BAG RAIDERS - Shooting Stars

Australian dance duo Bag Raiders have a new video for the contagious pop track "Shooting Stars" and it's awesome. Check it...

THE FIERY FURNACES - I'm Going Away

The Fiery Furnaces are back with the new album I'm Going Away and positive reviews are flooding in. Could this finally be the album to lift them to the next level?

"It’s probably a good thing that Jack White has so many side projects going on right now. This way he might not be offended when fans of the White Stripes realize that the Fiery Furnaces have claimed the throne as the reigning power house duo of indie rock. However, I’m Going Away doesn’t just fill in the shoes of Jack and Meg, but goes above and beyond to deliver a clever pastiche of rock genres; a musical puzzle of spunky yet post break-up recovery songs pieced together by indie-folk-punk tracks, Billy Joel piano ballads (that sound like they were produced by the Beatles), and pre-MGMT indie-rock crunch." -culturebully.com

"The difference in this album isn't simply a matter of scaling back and dialing down eccentricities, but in the way the quartet embraces their rhythmic strengths, and subtly integrate elements from old school R&B in tracks like "The End Is Near", "Drive to Dallas", and "Keep Me in Dark" without resorting to pastiche or going against the grain of their established style." -pitchfork

These reviews, plus the new video for the single "Charmaine Champagne" have me very excited about this album.

THE RAVEONETTES Announce New Album

Fresh from their performance at last weekend's Siren Festival at Coney Island, The Raveonettes have announced the completion of their fourth full length LP. Vice Records will release In & Out Of Control on October 6th and according to their Twitter page, some of the possible tracks to make the final cut are "Gone Forever", "Heart of Stone", "Suicide", "Last Dance", Wine", "Boys Who Rape", and "Bang!". Check out this demo of "Last Dance" for a taste of what's to come.

The Raveonettes - Last Dance (demo) (via Vice Records)

JULIAN CASABLANCAS Preps Solo LP

The Strokes' lead singer Julian Casablancas is readying his first solo album, titled Phrazes for the Young and from the looks of this promo trailer he's working with a serious Vangelis influence. Not quite the direction you would expect, but I can totally get behind this.

New VIVIAN GIRLS - When I'm Gone

RCRDLBL premiered the new Vivian Girls single today, taken from the upcoming album Everything Goes Wrong, due September 8th. Stream the new track below...

BEST COAST - Sun Was High (So Was I)

Los Angeles just keeps churning out exciting new stuff. Here we have Best Coast, who is actually Bethany Cosentino, a former Fader intern. Not much else is known about Best Coast yet and this video is apparently an unofficial fan-made clip. But I'm loving this new breed of sundrenched lo-fi rock.

Review - NATUREBOY - s/t - 82%

Review by Scot Bowman

When I was a teenager, my first true love made me a mixtape. In between songs from The Pretenders, Gene Loves Jezebel and Siouxsie & the Banshees was this amazing, obscure track taken from the soundtrack to the Michael Hutchence movie Dogs in Space. It was a song called “Shivers” by Marie Hoy & Friends. What captured my attention most about the track was the singer’s utterly unique and somber voice. This brings me to the new self-released LP by Natureboy, who isn’t actually a boy, but in fact the name of the new project from former House on a Hill vocalist Sara Kermanshahi.

Upon my initial listen to Natureboy, I was immediately transported back to that mixtape-discovering that heartbreaking voice for the first time. Kermanshahi’s voice left me with that same feeling, which might have something to do with the fact that her voice has a remarkable similarity to Marie Hoy’s. But let the comparisons end there.

This wonderful album is a superbly produced, cohesive collection of deeply personal and beautifully crafted songs, with lyrics that conjure a romantic, noir-like motion picture in your imagination. Anyone with half a soul could get swept up in Kermanshahi’s abstract world. She compels the listener to draw closer.

The sparse opener “Curses Fired” tells a story of breaking away from a life weighted-down and packing metaphorical bags to move on, be it by a train or within the self. The chorus repeats like a bittersweet lullaby:

“I’m going to leave your mind”

It seems to me that traveling, as a means to set oneself free, is a common thread throughout the album. Not to say Kermanshahi is running from her life, as confrontation is also a prevalent factor in these songs, but rather she is dealing with her shit and walking away from what’s not working. Others may have a completely different interpretation of the thematic elements at work here, but the best albums allow the listener to get swept up in their own psyche and create their own visualization of the music.

“Dither” is the album’s turning point. The delicate guitar instrumental at once serves as an interlude, but by the same hand highlights another dimension to Natureboy’s sound. Layered ambient vocal harmonies that swirl around the repetitive arrangement create a dramatic transition into the second half of the album. On “Heart to Fool” it’s as if she were composing the movie of my young adulthood. The part in act II where things hit a snag and I have to reevaluate my direction in a complicated journey. Anyway you look at it, these songs speak to the listener in an intimate way.

In a time when music is so over-produced and candy coated for the attention challenged new generation of youths, it’s nice to hear someone with a real point of view getting to the core of things.

Originally published at kevchino.com.

NEON INDIAN Announces Debut LP

Neon Indian has been heating up the blogosphere in the last couple of months. Now details emerge about the forthcoming debut full-length Psychic Chasms, due October 13th via Lefse Records.

"Orbiting around the themes of drug induced heartbreak, weary afternoons, and lost chances, this music provides a lush soundtrack to the deadbeat exploits of teenage ennui. Neon Indian's bedroom ballads have already forged the upcoming Psychic Chasms, the debut full-length, set for release this Fall."

Neon Indian - Terminally Chill (mp3)

Psychic Chasms tracklist:

1. (AM)
2. Deadbeat Summer
3. Laughing Gas
4. Terminally Chill
5. (If I knew, I'd tell you)
6. 6669 (i dont know if you know)
7. Should have taken acid with you
8. Mind, Drips
9. Psychic Chasms
10. Local Joke
11. Ephemeral Artery
12. 7000 (reprise)

-photo by Dagny Piasecki

ANTONY Covers BEYONCE in Amsterdam

All I can say is wow!

DIRTY PROJECTORS - Stillness is the Move

It has taken me so long to get into Dirty Projectors. I'm not sure why, as it's become increasingly clear to me that this band is hugely talented and have a distinct uniqueness all their own. Sure, their recent collaborations with David Byrne and Bjork don't hurt, but this new video, stunningly shot by Matthew Lessner on Mount Equinox in Vermont, seals the deal. Their latest album Bitte Orca was released last month on Domino Records.