Four kids from Houston playing folky folk punk on this 12 track album with banjo, violin, mandolin, acoustic guitar and vocal harmonies that are fun to sing along with.
Label: Plan-It-X Records; Website
Favorite songs: Leah’s Song, Hit the Bottle, You Can Almost Hold It In Your Hands, Scan to Print, Whiskey, Starch and Carbohydrates
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?9v9mrmzmzbn
Tarantula A.D.
Danny Bensi (Cello, Violin, Piano, Vocals), Saunder Jurriaans (Guitar, Bass, Vocals), and Gregory Rogove (Drums, Percussion, Piano, Melodica, Glockenspiel, Vocals) comprise the shuddering anthems of Tarantula A.D. Blending classical arrangements with elements of punk and metal, Tarantula A.D. delivers a hypnotic prog-rock sound with an ambient atmosphere. [...]
–Last.fm profile, http://www.last.fm/music/Tarantula+A.D.
When John Zorn dines with an entire pantheon of ancient Roman Gods, this album happens.
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?azz4zmnyzim
Favourite tracks: The Century Trilogy (3 tracks), Who Took Berlin (2 tracks), Palo Borracho
School of Emotional Engineering - Self-titled
The name draws inspiration from a single line in Aldous Huxley’s prophetic social critique Brave New World.
School of Emotional Engineering is a loosely defined ‘band’, more of a ‘project’ created by composer Ben Frost. Primarily Frost, alongside multi-instrumentalist and engineer Daniel Rejmer, bassist and guitarist Andy Hazel, violin player Russell Fawkus and drummer Jova Albers, School of Emotional Engineering (S.E.E) began originally in Melbourne, Australia as a live extension of Frost’s solo work. [...]
–Last.fm profile, http://www.last.fm/music/School+Of+Emotional+Engineering
“…like watching a knife fight in a phone booth.” The album is mostly bright ambient noise and soft keys with tracks blurring into each other, but occasionally heavy, moderate tempo drum beats will burst into the dense soundscapes. Lots of beautiful layering. It’s not so much an album of tracks as it is a lengthy train of emotionally wavering thoughts and musical forces.
Download: http://www.divshare.com/download/402848-66d
Streamable album: School of Emotional Engineering
Website: schoolofemotionalengineering.com (cryptic and creepy)
Favourite tracks: Falling for Sylvia, She Dreams in Car Crashes
Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
Shellac did not release any records between 1000 Hurts in 2000 and “Excellent Italian Greyhound” in 2007, but songs which were to appear on the latter record formed the mainstay of their live-shows in the intervening period - in particular, “The End of Radio”, “Paco”, “Steady as She Goes”, “Be Prepared”, “Genuine Lulabelle”, “Boycott”, and “Elephant” (formerly known as “Repeat The Lie”). Excellent Italian Greyhound is named in tribute to Todd Trainer’s Italian Greyhound, Uffizi; it was released on Touch and Go Records in June 2007.
–Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac_%28band%29
Why am I so late? This album released in June of this year. It’s signature Shellac – frenetic Albini riffery, powerful Trainer drumming, routinely drilling Weston bass, screaming rambled vocals – and look out for Ken Nordine on “Genuine Lulabelle”. Buy it. This album needs to be heard on vinyl, and like 1000 Hurts, it comes with an unmarked CD, for encouragement to buy it vinyl.
Label profile: Shellac of North America
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?221c1eeqmtb
Favourite tracks: Steady As She Goes, Elephant, Kittypants, Genuine Lulabelle
Actarus’s self-titled has a clean sound which fluctuates between post-rock and math rock - and no, not the kind math rock we know and love from old greats like Polvo. Their music is in the same vein as just about every other contemporary post-rock band; it’s that kind of “math rock” that actually means “progressive.” But nonetheless, their guitars are playful with all-around favorite start/stop dynamics, and their tempo is more allegro moderato with drifts into soft, melodic adventures while chanting along the way. It’s unfortunate that they broke up only after releasing this EP and a split.
Label: New Romance for Kids
Download: RapidShare
65daysofstatic are an instrumental post-rock band from Sheffield, England. [...] The band intersperses heavy, progressive, guitar-driven instrumental sections with live drums and off-beat sampled drums akin to those of Aphex Twin. Their albums, as a result, maintain a distinctively gritty, almost industrial feel.
–Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/65daysofstatic
Download: RapidShare, MediaFire, SendSpace
Instrumental duo acoustic guitar/drums from Bordeaux, France born in November 1998. Cheval de Frise’s music unites a melodic approach with binary system. Cheval de Frise gets its own language and their unique music reminding us of Gastr Del Sol, Don Caballero and Ruins directions, intersections, juxtapositions, superpostions. Cheval de Frise runs in the same way as ivy on stone.
–Frenetic Records, http://www.freneticrecords.com
Download: RapidShare, Mediafire, MegaUpload