Rolling Stone: Breaking

Hype Monitor: Theresa Andersson, White Lies and Friendly Fires

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:02:38 -0500

Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet.

The Band: Theresa Andersson
The Buzz: Swedish vocalist blends chockablock rhythms, fairy tale instrumentation and dreamlike melodies for music that recalls a spacier, sultrier Feist.
Listen If: You always wished Kate Bush was just a little more accessible.
Key Track: "Birds Fly Away," an atmospheric lark powered by whirring glockenspiel and twinkling guitars.

The Band: White Lies
The Buzz: Three British mopers blow the dust off their Echo & The Bunnymen records to dish out dour tracks worthy of a Donnie Darko sequel.
Listen If: "The Killing Moon" is your karaoke jam.
Key Track: First single "Death," where a low, moping melody presents the band in all their moody, gloomy glory.

The Band: Friendly Fires
The Buzz: Six members! Six members make big, percussive post-disco tracks.
Listen If: You wish A Certain Ratio were as good as people were telling you they were.
Key Track: "Jump in the Pool," which vibrates with never-stop rhythm and desperate, itchy guitar.

Breaking: Sharon Little

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:04:05 -0500

Who: Philadelphia singer-songwriter Sharon Little, who made the leap from playing coffeehouses and weddings to opening for Robert Plant & Alison Krauss in only nine months. Sounds Like: On her major label debut album Perfect Time for a Breakdown, Little showcases her deep, husky vocals over country-tinged songs that echo Sheryl Crow and Jewel, as evidenced on the slow-burning "Follow That Sound," which doubles as the theme song for A&E's new show The Cleaner. Vital Stats:

Hype Monitor: Gaslight Anthem, Human Highway and Koushik

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:09:17 -0500

Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet.

The Band: Gaslight Anthem
The Buzz: Earnest Jerseyites pair roaring chords with heart-on-sleeve sentiments.
Listen If: You were ever a member of a punk rock Springsteen cover band, or if you think Jesse Malin is the most underrated artist of our generation.
Key Track: "The '59 Sound," which employs a gang of guitars and a grand, hollered chorus in its consideration of mortality.

The Band: Human Highway
The Buzz: Pair of Canucks go all California '70s, writing airy AM anthems that balance atop a stack of pillowy harmonies.
Listen If: You not only identified the source of the band's name — a bizarre 1982 movie starring Neil Young — but you also own a contraband DVD copy.
Key Track: "The Sound," whose shuffling beat and tight guitar strums are the perfect accompaniment to the waning days of summer.

The Band: Koushik
The Buzz: DJ/Producer works up languid, Air-y jams that sound like drifting clouds, rolling seas.
Listen If: You've dreamed of some hybrid of hip-hop and easy listening.
Key Track: "Lying in the Sun," which tops Koushik's gentle-wind production with an equally airy falsetto vocal.

Breaking: The Enemy

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:18:00 -0500

Who: Coventry, England indie punk trio the Enemy, who, in the span of a year, quickly went from forming the band to opening for the Rolling Stones to topping the British music charts. Sounds Like: Already branded by the U.K. press as the newest reincarnation of Oasis, the Enemy combine that band's knack for Lennon/McCartney hooks with the youthful angst of the Buzzcocks and the social awareness of Joe Strummer, as evidenced by their debut album We'll Live and Die in These Towns. Vital Stats:

Download Of Montreal's "Nonpareil of Favor"

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:00:11 -0500

Athens, Georgia's art-pop wackos Of Montreal have a new album called Skeletal Lamping coming out on October 7th. The follow-up to the band's 2007 breakthrough record Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, Skeletal Lamping brings the same sort of theatrical, hallucinatory rave-ups the band is known for with a little extra funk thrown in for good measure. Download the shimmering "Nonpareil of Favor" below. • Of Montreal: "Nonpareil of Favor" (Right click and choose "save as")

Hype Monitor: Burial, Tittsworth and Richard Swift

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:09:29 -0500

Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet. This week pulls its highlights from Blog Fresh Radio.

The Band: Burial
The Buzz: Formerly anonymous dubstep producer reveals his face and name, ending thousands of cockamamie theories in one fell swoop.
Listen If: You've always thought reggae and R&B would sound better sped up, and made out of wires.
Key Track: "Archangel," where a baleful soul vocal is knocked around by big, blocky percussion.

The Band: Tittsworth
The Buzz: Manic, hyperkenetic DC DJ releases manic, hyperkenetic debut.
Listen If: You're staring down one last summer party — all you need is a soundtrack.
Key Track: "WTF," where the spectacularly sassy Kid Sister snarls and spits over a gleefully amphetimized disco track.

The Band: Richard Swift
The Buzz: Prolific California singer/songwriter veers from Bacharach pop to quasi-R&B, but tackles all with scholarly precision.
Listen If: You want a history of 20th century pop, and you want it done in about 45 minutes.
Key Track: "Would You," where Swift pulls off an impressive girl-group lead vocal — it's the Shirelles via David Lynch.

Breaking: Carolina Liar

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:07:05 -0500

Who: Los Angeles-via-Stockholm sextet Carolina Liar, who, with the help of mega-producer Max Martin, are soundtracking every premature break-up this summer with their hit "I'm Not Over." Sounds Like: Combining the Killers' new New Wave, U2's knack for anthems and the bubblegum pop productions of Martin, Carolina Liar come off as the perfect house band for The Hills. Perhaps that's why singer Chad Wolf and the rest of the group had four songs from their debut album Coming to Terms featured on the MTV show. The band will spread their infectious pop across the country as they tour with The Academy Is… this fall. Vital Stats

Exclusive: Hear The Verve's New "Columbo"

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:29:02 -0500

The Verve impressed at Coachella a few months ago and now their long-awaited new album — their first in nearly 10 years — hits stores in a week. *Rolling Stone* is offering up a sneak peek right now: To hear the spacey cut "Columbo" off *Forth* click below and prepare to be awash in Richard Ashcroft's lovely vocals. *Sorry! You can't hear "Columbo" here anymore — the album's out in stores. But you can read David Fricke's four-star review of Forth here.*

Gotta Hear: MGMT's 13-Minute Psych-Rock Freakout "Metanoia"

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:59:05 -0500

One of the best tracks off ontime RS Artist to Watch MGMT's debut is “The Handshake,” a psych-rock headtrip that features no repeating verse or chorus. As the group’s Ben Goldwasser told *Rolling Stone* last November about the band’s approach to songwriting, “We write specifically not to have traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, and we try to challenge ourselves and see if we can write songs that didn’t fall back on that.” No kidding: MGMT have just dropped a brand new jam that, like “The Handshake,” also features no repeating verse or chorus. Only this time, Goldwasser and his songwriting partner Andrew Van Wyn Garden have stretched their songwriting philosophy into a 13-minute psych-rock mindfuck that features about a half-dozen song segments masterfully woven together. (You can pick up the tune, called "Metanoia," at iTunes; check out a live version above.) There’s a little something for everyone here: sunny Beatles-style pop; searing shrieks of electric guitar; theatrical, over-the-top vocals that evoke Freddie Mercry; country-tinged slide guitar; pipe organs; eerie, Haunted House-appropriate dirges. It’s insanely ambitious — but somehow these guys pull it off. And at ninety-nine cents, this thing is a bargain.

Breaking: Shwayze

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:57:50 -0500

Who: Malibu's Shwayze. One-half L.A. playboy and one-half trailer park MC, the duo look to prove they're more than just reality television stars with their self-titled debut album. Sounds Like: If you're unfamiliar with their MTV show Buzzin', Cisco Adler describes the duo's tunes as "California chill stoner music," as evidenced by the duo's Sugar Ray-meets-Pharcyde first single "Buzzin'." Shwayze, the other half of the duo, says Adler's music industry father Lou "brought the California sound in the Sixties. Cisco and I are reinventing it for right now." Vital Stats:

What the Interns Are Listening To: Creature Feature

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:36:01 -0500

Wondering what's blaring through the speakers at our interns' desks? They'll tell you — themselves — in our newest feature What the Interns Are Listening To. **Who:** Creature Feature, a Los Angeles two-piece known for their horror-movie-driven anthems, make the kind of music that will be immediately recognized by avid Danny Elfman fans. Formed after a Halloween party in 2005, the duo made up of Curtis RX on guitar and Erik X on synths get their inspiration from slasher flicks like *Blacula* and *Creepshow*.  **Sounds Like:** Fantasy rock: Creature Feature's seemingly light, carnival-like songs have dark undertones and evoke lots of playfully gory imagery, like *The Nightmare Before Christmas* or *Corpse Bride* do onscreen.

Hype Monitor: Hospital Ships, Marching Band and Women

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:58:06 -0500

Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet.

The Band: Hospital Ships
The Buzz: Fractured folk from Lawrence, KS, the Ships combine quavering vocals with delicate instrumentation.
Listen If: You'd like the Flaming Lips if only their songs were a bit tinier.
Key Track: "The Shots I Drank," a seasick nursery rhyme played out against rolling piano and hazy flutes.

The Band: Marching Band
The Buzz: Swedish duo crafts pillowy pop, brightened with bands of psychedelia.
Listen If: You spend Saturdays eating mushrooms and listening to the Shins.
Key Track: "Gorgeous Behavior," which is full of twinkling guitars and cascading AM radio harmonies.

The Band: Women
The Buzz: California band with un-Googleable name write lower-than-lo-fi pop songs.
Listen If: You like songs where you can see the stitching, and care more about melody than instrumentation.
Key Track: "Group Transport Hall," where a swift acoustic strum carries a spry, childlike vocal.

Breaking: The War on Drugs

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:38:51 -0500

Who: Lo-fi folk-rock quintet from Philadelphia featuring Adam Granduciel of the Capitol Years and guitarist Kurt Vile, who releases solo records boasting stunning fuzzed-out guitar jams. Sounds Like: Bob Dylan cranking out jams with Sonic Youth. Granduciel, whose adenoidal croon eerily recalls the Bard's, has a knack for penning cryptic ruminations on life, death and hitting the road. "There's a song you hear on the radio/ It's a funeral march," he sings on "Arms Like Boulders." "So you change the channel/ But it's all you hear/ As you’re driving up the 101 from Mexico to California." Meanwhile, his band turns spacey noise-blues epics that sometimes stretch on beyond the 10-minute mark. Vital Stats:

Hype Monitor: Spitzer, Air France and Kasai All-Stars

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:05:25 -0500

Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet.

The Band: Spitzer
The Buzz: French electronic duo with no interest in escorts and a penchant for music that sounds like bright green sine-waves.
Listen If: You have a fondness for fat keyboards and skinny beats.
Key Track: The remix of Kylie Minogue's "In My Arms," which sets the Aussie diva's soulful vocals against spitting synths.

The Band: Air France
The Buzz: Bright pop duo deliver everything the Swedes have taught us to expect: sweeping synth-strings, sweet pop vocals and skyrocketing synthesizers. Added plus: Air France are more subdued than most.
Listen If: You fondly recall St. Etienne, or like music that implies more than it states outright.
Key Track: "June Evenings," which buries a light, heavenly melody under layers of fizzy atmospherics.

The Band: Kasai All-Stars
The Buzz: Endlessly inventive Congolese outfit is the second band selected for the mighty Congotronics series, and their blend of bustling thumb pianos, ecstatic chants and otherworldly rhythms is a long, gleeful trip into the surreal.
Listen If: The words "you've never heard anything like this before" are your idea of ultimate praise.
Key Track: "Quick as White," whose sublime morse-code rhythms quickly turn space age and spectacular.

Breaking Artist: Metro Station

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:12:08 -0500

Who: Los Angeles' Metro Station, a sugarcoated emo quartet led by the older siblings of two Disney stars — including one who's currently topping the charts. Sounds Like: Led by singer/guitarist Trace Cyrus (yes, Miley's old brother), Metro Station bridge the gap between Fall Out Boy's emo pop and High School Musical, especially on tracks liked their million-selling synthed-out single "Shake It." "We never thought this one would succeed," Cyrus says. "At first we just had the chorus. Our manager told us, 'You need to write verses for this!'" Vital Stats: