radioSpin

DREW SMITH
The Secret Languages

After the release of two wonderful videos such as Love Teeth and Smoke and Mirrors that hit the YouTube community with thousands of views, Canadian singer-songwriter Drew Smith release his full-length. The Secret Languages is an interesting collection of classic americana pop songs and a dynamic projection of Drew’s simple, efficient songwriting and a genuine depth of artistic delivery. A mix of heartfelt, visually descriptive lyrics and masterful compositions to fall in love with.

ARTIST: Drew Smith
TITLE: The Secret Languages
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: January 20, 2012
TIME: 36:46 min.
WEB: http://www.drewsmith.ca/

01. Frozen Still [03:07]
02. Bang Bang [03:34]
03. Kachina [03:39]
04. Smoke and Mirrors [03:10]
05. Love Teeth [03:52]
06. Box Me Up [05:53]
07. Mute [03:33]
08. River So Deep [03:18]
09. Old Souls [03:23]
10. Grotesque [03:17]

Drew Smith – Kachina

removed by request

VAGUE-À-BONDE
Involution / Evolution

Involution/Evolution is the debut album of Vague-à-Bonde (a.k.a. Nicole Alicia Brenny, former member of Waxx Maxx). Involution/Evolution was written and produced by Nicole herself entirely in her own bedroom, but that doesn’t mean any lo-fi attitude. The album is beyond doubt a professional product: by the end, what we hear here is an intelligent and brilliant songwriter that showcases her range of talents in 8 tracks that fall somewhere between Fleetwood Mac and K-Pop, the ethereal and the corporal. And, considering she is an independent artist self-releasing her first full-length, it is quiet a feat.

ARTIST: Vague-à-Bonde
TITLE: Involution/Evolution
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: February 22, 2012
TIME: 32:04 min.
WEB: http://vagueabonde.tumblr.com/

01. Voices [03:09]
02. Best Nights [04:23]
03. Ghosts [03:06]
04. MV [03:57]
05. Pop [04:23]
06. 1221 [03:53]
07. Something [03:58]
08. Sky [05:15]

Vague-à-Bonde – MV

removed by request

PACIFIC UV
Weekends

We left pacificUV playing their wonderful Chrysalis EP, which was said to be only an anticipation. So now we’ve got to the point. The full-length Weekends is finally out: 12 tracks to lost yourself in, either you take the usual approach and enjoy the grand concept of the album, that follows the arc of the natural trajectory of the weekend itself, or you view it more like a sweet pop record and appreciate each singular track for its individual beauty and softness. That’s it, whichever route you choose, one thing remains unflinching: this album is guaranteed to please.

ARTIST: pacificUV
TITLE: Weekends
LABEL: Mazarine
RELEASE DATE: January 31, 2012
TIME: 39:10 min.
WEB: http://www.pacificuv.com/

01. Friday Night Dream [01:43]
02. Funny Girl [03:30]
03. Just For Kix [03:03]
04. Baby Blue [05:46]
05. I’m Here (but it’s not me) [04:15]
06. Ballerina [03:52]
07. Saturday Night Dream [01:46]
08. High [03:10]
09. Be My Only Shallow Love [03:15]
10. Feels Like I’m Going Home [03:52]
11. Sunday Night Dream [02:21]
12. Unplug Me [03:50]

pacificUV – Ballerina

removed by request

GLEAMER
The Chasing Method

Gleamer, the Vicenza-based Italian four-piece (Luca Sammartin, Andrea Bevliacqua, Elia Grossele, Stefano Sholla) releases its full lenght debut, following the two singles The Pick and Dance. The Chasing Method, that’s the title of the album, shows the band’s sound and vocation: a solid rock with veins of electronic music, shoegaze, glitch and jazz, nonetheless with the vocal aptitude for the “song” in the classical sense of the word. We can say their music is influenced by Editors, Radiohead, Elbow and (they say) a french band called Overhead: but this is more than indie-rock, this is more than rock, finally.

ARTIST: Gleamer
TITLE: The Chasing Method
LABEL: Snowy Peach
RELEASE DATE: October 15, 2011
TIME: 38:45 min.
WEB: http://www.gleamer.it/

01. Until the End [03:14]
02. Destination Is Lost [03:58]
03. Hangin’ Around [03:06]
04. The Pick [03:14]
05. Dance [03:59]
06. But I [04:10]
07. Just Gather Pieces and Hide [04:23]
08. Aftertastes [04:35]
09. To Forget [03:42]
10. This Is For Real [04:24]

Gleamer - Dance

removed by request

LAVA LAVA LOVE
A Bunch of Love Songs and Zombies

Debut album for Italian combo Lava Lava Love. A Bunch of Love Songs and Zombies is a fantastic tiny collection of tracks about love… and zombies of course. Starting from the title, the key-word of this first full-length seems to be “contrast”: a cynic romanticism permeates this bunch of songs and sometimes scary themes inside the lyrics magically come up from tiny, sweet and playful sounds. And that’s the point: how these two different but naturally merged aspects impact and inflect each other becomes a great (wonderfully reached) deal of the lyrical substance of both the album and the band. Vittorio Pozzato and Florencia Di Stefano voices perfectly follow the electro-acoustic paths created together with the rest of the band (Oliviero Farneti, Massimo Fiorio, Luca Valentini), made up from former members of some previous bands risen from the italian indie-underground (the unforgotten Canadians, Fake P, Slumber). While drained of its beauty and poise, the echo that resides between these melodies is a strange, eerie comfort that echoes Elephant 6 collective’s bands. Sing-along’s, meaningful stuff, pop riffs and great lyrics: it’s not so often that an album hits the ground running on a complete lineup of good solid song after good solid song, without a filler or crap single. Grandaddy will be proud of them.

ARTIST: Lava Lava Love
TITLE: A Bunch of Love Songs and Zombies
LABEL: The Prisoner
RELEASE DATE: September 16, 2011
TIME: 33:53 min.
WEB: http://lavalavalove.tumblr.com/

01. Another Happy Song [04:01]
02. Dry Tongue Lies [02:14]
03. An Invitation [02:54]
04. Nothing Special [03:18]
05. Your Lite [02:57]
06. Last Night [03:00]
07. The Grey Lines [02:50]
08. Tomorrow Will Be the Worst Day of My Life [04:42]
09. Kenosis [02:05]
10. Sparkling Wine [02:26]
11. Morning Dew [03:26]

Lava Lava Love - Kenosis

removed by request

BLISSES B
Thirty Days, Sixty Years

Ladies and gentlemen please let us welcome Blisses B, with their second (following 2009 You Should) full-length album Thirty Days, Sixty Years: a brand new compilation of genre-crashing rock and psychedelia, recorded, produced, and engineered entirely by the San Francisco-based quartet. Thirty Days, Sixty Years explores the mathematical parameters that define our lives and the personal equations that result from the many caveats that can extend and shorten most of these time frames. Using electric and acoustic mandolins, piano, Leslie speakers and banjo, Ben Keegan (guitar, mandolin, keyboard, vocals), Noah Libby (vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin), Matt McBride (drums, percussion), and Nick Testa (bass, twelve string guitar and back vocals) escape the boundaries of any categorization, playing what they want and what they love, reminding to The Decemberist becoming Broken Social Scene, watching Wilco staring at Neil Young and composing folk with a punk attitude. A nice surprise.

ARTIST: Blisses B
TITLE: Thirty Days, Sixty Years
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: December 21, 2010
TIME: 36:00 min.
WEB: http://www.blissesb.com/

01. Regal Goodbyes [03:20]
02. Your Own Growl [03:54]
03. Thirty Days, Sixty Years [03:18]
04. Valley Low [03:02]
05. Fine and Dandy [03:22]
06. Cattywompus [02:52]
07. Yeasteryear [04:34]
08. I Was Around [03:08]
09. Spirit [02:42]
10. Decimal Point [02:34]
11. IWHBYWW [03:14]

Blisses B - I Was Around

removed by request

THE HORRORS
Skying

When they first skulked into the limelight in 2007, The Horrors did not appear to be built to last. Even fans of their scabrous, 60s-inflected debut, Strange House, imagined that, having made their grand nihilist statement, the amusingly named fivesome (Faris Rotter, Spider Webb, Tomethy Furse, Joshua Von Grimm and Coffin Joe) would probably eke out the remainder of their 20s coiling leads in recording studios and resenting the tea order. This was an art-goth-noise outfit born out of time, who seemed destined only to be the butt of obscure pub quiz jokes. And yet, Skying, The Horrors‘ unlikely third album, may well be remembered as one of the feelgood albums of the summer, an endpoint steeped in irony, considering the band’s fetish for all things crepuscular.

ARTIST: The Horrors
TITLE: Skying
LABEL: XL
RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2011
TIME: 53:52 min.
WEB: http://www.thehorrors.co.uk/

01. Changing the Rain [04:31]
02. You Said [04:46]
03. I Can See Through You [04:17]
04. Endless Blue [05:10]
05. Dive In [04:51]
06. Still Life [05:21]
07. Wild Eyes [04:04]
08. Moving Further Away [08:34]
09. Monica Gems [04:28]
10. Oceans Burning [07:50]

The Horrors – Still Life

removed by request

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

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

removed by request

EVI VINE
… and So the Morning Comes

Evi Vine has been a prolific songwriter and performer operating both over and under the radar for the past few years, when continued radio support and a tireless live schedule continue to enhance her considerable reputation. To date, Evi has released just one solo 4 track EP Human Remains: a dark, sparse home demo which sold out of its limited run. Throughout her musical travels and trials, she had been creating songs that feature on … and So the Morning Comes, during which time they morphed and evolved into the beautifully crafted songs you hear today in her full-length debut. Her petite voice led to many comparisons to Björk and Emiliana Torrini, but while her vocal phrasing sometimes did bear a strong similarity to the ever-enigmatic Ms. Guðmundsdóttir, her compositions have a more sweet and soft appeal: sharp jolts of beauty, delicate little flourishes and unexpected oddities hidden in the (only) apparently simple song structures.

ARTIST: Evi Vine
TITLE: … and So the Morning Comes
LABEL: White Label
RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2011
TIME: 48:11 min.
WEB: http://www.evivine.com/

01. For the Dreamers [04:30]
02. Down [04:33]
03. Inside Her [06:46]
04. Colours of the Night [04:53]
05. For You [03:38]
06. Kiss [06:22]
07. I Let You Leave [05:50]
08. In This Moment [05:51]
09. All the Beauty [02:34]
10. How Time Flies [05:34]

Evi Vine - Colours of the Night

removed by request

THE WIREFLYS The World We Live

After 3 years, alt rock trio The Wireflys have just released their first full length album The World We Live. Over this time, the band has surfaced only to play a few live shows, sharing the stage with the likes of British India, Grafton Primary, Kisschasy and Bluejuice. This debut (described as “powerful, harmonious, heart thumping and epic”) has been produced by the bands vocalist/bassist Chris Tester, and while illustrating inventive focus during production, captures the bands live energy and dynamic.

ARTIST: The Wireflys
TITLE: The World We Live
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: October 10, 2010
TIME: 36:11 min.
WEB: http://www.thewireflys.com/

01. Bread, Not Bombs [04:10]
02. All This Lies [02:18]
03. Take You Home [03:59]
04. Go [02:33]
05. Taylor’s Reign [03:38]
06. Brown Suits, Black Ties [03:40]
07. Paranoia Jayne [03:44]
08. Since You Noticed [02:57]
09. If Truth Were A Currency Your Pokets Would Be Empty [04:24]
10. The World We Live [04:50]

The Wireflys - Go
The Wireflys - Paranoia Jayne

TEN MILLION LIGHTS Ten Million Lights

Ten Million Lights is a Portland-based project by Ryan Carrol and Eric Block, risen from the ashes of Saturna, post-rock band which had a good run, touring with Bob Mould and playing lots of shows in the USA. Now Ryan and Eric are joined by newcomer Emily Logan who adds vocals and guitar to all the tracks and rounds out their sound quite nicely. Of course Ten Million Lights‘ sound is very similar to Saturna: Ryan is singing and Eric is playing guitar again, so how it could be not? Anyway the female vocals add a touch of eclectism to the band horizon and move its atmosphere from the classic shoegaze one to something rockier (see The Kills, for example).
so welcome back, again.

ARTIST: Ten Million Lights
TITLE: Ten Million Lights
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: December 10, 2010
TIME: 36:18 min.
WEB: http://www.tenmillionlights.com

01. Fast Asleep [06:27]
02. Kill Yr Idols [04:22]
03. Slow Seas [01:55]
04. On A Holiday [02:39]
05. You Leave Me Hanging [04:52]
06. Still Point [04:01]
07. Throwing Spells [04:05]
08. The Longing and the Waiting [03:57]

Ten Million Lights – Kill Yr Idols
Ten Million Lights – Still Point

THE BOXING LESSON Fur State

The Boxing Lesson’s back with a tiny, sweetly raw psychedelic masterpiece: a gritty lo-fi acoustic/electronic instrumental album recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder.
Paul Waclawsky and Jaylinn Davidson put down their microphones respectively on Fur State to give us a more warming reception with beautiful instrumentation and a great ethos in the thought department with regards to the music. Moogs from Jaylinn Davidson are beautifully interwoven with Paul’s sometime acoustic/electric guitar playing with an equal amount of ambient noise and feedback to balance it out.

ARTIST: The Boxing Lesson
TITLE: Fur State
LABEL: Interscope
RELEASE DATE: October 26, 2010
TIME: 37:19 min.
WEB: http://www.myspace.com/theboxinglesson

01. One[04:20]
02. Two [01:34]
03. Three [02:33]
04. Four [05:04]
05. Five [05:26]
06. Six [04:15]
07. Seven [10:12]
08. Eight [03:55]

The Boxing Lesson – Three
The Boxing Lesson – Five