so calming they should be available on prescription. Movements in the Dark, which sounds like Radiohead arm wrestling Portishead, is more atonal and as edgy as a three dimensional octagon. Blind Giants, the most accessible of the National Health Service tracks, and also the Devil's favourite, is the sound of Thom Yorke's young apprentice graduating. Jamie you're hired!

The National Health Service have the antidote for a surplus of blind optimism and is just what the doctor ordered for these straightened times.

Go Try

MP3 - National Health Service - Birth
MP3 - National Health Service - Crib & Blanket
MP3 - National Health Service - Movement In The Dark
These tracks are linked direct from the National Health Service Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

National Health Service - Myspace : Last.FM

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day

It's father days in the UK today so the names of all today's featured bands contain the word father or dad and still some people out there think that this blog is just thrown together!

This post is dedicated to my dad who has taught me so much,and made me the man I am today.

Thanks dad and have a happy father's day.

Go Try

MP3 - Father Bloopy - Bibi Kan Werk It
Father Bloopy - Myspace : Last.FM
MP3 - Father of Syn - Spider Legs
Father of Syn - Myspace : Last.FM
MP3 - My Dad Vs Yours - In My Arms We Shall Begin
My Dad Vs Yours - Myspace : Last.FM
MP3 - Divorced Dad - Let's Go
Divorced Dad - Myspace : Last.FM
MP3 - Dad School - Back Fourth
Dad School - Myspace : Last.FM
MP3 - My Dad Is A Dinosaur - Smile
My Dad Is A Dinosaur - Myspace : Last.FM
These tracks are all linked direct from the band's Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

And for anyone who for whatever reason is a little angry with their progenitor and wants to blow off a little steam here's a band for you...

MP3 - Fuck You Dad - Buddy Holly Goes Surfing
Fuck You Dad - Last.FM
This track is linked direct from the Fuck You Dad Last.FM site so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Butcher Boys

The Bilinda Butchers
From: France

The Bilinda Butchers are a shoegaze/bossa nova/French Pop group from Paris, France. They take their name from the My Bloody Valentine guitarist although there sounds like very little to connect the music of the two bands.

Where My Bloody Valentine made your ears bleed with a wall of pure noise The Bilinda Butchers caress them gently while whispering sweet nothings. It's the point at which shoegazing and twee pop meet with waves of synth and guitar washing over melodies so sweet they'll rot your teeth. The Bilinda Butchers sound like the Field Mice having a pillow fight with Saint Etienne.

Check out their cover of the Pillows 'Girl's Don't Cry' sounds like OMD's Souvenir covered by The Pale Saints which is not something you hear everyday.

Go Try

MP3 - The Bilinda Butchers - I Can't See It Here
MP3 - The Bilinda Butchers - It's Not Over Till We're Dead
These tracks are linked direct from the The Bilinda Butchers Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

The Bilinda Butchers - Myspace : Last.FM

Go View

The Bilinda Butchers
Girls Don't Cry (Pillows Cover)

Going Underground

The Volitains
From: United Kingdom

Most bands usually form after meeting at school, university, a gig or after placing ads in their favourite music magazines or from the ashes of previous bands. Normal is clearly not the default setting for London's answer to no wave The Volitains who formed, legend has it, after a brush with death on the London Underground.

Call it luck or the forces of universe stepping in to take control but on one spring night after jamming with friend and drummer Dave Roberts, guitarist Nick D’Amico was waiting on the platform of Camden Town tube station when he spotted a semi-drunken crazed-looking girl singing to herself as she walked towards him. As she came closer, a man bumped her towards the tracks in front of D’Amico who dropped his guitar and grabbed her arm moments before a train pulled in. After a much deserved ‘thank you’ was delivered and a series of musings between the two about the greatness of Patti Smith, Kurt Cobain, Karen O and The Stooges occurred on the train, the future singer for what was to be The Volitains had been discovered.

After such a death defying launch it's hardly surprising that the Volitains sound is dark and ominous. The sonic equivalent of crashing Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Kills and Siouxsie & The Banshees together in the Hadron Collider while Candice's demonic vocal delivery releases the tension of her brush with the grim reaper on the Underground.

Go Try

MP3 - The Volitains - Underground
This track is published with the permission of The Playground.co.uk so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

The Volitains - Myspace : Last.FM

Go View

The Volitains
Iron Heel (Live)



If you like this you'll love the Volitains...

MP3 - The Kills - No Wow (Test Icicles Remix)
This track is linked direct from the Kills website and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Lo-Fi Guy

Adam Balbo
From: San Francisco, United States

Adam Balbo creates anti folk with his tongue firmly embedded into cheek and the irony dial turned up high. With songs about stains on his shirt (Stain On My Shirt), walking to his local park (Sunny Day) and his pity party (The Girl At My Pity Party) he sounds like a self deprecating Kimya Dawson relaying the trials, tribulations and mundanities of his life to a largely disinterested world.

If they ever remade Juno as a tale of a young(ish) man to whom nothing much happened then Adam Balbo has already written the soundtrack.

Go Try

MP3 - Adam Balbo - The Girl At My Pity Party
MP3 - Adam Balbo - What The Fuck
MP3 - Adam Balbo - The Stain On My Shirt
MP3 - Adam Balbo - Sunny Day
These tracks are linked direct from the Adam Balbo Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

Adam Balbo - Myspace : Last.FM

Go View

Adam Balbo
The Universe Is All There Is




If you like these you'll love Adam Balbo...

MP3 - Kimya Dawson - Heroes 2002
MP3 - Kimya Dawson - The Beer
These tracks are linked direct from the Kimya Dawson website and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Yeti Next Door

Yeti Hands
From: Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Dave Jordan, otherwise known as Yeti Hands, is a serious songwriter who rights quiet, wistful and reflective folk songs and then he goes and spoils it all by calling one of his songs the Future of Pants! If ever a song was burdened with an inappropriate title it's the enchanting 'Future of Pants' which, as far as I can tell is not about tailoring or trouser retailing in the next decade. Ignore Dave's quirky naming approach and lie back and let his beautifully crafted little acoustic gems play your heartstrings like a harp.

Go Try

MP3 - Yeti Hands - First Place Winter
MP3 - Yeti Hands - Future Of Pants
These tracks are published with the permission of Yeti Hands so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Yeti Hands - Myspace : Last.FM

Mgmt Working

Mgmt
From: Upstate, New York

MGMT, who recently played their largest headlining show anywhere in the world with a sold-out, 9,500 capacity gig at Morrison , Colorado ’s famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre, have just released their latest video, It’s Working, another visual foray into the world of intriguing imagery.

The video for the track, taken from their critically acclaimed sophomore album Congratulations, was directed by French artist So Me, renowned for his distinctive designs for Ed Banger Records. So Me has directed music videos for Kanye West and Kid Cudi and co-directed A Cross the Universe, a documentary chronicling the 2008 US tour of French act Justice.

Go View

MGMT
It's Working

Original Mirrors

The Delta Mirror
From: Los Angeles, California, United States

The Delta Mirror is a cocktail of all your past loves, the ones you wish had stuck around, and check up on from time to time even though you've moved on. They were made from the sprained fingers and broken records of mid 90's hip hop. They were made from the bent circuits of electronica, dead IDM lap tops and broken shoegaze strings. They were made from the injured spirit of a folk singer's broken heart.

Alongside bands like The Big Pink and Fuck Buttons, The Delta Mirror see's the things that made our past relationships work and brings them together creating the ideal love. Craig Gordon and David Bolt started out as a hip hop two piece in the late 90's and have been writing music in some form ever since. With the addition of Karrie K on bass, their sound has progressed to an ambient mix of shoegazy guitar and gothic vocals, but their production has held onto the same boom bap button pushing they started with.

Machines That Listen is The Delta Mirror's debut long play. Each song on the album is a story that takes place in a different room of a hospital. Track 2 "and the radio played on" tells of a dying elderly man and his wife's last moments together, while "hold me down just don't let me go" is told from the perspective of an ER nurse treating a stab victim. Listening to this record is like walking through the halls of Bellevue or Cedars Sinai listening to a score that is re-written daily.

Today's free track courtesy of those generous fellows at Lefse Records is 'Going To Town' which sounds like OMD at their most experimental slowly morphing into Echo & The Bunnymen.

Go Try

MP3 - The Delta Mirror - Going To Town
This track is published with the permission of The Delta Mirror so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

The Delta Mirror - Myspace : Last.FM
Lefse Records - Myspace : Website

Go View

The Delta Mirror
He Was Worse Than The Needle He Gave You

She's Got The Lux

Lux
From: Seattle, Washington
United States

When The Verve bemoaned the fact that The Drugs Don't Work maybe he should have taken a trip to the Seattle surgery of noise pop duo Lux who clearly have a much more positive approach to the restorative and recuperative properties of drugs.

Lux's 'Drugs Help' is a disturbing roar of atonal electro that sounds like the inside of a serial killers head as he's going postal. It's My Bloody Valentine assaulting The Raveonettes with an antique synthesizer. Another favourite of the Devil's is Little Cripple which somehow manages to be both cute, melodic and frighteningly discordant, like a cut 'n shut of The Cardigans and Crystal Castles.

If taking the drugs produces music like this then maybe Lux are right and drugs do work.

Go Try

MP3 - Lux - Drugs Help
MP3 - Lux - Little Cripple
These tracks are published with the permission of Lux so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Lux - Myspace

Down The Lane And Back Again

Syd Lane
From: Ireland

There's a purity and an inner beauty in the songs of Syd Lane that shines so brightly you need shades to listen. Her sound is an Irish stew of Syd Barrett, Nico,Catholic hymns, Sinead O'Connor, and medieval madrigals. It's the sound that you hear leaking out of the stained glass windows of a church when angels sing.

Syd, who previously made wonderful music with Jeremiah James in The Loaded Whispers and Chansons De Geste, claims to have been born to make music and makes all of her music free to download. In an era when artists talk about maximising their earning potential, monetising their art and other bullshit phrases straight out of business school it's refreshing to find an artist who believes in music for it's own sake, an artist unsullied by the harsh commercial world of merchandising and unit shifting.

Take a free trip down the Lane with Syd and you'll never come back.

Go Try

MP3 - Syd Lane - I Died For Beauty
MP3 - Syd Lane - I Couldn't Tell Her
This track is published with the permission of Syd Lane so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

Syd Lane - Myspace : Website : Last.FM

If you like Syd then check out her previous bands...

MP3 - Chansons De Geste - Astride A Grave
MP3 - Chansons de Geste - My Reach Exceeds My Grasp

MP3 - The Loaded Whispers - I Got Sunshine
MP3 - The Loaded Whispers - Sick Of Writing Sad Songs
These tracks are linked direct from the Chanson De Geste and The Loaded Whispers Last.FM sites and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Sister Act

The Sister Ruby Band
From: London, United Kingdom

There is a lot of confusion surrounding The Sister Ruby Band. Their myspace site says they're from London yet they've been named as one of the 10 LA bands to check out. The band is said to be the brainchild of a precociously talented 21 year old art student Johnny Ruby who may, or may not, be actually 21 year old Marlon Rabenreither. Oh and there doesn't appear to be any sisters!

Whatever the reality there is no confusion about the Sister Ruby Band sound. Their/his debut EP 'A Shot In The Dark' channels the nihilistic experimentalism of The Velvet Underground (The Sister Ray Band anyone?), the urgency of The Stooges, the pop savvy of Brian Wilson all tied together in a neat little bow by Johnny/Marlon's haunting vocals and walls of dreamy harmonies.

The Sister Ruby Band couldn't be cooler if they/he went skinny dipping in the Arctic ocean. Definitely on the one to watch list.

Go Try

MP3 - The Sister Ruby Band - Rebecca (Just Take It From Me)
This track is published with the permission of The Sister Ruby Band and Starfish Management so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

The Sister Ruby Band - Myspace : Website : Last.FM

Go View

The Sister Ruby Band
Coming Down On You

Give Me The Moonlight

The Helmholtz Resonators
From : Londinium, United Kingdom

London's The Helmholtz Resonators have a quintessentially English sound reminiscent of The Kinks and Manfred Mann mixed with a healthy dollop of the tongue in cheek wit and quirkiness of bands like Art Brut, The Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band and The Television Personalities.

On new single, Moonlight Lovelytime, they've turned the quirky dial down low and upped the romance factor for a more conventional tale of a lovers’ moonlight stroll and the excitement, tingling anticipation and overwhelming senses they experience along the way. It's a Waterloo Sunset for the 21st Century.

Go Try

MP3 - The Helmholtz Resonators - Moonlight Lovelytime
This track is published with the permission of the Helmholz Resonators so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

The Helmoltz Resonators -Myspace : Website : Last.FM

Go View

The Helmholtz Resonators
The Itty Bitty Spiders

The Lux of Love

Lux Lisbon

From: Newcastle, Milford Haven, All Over, United Kingdom

Those Devil readers with long memories may recall a post back in December 2008 on North East indie-rock sextet Lux Lisbon (Suicidal Virgins) well they've come storming back with a humdinger of a track 'We Don't Believe In Love Anymore'. It's a burst of widescreen indie that sounds like the early Killer's on steroids and will go down a storm at the festivals.

If you want to hear more then you can sign up at the band's Facebook site for some free Lux Lisbon tracks.

Go Try

MP3 - Lux Lisbon - We Don't Believe In Love No More
This track published with the permission of Lux Lisbon so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright
MP3 - Lux Lisbon - Cherry Blossom Tree
MP3 - Lux Lisbon - Plastic Lullaby
These tracks are linked direct from the Lux Lisbon Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright

Go Visit

Lux Lisbon - Myspace : Website : Last.Fm : Facebook

Go View

Lux Lisbon
We Don't Believe In Love Anymore

The Duke Spirit

Duke Raoul
From: Brighton, United Kingdom

If you look between the cracks of the music business off the A&R's usual well trodden paths you'll find some interesting, exciting young bands getting on with the business of creating great music far from the prying eyes on the voracious industry vultures.

One such band are Duke Raoul, who I am assuming are named after the antihero in Hunter S Thompson's autobiographical novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The Brighton quartet eschew trends and focus their efforts on producing interesting tracks like 'Break Up Your Routine' which sounds like the missing link between Pavement and My Bloody Valentine. There's a shoegazey thing going on but where MBV constructed a wall of noise Duke Raoul are quieter, more introspective and laid back. Even better is the dreamy 'Too Tired To Struggle' which starts like an OMD offcut before sleepwalking into a hazy paisley flecked psych bubble that recalls the halcyon days of The Dream Academy and The Rain Parade.

These dukes are marching to the top of the indie rock hill but unlike the Duke of York they won't be marching back down again.

Go Try

MP3 - Duke Raoul -Break Up Your Routine
MP3 - Duke Raoul - Too Tired To Struggle
These tracks are published with the permission of Duke Raoul so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Duke Raoul - Myspace : Last.FM

The Coral New Video

Check out the video for the Coral's new, and long awaited, new single 1,000 Years. It's a return to form for the Coral sounding like Fleetwood Mac covering The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows on a Tuscan beach!

Go Visit

The Coral - Myspace : Last.FM

Go View

The Coral
1,000 Years

Anyone Can Play Gitar

GiTAr
From: Califoregon, United States

Avant wierdo cut up merchants GiTAr release their new album 'Stuffed' today on Seeland Records, the label owned by legendary culture-jammers Negativland.

GiTAr members Ellipse Elkshow and I Cut People (not the names on their birth certificates) were raised in Evansville, Indiana, home to major polluters, factories, cancer statistics, pharmaceutical manufacturing and a test town for new products cooked up by various fast food giants.

One dark day in 2006 something snapped and the two childhood friends put powdered sugar on their noses, grabbed a guitar and decided to begin the most important balls-out sonic and visual assault that Civilization has ever freaking encountered – under the guise of GiTAr, no less. Eventually they both left the death trap and moved to the West Coast, where they began collaborating on an endless barrage of visual, sonic and improvisational projects.

GiTAr don't deliver nicely packaged up, over produced songs to get your toe tapping and your aunty dancing at weddings, they deliver cut-up collages of sound. This isn't music it's love, it's hate, it's social satire, it's political commentary, it's an astute condensation of the brutal irony of our social, political and physical existence.

To be savvier than the savviest, smarter than the Experts, hipper than the Hippest Hipster, fantastically famous, rolling in money and undeniably sextractive, obviously, you’ll need to get Stuffed!

Go Try

MP3 - GiTAr - Blue Boy Drag Net
MP3 - GiTAr - Gigagitar Face
These tracks are linked direct from the GiTAr Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

MP3 - GiTAR - No Gitars
This track is linked direct from the GiTAr Website and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

GiTAr - Myspace : Website : Last.FM

Knock On Wood

Harlowe & The Great North Woods
From: Portland, Oregon, United States

I know very little about Harlowe & The Great North Woods other than they have just released their first record via the Around Town Collective. It's a collection of wistful, lo-fi folk perfect for hot, sunny days relaxing in the shade of an old oak tree.

Go Try

MP3 - Harlowe & The Great North Woods - Roses
This track is published with the permission of Around Town Collective so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Harlowe & The Great North Woods - Myspace : Website

Pretty Girls Make Glass Graves

Glass Graves
From: Oakland, California
United States

As the sun goes down Gaby Graves, a 27 year old bioethicist in San Francisco by day, transforms herself into the dark, haunting and perfectly named Glass Graves.

Taking her band name from a claes oldenburg poem in which he describes painting as being an art form asleep "in gold crypts and glass graves" Gaby is clearly a serious artist. No fly by night bandwagon jumping musical fashion wave surfing here.

Her album 'Architecture', which is available for free download from Bandcamp, is a reflection of her artistic intent and obsessions with 80’s industrial, old school 4AD and 90’s lo-fi. Parachutes sounds like PJ Harvey fronting a lo-fi Killing Joke gone chillwave. The Devil's favourite track on the album The Trap Rebaited is a haunting lament with erotic undertones that could be the signature tune for an adults only take on Twilight and Glass Lips with it's keening vocals recalls the Cocteau Twins in their 4AD heyday.

With Glass Graves the long journey to the grave just got a whole lot more interesting.

Go Try

MP3 - Glass Graves - The Trap Rebaited
MP3 - Glass Graves - Parachutes
MP3 - Glass Graves - Glass Lips
These tracks are published with the permission of Glass Graves so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Glass Graves - Myspace : Website : Last.FM