New Tune on Monday

Happy Cyber Monday, or, as it's known in Pennsylvania, the first day of deer season. In any event, I heard a new song over the weekend that caught my ear... and it's from a band that we've mentioned here in the past. The song is "Everybody's Gonna Let You Down" by the Vaccines. It has a quiet coolness reminiscent of some of the best of the Dandy Warhols, an underrated band that I always liked.

New Tune on Monday

I just wanted to throw a little love out to one of my favorite newer groups (newer meaning I discovered them in the last five years,) Cage the Elephant.  Originally from Bowling Green, Kentucky, this five piece group tries not to over think or overstate their work.  As a close friend of the band stated about their writing,  "if you're not slightly embarrassed to sing the lyrics, you're probably not writing a good song,"

"Come a Little Closer" is their most current single off their new  album,  Melophobia.  The song is good, not great.  In today's age, they are more of a true rock band than many other artists out there.  If you're curious, check out "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked," "Back Against the Wall," or "Around My Head."

New Tune on Monday

Ok, these songs might not necessarily be new tunes, but they are new releases.  Matthew Sweet & Suzanna Hoffs have released their Under the Covers Vol. 3.  Their first attempt was fair, but by volume 3, they butcher some of the sacred artists of the Discordants.  XTC,  Roxy Music, and The Beat, are just a few of the bands that are poorly covered here. The real punishment comes in the shape of both the Smiths "How Soon is Now?" and Echo & the Bunnymen's "Killing Moon."  Such a shame for 100% Fun by Matthew Sweet still holds up so well.  I also enjoy a little Ming Tea.

Enjoy your poison. Under the Covers Vol. 3

New Tune on Monday

It's Monday, and all hail the haze-and-fuzz swirl of New York band Heaven. Their very solid album Telepathic Love takes you back to a time when shoegaze ruled the airwaves (did that ever really happen?) and everyone's favorite touchstone was the Jesus and Mary Chain. These guys certainly have the pedigree, with drummer Mikey Jones and producer Adam Franklin both past members of Swervedriver.

Here's the lead-off track, "Colors in the Whites of Your Eyes":

New Tune on Monday

Long live the Happy Mondays! OK, so the brothers Ryder aren't doing anything new. But they are a big influence on the new album by the Australian duo Cut Copy. Cut Copy's new album Free Your Mind is out in early November, and the tracks that they've released ahead of the album have a decidedly Madchester sound.

Here's "Let Me Show You". (Epileptics beware).

And while I'm at it, here's the title track "Free Your Mind", which sounds like Fleetwood Mac crossed with the Mondays... if that's even possible.

New Tune on Monday

WOW!  Haven't posted anything about new music in a while, but this one has stuck with me for the past few weeks.  It's "Toe Cutter - Thumb Buster" by Thee Oh Sees.  The group formed as an experimental rock band, and have many elements of things I like: one part Blues Explosion, another part Kim Deal, some surf guitar, with a sprinkle of  Neil Young.  I haven't heard anything like it in a while, and find it in my current rotation lately.

New Tune on Monday

For Columbus Day, I'm going across the Atlantic Ocean to Holland. That's where we find the neo-psychedelic Jacco Gardner. This guy is almost a doppelganger for Syd Barrett, complete with harpsichord and glockenspiel. And while you may find yourself checking your calendar when you listen to this, I can assure you that it is - in fact - 2013.

New Tune on Monday

I was thinking of a new way to trade music that you might not know so well -- because I've been on a listening binge lately -- and I came up with this handy paraphrase of Duran Duran.

Today, in the inaugural New Tune on Monday post, I give you Brooklyn's Parquet Courts, and their not-a-wasted-note triumph "Stoned and Starving". This is a perfect piece of late 70s inspired post punk -- catchy and minimal in the best spirit of the Buzzcocks or Wire. Plus it name checks a very unlikely NYC neighborhood, Ridgewood, Queens: "I was walking through Ridgewood, Queens/I was flipping through magazine/I was so/stoned and starving"