New LCD Soundsystem album

I got into LCD soundsystem about 6 months ago thanks to my buddy Taylor and have just about worn out the disc he passed along, Sound of Silver. It was only later that I discovered how influential they had been during the previous decade - pitchfork.com named their album Sound of Silver as number 17 on their list of top albums of the 2000's while naming All My Friends off that same album as the second best song of the decade. It has been a few years since their last album, but yesterday morning via twitter lead singer James Murphy announced that they are "mixing last song right now to send to the amazing bob weston to master. meaning, record DONE. i hope people like it." It has been stated that the record could come out sometime in March, but that seems unlikely at this point. However, regardless of when it drops I highly recommend you checking it out. Below is the best track, in my humble opinion, from Sound of Silver:

Someone Great

Weird awesomeness

Alright, nothing ground breaking here, but I have become slightly obsessed with this song the past week or so. This song is really strange, but at the same time it hooks you in with its awesomeness. The full length LP Swim drops in April. Check it out below, along with the even creepier video that just surfaced.


Odessa

Upcoming ATL Concert Calendar

So, a lot of quality bands are heading through Atlanta over the next few months. Below is a list of what I consider can't miss shows; the starred ones I already have tickets to, but if I have the funds and the time I am going to try to see all of them. I'm also including a song for a couple of these bands to whet your appetite.

Muse * (these guys still stand as the greatest live show I've ever seen)
Saturday, February 27 - Gwinett Arena

The xx *
Basic Space
Wednesday, March 24 - Variety Playhouse

Yeasayer
Tuesday, April 6 - The Masquerade

Vampire Weekend *
Thursday, April 8 - The Tabernacle

My Morning Jacket
Friday, April 23 - Chastain

Frightened Rabbit
Modern Leper
Saturday, April 24 - The Masquerade

Phoenix
Saturday, April 24 - The Tabernacle

Beach House
Thursday, April 29 - The Earl

Sea Wolf
Wicked Blood
Thursday, May 6 - The Loft

Angels and Airwaves
Sunday, May 16 - The Tabernacle

Weekly Reviews - Gorilla Manor by Local Natives

Los Angeles quintet Local Natives finally dropped their debut LP Gorilla Manor this past Tuesday and it is pretty fantastic. I heard their song Sun Hands on SiriusXMU quite a few times over the past month and so was excited to see what else they had up their sleeve. This record was not exactly love at first listen for me; however, after a few more listens I quickly realized that this album had a lot more to offer than I picked up on the first time and is definitely one that grows on you a little more with each listen. Their music is a little understated with some fantastic percussion that works really well with the vocals and establishes a very mellow mood throughout. I can't put my finger on exactly why I really like this album, but I do and am going to advise you to go out and purchase it immediately. All in all, this is a great debut album and should portend great things to come for these guys in the future. As for the Weekly Review rating, Gorilla Manor is getting a 4.0 from me right now (the lead singer's mustache alone added .2 points to the rating - that thing is epically amazing!), but talk to me in a couple of months and it could very easily be a 4.5.

As a side note, these guys are playing pretty much every festival on earth over the next few months so check them out if you can.

Two of my favorites from this great debut:

Airplanes

Sun Hands

New MGMT album details

As related in an article in Spin a week ago, MGMT's sophmore release, Congratulations, has been slated for an April 13 release. The record is going to feature 9 tracks including the title track about fame and the "worldwide economic crisis", a song inspired by Lady Gaga and a song called "Siberian Breaks", a 12 minute opus that's, in the words of bandmember Andrew Vanwyngarden, "like eight different songs strung together into one, and the general theme is about surfing in the Arctic Circle by Russia." The unifying influence of the record is surfing, which Vanwyngarden (awesome name by the way!) picked up while recording in Malibu.

There is a lot of hype surrounding this release after the wild success of their 2008 debut Oracular Spectacular, which was on almost everybody's best of 2008 lists. The first five tracks of that effort are so addictive and strung together so well, I still have it on regular rotation almost two years after it came out. If you don't know these guys, do yourself a favor and buy their first record - you will not be disappointed. As an introduction of sorts, below is the first track off their debut album, which also happens to be my favorite:

Time to Pretend

MMJ

For those of you who know me, this post was a foregone conclusion. My favorite [newer] band, without a doubt, is My Morning Jacket. These guys rule. Fact.

I discovered these Louisvillains on a Bonnaroo sampler I was given driving onto the Manchester lot in 2003, but not until I caught them in Athens and then Nashville at two very different shows in '05 and '06 did I realize their brilliance. They absolutely bring it live - I cannot encourage you enough to experience it (click MMJ above to hit up their site for tour dates). I know a good number of you peeps will be attending the April 23rd show at Chastain.

Below are three tunes, just a small handful of tunes that I believe represent the variety of sounds the Jacket brings to the table. First two are early songs from a 2001 record, one studio and folky (Hopefully) and one played live later on (Lowdown). The third, Smokin' From Shootin', is my favorite track from their most recent Evil Urges album. Please enjoy.

Feel free to send an email to our new account, thecowsaysdance@gmail.com , and I will gladly hook you up with links to any and all things MMJ related. Songs, albums, full shows, pics, videos, whateva - me musica su musica.

Hopefully


Lowdown


Smokin' From Shootin'

Dashing Through the Snow...

First of all, sorry for the lack of posts the past couple of days, but I have been preoccupied with a bathroom renovation at my house the past four or five days.

Anyway, over the past few days I found a new band thru SiriusXMU whose songs I cannot stop singing to myself. They are none other than Sleigh Bells, a duo out of Brooklyn featuring Alexis Krauss on vocals and Derek Miller doing pretty much everything else (read guitars, songwriting, orchestrating the beats, etc...). They are new to the scene and actually don't yet even have an EP, but there is a demo floating around the internet with four pretty amazing songs. It may just be a case of the quality of the home recorded demos, but their sound is very lo-fi; beyond that, it is difficult to categorize their music, although it is important to note that there is a log of music being created by only two people. Ring-Ring is poppy and upbeat with a nice underlying beat and a catchy hook that really illustrates Alexis's beautiful voice. Crown on the Ground has a pretty explosive beginning with a driving beat and some majorly heavy reverb while Infinity Guitars, not suprisingly, features driving guitars right from the get go.

I am excited to hear what this duo sounds like when they re-record these songs in a proper studio. There is also a lot of buzz about their live performances, which by all accounts are amazing.


Ring Ring

Crown on the Ground

Infinity Guitars

Dance Dance Dance!!

So this past Tuesday featured a slew of new indie music being released, with two releases in particular that I was pretty excited about. First off was Yeasayer with their sophmore effort Odd Blood, which admittedly I was more excited about considering two of the songs from the record had been all over SiriusXMU for the last two months and both seemed to have the power to make me extremely happy every time I heard them. This quartet from Brooklyn has been around since 2006 and this follow up to their debut album was supposed to launch them into Indie Rock Stardom. The music on this record has some series pop undertones, but it is really just a good, down home dance record that some might go so far as to label electronic. The two highlights for me are Ambling Alp (check below) and O.N.E., and while the rest of the songs on the album were interesting in their own way, it must be said that the album as a whole did not live up to my admittedly high expectations. While it is upbeat and fun to listen to, after a few spins I feel that it is one that I won't be coming back to that often. I'm gonna give this album a 3.5, but it is a disappointing 3.5 as I was hoping for better.

Ambling Alp

The other big release of this week was Hot Chip with One Life Stand. I was first introduced to this band early last year by my friend Derek and have been hooked ever since. Their last album, Made in the Dark, was released towards the end of 2008 and it was one of my most played LPs of last year; every song on the album stands on its own, but together they provide an incredible music listening experience. This UK fivesome is electronic all the way, but not in the sense of trance or a European DJ; it is upbeat dance electronic that will keep you coming back for more. I was also a huge fan of their previous album, 2007's the Warning, so suffice it to say I also had pretty high expectations for this release. And even though they were a known commodity to me with a strong track record based upon the other two records I own, their new one still impressed in a big way. This record is a little more understated than their previous two; this is not a definitive dance record like the other two as it is a little less upbeat than the others. The title track is the one that was released to indie radio a few months ago, but the highlight for me is I Feel Better, the song that preceeds it on the album. It has a great back beat, a catchy hook and just makes you want to groove; after a handful of listens, this was the one song I kept wanting to come back to. Another highlight is track 5, Brothers, one of the slower and more simple songs on the record whose words will make you feel all warm and fuzzy. Now, if you were to see a picture of these guys your first thought would be "Nerd Alert", but in a classic case of not wanting to judge a book by its cover, their music will knock your socks off if you give it a chance. While my favorite record released thus far this year is Vampire Weekend's Contra, this one is a close second and I am going to give it an enthusiastic 4.5. You'll find two songs below by these guys, the first is my favorite from this week's release and the other is my favorite from The Warning.

I Feel Better

No Fit State

Dog, MD

Dr. Dog is a fantastic 5-piece band from Philadelphia. They are often categorized as psychedelic, but most of their music to me is straight 60s-style pop. In fact, they purposely record lo-fi, and you can tell as soon as you start listening (especially to the older stuff, like "Say Something" down below). A lot of you nine people have probably heard of them, as they were on one of my Alphy Newbies compilations, or I have probably forced your ears upon them in a car or at a party. But I can honestly say that most everyone I have introduced them to has loved them, especially once they have witnessed them live. They put on an amazing show. Unfortunately, they are skipping GA on their current tour but they have come to Athens or Atlanta 1-3 times a year for a few years now. You can click on the title of the post to link to their web site.

The first two tracks are from their latest album, Fate, which is an incredible album - it was my favorite album of 2008. The last track is from 2005's Easy Beat, and it is actually my favorite single track of their's - the breakdown is just nasty. Please enjoy.

From:


Hang On:


Say Something

Weekly Reviews: Romance is Boring - Los Campesinos!

Overall Rating - 4.0 (on a scale of 0 - 5)

I picked up this band's debut LP Hold on Now, Youngster... back in 2008 and found it to be quite fun, complete with a lot of well placed shouting. There name roughly translates to "The Peasants" and this seven piece band hails from Wales, which technically makes them my favorite Welsh band as I don't know of any others and would probably have a hard time finding it on a map. Only seven months after their debut dropped, their sophmore release came out - We are Beautiful, We are Doomed - which I must confess I never heard.

However, their third studio release - Romance is Boring - was released on Tuesday and I have listened to it about 3 or 4 times since picking it up. Initial observations are that it is definitely darker than their first release, although that isn't to say it is too dark since their debut was really fun and upbeat. It is also immediately apparent that their sound has become more sophisticated and a little more grown up. There is some more synth to this record and the songs sound tighter, but they haven't forgotten their roots as there is still a lot of shouting. The record itself is still upbeat and fast paced and overall a really enjoyable listen. I enjoyed it more than their first album and would definitely recommend you going out and picking it up.

My favorite track from their newest release is below, so check 'em out:

The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future

Embedded Audio Has Arrived to the Cow!

Okay, so after many. many wasted hours, I was finally able to add embedded audio to the blog (never ever underestimate the power of google). You'll notice that I have updated the Weekly Review post from Thursday with the three audio files and got rid of those ridiculous looking youtube videos.

I did notice that the lame looking default flash players are loading really slow, so the next thing on the site improvement plan is to get a better music player that only loads when you play a song. Based upon how long it took for this first miracle of embedded music to appear it may be a while though, so please "pardon our progress".

Weekly Reviews: Hometowns - The Rural Alberta Advantage

Overall Ranking - 5.0

Okay, since this is the first one in what I hope to be a series of many, when I am ranking these albums, I am going to do it on a scale from 0 to 5, 0 being unlistenable and 5 causing you to be upset when you are not listening to it.

The first time you hear the Rural Alberta Advantage, you will probably think that you are listening to some long lost Neutral Milk Hotel record. Their debut LP, Hometowns, came out in the middle of last year and I have been spinning it almost non-stop since then. The lead singer has a very distinctive voice and in my opinion, the drummer is quite amazing. Not suprisingly, the lead singer hails from Alberta and the band is currently based out of Toronto. Each song on this album stands on its own and it is really the perfect album for this time of year because it is very summery (that's right, i said summery, and no i don't care if it is not a word). This record probably ranks as one of my top 3 from 2009 and if you don't know these guys, i highly encourage you to check them out. Two of my favorite songs from this ablum are linked below.

One last note, if you've never heard these guys and are wondering what kinds of bands they sound like, I would compare them favorably to Neutral Milk Hotel, the Antlers, Sunset Rubdown and Ra Ra Riot.

The Ballad of the RAA

Don't Haunt This Place

Quick update of some upcoming stuff

Okay, so while i have been mia for a few days, i have been cooking up some ideas for some features here on the cow. I am going to start a weekly record review, centered mostly on albums that dropped that week (we stay on top of things around here), but also mixing in a few classics (as deemed by me) along the way. I just bought three albums at lunch today and plan on listening to them repeatedly for a few days to get some reviews out there, but in the meantime look for a review sometime this evening on a debut record that came out last year.

Until then, keep dancing.

AA Bondy

**Click title for song/video**

This guy's real name is Scott Bondy, formerly of a relatively popular band called Verbena. He released his first solo record as AA Bondy in 2007, called American Hearts. This gem is called "A Slow Parade" and is from last year's When the Devil's Loose. This track was on the show House [if you are a fan...if not, you are missing out]. Both are great albums - like many singer/songwriters, the debut is bare bones and then there are more instruments and layers to the sophomore release. His voice really gets me - raspy but still smooth and chill. If you like M. Ward or Bon Iver, chances are you'll dig this dude.

Keep your eyes open for him to come through. He has been touring pretty much nonstop for the last couple years. He just toured the west and is now in the north, so we are due. Not long ago he played for 5 bucks at Tasty World in Athens.

Supposed Bonnaroo Lineup

So I got an email today with one tiny attachment. That tiny attachment happened to be a photo of this year's Bonnaroo Lineup poster, and man is it beautiful. Here is what is supposedly in store at the 'Roo here in the '10...

Roger Waters (performing the Wall), Jay-Z, Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder, Pavement, My Morning Jacket, Alicia Keys, Massive Attack, String Cheese Incident, Furthur, Norah Jones, Tenacious D, LCD Soundsystem, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Phoenix, Iggy and the Stooges, STS9, Cat Power, The Dead Weather, The New Pornographers, 311, Mos Def, Black Keys-Mos Def-Blakroc, Mastodon, the Avett Brothers, Disco Biscuits, Os Mutantes, Spoon, Explosions in the Sky, Yonder Mountain String Band, John Prine, The National, Les Claypool, She and Him, Hot Chip...and more.

Feel free to email me - RowellKev@Gmail.com - if you would like me to forward the poster to you for the rest of the list.

*Disclaimer: This will not be confirmed until next Tuesday, so no hatEMAIL if it turns out to be wrong in any way, haha. But seriously.