Here’s a cool little song from unsigned Neon Indian that I discovered over at GvsB recently. Warped synths and serene vocals come together over naive dance beats in a catchy tune, perfect for getting stoned to.

Download more Neon Indian here.

Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer

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Bishop Allen stopped by the awesome Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction store in Philly last month to do a live in-store session. The stripped down set featured new tunes “Shanghaied” and “True or False”, as well as and older classic “Penitentiary Bound”. All of them are awesome, but my favorite would have to be “Shanghaied”. Check it out:

Art In The Age Presents…Bishop Allen “Shanghaied” Live. from Art In The Age on Vimeo.

You can see the full session in one video, as well as videos of the other two songs on the Art in the Age blog.

Bishop Allen’s new album Grrr… is available now on their site.

Kudos to Dead Oceans for putting these two bands on the same bill. Although I missed the majority of the opening band (members of Bishop Allen), I must say that just the combination of Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band’s indie-prog-math-insanity and Bishop Allen’s thinking man’s folk pop made for a great musical evening. Here are some brief thoughts on each band’s set, along with some cool photos shot by Walrus pal Tiffany Yoon

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Everyone living in Philly should make their way to The Church tomorrow night to see one of the best bands in pop music, Bishop Allen, along with Walrus BFFs Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band. If you like great songwriting, it’s a must! Get the details on Facebook.

New Bishop Allen video “Dimmer”

Classic Mt. St Helens Vietnam Band promo:

Bishop Allen are touring in support of their excellent new album Grrr and MSHVB are supporting their debut EP. Dead Oceans has them both, along with free MP3s from both bands!

This new video from Bishop Allen reflects the song’s lyrics with a comedic, Vaudevillian spin. And although it shows some members getting old and/or disappearing, have no fear the band WILL be HERE…in Philly that is, this Thursday at The Church.

Get show details here and purchase the new album, Grrr, from their website.

Ok so I’m a little biased when it comes to this band, due to their name. However, make no mistake about it Dinowalrus, who has played alongside such bands as HEALTH, Ponytail, The Soft Pack, Silver Apples, Titus Andronicus and Chairlift, have a sound that is just as powerful as their name.

“Electric Car, Gas Guitar”, the A-side of their new 7″, is sci-fi krautrock with a full-throttled chorus, reminiscent of bands like Chrome and Faust. Total mindfuckery.

The 7″ is available through the band’s MySpace and their debut % will be out in April on the mostly hip-hop label Female Fun Records.

Dinowalrus – Electric Car, Gas Guitar

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I’m really getting into the recent trend of videos that incorporate clips from B-movies and other weird archival footage (here and here).

This video commissioned by the blog 20jazzfunkgreats and directed by Tommy Boy is no exception. It’s for the newish electro-pop band Telepathe and according to Tommy the footage is pulled from the 1980 PBS sci-fi movie called Lathe of Heaven as well as Brainstorm (Natalie Wood’s last movie), Millennium, National Geographic, and Scanimate. Cool!

Telepathe – Devil’s Trident (Diamond Vampires Remix) from tommy boy on Vimeo.

Purchase Telepathe’s releases from IAMSOUND Records.

The Lisps are an extremely talented and relatively new band from Brooklyn who describe themselves so wonderfully as an “assemblage of 21st century indie-rock vaudevillians writing songs about science and love, space and pain, babies and documents”. Wow, indeed.

The moody “Brackish Water” from last year’s debut Country Doctor Museum is just as wow, with gorgeous vocals and delicate Americana arrangements. Fans of She and Him should DEFINITELY have a listen…

Oh and did I mention that the band have also recently created an ambitious musical about a Civil War Union soldier/aspiring sci-fi writer entitled Futurity? Wow times 1000.

Country Doctor Museum is available now on Amazon.

The Lisps – Brackish Water

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Well, I have been waiting a long time to hear some new music from Bishop Allen (only a year or so but it feels like forever), but now we have a taste of the band’s upcoming album Grrr. Check out this clip of the band performing their new song “Ancient Common Sense Of Things” live at The Loft in San Diego. Classic form:

(via)

While you wait for Grrr, be sure to check out their previous records if you haven’t already. Highly recommended!

This Friday (10/10) we implore you to head down to the coolest new shop in Philly, Reward (we drooled over it the other month) to see one of the most promising new bands to come along in quite a while, Brooklyn’s Chairlift. There will be free screened posters available and free drinks courtesy of our good friends Sailor Jerry Rum.

Don’t know who Chairlift is yet? No worries, just read this:

The band went cross-country with Ariel Pink this summer and has previously performed with bands such as MGMT, Mixel Pixel and YACHT among others.

Originally from Boulder, CO, Caroline Polachek, Aaron Pfenning and Patrick Wimberly were inspired by the 1980’s faux-gothic architecture of the strange Broker Inn they would frequent to see empty late-night jazz shows. Inspired by this ‘ideal hypothetical setting,’ Chairlift formed in the summer of 2006, intent on making live music for haunted houses.

The band’s song “Bruises” is now featured in the new iPod Nano commercial, and it can be viewed here. Listen to the band’s music on MySpace, download a track below, and grab their new album Does You Inspire You, on Amazon.

Again, the show details are:

Friday, October 10, 6PM
Chairlift @ Reward
55 N. 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA
FREE Admission, Free SJ Rum!

See ya there!

Chairlift – Evident Utensil

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Last Friday I had the pleasure of catching Brooklyn’s Takka Takka play their mix of highly nuanced and textual indie-pop at Philly’s MRoom. Indeed, the band sounded great (especially vocals, which were thankfully set high in the mix). After the show, I sat down with lead vocalist Gabe and guitarist Drew, had some beers, and attempted to find out what this band, with an unusual name, is all about.

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Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, starring Michael Cera, hits theaters this weekend (watch the trailer here) and one of our favorite bands, Bishop Allen, makes an appearance in the film. Check out this video of the band performing “Middle Management” cut with scenes from the upcoming film:

(via)

“Middle Management” can be found on the bands most recent album The Broken String, available for purchase on their website.