Gary B & The Notions - "How Do We Explode"

I've been a fan of this Baltimore band since happily discovering their previous record 2009's "New Twist And Shout". Back now on the Brooklyn based Modern Hymnal Recordings, The Notions have offered up another excellent collection of songs, delivered with their signature blend of sharp Nerves' style power pop and garage rock. Gary Barrett delivers the songs with authority and The Notions play with a road-earned swagger reminiscent of Costello's early Attractions (minus Nieve's farfisa, of course). But the real stars here are the songs, and they're all way above average - witty, concise and full of unexpected twists and turns. Picking a favorite would be pointless.

Yours,
AA

Hear Bear Driver's S/T Debut Album

The fantastic UK music blog The Line Of Best Fit is running a preview of Bear Driver's self titled debut album.  We've been looking forward to ths one ever since we first heard "Big Love" and it does not disappoint. 

Check it out at TLOBF

Yours,
AA

Pete & The Pirates - "One Thousand Pictures"

Another favorite around here, we've been enjoying Pete & The Pirates ever since "Jennifer" (the video is pretty awesome to).  It's hard to put our finger on exactly what it is that makes P&TP so good - there's so much to choose from; great songs, intelligent and clever lyrical turns, clanging guitars, flawless harmonies - all wrapped up in a sound that is distinctly English. 

Through two extremely consistent and excellent albums of completely relentless and sublime pop gems, they've remained understated in their delivery.  Maybe that's the secret. 

Really hope they make it over the pond sometime soon.

Pete & The Pirates - Official Site



Yours,
AA

"Amazing Guns" by Hard Nips

I've been enjoying this four-some ever since I listened to their live set from Brooklyn's DIY venue Shea Stadium.   Unfortunately, I missed their record release party last night, but their new record "Amazing Guns" is streaming on SoundCloud.  In fact, I haven't had a chance to see them live at all yet, but it's hard not to love the early punk/power-pop sound mixed with the all Japanese girl-group aesthetic.   And yes, it's cliche, but there's something appealing about girls who play guitars, as Maximo Park pointed out.

 

Hard Nips Website

Hard Nips Facebook Page


Yours,
AA

"Meltdown" by Mind Spiders

Here's another very good album currently streaming online courtesy of the good people at SPIN.






Thanks to SPiN Magazine


I first came to discover Mark Ryan's previous band The Marked Men when I was an eMusic member and downloaded the Ghosts LP based on their recommendation - but it was Jon Solmon's always excellent radio show that led me to Mind Spiders. 11 blistering tracks in 31 minutes, this one doesn't stick around long enough or ever stop to take a breath. Go on, give it a listen - surely you have thirty minutes to kill.

Yours,
AA

Copy Haho

Copy Haho's (pronounced co-pee ha-ho) debut album is a rare breed - a record you can play at any time and listen all the way through, never skipping a track.  It's easy to get sucked in when the melodies are this strong, especially when they're wrapped around chimey Tom Verlaine/Television style guitar lines.

I've been enjoying this northern Scottish band since I first heard them on Gideon Coe's brilliant BBC 6 Music program (or is that programme?).  As luck would have it, The Line Of Best Fit is featuring a full length stream of their album

You can listen to the stream here, or watch the video for the equally good non-album track "You Are My Coal Mine" below.



Yours,
AA

Ground Floor

Congratulations, you've found our first post. Thanks for stopping to read this - hopefully you'll want to stick around. I'll attempt to keep this as breif as possible.

In short, this is a blog about music - all kinds of music. Some of it is music that we have loved for a long time. Some we found completely by accident while stumbling around on YouTube or SoundCloud or Spotify. Some of these things were recommended by friends or fellow music lovers, DJs and bloggers. Some are from complete strangers. Our goal is keep passing it on to anyone who is willing to listen. Hopefully, that's you.

It would be pointless to say "we're open minded; we like everything"; while the former is definitely true, the later is false. We don't like everything. But we like a lot of things. I realize this is a little vague, but that's the idea. We might post an indie rock, followed by a jazz standard, followed by folk, followed by a wall of noise. Things will tend to lean towards the melodic, but there are no hard rules here.

At this time, we don't accept items for review. If you want to send something, we will certainly try our best to listen. We may even post or write about it.

So that's about it from us. Hope you enjoy.

Yours,
AA