Category: music Page 103 of 188

And we’re back! I hope you had a great Labor Day holiday. Like most Americans, I got together with some friends and family and had a great BBQ. It was a lovely way to unofficially kiss summer goodbye. The good news about that though is fall is fast on the way, and with it comes cooler temperatures, pumpkin spiced everything, and sweaters. All good things in my opinion. Also, fall is traditionally a great time to catch a live show or discover a new album. Speaking of which, today is Tuesday, and there’s a bunch of new records out for your consumption. Here’s the list of artists releasing things this week: The 1975, Bastille, Caged Animals, Califone, Chelsea Wolfe, Dave Holland, Ditt Inre, Esmerine, Glasvegas, Gorguts, Grooms, Holograms, Holy Ghost!, John Legend, Jonathan Rado, The Julie Ruin, King Khan and the Shrines, Neko Case, Nine Inch Nails, Okkervil River, Richard Buckner, Richard Youngs, Sleepmakeswaves, Stereophonics, Surf City, TV Ghost, Volcano Choir and White Poppy. Wow, there’s a few strong records in there, I can tell you that much. Of course if you’ve heard of those already or none of those artists are your cup of tea, maybe you’ll discover something new and great as part of today’s Pick Your Poison. Allow me to recommend tracks from Armani of York, Imaginary People, Leftover Cuties, Michael Persall, Moving Units, The Swiss and Tiger Forest Cat. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream new songs from Bardo Pond, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, HSY and Mount Eerie.

Arc Rev One – Beam

Armani of York – Sigh of Relief

Daughter – Youth (Lane 8 Remix)

Imaginary People – Better Minds

John&Garry – Hide Away

Leftover Cuties – Clarity

Liam Gale and the Ponytails – Antipodean Honor

The Meets – Even When the Time Comes

Michael Persall – Back to Bed

Moving Units – Bright Nights

The Swiss – Connect

TIDEUP – A Dance in the Dark

Tiger Forest Cat – With the Winds of Despair

The Worriers – Little Lucy

Xela Zaid – Twelve

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Well what do you know. It’s a rare Friday edition of Pick Your Poison. I feel like the last couple Fridays that I’ve done this I’ve commented on how it only happens rarely because I don’t have enough music to give you to make a Friday edition worthwhile most of the time. On those occasions when I do meet the quota, there are Friday editions. This is one of those weeks, and it’s even better because it marks the start of a holiday weekend. If you’re American and reading this, Labor Day is on Monday so I hope you enjoy a day off and have some BBQ or whatever. There won’t be a Monday edition of Pick Your Poison due to the holiday, but I am going to try and take some time out of that free day to write at least one album review for next week. I’ve been slacking way too much in that department lately, and there’s way too many great records out there for me to keep ignoring them or writing about them only in 140 character spurts on Twitter. So we’ll see what I’m able to get done. Now then, about this weekend-starting Pick Your Poison. Allow me to advise listening to tracks from Deep Well, Infinity Shred, Karen O, Los Campesinos!, The Octopus Project, The Shilohs and Zachary Cale. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from The 1975, The Band in Heaven, Breathe Owl Breathe, Death Cab For Cutie, Frankie Rose and Tony Molina. Have a great extended weekend, and we’ll catch up on Tuesday!

12 dirty lovers – It Seems to Be Dead

Deep Well – Never Turn Away

Dolomite Minor – Let Me Go

Frank Rabeyrolles – Fears

Infinity Shred – Sanctuary

Karen O – The Moon Song

Los Campesinos! – What Death Leaves Behind

The Morning Episodes – Alive

The Octopus Project – Perhap

The Pure Conjecture – I Just Want You to Love Me

The Shilohs – Get Ready Now

Underground Man – Bad Vibrations

Your Fuzzy Friends – The Unicorn Song

Zachary Cale – Wayward Son

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It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another weekly dip into the pool of music news, interviews and videos that I like to call This Week In Music! Yes, in addition to the normal Pick Your Poison mp3s and Soundcloud streams, I like to toss out links to a bunch of other music-related content that I’ve found interesting or worthwhile over the course of the week. I encourage you to check some, if not all of these things out, particularly if you’re looking to waste some time. There’s plenty to see, read and hear:

Check out Nicolas Jaar’s new subscription-based record label, plus stream/download the first 11 minutes of the debut album from his new band Darkside

Watch a 13.5 minute mini documentary about the visuals for the new Nine Inch Nails tour

Watch Phoenix perform an acoustic version of their song “Entertainment” at the Palace of Versailles

Stream a new song from Paul McCartney, appropriately titled “New”

Check out the initial artist lineup for CMJ 2013

Watch Franz Ferdinand cover Grimes’ “Oblivion” in an acoustic radio session

Check out a Daft Punk curated playlist on Spotify

YouTube Audio Stream: Glasser – Shape

Music Video: TV on the Radio – Million Miles

Music Video: The National – Graceless

Of course beyond passing the time with those distractions, I’ve got a boatload of free downloads for you to enjoy as well. Today, enjoy some magic from [The] Caseworker, Cate Le Bon, Howe Gelb, Irontom, Quasi (covering Black Sabbath), and Yeah Saint Paul. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from The 1975, Banks, Keep Shelly in Athens, Throwing Muses and CFCF’s remix of Majical Cloudz.

Alias Punch – Micro Machines

Anonymous Conglomerate – Wednesday

Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (KTown Shekki vs. Cave Kings Remix)

[The] Caseworker – Dependence Day

Cate Le Bon – I Think I New (ft. Perfume Genius)

Happy Fangs – Lion Inside You

Howe Gelb – Blue Marble Girl

Irontom – Nitro

Joel Compass – Astronaut (Henry Krinkle Remix)

Nathan Angelo – What Love Is All About

Quasi – War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)

Richard Lomax – Glamour (Demo)

Tadzio – Lying in the Grass

Yeah Saint Paul – A Universe in the Grain

Zacho Fraser – Making Fiction

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The connect and disconnect of artists around the world will always be fascinating to me. By that, I mean sometimes bands and singers will obtain popularity in one corner of the globe, and be completely ignored in the other. One of the more memorable stories I recall from the last 10 years was hearing how The Strokes became massively popular in England long before they found any sort of success in America, despite being from New York. One of the bigger case-in-points today, Flume is an electronica producer who released his self-titled debut album earlier this year. In the U.S., not a ton of people have heard of him. In his native Australia, the album did so well it beat out One Direction for the top spot on the country’s iTunes chart. The man behind Flume, Harley Streten, is in his early 20s and has already played to 10,000+ person crowds in a few spots around the globe. His single “Sleepless” is a chilled out and chopped up piece of dance music that holds its own against similar R&B flavored electronica producers such as SBTRKT, Disclosure and Flying Lotus. Flume is currently in the middle of a U.S. tour, and makes a stop at the Metro in Chicago this upcoming Wednesday, September 4th. As evidence that certain places around the world don’t entirely understand an artist’s appeal, there are still tickets available for that show despite the relatively small venue size. I suspect that most people have no idea what they could be getting themselves into, otherwise it would have sold out rather quickly. A fair number of electronica artists and producers don’t do much with their stage production, resulting in sets that feature them standing behind a laptop or some turntables and pushing buttons. Well, most modern DJ-types would argue that’s not what they’re REALLY doing, but my point is it tends to be not very pretty to look at. Unless you’re Girl Talk and you’ve got a team of toilet paper canons and are willing to ride on an inflatable raft across the crowd, people are there more to hear your beats than to see how you put them together. But then you have your Daft Punks, your DJ Shadows and your Deadmau5, all of whom clearly care about stage production and keeping things interesting. It can take a simple dance set and turn it into something far greater and more enjoyable. Flume is the sort of artist who invests in production, which is why the creation of The Infinity Prism is a real game-changer for him. The setup is impressive and cool and unique to every show, as Streten can tweak things at his own leisure along with the songs. So if you’re 18+, live in Chicago and aren’t busy one week from today, I strongly recommend you check out the Flume show. Tickets are $18 in advance and are available here. Now then, let’s tackle today’s Pick Your Poison. There’s some great stuff today from Bad Sports, The Bynars, Eureka Birds, Papermoons, Seth Smith, This Frontier Needs Heroes and Tim Hecker. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from Angel Haze, Digitalism, Gap Dream, Icona Pop, Sebadoh and Shearwater (covering Xiu Xiu).

Angel Katz – Genuine Zeal

Bad Sports – Terrible Place

The Bynars – Never Gonna Die

Campfires in Winter – Picture of Health

Eureka Birds – Mila Don’t Make A Sound

Jaymes Young – Dark Star

Loves It – Wild

LPZ – Without You

Marie Lala – Surrender My Soul

Papermoons – No Love

Seth Smith – Red River

There’s Talk – The Salt

This Frontier Needs Heroes – It’s Over Now

Tim Hecker – Virginal II

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As we do every Tuesday, let’s talk new album releases. Another bunch of artists are pushing new product out into the world, and even though you may love some of them, you might not be fully aware of said releases. So n an effort to give you a proper heads up, here’s the list of artists with fresh albums out this week: Belle & Sebastian, Black Joe Lewis, Bob Dylan, Dent May, Disappears, The Dodos, Ellie Goulding, Flaamingos, Franz Ferdinand, Ghost Wave, Drumgasm (drummers Janet Weiss, Zach Hill and Matt Cameron), King Krule, Lucy Schwartz, Lumerians, Robbie Fulks and Spineriders. If you can’t find some new music sustenence in that pile, or simply can’t afford to pay for much of anything these days, let alone music, perhaps some of the free downloads in today’s Pick Your Poison will be helpful. Let me recommend tracks from Andy Stott, Cub Sport, Empra, Fairchild, HDSPNS, Migrant Kids, Silver Soul and Tal National. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from Blitzen Trapper, Dean Wareheim, Destruction Unit, Dosh, and Matthew E. White.

Andy Stott – Anytime Soon

Baron Rouge – Holy Clock

Cub Sport – Paradise

Dot Dash – (Here’s to) The Ghosts of the Past

Empra – Strange Condition

Fairchild – Dancer

Gravious – Rolling Thunder (Octo Octa Remix)

HDSPNS – Awa

Love Is A Burning Thing – Moves

Manicanparty – Monarch

Migrant Kids – Lucktear

Silver Soul – Distinguish

Taiwo Heard – Frontier to Eternity

Tal National – Wongharey

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Sigh. I don’t know about you, but I woke up this Monday morning regretting something that I did over the weekend. Well, as with many of us, it’s one of several regrets. The biggest of them all of course is what happened on Sunday night. I allowed myself to watch the MTV Video Music Awards. Like many of you, I’m a bit outside of the MTV demographic, and actually am one of those people who fondly recalls when the network used to have legitimate VJs and played music programming instead of the nonstop stream of reality shows and poorly scripted original programming. The letter “M” in MTV used to stand for Music, but today it either means nothing or has an alternate m-word that has replaced “music”. That alone is upsetting enough, but then the network continues its annual tradition of hosting the VMAs, which is their sole contribution to pop culture and the music scene in any given year. So they try and make the most of the night. They bring together the biggest stars in music, hand them moon man statues for being popular, and hope that somebody says or does something during a performance or acceptance speech that will make headlines the following days. The more eyes they can draw and the more controversy they can generate, the better. Again, it’s not so much about music as it is the business of keeping yourself relevant and hip. Which is why almost all the performances during the show were from pop stars (Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry) and hip hop stars (Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Drake) with a little room left over for some soulful singers (Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, Bruno Mars). I guess this was the year we forgot about rock and roll, even if Mumford & Sons headlined virtually ever music festival known to man. And while I have more respect than you’d think for Lady Gaga’s art house film-inspired opening song, most everything else was a train wreck of varying proportions. Drawing the most attention, particularly with news organizations and Twitter, has been Miley Cyrus’ overly sexy, twerk-tastic performance as she spent half her time on stage dancing in bra and panties while grinding on Robin Thicke. There was something about it that to me reeked of desperation, though many are arguing it’s just a young girl trying to shake up her image and prove herself to be an adult. Britney Spears went through the same thing, and look at how well she’s turned out (<-- sentence should be read with extreme sarcasm). Whatever. The show is like a bad hangover that I'm now trying to shake and eventually eliminate from my memory. Perhaps some palate-cleansing mp3s as part of Pick Your Poison will help with that. Don't miss tracks today from Blessed Feathers, The Cloak Ox (ft. TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe), Dream Boys, Helado Negro, Left Lane Cruiser, M+A, Minks, ODESZA and Tape Deck Mountain. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream cuts from Cass McCombs, The Dismemberment Plan, Leverage Models (ft. Sharon Van Etten), London Grammar and Roosevelt. Anonymous Conglomerate – So What

Blessed Feathers – Ahbinreedis

Chris Malinchak – So Into You

The Cloak Ox ft. Tunde Adebimpe – King Rope

Dream Boys – Born Yesterday

Flume – More Than You Thought (Orikami Remix)

Helado Negro – Stop Living Dead

Keep Shelly in Athens – Recollection (Selebrities Remix)

Left Lane Cruiser – Juice to Get Loose

M+A – When (ft. EMAY)

Metropolis America – Bittersweet

Minks – Everything’s Fine

ODESZA – My Friends Never Die

Post Honeymoon – Kid With A Gun

Tape Deck Mountain – Pretend Friends

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It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another weekly dip into the pool of music news, interviews and videos that I like to call This Week In Music! Yes, in addition to the normal Pick Your Poison mp3s and Soundcloud streams, I like to toss out links to a bunch of other music-related content that I’ve found interesting or worthwhile over the course of the week. I encourage you to check some, if not all of these things out, particularly if you’re looking to waste some time. There’s plenty to see, read and hear:

Check out the trailer for Memphis, a film starring Willis Earl Beal

Watch Cloud Nothings frontman Dylan Baldi perform a new song on an acoustic guitar

YouTube Audio Stream: Death Grips – Birds

Check out Nirvana’s original contract with Sub Pop Records

Download the instrumental mixes of tracks from Italians Do It Better’s compilation mix After Dark 2

YouTube Audio Stream: Glasser – Shape

Stream the new Neko Case album (out Sept. 3rd)

YouTube Audio Stream: Nine Inch Nails – Everything

YouTube Audio Stream: Matt Berninger (of The National) – I’ll See You in My Dreams

Music Video: Spiritualized – I Am What I Am

Once you’re done with all that, there’s a whole bunch of free downloads and equally important audio streams to investigate as part of today’s Pick Your Poison. You’re not going to want to miss delightful tracks from Cameron McGill, Druid Cloak, Gladiola, Jacuzzi Boys, Le1f, Tokyo Hands and Wires in the Walls. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream new songs from Chelsea Wolfe, Holy Ghost!, Jonathan Rado (of Foxygen), RAC (ft. Kele of Bloc Party and MNDR), School of Night (Darby Cicci of The Antlers), and Young Galaxy.

Cameron McGill – American Health Insurance

Druid Cloak – Sterling Thrones

Everest Cale – Fossils

Gladiola – Breaking Into the Pool

Ioneye – Morning Sun

Jacuzzi Boys – Be My Prism

Le1f – Damn Son

Matthew Sawyer – Don’t Tell the Others What We’re Singing

Midnight Pool Party – I Want, I Need

Mind Over Mirrors – Storing the Winter

Motive – Burn Down Brooklyn

Parentz – F-PBHZ

Tokyo Hands – Valleys

Wires in the Walls – In the Rain

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Let me take a quick moment here and break away from talking about music to talk a little bit about another great passion of mine, which is film. I realize this isn’t a film site, and while I’ve considered adding film commentary and reviews to what I’m already doing with music, it’s not something I’ve pulled the trigger on…yet. So pardon me if I want to talk movies for a quick minute with an eye on hopefully expanding your pop cultural horizons. If you don’t like it, skip straight to the mp3s. Still, I’ll make this brief. Late August isn’t exactly the best time for movies. Or at least traditionally it hasn’t been. It’s sort of the buffer zone between the big summer blockbusters and the awards bait prestige pictures that really start to emerge in October. But if you pay enough attention to independent films and are equally adept with technology these days, late August is actually a great time to be alive. While I’m a hardcore movie theater attendee (I’ve seen just about every widely released movie from 2013 so far in the theater), I’m not opposed to watching something on my flat screen and surround sound setup at home. I prefer the distractionless, reclining chair, massive screen and pitch black ambiance of a theater, but for some that’s just not a realistic option. Maybe you live in the middle of nowhere and the one movie theater near you is really run down. Maybe you’ve got a megaplex nearby, but ticket prices are so high you don’t have the cash to go as often as you’d like. Independent cinema has got you (somewhat) covered these days, thanks to the advent of Video on Demand (VOD). I’m not going to argue in favor of it, because I firmly believe in the power of the theatrical experience with an audience, but I have found it useful recently to help me see some films that might otherwise have never been able to see. Movies like Drinking Buddies, starring Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, Jake Johnson and Ron Livingston. It’s a great film directed by Joe Swanberg and it features not only some great Chicago locations (Revolution Brewery and The Empty Bottle among them), but has a strong soundtrack with songs from artists like Foxygen, Night Beds and Here We Go Magic. Worth your time? Absolutely. Available on VOD through iTunes, Amazon and some other online media purveyors. If you don’t live in New York or Chicago, there’s a chance the film won’t ever make it to your local art house theater (if you even have one). The same goes for a movie like Lovelace, which has everyone from Amanda Seyfried to James Franco to Sharon Stone and Peter Sarsgaard in its cast. It might seem from the trailer that it’s a basic biopic on Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace, but I assure you it goes way beyond that. Good luck finding it in more than a handful of theaters around the country at the moment, but VOD will let you screen it at about half the cost of a traditional movie theater ticket. I guess my lengthy point is this: There are a lot of good movies out right now, and if you’ve got a movie theater nearby showing them I hope you’ll go. But if that’s not the case or you simply don’t want to wait for a theatrical release, please be aware that VOD is an option you have. If it’s going to expose you to more interesting and challenging films than the ones currently being peddled in mass marketplaces, then maybe a night in is just what the doctor ordered. Speaking of doctors, let me prescribe you 10cc’s of Pick Your Poison. Be sure to ingest tracks from Botany, Buffalo Tales, John Davis, Julie Mar, Lemonade, Shark? and The Tranq. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from A$AP Ferg, Eagulls, Ejecta (Joel Ford of Ford & Lopatin’s new project with Fight Bite/Neon Indian’s Leanne Macomber), M.I.A. and Polica.

Bad Cop – Light On (SOSA Remix)

Botany – Anchor

Buffalo Tales – Puppet Strings

Death Rattle – Fortress

John Davis – Masoch

Josh Damigo – How Am I Not Supposed to Fall

Julie Mar – What It’s Like

Lemonade – Skyballer

Sam Vicari – Normalcy

Shark? – This Is Living

Silent Rider & Camille Corazón – Black Crown

SISU – Harpoons

Sundays – Hope It’s Enough

The Tranq – Dissident

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I’m officially calling it right now: the summer drought of new music is over! Yes, just in time for everyone to head back to school, an influx of great records hits the marketplace. Don’t believe me? Here’s a list of artists releasing new material this week: A$AP Ferg, Andrew Belle, Andrew Cedermark, Bent Shapes, Braids, Buffalo Killers, Butter the Children, Crocodiles, Destruction Unit, DIANA, Diarrhea Planet, Earl Sweatshirt, The Goldberg Sisters, Gross Relations, The Horse’s Ha, Julia Holter, Julianna Barwick, Kim Lenz, The Kissaway Trail, Laura Veirs, Little Comets, Native, No Age, Paper Lions, Porcelain Raft, Pure Bathing Culture, Sarah Neufeld, Shigeto, Ski Lodge, Still Life Still, Superchunk, Surf City, Terraplane Sun, Travis, Tree, Ty Segall, Typhoon, White Lies, Willy Mason and Zola Jesus. Wow. That’s a lot of records, and there’s at least a few good ones in the bunch. I hope you’ll look into some of these, or are reminded that one of your favorite artists is putting something new out. Beyond those things, there’s still a daily edition of Pick Your Poison to consider as well, where you’re also able to discover new music. In today’s batch, don’t miss tracks from Banana Beach, Captain Murphy (aka Flying Lotus), Grisly Hand, Louis London, Placeholder and Schooner. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from Body Parts, The Darcys, The Lumineers (covering Talking Heads), Parquet Courts, The Weeknd (ft. Drake) and YAWN.

Antonio Paul – Coloured Screens

Banana Beach – Pelican Bay

Captain Murphy (ft. Viktor Vaughn, Earl Sweatshirt & Thundercat) – Between Villains

Ciara – Body Party (Jacques Greene Remix)

The Courtesans – Dirty Killer (Bad Atom Remix)

Grisly Hand – Country Singles

The Harmed Brothers – When You See Me

Henke Wermelin & Nattskiftet – Eat Your Money

Louis London – Hardly Hear You

Nathan Angelo – Get Back

Placeholder – Above

Richard Beynon – Lazerboy

Schooner – It Won’t Matter

Treasure Fingers and The Knocks – My Body

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Back in February, I tweeted about Prince’s new single, which is titled “Breakfast Can Wait”. Jokingly, I said, “So does that mean he’s not going to make me pancakes after our basketball game?” It was a reference to a 2004 sketch on “Chappelle’s Show” where Charlie Murphy (Eddie’s brother) tells the story about the time he met Prince. They wound up playing basketball at his house, and after Prince won, he made everybody pancakes. It’s a classic sketch, and Dave Chappelle does an incredible job pretending to be Prince. Well to my surprise and I’m sure the surprise of many, Prince unveiled the cover art for “Breakfast Can Wait” over the weekend. What is it? Why it’s Dave Chappelle dressed as Prince with a tray of pancakes. Prince not only revealed it via his newly active Twitter account, but it came with the following line, direct from the “Chappelle’s Show” sketch: “Game: Blouses”. Don’t ever let anybody tell you that Prince has no sense of humor. This is proof positive. Now if only somebody could get actual footage of Prince dominating in a basketball game. Let’s transition from that into today’s Pick Your Poison. Allow me to advise checking out tracks today from 2PPM, Alligator Indian, Lisa Papineau, Matthew Collings, Peelander-Z, The Slytest and Sweet Alps. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from The Fratellis, Kitten, Wymond Miles and YACHT.

2PPM – I

Alligator Indian – PUF//FIN

Bent Denim – Living Room

Hadley Kennary – Otis

Hannah Georgas – Somebody

Lisa Papineau – Out For A Swim

Marquee Mayfield – Breakdown

Matthew Collings – They Meet On the Subway

Mini Dresses – Watching You

Pagiins – Open Up Your Mind

Peelander-Z – Ride on the Shooting Star

The Pluto Moons – No Evidence

The Slytest – Rock’N’Roll Heaven

Suntrapp – All the Seas

Sweet Alps – Ghost Metropolis

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It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another weekly dip into the pool of music news, interviews and videos that I like to call This Week In Music! Yes, in addition to the normal Pick Your Poison mp3s and Soundcloud streams, I like to toss out links to a bunch of other music-related content that I’ve found interesting or worthwhile over the course of the week. I encourage you to check some, if not all of these things out, particularly if you’re looking to waste some time. There’s plenty to see, read and hear:

Stream Earl Sweatshirt’s debut album Doris

Music Video: These New Puritans – Organ Eternal

Watch Run the Jewels (Killer Mike + El-P) respond to Kendrick Lamar’s rapper-insulting verse on the Big Sean track “Control”

YouTube Audio Stream: Volcano Choir – Comrade

Music Video: Kim Deal – Are You Mine?

Watch Fiona Apple and Blake Mills perform “I Know” in a living room home video

Music Video: Youth Lagoon – Raspberry Cane

Music Video: Haim – The Wire

YouTube Audio Stream: Yuck – Middle Sea

YouTube Audio Stream: Cults – I Can Hardly Make You Mine

Once you’re done with all of that music excitement, there’s a whole set of other downloads and audio streams you can check out as part of today’s edition of Pick Your Poison. Don’t miss cuts from Big Tree, Camp Counselors, Glasvegas, To Kill a King, Kim Lenz and We Are the Wilderness. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream new songs from Cold War Kids, Fort Romeau, Ha Ha Tonka, kwes, of Montreal and Zola Jesus.

Banks – Warm Water (Chuck Wild Bootleg Remix)

Big Tree – Wonder

Brundlefly and the Swede – Cabin Music

Camp Counselors – Charyou

Emiliana Torrini – Speed of Dark (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Glasvegas – Later… When the TV Turns to Static

The Holy Alimonies – All in the Drugs

To Kill a King – Bones

Kim Lenz – Pay Dearly

Lek Fonq – Facebook Lover

Quixotism – Bloodletting

Scary Cherry and the Bang Bangs – Don’t Wanna

Top Less Gay Love Tekno Party – Danger Love

We Are the Wilderness – Leading From Emptiness

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If you’ve never seen Ty Segall perform live before, you’re missing out. The guy’s a dynamic presence on stage, brimming with energy and unafraid to let out a powerful scream that cuts through fuzz-laden guitars should the mood strike him. The two times I’ve seen him perform my attention has never wavered, nor could I stop grinning with giddy excitement over the messy perfection that he embodies. Coming up in a little over a week, Segall will be bouncing all around the country for a few weeks’ worth of live dates in support of his new album Sleeper. That record comes out this upcoming Tuesday, August 20th, and actually marks a shift in direction away from the fused blend of punk and garage rock of his last few efforts and more towards the realm of acoustic psychedelia. Having heard the album a few times, it was challenging to my ears at first, but I’m certainly warming up to it as proof that he can excel at whatever genre of music he tries. You can hear the full thing for yourself right here (for a limited time). If you like what you hear, I’d encourage you to try and see Segall if he’s headed your way on tour. He’ll be in Chicago on August 31st for a show at Logan Square Auditorium that will place a sharp focus on that new album. I’m interested to see how he’ll piece it all together in a live setting. Tickets for that all-ages Logan Square show are $18 and can be purchased in advance here. I hope you won’t miss this great opportunity! You’ll probably also not want to miss some of the great tracks in today’s Pick Your Poison. There’s plenty of delights from Atropolis, Beat the Heart, Chris Zurich, Empty Chairs, Gross Relations, Lizzie Davis and Potty Mouth. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream cuts from Celestial Shore, Goldfrapp, Kelley Stoltz, Pelican and Terry Malts.

Aotearoa – Thunderbird

Atropolis – Adjust

BeatauCue – Aeropolis (Birdee Remix)

Beat the Heart – Nurse Me (With Your Soul)

Behaviors – Can’t Be Found

Chris Zurich – Annie

Clubfeet – Remind Me (Röyksopp Cover)

Empty Chairs – Eyelashes

The Eversons – Creepy

Gross Relations – Discovery Zone

Lizzie Davis – Geography

Potty Mouth – Black and Studs

Reuben Hollebon – Faces

Unlike Pluto – Colour Me Equal

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As summer slowly transitions into fall, the list of new album releases grows longer by the week, and I promise you that next week in particular is going to be a big one. This week though, is still a little lacking in the high profile release department. We’re not quite in the perils of the summer drought that came through in July though, and I’ll prove it to you. Here’s a list of artists putting out new albums today: Dinosaur Bones, Football etc., Jagwar Ma, The Moondoggies, Parachute, Psychic Teens, Royal Teeth, Sam Phillips, Valerie June, Washed Out and The Wild Feathers. Okay, so that’s not a big list by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe I overplayed my hand leading into it. Still, listen to Washed Out’s new one Paracosm and everything will be all right. Or you could listen to any number of songs as part of today’s edition of Pick Your Poison. I’d like to specifically advise you to check out tracks from The Black Watch, Cameron McGill, Marnie Stern, Seaweed Meadows, The Ten Thousand and The Young Sinclairs. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream new songs from American Authors (covering Lorde), Blouse, Heavenly Beat, Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band (a new project from TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe), Juana Molina and Tink (ft. How to Dress Well).

Aiden Grimshaw – The Way We Are

The Black Watch – Meg

Brandt Brauer Frick – Two in a Bush

Cameron McGill – Sucker Love

Carrie Ashley Hill – Me at All

Charlie Greene – Lost & Found

Dead Professional – Downtown at Sundown

Future Feats – Cities in Wonder

Marnie Stern – This Was It

Misun – Hills and Trails

Seaweed Meadows – Andra Långgatan

The Ten Thousand – Fight Inertia

The Tryptics – Alchemical

Wolf Catcher – Broken

The Young Sinclairs – You Know Where to Find Me

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Let’s talk about Arcade Fire for just a minute. They’ve got a brand new, James Murphy produced album set for release on October 29th, which according to Murphy will be “fucking epic”. That’s basically a ringing endorsement if I’ve ever heard one. Beyond that, there are now rumors that the album will be titled Reflektor, in particular because some street art that popped up in several major cities around the world over the first weekend in August (and at Lollapalooza apparently, though I failed to spot anything). There’s now an Instagram account and a website surrounding this same theme and concept. Of course Arcade Fire’s camp isn’t confirming anything, or even an association with anything Reflektor-related thus far. Then came yesterday, in which the aforementioned Instagram account posted three new photos (1, 2, and 3) suggesting something would go down on 9/9 at 9pm. And so it would seem that we’ve got a little less than a month before something “big” is going to happen with this. My guess? It’s going to be the release of a new song, in advance of the album. Maybe by then we’ll also have confirmation of the album title and a track listing. For the time being though, this is one mystery that appears to be worth following along with. Also worth following? Your daily dose of Pick Your Poison. Allow me to present you with some delightful tracks today from Admonic, Les Jupes, Lost Midas, Poor Remy, The Slims, Steel Cranes and Windbreaker. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream new songs from Bad Things, Cage the Elephant, K.Flay, Russian Circles and Steel Phantoms.

Admonic – Double Decade

Chronic City – The Man Who (ft. Florian Horwath)

Ellie Goulding – Burn (Lovelife Remix)

Kyle Andrews – Crystal Ball (Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. Remix)

Les Jupes – Hold Me Down

Lost Midas – Love Undone (ft. Taylor O’Donnell)

Lyon Apprentice – Beautiful Thought

Mitzi – Falling

Poor Remy – Wrecking Ball

Saint Motel – My Type (Keith Sweaty Remix)

The Slims – Only a Part, Not the Whole

Steel Cranes – Moving On

Stella Le Page – Heat Wave

Windbreaker – I Can’t Believe That You’re Gone

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Oh hey! I’m pleased to present one of the rarer occurences as of late, a Friday edition of Pick Your Poison. As I tend to mention when there is a Friday edition, the main reason I stopped doing them was largely a lack of content. If I don’t have enough songs to share with you, then there’s not much point to this, right? So this week there are enough songs, and voila, things are going on a Friday. I hope you’ve got some grand weekend plans ahead of you. I’m happy there’s not a music festival in Chicago this weekend that I’ll be attending, and generally just having not much to do will be nice for once. I might even get an album review or two written, since I haven’t done that in a few weeks. I guess what I’m saying is, I’m very much looking forward to this weekend, and hope you are too. Oh! Next week I’ll be giving away a pair of three day passes to Riot Fest Chicago! The three day passes are sold out, so I’ll have one of the few ways you can still win them. Good stuff, right? Okay, let’s get to today’s tracks. Gold stars go to songs from Bailterspace, Leftover Cuties, MTNS, Sons of the East, Tall Heights, Teen Daze and Yamantaka // Sonic Titan. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream new songs from Black Hearted Brother, Gap Dream, Jon Hopkins (ft. Purity Ring), Kishi Bashi and ON AN ON (covering Bjork). Have a great weekend!

Atlanter – Aye

Bailterspace – Films of You

Eddie B – Anywhere It Takes Me

Leftover Cuties – Once Again

MTNS – Lost Track of Time

Seasick Mama – Quit Your Job

Selebrities – Temporary Touch (Keep Shelly in Athens Remix)

Sons of the East – Come Away

Sonya Titus – Love Transfusion (Acoustic Remix)

Superhumanoids – Bad Eather (Tropics Remix)

Tall Heights – Eastern Standard Time

Teen Daze – Ice on the Windowsill

Unkle Bob – Home

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – One

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