Brazilian Money, Dead Confederate, She Sir, etc.

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Brazilian Money are a double-drumming four piece from Edmonton, Alberta. Writer Garrett Johnson started in Edmonton's tightest band (The Mitts) and quickly parted for Edmonton's loosest band (The Wicked Awesomes!). Brazilian Money have released one EP to "critical" acclaim and successfully completed a cross-Canada tour. Continuing with their omnifarious pop flirtations, Brazilian Money’s follow-up to the hugely popular Friendly Neighbor EP is a monstrous attack against the DIY pop vernacular. Existing in the inexplicable pop-punk-fringe territory, Doing What I Want contains four wild adventures into chromatic catchiness, granular distortion, and anthemic harmonies. Exhaust the air in your lungs with every attempt to sing along. Released via Edmonton’s newest vinyl imprint, Totally Disconnected. Recommended!

Brazilian Money - Doing What I Want
Brazilian Money - Gold Chains
Brazilian Money - Bones
Brazilian Money - Macaroni Makeout Party
Brazilian Money@MySpace

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Winter storms are punishingly cold and uncomfortable, but are an important source of water for spring growth. Likewise for Dead Confederate, the series of New Jersey blizzards that besieged the recording of sophomore album Sugar (a reference to the record snowfall) also heralded growth from the darker, somber realm of their critically acclaimed Wrecking Ball. With an evolving approach and focused, streamlined sound, Sugar explores new styles beyond the aching, bleak psychadelia of the debut. Recommended!

Dead Confederate - Run From The Gun
Dead Confederate @MySpace

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Russell Karloff and M. Grusha formed She Sir at college. After their first record ‘Who Can’t Say Yes’ climbed into the top 100 on the CMJ charts back in 2006 (it was also named one of the best of the decade by The San Francisco Appeal) they set out to solidify and expound upon their brand of art-rock. The follow-up, ‘Yens’, took years to make but it contains the blueprints for the future She Sir sound. The band is currently hard at work recording their third and most radical release working with legendary producer Erik Wofford at Cacophony Recorders (White Denim, Black Angels, Okkervil River). Recommended!

She Sir - Lemongrass
She Sir@MySpace

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FREE ALBUMS:

Joseph James is a singer/songwriter from the South Coast of the UK, and he has been really busy over the past few months writing and recording an EP titled "The Summer Songs And Sing Alongs EP" which is released on August 1st 2010, and is available for free download!

Joseph James - The Summer Songs And Sing Alongs EP
Joseph James@MySpace

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Tin Pan Alley is a powerpop quartet from Bydgoszcz/Toruń (Poland). Thier music unites sunny, light-hearted and mellow melodies with dissonance and distorted sound of post-punk and noise-rock but also draws inspiration from the post-rock movement of the "Windy City" in 90's. Their live performances are full of spontaneous ideas, energy, humour, improvisation and psychodelic passages.

Tin Pan Alley - EP
Tin Pan Alley@MySpace

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SONG OF THE DAY:

Villagers - Becoming A Jackal
(from Becoming A Jackal, out June 8 on Domino Records)

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Check Comments for Bonus!

Ganglians, S.Carey, Jarrod Gorbel

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Falling somewhere between the noise-pop of bands like Wavves and Woods and the blissed-out psychedelia of the Beach Boys, Sacramento, CA’s Ganglians features Ryan Grubbs, Kyle Hoover, Alex Sowles, and Adrian Comenzind. The band spent much of 2008 recording, and their debut single, a limited-edition split 7" with Eat Skull, appeared in January 2009 on Dulc-i-Tone Records. The band’s tours and releases came quickly after that, with an appearance at that year’s South by Southwest festival that March and a self-titled EP and a full-length album, Monster Head Room, arriving within weeks of each in May on the hip lo-fi label Woodsist.

Ganglians - My House (demo)
Ganglians @ MySpace

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The debut album from S. Carey, All We Grow, is the result of a young lifetime spent immersed in music. As a band member of Bon Iver from the very beginning, Sean Carey witnessed a flip of his formal training to step firmly into a worldwide-touring rock band. His performance degree in classical percussion from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire and his love for jazz drumming prepared him for a central role in the inspiring force of the Bon Iver live show. All We Grow is a classic album born without expectation and met with adoration - a cathartic result of Carey's extraordinary and vibrant life experiences that resonates loss, dreams and heart in a manner so instantly relatable, you feel as though you can touch it.

S. Carey - In The Stream
S. Carey - In The Dirt
S. Carey@MySpace

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Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Jarrod Gorbel, formerly of The Honorary Title, will release his first solo album Devil's Made a New Friend August 31 on independent label Burning-house Records and his own imprint, Gorbel Music. Blake Sennett (of Rilo Kiley and The Elected) produced the album, which features many collaborations and a band made up of members of Rilo Kiley, Black Crowes, Mystic Valley Band, and Azure Ray. After several years performing under the moniker The Honorary Title (which eventually evolved into a full-fledged quartet praised by Spin and Rolling Stone,) Devil's Made a New Friend is Jarrod's debut full-length release under his own name. The peaks and valleys of both his musical career and personal life resulted in this candid, passionate collection of songs, which sees Jarrod looking to classic soul, traditional folk and Americana for inspiration.

Jarrod Gorbel - I'll Do Better
Jarrod Gorbel@MySpace

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FREE ALBUMS:
VA - Dance To The Radio - DIGITAL EP

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SONG OF THE DAY: Arab Strap - Daughters Of Darkness
(previously unreleased)

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Check Comments for Bonus!

Fox In The Henhouse, Tjutjuna, Shapes And Sizes, Invisible Elephant, ...

After moving from coast to coast, and spending two years writing and recording, Wakefield's Ryan Escolopio has finally settled down in Baltimore, MD. Taking his pop punk roots to another level, Ryan broke into the indie rock scene with his new project Fox in the Henhouse - The Fox EP, on iBOT Records. The band's upcoming self-titled album, Fox in the Henhouse, unites his poignant lyrical styling with rollicking guitars to spark a number of crowd pleasers. The album, with standout tracks like “Fears,” which appeals to indie rock fans and non-indie rock fans alike, is set to release October 12, 2010.

Fox In The Henhouse - Fears
Fox In The Henhouse @ MySpace

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While art is certainly a form of self-expression, artistic communities tend to gravitate towards styles that fit within the popular pallet. Yet it is those fearless in their dissension that make the deepest mark. It is with that familiarity of the unknown that Tjutjuna have settled in a sound that is both rich in texture, and aural dynamics as well as a respect for the listener’s patience. Delicate in both their attack and release, Tjutjuna’s debut and self-titled album offers listeners moments of discreet levity before striking with fangs. Unwilling to merely satisfy the sonic trajectory which would label their sound as “psych rock”, Tjutjuna proves that in the recesses of a landlocked music scene, four childhood friends can craft something that forces us, as listeners, to demand more from our own tastes and imaginations. Tjutjuna is due out September 28th via Fire Talk, the new imprint from Woodsman's Trevor Peterson.

Tjutjuna - Bottle Kids
Tjutjuna @ MySpace

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Montreal's soulful, psych pop quartet, Shapes and Sizes, just released their third full-length this week. "Candle To Your Eyes" is three years in the making and worth every second of that wait. Some might talk about the album's flirtation with modern soul, its darkness, its reverberant space, or argue over whether or not it is a rock album. This kind of talk has no importance. At the core of this record is a self-assuredness, a calm, consistent fire. And just like the promise of this beautiful spring day, this record is a new beginning, new life.

Shapes And Sizes - Tell Your Mum
Shapes And Sizes - I Need An Outlet
Shapes And Sizes @ MySpace

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Invisible Elephant is the project of one man and his assortment of randomly acquired instruments, ranging from frog guiros to pre-school toy drum kits. These are melded together with found sounds, synthesizers and spectral vocals to create a dream-like wash of psychedelic noise which defies simple categorisation. Veering from ethereal softly-spoken psych folk to walls of monolithic feedback in a heartbeat, it's difficult to pin the sound down to one genre. The indefinable nature of Invisible Elephant's music isn't really surprising though given the huge influence it takes from the muddied existential narratives of Haruki Murakami as well as the hazy sounds of the likes of My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. This informs the sound which fuses the kind of downbeat sincerity of freak-folk with the visceral force of shoegaze and the cinematic euphoria of post-rock. The end result is transcendental music which simultaneously exhibits subtlety, ferocity, discordance, melody and an acute ear for imbuing the familiar with the futuristic.

Invisible Elephant - Wind-Up Bird
Invisible Elephant @ MySpace

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FREE ALBUMS:
Alex Walker - Gotta Lose
The Internet - The Internet EP
Suuns - Zero EP

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SONG OF THE DAY: The Drums - Down By The Water
(from The Drums, out September 14th on Downtown Records)
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Check Comments for Bonus!