Best of the 2nd Quarter 2011 April -> June

Over halfway through 2011 and with the summer here I have had a little more time focus on music. April and May brought lots of great music and lots of new discoveries. That is always a busy music time of year as many bands like to follow up with new albums and tracks after SXSW. June was a little disappointing (or maybe I am just spending too much time stuck on Bon Iver) and July so far has been dry. Enjoy and let me know what your favorites were.

Standout Album from April - June listed in Alphabetical Order. All tracks are for sampling purposes go out and buy the album to support the artists (click on the album name to go to Amazon)!

The Antlers - Burst Apart
I Don't Want Love
Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out
Putting The Dog To Sleep


Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See
Brick By Brick
Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair
Piledriver Waltz


Battles - Gloss Drop
Wall Street
Ice Cream (Feat Matias Aguayo)


Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
Drover
One Fine Morning


Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Calgary
Beth/Rest


Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Helplessness Blues
The Cascades
Bedouin Dress (Live)


Jeff the Brotherhood - We Are the Champions
Shredder
Diamondway
Mellow Out


Thao & Mirah - Thao & Mirah
Eleven (Feat. tUnE-yArDs)
Folks


tUnE-yArDs - WHOKILL
Bizness
Gangsta
Powa


Vaccines - What Did you Expect From the Vaccines
Norgaard
If You Wanna
Blow It Up


And 15 more tracks for good measure!
Black Lips - Modern Art
Country Mice - Morning Song
Ema - The Grey Ship
Fucked Up - The Other Shoe
Low - Try to Sleep
Milagres - Glowing Mouth
My Morning Jacket - Holdin On to Black Metal
The National - Think You Can Wait
Panda Bear - Surfer's Hymn
Parts and Labor - Rest
The Raveonettes - Forget That Your Young
Seapony - Blue Star
Sonny and the Sunsets - Reflections on Youth
Thee Oh Sees - I Need Seed
Vetiver - Wonder Why
Weeknd - Glass Table Girls
Yacht - Dystopia

And Other Stuff #5

So before I die, I have three concert dreams:
1. Latitude in England with my whole family
2. SXSW with my wife and the Berciks
3. Primavera and Spain sightseeing with whoever will take me for free.

So this week we get some very cool footage from Spain thanks to Pitchfork attending the Primavera festival.
tUnE-yArDs in Spain
The tUnE-yArDs short song is just surreal with the church, traffic, and soccer crazies.

James Blake @ Primevera Concert in Spain
So I learned that this music is part of his degree for University...how cool.

Cults @ Primevera
Sightseeing and drinking


On top of all the concert and live music footage - Pitchfork also introduced a great new idea: 60 Seconds Left. Check out these bands to get an idea of what it is all about.
The Walkmen - remind me a wrestling a friend of highschool and then suddenly someone gets mad and it gets real.

Battles - funny band, funny cameraman.

Pains of Being Pure of Heart - an indie football fan.


So leave a comment on what your concert dreams are!

And Other Stuff #4

Bon Iver - Calgary (live on Colbert Report) source Pitchfork
The pre-performance interview is great and nice to see Justin is not as serious as you might think.

bi on tcr by yardie4lifever2

Damon Alborn - Apple Carts source Someone to Shout For
A beautiful composition from an upcoming opera Damon has written. This guy is busy, he should learn to chill.


Battles - Futura source Pitchfork

And Other Stuff #3

Battles - Wall Street source Blogotheque 
How cool is the room they are playing in. Some tasty high hat.

Battles | Wall Street | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Oh Land - Wolf and I from youtube
I highly recomend the new album!



The Black Lips - Live at Webster Hall source Pitchfork
This clip made me realize how awesome this band is! Now I just need to find a way to see them in concert.


My Morning Jacket - Circuital source Paste Magazine
Great classic rock sound



Coldplay - Charlie Brown source Someone To Shout For
Click the link to Someone To Shout For to hear three other new Coldplay tracks. For fans this sounds like it is going to be a great new album, for non-fans I'm sure it sounds lame. I'm looking forward to this one.

Cheat Sheet #16 2011

This week of music just seems to be something special. Released this week: The Antlers, Okkervil River, Lonely Island and lots of the music below. Maybe it is because I have a couple beers and haven't written in a long time but everything below is awesome. If you are stopping by to get some free music, don't be afraid to follow.

Memory Tapes - Wait In the Dark source Music Ninja
Memory Tapes - Today Is Our Life source Turntable Kitchen
This is soft, pretty, gentle music; easy to listen to. Don't think this will win album of the year, but I do think it will be great to hear while hanging out on the patio or deck this summer.
Album Player Piano out on July 5
Band Website

Gang Gang Dance -Mindkilla source Salad Days Music
Making funky experimental electronic music like it should be made. They got synths, midis, distorted guitars, drums, and lovely vocals. All hands on deck as there is lots of knob turning. I can remember when I thought electronic music was some how cheating - I'm retarded. It's all music, you just have to do what sounds good. This is like dirty hippie music for the electronic age.Great jam below to go with the mp3.
Album Eye Contact out now
Band Website

Ema - The Grey Ship source Wheels Still Spin
Ema - Milkman source My Old Kentucky Blog
This is ear burning and brain melting music. The droning noise is very displacing and matches the lyrics perfectly. It is hard to listen to this at full volume, but I highly recommend. EMA seems to be genius. Apparently she has been honing her craft in earlier bands Amps For Christ and Gowns.Looks like I'll be busy this week checking them out. Amazon has her new album for $5.99 get it now. 
Past Life Martyred Saints out now
Band Website

Battles - Ice Cream source My Blog Cliche
I love the Battles and when I heard front man Tyondai Braxton left to pursue his solo projects I thought there is no way they could survive. I was wrong - this is great. The album will include rotating guest vocals including the likes of Gary Numan (Cars - see below). Saucy video to boot, but I prefer mint chocolate chip.
New album Gloss Drop out on June 7
Band Website