DISTILLED SELECTIONS

Whiskey Shivers- “Jealous Heart”- off 2012’s Rampa Head

First off, AWESOME band name.

The world is on this folk kick right now- seeing bands like The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons blowing up.  I’m not as hot on it right now, but I admit I been diggin’ on these guys a lot recently.

They have a free 4 song download (including “Jealous Heart”) for free at their bandcamp page here. Check em out.

Widowspeak- “Ballad of the Golden Hour”- off Almanac, which is due out 1/22/13

This song is growing on me with each listen.  The chick’s voice has a certain… vulnerability..that is really engaging.

The Fucking Eagles- “Gentleman’s Blues”- off 2009’s Midnight Sour

You can download this track for free over at KEXP.

Sylosis- “Born Anew”- off Monolith, which came out 10/9/12

You can download this song for free from Nuclear Blast via their free 25th Anniversary compilation here.  Love this- it just shreds for 3:48.

PAPA- “Put Me To Work”

Recently, the internets have been abuzz with the new solo work from Christopher Owens, former lead singer of the band, Girls.  I don’t particularly like Girls, and I don’t particularly care for Owens’s solo work, but reading about it did lead me to PAPA.  Darren Weiss (of PAPA) is a multi-instrumentalist who also served as the drummer for Girls.  I had actually downloaded a song from PAPA a few months back- not bad, but “Put Me to Work” is way better…but hey, what the hell do I know anyway?

As a side note, while I like this track, this band name is shit.  

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METZ- “Wet Blanket”- off METZ, which came out 10/9/12

METZ is a Canadian 3-piece band that I heard on XM the other day.  Really like the energy and the gritty bass line in “Wet Blanket”.  This is exactly the sound that my ears are craving these days, it’s like they read my mind…

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The band’s self-titled release is out via Sub Pop.  You can stream the whole album below via this soundcloud widget, and you can download “Wet Blanket” and “Headache” for free over at Sub Pop’s website here.

Death Grips- “World Of Dogs” off NO LOVE DEEP WEB, which came out 9/30/12

When Death Grips released NO LOVE DEEP WEB a few weeks ago, it appeared to be another act of outright rebellion from one of the more unique bands going these days.  And it still might be that.  More and more sites are speculating that this whole scene was a scam, a plan by the record label and band to get hype and reaffirm their image as rebels who just don’t give a fuck.

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I could see that, especially now that this album that was released without the ok of the label, now has a new supporting video for one of the tracks.  Seems odd…you’d think the label would be more pissed.

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Regardless, the song is badass, and I am fine with getting deceived when it results in me getting free shit, like this whole album for nothing (you can still download this whole album for free at the soundcloud widget imbedded in my previous post here…but hey, what the hell do I know anyway?

How to destroy angels_- “Keep It Together”- off their forthcoming EP An omen_, due out 11/13/12

Before any “Grammar Nazis” come after me, both the band name AND the EP title are typed correctly.  How to destroy angels_ is the new side project from NIN front man (whose name I don’t even have to type, but will anyway) Trent Reznor.  According to Earbuddy.com:

“How To Destroy Angels (is) Trent Reznor’s project with his wife Mariqueen Maandig and longtime collaborators Rob Sheridan and Atticus Ross”

Sounds familiar, understated and palatable.  I wonder how much Reznor’s wife is bringing to this equation- this “collaboration” may be a lot like when my wife and I “collaborate” making dinner…then she does all the real work.  Though maybe that’s not a fair assessment- she sounds nice.

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And, much like dinner, it doesn’t really matter who’s doing the work as long as the result is delicious, and this is.  Check out the free download via the soundcloud widget above and decide for yourself, because hey, what the hell do I know anyway? 

Tracklist:

1 Keep it together

2 Ice age

3 On the wing

4 The sleep of reason produces monsters

5 The loop closes

6 Speaking in tongues

Zulu Winter- “Silver Tongue”- off Language, which came out 6/19/12

My friend Aaron has a great ear for music.  We saw probably 20 shows in the NY/NJ area over a 3 year period, so I know and our tastes overlap often.  With that in mind, when he throws a recommendation my direction it gets my attention.

Language is the debut from British band, Zulu Winter.  The lead single from the album is “Silver Tongue”.  When I first listened to it, it struck me as a little too “pop”.  The more I’ve listened to it, it has really grown on me.  I still think it’s too pop, but I also realized I don’t give a damn about that.

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Check it out for yourself because, hey, what the hell do I know anyway?

You can download “Silver Tongue” for free over at MOKB. You can also download “We Should Be Swimming” for free from the band at their website here, and you can download “Bitter Moon” via their soundcloud widget here:

Tame Impala- “Elephant”- off Lonerism, due out 10/9/12

Tame Impala’s new album is a little more than a week away, and I have to admit, I am anticipating it way more than I expected.  

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The video for “Elephant” has been floating around the interwebs for a few weeks now, and it embraces the fuzzed out style of the band in a fitting way.  This song has grown on me a lot, and is one of my favorites of the year.  As I’ve been enjoying it, I have gone back into some of their material from Innerspeaker, and I found this gem:

On Tame Impala’s website they also have a widget to download this remix of “Elephant”- it’s 7+ minutes, but pretty cool- literally used some sound effects of an Elephant.

You can stream the whole album over at NPR here, or over at The Maroon Cafe here.  Check it out, because what the hell do I know anyway?