The spring blooms have been showing their stuff for weeks
now, while new releases have hit the airwaves to please many a music fan. Plus with SXSW and Coachella’s two weekends
come and gone, there are plenty of buzz worthy bands to choose from for the next
new music playlist. Link to listen here, enjoy!
1. “Go Right
Ahead” – The Hives
Swedish party band The Hives
are back after five long years with their fifth release, Lex Hives. The band is led
by brothers Per (a.k.a. Howlin Pelle, frontman and vocals) and Nicklas (a.k.a.
Nicholaus Arson, guitar and keyboard) Almqvist, returning to their high-energy
approach for this catchy single.
2. “Sad Vacation” –
The Dandy Warhols
Portland’s own alternative rock icons, The Dandy Warhols,
return to the scene with their ninth album, This
Machine. Their gravelly, no excuses
vibe chugs along in this opening track for the collection.
3. “Ho Hey” – The
Lumineers
The Lumineers are a folk rock trio from Denver, specializing
in an acoustic-based Americana sound.
This infectious single is off their self-titled full length debut,
complete with callbacks and an invitation to join their jam.
4. “Heavy Metal” –
White Rabbits
White Rabbits are a sextet based in Brooklyn with an unusual
rock band set up (two drummers and a piano player) to expand their sound. The band’s two frontmen, Greg Roberts and
Stephen Patterson, met in college in Columbia, Missouri, while working at the
local record store together. This song
is off their third release, Milk Famous.
5. “Hollywood Forever
Cemetery Sings” – Father John Misty
This song was recently offered as KEXP’s “Song of the Day” by
Josh Tillman, the former drummer of Seattle band Fleet Foxes. The majestic tune is off the debut release for
his solo project, Fear Fun.
6. “The Wave” – Miike
Snow
7. “Devil’s Work” –
Miike Snow
Miike Snow is an indie pop trio formed in Stockholm in 2007,
incorporating the talents of Andrew Wyatt with producers Christian Karlsson and
Pontus Winneberg (known as Bloodshy & Avant). These two shining examples of their work are
off the band’s second album, Happy to
You.
8. “Finding Reasons” – New Build
Al Doyle (of Hot Chip and formerly LCD Soundsystem) and
Felix Martin (Hot Chip) joined forces with studio producer Tom Hopkins to
create this British electronic collaboration, New Build. As expected, the tracks are filled with solid
dance grooves such as in this single off the debut release, Yesterday Was Lived and Lost.
9. “The Reflection of
You” – Bear In Heaven
10. “Sinful Nature” –
Bear In Heaven
Brooklyn band Bear In Heaven embraces 80s synth pop song structures
as formulated early on by Jon Philpot, during his off hours from working at a
recording studio in Atlanta. These two
swirling tunes are from their fourth full length release, I Love You, It’s Cool.
11. “Tourists” –
Bright Moments
Bright Moments is the indie pop music project of Kelly
Pratt, known for his horn and vocals in Arcade Fire, Beirut and LCD
Soundsystem. He lets the brass section
take center stage along with his new frontman position, as evidenced in this
lead track off the band’s debut release, Natives.
12. “California” –
Delta Spirit
Delta Spirit is an indie rock quintet from San Diego, now
living in Long Beach. This song is from
the band’s self-titled third album, with their folksy rock vocals and approach
to instrumentation.
13. “Serpents” –
Sharon Van Etten
Brooklyn based singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten embraces
the indie folk rock genre with her heartfelt compositions. This song is off her third release, Tramp, which was produced by The
National’s Aaron Dressner (who also makes an appearance as a performer as
well).
14. “Shiny Things” – Fanfarlo
Fanfarlo is a London based indie pop quintet, fronted by
Swedish musician Simon Balthazar. The band’s eclectic instrumentation includes
trumpet, mandolin, violin, musical saw and clarinet along with the standard
rock band set up. This song is the single
off their second release, Rooms Filled
with Light.
15. “Myth” – Beach
House
Dream pop trailblazers Beach House are back with this single
off their fourth album, Bloom. Featuring French-born Victoria Legrand’s
soaring vocals and Baltimore’s Alex Scally, the duo continues to offer
larger-than-life musical landscapes.
16. “Eyeoneye” –
Andrew Bird
17. “Belles” – Andrew
Bird
Chicago area native Andrew Bird lists voice, violin, guitar
and glockenspiel as his instruments for creating indie folk rock that has
resulted in nine albums and more. These
two songs are from the latest release Break
It Yourself.
Here’s another collection of music culled from recent
releases to help keep the summer vibe going. Check out new songs from indie
veterans Spoon, Interpol, The New Pornographers and The Shins along with new
bands such as Jungle and The Orwells. Vacationer, Parquet Courts and Ex Hex
bring the party atmosphere while Christopher Owens, Stand of Oaks and Tweedy
(Jeff Tweedy of Wilco) craft a mellow musical vein. 
All of a sudden there's a bunch of upcoming releases; I'm counting the days until their drop dates (see list below). One of them is from Dan Snaith, the Canadian mastermind behind the electronica band Caribou (as well as Manitoba and Daphni). His gyrating, funky tune "Odessa" caught my ear with heavy airplay on KCRW back in 2010, and landed a spot in my Late Fall 2010 Playlist plus a Top 20+ Songs of 2010. Based on this one song I was thrilled to catch Snaith live at Moogfest 2010, where he huddled as a quartet behind a drum kit in a corner of the arena stage. (Snaith plays drums, guitar, bass and synths but chooses percussion when performing concerts.) With openers, there's plenty of equipment announcing the next band behind the group and taking up space, but I loved how Snaith felt a need to be even more scrunched together with the rest of the musicians. It also made the performance much more intense, as they fed off of each other's energy while the sound resonated in the cavernous space before a huge crowd.
