The Walrus is a Philadelphia-based music blog written by Michael. You may send me stuff through the send a tip page or email me. All mp3s should be sent as links. NO ATTACHMENTS, PLEASE. If I like your music, chances are I will write about it.
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mp3s on this site are for promotional purposes only. If you wish to have an mp3 removed please contact me.
Still unsigned (!?) remix artists The Twelves have just released a new awesome mixtape called Episode II and the highlight for us is the new remix of Fleet Foxes‘ “White Winter Hymnal,” one of our favorite songs of the year (check out the video here). It’s a well-played re-interpretation that adds a bit of fun while still retaining the original’s beauty.
See the stellar tracklist and download the full mix from our friends at Discodust.
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We have been fans of the uber-talented singer-songwriter and producer Her Space Holiday aka Marc Bianchi since he released his 2001 opus Manic Expressive–a quintessential bedroom style pop album, that mixed warm, grandiose harmonies and spacey arrangements with electronic flourishes. Some may even credit it as helping to set the stage for such bands as The Postal Service. Since that acclaimed release, he has been quietly releasing EPs and searching to find his new sound.
Now with the impending release of XOXO, Panda, and the New Kid Revival he has re-invented his songwriting and given it a more down to earth, jangly vibe. Case in point, the song “Sleepy Tigers” is the first single from the album and it is an irresistibly catchy and dynamic piece of bouncy pop! Check it out!
XOXO, Panda, and the New Kid Revival is due out 10/7 on Mush Records.
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Ya, we are pretty sure they just did. Check out this rad new video produced by Coudal Partners for The Breeders‘ song “Walk It Off,” which allows you to choose from four different perspectives (one of those perspectives being the band’s) as the silly story of a bike messenger and a business man unfolds:
What an awesome idea!! Thanks to Allie (again) for the great find!
“Walk It Off” is from The Breeders’ new album Mountain Battles, available now on Amazon.
UPDATE 9/18: MGMT was actually the first band to have an interactive video, watch the demo and download it here. Thanks for the tip, Lee!
We’ll admit that we aren’t crazy about the name, but Vermont’s King Tuff writes some really awesome songs.
Our favorites from their newest album King Tuff Was Dead, “So Desperate” and “Connection” are 70’s style power-pop gems. The former is a T-Rex meets Undertones inspired sing-a-long and the latter is a sentimental, yet charming tune about love and telephones with vocals that sound like a more sedated Tom Verlaine. We dig the slight stutter too.
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Less than a month from now, My Bloody Valentine’s beautiful, and from what we hear brain-melting, noise will blanket New York’s Roseland Ballroom…and our ears. Here’s a sneak preview of what we can expect:
If that doesn’t scream make-out session we don’t know what does!
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In other news, the band’s classic albums Loveless and Isn’t Anything, along with the Tremelo and Glider EPs are now available in full for the first time on iTunes.
Motionographer is quickly becoming our favorite site on the web, and cheers to them for finding this awesome, super-slo-mo video shot with the Phantom HD at 1000 frames per second. The song by Swedish pop band They Live By Night has some nice arrangements, but the ridiculously slow video is the real story. In real time it amounts to only four seconds of footage, and man, those are some suspenseful seconds!
Definitely cool, but I would’ve had everyone’s heads blow up at the end. Oh well.
They Live By Night’s new album is due this fall on Razzia Records.
It’s a fact that anything that refers to or depicts a hoverboard is pure genius. Apparently Agaskodo Teliverek is well aware of this and thus has decided to incorporate these magical flying devices in their bizarre new video for the song “Blood Club.” I’m not too familiar with their music, which they refer to as “Psycho Goulash,” but I do know that their boards make Griff’s “Pit Bull” look like an old Nash:
Sigh…I still want one.
(Thanks to Allie for the sweet find!)
Agaskodo Teliverek’s s/t debut is due 10/6 on Adaadat Records.
While we are not AS obsessed with his newly released second single, the Postal Service-ish “Jag Har Varit Vilsen, Lisa” (”I’ve Been Lost, Lisa’) from the recently finished debut album Länge Leve Parken, we still dig the songwriting and the arrangements from Swedish producer extraordinaire Rigas certainly don’t disappoint.
Länge Leve Parken is due out 9/10 on Flora and Fauna (a great label, so check them out!)
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Although the name of this London band is not as brilliant as say Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Duran Duran Duran or John Cougar Concentration Camp, David Cronenberg’s Wife is still pretty amazing. After all, the guy directed Naked Lunch and Videodrome. Shit, I’d marry him. (By the way, David Cronenberg’s real wife is editor and director Carolyn Zeifman (pic), whom he has been married to since ‘79. Wait till she hears about this one!)
Now, on to the music.”My Best Friend’s Going Out with a Girl I Like” from the band’s excellent debut album, Bluebeard’s Rooms, has a Cramps meets Soft Boys feel with a charmingly morbid tone and amusingly blunt lyrics, a la the great Robyn Hitchcock. Sample lyric: “When you told me on the phone, oh my god I’m shocked/What’s come between us? His big fat cock.”
We approve, but would Carolyn?!
Bluebeard’s Rooms is available now on Rough Trade and is highly recommended.
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Well, we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that YACHT, electro-party duo and designers of the Macbook Air sleeve, have just signed to DFA Records, home of like-minded party fiends LCD Soundsystem and The Juan Maclean. A perfect fit indeed.
Now for the bad news. In the tradition of Gus Van Sant’s pointless remake of Psycho, The band’s newest video for “Summer Song,” blatantly rips off a scene from the 80’s satire Tapeheads. The movie stars John Cusack and Tim Robbins as ex-security guards who try to make it in the music video business. The original and most hilarious scene below, features fictional band Cube Squared performing the Devo song “Baby Doll”:
And here is the new YACHT video:
Seriously? Ok to be clear, it’s not just the blatancy and utter laziness of YACHT’s video that eeerks us, it’s the fact that the original clip spoofed the ridiculousness of the music industry IN 1988 (irrelevant these days)! Not to mention that the absurdity of a hunky band performing a Devo song and Don Cornelius’s excellent turn as the shady video producer make it so funny and impossible to duplicate. YACHT’s video has no resonance other than to say “hey, we love that scene from that 80’s movie!”
Are we over thinking this? Hm, maybe. I guess we just expected a little more creativity from such a cool band. We still dig them, but we’re disappointed.
You can listen to more of YACHT’s music on their MySpace page and buy the Summer Song EP from Insound.
Hey punk rock girl (and boy), if you feel like re-living your Philly-in-the-80’s hay day, why not drive your bitchin’ camaro down to Austin on November 8th and 9th for the Fun Fun Fun Fest, where you can see the forever love-able Dead Milkmenreunite for their first (and possibly only) show since 2004! Woohoo!
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Two things that seem destined to be together are Inara George’s exuberant voice and Van Dyke Parks‘ whimsical arrangements.
George is the lead singer of electro-lounge pop band The Bird and the Bee, and one of our favorites here at The Walrus and throughout the past 30-some years Van Dyke has elevated the consciousness of popular music with his unconventional approach and non-linear musical concepts. Plus, he wrote the lyrics for what might be the most profound pop album of all time, SMiLE.
And so, the well-suited collaboration has come to be. The beautiful results of which you can stream in their entirety here.
