We All Want Someone To Shout For

Maximum Balloon is the new solo project of Dave Sitek, the guitartist from TV On The Radio. Pretty much everyone else in the band is involved in some sort of side project, so now it’s his turn. He is currently streaming “Tiger” the first single from his debut album. It features guest vocals from Dragons of Zynth’s Aku. Strangely enough he sounds like he would be a perfect fit in TVOTR. The song actually sounds like a new TVOTR song, which means I like it.

Stream it here. The digital single will be released tomorrow.

Been meaning to post this for a while, but I completely forgot. It’s the music video for The New Pornographers’ “Crash Years”. Watch it below:

You can buy the album from insound right now and get a bundle that includes a t-shirt for only 26 bucks.

Goodnight Owl are a promising young band from Melbourne, Australia (lots of cool stuff coming from Aussie land as of late). They released their self-titled debut EP last year (which you can buy, here), and they just filmed their debut music video for “Maps and Compasses”, an outstanding song from the EP.

“Maps and Compasses” features electronic beats that are light and free, just like The Postal Service. It also features distant guitars that made me think of Sigur Ros. The vocals are strong as can be: full with emotion and care. You can’t help being moved by it’s depth and beauty.

Goodnight Owl are not a rip-off of Postal Service. If anything, these guys re-invented the sound that Postal Service had and added folk influences that truly stand out on their own. They did what Owl City couldn’t: Have a pair of balls.

Check out their debut film clip for “Maps & Compasses” below. I also posted a mp3. You need this song in your life:

[mp3]: Goodnight Owl – Maps and Compasses

Distractions are a great new band from Chicago who just put out their self titled debut album on cassette tape via Plustapes. They just got forkcasted, so you can imagine the band is feeling pretty good. The album is going to get re-mastered/mixed for a vinyl release that will come out later this year. They recently signed to Infinite Best Recordings, which is home to Twin Sister.

The song that got them all the attention is “All Night”, and it is well deserved. It sounds well formed and very diverse. Distractions don’t seem too shy about sharing their vast number of multi-genre influences on their songs. “All Night” is a impressive feat. The song has this live lounge rock attitude that is simply too cool for words. I can only imagine how great it will sound on that vinyl remaster release.

[mp3]: Distractions – All Night

You can buy their self titled album on cassette right here. The vinyl re-master will be out later this year. Expect to see more on Distractions here soon.

I have gotten some cool remix from Martin Doorly before, so he has my trust. He just sent me a new remix he did, and I enjoyed it. He put his stamp on a song called “Counterpoint” from English dance band Delphic.

I’ve never listened to them before now, but this remix sure has me interested.

[mp3]: Delphic – Counterpoint (Doorly Remix)

If you liked that remix, chances are that you will like Build’s remix of Doubt. It was including on DailyBeatz excellent Blogwave Summer Mixtape.

[mp3]: Delphic – Doubt (Build Remix)

Photo via The Tennessean

Kings Of Leon played Bonnaroo earlier tonight, and apparently it was a great set. It included a cover of The Pixies highly regarded classic “Where Is My Mind?”. I thought the band did it justice. I wish I could have been there to hear it myself.

The cover was quickly uploaded onto youtube. You can grab it below:

[mp3]: Kings Of Leon – Where is my Mind? (Pixies Cover)

It is pretty bad quality, but I am just grateful that someone recorded it for us. Hopefully a higher quality version comes up soon.

Wild Nothing is the musical project of Virginia native, Jack Tatum. He has garnered plenty of praise for his song “Summer Holiday”, along with everything else on his debut album Gemini. The praise is more than warranted.

It’s a perfect summer song that’s sprinkled with all of the best sounds that summer has to offer. Hushed vocals packed with clean plucked guitars and frantic percussion. If you’re a fan of Beach Fossils, chances are you will enjoy Wild Nothing. It’s a perfect 4 minute moment where everything in the world stops for you. Summer is in our hands, and “Summer Holiday” captures the feeling.

[mp3]: Wild Nothing – Summer Holiday

If you haven’t heard Wild Nothing’s fantastic cover of Kate Bush’s song “Cloudbusting”, you need to hear it now:

[mp3]: Wild Nothing – Cloudbusting (Kate Bush Cover)

I haven’t listened to Gemini in full yet, but I have only heard good things from it. If you would like to take a chance on it, it’s available to buy now. You can even buy both debut albums from Wild Nothing and Beach Fossils in a package deal. Head over to Captured Tracks for more purchase info.

Last Tuesday I saw the Futureheads at Bowery Ballroom. Barry, the lead singer for the band had throat problems, and allowed a fan in the crowd to sing the song on stage. The fan chosen was named  Tiernan Browne. Turns out the band actually new him from the previous show at Maxwel’s in NJ (apparently he was a bit drunk that night and got on the bands nerves) so they decided to let him redeem himself by singing vocals on “Hounds Of Love”, The Kate Bush cover that is arguably their best song.

The result was an amazing moment that I will never forget. The kid absolutely nailed it. The energy level in the Bowery Ballroom was absolutely insane. I couldn’t stop smiling during it. He did so well. I gladly high fived him when he came back into the crowd after. Every fan in the venue wished that they could have done that as well as he did. I know I was thinking just that.

Watch the performance below:

Kings Of Leon’s popularity has grown incredibly over the years. While they are considered sellouts by many, they’ve been making good rock music for almost a decade now, and deserve success here at home. While I enjoyed their last album, I have gotten really sick of “Use Somebody”. Hearing it while I was eating at Applebee’s two weeks ago pretty much sealed the deal.

The band is back on tour, and some new songs were played at the first few shows. Song titles include: “Southbound”, “Mary”, and “Radioactive”. The only song that impressed me was “Radioactive”. It has some pretty cool ideas working. The other songs aren’t doing too much for me right now. Then again, these are very early versions of the songs so I won’t judge.

Check them out below:

Southbound:

Mary:

Radioactive:

Thanks to TwentyFourBit for making me aware that new songs were online.

As you may know, Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of The Killers, has gone solo. He is going to release his debut album, Flamingo, sometime soon in the immediate future. “Crossfire”, the first single from the album, was played by radiostation 109.1 RXP. As it turns out, the radio station may have accidentally played the song as a leak. Either way, the song is now all over the internet. A radio rip has surfaced and we got the goods.

You hear this all the time, but if you like The Killers, you will like “Crossfire”. It has the Killers stadium size ambition, the 80′s synth rock vibe, and deep bass. Brandon lets his voice hit some new notes that we never quite heard with The Killers. The song, while not bad at all, failed to wow me. No particular moment in the sound really grabbed me. It was a decent sample, but I was left wanting more. There is certainly much potential heard within “Crossfire” though.

Keep at eye out at Brandon’s website for news and updates.

Check out Crossfire:

[mp3]: Brandon Flowers – Crossfire