Le Butcherettes are a heavy rockin' trio from Mexico City, led by the wild'n'crazy Teri Gender Bender (a.k.a. Teresa Suaréz). Man, they do some serious rockin' and here's their upcoming release, Sin Sin Sin:
And here's a cut from the debut album, Kiss & Kill, back when they were a duo:
Another of my Swedish loves is Lykke Li (to go along with Taken By Trees, Robyn, Niki & The Dove, and Anna Ternheim) and she has a brand new CD out called Wounded Rhymes. First, here's an older cut, which I believe you can get free by signing up to her mailing list:
Back from Disneyworld (oh yeah, it was fun!) and here to offer you a belated Free Friday - Hawk Moon Records sampler, volume II. It has a cut from one of my favorite instrumental artists, Lowercase Noises and should be damned solid. You can grab it via their Bandcamp page (follow the link on the page if their free download limit has been reached) or listen to it here:
There's a new single from one of my favorite releases of 2010, Steve Mason's Boys Outside. And it is even one of my favorite songs, from a CD full of great songs. Here's the video for it:
Wire is a band that sure has been around a while. Their first release (Pink Flag) was way back in 1977, and they have been making music ever since. And music that is right up my ally - sometimes jangly, sometimes smooth, sometimes dark pop songs, usually with clever hooks. Listening to the wonderful compilation The A List, I was amazed at how many of these songs were familiar, like this one:
Regina is a Finnish trio who recently had their first US release from Friendly Fire Recordings, called Puutarhatrilogia. You probably won't understand a word of the song but the enchanting voice and pop melodies will have you hooked nonetheless. Check these out:
Acrylics are a duo out of Brooklyn NY with that dreamy pop sound that I just cannot resist. Their new album, Lives & Treasures is just chock-a-block with Fleetwood Mac / Kate Bush-ish grooves, with Molly Shea's shimmering vocals a real standout. Check out these sounds:
This is the first volume of the Blue Indian Compilations (you can see volume 2 here). I have not even had a chance to listen to it yet, but if it is anything like volume 2, there's bound to be a couple of gems. Grab the free download on bandcamp or listen here - up to you:
One of my favorite local bands, who I have yet to see in concert, is playing at a nearby music festival. Called Deep Heaven Now, this ambient electronic-palooza is something I would dearly love to go see. But, alas, it is the one weekend I will be out of town, so I will miss 28 degrees taurus once again.
But you can grab a collection of songs from the various groups that will be playing over two days in Somerville MA over on bandcamp. Or you can just camp out and listen here:
And have you tried out the new Amazon MP3 "Cloud Player"? It's pretty cool. All your purchases (including the free ones!) can be automatically stored on your Amazon Cloud Drive and you can upload your own MP3s as well. They give you 5gb of storage but if you buy an MP3 album, it goes up to 20gb. And MP3s bought on Amazon don't count against the storage limit. The player works well from a browser, and even better from your Android phone. I haven't uploaded anything yet, but I will.
Victoria Bergsman, originally of The Concretes, split off in 2007 to follow her own muse and called it Taken By Trees. Looking to do something completely different, she took off to Pakistan with a sound engineer and, despite some difficulties, came up with a very nice album called East Of Eden, which marries many different sounds. She first came to my attention with her wonderful cover of Guns'n'Roses(!) Sweet Child O' Mine. There are a number of dynamite songs on East Of Eden too. Why, I even saw her in concert (with the incomparable El Perro Del Mar - oh no, another missing Swedish artist!).
And once again, my love for Swedish pop rears its ugly head :) This time it is for Swedish pop legends The Concretes, who once featured Victoria Bergsman (of Taken By Trees - what no TbT post yet? Need to rectify that! Edit: Fixed here!). Now the lead singer is drummer Lisa Milberg and yes, it is still a great sound, silky yet poppy. Here's a couple from their latest full length CD, WYWH (no, I don't know what it stands for).