We All Want Someone To Shout For

I ran over from The Delancey and caught Dominant Legs. For those of you who don’t know, it’s the tag team of Ryan Lynch (whose a guitarist for Girls) and the lovely Hannah Hunt (try and not fall in love with her). They play guitar dancepop that will delight every bone in your body. They sounded really exciting in The Living Room, delivering a endearing performance for the select few of us who were there. Their EP is a nice sample of what they bring, but I’m dying to hear a stretch out full length.

I ended up seeing them again, less than an hour later. More on that soon. For now, enjoy these photos:

Young The Giant are a band I’m very excited about. I was interested to see how they played off live, and oh boy, did they deliver. I got to The Delancey late, but caught the last few songs of their set. These guys absolutely bring the rock. I am going to catch their next NYC show without a doubt. These guys are going to be huge soon. Get ready.

I have been impatiently waiting to see Sufjan Stevens live since Illinois stole my heart back in 2005. It’s been a long wait, but it was all worth it. I finally saw him last night at The Beacon Theater, and it’s a night I will never forget.

Opener DM Stitch was a singer songwriter similar to early Sufjan, proudly playing 4 excellent songs for the crowd. He is on the same label as Sufjan, and he also plays piano in Sufjan’s band. So it was a nice way to warm up for what was to come.

Sufjan started with the familiar favorite, Seven Swans. It eased us into the new material which clearly was vastly different. Next was “Too Much’ and right then and there I knew this wasn’t going to be just another show. There were lights, a big screen displaying images, glowing consumes etc. This was a full on grand experience.

(hit read more for the rest):

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The magnificent British Sea Power are back with a new song called “Living Is So Easy”. It’s on their new album Valhalla Dancehall, which is set for a release on January 10th via Rough Trade.

The band already gave us the new EP Zues not too long ago, but that was just a warm up. We got a full length coming out soon, only adding to the massive amount of tasty releases that we’re going to be receiving in the first month of 2011. Here’s how the band described the new LP:

A mixture of Serge Gainsbourg and Ralf and Florian era Kraftwerk with a sprinkle of Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

“Living Is So Easy” is an electronic track, a new look for the alt rockers. Let’s see if Pitchfork is going to give this album a U.2. The electronic sound doesn’t take too much away from the familiar BSP sound though. They still lay down a wonderfully addictive chorus that will have you swaying. This one doesn’t hit hard immediately, but I can tell this is a grower. Give it a few spins before you judge.

Apparently the version available to download is the edited version. Grab it below:

[mp3]: British Sea Power – Living Is So Easy

Or grab it officially via this widget:

Check out Valhalla Dancehal’s tracklisting below:

1. Who’s In Control
2. We Are Sound
3. Georgie Ray
4. Stunde Null
5. Mongk II
6. Luna
7. Baby
8. Living Is So Easy
9. Observe The Skies
10. Cleaning Out The Rooms
11. Thin Black Sail
12. Once More Now
13. Heavy Water

Girl Talk has started our week off the right way: with a brand new album that we can download for free. This morning Gregg Gillis tweeted that his newest album was available for free download.

The new album is titled All Day. It’s available to download as a normal track by track album, as well as one big song. Girl Talk insists that it be listened to as a whole, saying the following on the download page.

All Day is intended to be listened to as a whole.
It is broken up into individual tracks only for easier navigation.

This album is a free download.
Girl Talk thanks all artists sampled. A full list will be posted in the future.

So head over to Illegal Art to grab All Day right now. Start your Monday off with a bang. I had no idea Girl Talk would be releasing a new album in 2010. Very pleasant surprise.

There was plenty of cool shows during CMJ, but one of the coolest moments of the week came from Yellow Ostrich. They performed at Spin NYC, and it just happened that the popular La Blogotheque was there to film a part of it. It was an extremely cool experience to see what goes on behind the scenes at La Blogotheque. They photographed the whole performance and filmed Yellow Ostrich’s last two songs.

Yellow Ostrich has been a longtime favorite of this blog. Hell, I’ve been a fan of everything that Alex Schaaf has done, even way back to his days with The Chairs. Yellow Ostrich has been a project that has been growing better and better with each release, and there’s no doubt in my mind that big things are in store for him. Now the band is stretched out to a two man team between Alex and Michael Tapper, formerly the drummer of We Are Scientists.

The combination of Alex and Michael is a flawless one. They played a selection of the gems taken from Yellow Ostrich’s latest album, The Mistress (which you buy via pay your own price here). It was my first time seeing Yellow Ostrich live, and I was really impressed. La Blogotheque had the cameras rolling for two of the highlights from The Mistress: “Whale” & “Mary”. It was a breathtaking moment that really shows the depth behind this band.

I can’t wait to re-live the magic once the videos go up. Who knows, maybe I make an appearance.

If you somehow don’t have “Whale” & “Mary”, grab them below:

[mp3]: Yellow Ostrich – Whale
[mp3]: Yellow Ostrich – Mary

Check out the rest of the photos, after the jump:

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I’ll be honest, I am starting to grow somewhat bored of bedroom project type electronic acts. There’s nothing really wrong with them, it’s just not my thing. With that said, I had a fun time watching Baths set. I think it’s the type of artist I’d enjoy better listening to at home, but then again, maybe that’s why they’re bedroom acts? Hmmmm.

More photos, after the jump:

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Caught Marnie Stern for the 2nd time during CMJ week at Brooklyn Bowl for Pitchfork’s #Offline. She sounded even better than she did at Stereogun’s Showcase, benefiting from a better sound system. I enjoyed it a lot more. She has some heavy riffs for a small blond girl.

More photos, after the jump:

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Local Natives topped off a busy CMJ Thursday with a great set at Spin/Ray-Ban’s Party at the DCTV Firehouse.

I’ve been fortuante to see Local Natives a few times this year, and somehow they continue to impress me more and more with their live show. Although their setlist has stayed the same (They only have one album after all), they have continued to build a stronger live show that continues to leave me satisfied. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing “Airplanes” live. It’s as beautiful of a moment as they come. And “Sun Hands”? It’s a monster live.

If you have a chance to catch them touring still, do so now. Chances are that their tour is coming to an end soon.

See the rest of the photos, by clicking read more:

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Thanks to the good people at Spin, I was able to attend the Spin/Ray-Ban party featuring Titus Andronicus/Local Natives. Sure, it wasn’t really a true “CMJ Discovery” event, but how could I pass up seeing Local Natives, one of my favorite bands at the moment, at the DCTV Firehouse. I also was interested to see Titus Andronicus in a more intimate setting, considering their disappointing performance opening for Vampire Weekend at United Palace Theater.

This time around, Titus Andronicus knocked me off my feet. They’re were an animal live. I realized right away that United Palace was not the place you’d want to see a band like Titus. These guys used the tight space to their advantage creating as much loud energy as possible. They’re like a mad mans Bruce Springsteen. Rowdy guitar rock with a story to tell. I was impressed and take back any doubts at their ability to play live.

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