Ms Mr

Now that I am working full time the posting will be much more sparse and I apologize. But every once in a while I remember something that is amazing and needs to be shared.

Today that is Ms Mr. I originally became aware of them because my girl Marina (a la Marina and the Diamonds) recommended a song by them on her blog. The lady has amazing taste. Ms Mr's song "Bones" may be my favorite song of the year. I thought it only fitting that I make the effort to get a post about them in here before the year ended.

There's not much information out there about the band, but they seem to be a male-female duo from New York and they make haunting electro-rock. Their debut EP "Ghost City USA" is available for free download on Bandcamp.

Download it!

The Good Natured

I've been in an electropop craze for a while now, a few months...and with good reason. There's a ton of new electronic acts out there these days, it's the "it" genre, if that's possible. If you had told me I'd have been into electronic 10, even 5, years ago I'd have shuddered, but things are different now. When I thought "electronic" years ago it was the bleep bloop stuff, either dark and with haunting vocals, or none at all, or it was angry and urgent German dance floor music...either way, no thanks!

These days there's a lot more rock and dance type electronic leanings, and a definite revival of the 80's New Wave synth appreciation. I'm all for that, at least in general. One such artist is Britain's The Good Natured. This lady, Sarah McIntosh is basically the whole band, though she has people who play with her. She looks like a pixie Robert Smith (a la The Cure) but makes music that I can only describe as La Roux remixed by New Order. I think she's brilliant, and one of the few acts I've came across of late that I feel like most people in the indie community can look at and say "yeah, she's got something". Really talented.

A taste of The Good Natured:

Eisley "Smarter"

Firstly, I apologize for the larger than usual gap between posts, but now that I am working full time I have less time for finding new music, let alone posting about it.

Secondly, I should apologize because this record isn't that new anymore. Eisley released their latest album, "The Valley" back at the beginning of March. That said, the album is quite good and deserves some attention, even if it's two months later.

I've written about the band previously, but for a quick recap, Eisley is a Texas-based band made up of members of the Dupree family: Three sisters, a brother and one cousin, to be exact. When the band began they were teenagers, now the youngest of them is about 20 and they're all married, one has even been married twice by now.

As you can imagine, when you start making music as a young teen the music you're making is going to be more mature by the time you get to your twenties, and The Valley definitely shows that maturity, while still keeping all the charm of their past albums. The single, "Smarter" is a beautiful example of this and it's available for free via the Epitonic site.

You can download it HERE.

Dark Dark Dark

One of my newer discoveries is the Minneapolis band Dark Dark Dark. They're a richly instrumented indie-folk, which seems to be described often as chamber-folk, but that's not a term I feel comfortable throwing around myself. They use a lot of piano and accordion and are very melodic.

They trade off vocal duties between male and female, but it's mostly Nona Marie Invie that does the singing, and she's certainly the one which makes them interesting to me. In that regard they remind me of early Rilo Kiley, whereas it feels like they're letting the guy sing the occasional song to be polite, but really Nona makes the band what it is.

If you sign up for their mailing list on their site you will get a free track from their latest album, which is lovely. In the meantime, check out this track from their previous one.

• Bright Bright Bright

Free Music Alert: Margot and The Nuclear So and So's

Amazon is featuring a free download of the single "New York City Hotel Blues" from Margot and the Nuclear So and So's new album "Buzzard". The Indiana-based band's album was released September 21st, check it out.

You can find the download link HERE.

The Suzan may save 2010

I must say that 2010 so far has been a lot less exciting for me as far as music discoveries go. A lot of the things I've "discovered" actually came out last year, just adding a few more notches for the awesome year in music that was 2009.

That said, I heard the music of The Suzan last night and I immediately fell in love and felt the need to declare them my new favorites, though I know such titles are short lived.

The Suzan are an all-female rock group from Japan that make fun surf rock pop that's modern, catchy and unique. I've only heard three songs so far and I am already thrilled to the gills by them. Their album comes out this fall, until then we can get a taste of what's to come from their recently released first single "Home", which you can download at THIS site.

You can also download a b-side for the same single from iTunes.

Free Music Alert: Rasputina!

I just happened upon a great find on Amazon.com tonight. I was checking prices for Rasputina's latest album and noticed that there was a download that's price was listed as $0.00. I clicked to see if this was correct, and lo and behold it was!

The song is a single from their latest album "Sister Kinderhook" entitled "Holocaust of Giants" and if this song says anything about the rest of the album, I am pretty stoked to hear it!

Rasputina, in case you're unfamiliar with them, is the brainchild of Melora Creager, a Brooklyn-based cellist that wears corsets and Victorian garb and makes rock music with cellos and drums alone. The lyrics are often historical and/or tongue-in-cheek and always enjoyable. Getting a preview of the album for free (and legal!) is quite the treat.

You can find the free download HERE.

Dragonette

Just a quick heads up to let people know that the single available for free on iTunes this week is by Dragonette, who are one of my favorite new discoveries of the last year.

They're 80's influenced electro-pop and they're so fun to listen to. The song available this week on iTunes is "Pick Up The Phone" from their '09 album "Fixin to Thrill". Check it out, and I highly recommend their earlier album "Galore", it's really great.

Wye Oak

I'm guilty of discovering a lot of great acts because of things like interesting album covers, and strange song titles. In the case of the Baltimore, MD band Wye Oak, I was pulled in by the attached picture accompanying a review of their new album on a blog. It made me want to hear what they sounded like, and I am always interested in male-female duo bands as it is, so even better.

As it is, they are one of the bands I've been most impressed with over the last few months. Wye Oak, named after Maryland's state tree, are both noisy and intimate at the same time. They're everything good indie rock should be. Frankly, I'm surprised there's not more of a awe over the indie world over them than there is because everything I've heard by them has really impressed me.

They recently released their second album, entitled "The Knot".

• Take It In (Left click link)

Nina Kinert

My latest discovery and minor obsession is the music of Swedish singer-songwriter Nina Kinert. Her latest album "Pets & Friends" came out in her native Scandanavia last year, but I only discovered it last week. Within a day of hearing her initially, I was ordering the album as import because I couldn't be without it.

She is modern folk and reminds me a bit of Laura Marling. She has an absolutely breathtaking voice and has been touring in support of friend Ane Brun, whose backing vocals (as well as Britta Persson's) are featured on "Pets & Friends". "Pets & Friends" is a very solid album and I am very impressed. The single from the album "Combat Lover" is fantastic. No links for the music, but check out the video below.

I am not sure how I feel about the video, actually. I don't particularly feel like it matches the song other than the sinister qualities they both share, but at least it gives you an idea of what to expect as far as her music is concerned.

St. Vincent

St. Vincent, singer/songwriter Annie Clark, is set to release her sophomore LP entitled "Actor" on May 5th.

Her first album, "Marry Me" was one of the most impressive debuts of 2007. She has a raw talent of having a beautifully classic and elegant voice paired with both artistic, avant-garde sound, yet also more listenable and sing-along worthy than her contemporaries Bat For Lashes or My Brightest Diamond.

Her elegant voice and exterior (she's like a rock and roll Audrey Hepburn) are only an added bonus for this amazingly creative and skilled musician. I was lucky enough to see her live when she opened for John Vanderslice shortly before her debut LP came out and I was very impressed. I look forward to her new record

She has released the first single from the new record to her website, it promises great things.

• The Strangers

Ida Maria

This is old news. Ida Maria came out with her debut album sometime in 2008, but man, it took me until now to really appreciate her. I can't stop listening to her first single "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked". Her other songs are fantastic too, and although she's not gotten a lot of press here in the U.S., obviously her home country of Norway thinks she's pretty swell too because they gave her the Best New Artist award this year. Congrats, Ida Maria! You deserve it.

You can get a free song by signing up for her mailing list on her website.

Until then, check out a video for her song "Oh My God" here.

A Camp, New Album due in April.

Side project of Cardigans singer Nina Persson, A Camp has announced the release of the second album "Colonia". It has already been released throughout Scandanavia, and now Europe, but Americans can expect to see it on April 28th from Nettwerk Records.

A Camp is a collaboration of Nina Perrson and her husband Nathan Larson (a music producer who often works on films), and fellow musician Niclas Frisk. What makes A Camp stand out from The Cardigans (whom I love, by the way) is their interest in Americana. The bluegrass and Americana revival is going strong not only in our own country, but abroad. The band has been nominated for many Swedish Grammys already, and performed their newest single on this year's show.

Their first single from the album "Stronger Than Jesus" is available as a "free gift" if you sign up for their e-mail mailing list (you can do that by following the link above to their website). In the meantime, you can listen to more at their MySpace page and download some tracks at A Plague of Angels.

"Stronger Than Jesus" from The Grammis:

New Maria Taylor this Spring

Maria Taylor, half of the amazing duo that was Azure Ray, has announced the release of her third solo album for this Spring. She has recently parted ways with her record label, Saddle Creek, and teamed up with Canadian record label Nettwerk. The album is entitled "LadyLuck" and should hit stores on April 7th.

According to her MySpace page, the new album is diverse, inspired by the end of a relationship, and finds a good balance between the melancholy and the inspiring. Nettwerk has pre-released two songs from the forthcoming album, "Time Lapse Lifetime" and "Orchids", and made them available on iTunes. From what I've heard, it has a lot of promise and sounds very much like some of her best solo work to date.

• Time Lapse Lifetime

Miwa Gemini

Recently I've really been enjoying the music of Miwa Gemini. She is New York-based singer-songwriter that is classically-trained in piano, but her new found loves are the guitar, banjo and mandolin.

I was sitting here trying to think of who to compare her to or how to explain her style, and the first thing that came to mind was to say that she's the sinister side of bluegrass. Is that even possible? Saying she is sinister is probably misleading, as there's nothing menacing about her music, but there is definitely a quality that feels a bit darker, richer and edgier than the typical finger-pickin', toe-tappin' of other bluegrass and folk music. But perhaps even saying she is bluegrass is misleading considering some songs, like "Crazy Over You", sound strictly indie folk-rock. Either way, she's good and there's a quality about her music that feels smooth, seductive, and playful at the same time.

• Traveling Man
• Sad About Joe
• Crazy Over You

Margot & The Nuclear So-and-So's - Not Animal!

I would say that Indianapolis-based Margot and the Nuclear So-and-So's are one of my favorite discoveries of the last few years. I had only heard a few songs of theirs when they played a free concert at the university I was attending and I went to see them, and they blew me away. So many different instruments, all played so well together, and beautiful and unique songs. Lovely.

This week they released 2 new albums, yes, 2. Apparently, their new record label, Epic, did not like the tracklisting they had chosen for their new album "Animal!" and would not release it, so instead Margot et al, released the album with tracks Epic suggested under the title "Not Animal!" and then released "Animal!" on vinyl only. Unfortunately, I don't have regular access to a turntable, so getting Animal! won't do me much good, but what I have heard from Not Animal! has been quite good and I look forward to hearing the tracks from Animal! that don't appear on the Epic version in the future.

Oh well, until then, enjoy this great track from Not Animal!

• Broadripple Is Burning

New Juliana Hatfield

One of my favorite musicians, Juliana Hatfield, will be releasing her latest album "How To Walk Away" on August 17th. Her last two albums left me a bit cold, but from what I have heard from the newest album, this one bodes well and should be a lot better and more like the bittersweet goodness of past Juliana efforts like "Beautiful Creature".

The new album is already available via iTunes. But you can check out a few tracks from it over at Punkreas.org, and check out the video for the single "This Lonely Love" below.

Marte Wulff

My latest discovery has come from Last.fm. If you click enough "similar artist" or genre tags you will find something good, and this time I really did. I was listening to Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun and decided to look for other Norwegian singer-songwriters since I have such a love affair with the music of it's neighboring country, Sweden. I found many interesting artists, but my favorite was Marte Wulff.

In her home country, Marte has received plenty of airplay as well as gotten a nomination for the Norwegian version of a Grammy. Here, I think she will appeal very much to fans of Ingrid Michaelson.

Check out the video for her song "Accident" below, and listen to more of her music on her website or her MySpace page.

The Postmarks

I am really digging The Postmarks right now. They are a trio from Miami making music that is what I can only refer to as "chill" and that you'd expect to be made almost anywhere but the Sunshine State. It's music for goloshes and puddle splashing in it's more upbeat songs and the quiet calm of a snowy day on it's more down key tracks.

Their music is very much like that of Ivy with their French 1960's feeling, but at the same time seems to be channeling a bit more of the twee sound of The Softies which I think is why I like them even better than Ivy.

If you like these songs I encourage you to check out The Postmarks' MySpace page page for more downloadable tracks.

• My Little Heart
• Weather the Weather
• Goodbye

New CSS album

Brazilian imports, Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS) will be releasing a new album entitled "Donkey" in July. They have released a song from the upcoming album to their website so I thought I would share it here.

I like the song. It's a bit less edgy/spastic than some of their stuff from their self-titled album, but it's got all the fun beats and rhythm I would expect from CSS. Hopefully the whole album is as good.

• Rat is Dead (Rage)