skatterbrain!

New Allo Darlin': "History Lessons"

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:45:00 -0400

Allo Darlin’ played a super gorgeous acoustic version of super gorgeous new song “History Lessons” for Balcony TV in Barcelona last week! More, please, ASAP. It’s Allo Darlin’ season again! Watch below:

I’m starting the day with some coffee and this 1990...

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:56:00 -0400

I’m starting the day with some coffee and this 1990 jangling classic from Love Parade. Maybe you should, too!

OMG OMG OMG! Attention! OMG! So Allison and Katie Crutchfield...

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:18:00 -0400

OMG OMG OMG! Attention! OMG! So Allison and Katie Crutchfield covering Grimes’ “Oblivion” for Rookie Mag’s May Theme Song is likely to be the best thing you’ll hear all week. It translates to their ragged, trebly guitar pop tendencies better than I could have ever expected and HELLO YES I’VE JUST CLICKED PLAY FOR THE 7TH TIME A ROW.

Cassolette’s new single (their very best yet, IMO) is out...

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:18:24 -0400

Cassolette’s new single (their very best yet, IMO) is out next week on Manic Pop Records and I can’t keep it out of my head! The mailbox mixup of “Return To Sender” seems to take equal cues from both the charming storytelling of Camera Obscura and the melodic growl of ¡Simpatico!-era Velocity Girl. YES REALLY. It’s popsicle-good for the sunniest days of Spring and Summer and you can order it soon!

The band will be heading out on tour on May 22 (next week!) en route to NYC Popfest! I’d urge you (if you haven’t already!) to pop over to their kickstarter page to help them get there, and get some fantastic Cassolette goodies while you’re at it! Postcards, custom mix cds, records, downloads, tshirts, cover songs, you name it! It’s a win/win!

Here is some first-class reverby jangle to start your day (and,...

Wed, 15 May 2013 07:52:00 -0400

Here is some first-class reverby jangle to start your day (and, if you’re me, to play on repeat for the rest of the day) from Melbourne-to-NYC band Free Time. The culmination of two years of Dion Nania’s trans-pacific back and forth (including bouts of bass duties for Twerps and moonlighting in Scott and Charlene’s Wedding), the self-titled debut of his very own Free Time is an effortless-sounding, but meticulously crafted record of sunny hooks and sprawling, hummable Malkmusesque solos with no shortage of melody. This song is a fucking dreamboat.

It’s out May 28 on Underwater Peoples! GET IT!

After a bit of a delay, English Singles’ sophomore outing for...

Tue, 07 May 2013 21:53:00 -0400

After a bit of a delay, English Singles’ sophomore outing for Slumberland Records is a finally out out out! A-side “Ordinary Girls” (along with the whole damn thing, truly) is an instant classic. If the immediately singable and, dare we, twee as fuck lyrics—”Ordinary girls, walking from the park on a Sunday / Ordinary girls, stopping at the shops on a Monday / Don’t you wish that they had a secret side? / And someday you could be together”—don’t reel you in then the jangling 12-string melodies will surely hook you by the lip.

A shambolic pop wave crashed on west coast rocks and our Summers will all be the better for it.

Order it asap from Slumberland or pick it up at your favorite spot.

Skatterbrain Monthly Mix: May!

Fri, 03 May 2013 07:57:25 -0400

Now that we’ve got at least one whole foot planted firmly into the Springtime, it’s safe to bet that every monthly mix until September is going to be tailored to sunny days, warm nights, and racing hearts. May is a step in the right direction! Listen for new tracks this month from Giant Drag, Sea Pinks, Bluffing, Lisa Bouvier, and History of Manners. (If you’re into that sweet, breezy late-90s Shelflife Records sound then History of Manners might just be your new favorite thing.) And the whole thing is bookended by Saint Etienne and Pipas. How can you go wrong?

DOWNLOAD AWAY! (121mb, .zip)

Saint Etienne “Erica America”
The Garlands “Don’t Cry”
Liechtenstein “Fast Forward”
Sally Shapiro “I Dream With An Angel Tonight”
Mellonta Tauta “Dawn”
Terry Malts “No Big Deal”
Giant Drag “We Like The Weather”
Sea Pinks “Magpie Eyes”
Close Lobsters “Got Apprehension”
Big Dipper “Meet The Witch”
Saturday Looks Good To Me “Polar Bear”
The Orchids “Peaches”
Bluffing “Salad”
Lisa Bouvier “Every Year Until We Die”
History of Manners “Compulsory”
Pipas “Bye Bye”

XOXO

Rocketship “Hey, Hey Girl” (live at Zoots,...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:02:09 -0400

Rocketship “Hey, Hey Girl” (live at Zoots, 1996)

Today’s as good a day as any to rewatch all of the videos of this Rocketship set from 1996 at Zoots in Detroit! The quality is kinda poor, but it’s pretty hard to complain when their are barely 10 (maybe?) live videos of Rocketship even in existence.

I should have probably learned my lesson by now, but I’m...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:14:00 -0400

I should have probably learned my lesson by now, but I’m still always delighted and surprised when a band from Japan sounds like, well, how Post Modern Team sound.

Since first coming across them early last year I’ve yet to hear anything less than stellar from them; but the three songs that make up their new Nite Life Lounge EP, out via the very consistently impressive Ano(t)raks Records, might be their best yet! EP bookends “Nite Life Lounge” and “Betterdays” are the type of twinkling dreampop gems I’ve come to expect from PMT, but it’s “Fade Away” that is most impressive here (and hopefully indicative of things to come). It plays like a Teenage Fanclub classic run through an indiepop filter (so basically it’s the kind of thing you’d have found on a Bus Stop compilation back when) and YES it’s exactly as good as that sounds.

Get the EP here!

Just going to go on record real quick and mention that Golden...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:58:00 -0400

Just going to go on record real quick and mention that Golden Grrrls’ debut self-titled LP is probably the most consistently rewarding record I’ve had the pleasure of listening to this year. I’m closing in on probably 30-40 listens straight through at this point and perfect little things like the coda towards the end (around 1:56ish) of “Older Today” still have a way of pulling my eyes and ears wide open and reminding me why pop music is my favorite part of almost every day.

Camera Obscura are back! And just in time for Spring! “Do...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:49:00 -0400

Camera Obscura are back! And just in time for Spring! “Do It Again” hit the internets earlier this afternoon and it’s a classic Camera Obscura footstomper of the finest order. Desire Lines is the 5th (or 6th, if you want to have the kinds of conversations I like to have) LP from the Tracyanne Campbell and Co. and it’s out June 3/4 on 4AD!!!

Sally Shapiro’s Somewhere Else has probably been my most...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:49:19 -0400

Sally Shapiro’s Somewhere Else has probably been my most listened to record of the year so far and I’m still falling in love with different songs every week. “If It Doesn’t Rain” was actually the first song I had a crush on and now there’s a new video for it; featuring a rosy-cheeked lass in an icy wonderland and then she freezes? but then tears (and also daylight?) heal her and everything is ok, I think. I hope.

surfingonsteam: Somebody did the world a favor and posted the...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:57:36 -0400

surfingonsteam:

Somebody did the world a favor and posted the debut 10” vinyl EP, Houdini Aubergine (2004), from Swedes Mustafa Et Monique. This is stuff on par, if not better at times, than the new MBV album that dropped in February. Fans of Swirlies will also love this to death.

Looks like you can still order this gem over at Oscillatone. If anyone has digital files of this record then please hit me up.

Tracklisting:

1. Melting On My Tongue
2. The Birds (Part II) min: (starts at 3:00)
3. Monaural Tone Revolver min: (starts at 5:30)
4. Pancake Parachute min: (starts at 8:20)
5. Random Intoxication min: (starts at 10:00)
6. Velvet Skies min: (starts at 13:15)

Seconded. This rules, you guys.

Those of you that also follow my personal tumblr are probably...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:42:00 -0400

Those of you that also follow my personal tumblr are probably more than a little familiar with the fact that I’m almost as much a fan of dancey confetti-soaked hooky electro pop as I am of the indiepop most predominantly featured here. That said, this song by Foxe Basin (producer Sanford Livingston and singer Joanie Wolkoff) is AMAZING and I am going to go listen to it 400 times in a row real quick.

The massively sun-soaked first single from The Mantles upcoming...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:38:00 -0400

The massively sun-soaked first single from The Mantles upcoming LP for the mighty Slumberland is upon us! And good god, it’s one hell of a jangler. Edging ever so slightly away from the garage fuzzbombs that were scattered about their Pink Information EP back in 2010, “Brown Balloon” floats by like it just slipped out of 1982’s Dunedin Double EP. And I swear if I didn’t know better, I’d pop it right back in, somewhere between Sneaky Feelings and The Verlaines. This is A+ pop right here. DIG IT!

The new LP, Long Enough To Leave is out June 18th!

The third single from Dublin’s September Girls is out in...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:39:00 -0400

The third single from Dublin’s September Girls is out in less than two weeks and it’s about time I mentioned how good it is. If you’ve been on the lookout for a few tracks to round out your perfect Summer playlist, you’re gonna grab this brilliant little 7” ASAP. A-side “Talking” is led by a heavy organ drone ala Look Blue Go Purple’s “Curcumspect Penelope”, but is ultimately probably better suited for a caveman dance party than a romp through a field of flowers. On the flipside, though, we find “Some For Me”: A quick-paced pop song—perhaps their hookiest yet—marked by a great lead and loads of reverb-soaked harmonies. If you happen to get a mixtape from me this Summer, I can guarantee you that “Some For Me” will be on it. And that’s probably the best compliment I could give.

It out April 22 on Art For Blind! Get it here!

Tunabunny Could Be Your Life

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:37:00 -0400

In the interest of your interests, I will tell you the secret right now: Tunabunny’s Genius Fatigue is not only far and away their best record to date, but it is also a fractured pop masterpiece—a post-millennial variable-fi (indie)pop liberty bell to call our very own. Sort of what I imagine Avocado Baby’s A Million and Nine and Sex and Gum and Stuff would have sounded like with a couple extra gallons of ambition on top of their otherwise flawless ideals.

No one is going to pretend that the record’s songs which most closely resemble the generally accepted architecture of songs (“Serpents & Light”, “Slackjawed”, “Form A Line”) aren’t Genius Fatigue’s best moments. But, it’s worth noting that those songs succeed, at least in part, as a result of the essential surrounding guts (guts being as literal as possible here—don’t think filler) of the record. A song like “Pacyderm, Fallen” ends up being kind of brilliant because of its either carefully considered or wholly arbitrary juxtaposition. With Tunabunny you never really know. And that’s just as well, because love them or hate them, not even your mom’s friends at her VFW quilting meetups would call them boring.

I’m a bad writer and this is a shit review, but Genius Fatigue is not a shit record and Tunabunny are a brilliant band with more radical ideas than fingers to conceive them.

In the “We’re Not Gonna Take It” bedroom scenario of today’s youth, our Strat-wielding protagonist would be better off spinning around and morphing into Tunabunny than Dee Snider.

Skatterbrain Monthly Mix: April 2013!

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:41:00 -0400

I’ve been willing it for several weeks now, but it’s starting to feel like Spring is actually here now! A few moments into this month’s mix and that should become pretty clear. We’ve got more wall-to-wall Springtime classics than an outdoor moonbounce full of Springtime classics! Just two new tracks this month: One from PUPS (new, absolutely necessary pop from Rose Melberg and friends) and my personal favorite from the brilliant debut LP from Golden Grrrls. Get into it!

DOWNLOAD IT! (80mb, .zip)

Modular “Picnic en el Arco Iris”
Shop Assistants “Seems To Be”
PUPS “Take Your Shoes Off”
The Flatmates “You’re Gonna Get Hurt”
The Charlottes “Are You Happy Now?”
The Nightblooms “Too Late For Tears”
Razorcuts “Storyteller”
The Revolving Paint Dream “Fever Mountain”
Allen Clapp “Mystery Lawn”
Golden Grrrls “Paul Simon”
Basil Pieroni “Don’t Ever Go Away Again”
Even As We Speak “Best Kept Secret”

Lo-fi-pop godesses The Hairs just unvelied a new (old) track...

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:26:19 -0400

Lo-fi-pop godesses The Hairs just unvelied a new (old) track called “Hellninja” because WHY NOT?! It’s a breezy little thing with a winding little lead to suit your sunny spring sensibilities; or S3s as we like to call them never. Listen!

Still Corners "Berlin Lovers" Video

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 09:55:30 -0400

The video for Still Corners’ brief and gorgeous “Berlin Lovers” premiered this morning and it’s as adorable as the song’s closing line: “Bodies as soft as boys back home.” *

* Not the best hook to have stuck in your head, though. I can say from recent experience that walking around all day singing “Bodies as soft as boys back home” will get you a whole lot of weird looks.