New DUCKTAILS Video - "Landrunner"

Ducktails is the side project of Matt Mondanile of Real Estate. The debut LP/CD is due next month via Not Not Fun. Check out this awesome video, directed by Alice Cohen.

WOODS, JEREMY JAY, NEON INDIAN

It's a slow week at The Sky Report due to an overwhelming amount of work elsewhere, but big things are in the pipeline for this summer. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I'm currently obsessed with these tracks.

Woods are another lo-fi band from Brooklyn. On first listen it was a bit off-putting, but now I can't get this damn song out of my head.

Woods - The Dark (link)

*****

Also...

"Where Could We Go Tonight", the closing track from Jeremy Jay's new album Slow Dance...

Where Could We Go Tonight? - Jeremy Jay

*****

And...

"Should Have Taken Acid With You" by Neon Indian is pure sweetness to my ears.

Should have taken acid with you - Neon Indian

More Neon Indian...

Neon Indian - Deadbeat Summer (link)

M.I.A. Plays Coachella 2009

M.I.A. - Paper Planes

Record Store Day

Support your local record store, tomorrow is Record Store Day! A series of exclusive releases will be available. See the full list here. Find a participating local shop near you.

DUM DUM GIRLS

It's blowing my mind how many new artists right now sound like The Primitives, one of my favorite late 80's shoegazer/pop bands who similarly kind of sounded like Jesus & Mary Chain. Dum Dum Girls are the latest to emerge from the pack (ie; Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Wavves, Vivian Girls, etc.)

With that said, this is some great stuff. Dum Dum Girls are actually one girl, a librarian from LA who clearly had a moment listening to Talk Talk. I should also mention the many comparisons that have been drawn to early 90's band Black Tambourine. Ironic that she has a forthcoming release on said band's label Slumberland. The debut CD is already sold out and the Catholicked 12" is nearly out of print as well. But check out tracks like "Don't Talk To Me", "Jail La La" and the heart melting cover of Sonny & Cher's "Baby Don't Go" here.

Catholicked - Dum Dum Girls

*****

And if you're not familiar with The Primitives or Black Tambourine, check out these videos...

The Primitives - Really Stupid (live 1986)


Black Tambourine - Throw Aggi Off the Bridge

BLACK DICE - "Glazin"

Black Dice recently released their 5th album REPO and it has been met with mixed to good reviews. I've never delved too deeply into the Black Dice catalog. To me their sound is like music for crazy people. But the new video for "Glazin" is too good to ignore. Here's a quote about the new album:

"REPO is the sound of a disciplined group of cosmic jokers setting out to reclaim the landscape popular culture would have us believe we cannot afford. The record irreverently mulches the sounds and images of radio, TV and internet into a fertile compost pile squirming with new, raw life."

If you're still with me, here's the mp3:

Black Dice - Glazin (mp3)

ABE VIGODA - "Don't Lie"

LA's Abe Vigoda have been a hard sell for me. After inadvertently catching their live show a number of times last year, their previous music left me, for the most part, unaffected. But the new single "Don't Lie" and its accompanying video suddenly have me hooked. Maybe it's the fact that the track is a bit more mature; a darker effort than that offered on the majority of last years highly praised Skeleton LP.

"Don't Lie" is taken from the new EP Reviver, out now on PPM.

AWESOME NEW REPUBLIC Rational Geographic Vol. I

Awesome New Republic first grabbed my attention last summer with their Prince meets Giorgio Moroder dancepop. Now the Miami duo have released the new EP Rational Geographic Volume I. Get the entire EP for free here or just the lead single "Birthday"...

Awesome New Republic - Birthday (mp3)

TELEPATHE - Dance Mother Out Today

Telepathe's awesome, Dave Sitek-produced debut LP was released physically today. I've been pretty obsessed with Dance Mother the last few months. Something about it just feels fresh and exciting to me. Get your copy at IAMSOUND. The Brooklyn duo are also doing a record release show tomorrow night at The Annex, Lower East Side.

Here's the video for "So Fine", wherein the girls do their best deadpan lip-synching, as well as an ironic, but charming dance routine.


Telepathe - So Fine from Paul Tao on Vimeo.

New MOBY - "Shot in the Back of the Head"

According to Moby's online journal, details will emerge today about his forthcoming album. In the meantime, we have the first video from the new LP for "Shot in the Back of the Head", directed by David Lynch. The clip is a sort of film noir, animated effort, which perfectly suits the moody and sinister instrumental track.

[Ed. - The new album is titled Wait for Me, due June 30 on Mute.]

La Grève Générale - Tea Party Mixtape

John Shepherd of the British DJ duo La Greve Generale sent over their latest mixtape and it's a killer. Clocking in at just over an hour, the Tea Party Mixtape features a bazillion artists, including The Knife, Chromatics, New Order, TV on the Radio, CSS, Nirvana, M.I.A. and Tom Petty just to name a few. As with their past mixes, the duo loves to bring hip hop and electro together, creating the ultimate hipster dance party. This is unabashed fun.

La Greve Generale - Tea Party mixtape (z-share)

(The full tracklist is in the comments section)

CITY CENTER

-photo by Scot Bowman

I was really impressed with Brooklyn duo City Center when I caught them at SXSW. The multi-instrumentalists experiment with all kinds of beats and noise, creating quite a magnificent wall of sound for two people. The self-titled debut LP comes out in the US on June 8th on Type Records. Of the new record, the band has said, "It's the distillation of every sound and song that we've worked on for the past year and we simply couldn't be more excited about it."

City Center - Open/House (link)

This live video, though not great quality, gives you an idea of City Center's sound. It's the best thing I could find so far...

New NITE JEWEL Video - "Lover"

I've been addicted to Nite Jewel's lovely debut album Good Evening for the past month or so. A standout track is this melancholy cover of Roxy Music's "Lover". The new video finds the female duo in a soft-focus, deadpan state of ironic 80's nostalgia. The clip may not be groundbreaking, but it works for me.

Good Evening is out now on Human Ear Music and I can't recommend it enough.

BABE, TERROR - Weekend

Babe, Terror is a one man band from Sao Paulo, Brazil who comes across like the neo-tropicalia offspring of Panda Bear and El Guincho. Claudio Szynkier sings in Portuguese and hums in hallucinatory snippets, creating a post Brian Wilson kaleidoscope of sound and beauty - music for dreaming. The perfectly titled new LP Weekend will be released physically in May, but is available digitally now.

You can download the entire album or start with these key tracks...

Babe, Terror - Havai (link)
Babe, Terror - Epicentro (link)

EBONY BONES - New Video, Album Update

Ebony Bones blew my mind at SXSW this year and now I'm excited to report some news on the long awaited debut album. Bone of My Bones will be released in the UK in June, preceded in May by the new single "The Muzik". But those of us in North America may have to wait until next fall for a physical release. Ouch. I guess I'll just have to shell out the extra coins on an import.

You can preview the new single in the video below, which sadly doesn't feature Miss Bones.

MTV Shows

New RAINBOW ARABIA Video

Echo Park's Rainbow Arabia were kind of awesome when I caught their show at SXSW last month. Their strange blend of tribal, indie, dance, safari rock is totally unique and oddly captivating. This new video is for the track "Omar K", taken from last year's The Basta ep. New music is also on the way this summer, but for now check out this utterly bizarre video.

ASA RANSOM

Asa Ransom are a 5-piece band from Brooklyn. They recently released their self-titled ep on Murder Mystery Records. The 7-track disc showcases the band's angular post-disco-punk sound. I caught the band at SXSW and they put on a high energy show that had the crowd dancing up a sweat. They're currently winding down their US tour, which wraps up in New York April 16-18. Check out the clip below, taken from their show at The Standard in Los Angeles. The new album is available here.

Asa Ransom - The Luck of Stoney Bowes (mp3)