Indie Band Guru

In our exhaustive, yet constant search for great new independent music to introduce you to, we came across another winner.  Lil Daggers, a psychadelic garage rock band from Miami, FL.  They are relatively unknown as of yet, but I don’t think that will be for too much longer.  And they are coming up to NYC this weekend to visit you and me. 

Listen first:

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Then get out to see them this weekend:

• -Friday, April 9th, ‘Midnight til Death Party’ @ Don Pedros- Lil Daggers -with- Medication, White Mystery, and Girls at Dawn
• -Saturday, April 10th @ Don Pedros- Lil Daggers -with- Brown Ghost, Naked Beach, Estrogen Highs, and Wild Yaks
• -Sunday, April 11th @ Glasslands – Lil Daggers -with- Dream Diary, White Mystery, and Shark?

These guys crowd the stage with interesting musicians, including an organist (something that always excites me a little), and work hard to put on one hell of an interesting show.  The Indie Band Guru will be there, will you?

I just love when I like side projects better than the music of the band that they are spun off from.  Let me introduce to you Neon Indian.  Alan Palomo of the band Ghosthustler, and also known as the artist VEGA has spun off some of his recordings that just weren’t right for either of his other two personas into new moniker Neon Indian. 

Here is ’Sleep Paralysist’.  use the download link to have the song for yourself as well.

Neon Indian came to be in 2009 after a few of Palomo’s ‘extra’ tracks were posted around the internet and picked up by some influential indie music taste-makers.  Pitchfork gave credit to the debut EP Psychic Chasms as Best New Music of 2009. 

Neon Indian is also getting a big push now after being picked up by Mountain Dew and their Green Label Sound promotion to introduce great underground music to the masses.

  Portland, Oregon based indie-folk rockers Blitzen Trapper have announced a release date for their upcoming album on Sub-Pop Records.  The new album will be titled Destroyer Of The Void and is set to be released on June 8. 2010.  As a teaser, they have also made available the single ‘Heaven & Earth’ for free download.  Listen to it here first!  Then click the down arrow to download the song for free.

Blitzen Trapper – Heaven And Earth

Indie folk rockers Blitzen Trapper

They also announced some new tour dates:

06-02 Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory Concert House
06-03 Missoula, MT – The Palace
06-04 Bozeman, MT – The Filling Station
06-06 Fargo, ND – The Aquarium
06-07 Omaha, NE – Slowdown
06-09 Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
06-10 Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music Festival
06-13 Charlotte, NC – Casbah at Tremont Music Hall
06-14 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
06-15 Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero Theatre
06-16 New York, NY – Webster Hall
06-18 Lancaster, PA – TBA
06-19 Pittsburgh, PA – Diesel Club
06-20 Cincinnati, OH – TBA
06-21 St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway
06-22 Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
06-24 Aspen, CO – TBA
06-27 Albuquerque, NM – TBA
06-28 Phoenix, AZ – TBA
06-29 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
07-01-02 Quincy, CA – High Sierra Music Festival

Welcome to another edition of music you should know. Today’s band is Sleigh Bells with the song ‘Crown On The Ground’.

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The Noise-pop duo from Brooklyn has been getting a lot of hype throughout the blogosphere.  Maybe too much considering that their debut album Treats isn’t scheduled to be released until May 11th.  They are getting a lot of support behind them though recently inking a contract to release the record on M.I.A.’s NEET imprint of Mom and Pop Records.  ‘Crown On The Ground’ does show some influence by M.I.A. 

The band will also be getting their live show out there this spring and summer with performances at  SXSW, Coachella, and the Pitchfork Music Festival.  Not sure if I love them yet but they definitely bring something different to the indie rock table.

This week’s Music You Should Know is the song ‘Rome’ by Yeasayer.

Rome is one of my favorite tracks off of the Brooklyn, New Yorkers sophmore album Odd Blood. The way lead singer, Chris Keating, uses his voice in the chorus really sticks with me and has me trying to sing the song hours after hearing it.  The experimental yet dancey beat keeps you interested throughout the 3:53 of the song waiting to see where it will take you next.  I definitely can see this song, or the slightly more pop friendly, ‘Ambling Alp’ making it onto mainstream radio.

Take a listen and please share your thoughts with us.

  It has been a long time since we heard anything from Canadian indie rockers Broken Social Scene.  5 years in fact.  Luckily we will not have to wait for the May 4th release of their new album, Forgiveness Rock Record,to hear the first single.  The band has made the song ‘World Sick’ available for free download on their website.  Here is the link for all to enjoy (click on the cover art to get the song):

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

 The song is quite an epic at over 6 and a half minutes long but still a good listen if you can make it past the first minute of build up.

Also announced were some tour dates in the U.S. before they head over to Europe.  Here they are:

03-14 Elkton, FL – Harvest of Hope
03-18 Austin, TX – Stubb’s BBQ
03-19 Austin, TX – The Parish
05-01 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
05-03 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theatre
05-07 New York, NY – Webster Hall

Enjoy and let us know what you think of ‘World Sick’

  The Gorillaz have made thier new album Plastic Beach available for a first listen on the National Public Radio website. 

 Listen to it here Gorillaz – Plastic Beach 

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach cover art

Plastic Beach re-unites Damon Albarn, of the band Blur and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, best known for his work on Tank Girl.  This project dreamed up back in 1998 is back with a bang.  Plastic beach includes a huge list of guest stars, creating yet another well-crafted and dance-friendly set of songs. Here, Albarn and company’s songs demonstrate a genre-bending collection of glitchy club beats and hip-hop grooves, augmented by brass, glitzy synthesizers and Asian- and Arabic-tinged orchestral harmonies.

From the first voice you hear on the album, namely Snoop Dog, you get a good feel that this will be an album you will find yourself listening to a lot in 2010.  Indie Band Guru strongly recommends you give the album a listen.  Do it now and post your thoughts below in our comments section:

I came across audio of the band Beach House performing a new/unreleased song live.  The song is called “The Arrangement” from the 4 song Zebra EP out on April 17th.  Rumor is ‘The Arrangement’ will also be a B-side on a 12 inch single due out the same day.  The song is a little bland for my taste but I love getting music 2 months before it is released.  Take a listen.

One of the main goals of this website is to introduce our readers to music that they may never have heard of. 

We call it ‘Music You Should Know.’ 

Midlake – ‘Rulers, Ruling All Things’

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Midlake's new album - The Courage of Others

Today we wanted to introduce MIDLAKE, an American band from Denton, Texas.  Midlake’s first full album, Milkmaid Grand Army, was released in 2004, but as with most experimental indie rock, they gained popularity in Europe before catching on in America. 

Starting with a background in jazz, Midlake moved toward indie rock and thier songs seem heavily influenced by bands such as Jethro Tull, Radiohead, and Grandaddy, artists who experiment, while still remaining accessible to the masses.

The new album ‘The Courage of Others’ was just released on February 2nd, 2010 in the US.  The song featured here “Rulers, Ruling All Things” seems to be the 1st single.  Enjoy it and please share your comments.

For more on Midlake go to thier website www.Midlake.net  

-Midlake will be in New York at the Bowery Ballroom for 2 shows in April.