The 4th Free Side is out from Brooklyn's Donny Hue and the Colors. Called My Toy Steamboattrain, it's typical of the raucously fun and whimsical brand of music the band is known for.Their new album, Letter from New Virginia, will be released June 23rd. If you find music helps make a bad day better, this is your band!Donny Hue & The Colors: Website • MySpace
Letter From New Virginia available via Kora Shop
• • • •
Taller Children is an ode to all of the adults who just never quite figure out how to grow up. It's also a track from Brooklyn's Elizabeth & The Catapult's debut album of the same name which has just been released. Like Brooklyn's Donny Hue, it's got a good dose of playfulness to it with more of a pop flair. The great vocals belong to Elizabeth Abby Ziman and the trio also includes guitarist Pete Lalish and drummer Danny Molad. The band will tour through August in support of the release.Elizabeth & The Catapult: Website • MySpace • Taller Children available via Amazon
• • • •
Minneapolis indie rock band Ice Palace recently wrapped up a tour with Cloud Cult and Say Hi, and their newest record Wonder Subtly Crushing Us shows the band is hitting on all eight with their unique dirge-yet-tuneful sound. Adam Sorensen has been called "has to be one of the brightest new dark-night-of-the-soul singer-songwriters" by City Pages Jim Walsh; it's a well-deserved description. The band's debut album Bright Leaf Left received excellent reviews and this release will reconfirm the band's music has earned a place among indie's best.Ice Palace: Website • MySpace • Wonder Subtly Crushing Us available via Earthology Records
• • • •
San Francisco's Kid Mud is lead by singer/multi-instrumentalist Sean Duncan. Opening for Great Northern and Tom McRae, Kid Mud has drawn comparisons to Rogue Wave, Sparkelhorse and Badly Drawn Boy and Duncan's prior credentials including playing with Fiver, a band that toured with Death Cab For Cutie. June 16th is the release date for Kid Mud's new album, Now They Shut Us Down, and it features Duncan's singular talent of multi-instrumentation. Rich and lush vocals abound, harmonies are prominent but don't dominate, and an assortment of vocalists combine to make the album a testament to Duncan's talents. Very well done.Kid Mud: MySpace • Now They Shut Us Down available via Amazon
• • • •
Auradrone is an L.A.-bsed electronic rock band and their debut album Whitelite Britelite is drawing comparisons to Nine Inch Nails, The Cure, and Depeche Mode. It's a sultry, pounding mix of electronica, darkwave and Trip Hop featuring the mesmerizing vocals of Jon Mack. She also did all the mixing, writing and performing of the music and the result is a signature sound of her own. I've said this about a couple of artists and it deserves to be said for Jon Mack: if her music doesn't do it for you, someone needs to check you for a pulse.Auradrone: MySpace • Whiteline Briteline available via CD Baby
• • • •
Pete Yorn's new album, Back and Fourth, sounds like no other Pete Yorn record because it was made like no other Pete Yorn record. For the first time, Yorn wrote lyrics before composing melodies, resulting in his most personal songs to date. He left L.A. for Nebraska and a more serine setting to focus on the music, and lived in a guest house behind Mike Mogis’s(Bright Eyes) Omaha studio where he made the record. He spent his spare moments driving around Nebraska exploring the wide-open landscapes and writing, and the inspiration has paid off with his most complete body of work to date. His fourth full-length, Back and Fourth will be released on June 23rd.Pete Yorn: Website • MySpace • Pre-order Back and Fourth(available June 23rd) via Amazon
• • • •
Fanfarlo’s highly acclaimed debut album, Reservoir, is being made available for just $1.00 now through July 4 from the band’s website. Available to download worldwide, this amazing deal also includes four exclusive bonus tracks not on the record. This band's music is terrific, and I'll direct you to Captain Obvious' excellent post about them and their music. Fanfarlo is an alternative-pop-folk band from London whose members are actually from all over Europe; the official release of Reservoir is in September.Fanfarlo: Website • MySpace
• • • •
Toronto-based Little Girls released their new EP, Tambourine, on June 2. Little Girls emerged from Toronto's post-punk scene as a solo recording project of multi-instrumentalist Josh McIntyre. The songs combine lo-fi distorted surf rock with layers of fuzz to create murky, haunting, and melodic walls of sound. Little Girls will release two more EPs before the end of this year. They will be touring through the end of July, most shows with Japandroids. Little Girls' sound is driven by 'youth and nostalgia' according to multi-instrumentalist Josh McIntyre, who has been creating and playing music since his early teens. His influences come from the 80's no-wave post-punk scene and the early 80's golden era of hip-hop.Little Girls: MySpace • Tambourine available via Paper Bag Records
Holy crap! Great post, this is the best collection of new music I have found on one website in forever. Do they have a Webbie awards category for most discoveries in one post?! Anyway, thank you for the great site, please keep it up!