Today's Swell Tune: Evil Friends

Band: Portugal. The Man.

Album: Evil Friends (expected release 4/6/13)

From: Wasilla, Alaska/ Portland, Oregon, USA

Sound: Dreamy fuck you morphing into apathetic riffs, expertly straddling '93 and '13; rock, grunge, alternative.

Website: portugaltheman.com

Social: facebook, tumblr, twitter

Today's Swell Tune: I Don't Mind

Artist: Ted Zed

From: Somerset, England

Sound: See the attached picture? It sounds like that: alt pop/ rock/ synth/ trance (seriously, there's a lot in here)

Website: tedzedofficial.com

Social: facebook, twitter, YouTube

Today's Swell Tune: Riptide

Artist: Vance Joy

Album: God Loves You When You're Dancing

From: Melbourne, Australia

Sound: Bon Iver meets Mumford & Sons, but Mumford & Sons has a ukelele instead of a banjo and does not suck; folk pop 

Website: vancejoy.com

Social: facebook

Today's Swell Tune: Someday

Artist: Float Fall

From: Leuven, Belgium

Sound: Like the XX were inspired by Bruce Springsteen; dream pop

Website: here

Social: facebook, twitter, soundcloud, YouTube

Saturday Night Remix: Recover

Chvrches

into

Cid Rim

Today's swell Tune: Longrun

Artist: Whistle Peak

Album: Off Put to Flight (release: 22.4.13)

From: Louisville, Kentucky, United States

Sound: Those futuristic souds you hear are coming through the door of room 237; electropop, synth

Website: whistlepeak.net

Social: bandcamp, facebook, twitter, soundcloud

Friday's Forgotten Song: A Song From Under the Floorboards

Magazine

Album: The Correct Use of Soap
1980

Today's Swell Tune: Lady You Shot Me

• Artist: Har Mar Superstar
• Album: Bye Bye 17 (release: 23.4.13)
• From: St. Paul, MN/ Brooklyn, NYC, United States
• Sound: This is exactly what Sam Cooke would want done with his last words; R&B, soul
• Website: harmarsuperstar.com
• Social: facebook, twitter, YouTube

Boss Stuff on the Interwebs: Wednesday Links 3/4/13

• Thanks to Electric Comic Book and the magic of computers, you now know how The Doors' Riders on the Storm would sound if played in a major key.
  It sounds like the most unsettling children's song ever.

• Amazing tale time: Did you know that Freddie Mercury once dressed Princess Diana like a male model so he could sneak her into a gay club for a night? I'm writing this on a Coleco, that's how 80s that sentence is. The Telegraph 

• Breaking More Waves has a nine-point introduction to their "new favourite facial-haired US indie rock band" Knesset. Don't just skip to the end, because they are funny, over there.

• Wondering where all the cool indie, smooth sax pop records are? Yeah, I wasn't either, but Fense Post makes a compelling case for Renny Wilson, "the epitome of what Ron Swanson's alter-ego Duke Silver should have created."

• But if you take the other side in that contentious, age-old, sax-versus-banjo battle (brothers against brothers!) What's Protocol  presents to you the amazing Black Horse Motel.

• The CD Critic gives Machineries of Joy, British Sea Power's latest, a good review...

• ...But by God I love a bad review. More than I like a good one. And Bit Candy has a whole section just for bad reviews. My current favourite: "Darwin Deez: This Album Sounds Like His Hair." Fuck, this guy could have a blog just writing titles for bad reviews and I'd read. I'd read.

Today's Swell Tune: Your Life, Your Call

• Band: Junip
• Album: Junip (Release date: 23.4.2013)
• From: Gothenburg, Sweden
• Sound: A gentle coax out of bed...it sucks that she doesn't love you anymore, but dude, you still need to put on pants. It'll be ok.; post-rock, percussive synth. 
• Website: junip.net
• Social: facebook, twitter, YouTube
• Download Free: soundcloud

Justin Vernon Isn't Trying to Make Me Cry, For Once: The Shouting Matches

Bon Iver won't be performing at Coachella, but Justin Vernon will be. This time, the indie frontman and noted passive aggressive Grammy speech-giver  will be backed by a very different group. 

Completely bypassing any timid navel-gazing, bandmates Brian Moen (Peter Wolf Crier), and Phillip Cook (Megafaun) bash out bluesy, old-school rock, as Vernon gives the autotune a rest to howl in his best Otis Redding. The result is The Shouting Matches, a group that's been around and recording since 2008, but hasn't really put much out there, til now.

And how do they do? Well, Mother When's the Judgement Gonna Come has a raucus, I'm-totally-gonna-get-a-staph-infection-in-this-dive-bar feel to it, while the live I Had a Real Good Lover makes me want to lie on the floor, belting out lyrics in a whisky stupor. 

So it sounds awesome. 

Mouthoil, their first EP is due out sometime this year. Probably.

Today's Swell Tune: Dancing with the Tornado

• Band: The Veils
• Album: Time Stays, We Go 
• From: London, England
• Sound: A precision firestorm tearing through a spaghetti western; indie rock. 
• Website: theveils.com
• Social: facebook, twitter
• Free Downlad: here

Weekly Photo Album: The Clash, Debbie Harry, Andy Warhol, Kurt Cobain, Jerry Hall, more

The Clash--In a supermarket!

David Bowie--In the tub.

Debbie Harry with Lou Reed...

...and now with Andy Warhol...

who also hung out with Joe Strummer. Not in a supermarket.

The ex-Mer. Jagger Jerry Hall.

Not to be outdone by Robert Plant.

Janis Joplin backstage.

Patti Smith onstage.

Waylon Jennings and Buddy Holly pose.

Kieth and Mick pretend not to.

Kurt Cobain and Krist Noveselic couldn't pose if they tried.

An astute John Lennon.

  

Monday Morning Cover: VCR

The Antlers

The Original

The xx