Buzz Band Roundup
Band: Phoenix
Album: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Sample: “1901″
Not only is this one of the best dance-y singles we’ve heard in a while, but the French quartet put out an entire album filled with great songs. Get used to it, you’ll be hearing about Phoenix for a while.
Bonus: You can download the stems for Phoenix’ “1901″ on their website (wait for splash to load). Mixtapers and remixers go wild.
Band: Say Hi
Album: Oohs & Aahs
Sample: “Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh”
“November Was White, December Was Gray”
Say Hi is the music project of Eric Ellbogen who writes and records almost all material by himself. Ellbogen’s comfort across different genres — dance-worthy synth-pop songs sharing space with lo-fi indie-rock — make this album special.
“Oh oh…” is an out-of-season summer anthem and “November Was White” brings to mind disparate influences like Belle & Sebastian and Spoon. As if we didn’t already like him, the band was originally called Say Hi to Your Mom.
Band: Handsome Furs
Album: Face Control
Sample: “I’m Confused”
The boys of Wolf Parade are busy with their side projects. Dan Boeckner is back with a new CD from Handsome Furs, his project with wife, Alexei Perry.
Band: Swan Lake
Album: Enemy Mine
Sample: “Spanish Gold, 2044″
Not to be outdone, fellow Wolf Parader Spencer Krug also has a new release from his “indie-supergroup” Swan Lake, featuring Carey Mercer (of Frog Eyes) and Daniel Bejar/Destroyer (main man behind both Destroyer and Hello, Blue Roses, and member of New Pornographers).
Band: Pree
Album: A Chopping Block [EP]
Sample: Pree – “In the Parlor”
The DC quartet Pree is getting a lot of love for their debut EP, A Chopping Block. “In the Parlor” is as refreshing as it is cute. Clocking in at under two minutes, May Tabol’s warble skips around over an acoustic backdrop and makes you want more as soon as it’s over. The WaPo called them “a cross between Joanna Newsom and Modest Mouse” and that description works for us.
Band: Crystal Antlers
Album: Tentacles
Sample: “Andrew”
Crystal Antlers might sound a little throw-back, blending elements of California psychedelia and prog rock together, but make no mistake, they’re moving forward. They’re getting a lot of comparisons to Les Savy Fav, but that doesn’t do either band any favors. Instead, they sound more like a mix between Roky Erickson and Kurt Cobain fronting the Doors, playing songs by Tortoise.
I really like Phoenix, but this new album is way too electronic in my opinion. maybe they shouldn’t have abandoned entirely their cocktail party-sound from the first albums.
and your blog is great! you’ve got a new reader here :)
I have to admit that I don’t know enough of their older stuff, but I can’t get enough of this track – and electro isn’t normally my thing
Thanks for the kind words – glad you like what we do here
I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but I really like this feature. Sometimes I find all the bands floating around my RSS feeds to be sort of overwhelming, so it’s nice to be able to refer to a consolidated source.
Thanks for the feedback Anna. It’s gonna be a regular feature from now on, so we’ll be happy to be your one-stop shop for buzzz