Aptly Titled

Add:

1 part My Morning Jacket's Jim James.
1 part M. Ward/She & Him's Matt Ward
1 part Conor Oberst/Bright Eye's Conor Oberst
1 part Bright Eye's Mike Mogis

And you come up with a Supergroup. Singularily, they are huge indie stars. Gigantuan stars. Monsters, if you will. Of Folk. Together, they are Monsters of Folk. So huge, they're playing Massey Hall in Toronto even before releasing a single album.

Monsters of Folk - Say Please (mp3) (download)

Keep it Coming

The prolific Raveonettes have keep the music coming almost non-stop since last year. They released a full length album last spring, then an EP every few months (4 in total) and now, they're set to release their next full length, In and Out of Control on Oct. 16, 2009.

Their fall plans also include a North American tour with the Black Angels.

Raveonettes - In and Out of Control (demo) (mp3) (download)

Raveonettes - Black Satin (mp3) (buy)

Raveonettes - Twilight (mp3) (buy)

Keep on Dreaming

Cass McCombs sings about a girl. Not a dream girl. Not a reality girl. But dream come true girl.

A musical nomad who has travelled from city to city in the United States, writing music varying from heavy reverb to Britpop to Bob Dylan-ish croons, maybe he's found what he's looking for. The songs on his latest record, Catacombs, are reportly a tribute to his wife.

Cass McCombs - Dream Come True Girl (mp3) (buy)

Patio Weather

Patio weather is here and you know what that means. Gridlock up to cottage country. Kevin Hearn and the Thin Buckle pay a little tribute to the popular cottage town, Huntsville, CA in the form of song. It's a little country, a little summer and a little slide whistle, just like the place it's named after.

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Kevin Hearn and the Thin Buckle - Huntsville (mp3) (buy)

Hands Down

PEI's Two Hours Traffic shows you the many ways to display your hands when you don't know where to put them.

You could cross your arms in front of your chest defensively.

You could casually put them in your pockets.

You could shrug your shoulders and hold up your palms in disbelief.

You could show off some nice assets.

Their new album, Territory, is out September and I've got high hopes for this one! Their albums always get consistently better! I don't know if that's even possible, considering how good their last one was. But hey, I said that last time about their previous record, and I was blown away.

Two Hours Traffic - Territory (mp3) (not yet for sale)

Two Hours Traffic - No Advances (mp3) (buy)

No Love Lost

I hate being wrong. I'd rather be right. But if I'm wrong, I'd like to be pleasantly surprised.

Case in point. I found out about a band called the Rifles perhaps late last year via a late night Hype Machine gluttony session. I automatically liked them. And I can't remember why, but I thought they were an older band. Perhaps its their incline to Britpop. It's got a choppy catchy jangly pop sound so reminiscent of that place and time.

But no, turns out they only formed in 2004! And just signed to Nettwerk in North America! Their first full length North American release, the Great Escape, comes out this fall. Perhaps some touring with follow? Their first album, No Love Lost, had London-cool attitute and enough charm to make fans out of their musical heroes Paul Weller and Oasis.

Rifles - The Great Escape (mp3) (buy)

V Fest Ontario?! Well it's about fraggin' time!

Who else thought that time was standing still because the details for Virgin Festival Ontario were taking so damn long? Well the clock has started ticking once again, and the results are trickling in.


Virgin Festival Toronto Orillia being held on the weekend of Saturday August 29th and Sunday August 30th at Burl's Creek Park... Where the fuck is that?



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Ohhhhh.... Wait, where?!

SATURDAY the 29th line-up:
Ben Harper & the Relentless7
the Pixies
Frans Ferdinand
Paolo Nutini
Grizzly Bear
Lights
Mates of State
Sloan
Down With Webster
Plants & Animals
Rural Alberta Advantage
Iglu & Hartly
Anjulie
Candy Coated Killahz

SUNDAY the 30th line-up:
Nine Inch Nails
Pet Shop Boys
Our Lady Peace
N.E.R.D.
Cold War Kids
Mute Math
Mew
Coeur de Pirate
Von Bondies
Thunderheist
Data Rock
Hypercrush
Trouble Andrew
Silver Starling
D'ubervilles
Sean Kingston
Melanie Fiona
The New Cities

There's more to be added to that line-up of course, and that requires more waiting. I'll be updating this list as it progresses. It's just a shame that Reading is being held on the same weekend, so half of the bands that we may have been hoping for are going to be off on the other side of the world.

Heartbeat

Sondre Lerche's Heartbeat Radio will be released on September 8, 2009 and it's said to be a start of a new chapter for the Bergen, Norwegian singer-songwriter. The first track "Good Luck" is a sum up of the recording of this album over the last couple of years, including moving to Brooklyn, NY, greencard issues, providing the soundtrack to Dan in Real Life and going indie again.

According to his myspace, "I thought this time I'd just make the album, and see who was interested when I was finished." He laughs. "And I didn't want to go to anyone before I was finished – it seemed disingenuous to say, 'I don't have music, but I have these songs in my dreams.' They probably could care less about my dreams!"

Or do they? Even though he describes himself as "just me, doofus!" on his myspace, we know he's capable of musical greatness.

You can hear a new track from the album at Stereogum or listen to some previous gems below:

Sondre Lerche - Wet Ground (mp3) (buy)

Sondre Lerche - No One's Gonna Come (mp3) (buy)

Ignore the Ignorant

The Cribs have a new album out Sept 7th, called Ignore the Ignorant. And it's their first as a four piece with Johnny Marr (of the Smiths and Modest Mouse fame). How did that happen?!

These guys have friends in high places. I mean, the last one was produced by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand after Franz crashed their recording sessions with Nardwuar the Human Serviette. It's true.



And this new one is produced by Nick Launay (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire and Nick Cave).

Here's the setlist:

1. 'We Were Aborted'
2. 'Cheat On Me'
3. 'We Share The Same Skies'
4. 'City Of Bugs'
5. 'Hari Kari'
6. 'Last Year's Snow'
7. 'Emasculate Me'
8. 'Ignore The Ignorant'
9. 'Save Your Secrets'
10. 'Nothing'
11. 'Victim Of Mass Production'
12. 'Stick To Yr Guns'

Cribs - We were Aborted (mp3) (pre-order)

Cribs - Martell (mp3) (buy)

Feeling Better

I've just discovered a band called the Teenagers. They're made up of mid-20's Parisian hipsters who started the band as a joke. They play synth-y dance rock with some early Pulp sleaze and a hint of tongue-in-cheek parody about the kids of today.

Their lyrical content is rather crass and one dimensional, but I find it pretty amusing.I mean, "would you do them if they had unibrows?" It's such (sarcastically) deep stuff! It's a social commentary, but a commentary about the fake glossy TV-versions of teenagers you see in magazines sang with heavy indifferent french accents.

And how did they know that I'd be dancing alone, feeling better, listening to this song?

"Who's there for you when you're cold and alone
The teenagers, the teenagers
We're playing our songs and you're dancing along
You're feeling better, feeling better"

...

Cause you want to dance
Or missing your friends
'Cause you don't have any
Well, we don't care
Just buy our t-shirts and talk about us everywhere
If you wanna

Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance ..."

Teenagers - Tiger (mp3) (buy)

Teenagers - Feeling Better (mp3) (buy)

New Spoon (yay!)

I'm sure some of you already know this, but I'm super excited about new Spoon music since it's been a while since we got their last record, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, in 2007. So this past Tuesday Spoon released a new EP with two B-sides and a new single, Got Nuffin. I like it. I like it a lot, but then again I'm biased. Listen for yourselves though.

Spoon - Got Nuffin (mp3) (Spoon Store) (Amazon)

Spoon - Panic (The Smiths cover) (mp3)

The Doctor Is In

Meet Doctor Rosen Rosen. The "Doctor" of such remixes from Department of Eagles to Britney Spears to Alaska in Winter to Chris Cornell to G-Unit to Phoenix, has taken on remixing all of Lily Allen's It's Not Me, It's You album and turned it into It's Not Me, It's Doctor Rosen Rosen.

Lily Allen - F**k You (Doctor Rosen Rosen remix)(mp3)