Panic! At The Disco broke up last year, and it didn’t really affect me. I strongly disliked pretty much everything that I heard off their debut, but a few of the songs on their second album were ok. Turns out they broke up because two of their members, Ryan Ross and Jon Walker had artistic differences from the rest of the band.

They broke off from Panic! to form a new band called Young Veins. They now make sunny California rock that is miles ahead of anything that their old band did in my opinion. They fleshed out to a full band and are going to release their debut album, Take A Vacation, sometime in summer once the record deal gets worked out. Spin exclusively premiered the song, and its pretty good. It comes bursting with sunny harmonies and friendly guitars.

I’m quite enjoying this a lot. You can’t even tell that these cats are former Panic! At The Disco’ers, so you can still keep your hipster cred! I’m definitely interested to see what else these guys are able to do on Take A Vacation!

[mp3] : Young Veins – Young Veins (Die Tonight)

                          

I’m trying to diversify the type of music that I share with you guys here. I’ve been pretty strictly indie rock here, and there is nothing wrong with that. That’s what I listen to. But I also enjoy some pop, rock, and hell even some good r&b every now and then. It isn’t the stuff that I listen to all that often, but it does get some play time when the mood is right.

R. Kelly is a master at creating pretty sensual r&b music that is smooth and sexy for the ladies. His new joint “Speaking My Language” features a drum beat that sounds like it was taken off of 808’s. It’s a calm and collected joint that I enjoyed listening to. R. Kelly has some kind of power in his voice that truly makes him different from the hundreds of others that try to copy him.

[mp3] : R.Kelly – Speaking My Language

Saw it via Fader via YK2 Daily

                          

Is there a better feeling than finding a talented new band? Not for me. Every so often music fans come across a  young band that is far from amateur. They dazzle you from the start and make you wonder how they are not bigger. This is how I feel about a fantastic band from Buffalo, NY called The Tins. It with great excitement that I introduce these guys to you.

My introduction to The Tins was when they came  to play at my college for a small underground show. They opened for Brooklyn band Via Audio, and to be honest The Tins did a lot more for me that night than Via Audio ever will. The Tins, consisting of Adam Putzer on guitar/vocals, Mike Santillo on keyboard/vocals, and Dave Muntner on the drums. They were three friends who met at Binghamton University (where I go to school), and have since formed out of Buffalo NY. They have been playing together for about 4 years now, and are finally releasing their debut self titled EP.

The 5 song EP is self titled, and recorded at Dreamland Studios in Woodstock. Adam and Mike’s duel vocals remind me of two of my favorite groups: Wolf Parade and The Raconteurs. Adam even confirmed Spencer Krug/Jack White as some of his many influences. Both of their vocals are equally strong, but different enough to add a different feeling to each song. You can tell that these boys are a tight knit group with their chemistry as a group flowing out of the songs. They play off each others strengths, utilizing all the necessary skills to make great songs.

The standout on the EP is the stellar “The Green Room”. It is a 7 minute epic that is finely constructed. It features great bridge transitions, hooks, and tight instrumentation.  The Green Room is quite an impressive song to have on your debut EP. For me, it’s an easy front runner for my favorite song of 2010. June Avenue is an exiting rocker with tons of passion and soul that earns their comparisons to Wolf Parade. Tell me that Mike Santillo doesn’t sound like Spencer Krug during his “ooh ooh oooh oh”’s. The band has strong songwriting chops, and I have not stopped playing the EP since I received it.

The Tins are writing more material right now while they live in isolation upstate in Buffalo. Posted below is The Green Room along with another fantastic song off the EP, June Avenue. All courtesy of Adam who gave full permission to share these songs. Go to their myspace to stream the rest of the songs off the EP. Be their friend on facebook while your at it. Look at for the official release of the EP, on April 10th. Stay tuned for more info on it.

[mp3] : The Tins – The Green Room
[mp3] : The Tins – June Avenue

                          

This guy totally looks like Ben Folds, and plays the piano quite well. I remember Ben Folds was good at creating songs on the spot at concerts..hmmmm

This guy uses chatroulette for its true potential, improving songs depending on the random user. Totally genius & hilarious :

                          

It seems like buzz is created for albums by the fans alone. A band can just announce a title, give some art, and play a few live shows, and the people will take it from there. Look at what’s been happening with The National’s new album High Violet. They slowly starting give us info, beginning with the album title, and it’s special website. Next, they debuted Terrible Love on Fallon, causing all of The National’s fans to drool from their mouths in anticipation for the rest of the songs. The National continued this buzz by playing two very exclusive (21 and over no less!) shows at Brooklyn’s Bell House. This was smart because not just everyone could go, and tons and tons of people were dying to find out what they played, and to see footage. Let’s just say the rest of the world and I are dying to hear this album!

Music Taster’s Choice was one of the lucky few who was in attendance for the 2nd Bell House show, and recorded 5 new songs that they played! The songs included Sorrow, Anyone’s Ghost, Little Faith (Chrome Horse), Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks, and Terrible Love. The version of Terrible Love is a lot more powerful than the one heard on Fallon, so be sure to check that out.

Here is the official tracklsiting for High Violet, out on May 11th!

1. Terrible Love
2. Sorrow
3. Anyone’s Ghost
4. Little Faith
5. Afraid of Everyone
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio
7. Lemonworld
8. Runaway
9. Conversation 16
10. England
11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

Watch the videos for the 5 aforementioned new songs after the jump! via Music Taster’s Choice

Sorrow:

Anyone’s Ghost:

Little Faith (Chrome Horse)

Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

Terrible Love:

                          

Well folks it looks like the mystery of Iamamiwhoami is solved. The live journal ohnotheydidn’t did some pretty heavy detective work and I think they have figured out who the person is! They have matched up photos, videos, all resembling the Sweedish singer Jonna Lee.

Here is a comparison photo that they did of two images that pretty much seals the deal, unless the photo is playing tricks on us.

They compare photos to her teeth, her piano, and show a photo she posted on twitter that resembles the one in the videos. She just happens to be playing at SXSW. It looks like we may have the mystery solved!!!

What do you think?

Be sure to read all of the evidence that ohnotheydidn’t have posted right here!!

                          

This video makes no sense, but features plenty of music’s superstars (Andrew VanWyngarden, GZA, Fab Moretti) and trippy animation. The song is the only Devendra Banhart song I have on itunes, so it’s fitting that I post this vid. Anyone have any recommendations for other songs to listen to?

Watch below via Spinner:

                          

She & Him’s new album Volume 2 is streaming right now at NPR, so you can grab a listen. Spring time is almost upon us, there probably won’t be a better album for those bright sunny days.

Listen to the stream of Volume 2 right here!

If you like it, grab it at insound on Vinyl or CD!

                          

You gotta love the fact that an instrumental band is called Holy Fuck. That is beyond cool. They are back with their 3rd album, Latin, and you can listen to their brand new single “Latin America” right now! It is a really vibrant, lively, instrumental piece that sounds like it’s taking place right in your room. Matt from You Ain’t No Picasso hit the nail on the head when he said “there’s a real flow to the song and it captures a lot of the power from their live show.” Latin America really gets the blood pumping. This would be a good song to use for a TV Show’s opening theme song. It’s amazing how much emotion they are able to convey through instrumental music. Pretty amazing right?

The band announced the details of Latin via chatroulette, so kudos for them on trying something completely bizarre. Download the song below or via Holy Fuck’s official website. Latin is out May 11th on Young Turks/XL.

[mp3] : Holy Fuck – Latin America

                          

The Morning Benders have been one of my favorite bands ever since I saw them open for The Kooks in spring 2008. They moved even further up my list after releasing the wonderful Big Echo, and capturing my heart and adoration. Chris Chu and the band have been really busy touring and promotion the record, but he still made time for a short little interview with me. The guy is top class, and really friendly.

Check it out:

Will: My introduction to The Morning Benders was when you guys opened for The Kooks at Terminal 5 back in 2008. What do you remember about that show?

Chris: That show was a lot of fun. I remember the sound being kind of weird, but the crowd being great.

Will: Can you tell my readers how the Morning Benders came together?

Chris: Match.com

Will: What was the song writing process like when you were writing Big Echo?

Chris: I wrote all the songs in one spurt, mostly in about a month or two. I generally write songs in families like that, so we know they belong together as an album. From the beginning we were calling them “Big Echo” songs. I wasn’t really clear why I thought they should be called that at the beginning, but as we started fleshing the songs out a bit it made more and more sense.

Will: How did the Yours Truly video come together? How rewarding was it for you hearing all the acclaim for it?

Chris: It was just us wanting to get together with all our friends and play a song. You see a lot of videos of bands performing songs in studio sessions or whatever these days, and I find a lot of them to be pretty boring. This was our attempt at making something special. I am so happy to see that people have been moved by the video, and have been affected enough to want to show their friends and such. It’s amazing!

Will: When did your brother become an official member of the band?

Chris: He’s been with us for almost a year now, since last spring. He went to Europe/UK with us, and did the Grizzly Bear and Girls shows.

Will: How has the moved from NYC changed your lives as musicians? I see you discovered the soup dumpling at Joe’s Shanghai from another interview. Isn’t it the greatest?

Chris: It’s been great so far. Honestly, the main reason I wanted to move to NY was the food. Joe’s Shanghai, for example, is incredible, and so unique in the states. Ippudo is really amazing as well. Diner in Brooklyn. Aburiya in midtown. They got it all.

Will: How does a song come together for the morning benders?

Chris: We start with the lyrics and melody, and then we infuse true love and deep thoughts/feelings.

Will: Favorite tour memory?

Chris: This crackhead sneaking in the back door at the Local 506 in North Carolina and pushing Julian out of the way and taking over his drum set. Right when we were supposed to start our set…

Will: With that said, Whats your “Almost Famous” moment? If you’ve never seen the movie (watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qn3tel9FWU ). Whats the “defining” moment as the morning benders so far?

Chris: We had a literal “Almost Famous” moment in the van in Arizona, last tour. We stuffed 18 people in the van, and we were all singing “Tiny Dancer.” It was beautiful! I love that movie!

Will: What artists inspired the sounds on Big Echo?

Chris: Too many to list, but here are a few albums I was really into at the time.

The Radio Dept. – Lesser Matters
Big Star – Third/Sister Lover
Kevin Shields – Lost In Translation Soundtrack Stuff
Blur – Think Tank
Talking Heads – Speaking In Tongues
Dirty Projectors – Rise Above
Nico – Chelsea Girl

Will: Favorite beer?

Chris: I drink Gin.

Will: A band that my readers should know, that no one knows about?

Chris: The Magic Kids

Big Echo is out now, and if you haven’t bought it yet, you better do so now! It’s totally worth it! Purchase it here via Insound.