Your Twenties: Folks Back Home

Your Twenties is a band from London that blend a curious mix of upbeat, keys-driven alt pop and west coast-styled rock fusion. The frontman of the band is former member of Metronomy but broke away and started Your Twenties on his own. Listen to ‘Folks Back Home’ of the album Caught Wheel below.

Listen to “Folk Back Home” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Gray Kid: Lonely Love

The first time I saw the Gray Kid perform many years ago on Valentine’s Day at Spaceland in Silverlake, CA, I fell in love. His one-man-band, wacky beats and off tempo dance moves come together in a high-energy and mesmerizing performance. Whether he’s rapping over old MOP songs or singing one of his original sultry melodies, Gray Kid kills it every time.

Listen to “Lonely Love” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Julee Cruise: Falling

If you’re a David Lynch fan, you may know Julee Cruise from her musical appearances in Blue Velvet and most famously, in Twin Peaks. Still, her music goes unnoticed to most. I came across her album several years ago separately from Lynch’s introduction, but have revisited in in light of Halloween as I’ve been watching the Twin Peaks series. It reminded me of my love for her dreamy, retro sound. Her album Floating Into the Night was released in 1989, but it remains in the melancholy-music hall of fame. Listen to Twin Peaks theme, Falling below.

Listen to “Falling” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

The Very Best: Rain Dance (feat MIA)

The three members of The Very Best hail from Sweden, France and Africa. As one would expect, their sound has a global diversity to it. Warm Heart of Africa, their second album, was released in September of 2009 and features collaborations with MIA and Ezra Koenig. Their infectious music is picking up a lot of recognition here in the states.

Listen to “Rain Dance” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Juliet Commagere : Overcome

Juliet Commagere may appear to be a brand new face in the music world, but like many of the surprising engenes that seem to pop up out of nowhere, Commagere has some thick roots in the industry. Until now, she has been best known as the keytar-playing front woman of the band Hello Stranger, which has opened for everyone from the Foo Fighters to Kings of Leon. She also sang back up for Inara George in the Bird and the Bee. Her friends include legendary slide guitarist Ry Cooder’s son, Joachim, (her high school sweetheart), and Robert Francis is her brother. Now regarding her music…Commagere’s debut record ‘Queens Die Proudly’ was released this month. The tracks are dreamy and beautiful with an edge of emotional darkness.
02 Overcome

Listen to “Overcome” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Karen O. : All Is Love

We are all ecstatic with excitement for the release of Spike Jone’s Where the Wild Things Are this month. And it seems this is one highly anticipated film that will live up to expectations. In anticipation for the actual movie, I suggest you listen to its soundtrack. A compilation of original songs by Karen O. (yet another genius element of the WTWTA machine). Karen O. delivers a delicious array of magical and whimsical melodies, often featuring the laughter and cheering of little children, which is aptly appropriate for the soundtrack to this movie. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this album before, after and during your Where the Wild Things Are viewing experience.

Listen to “All is Love” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Wavves: So Bored

SO FUN! San Diego resident Nathan Williams makes blistering, doo-wave rock about teenage boredom in sun-drenched suburbia. The self-described surf punk says his sound is about: “buried melody. A combination of musical influence both from my parents and friends growing up.” This means a stew of Beach Boys harmonies and the lo-fi energy of Nirvana and Sonic Youth.
Listen to “So Bored” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Salem: Redlights

Im currently obsessed with Salem’s slo-mo, Chopt N Screwd hip hop beats bathed in nihilism and waves of dread. They describe their sound as: “being underwater at night.” In case you were wondering, they did indeed name their band after the Salem Witch Trials. This band is dark in a delicious way. Their second EP, Water, will be out on XL in February, with an album to follow. In the meantime, listen to Redlights below.

Listen to “Redlights” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Black Angels: Manipulation

Even though the Black Angels released their first EP on my birthday back in 2005, they’re gift of sound managed to escape my cognizance. In fact, it wasn’t until recently that this band’s amazing psychedelic rock was brought to my attention. Over the course of the last four years, The Black Angels have toured with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Warlocks, and The Black Keys to name a few. Their music draws comparisons to bands such as The Cramps and The Velvet Underground. Most songs are simultaneously eerie and upbeat. While their latest album, “Directions to See a Ghost” was released in 2008, I choose to share a song off their earlier album, “Passover”, simply because I currently cant get enough of it. However, I recommend you download it all, start to finish.

Listen to “Manipulation” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Cass Mccombs: Prima Donna

Cass Mccombs has been in the music biz for a while. To this date, he has released five albums, and is just starting to get the attention he deserves. Mccombs music first got my attention when a friend played me the song “Thats That” of his 2007 release, “Dropping the Writ”. That song remains one of my favorite songs all around. But none of the other songs on that album lived up to its brilliance. Fortunately, Mccombs has released a new album, “Catacombs” which has the consistency of his tender harmony genius throughout. The album flows nicely the whole way through. Each song as enjoyable as the next. Its easy to get side tracked with these sweet melodies playing.

Listen to “Prima Donna” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Radical Face: Welcome Home

Who is Radical Face? The answer: Ben Cooper, a 24 year old dude from Florida who, coincidentally, also makes up 1/2 of Electric President and Iron Orchestra, AND 1/3 of Mother’s Basement. This is one busy, music making-man. Ghost is the first album officially released by Radical Face. It is a concept album based on the idea that houses retain the stories of the things that happen inside them. The sound is a unique, breezy combination of upbeat melancholia. Is good.

Listen to “Welcome Home” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Warpaint: Beetles

Warpaint is a band of LA local girls. They have gotten quite a bit of attention for being “Shannyn Sossoman’s band”. But while Shannyn did play drums on a song or two, she is not a permanent member in the group. Independently from their famous friend, Warpaint has a uniquely ethereal sound all their own, which is quite captivating to listen to. You can buy their EP “Exquisite Corpse” on itunes now.

Listen to “Beetles” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions: Blanchard

BIG NEWS, BIG NEWS! Hope Sandoval, aka queen Mazzy Star, will be releasing a new album entitled “Through the Devil Softly” in September 2009. After Mazzy Star ended their iconic reign of the 90’s, fans were relieved to receive Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions’ solo album ‘Bavarian Fruit Bread’ in 2001. The album was met with rave reviews, as all Hope’s work is. But aside from some collaborations with the likes of Jesus and Mary Chain, Hope has been in an 8 year hibernation. If your not familiar with the evolution of this phenomenal artist, I suggest you dig up on Mazzy Star’s catalogue, and get nice and ready for the newest edition to Hope’s genius collection. Let the countdown begin!

Listen to “Blanchard” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Yeasayer : Tightrope

Yeasayer is a band out of Brooklyn who describe their music as “Middle Eastern-psych-snap-gospel”. They first started getting attention after performing at the 2007 SXSW music festival. Since then, they have toured with MGMT and Man Man. They also have a song on the lovely Dark Was the Night compilation album, along with the likes of artists including David Byrne, Grizzly Bear and Bon Iver. Yeasayer is working on recording their next album now which should be released by the end of the year. Listen to “Tightrope” below.

Listen to “Tightrope” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros : 40 Day Dream

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are a band of ten to twelve mates, led by frontman Alex Ebert. I think their unique dynamic is best described in their own words. As Ebert describes them: “We decided to go back in time. We got an old 24-track tape machine from 1979 and found a deal on used reels of 2-inch tape. Twelve people playing on 24 tracks, all recorded in live fashion. . . . I’m really proud of the dogma we kept; [the album] has a natural resonance to it.”

Guitarist Christian Letts adds, “There’s nothing about this band that’s ‘band-y.’ We’re kind of an art troupe that plays music.”"This is a case of a group of people coming together at the right time — I don’t even think of it as a band, I think of it as a family.”

If this band is ever rolling through your town, you should stop in and check them out. I hear their live show is fantastic. It is said that Ebert treats each crowd as part of his family as well. “The night [in April] I went into the crowd at the Echo and everybody was singing, you could almost feel their hearts,” he says. Hmm…sounds interesting?

Listen to “40 Day Dream” Here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy Here