Food Court: Yummies from Down Under

We're happily tucking into these lo-fi pop tasties from Sydney band, Food Court.  They're definitely whetting our appetite for the EP menued up for April release. You'll find other links and info at their Bandcamp pages.

Gap Dream's Byrdsian Psych Pop Makes Us Feel A Whole Lot Better

It was love at first listen when we heard Cleveland one-man (Gabriel Fulvimar) band Gap Dream's cover of this 1966 Byrdsian B-side by Bristol, CT five-man band The Squires. We sent you to Rollo & Grady to check out "Go Ahead" and have been hugely enjoying it ever since.

You can hear/buy the self-titled LP on which it plays at Bandcamp. (Warning: It's the most visually revolting Bandcamp page we've ever seen. Our gorge rose, our lungs flinched, but, with eyes closed, we listened to fantastic psych pop of very high order.)

There's a fair amount of information available on Gap Dream, but so far we like best what we read at FensePost.

Oh, and that pic up there? We gave you a clue. (Once again, though, there's a bit of gross-out associated therewith, if you actually go to the trouble to track it down.)

Buy the 10-song LP at Bandcamp for $1. Yeah, that's right, one measly buck.

Burger Records Page | Facebook | Suicide Squeeze Records

Goodman's What We Want

It's kind of embarrassing to admit that after getting New Yorker Michael Goodman's informative email the other night, we came to find out we'd already reserved a bunch of songs from his debut LP, What We Want, for purchase at eMusic. Okay, it wasn't that embarrassing: it's always good to know you already liked an artist prior to exposure to the hype machine.

His press release describes his songs as "pop music for nervous young people." It obviously works on nervous codgers as well, and for that we are very grateful. "Night Person," a song we certainly identify with, is available for listening and name-your-price download in the widget below. You can sample the album at Soundcloud, hear and buy all or part of it at Bandcamp, Amazon, and iTunes, and get up close and personal at Facebook.

Let's turn that melancholy, maybe even nervous look in the photo into a smile. After all, we're pretty sure Goodman's music is going to do that to you, as it def did to us.

Ballard: Bloody Catchy Indeed

British multi-instrumentalist Darren Riley has been playing for 25 years now and has finally put out his first EP and LP as Ballard (clicky clicky). We're awfully glad he has done, for his music should highly please devotees of The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, The Move, Small Faces, and perhaps other of y/our favorites.

Darren writes the songs, sings same, plays all the instruments, produces, and records in what he describes as "your usual one-man bedroom pop group with an ego problem." We're not sure if those last two words mean "big" or "little" because in our back and forthing so far he has been quite a courteous, even self-effacing bloke. He needn't be the latter, for this is primo lo-fi powerpop.

If the tunes we're posting for free download induce similar feelings in you, visit the Ballard Bandcamp pages to hear and purchase more. BTW, Darren kindly gave us permish to host 'n post the Kinksy "Office Warrior," our personal fave on the Little Rockets LP, for which we thank him again. We'll use the widget for now but change modes if necessary.

Gettin' Our Kicks(tand Band)

The Kickstand Band - I Don't Care mp3

We recently pointed you toward a most satisfying number by this Detroit outfit, went and bought six songs from their recently released Puppy Love LP at eMusic, and yesterday found one of the songs we bought available for free download at last.fm. (Maybe you've already listened to it above. It would be difficult, though not impossible, for us to know for sure.)

To top it off, just moments ago we found "Still Thinking Of You Tonight" available for name-your-price download at Bandcamp, in case you, you know, missed it before. (Play/download below or here.) And since the name of one of these songs reminds us of one of our favorite songs from the recently departed year of 2012, we are reposting it as well. In so doing we are probably violating some kind of blogging protocol, but let the identical song titles and Entry #17 in this Cracked Photoplasty thingy convey our regrets.

Honeyslide: Sugar Routine

London band Honeyslide have recently signed with London label Critical Heights and are promising new product this new year. You can download their eponymous EP on a "name your price" basis at Bandcamp and hear more at their Soundcloud page. You can download the delightful, dulcet "Sugar Routine" below or here at a One For the People third-year celebration page at Bandcamp. Sorry the widget's so scrunched. Update: The SoundCloud widgie's gone "poof" so here's the aforementioned Bandcamp one.

Black Tambourine's OneTwoThreeFourFive Ramones Covers

 

I've previously expressed love for Black Tambourine and love their five-song tribute to one of my all-time favorite bands (available at Bandcamp for name-your-price download). It’s fun hearing different vocal interpretations of these classics because let’s face it, Jeff Hyman’s voice (which I loved) was the weak link of the Ramones. Visually he was stunning and his enunciation was appropriately d-u-m-b, but I would wager his voice—and not the violent, dysfunctional lyrics—was the main reason the band never achieved decisive mainstream success.

Now calm down, bratbeaters, headbangers, gluesniffers, pinheads, cretins, animal boys, apepersons, loudmouths, slugs, succubi, commandos, warthogs, psychotherapists, lobotomists, and regular Joeys/Judys/Sheenas/Suzys/Ramonas like myself who just happen to love ‘em and did so from the first second of hearing “Glad to See You Go” in my sister’s living room in the spring of ‘77. (It was a pretty crowded living room.) I also got to see ‘em in Austin on Bastille Day that summer on the Leave Home tour. Standing in that giant buzzsaw (front row of the Armadillo, five feet from Johnny and with a perfect view of the incomparable Erdelyi) was one of the most glorious experiences of my rock and roll life. Maybe I’ll write more about it sometime, although probably not. Come to think about it, I did mention it here and here. I also mentioned seeing them eleven years later in this post about The Buck Pets.

Tea Cozies: Muchos Dracula

We made a huge mistake not posting this song a couple of months ago when we found it at faveblog The Finest Kiss. We downloaded it while it was still free at Bandcamp but by the time we were set to post, it was no longer free. But after grooving mightily on it earlier today (evidence here) we put forth renewed effort and found it floating free at SoundCloud, hence the widget action below.

Click on the various links we just provided to check out this excellent Seattle band. We'd say more were we not such inarticulate/laconic bloggoons. Besides, what we don't tell you your ears will, and if they don't, The Finest Kiss does with its usual finesse. They, or he, not sure which, put another cozy little number in TFK's excellent Best of 2012 post. (Scroll down to #9.)


Download here.

Oh, yeah, and Happy New Year to ya.

Hot Nun's Hot

We always get excited when finding out Spinning Jennies/The Well Wishers aceman Jeff Shelton is up to something new. Thus are we well fired up to hear of his latest project, Hot Nun, some early fruit of which is posted below and final harvest of which is due out early next year. We may follow up on this soon, but want to post it right away, the mad, mega-competitive world of powerpop being what it is(n't). BTW, there's another selection by Hot Nun st(r)eaming at Bandcamp. Click here to check out our previous Well Wishers posts containing Shelton-sanctioned free and legals.

Christian Bland & The Revelators

Christian Bland & The Revelators - I See You mp3

Yeh, so that's the other one we found during our recent scrobblefest at last.fm. Both longtime psych faves The Black Angels' Christian Bland and The Revelators themselves are revelatory indeed in this excellent song. (So, apparently, is the individual to whom the song is addressed.) Read more here and here.

Channeling Elk

We were just now over at last.fm innocently celebrating being able to scrobble again when we found a couple of fairly recent discoveries all free and available like. Torontans Elk seem to be channeling a bit of the old Mickey and Sylvia with that irresistible little hook in "Riverview #3" and hint at it in the very next Daydream ditty as well. We don't hear it quite so much in the curl-shootin' "Sometime Together," but it's still a highly pleasing song. (See/hear/dl below.) Go to Bandcamp and scope out more, if you like. (Sarah Greene says they're channeling The Kinks, and she may well be right.) Whomever they're channeling, if indeed they're channeling anyone at all, we're just mighty happy our ears are channeling them.




 

MySpace | Facebook | Bandcamp

Oh, and that other recent discovery? To be posted soon.

Music of the Sphere: Crookes, Kickstand Band, Super Vacations, Bring Me. . ., Prince Rupert's Drops, Dog Bite, Apples in Stereo, Deerhunter, Telekinesis, Titus Andronicus, Ty Segall, Jason Lytle, Rooney, Stone Roses, P. Frampton, Gap Dream, Dude York, Orwells, Icona Pop, Japandroids, Tame Impala, White Wires, Desaparecidos, Deep Time

We sincerely thank the hosting entities for posting the following. Maybe you'll thank them, too.

The Crookes - Back Street Lovers - Indie Rock Cafe

The Kickstand Band - Still Thinking of You Tonight - We All Want Someone To Shout For

The Super Vacations - Controller - 3hive

Bring Me The Fucking Riot. . .Man - Enough! We Demand The Abdication - Milk Milk Lemonade

Prince Rupert’s Drops - Almond Man - Austin Town Hall
Dog Bite - Prettiest Pills - Austin Town Hall

The Apples in Stereo - King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 3 - Raven Sings the Blues (Mixtape)
Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange - Raven Sings the Blues (Mixtape)

Telekinesis - Clock Strikes Midnight - Chromewaves
Titus Andronicus - Breed (Nirvana cover) - Chromewaves

Ty Segall - Thank God For Sinners - Aquarium Drunkard
Jason Lytle - Get Up And Go - Aquarium Drunkard

Rooney - I’m A Terrible Person - Peter’s Power Pop
The Stone Roses - Made Of Stone - Peter’s Power Pop - our favorite Stone Roses song
Peter Frampton - Do You Feel Like We Do - Peter’s Power Pop

Gap Dream - Go Ahead - Rollo & Grady - neo-Byrdsian
Dude York - The Lake - Rollo & Grady

The Orwells - Cold Summer 1 - Rollo & Grady
The Orwells - Flee The Scene - Rollo & Grady

Icona Pop - I Love It - Side One Track One - from SOTO's excellent 2012 faves post
Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built - Side One Track One
Tame Impala - Elephant - Side One Track One
White Wires - All Night Long - Side One Track One
Desaparecidos - MariKKKopa - Side One Track One
Deep Time - Clouds - Side One Track One

Fahrtin' Around mit den Trippies

Tripping The Light Fantastic - Heavy Heart mp3

Maybe we're takin' liberties mit der deutschen Sprache, but these Hamburgers make us do exactly what their name bespeaks. Cloudberry promise more and there's already some's been waitin' for us here. For example:

Fantastic, indeed.

Tripping The Light Fantastic Website | Bandcamp

Catch-Up: Ash, Blonde Summer, A.C. Newman, Raveonettes, Fonda, Graham Repulski, Fang Island, Calvin Love, The Dust Engineers, A Place To Bury Strangers

This episode has a simple organizing principle: we looked back through our love-'em list and found some songs we simply hadn't yet posted. May the shame of our neglect be assuaged by our finally taking arms against a sea of troubles kind of thing.

Ash - Burn Baby Burn mp3

Blonde Summer - Slow Days Fast Company mp3

A.C. Newman - Encyclopedia Of Classic Takedowns mp3

The Raveonettes - She Owns The Streets mp3

Fonda - Better Days mp3

Graham Repulski - Mommy's Dreaming mp3

Fang Island - Asunder mp3

Calvin Love - Gut Feeling (DEVO cover) mp3

The Dust Engineers - So American mp3
The Dust Engineers - Jake Spoon mp3

A Place To Bury Strangers - And I'm Up mp3
A Place To Bury Strangers - You Are The One mp3

New Hue About The CRY!

 

Download here.

These Portlandians caused quite an uproar in these parts last year about this time, so we're grinnin' again to hear from John Their Manager that they've recently released new terrifics. We love that other one, too, but please know that it's kind of big (like, physically, weighing in @ 47.48 MB). You will find twelve more free and legals at Soundcloud, including the two we posted last year.