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Previous: Episode148 - Getting Higher
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♬Liner Notes♬: Spring has definitely sprung (at least out here on the best coast, sorry east coast homeys!) and there's so much new music coming out right now and a ton of great shows coming to town! (Saw Caribou and Stars last week and have Swervedriver coming up in a few days!) But this week's episode brings the rock (and the pop and the electro!) with the latest sounds from Lilly Hiatt, Hot Chip, Toro Y Moi, Helio Sequence, Lord Huron and a bunch more... Let's spring forward and "Get This Right" on PUTV!
Lord Huron
"Fool for Love"
'Strange Trails'
IAMSOUND, 2015
Notes: "Lord Huron's "Fool For Love" opens with a delicate wash of humming bells, a distant organ drone and a few carefully plucked strings. It's a beautiful, meditative mix that shimmers with the kind of hope and determination that only a new day can hold in its earliest hours, just after waking, before the inevitable letdown... Based in Los Angeles, Lord Huron will release their sophomore full length, Strange Trails, on April 7. It comes three years after the folk rock group's 2012 debut, Lonesome Dreams." Making their fourth appearance on PUTV, we played three tracks from Lord Huron's 2012 debut!
(@LordHuron)
Hot Chip
"Huarache Lights"
'Why Make Sense?'
Domino, 2015
Notes: "[After a three year silence] Hot Chip are back! After teasing new music last week with a cryptic website, the band has announced that they’ll be releasing their sixth album, Why Make Sense?, in May. They’ve also shared the lead single: It’s called “Huarache Lights,” and comes along with a video directed by Andy Knowles all in one take and is based around a mesmerizing light installation from Robert Bell. The new album was produced by the band themselves and Mark Ralph, who they also worked with for their last full-length, In Our Heads, which came out back in 2012." Making their fifth bow on PUTV, Hot Chip (which features Joe Goddard of The 2 Bears - which is Torq of Stars' current favorite ;) ) return for more!
(@Hot_Chip)
Work Drugs
"Chase The Night"
'Louisa'
self-released, 2015
Notes: "Philadelphia electro pop quartet Work Drugs have just released the first new single from their forthcoming album, Louisa, due this summer. “Chase The Night” is a sparkling, dreamy anthem where the rebellious youth in you will want to throw your fist in the air as they belt out lyrics about being young and messing things up." This was runner-up for our title track this week...
(@WorkDrugs)
WATERS
"Stupid Games"
'What's Real'
Vagrant, 2015
Notes: "[SF/LA] Crunch-rock quintet WATERS released their EP, It Might All Be Okay, last fall after nearly two years of silence... WATERS announce their first full-length project on Vagrant Records, titled What’s Real, and they also give us the single “Stupid Games.” The track opens with a synth sequence and simple drum pattern beneath low, murmured vocals from frontman Van Pierszalowski before huge, distorted power chords drive an infectious hook where Pierszalowski opens up his vocal range." OK, I swear there's a moment in there that sounds like Van Halen's "Dreams"...
(@ThisIsWATERS)
Toro y Moi
"Empty Nesters"
'What For?'
Carpark, 2015
Notes: "Chaz Bundick’s latest album as Toro Y Moi is called What For?, and judging from lead single “Empty Nesters,” it will mark another stylistic leap for the chameleonic musician. Bundick broke through doing hazy, nostalgic pop music that got him classified as chillwave, then he shifted toward funk, disco, and retro R&B sounds (not to mention his more beat-driven electronic exploits as Les Sins...). “Empty Nesters,”...is the most rock Toro Y Moi has ever sounded, a sunshine-drenched guitar-pop tune that could pass for Pavement or Neutral Milk Hotel, at least until the funky breakdown hits. It’s not a departure so much as an extension of Bundick’s already-expansive aesthetic." While it's his first time on PUTV as Toro Y Moi, we've heard Chaz as Les Sins and as guest vocalist with Chromeo on our "Animal Needs and the Best Of 2014" mixtape!
(@ToroYMoi)
Avers
"Evil"
'Empty Light'
self-released, 2014
Notes: "The song ["Evil"] compliments the mood of the video perfectly, every noise echoing like a voice floating around inside your head. It's a rock circus that'll keep you spinning, but you won't want it to end. "We teamed up with the Flies collective out of Brooklyn to make a video for that reflects the themes of the song — loss of innocence and wild nights of excess," said the Richmond, V.A. band... If you're not familiar, Avers is a six-person band comprised of members of The Head and The Heart, The Trillions, and Mason Brothers. Their sound is a conglomeration of psychedelic rock, hazy pop, and fuzzy shoegaze — basically the sickest combination you can get."
(@AversRVA)
Hanni El Khatib
"Melt Me"
'Moonlight'
Innovative Leisure, 2015
Notes: "Hanni El Khatib went from being a relative unknown in the music world to an indie-rock darling in what feels like no time. The L.A.-based songwriter may have gotten his start as creative director for a skateboard fashion label, but since his 2011 release, Will The Guns Come Out, it’s been all about the tunes. Khatib hooked up with The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach out of mutual admiration, and Auerbach ended up producing Khatib’s 2013 release Head In The Dirt. Khatib’s work with Auerbach helped to thrust his music into the limelight and ended up resulting in songs being featured everywhere from Super Bowl ads to episodes of House. With an unparalleled level of attention for this songwriter, Khatib is now prepped for the release of his third full-length, Moonlight." Returning to PUTV for his third time, it's Hanni El Khatib's first time back in two years!
(@HanniElKhatib)
Lilly Hiatt
"Get This Right"
'Royal Blue'
Normaltown, 2015
Notes: "East Nashville has become synonymous with artists who are making country music that doesn’t conform to the vending-machine-quality material churned out on the radio... she’s the daughter of the legendary John Hiatt... On her second record, Royal Blue, Hiatt tries to wrestle down melancholy, and she loses; the album plays out like a missive from someone who knows she’s pinned to the mat. “Get This Right” finds her meandering through a dead-end relationship, decrying the same old roadblocks and speed bumps in her faintly filtered, chirping twang... This is the soundtrack for when you’re driving nowhere fast, but feeling very zen about it." Lilly Hiatt's coming through Portland in a couple weeks and she's even making a stop by my day job for a small show!
(@LillyHiatt1)
Twerps
"Back to You"
'Range Anxiety'
Merge, 2015
Notes: "Melbourne jangle-pop band Twerps have titled their new [sophomore] LP Range Anxiety. "Back to You", its first single, has all the inner turmoil the name suggests. It boasts a buoyant disposition, with whistling synths and steady riffs happily skipping along, hand in hand, but even on his sunniest days, singer Martin Frawley can’t shake his glum thoughts. "Somebody out there is doing better than me/ They’re feeling free, feeling free, feeling freer than me," he sings. He’s simmering with jealousy, tied to a relationship that leaves him feeling anchored: "And it all keeps coming back to you," he reminds himself in the chorus."
(@TwerpsTwerps)
The Sidekicks
"Deer"
'Runners in the Nerved World'
Epitaph, 2015
Notes: "There’s something very Northwest about the The Sidekicks’ new album, and it’s not just the view on its cover. The Ohio band didn’t just snap the pic from Seattle’s Pier 62 like any other tourist, but rather they absorbed the good part of a local summer while recording Runners In The Nerved World with producer Phil Ek at Avast Studios. Ek’s influence is clear. The Sidekicks’ punk past is nearly forgotten on glimmery pop numbers like today’s featured song, and the album’s first single, “Deer”. On it, vocalist and guitarist Steve Ciolek (who visited Seattle also with his other band, Saintseneca) hits sublime falsetto like other notable Ek producees – Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, The Shins, Built to Spill, et al – while the band punches forward with the perfect balance of sheen and fuzz to appeal to any aficionados of 90’s and 00’s Seattle rock."
(@SidekicksOhio)
Christian Bland & The Revelators
"I See You" (Live On KUTX)
'The Lost Album'
Burger, 2013
Notes: "The Book of Revelation is truly frightening, detailing the apocalypse with imagery that’s pretty much psychedelic: hail, fire, and blood rain down; the star Wormwood falls to earth and poisons the water; locusts with human faces and lions’ teeth devour everything in their path. Musicians have been mining this drama for years, from Skip James to Depeche Mode. Christian Bland & The Revelators follow suit, in name as well as sound. Bland – known for his dirge-like guitar work in the Black Angels – indulges his evil side with the Revelators. Last year in our Studio 1A, the band showed off “I See You,” a psychedelic jam that sounds, well, Biblical in its power."
(@BlandChristian)
Lower Dens
"To Die in LA"
'Escape From Evil'
Ribbon, 2015
Notes: "On their last album, 2012’s beautiful Nootropics, the Baltimore band Lower Dens explored some new middle ground between motorik krautrock pulse and headspun dream-pop drift. This spring, the band will follow that one up with Escape From Evil, their third album. And “To Die In L.A.,” the first single from the LP, sure seems to indicate that they’re taking another leap into the unknown. “To Die In L.A.” is, more or less, a synth-rock song, and there’s plenty of New Order in its DNA. But the band still has its own particular kind of dreamy drift, especially thanks to frontwoman Jana Hunter’s dark authority."
(@LowerDens)
Other Lives
"Reconfiguration"
'Rituals'
PIAS, 2015
Notes: "After a two-and-a-half year break since their last EP and nearly four years since their last full-length, Oklahoma trio Other Lives announce a new album, Rituals, today. In tandem with the announcement, the band drops lead single “Reconfiguration.”... a full, lush three and a half minutes, busting with instrumentation and lines that require two hands to count. The band employs three different drum patterns, quick twangy guitar riffs, multiple piano chords, atmospheric synths, and even violin to seamlessly fill every bit of space." Making their second stop by PUTV, we heard "Take Us Alive" from Other Lives two years ago on ep051!
(@OtherLives)
Ashley DuBose
"Ride" (w/ Rocky Diamonds)
'Be You'
self-released, 2015
Notes: "Typically, the phrase “whip music” implies trunk-rattling beats and bellowed bars. Some days, though, you want to Ride to something a little smoother—something like Ashley DuBose‘s latest feature. Here, GMo and Jimmy Easy‘s hazy synth production backs the Minneapolis singer/songwriter as she invites a lucky dude to share a blunt and jump in her vehicle for an afternoon drive. Assisting on the guest tip, Epic Records signee and fellow Twin Cities repper Rocky Diamonds is only too happy to oblige." A former contestant on "The Voice," Ashley drops a great penultimate track for PUTV ep149!
(@AshleyDuBose)
The Helio Sequence
"Stoic Resemblance"
'The Helio Sequence'
Sub Pop, 2015
Notes: "With a firm footing in psychedelic-leaning studio experimentation, [Portland's] The Helio Sequence’s swirling take on indie rock belies the capabilities of their two-person membership. Formed in the late ’90s by guitarist/vocalist Brandon Summers and keyboardist/drummer Benjamin Weikel in Oregon, the duo’s studio-intensive home recordings allowed them to experiment with sounds before taking them into a live setting... In May 2014, the duo began work on their sixth album by playing “The 20 Song Game”, a challenge where musicians work to create 20 songs as immediately as possible and then critically reflect on the results. The self-titled album’s lead single, “Stoic Resemblance” is among the most pop-friendly things the duo have put to tape." Making their third bow on PUTV, we haven't heard the local Helio Sequence duo in almost three years!
(@HelioSequence)
This week's B-sides: Danny Kroha, Bonnie & The BANG BANG, Dick Diver, Andy Shauf, Hayden, Ryan Bingham and Brandi Carlile
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@PumpUpThaVolume Music News:
#AlbumOfTheDay: Swervedriver (@SwervedriverUK) - 'I Wasn’t Born to Lose You'
I rated @caribouband at Roseland ★★★½ via Bandsintown
@YouAreStars Stars played an awesome & energetic show in the @SkypeLiveStudio!
Prince is playing spontaneous shows across the U.S. and might have contributed a song to @Rihanna's new album
Ex Cops blast McDonald's for offering its SXSW talent exposure instead of money
NYC’s Last Classical Sheet #Music Store to Close
Art critics really hate Björk's MoMA retrospective
Noel Gallagher: #Morrissey's the best
Jack White bought #Elvis' first record for $300,000 and will reissue it for Record Store Day
The 5 best songs of the week include @kanyewest, @kelelam, @courtneymelba, Chromatics and of course, @carlyraejepsen
@kendricklamar's new album is up for pre-order, out 3/23
@AphexTwin releasing #Syro bonus track on a white label 12" via @WarpRecords
Listen to @MIAuniverse's "CanSeeCanDo," her first new song since 2013
Hear the @ViolentFemmes' first original song in 15 years, "Love Love Love Love Love"
"No Nostalgia" by @AgesandAges is playing ahead of Obama's remarks in Selma, AL.
(Thanks again to our #SongOfTheDay sources at @KEXP, @KCRW, @KUTX, @TheKeyXPN and @TheCurrent. Thanks to @TwilightCircus1 for the bed music - and thank you for listening!)
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