Here’s a band that I only found out about very recently over at Stereogum, but I think the band has real potential. I have posted one track from each of their last two EPs which demonstrate their range of musical styles. As Scott noted Hospital Beds sounds a little like early Walkmen with its jangly piano, whereas Heavy Boots reminds me somewhat of The Kills. The vocals remind me a bit of U2 as well, but don’t expect any stadium rock here.
I haven’t found anywhere to actually buy their EPs yet as their label’s website appears to be under construction, but rest assured I will tell you all when I find a place to buy them from. Check them out @ MySpace and their (rather odd) homepage.

Cold War Kids - Hospital Beds
Cold War Kids - Heavy Boots

Tim

On ‘Rags and Tags’ by 586 we hear witty lyrics sung by a girl/boy frontduo - ’slowing down to call me gay/for good measure prick as well’ (well it made me titter like the true tit i am), an endearingly crappy keyboard line that brings to mind Stereolab, and pleasingly distorted guitars, all on top of a jolly if not jaunty rythmn. In a word, its Indietastic!
Hailing from Bethnal Green in London, their single ‘We got bored’ is out on May 8th, and packs a similar but more urgent punch… its all about budget keyboard sounds with this lot….

Rags and Tags - 586

586@myspace

Rhino

Fields are a Scandanavian/English five-piece who combine folksy guitars and propelling rythmns to create something really quite mesmerising, exemplified best by their recent single ‘Song for the fields’. Its an ace track which must be all the more affecting live, so try and catch them
on their UK tour, next stop Leeds on 26th at the Faversham. Be there, or be a cube.
Fields @ Myspace for more details and mp3s

Fields - Song for the Fields

Rhino

I don’t think anybody on the planet not living under a rock for the last few months could have avoided hearing Gnarls Barkley’s unbelievably catchy Crazy on the radio. It was the first UK #1 single on download sales alone and is being played not only on the youth orientated BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1xtra, but also on Radio 2 which is more easy listening for the middle aged ;-).
Although the album (Gnarls Barkley is a collaboration between DJ Dangermouse (of Gorillaz and the Grey Album fame), and Cee-lo (of the Goodie MOb - who shows some really sulful vocal talent on the record) doesn’t offer another track as actchy, it is full of a mixture of gospel vocals, hip-hop beats and surprisingly little rap - which I have to say is a good thing in my opinion.
[Buy]Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

Eitherway, here are a couple of my favourite tracks from the album (and the really artistic Crazy video in ipod format)
Gnarls Barkley - Gone Daddy Gone
Gnarls Barkley - Smiley Faces
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (Video)

Tim

The Noisettes don’t have an album out yet, but this band from London, having only formed in 2003 are already selling out live shows across the UK. I first heard them on their label’s 2nd podcast (the supercool Transgressive Records), which is available via iCast [subscribe with iTunes].
These tunes have been floating around the blogosphere for a little while and being my favourite tracks of the moment I thought they would be a good way to start off the blog. There are some similarities with the yeah yeah yeahs, but these guys give off impressive energy through their recorded tracks and I can’t wait to catch them live, and have some really catchy pop riffs.
[Buy] The Noisettes - Three Moods of… on Low Altitude Records.

Noisettes - I-WE
Noisettes - Malice

Tim

To get things started, and before we start posting any music on here I though we should set out exactly what this site is for and how we plan on achieving our goals.

Folllowing a post on Mystery and Misery about Moistorks coming under fire by the IFPI, and the useful ideas set forth by Jason, it got me thinking about the purpose of mp3 blogs, especially this one.

We exist to promote the bands and music we love, nothing else. And following the same format as the post referred to above, here are the rules we will abide by:

1. Always link to a place to buy the music we’re blogging via the record label, iTunes, Amazon, insound, etc. We will try to get links to buy the album in both the UK and the USA.
2. Not post more than two songs from a copyrighted album without written permission of the rights holder, only including one single maximum.
3. Not host or link to full albums, open directories, or other large repositories of pirated music.
4. Keep up-to-date with what other blogs are posting (which is made easier through The Hype Machine and Elbo.ws), and try not to let the whole album being posted on the internet.
5. Treat pre-releases sensitively.
6. Take the considerations of bands and record labels seriously. We will remove any music we have posted as soon as possible after receiving such a request from either the band blogged about, their official management o their record label.
7. Publicize the fact that we have a shared policy toward blogging - one that promotes fine music while simultaneously respecting the artists and their labels.

So there you have it, the rules we plan to abide by in the future. Think we’re missing something - post a comment

Walrus