Download That Dirty Projectors 7" For Free • The "Temecula Sunrise" 12" included the title track and "Cannibal Resource" along with "Ascending Melody" and "Emblem Of The World." There's a new limited-edition 7" featuring the non-Bitte Orca songs: Download it for an email address at dirtyprojects.net.

UPDATE: The "Temecula Sunrise" UK-only EP never actually came out (slackers), so this is the first time these songs are seeing "official" release.

Comments (17) latest by Camille in Slovenia

New Morning Benders - "Promises"

Time figures heavily into the twinkling, groovy swell of "Promises," the lead single from the morning benders' Big Echo, and it is decidedly not on their side: "I can't help thinking we grew up too fast / and I know this won't last a second longer than it has." A lot of the writing on the forthcoming, impressively consistent and endlessly catchy Big Echo is set in that ineffable state of yearning and pensiveness that comes with coming of age, tightly packaged in clever if simply constructed pop. The album's co-produced by the band's main mind/songwriter Chris Chu and Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor, whose sonic stamp teases out the sophisticated side of the benders' erstwhile straightforward jangle. Think of Taylor's work with Department Of Eagles: subtly surreal tics outlining and underwriting whimsical and heartworn poses, with one foot in James Mercer's melodic stylings, occasionally as morose but often punchier and more sparkly than anything in the Shins' narrow chutes and inverted worlds. Download this, and keep ears peeled for the rest of Big Echo: Despite their promise, it's better than anticipated. Rough Trade and True Panther snatched them up for this one, which, smart move Rough Trade and True Panther.

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Posted at 12:22 PM by amrit in MP3
Tags: the morning benders

Comments (14) latest by jackson

Allen Blickle (Baroness) Remixes Surfer Blood (Stereogum Premiere)

Surfer Blood's name is tougher than their sound. No doubt. But what happens when the West Palm Beach buzz group hook up with Baroness drummer Allen Bickle for a remix of Astro Coast's nimble frontrunner "Swim (To Reach The End)"? It's an interesting pairing: A longstanding (relatively speaking, in digital-age terms) metal band who've been quickly crossing over into a different non-metal realm with their Blue Record aligning themselves with an indie band just arriving at the party. Random? Not really. When we posted Baroness' "Swollen And Halo," I quoted a Decibel article where Blickle documented his Savannah band's listening habits:

I have no idea how the hell we ended up playing this kind of music. When we first got together, all [bassist] Summer [Welch] listened to was King Diamond, [guitarist/vocalist] John [Baizley] was obsessed with old Flood records, and I was into weird shit like the Album Leaf.

Keep in mind the skittering qualities of Jimmy LaValle's percussion accents (albeit in a sludgier wind-tunnel) while you take in Allen's "Swim (Alpaca Remix)."

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Posted at 10:33 AM by brandon in MP3, Tour Dates
Tags: Baroness | Surfer Blood

Comments (1) latest by woa

Au Revoir Simone/Class Actress @ Highline Ballroom, NYC 1/7/10

It was ladies night at the Highline Ballroom last night, the Chelsea club putting together a bill anchored by relatively longstanding, dreamy keyboard trio Au Revoir Simone, and a launching pad for singer-songwriter Alexa Wilding and the highly promising Class Actress -- a project taking its cues from '80s pop and the sound of its vintage synths, fronted by the memorable presence of Elizabeth Harper's vocals, signed to Chris Taylor's Terrible Records. As Kyle Dean Reinford's photos show, Au Revoir made it snow -- quite literally -- and as that lead pic captures, ARS invited Elizabeth and Alexa for an a cappella cover of Kylie's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head." We have some video of that moment, photos of the night via Kyle, and a take-away sample from Class Actress's excellent debut EP Journal Of Advocacy.

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Posted at 5:40 PM by amrit in Concert, MP3, Photo
Tags: Alexa Wilding | Au Revoir Simone | Class Actress

Comments (5) latest by Veckatimest Rainbow Tr…

New Extra Life - "The Ladder" (Stereogum Premiere)

The first song that really stood out for me from incantatory BTW Extra Life was Secular Works's "Blackmail Blues," best described as a darker, heavier Dirty Projectors backed by Torch Of The Mystics Sun City Girls. But that's just one look. This past fall I booked a show that included PERIOD, the weirdo metallic jazz band that includes Extra Life singer/guitarist/songwriter Charlie Looker, who you might also recognize from ZS, Mick Barr formations, and DP's Rise Above (in 2008 Extra Life did a split 12" with Nat Baldwin). He's also worked with Glenn Branca, Daniel Carter, Anthony and Tyondai Braxton, and you'll find a number of these tendencies and aesthetics on Extra Life's sophomore album Made Flesh, but I keep coming back to PERIOD's heavy, bleak electro-jazz drifts while listening to "The Ladder" and its clamoring backdrop. For Made Flesh, Looker surrounded himself with violinist Caley Monahon-Ward, bassist Anthony Gedrich (STATS, Ocrilim), drummer Nicholas Podgurski, and saxophonist/keyboardist Travis Laplante. The collection was recorded by metal multi-tasker Marston (Krallice, Gorguts, Behold the Arctopus, Dysrhythmia) with Monahon-Ward. See what all of this sounds like.

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Posted at 2:17 PM by brandon in MP3
Tags: Extra Life

Comments (3) latest by PD-EX

New Warpaint Video - "Elephants"

Slow motion's a speed that works well for Warpaint, a trio of L.A. ladies and a drummer guy trading in gauzy, darkened post-punk hypnotica. Their video for "Elephants" matches framerates with the dreamy Lynchian clip they delivered for the quietly anxious "Stars," but here they're dressed in Stevie Nicks lace scattered across a bare performance space. Director Bruce Miller portrays them well, laconic and ethereal with a certain sorceress' force, just as likely to break your heart as to be cast in a remake of The Craft.

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Posted at 12:05 PM by amrit in MP3, Tour Dates, Video
Tags: Warpaint

Comments (13) latest by anonymous

New White Hinterland - "Icarus"

The first track from White Hinterland's forthcoming Kairos finds Casey Dienel dropping the brushed-drum jazz and acoustic cabaret-folk feel of Phylactery Factory and the smiley bird of Wind-Up Canary to instead follow the hushed experimental threads she hinted at when we asked her to cover Björk. She expanded on that clanging palette via her Francophile-core Luniculaire EP and refined it to a whisper with her cover of Arthur Russell's "Lucky Cloud." Yeah, there was a sorta darkness on Phylactery Factory (remember the cartoon blood on the cover?), but this pushes things deeper and then recasts it in a denser electro realm. Maybe it was her and bandmate Shawn Creeden's move to Oregon. All that rain. And over at whiterhinterland.com she mentions having Fever Ray on repeat. Whatever the case, I find these sorts of aesthetic shifts interesting. Especially when they happen in threes. (Oddly, it's the second song of the day on a Greek Mythology kick.) Take a listen.

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Posted at 5:55 PM by brandon in MP3
Tags: Arthur Russell | White Hinterland

Comments (2) latest by Carey

New White Hills - "Dead"

Longstanding space rockers White Hills, aka guitarist Dave W. and bassist Ego Sensation (not Kanye), teamed up with Oneida drummer Kid Millions to record their new self-titled album at the Ocropolis in Williamsburg. Lots of fuzz, lots of drown, tons of bong smoke. It was captured in three days this past summer -- there's a looseness to it; the guitar sound is great. The label mentions Hawkwind and Mudhoney. Both make sense: White Hills ooze thick, expansive, psychedelic sludge. You could also think about Comets On Fire colliding with Dead Meadow while you wade through the 7-song/hour-long collection. Start with the opener "Dead." Later, look out for the gut-kicking "Three Quarters" and appropriately named "Glacial," a drone fest that shines a black light on another side of the group.

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Posted at 11:51 AM by brandon in MP3
Tags: White Hills

Comments (1) latest by matt