NPR Music is ON FIRE right now

NPR always does a great job of previewing new albums, but the list they have going right now is ridiculous. Stream all of these new albums below right now for free (Release dates of 9/4 or 9/11):

Stars- The North

Avett Brothers- The Carpenter

Cat Power- Sun (The best of this list in my opinion)

Also, Deerhoof, Animal Collective, and more...

New Pinback song and Pre-order new album

Pre-order Vinyl, CD or digital w/poster from Temporary Residence.

Forget Cassettes...

... is back, and my brother is now in the band. Pretty awesome. Instruments of Action is one of my favorite albums from 2003. You can hear it and 2006's Salt on the band's Bandcamp page.

 

The People's List: Top Albums 1996-2011

Both graphically and informationally, this is a must-see website...

Dustin Kensrue has a new EP out today

Dustin Kensrue surprised everyone today with a new EP under the band name The Modern Post. It is a release from Mars Hill Music, his new employer. I have barely listened to it, but it is a drastic departure from his solo album or anything he did with Thrice. Do yourself a favor and buy the EP through Bandcamp for $4 to save yourself a buck and direct a higher percentage of your money to the artist rather than Amazon or iTunes.

FINALLY!

27 months after completion and a full two years after the original release date, Sixpence None the Richer's Lost in Transition is finally available to the public.

Amazon as usual is the cheapest place to buy both the physical (CD, 9.99) and digital (MP3, 6.99) versions. Inexplicably the digital version comes with a bonus track apparently not on the CD. I am very upset with Amazon that my CD did not arrive on release day; typically I get new releases the day before. Here is a hint: If you want the physical CD but also the bonus track, take note that when you buy the CD, Amazon gives you a free $1 credit for MP3s. I used this credit to download the bonus track, which unlike iTunes does not require a full album purchase.

Here's to many more Sixpence albums!

New free tracks from Sixpence and Freelance Whales

"Still Waiting" for Sixpence to respond to my letter. Honestly the only response I need is a pre-order for a vinyl version of "Lost in Transition" that includes a download of the bonus track that is currently only available on the iTunes digital version. Sixpence has updated the homepage of their website, and it includes a free download of their "new" single, "Sooner Than Later". This song is in fact 4 years old and appeared on the "My Dear Machine" EP. Enter your email below for a link to download...
 

 Freelance Whales is also set to release their new album, "Diluvia" in October and they have a new free single out as well...

Other random news: The new Smashing Pumpkins album "Oceania" is outstanding and I have been listening to it non-stop all month. It has me the most excited about the band I have been in a dozen years.

 Cush is set to release two new EPs "soon": Spirituals Volume 3 and The Super-G EP.

Chris Simpson then and now...

Mineral from the mid-1990's, recent YouTube upload from VHS tape:


New unreleased Zookeeper songs (found scouring the web):

Come on Chris, release another album already!

New free streaming music from Metric and Fiona Apple

Both Metric and Fiona Apple have new albums coming out this month. Fiona Apple has released a couple tracks, the most recent yesterday on Pitchfork along with a new interview.

Then Metric today put their full album up to stream:

Dutch rock: Brown Feather Sparrow is now Eins, Zwei Orchestra

As I have mentioned before, I love Dutch music. There is tons of good stuff out there, but living in the United States makes it almost impossible to keep track of. Most of these bands I discovered in Holland in 2003 during Flevo Festival: This Beautiful Mess, Brown Feather Sparrow, The Spirit That Guides Us, People Get Ready, etc. Brown Feather Sparrow was the only one of those three who actually performed that year at the fest, and I love their version of quiet folk rock in the vein of The Innocence Mission or Over the Rhine. Brown Feather Sparrow released three LPs (2003, 2005 and 2008), and I was sad to see when they "broke up" a couple of year ago.

Brown Feather Sparrow is the brainchild of Lydia van Maurik-Wever. I just discovered her "new" project Eins, Zwei Orchestra she started with her husband, Stefan Maurik. I say "new", because I discovered them yesterday, but their LP, 100 Colors, was released in 2011. They also have an acoustic EP they released this year.

Eins, Zwei Orchestra is a noiser, more-rocking version of Brown Feather Sparrow. There are similarities to shoegaze, but it is more diverse than that. Apparently her husband has also performed with The Spirit That Guides us, but this is no where near that loud.

Thankfully with Bandcamp, now all of this music is readily and cheaply available for us on the other side of the Atlantic. Both the Eins, Zwei LP and EP are "name your own price" on Bandcamp, and all of the Brown Feather Sparrow albums are very cheap. I recommend all of it. For information on all of these bands I recommend using the Netherlands version of Wikipedia, then allow Google to translate it for you.