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:

Lotte Kestner "Halo"

I'm a sucker for sappy girl versions of pop and rock songs. I am also a sucker for Anna-lynne Williams and her projects Trespassers Williams and Lotte Kestner, Lotte Kestner being the name she gave her solo acoustic project. So you can imagine how happy I was to find out Lotte Kestner's new album would be entirely covers! For some this would be a let down, but for me, who loves covers, this is thrilling. She has done some amazing covers before, a few are included again on this new release, like her amazing version of Interpol's "Leif Erikson".

This is from her addition EP that she put out at the same time, but has some amazing covers on it. I've heard a bunch of covers of "Halo" before this, but this one blows them out of the water. Check out the link to her Bandcamp site below and listen to the rest of the covers as well.

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: The Civil Wars

Previously mentioned band The Civil Wars debut album "Barton Hollow" was released today. You can download the title track from the album for free this week on iTunes. Check them out!

Free on iTunes

Quick Update: Free on iTunes!

Just a quick note that anyone who uses iTunes should definitely check out the free single this week by Young The Giant. They're a band I hadn't heard of until this past September when I looked to see who was opening for Marina and the Diamonds when I was going to see her. They played and they were really great. They remind me a lot of The Killers, if anyone. I see big things for them, and the free song they're giving out is "My Body", which is a particularly good track.

Also available on iTunes this week as a "Discovery Download" is "Marathon" by the band Tennis. This is another great tune definitely worth a click to download.