Lindsey Ray – Brand New Day (mp3)*

Buy Album @ Amazon

Lindsey Ray Official Site
Lindsey Ray MySpace

*mp3 hosted by & posted w/ permission of artist’s PR rep

Haunting, low-fi single from Australian pop band Our Husband’s forthcoming album. Our Husband are Nathaniel Morse of Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! and Freya of Bing Goes to Monaco.

Buy @ Amazon (not yet available)

*mp3 provided by & posted w/ permission of band

Our Husband MySpace

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Juliette Commagere – Impact (mp3)*

Pretty, upbeat tune from former Hello Stranger singer Juliette Commagere’s new solo album The Procession, to be released September 20th.

Buy @ Amazon

*mp3 hosted by & posted w/ permission of artist’s PR rep

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Liam Singer – Winter Weeds (mp3)*

Delicate, lovely ballad by “chamber-pop experimentalist” Liam Singer’s new album Dislocatia, to be released October 5th.

Buy @ Amazon

*mp3 hosted by & posted w/ permission of label

Quiet, pretty folk ballad reminiscent of Kath Bloom‘s work with Loren Mazzacane Connors. Cold Seeds is a one-off collaboration between Meursault‘s Neil Pennycook and Pete Harvey, Kenny Anderson (a.k.a. King Creosote), and Frances Donnelly from Animal Magic Tricks. The album will be released on Song, By Toad Records on September 20th.

Buy @ Song, By Toad Records

*mp3 hosted by & posted w/ permission of label

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The Vaccines – If You Wanna (mp3)

Retro rock-influenced demo by UK band The Vaccines. That’s all the info I was given for now, stay tuned.

*mp3 provided by & posted w/ permission of band’s PR rep

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You can download the quirky pop song “Cold Love” by former Cursive and The Good Life lead Tim Kasher by entering your email address in the widget above. His debut solo album The Game of Monogamy will be released by Saddle Creek Records on October 5th.

Buy @ Amazon

Have I been living in a cave? Don’t answer that. I didn’t even know that Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice had teamed up for an album until they were recently booked for an upcoming Mountain Stage show. Judging from this summery pop song, Jenny & Johnny are trying to be the new She & Him. You can download this mp3 from their new album I’m Having Fun Now, which will be released August 31st, by submitting your email address at the above link.

Buy @ Amazon

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Yair Yona – Brave Walls (mp3)*

Exotic and lovely instrumental from Israeli guitarist Yair Yona’s debut album Remember. If you like this song, you’ll love the album.

Buy @ Amazon

*mp3 hosted by & posted w/ permission of band’s PR rep

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Libbie Schrader – Turn to Gold (mp3 download page)

You can download a pretty new song by Libbie Schrader by entering your email address at the above link. “Turn to Gold” is a demo that may or may not be included on Libbie’s upcoming fan-funded EP.

Chicago-based trio Mutts are just over a year old, and much like the hodgepodge suggested by their moniker, members Mike Maimone (keys, vocals), Chris Faller (drums), and Bob Buckstaff (bass) punch in off the clock from more pedigreed projects (Company of Thieves, The Hush Sound). And like a zealous, unruly year-old puppy, their EP We Float runs the rambunctious gamut of influences, spanning jazz, blues, grunge, metal, industrial and rock, never quite deciding which one to take by the throat and throttle.

Considering the juxtaposed jumble of components, however, Mutts’ combined output is a cohesive sound; it’s evident they’ve done the work of deciding what they want to do, and forging ahead with it confidently. If you possess any manufactured pop sensibilities, delicate or otherwise, you may not immediately find too much to latch on to amidst the stripped down production and frenetic, raw vocal stylings. But there’s a brutal honesty buried in the roughness, and the moments where the melodies begin to surface and take hold add just enough suggestion of shine to keep you listening.

Mutts have a forthcoming release, The Tells of Parallels EP, available on October 1st. They will also be playing at legendary Chicago venue Schuba’s on Monday, August 30 at 8:00PM as part of the Betta Promotions Showcase. The show is $6, 18+ and tickets are available here. Also appearing are DJ Caural, The Sacred Robe of the Ancient Psychedelic Monks, Scott Lucas & The Married Men, and Volcanoes Make Islands.

Mutts – Beggar (mp3)*
Mutts – We Float (mp3)*

All Mutts music, including We Float and their previous Pretty Pictures EP, is available as free downloads on their website. You can also purchase them on CD at the band’s shows or Amazon…

Buy @ Amazon

*mp3s provided by & posted w/ permission of band

Bell X1 – Rocky Took a Lover (live) (mp3)*

*mp3 provided by & posted w/ permission of Yep Roc Records

Bell X1 2010 Acoustic Tour Dates:

10/6 Philadelphia, PA@ Tin Angel
10/7 New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
10/8 Cambridge, MA @ Brattle Theater
10/9 Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall
10/11 Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark
10/12 Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel
10/14 Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
10/15 Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
10/16 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café
10/17 Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java
10/20 Los Angeles, CA @Hotel Café
10/21 San Francisco, CA @ Swedish American Hall

Buy Flock @ Amazon

The Troubadour has stories. In the walls, when you lean in too close, you can hear and feel the echoes of music and musicians. This is the place of music history, the Los Angeles edition, and one cannot help but expect something spectacular when you enter through its doors. On August 14th, in the audience watching Rasputina, that is exactly what happened – something spectacular.

Rasputina, part kinder-whore a’la 1990s, part gothic mistress, part Renaissance queen, and part Steam Punk warrior, is an experience that slithers into you, opening up something raw in you, and taking with it a bit of your soul.

I felt lost at times, not in a bad way, but definitely away from everything around me. The heartbeat thump of the drums, especially throughout songs such as “Sweet Sister Temperance” and “Saline The Salt Lake Queen,” were hypnotic – a musical temptation luring me into the ether.

“High On Life” channeled the musical souls of Jim Morrison, Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin – rock and roll meets the blues gone post-modern mystery. I swear, if I squinted my eyes and looked towards my right, I saw the three of them swaying along and passing a bottle between them.

My favorites of the night were the heartfelt “Holocaust of Giants,” off of the newly released album Sister Kinderhook, and the cover of “Teenage Kicks,” the 1978 hit song by The Undertones.

Though the music was truly the best part of the evening, playing second (and adding to those stories in the wall, I’m sure) were the commentary and asides spoken by frontwoman and musician, Melora Creager.

Rasputina – Holocaust of Giants (mp3)*

Muruch Album Review

Buy Album @ Amazon

Rasputina Official Site

*mp3 hosted by band & posted w/ permission of their PR rep

Set in the small, old-fashioned English village of Edgecombe St. Mary’s, the story centers on aging widower Major Ernest Pettigrew. The Major is introduced as the epitome of traditional values and manners, who clings to the old ways of his village as much as he does to his father’s two antique Churchill hunting rifles. Said rifles have been the objects of the Major’s lifelong adoration and serve as the catalyst for a somewhat comical battle with his greedy relatives over his brother’s estate.

When the Major strikes up a friendship with a widowed Pakistani shopkeeper and kindred bookworm named Mrs. Ali, he begins to see himself and his closeminded neighbors in a whole new light. The delicate, subtle romance that blossoms between the Major and Mrs. Ali grows into a middle-aged, multi-cultural Romeo & Juliet as they face the harsh criticism and prejudice of their respective friends and families, who disapprove of the couple’s dissimilar skin colors, religions, and incomes.

A tense and emotional subplot regarding Mrs. Ali’s nephew and her family’s strict adherence to their religion adds to the forces separating our dignified and hesitant lovebirds, ultimately resulting in the novel’s breathtakingly climatic scene.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand will fit snuggly on any bookshelf filled with classics both old and new. And it would make a wonderful, sophisticated romantic comedy if ever it’s turned into a film.

Buy @ Amazon

“By now the plane is empty behind him and the rest of the passengers are trailing away down the long cathedral arcade of the terminal through the pillars of light streaming in the windows: silhouettes fat and lean, major and minor, limping, striding, slouching, swinging briefcases, dangling backpacks, towing wheeled suitcases, in twos and threes, or weaving through the crowd, alone. None of the silhouettes ahead is swaying. None of them is carrying a duffle. None of them is dangling a book at her hip and holding her place with a finger. Kevin can no longer see his slinky seatmate, Ms. Joy Luck Club, the girl in the camisole, the girl with the tattoos, the girl who walks like Lynda.”

Ah, the joy of browsing at the library. I’d never heard of James Hynes, but the colorful cover of Next captured my attention, as did the brief summary on the inside flap. It exceeded my expectations. The author is remarkable at capturing detail and the human condition.

As Kevin Quinn goes through life, his mind returns again and again too the past. And much of the time not spent reliving the past is used up fearing the future – from terrorist attacks to fatherhood. It takes a lot to help him truly experience the present. Kevin trudges through a viscous Austin, following his own selfish longings until he can follow them no further.

Next has been aptly compared to Ulysses. It’s not quite so formidable, but Kevin’s quest through a city in one abbreviated day, his encounters with the people of that city, and his constant reminiscences certainly reminded me of Bloom’s Odyssey.

Next captures the anomie of our modern existence, the constant need for something better, for instant gratification. Only when faced with something momentous does Kevin appreciate the blessings in his life. And what a momentous something it is. The final act of this work will take your breath away.

Buy @ Amazon

James Hynes was recently interviewed at Large Hearted Boy.

James Hynes Official Site