Magic Man - Real Life Color

Real Life Color is the first release by the Boston duo Magic Man.  The album's birth can be credited to the duo spending the summer in France working on organic farms. Sam Lee and Alex Caplow took advantage of down time by writing music in the various areas they were staying.  This gave them the fortunate opportunity of writing at unique locations including a chateau, a farm, and a circus festival.  Once home at their respective schools they used the magic of the internet to record while geographically separated.

This is definitely a summer album for fans of synth pop.  If you loved last summer's Passion Pit and Phoenix releases I would strongly suggest picking it up.  My personal favorite track was "Like Sailors".  They are currently giving away this album for free so jump on it.

Try it

-Jim

New Wolf Parade leaked!

Apparently it leaked last Friday, but I just found it and gave it a listen.  Not too shabby.

Expo 86
-Jim

Suffocate For Fuck Sake translations

I finally stumbled upon the translations for the various interview samples on Suffocate For Fuck Sake's first full length.  They are attached in the link below as a Word document.

Enjoy!

Album

Translations

 -Jim

Emanuel and The Fear

Emanuel and The Fear are only asking one thing from you, the listener: Listen.

How appropriate is it then that the debut album from the 11-piece (yes, 11) orchestral pop group from New York is titled just that. Listen.
The band takes influence from a little band called Arcade Fire, and it shows directly in their sound. Instead of being a carbon-copy under a different name, though, they take the style and put their own unique twist to it and the result is something that is arguably better than AF. It's like when you see a set of twins, and realize that one of them has a special something that just sets them apart from the other.

Truly this is one of the undiscovered gems lying around there in the world, and it's a damn shame. So give it a listen and support the artists you enjoy!

Try It

Buy It

-Gio

Acres - Silos

The emo band Acres from New Jersey broke up at some point this year (I think).  It's a shame too because they were pretty great.  They are giving their Silos demos away now, while they compile some sort of retrospective discography.  So stay tuned for that because if these demos tell us anything, the discography will be worth the wait.

Download

Myspace

Sometimes the truth hurts.

 Check out the video on this guy's blog.   Basically it's a real writer taking the internet hype machine and bloggers (myself included) behind the tool shed.  He even takes on the mother of all hype machines Pitchfork.  His presentation was kind of harsh, but he did leave some words of wisdom that I hope everyone follows:

"Fuck the numbers.  Fuck math.  Today spend an hour listening to a radio station that doesn't cater to your demographic.  Buy a magazine that deals with a genre you aren't familiar with.  Create a pandora playlist based on an artist you only know one song by.  Download an album by a band just because you like their name.  Don't let math make decisions for you...don't believe the hype machine."

http://everetttrue2.blogspot.com/2010/04/this-is-best-fucking-rant-ive-heard-all.html
And yes the irony of me re-blogging this isn't lost on me.

-Jim

Pan Galactic Straw-Boss

Pan Galactic Straw-Boss started as a nameless noise duo in 2007.  Mike Twark and Steve Jordan dabbled in the experimental ambient noise department for awhile before adding Andrew Joseph on bass guitar a year later. "As a noise duo we didn't really accomplish anything", the band admits in many of their bios.  With the addition of a bassist their music took on a more conventional post-rock sound while still retaining their ambient and noise roots.  A second guitarist, Van Young was added before the release of their first EP.

Not much else is known about the band from Norfolk and that's OK, because their music does the talking for them.  With influences like Swans, Sonic Youth, and My Bloody Valentine it is no wonder that it's easy to hear traces of ambient, noise, and shoegaze in their work.  This coupled with a sinister ambiance creates a dark post rock experience that I can only compare to The Wind-Up Bird.  The first time I heard Mouth Crazy I found myself hypnotized by the crashing symbols and relentless guitars.  Before you know it you just lost ten minutes in their world.

Their work is extremely impressive, it's hard to say enough about it.  Earth, Flash, Heat is a slightly more ambient affair with touches of noise, while Mouth Crazy provides more elements of classic post-rock. This is NOT your typical Godspeed clone.  Check this out ASAP

Mouth Crazy 7" 

Whirlwind, Flash, and Heat 

Buy 'em
-Jim