One of my absolute favourite albums of the year is “Sleeper” by The Leisure Society. This warm, melodic folky pop gem has received far too little attention. It’s a brilliant album from start to finish, and one of the few that I never seem to get tired of…. So, – my intention with this post was not to write a love letter to The Leisure Society, but to tell you that they have signed with one of my favourite labels (here I go again…) Full Time Hobby, – a label I feel suits them perfectly. Full Time Hobby will be re-releasing “Sleeper” on October 5th in brand new packaging and with an extra bonus disc of previously unreleased material as well as issuing the first-ever vinyl release of the album. If you can’t wait until October, the album is available on iTunes, and I bet you will love it!

Here’s a track from the album:

MP3: The Leisure Society – We Were Wasted

…and a couple of videos:

The Leisure Society – The last of the melting snow:

The Leisure Society – Short weekend (live at Bandstand Busking)

Hearts!Attack is Alexis, Darren and Sam, and if their myspace-bio is believable (which I for some reason doubt, wonder why?), we are dealing with some great personalities here… According to this bio, Alexis used to be the best rapper alive, Darren left his Norwegian death metal band after they won Eurovision and Sam has a past as a member of the highly underrated late 90s boy band “BoysRFun”…

What I KNOW is true, is that they have made a 3 track ep,  and that they have done everything themselves “using some acrylic paint and a laptop”. Their songs are great fun to listen to. It’s very rough and jangly, but with a fantastic energy and some great tunes. Think Esiotrot with boy/girl vocals, an even janglier Los Campesinos! or something like that…

MP3: Hearts!Attack – If You Were Dead

The band has just set up a digital shop at bigcartel, so now you can go here and buy their ep for 1,50£. Worth it, – it’s good!

Today this message came on The Ruling Class’ myspace-blog, and I thought several of you might be interested:

“SO IF YOU WONDER, THERE’S PLENTY OF FLOWERS… FOR FREE!

As we are getting closer to the release date of our single “Sleeping Beauty / Marian Shrine” on 20th July and our gig at the 100 Club on 21st July, we have some pleasant news…

Our highly successful single from last year “Flowers / If You Wonder” can now be downloaded for free! The single, which sold out immediately upon release, is going to be available on mp3 until the day we play at the 100 Club on 21st July at www.therulingclass.net/freedownload.html. Enjoy!

And if you still haven’t pre-ordered a copy of our upcoming single “Sleeping Beauty / Marian Shrine” or bought a ticket to our 100 Club gig in London, see links below.
www.loogrecords.co.uk/shop.html

www.wegottickets.com/event/50900
TRC”

So, if you still wonder where to get those flowers:

www.therulingclass.net/freedownload.html

One of the albums I have really enjoyed lately is an upcoming release on the Morr-label from their new artist Telekinesis. The album is called “Telekinesis!”, his debut, and the official release date is in August on Morr Music (it’s released on Merge in USA), but you can already now get it on iTunes. On record, Michael Benjamin Lerner is the sole member of Telekinesis, more or less. He writes, sings and plays the songs. His music is not the kind you would normally associate with Morr, – but what is? Morr’s releases the recent years have shown a move from the semi-electronic to a more eclectic style, but always constant in high quality.

I am often reminded by Ben Gibbard and Death Cab for Cutie when I listen to Telekinesis (and doesn’t Michael Lerner look a bit like him too??). There are more DCfC-references here: Death Cab’s Chris Walla has produced this gem of an album, and he also plays on it.

Here’s “Coast of Carolina”

Telekinesis – Coast of Carolina

…and here is a brand new video for “Awkward kisser”:

It’s Tuesday, so let’s play some “Songs for Tuesdays”!

Melbourne five-piece Summer Cats have been an Eardrums favourite for a long time. This is pure, catchy indie pop, – jangly, sometimes noisy and always full of charm, humor and great melodies. I’ve enjoyed their mini-album “Scratching post”, their weepop!-micro cd “Passion Pop”, their Slumberland split-single in the series “Searching for the now” (together with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart), their cloudberry-7″ of “Lonely Planet” and their addition to our own “Summer’s here!” compilation, “Bedwetter”. Wonderful releases, all of them.
So, was I excited when I got Summer Cats’ debut album “Songs for Tuesdays”? You bet!

After listening to “Songs for Tuesdays” I guess I can sum it up and say that everything the band has done so far have sounded like demos compared to this. The band sound ready. The sound is brilliant and the songs are very good. It actually took me some listens to get fully into this one, – mainly because I have found the band’s not-always-on-the-beat jangle-sound very charming, and this time they ARE on the beat every time, – and the wooly demo-sound is completely gone. After many listens, I must say that no matter how much I have loved the band’s earlier releases, I like this even more.
Don’t get me wrong, – it doesn’t sound “polished” and “clean”, – it’s still jangly and they still sound like Summer Cats, – but the sound is so much better, if you know what I mean.

“Songs for Tuesdays” includes new versions of several songs from their previous singles/eps and several new ones as well.  Some nice details have been added to classic Summer Cats songs. The ultra catchy “Wild Rice” from their Scratching post is slowed down and a fresh harmonica solo has been added. “Christopher Wren” has got a crispy and warm new sound that is so so so wonderful to listen to. “Lonely Planet” sounds almost the same, but has more punch in the album version. “Let’s Go” from their Slumberland single is also here.

There are some real gems among the newer songs too. “Fulton Girls” is fantastic, and the catchy pop duet “In June” is even better.
And… Please look at the cover-art, – isn’t it wonderful? Just as colourful and detailed as the music on this album is.

The debut from Summer Cats is out on July 14 on Slumberland Records (there will also be a coloured vinyl edition out on July 28, du to pressing issues).
Highly recommended!

Here’s a track from the album:

Summer Cats – Hey You, It’s Me (Oh My)

Sweden’s Stars in Coma posted a little summer gift for his myspace followers today, the song “87”. Andre Brorsson says:

“It’s a little bit more dreamy compared to "Sisters" and I think that’s the overall feeling I’m aiming for when I put the pieces together for my new album.”

It’s a lovely song!

Listen:

Stars in Coma – 87

Andre Brorsson, who is the main member of the project, is currently producing the debut album of the Italian project Tiny Tide. Looking forward to that too!

I am still downloading this myself, but I am 100% sure that I can recommend it unheard, and especially since it is free, you have nothing to lose. Wool Strings has never disappointed me yet. This is a one-man project from Japan, and listeners of our Eardrums compilations will probably recognize him from “A Good Crop”. Both of his EPs and his album is high quality, so I recommend you to check them out too. You can buy them on cdbaby.com or listen on Spotify.

Well, I’m not in the talking mood today, so let’s just listen. Here is a link to Wool Strings myspace blog, where you will find a download link to the new EP "our spring to their summer".

1 water on water
2 into the green,into the blue
3 stars on the sand
4 let’s get away from it all
5 june

Enjoy!

These are the few facts I know about Lulu and the Lampshades. (… and since everything I know is taken from different unconfirmed sources on the internet, I’m not even sure if I know anything at all):

1. Well, I KNOW this for sure: They sound brilliant, got a wonderful name and play a kind of indie/folk/pop with a lot of soul and playfulness, and I want to hear more! I also know for sure that if you are in London on the 5th of July, you may see them play at Bandstand Busking in Northampton Sq. Islington and that I would love to be there…

2. They are from the UK, and I’m not sure but I think they are from Bristol.

3. The band is main vocalist Lulu (who also plays ukulele and melodica + some rhythm-things as you may see in the video below), second vocalist Heloise (who also plays accordian, violin and the same rhythm-things as Lulu), Jemma (who their myspace says is an actual musician, and who plays bass and guitar) and Dan (who is banging sticks and drums and pots)

4. They used to call themselves Helouisa.

5. They sometimes use dancers dressed as lamps on their concerts.

6. Some of them are zombies.

7. Lulu and Heloise have probably played a lot of handclapping games when they were at school…

Watch this amazing performance by Lulu and Heloise:

I think I have found a new favourite band, a band that has such an effect on me that I want to listen to their songs over and over again and I still want more. 
The beautiful songs of Chariots of Tuna  are the works of Ben Morss, who actually started using the bandname almost ten years ago on various indiepop compilations. At the close of 2008, he started the project again, after having played with bands like Cake, Wheatus and the Pilgrims, made two children’s musicals and played piano in Ed Burns’ feature film Sidewalks of New York.

Chariots of Tuna make super-melodic pop songs with 60s influenced falsetto harmonies and very clever arrangements. The music is full of sweet lightness, but there is nothing made easy here. Ben Morss’ songs are full of interesting arrangement-details and it is easy to hear that these songs are made with care and planning, and with a heart that probably beats for music both from our time and from some decades back. Ben makes the songs, but he is not alone in Chariots of Tuna. He is joined by Dan Davine, Shawn Setaro and Rus Wimbish.

I have heard three of their new songs (all available on myspace) and I want more! Can’t get enough of this music…

Here is the wonderful “War Hero” for you:

MP3: Chariots of Tuna – War Hero

Canciones Pegajosas 2 – Argentinian indie pop, – perfect for summer!

The first one is a compilation-EP from our fellow Music Alliance Pact-blog Zonaindie from Argentina. It’s called “Canciones Pegajosas 2”, which should translate “sticky songs 2”. This is in fact one of my favourites this summer, – I love this one, and it is perfect for sunny and happy summer-days. All artists perform their songs in Spanish, and I have no clue what they sing about, but the atmosphere and the melodies in these songs are perfect for me. It’s mainly guitar-based indie-pop with some acoustic elements. The EP features five songs from artists who never have had the chance to record in a professional studio, and the people at Zonaindie invited them to a studio (Baker Street Studios) and helped them to record their songs professionally. All the songs are published under creative commons, and you are free to upload, copy or share these songs as you wish. They are also available in several formats, incl. mp3, OGG, Flac and even multi track versions. I’m impressed!
You can download it from here: www.cancionespegajosas.org or from this shortcut to the zip file: http://www.archive.org/download/cancionespegajosas2/CancionesPegajosas2.zip
There is also a 10 track “Canciones Pegajosas 1” available on the same site.

Here’s one of the songs from the compilation-EP:

Planeador 2.0 – Mi inconsciencia

Deirdre and Conor – playful acoustic folk-pop with great melodies

The second release comes from the fine music site Beat The Indie Drum.

Their netlabel has recently released their 6th release, and this time it’s a 6 track EP with the Philadelphia band Deirdre and Conor , “at our tiny dinner table”. The EP is full of lovely songs where both Deirdre and Conor sings (I guess that is their names…), acoustic guitars, violins/strings, nice la-la-choirs, glockenspiels and “soft” drums. The music of Deirdre and Conor was definitely a nice new addition to my music library, and one I am sure will be played quite a lot this summer. Very good, and highly recommended!

You can get the EP for free from Beat The Indie Drum’s netlabel, here:

http://www.beattheindiedrum.com/?page_id=252

Here is a song from the ep, and a video:

Deirdre and Conor – We should Self Unite

(My cat is just like me these days)

This post is just a “I’m sorry” from me to you. I haven’t been as active on the blog as I would like to, and even though I have tons of material to write about, I just don’t feel for doing it. I’m struck by some kind of summer laziness, and it has lasted a while. I love listening to music, and I love discovering music, but at the moment it’s so hard writing about it. It will get better, I know, but at the moment I will allow myself some laziness… So, there will be posts once in a while, but not every day. Sorry.

Here’s a little lazy favourite of mine, from an album that has followed me on several sunny holidays. It’s from Birdie’s lovely “Some dusty” album, and the song is of course called…

Birdie – Lazy Day

…and when I’m in the mood for lazy day-songs, here’s a classic from one of my absolute favourite bands:

The Boo Radleys – Lazy day (from “Everything’s Alright Forever”, – oh how I love that album!)

Just as I launched the new Eardrums collaboration project, the news about a collaboration between two of my personal favourites arrived. Just to make it clear, – these are not part of our collaboration compilation (but it would be fantastic if…).

THE PASTELS from Glasgow and TENNISCOATS from Tokyo has recorded some songs together. The project, Two Sunsets, will be released on vinyl, cd and download on September 7. A double-A single with the songs Vivid Youth and About You will be released on August 3rd, and The Pastels and Tenniscoats are playing at the Moseley Folk Festival on September 4 and Bush Hall, London on September 6 with more dates to follow.

This is what the pressrelease says:

“Recorded in Glasgow over a two or three year period usually around Tenniscoats UK touring, the album started out casually from a simple idea of booking some studio time to see what happens. Songs seemed to arrive as needed and a group mode was established, usually Saya and Ueno from Tenniscoats with Stephen, Katrina and Gerard Love from The Pastels with Tom Crossley, Alison Mitchell, and sometimes Norman Blake and Bill Wells dropping by. The sound is sort of compact but not too earth-bound; it opens out with graceful notes, odd notes, the melodic clang of cars and trees in the summer, and birds, trees, slopes, adventures. It’s melodic, optimistic, brilliant.”

The Pastels/Tenniscoats collaboration will be released on Geographic/Domino Recordings.

Great news!

I’ve just published the details about the new Eardrums Pop compilation we’re working on, with the temporary title “The Handshake”. This is a collaboration compilation where the artists need to collaborate on the songs, and the artwork will also be made this way.

The details can be found on our eardrums pop label site, and I need a lot of help from both you, the readers, + artists, illustrators, poets, painters, writers, bloggers + all other friendly people who would like to help with this release. Contact me from the Eardrums Pop-site!

I would also like to thank all the people who participated in our liveblog! Your advice and ideas helped me a lot! Thanks!!