After the release of our debut EP earlier this year, we released our debut album, I’m in Heaven, Major Sevens, last week. It’s full of Jens Lekman-esque jangle-pop songs about girls, growing up, and love, that are given the big-room feel of WU LYF and Cymbals Eat Guitars thanks to the album being recorded in a theater in downtown Lafayette, IN. Listen to the single from the album, “U R So Smart (I Think That It’s Sexy),” an ode to the wonderful smart girls in our lives. I’m in Heaven, Major Sevens is available on Bandcamp digitally and on CD.
After a wonderfully fantastic debut, which made it into my top five records last year, Sleeping Bag have a new record that will be out this year. Bloomington recording studio Russian Recording, where the band recorded their follow-up called Women of Your Life, sent out an email with news on the album. They said, “We crammed all three of the dudes into the smallest room in the studio and recorded all the bed tracks live (drums, guitar and bass), giving the album a tight, intimate, cozy feel.” They also included a final mix of a track that will appear on the record. “Soccer Ball” is a lovable anthem with simple yet perfect melodies, tongue-in-cheek lyrics, and a fantastic Weezer-loving chorus. Women of Your Life will be out on Joyful Noise Recordings hopefully sometime in the fall.
Back in March of 2010, I posted about the young Indiana band Mid-American and their first release, Fake Homes. Now some two years later, after a successful Kickstarter, Mid-American has come back with the release of their self-titled debut album. Their early sound was impressive for such a young band, but the group has expanded into a bigger and appropriately dense sound for Mid-American. The second track, “Shadow,” is a crazy-catchy bubblegum-pop ode filled with foot-tapping build-ups and an infectious bell line that you won’t forget for days. Mid-American’s uniqueness comes from a variety of new and familiar sounds including a touch of Radiohead’s remoteness (“The King of Nowhere”), big percussive aesthetics (“The Clearing”), their sheer ability to capture a melody (“Shadow”). and a minute-and-a-half instrumental interlude that proves to be one of the best tracks on the album (“Taijasa”). All of this paired with frontman Phil Johnson’s sentimental voice alongside his powerful lyrics of confusion and loss makes for a rousing debut from this Indiana group. Mid-American is out now digitally on their Bandcamp, with preorders for the album on vinyl and CD.
My good friend Mike at Sippy Cup Everything turned me onto the Atlanta rockers Balkans’ self-titled debut a couple weeks ago, and I haven’t stopped listening since. And it’s a huge bummer that these guys are no more from what it looks like. Despite that, any fan of the early 2000s guitar-pop scene should listen to these guys immediately. Stream the entire album below, and go order the record from Double Phantom.
My good friends and personal favorite Trouble Books have recently released their third LP, Concatenating Fields. After their fantastic 2010 second album Gathering Tones, and one of the best records of 2011 in their colab album with Mark McGuire, the husband-wife duo calls their new outing “definitely the best Trouble Books album yet.” The bedroom-pop feel hasn’t changed much, but in “Dead Bee in a Golden Bowl,” they are striving for something that feels more natural than everything else they’ve done. Dulled bass beats, minimal drum machine, pretty synth lines, and of course their almost-signature harmony style, this track finds TB sounding as comfortable as they ever have. One big thing to be stoked about is that they went for high-quality and had Concatenating Fields mastered by James Plotkin and the vinyl cut at Dubplates and Mastering in Berlin. These are the go-to guys in the ambient/drone scene for vinyl, and they’ve done pretty much every Editions Mego release and mostly all of my Emeralds vinyl. Go and order the LP from Bark & Hiss, limited to 300 copies.
Gap Dream is the one-man bedroom psych-pop project of Clevelander Gabe Fulvimar, who formally played guitar in the pop quartet Future Days/Clovers. ”58th St. Fingers” is the lead track off Gabe’s self-titled debut album, and it’s a great ultra-groovy jangle-pop song that’ll make you feel way too cool when blasting it with your windows down during the recent wonderful weather. This album’s been a surprise favorite of mine this year, and I highly recommend it. The cassette is available from Burger Records, the digital’s up for purchase on Gap Dream’s Bandcamp, and vinyl will be out sometime this summer.
It seems like Netherfriends, aka Shawn Rosenblatt, is a non-stop pop machine, either from his extensive touring across the US or his constant writing. His newest album, Middle America, is the first album of us 50 States 50 Songs project, where he visits and writes a song about a city in every state. “Bloomington, IN” is the second track on the album which shows off Rosenblatt’s sensitive indie-pop tendencies and tribal undertones, and assures us that “everybody wants to have a good time.” Middle America will be out on Kilo Records digitally, and you can hear the entire album from on Netherfriends’ website.
Here’s the newest music from Texas garage-kids Young Mammals, with the first taste since their fantastic 2010 album Carrots. The great production along with their almost signature jangle-tones make for a great A-side on their first vinyl release, which will be out on Bombs By Mail sometime soon, hopefully on radical colored vinyl like their first release.
Cleveland pop group Clovers, changed to Future Days, not only made big steps in their hometown, but were on the verge of becoming the next big thing in the national indie-pop/garage scene. The band had done tours with rad-rockers Free Energy and Secretly Canadian’s Foreign Born, and rumors were swirling that they were working with big labels. Then the group went down to Nashville to record with the Black Keys’ Pat Carney, recording what would be their official debut album, The Breezer. Weeks after getting back, Future Days threw up a couple tracks from the new album on SoundCloud, played a few local shows, and rumors swirled that the band had been signed to Fat Possum. Sometime near the end of last summer, I found out that the band had disbanded, killing all of the rumors and album releases they had planned. The band sent me The Breezer sometime before they told me about the breakup, and the album quickly became one of my favorites, especially the ultra-jangly second track “Carry Me Away.” It was sad to me that nobody was going to here these fantastic pop songs, so the band allowed me to show their album that never happened. Here are a couple tracks from the unreleased, unmastered album, The Breezer, and a link to download the entire album. Once you give it a couple listens, you’ll realize why it was such a bummer that Future Days didn’t became a bigger thing, cause the talent, songwriting, and spark were definitely there.
Bears’ fantastic third album, Greater Lakes, is on the verge of its wide release. The Greater Lakes release show will be at the Grog Shop tomorrow, along with great local pop band Afternoon Naps and the Lighthouse & the Whaler. And before that show, Bears will be playing a special acoustic show at Music Saves at 6. Here’s the Facebook events for the release show and Music Saves in-store. Also, they just released a new track from the album, “The City Still,” along with a remix by Low In The Sky.
Well here’s another shameless plugs of one of my own bands! High School Girls is a love-pop duo from Lafayette, IN, and we just released our first EP, Breakfast Years, last week after recording a few tracks in the studio. Head over to our Bandcamp to listen and download the EP for free. We are also doing a Kickstarter right now to try to finish recording an album in the same studio where we did the tracks for the EP. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Cloud Nothings’ third album Attack On Memory drops a week from today, but you can hear the entire album right now via Complex. Preorder for the album is up on Insound.
Let’s start 2012 on a great note! Cleveland pop heroes Bears released their highly anticipated third album, Greater Lakes, last week after their successful Kickstarter. Here’s the first track on the album, “Eleven A.M.,” a nice and dreamy pop doodle with Bears’ signature twee tones. I don’t think I’m alone in saying this it’s fantastic to have new Bears music, and they prove exactly why they’re still one of the best pop bands in Ohio. The album is officially out on Misra Records this February, and preorder for the clear vinyl and CD is up on Bears’ site or Misra’s shop.
Check out the newest track from Cloud Nothings’ upcoming album, Attack on Memory. Although Dylan Baldi has shown us that Cloud Nothings are going a different direction with “No Future/No Past”, “Stay Useless” still shows us why we fell in love with them in the first place. The song debuted on Rolling Stone this morning, where Dylan stated, “I’m trying to take Cloud Nothings to different areas, songwriting-wise, so I figured I should try and finish off the ‘poppy’ songs with a bang.” Attack on Memory is out January 24th on Carpark, and it’s available for preorder on Insound.
After perhaps one of the best debuts from a Cleveland band in years, The Modern Electric have returned with a Christmas treat, “Northcoast Christmas.” They actually debuted this song about two years ago at still one of my favorite shows ever, “It’s A Beachland Christmas” 2009. When I wrote about it then, I said that “Northcoast Christmas” was just as much a song about Cleveland as it was a song about Christmas, and that still holds true. Garrett Komyati and his wonderful voice hit on subjects such as thrift store shopping, quoting A Christmas Story, and praying for a Browns’ win and snow days. Listen and download the incredible song above, and you’re bound to have this stuck in your head for the rest of the Christmas season. Head over to their Bandcamp to get the three-track “Northcoast Christmas” single for $2.
Cleveland pop heroes Cloud Nothings have their new album, Attack On Memory, coming out next January. Listen to the post-punk opening blast, “No Future/No Past,” from the new record. No hard to tell that Steve Albini had his hands on this one. And go see them on their two month US tour that starts next February, dates below.
01-26 New York, NY – Studio at Webster Hall
02-16 Chattanooga, TN – JJ’s Bohemia
02-17 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
02-18 Birmingham, AL – Bottletree
02-20 Orlando, FL – Backbooth
02-21 Tallahassee, FL – Club Downunder
02-23 Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s
02-24 San Antonio, TX – Ten Eleven
02-25 Austin, TX – Red 7
02-26 El Paso, TX – Lowbrow Palace
02-27 Tucson, AZ – Club Congress
02-28 Phoenix, AZ – The Crescent Ballroom
02-29 San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
03-01 Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar
03-02 Los Angeles, CA – Echo
03-03 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
03-05 Portland, OR – Holocene
03-06 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
03-07 Vancouver, British Columbia – The Media Club
03-8 Boise, ID – Neurolux
03-9 Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
03-10 Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
03-12 Kansas City, MO – The Riot Room
03-17 McAllen, TX – Simon Sez
03-20 Nashville, TN – The End
03-21 Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
03-22 Cincinnati, OH – MOTR Pub
03-24 Montreal, Quebec – Casa del Popolo
03-25 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
03-26 Providence, RI – Fete Lounge
03-30 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
03-31 Washington, DC – Red Palace
04-01 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar
04-02 Buffalo, NY – Ninth Ward @ Babeville
04-03 Pittsburgh, PA – Brillobox
04-04 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick Lounge
04-05 Cleveland Heights, OH – Grog Shop
04-06 Chicago, IL – Schubas Tavern
04-07 Columbus, OH – Outland Live
Okay, so I owe all of my faithful readers an apology. I have not been keeping up on The Noise Is a tenth as much as I would like. Here come the excuses…but school has been extra tough with graduation in sight and I’ve been kept busy in the meantime with Jurassic Park! Which brings me to my next point, which is that my little basement venue, Jurassic Park, which I briefly discussed with y’all last year, is now flourishing! We’ve got upcoming shows with Cloud Nothings, Total Babes, Sleeping Bag, husband&wife, Big Troubles, and The Beets! It’s gonna be a crazy rest of the year but if any of you live in the state of Indiana, you should try to come to a show.
And lastly, I got way too happy when Charlie McArthur released the beautiful cover art and album name, Greater Lakes, for Bears’ third record
Big Troubles’ second full length, the brilliantly named Romantic Comedy, will be out next Tuesday (9/27) on Slumberland, but Stereogum just put up the entire record for streaming. Go here to listen to ten tracks of British-influenced sweet-and-salty power-pop from the New Jersey kids. I’ve only gone through it once, but my first impressions are that lovers of their first album, Worry, and the overall lo-fi aesthetic are not going to enjoy this album, much like people were disappointed with Smith Westerns’ Dye It Blonde. But for any lover of pop music, this album pretty much has it all. Production from Mitch Easter, who’s worked with Pavement and R.E.M. (RIP), has turned their drowned-out fuzz jams into bountiful tracks overflowing with additive riffs and huge moments. It’s evident that this is the album that the Big Troubles boys wanted to make from the beginning, and it’s something they should be proud of. Check out the silly video for first single “Sad Girls” below.
Here’s the newest video from Chicago art-poppers A Lull, showcasing the third track on their debut album, Confetti. Watch the lively video above and download/listen to another track, “Water & Beasts,” below.
