Not that we had a winter this year on the East Coast, but Spring is in full bloom here in Brooklyn. Post-bloom actually, which is a good thing for you allergy sufferers. And so thaws my blog which has been on deep freeze since February. So here we are with this year’s Spring Fever mix and I think it turned out pretty good! Lots of great new sounds, covering a lot of sonic territory (well, within a certain pale milieu, let’s face it). Anyway, here you go, do enjoy.

DOWNLOAD SPRING FEVER 2012

TRACKLIST:
1. Shrag – Tendons in the Night
2. Veronica Falls – My Heart Beats
3. Django Django – Life’s a Beach
4. Allah-Las – Tell Me (What’s on Your Mind)
5. Scraps – Secret Paradise
6. Hollie Cook + Prince Fatty – And the Beat Goes On
7. Dent May – Best Friend
8. New Build – Do You Not Feel Loved?
9. Bear in Heaven – Cool Light
10. Tanlines – Green Grass
11. Craft Spells – Sun Trails
12. Violens – Sariza Spring
13. Dive – How Long Have You Known?
14. Lotus Plaza – Strangers
15. Lightships – Stretching Out
16. Ex Cops – You Are a Lion, I Am a Lamb
17. Crocodiles – Psychic Conversation 9
18. Ty Segall & White Fence – Easy Rider
19. Paperhead - Pictures of Her Demise
20. Spiritualized – Hey Jane
21. Richard James – Magical Day

In case you forgot how I do things, these songs are mixed together so please don’t listen to this on shuffle. It’ll sound wrong. Liner notes are after the jump

1. Shrag – Tendons in the Night
We open Spring Fever 2012 on a shouty, snarly note courtesy Shrag who have now graduated to Fortuna Pop which is kind of the UK’s Slumberland. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Slumberland is releasing their new album Canines. It’s just a guess.

2. Veronica Falls – My Heart Beats
Speaking of Slumberland, it’s the new Veronica Falls single which is probably the most immediately catchy pop song the band have released yet. It reminds me of the Primitives. It’s a good ‘un.

3. Django Django – Life’s a Beach
Their album remains unreleased in America, but Django Django are starting to catch on over here. They played Brooklyn right before SXSW and it was one of the most fun shows I’ve seen this year. What I like about DD is their songs are deceptively simple, but if you listen there’s a lot going on. Or you can just dance around the room to a song like this and not worry about it.

4. Allah-Las – Tell Me (What’s on Your Mind)
Keep things surfy, we swing over to the Allah-Las who are busy turning back time to when L.A. bands wore fringe leather and all played 12-string Rickenbacker and VOX guitars. Produced by throwback prodigy Nick Waterhouse, this single sounds like a lost classic from 1966.

5. Scraps – 1982
We go halfway round the world now for Scraps which is a girl named Laura from Brisbane, Australia. I don’t know much about her but this waltz-time love song to a computer has stayed in rotation for sometime.

6. Hollie Cook + Prince Fatty – And the Beat Goes On
While it didn’t make my Favorite Albums of 2011 list, I really enjoyed Hollie Cook’s debut album from last year that had great production (courtesy Prince Fatty) and breezy charm. The same can be said for Hollie’s new single, a cover of The Whispers’ 1979 disco classic.

7. Dent May – Best Friend
Throwing his signature ukulele out the window, Dent May has turned to funk. White nerdy funk, so it sounds like Orange Juice basically. I could use a little more Chic guitar in this, but overall I approve of Dent’s makeover.

8. New Build – Do You Not Feel Loved?
Side project for Al Doyle and Felix Martin of Hot Chip, New Build are great musicians in search of some great songs. I think the album is fun but on the weak side, but they nailed it with “Do You Not Feel Love?”

9. Bear in Heaven – Cool Light
It’s more apparently when they play live, where the drummer goes crazy with the rototom fills, but Bear in Heaven are kind of like the entire Miami Vice soundtrack condensed into one band. This is my favorite song off their new album, I Love You It’s Cool.

10. Tanlines – Green Grass
Initially riding the chillwave, uh, wave of two years ago, Brooklyn duo Tanlines have wisely ditched the gauzy synths and muffled beats (not that they did that much anyway) for a cleaner sound. They’ve got the hooks, no need to hide them. “Green Grass” is almost a rock song, in a 1982 kind of way.

11. Craft Spells – Sun Trails
Staying in that year, Craft Spells are totally channeling early New Order on their new Gallery EP which is out in a couple weeks on Captured Tracks. The temptation was just too easy to throw in one of those Bernard Sumner patented “woo’s.” They do it well.

12. Violens – Sariza Spring
Reworking songs from last year’s digital singles project and adding some terrific new songs (like “Sariza Spring”), Violens have finally figured out their sound for their second album, True, which is coming out on Slumberland. It’s groovy, ethereal and melodic and hints at influences without being slaves to them.

13. Dive – How Long Have You Known?
Dive’s Cole Smith is also in Beach Fossils and, initially, it was hard to tell the difference between the bands. But through near constant gigging, Dive have developed their own sound and have become a genuine force live. I’m anxious to hear their debut album…out sometime later this year on Captured Tracks.

14. Lotus Plaza – Strangers
I saw Lotus Plaza last night open for Disappears and, though there was not a lot to watch, Lockhart and crew sounded great. My biggest problem with the band is all their songs sound the same. But in single-serving doses — say, one song on a mix — they’re great.

15. Lightships – Stretching Out
Do you have a favorite Teenage Fanclub member? Mine is Gerry Love who is the first of TFC to put out a solo album, here under the nom-de-jangle Lightships. Stretch out and dig the warm breeze, man.

16. Ex Cops – You Are a Lion, I Am a Lamb
My new favorite NYC band. A little shoegaze, a lot pop. This is the debut single for the band, as well as the newly formed Other Music Recording Company who will put out the band’s album this fall.

17. Crocodiles – Psychic Conversation 9
I really didn’t think I’d still be listening to Crocodiles three years on in their career of aping the Jesus & Mary Chain and Spacemen 3 but… they do it so well. This new single from their upcoming album just sounds joyous. Love it.

18. Ty Segall & White Fence – Easy Rider
This collaborative album between Ty Segall and Tim Pressley is, to my ears, mostly White Fence and just a little Ty. But this one is very much a Segall jam, and a good one.

19. Paperhead - Pictures of Her Demise
Nashville’s paisley-wearing time travelers drop a single worthy of Nuggets, out now on Trouble in Mind.

20. Spiritualized – Hey Jane
It seems impossible that in the band’s 21 year existence, Spiritualized haven’t had a song with “Jane” in the title until now. Maybe my favorite thing they’ve done since the first album? Maybe.

21. Richard James – Magical Day
We end Spring Fever 2012 with a track from the new album by former Gorkys Zygotic Mynci member Richard James. Most of it is 1972 style pastoral folk but here we get a VU chugging rocker with a wah wah lead that seems to run through the entire song nonstop.

We haven’t had more than seven days that’ve dropped below freezing, but it is still technically winter. I keep hoping we’ll get one snowstorm before it’s over. Maybe. Here for you, there’s two bands from Finland, four from Australia, Dreams and Dreems, Cats and Cates, guitars and synths. One Dinowalrus. I think this will be the last Wintry Mix of 2012. But look for Spring Fever in April.

DOWNLOAD WINTRY MIX 2.22.2012

Tracklist:
1. Eux Autres – Right Again
2. Gap Dream – 58th St. Fingers
3. The Megaphonic Thrift – Tune Your Mind
4. Disappears – Pre Language
5. Black Twig – Death Scene
6. Woollen Kits – Out of Whack
7. Veronica Falls – Thorn in My Side
8. Internet Forever – Centre of Your Universe
9. NZCA/LINES – Okinawa Channels
10. Metronomy – The Bay (Clock Opera Remix)
11. Dinowalrus – Burners
12. Weird Dreams – Holding Nails
13. The Chap – What Did We Do?
14. Bad Dreems – Chills
15. Cardinal – I Am a Roman Gypsy
16. Field Trip – Sleeve of the Skin
17. Young Prisms – Gone
18. The Tough Shits – Cats and Dogs
19. Cats on Fire – A Few Empty Waves
20. Cate Le Bon – Ploughing Out Pts 1 + 2

No shuffling! Click through for liner notes.
1. Eux Autres – Right Again
Pronounced “Ooz Oh Tras” if you’re wondering. They’re not French, they’re Californian and makers of superior indiepop. This is from their new EP, Sun is Sunk, which is out February 28.

2. Gap Dream – 58th St. Fingers
Gabe Fulvimar makes records by himself in his Cleveland home, informed by ’60s pop, punk, etc etc. This is upper eschelon home-recording stuff. A fan of Burger Records, he submitted a tape of his songs and the label released it. On cassette. Somebody put this on vinyl, it’s too good to just be a tape.

3. The Megaphonic Thrift – Tune Your Mind
These noisy Norwegians have a new album (self-titled this time) on Club AC30 and while I haven’t heard the whole thing, I dig this first single that is part Sonic Youth and part sweetness and light.

4. Disappears – Pre Language
Title track from Chicago krautpunks, the first with Steve Shelley on drums. The songs were toured before they recorded the album, and Shelley’s effect on the band is pronounced. Where their first two were pedal-to-the-metal, Disappears lift off the gas a little, making for a much more varied record. Not only is it their best yet, it’s one of 2012′s best so far.

5. Black Twig – Death Scene
This Finish band make the kind of guitar rock that should appeal to fans of Swervedriver: muscular but melodic, loud but not totally reliant on fuzz pedals. Whisper to a scream type stuff.

6. Woollen Kits – Out of Whack
Saw these Australians last week at Death By Audio and this is so my sort of thing, VU-meets-Verlaines barebones rock. “Out of Whack” is super-catchy.

7. Veronica Falls – Thorn in My Side
Veronica Falls are at the top of their game right now and probably playing a city near you any time now. I really wanted to put their new song “My Heart Beats” on this mix, but it’s only a stream, so here’s their cover of the Eurythmics single which was on a limited-edition 12″ of six covers. They’re selling a CD version on tour.

8. Internet Forever – Centre of Your Universe
I’m not sure I like their name but, musically they’re ace: very very British style indiepop, ambitious and creative. And in it’s own way, epic.

9. NZCA/LINES – Okinawa Channels
Michael Lovett was in Your Twenties who have apparently broken up. (They finished an album, I think, that we’ll hopefully get to hear.) His own music is twinkly electronic music which should appeal to fans of Hot Chip or…

10. Metronomy – The Bay (Clock Opera Remix)
…Metronomy, who commissioned a lot of remixes for songs from last year’s The English Riviera some of which made it to b-sides of the singles. But there were a lot more — for singles and album tracks — and those are being compiled on a digital-only remix collection due out next month. I like this one in particular, that takes all the parts of “The Bay” and basically constructs a new song out of them.

11. Dinowalrus – Burners
I can’t say that I was a fan of Dinowalrus’ original incarnation, which emphasized psychedelic freakout noise over things like melody and hooks. But main Dino Pete Feigenbaum reinvented the band, this time looking to late ’80s Manchester and early ’90s shoegaze as an inspiration, with a little Recurring-era Spacemen 3. Dinowalrus’ new album, Best Behavior, is still psychedelic but it’s a much better trip.

12. Weird Dreams - Holding Nails
Londoners making hard-to-resist janglepop. This single came out last fall but is also on Weird Dreams’s debut LP which is out the first week of April. If you aren’t instantly taken, you will be by the “What else do we have?” bridge.

13. The Chap - What Did We Do?
The Chap’s 2010 album Well Done Europe was one of that year’s most overlooked and hopefully they’ll get a little more attention for their new one, We Are Nobody, that came out this week. It’s guitar pop with a strong technological bent to it. Janglitch?

14. Bad Dreems - Chills
There’s a lot of Australians on this mix (four I think) and Bad Dreems are from Adelaide. They’re pals with Twerps and Woollen Kits (who you just heard eight songs ago) and there’s a similarity among them all, drawing from a similar sonic well. It’s a well that’s big enough for all of them. I don’t believe Bad Dreems have a single out yet (still time to change the spelling then!), but “Chills” is pretty damn 7″-worthy.

15. Cardinal – I Am a Roman Gypsy
Richard Davies and Eric Mathews made the definitive baroque orch pop album of the ’90s with Cardinal’s eponymous debut. (I’m not sure there’s a lot of competition.) Fifteen years later, the two surprised us with a new album. It’s not quite as ornate as the first, but it’s maybe a better album overall? There’s trumpet on this one, very Cardinal-y.

16. Field Trip- Sleeve of the Skin 
There are a lot of bands called Field Trip, including one from the ’90s whose single I bought because the Jazz Butcher guested on it. (There is also a weddding band with this name. And more!) This Field Trip is from Melbourne, making this three straight Australian tracks in a row. You can find this track on the Cream EP which is a free download from their Bandcamp.

17. Young Prisms - Gone
Shoegaze outfit from San Francisco about to release their second album, which this is from. This one is more Velocity Girl than My Bloody Valentine, though you get a lot of the latter on In Between which is out March 27. It’s a big step up from their first album which had the sound down pat, but maybe lacked a little in the songs department.

18. The Tough Shits - Cats and Dogs
I don’t know what you might expect a band called The Tough Shits to sound like, but I bet it’s not ’60s-style guitar pop. But it is! If you liked Box Elders and Nobunny… maybe you’re already heard this.

19. Cats on Fire - A Few Empty Waves
Finland’s finest mopey indiepop band. And they’re back with a new album in April. I loved 2009′s Our Temperance Movement and can’t wait to hear the new one, called All Blackshirts to Me. Here’s the first taste, a somewhat languid track that builds up steam as it goes.

20. Cate Le Bon - Ploughing Out Pts 1 + 2
The same could be said for this Cate Le Bon song, which closes her fantastic new album, Cyrk. Starts of quiet and beautiful, but doesn’t stay that way. Album of the year so far? Certainly live show of the year.

I don’t know about where you are, but we are having a very mild winter. Not so mild that I should have been eating at outdoor burger joint Shake Shack last night, but I was and is where I snapped the picture that is now this week’s cover art. There’s lots of good new music on here, including the returns of a few favorite bands. Dig in:

DOWNLOAD WINTRY MIX 2.03.2012

Tracklist:

1. Burning Hearts – Into the Wilderness
2. Wild Nothing – Nowhere
3. Piney Gir – Outa Sight
4. The Heart Strings – Don’t Let the World Gang Up on You
5. Air – Sonic Armada
6. Field Music – Who’ll Pay the Bills?
7. Old Monk – Warm Moustache
8. Moonmen on the Moon, Man – Oh Look, a Sweat Balloon Artist
9. La Sera – Please Be My Third Eye
10. Hooded Fang – ESP
11. Warm Digits - The World in Small Doses
12. Todd Terje – Inspector Norse
13. Lilacs & Champagne – King of Kings
14. Summer Twins – I Could Never Break Your Heart
15. Allo Darlin’ – Capricornia
16. The Magnetic Fields - Andrew in Drag
17. Candy Claws – Do You Ever Feel That Way?
18. The Wedding Present – You’re Dead

No shuffling! Liner notes after the jump.

1. Burning Hearts – Into the Wilderness
This week’s mix kicks off with Finland’s Burning Hearts whose lovely second album, Extinctions, is out February 21. Warm synths, rolling basslines, cooing vocals, burning hearts.

2. Wild Nothing – Nowhere
Well you can’t say they sound like the Cure. America, maybe. (Or George Harrison.)

3. Piney Gir – Outa Sight
New single from ultracute American expat Angela Penhaligon. Dig the castanetes.

4. The Heart Strings – Don’t Let the World Gang Up on You
If you’re feeling down, The Heart Strings are here to help. The band’s second album, Flap Your Crazy Wings, was released this week.

5. Air – Sonic Armada
The French duo are making a return trip to the moon on their new LP which is an imagined soundtrack to Georges Méliès silent classic Le Voyage Dans la Lune. I haven’t tried syncing it up yet but I might do it one night while at the video store. There’s some major Can percussion on this one.

6. Field Music – Who’ll Pay the Bills?
New album from the brothers Brewis is called Plumb and it’s more regal prog pop the likes of which we’ve come to expect. This is a Peter Brewis song, which means a little more melody.

7. Old Monk – Warm Moustache
Newish Brooklyn trio sound a bit like Pavement, and have that same arch wordsmith thing going on. But Old Monk are spunkier and less prone to jamming, but they’ve definitely got some King Crimson records in their collection. This shit is tight.

8. Moonmen on the Moon, Man – Oh Look, a Sweat Balloon Artist
I think their name is brilliantly stupid. It makes me laugh every time. Musically, we’re talking late ’80s college radio indie label action.

9. La Sera – Please Be My Third Eye
I really don’t understand why Vivian Girls are still together when their solo/side projects are better. It also makes you wonder why VG aren’t making songs this catchy.

10. Hooded Fang – ESP
This record came out last year but is getting reissued and wide distribution. If you like The Caesars style of go-go garage, check these Canadians out!

11. Warm Digits – The World in Small Doses
I bought this album on vinyl based solo on the awesome cover art and a description of the music from noted DJ and Screamadelica producer Andrew Weatherall: “machine funk kraut-a-delia.” That’s all it took.

12. Todd Terje – Inspector Norse
It’s true: I love puns. Here you get two… Terge Olson’s nom de DJ is a Scandinavian play on ’90s era producer/DJ Todd Terry, the man who turned Everything But the Girl into a disco band. And then there’s the song title, which is a Scandinavian play on a British television show old people like. The song is good too, all bubbly synths.

13. Lilacs & Champagne – King of Kings
This is new on Mexican Summer and has become my most played album this week. The kind of album where it might all be samples or it might all be played live? Bewitching. Good reading music. (Yes, I read.)

14. Summer Twins – I Could Never Break Your Heart
Chelsea and Justine Brown make winsome folk pop that is 100% irony free. And quite delightful. Give this one to that special girl or boy in your life.

15. Allo Darlin’ – Capricornia
Allo Darlin’ main gal Elizabeth Morris already copped to this one being a Kirstie MacColl homage and you can hear her version of “A New England” all over this.

16. Magnetic Fields – Andrew in Drag
Best thing Stephin Merritt has done since 69 Love Songs?

17. Candy Claws – Do You Ever Feel That Way?
New track from this Colorado band who like to filter Beach Boys pop through a dubbed-over cassette.

18. The Wedding Present – You’re Dead
The Wedding Present are about to start touring their 1991 masterpiece Seamonsters while at the same time releasing a new album. Seemed kinda dumb to me but then I heard the album, Valentina, and you can hear Seamonsters‘ sonics all over it. Gedge is still writing some clunky lyrics, but musically this actually kinda kicks ass. This is the Weddoes best single in ages. (Disclaimer: I don’t count Take Fountain as a Wedding Present album.)

I’ve been mostly cut-off from the internet this week thanks to living in a pre-War building that has cable installed in ways McGuyver never would’ve attempted. (A vision of a SOPA future, perhaps.) But we’re back on now and I managed to put this one together while unplugged. Last week we got mostly dancey songs, and this week the guitars are back. A lot of exciting new stuff here I think. And one old song. Have a swell weekend!

DOWNLOAD WINTRY MIX 01.20.2012

Here’s the tracklist:

1. Standard Fare – 05 11 07
2. Little Racer – Split for the Coast
3. Hospitality – The Right Profession
4. Exlovers – Starlight
5. Toy – Left Myself Behind
6. Terry Malts – I Do
7. A Place to Bury Strangers – So Far Away
8. The Band in Heaven – Sleazy Dreams
9. Siinai – Marathon
10. HEHFU – Come Home
11. Mind Spiders – More Than You
12. Cloud Nothings – Stay Useless
13. Prinzhorn Dance School – Your Fire Has Gone Out
14. Household – Phases
15. Liechtenstein – Ambitions
16. Frankie Rose – Know Me
17. Trailer Trash Tracys – Los Angered
18. A.C. Marias – One of Our Girls Has Gone Missing

Stay warm, don’t shuffle. Liner notes after the jump.
1. Standard Fare – 05 11 07
So many of Standard Fare’s songs are about longing, but here’s a song where there’s some payoff, even if it’s awkward and unsure. “I don’t know what we’re doing but it feels good.” This is from their second album, Two, which finds them more assured musically than we’ve heard before. If you were unsure if this was indiepop or not, the trumpets are a big clue.

2. Little Racer – Split for the Coast
I have yet to see this Brooklyn band play live but I’m really digging everything I’ve heard so far. There are lots of little surprises in the arrangements. Their “Little Racer” single made my Best of 2012 list, and this one’s almost as good.

3. Hospitality – The Right Profession
Most bands rush to get that first album out. Hospitality have taken their sweet time, with their self-titled debut dropping January 31, about three years after their first performance. Mind you, they’ve had it in the can since this summer, but still. The gestation period has made for a confident, endlessly tuneful, terrific album with serious chops that didn’t practice the joy out of the songs. Just listen to this one.

4. Exlovers – Starlight
One of 2012′s Most Anticipated.”Blowing Kisses” was my #2 song of last year and this is from Exlovers’ debut album that’s due out sometime soon. Like Pains of Being Pure at Heart, this UK band take the poppiest bits of ’90s shoegaze and concentrate it into three-minute fuzzy jangle bliss. Not to be confused with Florida’s For Ex-Lovers Only, but both are probably named after the Black Tambourine song.

5. Toy – Left Myself Behind
I’m not crazy about the name but Toy push most of my buttons: “shoegaze,” “motorik,” “glammy romance,” “dissonant,” “Pulp-esque” and others. Two of them used to be in Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong but don’t hold that against them. Toy’s singer, Tom, is Rose Elinor Dougal’s brother.

6. Terry Malts – I Do
I’m a little sorry to see Magic Bullets go (such onstage dancing!) but, honestly, Terry Malts are a better band. The buzzsaw pop sound suits Phil Benson’s voice better and their debut album, out any minute on Slumberland, is just one hit after another. “I Do” roars in like Tommy-era Wedding Present. Oh year.

7. A Place to Bury Strangers – So Far Away
And this one roars in like a neutron bomb and is supposedly the loudest record that Dead Oceans have ever released. (This one clocked in at 103 decibels, though it’s cranked down to around 95 for this mix. Feel free to turn it up.) “So Far Away” could be a Love track if you removed all the white noise and volume. But why would you want to do that?

8. The Band in Heaven – Sleazy Dreams
New to the HoZac family, The Band in Heaven make sneery JAMC style buzzsaw blues, a style I will forever be drawn to.

9. Siinai – Marathon
This is from some sort of concept album about the Olympics by way of various forms of psych-rock, be it Ulrich Schnauss-y fluffy clouds or more Spacemen 3 driftrock like this one. I dig, but doesn’t make me want to exercise.

10. HEHFU – Come Home
Thick and noisy like those early Boo Radleys EPs some of us still covet. Title track from an EP you can download for free at HEHFU’s Bandcamp page.

11. Mind Spiders – More Than You
Atypical track on Mind Spiders well new album, Meltdown, but it fits in well on this mix. Mostly, this Texas band (an offshoot of Marked Men) make breakneck-paced Krautpunky rock. Here they take their foot off the gas just a little for some organ-driven ’60s pop. These guys are good!

12. Cloud Nothings – Stay Useless
Previously this Cleveland band made an appealing form of pop-punk that avoided sounding like the groups that gave that genre a bad name. For their new album, Cloud Nothings explore ’90s indie rock sounds, and some of it has a whiff of Afghan Whigs to it. But not this one.

13. Prinzhorn Dance School – Your Fire Has Gone Out
It’s easy to see what drew James Murphy to sign duo Prinzhorn Dance School to DFA. You can hear Gang of Four, Young Marble Giants and Pylon all over their minimal sound. Their 2009 debut went almost entirely unnoticed despite constant yellings of “WHITE BREAD GIVES YOU CANCER! But maybe its follow-up, Clay Class, will get more attention.

14. Household – Phases
In a very similar vein are Brooklyn band Household whose debut album was produced by DFA in-house bassist Andrew Raposo. The album came out last fall but somehow I missed its release, only learning this existed about two weeks ago. But glad I have it now and you should seek it out too. For fans of Liliput, the Slits and Yellowfever Deep Time.

15. Liechtenstein – Ambitions
Let’s keep it going with Sweden’s Liechtenstein whose new album will be out at the end of this month. They’re now a four-piece though I can’t tell it making much of a difference in their sound on record. (I’m sure it helps live.) Very Would-Be-Goods, this one.

16. Frankie Rose – Know Me
Frankie leaves the garage and hooks up with a guy from Avan Lava/Fisher-Spooner to make her first record soley under her own name. (The Outs are out.) In come the keyboards, Smiths-y guitars and a whole new level of sophistication in all areas. She’s definitely doing her own thing this time.

17. Trailer Trash Tracys – Los Angered
The TTTs album, Esther, also pushes a lot of my buttons: “ethereal” “david lynch” to be specific. I’ve cooled a bit on the album, Esther, but I do still like it quite a bit. Needs more songs like this one.

18. A.C. Marias – One of Our Girls Has Gone Missing
Last week I put WIR on as the oldie, and this week we’ve got A.C. Marias who was a frequent Wire contributor in the ’80s. They helped her with her first solo album and this is the spooky title track. A lost classic if you ask me, sounds kind of now.

There were a few snowflakes in the air today here in Brooklyn, the first of the season, so it’s good timing for the first Wintry Mix of 2012. Unlike the Summer Fridays mixes, these will be almost entirely new music… though I’m allowing myself one oldie per week. Lots of great stuff here: new singles from The 2 Bears, Diagrams, WhoMadeWho and Bear in Heaven. This one is pretty dancefloor-friendly. So have at it!

DOWNLOAD WINTRY MIX 01.13.2013

Tracklist:

1. The Golden Filter – Age of Consent
2. WIR – So and Slow it Grows
3. WhoMadeWho – Inside World
4. Django Django – Default
5. Errors – Pleasure Palaces
6. Chairlift - Sidewalk Safari
7. Expensive Looks – Nightfalls
8. Tanlines - Brothers
9. LESCOP - La Foret
10. The 2 Bears – Work
11. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Dream On
12. The Big Pink – Hit the Ground (Superman)
13. Bear in Heaven – The Reflection of You
14. Grimes - Genesis
15. Diagrams - Tall Buildings

Like all my mixes, the songs actually segue together so…No shuffling! Liner notes after the jump.

1. The Golden Filter – Age of Consent
New York duo The Golden Filter contribute the opening track to Power Corruption & Lies Covered which comes free with the new issue of MOJO. (New Order are on the cover.)  Unlike some of the other artists on this (cough Destroyer cough cough Fujiya & Miyagi ahem!) “Age of Consent” gets a pretty radical reworking, taking away the signature bassline (is this a comment on the now Hook-less New Order?), slowing it down and dropping the temperature about 30 degrees. Which is to say it now sounds like “Your Silent Face.” Did you ever notice all the songs on Power, Corruption & Lies use only two chords?

2. WIR – So and Slow it Grows
The sole oldie on this mix. This was when Robert Gotobed quit Wire and the other three members carried on, but without the “E”. Their only album under that guise, The First Letter, was maligned but I actually like a lot of it quite a bit, especially this single. Apart from the very digital guitars, this sounds pretty modern.

3. WhoMadeWho – Inside World
Busy boys, WhoMadeWho. Less than a year after releasing the excelent Knee Deep, the Danish trio will unleash Brighter at the end of the month and this is the first single. Definitely a little cheerier than paranoia found on Knee Deep, with that throbbing disco that may cause involuntary strutting.

4. Django Django – Default
This London trio has taken their sweet time finishing up their debut album, having released their first single two and a half years ago. Well the record’s finally coming out at the end of this month and while it suffers a bit from Elastica-itus (put every previously released track — a-sides and b-sides — on the album) only obsessives like myself will complain about the lack of brand new material. The band’s “funky blender” approach is on charming display here.

5. Errors – Pleasure Palaces
Scottish instrumental group Errors are starting to let vocals creep into their music. I can’t tell whether it’s just “ahhhhs” or actual words on this one, though given the title of the song it’s probably the former. Have Some Faith in Magic is probably their best album yet.

6. Chairlift – Sidewalk Safari
I was a little unsure what Chairlift would be like after the departure of Aaron Pfenning (who now fronts Rewards), worried they might turn into some kind of indie Enya. I’m happy to report that while there’s all sorts of new agey stuff on Something, it’s a pretty fun listen. As you can tell by this single.

7. Expensive Looks – Nightfalls
The psuedonmyn for producer Alec Feld, Expensive Looks fall within that icy, dusty electro that is what chillwave might’ve sounded like if it meant cold not, y’know, relaxed.

8. Tanlines – Brothers
Speaking of chillwave, Brooklyn duo Tanlines were smart in basically sitting most of 2010 and 2011 out, spending most of their time being really snarky on Twitter. So here it is 2012 and we’ll have to find some other name for the kind of music they make ’cause you-know-what never really fit anyway. “Brothers” is pretty good, anxious to hear the rest of the album.

9. LESCOP – La Foret
I don’t know a damn thing about this band other than it’s my favorite track on the new Kitsune Parisien II compilation.

10. The 2 Bears – Work
It’s a busy year for the folks in Hot Chip. There’s a new album this summer, Felix and Al have a Roxy Music sounding side project New Builds. Joe Goddard, meanwhile, put out a solo album last year and is now one half (with Raf Rundell) of The 2 Bears whose album Be Strong is out in a couple weeks.  A little more of a house banger than last year’s amazing “Bear Hug,” its no less catchy. The album’s a lot of fun.

11. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Dream On
Joe Goddard’s Greco-Roman label put out the first few TEED EPs, but now he’s signed to Polydor and ready for the big time. As much as a kid who wears a dinosaur costume onstage can be. Chill and very funky, I’m a big fan.

12. The Big Pink – Hit the Ground (Superman)
The Big Pink stop pretending that they’re “artists” and make an album of big anthemic (dumb) pop. So if you loved “Dominos” but the rest of that album fell flat, Future This is your more complete Saturday night soundtrack.

13. Bear in Heaven – The Reflection of You
One of this year’s more hilarious bits of online hypemaking, Bear In Heaven announced they were streaming their new album — not due out till April — on their website from now till it comes out. The catch: they slowed it down so it only plays through once over the four-month period. Here is our first proper-speed taste of I Love You, It’s Cool. I love the big synth pads all over this. Spacehopper road trip music.

14. Grimes – Genesis
Grimes just signed to 4AD and she woulda fit in just fine on the late-’80s prime of the label, all enigmatic, dark and beautiful. And danceable. Let’s hope Vaughn Oliver can be coaxed out of retirement to do the cover art to the album.

15. Diagrams – Tall Buildings
Diagrams is Sam Genders who used to be in Tuung and provided his distictive vocals to most of their best songs (like “Bullets”). Diagrams is essentially a solo project, which is lush and mostly pastoral in nature. (Not unlike Gruff Rhys’ more gentle material.) “Tall Buildings” is hyperactive funk, though, but still kind of lush and pastoral. Is that possible? I just wrote it, didn’t I?

I could’ve made this list twice as long but I capped it at 50. Most of these are actual singles. The rest should be. Beyond the top ten, ordering is fairly arbitrary.

1. Metronomy – The Look (MP3 | Video)
   I first heard this song back in February and I have yet to tire of it. I wish the keyboard solo outro lasted forever.
2. Exlovers – Blowing Kisses (MP3 | Video)
   Rocking shoegaze pop of the highest order. Can’t wait for the album.
3. Acid House Kings – Would you say stop? (MP3 | Video)
   A shuffling beat, handclaps and a chorus that will never leave your head.
4. Trailer Trash Tracys – Wish You Were Red (MP3 | Video)
   Originally a b-side to their first single, “Wish You Were Red” gets elevated single status now, part late-’80s 4AD, part Twin Peaks soundtrack, all awesome.
5. Baxter Dury – Claire (MP3 | Video)
   Like all of Happy Soup, “Claire,” bristles with clean, purposefully mid-fi production and minimalist arrangement, leaving us to contemplate the “ooh oohs” and Baxter’s charming mumble.
6. The Liminanas – Trouble in Mind (MP3 | Video)
   This is the a-side to this French ensemble’s new single which was only available at the merch table of their recent tour. Chanson garage! It may be my favorite song they’ve done yet, and was certainly a highlight of their live shows.
7. The 2 Bears – Bear Hug (MP3 | Video)
   When Joe Goddard isn’t busy with his band Hot Chip or his solo recordings, he makes house music with his burly bearded cohort Raf Rundell under the 2 Bears moniker. This song is rediculous and rediculously awesome.
8. Real Estate – It’s Real (MP3 | Video)
   Whoah oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh… it’s really good.
9. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Trouble (MP3 | Video)
   Despite the name, this is some seriously good dancepop, that should hold you over till he releases an album or the new Hot Chip album arrives.
10. Jonny – Candyfloss (MP3 | Video)
    Norman Blake + Euros Childs = Indie rock Reese’s Cup and it’s as delicious as you’d expect.
11. Cashier No. 9 – Goldstar (MP3 | Video)
    Take country-tinged West Coast style songwriting and harmonies and then add orchestral production courtesy soundtrack maestro David Holmes and you get Cashier No. 9 who are from Ireland (not Scotland as I would’ve expected). Perfection.
12. Grass Widow – Milo Minute (MP3 | Video)
    First single for Grass Widow’s own HLM label is the sometimes obtuse band’s most straightforward single yet, the closest they’ve come to pop. More like this please.
13. Peter Bjorn and John – Second Chance (MP3 | Video)
    Swedish trio get back to basics and make maybe their catchiest album ever? This one is for sure their best single since “Young Folks”… more cowbell? No, just enough.
14. Blood Orange – Sutphin Boulevard (MP3 | Video)
    Where the JMZ meets the Airtrain is where we’ll find Dev Hynes’ best moment from his latest musical incarnation.
15. Still Corners – Cuckoo (MP3 | Video)
    Spooky, ice cold, wistful, dreamy… Still Corners in one song.
16. Shit Robot – Losing My Patience (MP3 | Video)
    Shit Robot is Markus Lambkin but this track features writing credits from both James Murphy and Alexis Taylor (who provides vocals), this is a true DFA supersingle. And as good as its credits.
17. Ringo DeathStarr – So High (MP3 | Video)
    The second best shoegaze pop song of 2011.
18. TV Girl – Benny and the Jetts (MP3)
    All samples, apparently, but TV Girl makes them his own on one of the year’s catchiest hooks. Get the whole EP for free here.
19. Terry Malts – Something About You (MP3)
    It’s pop. It’s punk. But it’s not pop-punk. It’s the Terry Malts!
20. Radical Dads – Skateboard Bulldog (MP3)
    You loved the YouTube video. Now love the indie rock song. The b-side is great too.
21. Destroyer – Kaputt (MP3 | Video)
    Sounds, Smash Hits, Melody Maker, NME… all sounds like a dream to me.
22. Metronomy – The Bay (MP3 | Video)
    Only band to get two tracks on this year’s single list. This is the disco stormer. It’s so special by the bay.
23. Veronica Falls – Bad Feeling (MP3 | Video)
    All bow to the aweome, fierce jangle of Veronica Falls.
24. Little Racer – Little Racer (MP3)
    I love it when a band has a theme song. At least when it’s good, like this one is. From Brooklyn, they’re new.
25. Dent May – Fun (MP3)
    Dent drops the ukelele, for the moment, and goes crazy in the studio and delivers two great sides of a 7″. It’s almost a dance track. Almost. Definitely fun.25 more classic 2011 tracks after the jump!
26. Plastic Flowers – Strange Neighbors (We Won’t Be Friends) (MP3 | Video)
    There is no shortage of ’80s-style gloom-n-romance these days, but this was among my favorites.
27. Young Galaxy – Peripheral Visionaries (MP3 | Video)
    Anthemic, atmospheric, danceable… one of Montreal’s more underrated groups. Produced by those Studio guys and it shows.
28. The Strokes – Machu Picchu (MP3 | Video)
    This wasn’t actually released as a single, not sure why. It’s the best song on the album and most obvious pop song.
29. WhoMadeWho – Every Minute Alone (MP3 | Video)
    It’s like the Doors going squelchy techno… in a parallel universe where that’d be a good thing.
30. Django Django – Waveforms (MP3 | Video)
    One of my great hopes of 2012 giving us a welcome taste of what’s to come. And yes, they do sound a bit like the Beta Band.
31. John Foxx & the Maths – Evergreen (MP3)
    Onetime Ultravox singer goes back to his synth roots. This sounds like it was made in 1981 and was actually made completely with vintage gear. And is a great song beyond the luddite excercise.
32. Wye Oak – Holy Holy (MP3 | Video)
    The most spectacular moment on Wye Oak’s terrific third LP. 3:19 into it is where it gets me every time.
33. SBTRKT – Pharaohs (MP3 | Video)
    I know “Wildfire” was the jam and all from SBTRKT’s deservedly-praised debut, but this was my favorite.
34. Peggy Sue – Song & Dance (MP3 | Video)
    Maybe my favorite Peggy Sue song ever. Everything about them is just a little askew: the rhythms, the harmonies, the guitars. In a wonderful way, of course. Also weirdly danceable.
35. The British Public – Bears (MP3 | Video)
    Rediculously catchy ’90s style indie rock in the BOAT mold. Looking forward to hearing more.
36. Jeffrey Lewis – Cult Boyfriend (MP3 | Video)
    I bet Eddie Argos is jealous that Jeffrey Lewis wrote the best Art Brut song since “Good Weekend.”
37. Pete and the Pirates – Come To The Bar (MP3 | Video)
    A great example of everything Pete & the Pirates do so well. Puts a smile on your face and gets you dancing, if just a little.
38. Sissy & The Blisters – We Are The Others (MP3 | Video)
    Kind of embarrassing name, but a pretty good band. And a fantastic single. Very Damned, don’t you think?
39. Allah-Las – Catamaran (MP3)
    Laid back and surfy, not too low-fi but still sounding like it’s drifting this way via AM radio. Lovely.
40. Yuck – Get Away (MP3 | Video)
    After being initially very jazzed, my interest in Yuck’s album faded as the year went on. I still like it, and “Get Away” is maybe the best song on it that didn’t see the light of day last year.
41. Small Reactions – Nerve Pop (MP3)
    Atlanta indiepoppers making good with their first single on Magic Marker.
42. Ski Lodge – I Would Die To Be (MP3)
    Like Beach Fossils covering the Smiths… that’s a very good thing. I listened to this one a lot.
43. This Many Boyfriends – Young Lovers Go Pop! (MP3 | Video)
    More confident sounding band, louder and less twee than the TMB we’re used to. Really hoping NYC Popfest snags them for next year’s festivities.
44. The Hairs – Duh! x 12 (MP3 | Video)
    This is the new band from Kevin of Knight School and L’il Hospital before that. Maybe it’s the presence of a bassist, but I think The Hairs is the best thing he’s done yet. Waiting for the next single!
45. Blouse – Time Travel (MP3 | Video)
    I wish Blouse’s debut album had more songs as great as this one. Think they’re heading that way, though.
46. Widowspeak – Fir Coat (MP3 | Video)
    These Brooklynites get compared to Mazzy Star out the wazoo but, David Roback and Kendra Smith were never as peppy as this song. Molly Hamilton has an amazing voice and they write a good hook.
47. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Heart In Your Heartbreak (MP3 | Video)
    Working with big league knob-twiddlers Flood and Alan Moulder didn’t hurt TPOBPAH one bit, as evidenced by this terrific bit of lithe-tongued popsmithery.
48. Heavenly Beat – Faithless (MP3)
    This is John Pena who is in Beach Fossils and am happy to report Heavenly Beat sounds nothing like them. (I like Beach Fossils, mind you.) If you didn’t know better, you’d think this was a Scandinavian indiepop band.
49. The Go! Team – Buy Nothing Day (MP3 | Video)
    I wish the rest of their new album dropped the tired cheerleader music in favor of fantastic pop songs like this, which features Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino.
50. AZEALIA BANKS – 212 (MP3 | Video)
    Filthy lyrics, but you gotta dig the vibe of this song which goes well with “Bear Hug” actually. It’s a banger!

I waited till 2012 to finalize my albums list — all my lists — partially due to laziness, being busy, the holidays… but mainly because I’m not sure what the hurry is. I don’t do this for the web traffic (clearly), so I gave myself a little more time to decide than usual. (And as long as this goes up before the Village Voice’s Pazz n’ Jop, I don’t feel delinquent.) So here’s my list, the top five or so have been a lock for almost half a year, but the rest were in flux right till I hit “publish.”

In addition to MP3s and buy-it links, I’ve included links to stream the albums in full where possible. Most of that comes courtesy Spotify, a very handy (and free) service you should get if you don’t already. Anyway, here we go:

1) Destroyer – Kaputt (Merge)
Dan Bejar has long made epics on tinny keyboards, but here goes fully widescreen — complete with ’80s sax —  and it all sounds like a (beautiful) dream to me. Released in January, Kaputt has been my favorite album of the year for the entirety of 2011.

MP3: Destroyer – Kaputt

Buy it | Spotify

2) Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls (Slumberland)
“Found Love in a Graveyard” made my Favorite Tracks of 2009 list and have been waiting a full-length ever since. The band does not disappoint. There’s not a dud in Veronica Falls‘ 36 minute running time. New songs are equals to early singles which appear here in newly recorded versions that might actually improve on the originals. This is haunted pop, a brisk October breeze that calls for a nice cardigan.

MP3: Veronica Falls – Misery

Buy it | Spotify

3) Metronomy – The English Riviera (Because Music)
After making 2008′s best album, Joseph Mount turned Metronomy into a real band and explored new sounds and styles on The English Riviera. There’s still the signature twitchy disco, but the expanded sonic palette suits the new Metronomy. It’s a better album than Nights Out, but it’s also a better year for music.

MP3: Metronomy – The Bay

Buy it | Spotify

4) Baxter Dury – Happy Soup (Regal)
A chip off the old block(head), Baxter Dury goes pop on his third album, with spare arrangements  and production style that recall early new wave/post punk or the vibe of old Studio One 45s, which gives upbeat tracks real snap. And on more melancholic numbers (“The Sun,” “Hotel in Brixton”), there’s a dreamy warmth. Like his father, Dury is a keen observer and has a way with words — even if they tend to get stuck in his mouth. But that too is part of his charm.

MP3: Baxter Dury – Trellic

Buy it | Spotify

5) Mikal Cronin – Mikal Cronin (Trouble in Mind)
While Charlie & the Moonhearts made some fun, garage-y records, nothing they did suggested Cronin had a record like this in him. (Touring in Ty Segall’s band probably upped his game a bit.) His solo album is just great song after great song, big hook upon big hook, wrapped up in fuzzy basslines and killer harmonies.

MP3: Mikal Cronin – It is Alright

Buy it | Spotify

6) Cat’s Eyes – S/T (Cooperative Music)
Take one very tall, very skinny frontman of The Horrors, add a classically trained soprano/multi-instrumentalist and fold in a mutual love of ’60s girl groups and you get one of 2011′s most unexpected delights. Cat’s Eyes debut hangs in an ethereal limbo between the Shangri-Las and Ennio Morricone. Not a bad place to be.

MP3: Cat’s Eyes – The Best Person I Know

Buy it | Spotify

7) The Caretaker – An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (History Always Favours The Winners)
As The Caretaker, James Leyland Kirby explores the relationship between music and memory and with this album turns his focus to Alzheimer’s. Apparently, the area up there where music memory is stored is the last to go. Sampling old 78s from the ’30s, Kirby has made one of the most lovely, thought-provoking albums of the year.

MP3: The Caretaker – Cameraderie at Arm’s Length

Buy it | Bandcamp

8. Big Troubles – Romantic Comedy (Slumberland)
On their first album, Brooklyn’s Big Troubles were Totally Shoegaze and you could play a drinking game spotting the references. For their first album on Slumberland, the boys went to North Carolina to work with legend Mitch Easter which is a pretty inspired pairing. (And draws comparisons to Moose, who did the exact same thing 20 years ago.) The album drops the distortion and most of the other pedals in favor of crystalline, jangle-n-harmony pop.  Near perfect.

MP3: Big Troubles – She Smiles for Pictures

Buy it | SoundCloud | Spotify

9) Total Control – Henge Beat (Iron Lung)
Australian indie rock supergroup boasts members of Eddie Current Supression Ring which is what brought me to them in the first place and turn out to be just as good as that band in a much different way. Henge Beat‘s a real corker of a debut album. It divides its time between motorik synth workouts, jittery post-punk and more Eddy Current style stormers, with a nice layer of repetition repetition repetition coating the whole shebang.

MP3: Total Control – See More Glass

Buy It | Bandcamp

10) WhoMadeWho - Knee Deep (Kompact)
Initially known for their weird costumes and theatrical stage show, Denmark’s WhoMadeWho have just gotten better as a band, laying down some serious grooves. Speaking of serious, Knee Deep gets into some heavy inner monologues but keeps you dancing. The band call this a mini-LP, but at nearly 50 minutes that’s almost twice as long as your average Ty Segall album. A more “proper” full-length is due out this month! Bring it on.

MP3: WhoMadeWho – Nothing Has Changed

Buy it | Stream it

11) I Break Horses – Hearts (Bella Union)
It wouldn’t be a year end list without some shoegazy sounds from Sweden, so here we go with the debut from this duo from Stockholm which is a hazy knockout. Maria Linden, who sang for more traditional noisemakers Blackstrap, finds something much more special in the miasma here.

MP3: I Break Horses – Hearts

Buy It | Stream It

12) Crystal Stilts – In Love with Oblivion (Slumberland)
This record was a long time coming, as most of these songs date from the Frankie Rose era of the band and it’s hard to listen to songs like “Sycamore Tree” and “Through the Floor” and not see her standing behind the kit with that relentless drumming style of hers. But that is really neither here nor there. A better record than their debut in every way, In Love with Oblivion also bring Crystal Stilts out of the murk, allowing for bright melodies amongst the gloom. You need a little sunshine to make the best shadows.

MP3: Crystal Stilts – Sycamore Tree

Buy It | Spotify

13) The Twerps – S/T (Chapter Music / Underwater Peoples)
Recalling both ’80s Flying Nun and classic Australian groups like The Go-Betweens, Melbourne’s Twerps pay homage to their neck of the woods’ past without becoming slaves to it. It takes skill — and a load of great tunes — to make janglepop like this special but the Twerps do just that.

MP3: The Twerps – Dreamin’

Buy It | Stream It

14) SBTRKT – S/T (Young Turks)
I am not an early adopter when it comes to new styles of dance music. I prefer it when someone comes along and takes bleeding edge sounds and sets them to a pop engine which is what you get with SBTRKT’s debut album.  It may or may not appeal to the white label 12″ snobs but as a pop record it’s hooks are hard to deny.

MP3: SBTRKT – Wildfire

Buy It | Spotify

15) Colourmusic - My _______ is Pink (Memphis Industries)
Despite the spelling of their name, Colourmusic are from Oklahoma where you can’t be a band and not be at least a little influenced by the Flaming Lips. They are weird and psychedelic and awesome and I keep wishing they’d tour the East Coast because they were one of my favorites at SXSW 2011. The record is awesome too…obviously.

MP3: Colourmusic – Tog

Buy It | Spotify

16) Wax Idols – No Future (Hozac)
Hether Fortune spent time in Hunx & His Punx and Bare Wires but is taking a backseat to no one with Wax Idols, making one hell of a debut. Fuzz pedals crash into jangly guitars, vocals are high sneer but also full of harmony, and there’s room for both girl group balladry and a tough cover of Wire’s “Sand in My Joints.”

MP3: Wax Idols – Dead Like You

Buy It | Spotify

17) Cashier No. 9 – To the Death of Fun (Bella Union)
Take country-tinged West Coast style songwriting and harmonies and then add orchestral production courtesy soundtrack maestro David Holmes and you get Cashier No. 9 who are from Ireland (not Scotland as I would’ve expected). Teenage Fanclub meets Scott Walker? Something like that. One of the most criminally underheard albums of 2011.

MP3: Cashier No. 9 – Goldstar

Buy It

18) BOAT – Dress Like Your Idols (Magic Marker)
Another fantastic record of classic definition indie rock from some of the nicest guys in Seattle. Production gets better along with the songwriting and Dave Crane did a great job with the cover art this time.

MP3: BOAT – Kinda Scared of Love Affairs

Buy It | Spotify

19) Wire - Red Barked Tree (Pink Flag)
Wire make their finest album since 1986′s The Ideal Copy and sound like a year hasn’t passed since.  But yet now and vital. How do they do it?

MP3: Wire – Please Take

Buy It | Spotify

20) Ringo Deathstarr – Colour Trip (Sonic Unyon/Club AC30)
If you love early ’90s shoegaze — and if you read this blog with any frequency (like even the frequency I post, which is infrequent) you probably do — then Ringo Deathstarr’s Colour Trip are going to push all your buttons. Tremolo pedals get mashed, amps get turned up and cherry pop melodies soar amongst the roar.

MP3: Ringo Deathstarr – So High

Buy It | Spotify

21) A Classic Education – Call it Blazing (Lefse)
Heart on the sleeve tunes from Canadian Jonathan Clancy who formed this band in his current hometown of Bologna, Italy. Students of indiepop history, ACE take the best bits of the last 30 years and have created a sound all their own. Tuneful, continental and clever, with charm to spare. Call it great.

MP3: A Classic Education – Baby it’s Fine

Buy It | Spotify

22) The Horrors – Skying (XL)
You’d be hard-pressed to call The Horrors original, but there’s no denying they are master thieves. The band continue their trek from the shadows to the sunshine with their third album Skying which is an appropriate name. It’s all gossamer synths and soaring choruses. You would not know this was the same band that made Strange House four years ago. They’re not even wearing all black anymore. Can’t wait to see where they go next.

MP3: The Horrors – Further Away

Buy It | Spotify

23) Sloan – The Double Cross (Murderrecords / YepRoc)
Sloan are in their 20th year of existence and have just released their tenth albumwhich is maybe the Sloan-iest album they’ve ever made  which is to say the most cross-pollination we’ve heard from Chris, Jay, Patrick and Andrew in a dozen years. And it’s all for the good of the record which gets in and out in 37 minutes. Don’t stop, guys.

MP3: Sloan – Beverly Terrace

Buy It | Spotify

24) Pete & the Pirates – One Thousand Pictures (Stolen Recordings)
I initially discounted this record when culling my year-end list but upon listening again I’d forgotten just how many good songs are on here. (Maybe if they’d toured beyond SXSW they’d have been more on my mind.) Few bands are doing this kind of straight-up guitar pop, and even fewer do it with this much panache. Nearly every song is filled with some great little surprise.

MP3: Pete & the Pirates – Little Gun

Buy It | Spotify

25) Eleanor Friedberger – Last Summer (Merge)
Pretty sure that the Fiery Furnaces have never graced one of my Best Of lists. I like them, and actually some of those early songs like “Evergreen” and “Tropical Iceland” were great, but most of their music was just a little too off kilter for my tastes. On her first solo album, wordy wordsmith Eleanor Friedberger makes the poppiest record since those early EPs and it’s a total charmer.

MP3: Eleanor Friedberger – My Mistakes

Buy It | Spotify

26) White Fence – Is Growning Faith (Woodsist)
White Fence records are like discovering some lost psychedelic LP in the back of a thrift store. You take it home you can’t tell if the record melted or warped, or if it sounds that way on purpose. But you know it’s very cool. It’s actually Tim Presley who also is in Darker My Love and Strange Boys, but White Fence is the better, stranger band and this, their second album, is a keeper.

MP3: White Fence – Get That Heart

Buy It | Spotify

27) Peter Bjorn and John – Gimmie Some (Cooperative Music)
No synthesizers or soundbanks this time, just three Swedish dudes playing some insanely catchy songs with an energy that belies their age. Every song’s a potential single.

MP3: Peter Bjorn and John – Eyes

Buy It | Spotify

28) Real Estate – Days (Domino)
For their major (indie) label debut, the New Jerseyites don’t really change up what they do — they’ve just got a budget for a nice studio this time. Real Estate clean up well. If anything, it’s a little tighter this time out, allowing themselves only one song to stretch out and jam. Perfect late afternoon lazing tunes. Also: maybe the only album on this list to be buy-able on cassette. But I could be wrong about that.

MP3: Real Estate – It’s Real

But It | Spotify

29) Radical Dads – Mega Rama (Uninhabitable Mansions)
Radical Dads will not deny their ’90s influences, which is good because they’re all over their terrific debut album, Mega Rama, which is also a contender for Album Art of the Year. One of NYC’s best bands, especially live.

MP3: Radical Dads – New Age Dinosaur

Buy It | Stream It | Spotify

30) Hong Kong in the ’60s – My Fantoms (Proper Songs)
London trio who mix sunshine pop, easy listening and a love of analogue synths…of course I love it. Somewhere between Everything but the Girl and High Llamas. The only bad thing I can say about their debut album My Fantoms is that it’s not available on vinyl.

MP3: Hong Kong in the ’60s – You Can Take a Heart But You Cannot Make It Beat

Buy It | Spotify

I’ve got 20 more from 2011 after the jump.

31) Peoples Temple – Sons of Stone (HoZac)
For those who long for the days when Anton Newcomb wrote catchy psych pop instead of plodding through the haze for eight minutes at a stretch might want to check out Lansing, Michigan’s People’s Temple. Not only do they share a proclivity for catchy ’60s-ish acid pop, their name is a reference to Jim Jones’ cult. Dig.

MP3: Peoples Temple – Sons of Stone

Buy It | Spotify

32) Still Corners – Creatures of an Hour (Sub Pop)
Still Corners are like a magic brew made just for me: part ’60s soundtrack music (Barry, Morricone), part psych pop (Strawberry Alarm Clock, VU) and a big dose of motorik Kraut. This record gets better as the temperature drops.

MP3: Still Corners – Cuckoo

Buy It | Spotify

33) Wye Oak – Civilian (Merge)
Wye Oak leapt into the big leagues with Civilian, and deservedly so.  Soaring melodies, impressive dynamics, and a killer live show.

MP3: Wye Oak – Civilian

Buy It | Spotify

34) Cold Cave – Cherish the Light Years (Matador)
Philadelphia neo-goths can no longer be called “minimal synth” if they ever were called that. They are aiming for the upper decks on their new album, Cherish the Light Years. Big, anthemic chorus and production to match. I’m a bit surprised how much I like this album.

MP3: Cold Cave – The Great Pan is Dead

Buy It | Spotify

35) Acid House Kings – Music Sounds Better with You (Labrador)
First album from AHK in six years and I’d say worth the wait. About as indiepop as you can get, and a near perfect example of its charms. Also contains “Would You Say Stop,” one of 2011′s best singles.

MP3: Acid House Kings – Would You Say Stop?

Buy It | Spotify

36) The Stepkids – The Stepkids (Stones Throw)
Like The Bees, The Stepkids recreate a specific era of sound — early ’70s psychedelic soul — with such skill you might think it was some obscure Fifth Dimension album or outtakes from Psychedelic Shack. That it works beyond an exercise is mimicry shows how talented these three are.

MP3: The Stepkids – Shadows on Behalf

Buy It | Spotify

37) Jacuzzi Boys – Glazin’ (Hardly Art)
Now signed to Sub Pop microlabel Hardly Art, Florida’s Jacuzzi Boys cleaned up nice with a little money thrown their direction. Not that they were on the scuzzy side of things in the first place. Glazin’ brings the band’s powerpop proclivities to the forefront, giving the album a punked-out Cheap Trick vibe.

MP3: Jacuzzi Boys – Automatic Jail

Buy It | Spotify

38) Hollie Cook – S/T (Mr. Bongo Recordings)
The daughter of Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook, Hollie’s debut album should be on everyone’s summer playlist. Expertly produced by Prince Fatty, there’s that fast-n-cheap feel that gives it a classic sound, and Hollie’s voice floats overtop like an island breeze. Pure pleasure.

MP3: Hollie Cook – Shadow Kissing

Buy It | Spotify

39) Peggy Sue – Acrobats (YepRoc)
Everything about Peggy Sue is just a little askew: the rhythms, the harmonies, the guitars. In a wonderful way, of course. A little more electric this time out and all the better for it. Another criminally overlooked band. If you like PJ Harvey, this may be for you.

MP3: Peggy Sue – Song & Dance

Buy It | Spotify

40) North Highlands – Wild One (self-released)
North Highlands are, along with Hospitality, one of the best pop bands in New York right now and their debut album shows off their many attributes: inventive arrangements, seemingly endless melodic gifts and a level of musicianship that is hard to achieve in this town.

MP3: North Highlands – Bruce

Buy It | Stream It | Spotify

41) Swiftumz – Don’t Trip (Holy Mountain)
For endlessly creative types like San Francisco resident Chris McViker, having zero budget is no match for one’s imagination when it comes to making a record. (It also helps to have great songs, which he does in spades.) Defying categorization, Swiftumz mixes and matches influences (and a lot of JAMC) that fits in particularly well in this life-on-shuffle world.

MP3: Swiftumz – More Than Sleep

Buy It

42) Comet Gain – Howl of the Lonely Crowd (What’s Your Rupture)
More late night drinking anthems and footstompers from the mind and mouth of the great David Feck. The production by Edwyn Collins and Ryan Jarman — hitting that mid-fi first Modern Lovers album sweet spot — makes the whole thing soar.

MP3: Comet Gain – An Arcade from the Warm Rain That Falls

Buy It | Spotify

43) M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (Mute)
Like a lot of double albums, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming would probably be a lot better pared down to a single disc, as there’s a lot of songs with “whoah oh oh” style choruses. But it all sounds pretty amazing, even when it (like The Horrors) sounds like Simple Minds.

MP3: M83 – Reunion

Buy It | Spotify

44) Peaking Lights – 936 (Not Not Fun)
Working with homemade keyboards made out of thrift store finds, Peaking Lights project a dubby, psychedelic sound that is as warm and inviting as their Madison, WI home is cold. Turn up and bliss out.

MP3: Peaking Lights – All the Sun That Shines

Buy It | Spotify

45) Rotifer – The Hosting Couple (AED Records)
If you found the most recent Wave Pictures album a little samey, might I suggest Robert Rotifer, who works in a similar you-are-there tales of English life (though he’s Austrian-born) but is maybe — maybe — a little more varied musically. Might it interest you further to know that Wreckless Eric produced the album and that Darren Hayman is in the band? I thought it might. Hefner, Wave Pictures, Wreckless Eric…Rotifer!

MP3: Rotifer – Jazz Cigarettes

Buy It | Spotify

46) Craft Spells – Idol Labor (Captured Tracks)

The ’80s reinvented in the bedroom of someone barely alive during the decade. Sparkling. Can’t wait to hear what he can do with a modest budget.

MP3: Craft Spells – Your Tomb

Buy It | Spotify

47) Disappears – Guider (Kranky)
Chicago’s masters of Krautpunk had this in the can when the first album came out in 2010. By the time this hit stores last January, the band had begun a metamorphosis with the addition of Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelly who has slowed the band down a bit. So here’s the last document of Disappears’ pedal-to-the-motorik-metal sound which kicks serious ass even though I’m super exited to hear the third album, due out very very soon.

MP3: Disappears – New Fast

Buy It | Spotify

48) The New Lines – All That We See and Seem (The Great Pop Supplement)
The New Lines are definitely not following any current NYC music trends, instead fastidiously perfecting a chilly baroque sound more akin to Broadcast, The Soundcarriers and The United States of America. Like Still Corners (with whom they shared sides of a split-7″ earlier this year), this sort of record sounds even better when the thermometer drops below freezing.

MP3: The New Lines – The Year of Nines

Buy It | Stream It | Spotify

49) Sweet Bulbs - S/T (Blackburn Recordings)
Sweet Bulbs, who RIP’d midway through the year, were one of the best of the new shoegazer scene here in Brooklyn. The band is gone but the album is still here for us to enjoy, choc-a-bloc with seriously catchy songs that are buried under layers of swirly guitars and effects pedals and other sludge. As someone who loved bands like The Swirlies, Drop Nineteens, Lilys and Henry’s Dress, this is right up my alley. For those mystified by that litany of obscure ’90s indie bands, just know Sweet Bulbs make beautiful noise.

MP3: Sweet Bulbs – High Life

Buy It

50) Gruff Rhys – Hotel Shampoo (Wichita)
The hardest working man in Welsh indie rock and one of my heroes. His new album, Hotel Shampoo, is another winner in a 15 year career. Maybe a bit disappointing in overall career terms, but compared to the rest of the world, he’s still Head & Shoulders above the rest. I could not resist a shampoo pun.

MP3: Gruff Rhys – Christopher Columbus

Buy It | Spotify

If you’re a downloader of my Summer Fridays, Spring Fever and Wintry Mix mixes, you’ll probably recognize a lot of songs here, now in a totally new order. Plus lots of stuff never put on mixes before, of course.They’re broken up into stuff I thought would sound good together, at least till you get to the last one which was a bit of “oh I forgot about that awesome song.” Anyway, they all flow well, I think. See ya in 2011.

DOWNLOAD SOUND BITES BEST OF 2011 VOL 1
DOWNLOAD SOUND BITES BEST OF 2011 VOL 2
DOWNLOAD SOUND BITES BEST OF 2011 VOL 3
DOWNLOAD SOUND BITES BEST OF 2011 VOL 4
DOWNLOAD SOUND BITES BEST OF 2011 VOL 5 (correct link)
DOWNLOAD SOUND BITES BEST OF 2011 VOL 6

Here are the tracklists. You can also click the cover art to get to the download. Enjoy.

1. Pete & the Pirates – Come to the Bar
2. Real Estate – It’s Real
3. Jonny – Candyfloss
4. Beirut – Santa Fe
5. Gruff Rhys – Sensations in the Dark
6. Oh Minnows – Another Volunteer
7. Metronomy – The Look
8. Little Racer – Little Racer
9. Heavenly Beat – Faithless
10. Acid House Kings – Would You Say Stop?
11. Girls – Honey Bunny
12. Cashier No. 9 – Goldstar
13. The Go! Team – Buy Nothing Day
14. Dum Dum Girls – He Gets Me High
15. Craft Spells – Your Tomb
16. Baxter Dury – Trellic
17. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Heart in Your Heartbreak
18. The Strokes – Machu Picchu
19. Peter Bjorn & John – Second Chance
20. Catwalk – Home
21. Hong Kong in the ’60s – You Can Take a Heart but You Cannot Make it Beat
22. Ice Choir – Two Rings

1. Metronomy – The Bay
2. Toro Y Moi – Still Sound
3. Cities Aviv – Coastin’
4. Blood Orange – Sutphin Boulevard
5. Friendly Fires – Hurtin’
6. Washed Out – Amor Fati
7. Peaking Lights – All the Sun That Shines
8. M83 – Reunion
9. WhoMadeWho – Nothing Has Changed
10. The 2 Bears – Bear Hug
11. Azelia Banks – 212
12. Joe Goddard feat Valentina – Gabriel
13. Neon Indian – Polish Girl
14. Teams Vs. Star Slinger – Close to Me
15. SBTRKT – Pharaohs
16. Junk Culture – Chippewa Kids
17. Holy Ghost! – Jam for Jerry
18. Jeane – Jeane
19. Django Django – Waveforms

1. Brain Idea – Oh I’m Free (Earn Your Card)
2. Mikal Cronin – Situation
3. White Fence – Lilian (Won’t You Play Drums)
4. Bad Sports – Teenage Girls
5. Mazes – Summer Hits
6. The Limiñanas – (I’ve Got) Trouble in Mind
7. Sissy & the Blisters – We Are the Others
8. Crystal Stilts – Blood Barons
9. Moon Duo – Mazes
10. Balkans – Troubled and Done
11. Wax Idols – Gold Sneakers
12. The Peoples Temple – Where You Gonna Go?
13. Total Control – Last Days
14. Disappears – New Fast
15. Bleached – Searching Through the Past
16. Jacuzzi Boys – Los Angeles
17. Radical Dads – New Age Dinosaur
18. Grass Widow – Milo Minute
19. Allah-Las – Catamaran
20. Radar Eyes – Miracle
21. Small Reactions – Nerve Pop
22. The British Public – Bears
23. McDonalds – Good Parts
24. PS I Love You w/Diamond Rings – Leftovers
25. Cave – WUJ

1. Let’s Wrestle – In Dreams
2. Kids on a Crime Spree – Trumpets of Death
3. Exlovers – Blowing Kisses
4. Ringo Deathstarr – So High
5. Eternal Summers – Prisoner
6. Veronica Falls – The Box
7. Tunabunny – (Song for My) Solar Sister
8. Big Troubles – Misery
9. The Twerps – Dreamin’
10. The Proper Ornaments – Shining Bright
11. The Fresh & Onlys – Do You Beleive in Destiny?
12. Minks – Cemetery Rain
13. Ski Lodge – I Would Die to Be
14. Beach Fossils – Distance
15. Widowspeak – Fir Coat
16. The High Highs – Flowers Bloom
17. Elaenor Friedberger – Heaven
18. Parlovr – Hell/Heaven
19. Weekend – The One You Want
20. Yuck – I Can’t Get Away
21. Swiftumz – More Than Sleep
22. Comet Gain – Yoona Baines
23. Terry Malts – Something About You
24. This Many Boyfriends – Young Lovers Go Pop
25. Gold-Bears – Record Store
26. BOAT – Forever in Armitron
27. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Tigers
28. A Classic Education – I Lost Time

1. Young Galaxy – Peripheral Visionaries
2. Trailer Trash Tracys – Wish You Were Red
3. I Break Horses – Wired
4. The Raveonettes – Forget That You’re Young
5. Violens – Totally True
6. Blouse – Time Travel
7. Cat’s Eyes – The Best Person I Know
8. Still Corners – Into the Trees
9. Grimes – Vanessa
10. The Horrors – You Said
11. Wire – Please Take
12. Plastic Flowers – Strange Neighbors
13. Cold Cave – Catacombs
14. Xeno & Oaklander – The Staircase
15. John Foxx & the Maths – Evergreen
16. Austra – The Future
17. Wild Beasts – Bed of Nails
18. Peggy Sue – Song & Dance
19. Wye Oak – Holy Holy
20. Colourmusic – Tog
21. The Caretaker – The Sublime Is Disappointingly Elusive

1. TV Girl – Benny and the Jetts
2. Sloan – Beverly Terrace
3. Destroyer – Kaputt
4. North Highlands – Bruce
5. Razika – Why We Have to Wait
6. Hollie Cook – Shadow Kissing
7. Dent May – Fun
8. Princeton – The Alps
9. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – How Can U Luv Me
10. The Stepkids – Shadows on Behalf
11. Zoos of Berlin – Haven’t Eyes
12. Murder Mystery – Problems
13. Spanish Prisoners – Rich Blood
14. Dirty Beaches – Lord Knows Best
15. The New Lines – A Hunter’s Penance
16. Rotifer – Jazz Cigarettes
17. The Drums – Days
18. Shit Robot feat Alexis Taylor – Losing My Patience
19. BNLX – Garbage Strike
20. Jeffery Lewis – Cult Boyfriend
21. The Beets – I Think I Might Have Built a Horse
22. Alex Turner – It’s Hard to Get Around the Wind

p.s. no shuffling.

Halloween is Monday so it’s time for a new mix from me. Goth has really made a comeback, thanks to labels like Sacred Bones, Captured Tracks and Wierd and there’s good “dark” music being made now, unlike a while back wehre it seemed that there was just a bunch of schlocky stuff being released on Cleopatra.For this year’s mix, I decided to do a little old a little new. It all fits together pretty seamlessly. Some of it (Led Er Est for example) sounds genuinely vintage. I know there’s a bunch of “spooky” music out there these days and I like some of it, but this is more my thing.

Cover art was done by Joe Jurewicz who used to front Dirty on Purpose and now plays in Neckbeard Telecaster when not making gig posters or doing animation on Superjail. Download, enjoy, goth out!

DOWNLOAD NEAR DARK: HALLOWEEN SOUNDS 2011

Tracklist:

1. The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary
2. Blouse – Time Travel
3. Bauhaus – Dark Entries
4. The Soft Moon – Total Decay
5. The Chameleons – Soul in Isolation
6. ZAZA – Ruin
7. Led Er Est – Lonesome XOXO
8. Ministry – Every Day is Halloween
9. Staccato du Mal – Desespero
10. Clan of Xymox – Louise
11. The Danse Society – Somewhere
12. Cold Cave – Catacombs
13. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry – Walking on Your Hands
14. Chelsea Wolfe – Demons
15. Xmal Deutschland – Polarlicht
16. The Sisters of Mercy – Dominion / Mother Russia
17. O. Children – Ruins
18. Siouxsie & the Banshees – Arabian Knights
19. TRUST – Bulbform
20. Skeletal Family – Promised Land
21. The Damned – Twisted Nerve
22. Plastic Flowers – Drive Me Home

And I re-upped my Vampire Bites mix from a couple years ago for those who still need the ultimate goth hits.

I think this was the 19th CMJ I have attended and though they don’t call it the Music Marathon anymore, it still feels like it. SXSW is like that too, shows all day and night, but when you live in NYC and you’re expected to do work too… you’re running on fumes by the end. There weren’t as many big names this year which turned out to be good. Most of the bands I saw were either entirely new to me, or I’d never seen them live before. Here’s a rundown.

Top Five CMJ Performances

1) Metronomy – Music Hall of Williamsburg (Thursday Night)

Not only was this the best show of CMJ, it was the best show of 2011 so far. Their first sell-out show in NYC (about 500 more people than when they played Union Hall in 2008), the crowd were going mental for the whole show. As they should: Metronomy make savvy dance pop with high levels of wit and skill and very little attitude. I left the club genuinely euphoric. What a show!

MP3: Metronomy – The Bay

Hollerado – Arlene’s Grocery (Friday Night)

If you miss the days big riff guitar pop, the kind that was all over alt-rock radio in the ’90s, Manotick, Ontario’s Hollerado are doing it with equal amounts of hooks and humor, both of which were on display at the M for Montreal showcase on Friday night. Arlene Grocery kept bands to a strict 25-minute set time via a countdown clock on a big flatscreen beside the soundboard. Hollerado treated it like an action movie, complete with special effects: confetti cannons went off every few moments. And the soundtrack: crank-it-up, top-down scorchers with choruses the size of Lake Ontario.

MP3: Hollerado – Juliette

Radical  Dads – Bruar Falls (Saturday Night)

Wild Flag’s show at Bowery Ballroom during CMJ was one of the fest’s toughest tickets. At about the same time over at Park Slope club The Rock Shop, locals Radical Dads were mining similar indie rock territory and I’d say they do it just as well though they’re a lot less hyped. The bloggeratti may not care, but this trio is one of Brooklyn’s best bands right now. Their set at Bruar Falls Saturday night was tight, energized and, though there are ’90s touchstones for sure, totally in the now. They were also bearers of good news: their debut album, Mega Rama, is getting a belated vinyl release in December. Have you seen the Awesome cover art? Also, new single out soon.

MP3: Radical Dads – New Age Dinosaur

4) Street Chant – Public Assembly + Bruar Falls (Saturday)

I wasn’t the only one watching Radical Dads with a giant smile on my face. Street Chant, who played right before, were up from and totally into it, man. Street Chant, three young New Zealanders, are fantastic in their own right — owing a little to their country’s indie rock past and making a lot of it up as they go along too. The songs are great, you can tell they love to play and their drummer is amazing. They were first band on at BrooklynVegan’s day show, a tough slot when few are there, but they did just fine and there was good crowd by the time they finished. The Bruar Falls set was better as people were awake, maybe a little (but not too) buzzed, and ready to hear some music.

MP3: Street Chant – Scream Walk 

5) Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Cameo Gallery (Saturday)

In a world of increasingly awful band names, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosuars is knowingly ridiculous. But the dance music Orlando Higgenbottom makes  is sublime, even while wearing a stegosaurus costume as he did late Saturday night, the last performance I saw at CMJ. Cameo was so packed there wasn’t much room to dance, so the audience just sort of bobbed up and down. Sometimes you just gotta make do.

MP3: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Garden

And some other stuff I saw after the jump:

Best pipes: Purity Ring

This thing was some sort of drum machine trigger, it didn’t make “pipe” noises. Still, Bjork would be jealous.

Best use of “People Are People”: Cities Aviv

I actually saw a fair amount of hip hop (for me) this year. Memphis’ Cities Aviv was by far the most compelling performer, even if he spent too much time complaining about bloggers calling him chillwave. Points for sampling Depeche Mode.

Best in Black: Chelsea Wolfe

No, she doesn’t sound like Zola Jesus. I could do without the overtly goth garb, but she means it and sells it 100%.

Best Band Kim Fowley Probably Thinks Owe Him Royalties: Bleached

With feathered hair and vintage tees, this Mika Miko offshoot is straight out of 1979 but they do it well and the harmonies are strong.

Best Light Show: Miracle Fortress

Though he has a drummer now, Graham Van Pelt is keeping Miracle Fortress pretty minimal, except for an minimal but intense lightshow, including tiny little pixels projected from behind that made him look like he was being digitized onstage.

Best Argument Against a Drummer: Xeno & Oaklander

I saw a lot of laptop bands this year and my reaction was almost always the same: get a drummer, you’re boring. Not in the case of retro-futurists Xeno & Oaklander who make electronic music entirely with vintage gear. It was all being done live on stage and watching them perform is a wonder of frantic knob-twiddling, button-pushing and cord-plugging.

Best Insanity: Peelander-Z

Before the first song was over, the bassist had jumped on the bar, lept off and crowd-surfed back to the stage. I’ve seen P-Z a few times, it’s always crazy and I never remember what they sound like besides yelling.

Best Band with a Bad Name: Tropical Popsicle

San Diego bands like Spacemen 3 (see also Crocodiles and The Soft Pack). Tropical Popsicle make psychedelic pop a la BJM or JAMC and kept things entertaining with a homemade lightshow and plenty of reverb. Horrible name, though.