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THE DONKEYS
Born with Stripes

San Diego’s The Donkeys strike a balance of smiling, surfer mysticism and winking, slacker mystique. They reanimate the charming hallmarks of sunshine-rock past without being sepia-toned retro or bubblegum-cloying. There is an innate playfulness and honesty to the music they make: it’s a dynamic that has made public champions of keen-eared musicians like John Darnielle (Mountain Goats) and Craig Finn (The Hold Steady). It was Darnielle who claimed The Donkeys were benevolent keepers of the antidote to an unnamed sickness plaguing indie-rock. Maybe he’s right.

ARTIST: The Donkeys
TITLE: Born with Stripes
LABEL: Dead Oceans
RELEASE DATE: April 26, 2011
TIME: 45:22 min.
WEB: http://www.donkeysongs.com/

01. Don’t Know Who We Are [03:58]
02. I Like the Way You Walk [04:11]
03. Bloodhound [04:37]
04. Born with Stripes [01:42]
05. Kaleidoscope [05:07]
06. West Coast Raga [02:55]
07. New Blue Stockings [04:39]
08. Ceiling Tan [04:39]
09. Oxblood [02:43]
10. Bullfrog Blues [02:58]
11. Valerie [06:47]
12. East Coast Raga [04:08]

The Donkeys - Don’t Know Who We Are

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BOXCUTTER
The Dissolve

Barry Lynn had already dropped a couple albums that looked at dubstep from fresh angles before everyone else started to do the same. This time around, things are different and he’s taken off in a direction that leaves dubstep behind entirely. The title is a reference to a common video art effect, where one image gradually transitions to another. The Dissolve has an unpolished hue to it, created with keyboards, drum machine, echo, tape and sometimes even electric guitar. While showing an affinity to Theo Parrish‘s productions or even hypnagogic pop, it sits in a world of its own. The devil is in the details-it’s rich in twists and turns.

ARTIST: Boxcutter
TITLE: The Dissolve
LABEL: Planet Mu
RELEASE DATE: May 17, 2011
TIME: 49:22 min.
WEB: http://www.myspace.com/barrylynnmusic

01. Panama [03:51]
02. Zabriskie Disco [04:11]
03. All Too Heavy [03:58]
04. Cold War [04:22]
05. Passerby [04:22]
06. TV Troubles [02:16]
07. The Dissolve [03:19]
08. Moon Pupils [03:37]
09. Factory Setting [03:08]
10. Allele [04:54]
11. Topsoil [03:49]
12. Little Smoke [04:00]
13. Ufonik [03:35]

Boxcutter - Topsoil

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DEFTONES
Covers

Special release from Deftones for Record Store Day 2011: an entire album of covers, featuring tracks originally performed by The Smiths, The Cure, Duran Duran, The Cardigans and many more.

ARTIST: Deftones
TITLE: Covers
LABEL: Warner Bros.
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2011
TIME: 47:52 min.
WEB: http://www.deftones.com/

01. Drive [04:49]
02. Caress [03:35]
03. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want [02:03]
04. No Ordinary Love [05:30]
05. Savory [04:36]
06. Do You Believe [03:29]
07. Simple Man [06:20]
08. Ghosts [04:27]
09. The Chauffeur [05:25]
10. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep (live) [05:08]
11. Sleep Walk [02:30]

Deftones - Simple Man

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OKKERVIL RIVER
I Am Very Far

“The goal was to push my brain to places it didn’t want to go: the idea was to not have any idea to keep myself confused about what I was doing”: that’s what frontman Will Sheff says about Okkervil River‘s 2011 album. The resulting record, I Am Very Far, is a startling break from anything this band has done before. By turns terrifying and joyous, violent and serene, grotesque and romantic, it’s a celebration of forces beyond our control.

ARTIST: Okkervil River
TITLE: I Am Very Far
LABEL: Jagjaguwar
RELEASE DATE: May 10, 2011
TIME: 51:02 min.
WEB: http://www.okkervilriver.com/

01. The Valley [03:51]
02. Piratess [04:00]
03. Rider [04:25]
04. Lay of the Last Survivor [03:51]
05. White Shadow Waltz [04:26]
06. We Need a Myth [04:39]
07. Mermaid [05:16]
08. Show Yourself [05:20]
09. Your Past Life As a Blast [05:32]
10. Wake and Be Fine [03:26]
11. The Rise [06:16]

Okkervil River - Wake and Be Fine

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THE WOMBATS
This Modern Glitch

Just as comedy actors, no matter how massive their crowd-draw or how enjoyable their movies, stand a popsicle-in-Hell’s chance of ever winning an Oscar, it’s virtually unthinkable that the second album from Liverpool’s The Wombats will grace the higher echelons of any end-of-year polls or the Mercury shortlist. They cross too many boxes: they’re shamelessly radio-friendly and insanely melodic, they have a wacky name and they’re simply too popular/ist to garner much of a credible critical vote. On the contrary, that scraping sound you can hear is the widespread music media dragging their shovels towards This Modern Glitch intending to bury (largely unheard and with extreme prejudice) the leading exponents of what the trolls have deemed “landfill indie”. The Wombats will never have the cult kudos of a Sufjan Stevens, the culture buzz of a Jessie J or the critical awe of an Arcade Fire or Radiohead. But for the flagrant pop thrill-seeker (judging by this incredible, irrepressible, ecstatic, brilliant record) neither will they ever disappoint. Don’t believe the anti-hype: pop album of the year, by at least a dozen choruses.

ARTIST: The Wombats
TITLE: This Modern Glitch
LABEL: 14th Floor
RELEASE DATE: April 26, 2011
TIME: 40:38 min.
WEB: http://www.thewombats.co.uk/

01. Our Perfect Disease [03:44]
02. Tokyo (vampires and wolves) [03:46]
03. Jump Into the Fog [03:52]
04. Anti-D [04:41]
05. Last Night I Dreamt… [03:33]
06. Techno Fan [03:59]
07. 1996 [04:20]
08. Walking Disaster [04:17]
09. Girls/Fast Cars [03:36]
10. Schumacher the Champagne [04:50]

The Wombats - Anti-D

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FREEDOM OR DEATH
Ego

And so here is the brand spanking new 7 tracks album/EP (who knows what constitutes wich anymore?) by Freedom Or Death! Released on the band’s label Liars & Thieves and distributed by Arts & Crafts, the album was recorded over 5 months in Toronto and is a progression from their debut self titled EP, seeing the Canadian duo acquire the perfect conciousness of the inner mechanism that lies behind songwriting.
So why Ego? Because “we all have one and have to deal with our and other people’s egos every day” and surely it is “a compelling  subject point to write songs about”.

But stop talking: take a look at the video teaser by Hugh Suh and listen, listen, listen.

ARTIST: Freedom Or Death
TITLE: Ego
LABEL: Liars & Thieves
RELEASE DATE: April 26, 2011
TIME: 40:00 min.
WEB: http://www.freedomordeathmusic.com/

01. Eight [00:37]
02. Inside [04:04]
03. This Crowded Room [03:53]
04. Elefant [03:59]
05. Gesprach (talk) [03:06]
06. Human [04:58]
07. Virginia Woolf [03:10]
08. Nobody Listens [04:31]
09. TCR acoustic (hidden track) [11:42]

Freedom Or Death - Inside
Freedom Or Death - Human

removed by request

THIS IS HEAD
0001

0001 is the title, or should we say number, of the Swedish band This Is Head‘s debut album. These guys from Malmö have always numbered their songs chronologically instead of giving them a title, and their debut-album is named after the first song they made, 0001, even if the song  didn’t fit the epic indie/space-pop-sound they developed and it’s currently not being played by the band. This is Head’s music is a mix between 80′s indiepop and 70′s krautrock, with repetitive basslines in front, steady rhythms and a kind of dreamy (but very energetic) sound: the band describes it as something in between Discovery Channel, Autobahn and a car-crash. Strange enough to say wow.

ARTIST: This Is Head
TITLE: 0001
LABEL: Adrian
RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2010
TIME: 41:26 min.
WEB: http://thisishead.com/

01. 0009 [04:59]
02. 0007 [03:53]
03. 0002 [04:02]
04. 0011 [10:43]
05. 0003 [04:16]
06. 0008 [04:16]
07. 0012 [05:32]
08. 0013 [04:11]

This Is Head - 0007 (korallreven remix)

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GANG GANG DANCE
Eye Contact

Eye Contact, Gang Gang Dance‘s first album for 4AD, was recorded in an old church converted to a recording studio in upstate New York, with a myriad of chimes, drums and good vibrations. Chris Coady was behind the board to capture the impromptu jam sessions as well as the structured songs the band had on hand when they started, while Alex Epton aka XXXchange, focused on vocals with Lizzi . When combined, we have the cleanest, freshest and most focused Gang Gang Record we can remember.

ARTIST: Gang Gang Dance
TITLE: Eye Contact
LABEL: 4AD
RELEASE DATE: May 10, 2011
TIME: 47:25 min.
WEB: http://www.ganggangdance.com/

01. Glass Jar [11:22]
02. ∞ [01:03]
03. Adult Goth [06:16]
04. Chinese High [05:13]
05. Mindkilla [05:17]
06. ∞ ∞ [01:34]
07. Romance Layers [04:25]
08. Sacer [05:40]
09. ∞ ∞ ∞ [01:25]
10. Thru and Thru [05:40]

Gang Gang Dance - Mindkilla

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PARTS & LABOR
Constant Future

Constant Future is the career-defining statement from Brooklyn-based noise-pop trio Parts & Labor.
The album’s 12 tracks deliver the bare essentials that made them sui generis totems of modern art-punk: synthesized keyboard riffs distorted into oblivion, percussion pummeled hypnotically, crackling drones that haunt and soothe, fearless melodies hollered skyward. But fifth album Constant Future finds them crashing back to earth, focusing pointedly on what they do best: unique, electronic landscapes melded with buzzing, anthemic hooks.

ARTIST: Parts & Labor
TITLE: Constant Future
LABEL: Jagjaguwar
RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2011
TIME: 39:23 min.
WEB: http://www.partsandlabor.net/

01. Fake Names [04:08]
02. Outnumbered [02:54]
03. Constant Future [02:59]
04. A Thousand Roads [04:15]
05. Rest [03:07]
06. Pure Annihilation [02:26]
07. Skin and Bones [04:26]
08. Echo Chamber [02:44]
09. Without A Seed [02:39]
10. Bright White [02:18]
11. Hurricane [03:18]
12. Neverchanger [04:09]

Parts & Labor - Constant Future

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TIMES NEW VIKING
Dancer Enquire

Dancer Equired, Times New Viking‘s first album for Merge, is a return to the hive, even if the record’s creation was out of their usual boundaries. It should be known that for the first time, the trio escaped to a studio, namely Columbus Discount Recording and the famed Musicol, during the summer of violence. With the help of Adam Smith and Dustin White, Times New Viking recorded and produced an album sounds like a mellow night out.

ARTIST: Times New Viking
TITLE: Dancer Enquire
LABEL: Merge
RELEASE DATE: April 26, 2011
TIME: 31:38 min.
WEB: http://timesnewviking.net/

01. It’s A Culture [02:23]
02. Ever Falling in Love [02:36]
03. No Room to Live [02:20]
04. Try Harder [01:59]
05. California Roll [01:38]
06. Ways to Go [02:29]
07. New Vertical Dwellings [01:09]
08. Downtown Eastern Bloc [03:38]
09. More Rumours [02:00]
10. Don’t Go to Liverpool [01:52]
11. Fuck Her Tears [02:08]
12. Want to Exist [03:01]
13. Somebody’s Slave [02:45]
14. No Good [01:40]

Times New Viking - Ever Falling in Love

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ROBYN
Body Talk pt.3

Robyn‘s prolific 2010 culminated with Body Talk, the full-length album that featured songs from the Body Talk pt. 1 and pt. 2 EPs, plus enough new songs to make up a third EP (pt.3). Releasing that much new music within six months was a feat in and of itself, but the fact that each part of Body Talk was so consistent made the whole project even more impressive. And, by revealing bits and pieces of what went into the final album as well as parts that didn’t Robyn offered her fans a window into her process, allowing glimpses of the moods and approaches that go into making an album and letting listeners get to know these songs in different contexts. Of course, Body Talk‘s appeal isn’t just experimental: by picking the best of the project’s songs, it feels like a greatest-hits collection and brand new album rolled into one.

ARTIST: Robyn
TITLE: Body Talk pt.3
LABEL: Interscope
RELEASE DATE: November 22, 2010
TIME: 61:17 min.
WEB: http://www.robyn.com/

01. Dancing On My Own (radio version) [04:40]
02. Fembot [03:34]
03. Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do [04:11]
04. Indestructible [03:41]
05. Time Machine [03:36]
06. Love Kills [04:28]
07. Hang With Me [04:21]
08. Call Your Girlfriend [03:47]
09. None of Them [05:12]
10. We Dance to the Beat [04:28]
11. U Should Know Better [04:01]
12. Dancehall Queen [03:39]
13. Get Myself Together [03:41]
14. In My Eyes [03:58]
15. Stars 4-Ever [04:00]

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RESEARCH TURTLES
Mankiller (pt.1)

A lot has happened since the release of Research Turtles.  A gulf-coast tour, an official website, a new guitarist/vocalist. In the end, this past January, Research Turtles returned to Dockside Studio with Justin Tocket, whom the band had worked with previously on the debut album, and the brand new member, Joseph Darbonne.  The Turtles spent all of 2010 writing and recording new material for the upcoming album Mankiller which will be released separately as a two part series: Part 1 of 2, already dubbed MK1 by fans, will be released on May 31st of 2011; Part 2 of 2 (MK2) is set to come out in September of 2011.
If you can, try wait for it: in the meantime enjoy this 5-song-anticipation of an almost perfect southern-power-pop-rock.

ARTIST: Research Turtles
TITLE: Mankiller (part 1 of 2)
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: May 31, 2011
TIME: 15:35 min.
WEB: http://researchturtles.com/

01. Girl Like You [01:14]
02. You Are So [03:08]
03. Bugs in a Jar [03:56]
04. Mankiller [03:08]
05. Rhinestone Gal [04:09]

Research Turtles - Bugs in a Jar

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RADIOHEAD
Supercollider / The Butcher

April 16th is Record Store Day: this is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Radiohead couldn’t miss such an occasion and release two new tracks that the band says to be the last ones form The King of Limb sessions we will hear this year. So enjoy!.

ARTIST: Radiohead
TITLE: Supercollider / The Butcher
LABEL: XL
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2011
TIME: 11:38 min.
WEB: http://www.radiohead.com/

01. Supercollider [07:02]
02. The Butcher [04:36]

Radiohead - Supercollider
Radiohead - The Butcher

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UNDERWORLD
Frankenstein O.S.T.

Underworld are once again collaborating with Danny Boyle, teaming up with the director for his stage adaptation of Frankenstein. The National Theatre production will feature a “soundscore” by dance duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, who are bringing the monster to life with crackling electronics and pounding bass.

ARTIST: Underworld
TITLE: Frankenstein: music from the play
LABEL: Monkeywrench
RELEASE DATE: January 18, 2011
TIME: 60:36 min.
WEB: http://www.underworldlive.com/

01. Ouverture [17:11]
02. Incubator [01:47]
03. Industrial Revolution [03:52]
04. Dawn of Eden [03:28]
05. Beggars Attack and Creature Alone [00:58]
06. De Lacey Cottage Guitar [00:44]
07. Not A King (snow) [01:55]
08. Faery Folk and Nightingale [02:28]
09. Female Creature Dream [03:45]
10. Creature Banished and Cottages Burn [02:47]
11. Hide and Seek, Body in a Boat [01:43]
12. The Alps [01:43]
13. Frankenstein House [00:42]
14. Sea Chanty and Croft [04:07]
15. Bride Creature.Walk [01:10]
16. Bride Creature.Death [01:17]
17. Wedding Song and Bedroom [02:34]
18. Arctitc Wastes [06:18]
19. Come Scientist Destroy [02:08]

Underworld - Industrial Revolution

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BATTLES
Gloss Drop

Battles‘ second album, the follow-up to 2007′s Mirrored, features Gary Numan, who sings on My Machines and Blonde Redhead‘s Kazu Makino helps out on Sweetie & Shag. Boredoms cult leader Yamantaka Eye in Sundrome and Kompakt Records disco dude Matias Aguayo also appears on Ice Cream. The new effort was re-recorded after singer and guitarist Tyondai Braxton quit the band last August. As a result the remaining members have called on the services of a series of guest vocalists.

ARTIST: Battles
TITLE: Gloss Drop
LABEL: Warp
RELEASE DATE: June 7, 2011
TIME: 53:54 min.
WEB: http://bttls.com/

01. Africastle [05:48]
02. Ice Cream [04:37]
03. Futura [06:18]
04. Inchworm [04:52]
05. Wall Street [05:25]
06. My Machines [03:55]
07. Dominican Fade [01:49]
08. Sweetie & Shang [03:50]
09. Toddler [01:11]
10. Rolls Bayce [02:06]
11. White Electric [06:15]
12. Sundrome [07:48]

Battles - Sweetie & Shag (feat. kazu makino)

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PANDA BEAR
Tomboy

Recorded at his studio in Lisbon, Tomboy sees Animal Collective member Noah Lennox (with his solo-project Panda Bear) stepping away from the sample-based parameters of his previous record, Person Pitch, and incorporating more guitar and synthesizer. The record, massive in its span of emotion, genre, and sound, is the welcome return of one of the most prolific and consistent audio pioneers in recent memory.

ARTIST: Panda Bear
TITLE: Tomboy
LABEL: Paw Tracks
RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2011
TIME: 49:59 min.
WEB: http://www.myspace.com/pandabear

01. You Can Count On Me [02:33]
02. Tomboy [04:55]
03. Slow Motion [04:36]
04. Surfers Hymn [04:10]
05. Last Night at the Jetty [04:40]
06. Drone [04:01]
07. Alsatian Darn [04:16]
08. Scheherazade [03:53]
09. Friendship Bracelet [05:54]
10. Afterburner [06:50]
11. Benfica [04:11]

Panda Bear - Surfers Hymn

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