Song Review: Bright Eyes’ “Shell Games”

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“Shell Games” is the new single off Bright Eyes’ new upcoming album titled The People’s Keys. The song starts with Conor Oberst singing the metaphor-filled lyrics with the company of a piano. What seems to be a slow paced melancholic song is broken down by an explosion of synth, piano and drums that play in unison to create a great steady beat. With an almost electro-rock feel to it, “Shell Games” is a mesh of great lyrics and an interesting composition. Check out the song over at Pitchfork, and the new album cover above!

Asobi Seksu is Laying Down The “Trails” to Greatness


The count is album number four for artist Asobi Seksu.  Fluorescence is available is available to all of North America just one day after the U.K. release on the 14th.  It will be on a variety of formats such as CD, LP, Digital Formats, and for those super-fans a limited edition pink vinyl. So you heard it here there are only 1500 of those puppies get it first.  They are promoting their album with the single “Trails” which is now open for MP3 Download.  This wonderful track will be accompanied by a video at the start of the New Year, can’t wait to see it.

It seems that sometimes the best defense is a good offense.  That is the approach that was taken going into this album. Do the opposite of what you intend and get the best result.  James Hanna puts it this way “This time, our agenda was not to have one at all; to be mellow about the entire process instead of obsessing over everything.”  Personally I don’t think Mellow is the right word.  Maybe strategic chaos.  I know that’s an oxymoron but I have heard the single of the upcoming album myself and it combines illusionary synthesizing with a strong grunge-pop core to set your mind of balance. And just when you think you have a grip on the sound…. BAM! They through in these glorious vocals like a celebration of the comsuming anarchy falling around you…  It’s pretty intense but please don’t take my word for it go download it yourself, who doesn’t like a free experience?

 

Reading Rainbows ‘Prism Eyes’ Refracts New Light into Music


What’s so alluring about Reading Rainbow‘s Prism Eyes is its intangible familiarity. Duo Robbie Garcia and Sarah Everton deliver a naked, stripped down lo-fi hearkening to 1960s American pop that’s peppered with hints of 90’s era Sleater Kinney. Much like fellow garage-punk genre benders Best Coast and Wavves, Reading Rainbow does a lot with a little. Their permaculturally minded compositions may in part be fueled by their health-food obsession—a clean body equals a clear mind after all, and even in their muddled hazy sounds, clarity is actually ever present.

The chunky guitar work and droning lyrical hooks of their not-quite upbeat tracks, like the album’s tangy opener, “Wasting Time,” the epic “Runaways” and the outstanding “Cut in Two” sinks deep into parts of us accessible only through hollow sounds and reverb.

What’s so lasting about Prism Eyes is its accessibility, its now-and-then-ness that seems somewhat imperative, though it’s not exactly clear why. The echoey “Let’s Dream Tonight” and “To My Gemini” offer a monotonous reprieve from the over-produced and under-titillating Kanye-esque cluttered world refracting into everything. Prism Eyes is kind of like the way a big healthy salad can reverse the damage of too many Big Macs; Reading Rainbow may not be as dramatic as the other options out there, but nonetheless their essence is a necessity. And despite our seemingly endless feedback loop of insanity, everything is all right even when it’s not, or at least, through the haze it appears that way.

Lower Dens Plays a “Yours Truly” Session, and Releases First Single, ‘Batman’


Female fronted Indie rock band from Baltimore, Lower Dens, has announced their 2011 tour dates. Starting on January 3rd in Washington DC, they will finish March 15th in Norman, Oklahoma.

Previously releasing their first album, Twin-Hand Movement, the new single “Batman” is off the upcoming EP of the same name to be released January 18th. They recently performed the single for a “Yours Truly” Session that you can watch here.

Listen to previous single, “Blue and Silver

Tour Dates

01/03 – Washington DC – The Kennedy Center
01/12 – Carrboro NC – Cat’s Cradle $
01/13 – Atlanta GA – Variety Playhouse $
01/14 – Asheville NC – Grey Eagle Tavern $
01/15 – Nashville TN – Exit In $
03/11 – Washington DC – Black Cat !
03/12 – Chapel Hill NC – Local 506 !
03/13 – Atlanta GA – The EARL !
03/15 – Norman OK – The Opolis !

$ = w/ The Walkmen
! = w/ Wye Oak

Check out their Myspace for more information.

White Lies Prep New Album, Offer Live Version Of “Bigger Than Us”

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White Lies’ sophomore album, Ritual, is set to hit stores on January 18th via Geffen/Fiction. Produced by Alan Moulder, Ritual is an epic and roaring follow up to 2009’s To Lose My Life, taking the listener on a sonic journey through dancefloor beats, raging guitars, and everything in between. The new album teems with dark distorted anthems for the modern age, leading British critics to hail White Lies as successors to the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, Depeche Mode, and The Psychedelic Furs. Magazine has dubbed lyricist [and bass guitarist] Charles Cave a “classic doom-rock dreamweaver; Nick Cave meeting Edgar Allen Poe.

The U.K. trio is now offering a live version of their first single “Bigger Than Us.” The phenomenal live track  was recorded in Mexico for Sesiones Con Alejandro Franco.

Check it out HERE!

Generationals Reveal March 2011 as Release for “Actor-Caster”


The second full length album by the Generationals, Actor-Caster, will be due out March 29, 2011 on Park the Van records.
After releasing, Trust EP, November 9th 2010, they went to work on finishing the materials for the new album.

Starting January 11th, the Generationals will start a small town tour beginning in St. Louis and ending in Los Angeles in early February.

Listen to EP single “Trust” and watch video of “Victim of Trap

Tour Dates
01/11 St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House
01/12 Chicago, IL – Schubas / Tomorrow Never Knows Festival
01/13 Carbondale, IL – Hangar 9
01/14 New Orleans, LA – The Blue Nile
01/25 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
02/16 Los Angeles, CA – Hotel Cafe

For more info on the Generationals, check them out on Myspace