The 13 best songs I’ve heard in the last fortnight. Includes both the best pop song I’ve heard all year* AND the most beautiful song I’ve heard all year**.

Recommended if you like:
• Handclaps, cheerleaders, hip hop (that’s just the first track from The Coup)
•80s Depeche Mode meets The Cure (on the best track off the new Yeasayer album)
•Classic singer-songwriter stylings (from AC Newman and Bill Fay)

•The idea of Broken Social Scene gone dreampop (The Sea and Cake)

•Grizzly Bear meets Dirty Projectors (Buke and Gase) 

plus the usual psych rock, indie rock, indiepop, art rock, dreampop mix.

*from AlunaGeorge
**from Dark Dark Dark

Lots of indie and electronica with influences from krautrock, tropicalia, post punk, goth, baroque pop, psychedelia, punk and more.
A handful of artists more known for fronting bands have returned with solo or ‘other’ band tracks as good as anything from their more famous alma maters. Plus, the return of Dum Dum Girls and Animal Collective and more new tracks from forthcoming releases by Stars and The xx.

Eraas ‘Briar Path’
Gothy post-punk from Brooklyn.
[Eraas]

The Corin Tucker Band ‘Neskowin’
The only good thing about Sleater-Kinney splitting up is we get two great bands instead of one, Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss in Wild Flag and Corin Tucker in The CTB. This is from the forthcoming second album Kill My Blues.
[The Corin Tucker Band]

Animal Collective ‘Today’s Supernatural’
For those of us who prefer the Avey Tare sung songs in Animal Collective to the somewhat whinier vocals of Panda Bear.
[Animal Collective] 

Jason Lytle ‘Dept. of Disappearances’
Charming, wistful but dark. This is good enough to be a Sophtware Slump-era song from the sometime Grandaddy frontman. Can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.
[Jason Lytle]

Stars ‘Backlines’
I’m very excited about the release of  the new Stars album The North and the prospect of the band coming to Australia for live dates. So far we’ve heard two tracks from the album (featured on In The Pharmacy cloudcasts #12 and #14) both featuring lead vocals from Torquil Campbell. This one puts Amy Millan front and centre.
[Stars]

The Sea and Cake ‘Harps’
Sparkling, glitchy dreampop from the veteran Chicago band.
[The Sea and Cake]

Moon Duo ‘Sleepwalker’
Hints of Krautrock and a poppier take on Suicide in this San Franciscan electropop project that features Wooden Shjips’ Erik Johnson.
[Moon Duo]

Deerhoof ‘The Trouble with Candyhands’
Tropicalia influences and a catchy melody find this San Franciscan band a long way from their noise origins.

[Deerhoof] 

Levek ‘French Lessons’
Another slice of 60s influenced slightly baroque psych-pop from Levek, whose ‘Black Mold Grow’ featured in ITP #11 back in June.
[Levek]

The Luyas ‘Fifty Fifty’
Lush 60s influenced pop from Canadian band who share personnel with Bell Orchestre and Miracle Fortress
.
[The Luyas]


Dum Dum Girls ‘Lord Knows’
Although steeped in the pop classicism of 60s girl groups and early punk, each Dum Dum Girls release has been a step forward. This is the first track to surface from the forthcoming End of Daze EP, produced by The Raveonettes Sune Rose Wagner
[Dum Dum Girls]

Chris Cohen ‘Optimist High’
‘Caller No.99’ was featured back in ITP #12, here’s another track of slightly whimsical psych pop from the sometime Deerhoof multi-instrumentalist and serial indie-collaborator.

[Chris Cohen]

Seapony ‘Prove to Me’
Jangling indie-pop from the Pacific Northwest types who were featured back in June (ITP #10)with ‘What You Wanted’.
http://www.hardlyart.com/shop/seapony.html

Bleeding Rainbow ‘Pink Ruff’
Noisy, female-fronted garage pop from Philadelphia.

[Bleeding Rainbow]

Bob Mould ‘The Descent’
Blistering new song from the former Husker Du and Sugar hardcore legend. This could easily have been on Sugar’s 20 year-old recently re-issued debut Copper Blue.

[Bob Mould]

Swearin’ ‘Hear to Hear’
Ridiculoulsy catchy, melodic alt rock in a Built to Spill / Superchunk / early-Lemonheads kind way.
[Swearin’]

The Deadly Syndrome ‘Whatever Comes Our Way’
From the Los Angeles band’s forthcoming third album All In.
[The Deadly Syndrome]

Paul Banks ‘The Base’
A track better than anything on the last two Interpol albums or on his ‘Julian Plenti’ solo debut.

[Paul Banks]

The xx ‘Chained’
Second track to appear from the band’s forthcomning second album Coexist.
[The xx]

Nearly a week late because of a) the Olympics; b) man flu; c) we got kittens (see pic); d) my new hi-fi equipment and vinyl arrived from the UK!

But it’s worth the wait: some great garage rock, new wave, and post-punk influenced tracks plus the return of: The XX, The Mountain Goats, Menomena and more from The Afghan Whigs, Stars, Tame Impala, Bat For Lashes. Comes with a no filler guarantee.

The XX ‘Angels’
A masterclass in minimalism on the first single from the London band’s second album, the forthcoming Coexist.
[The xx] 

The Afghan Whigs ‘Lovecrimes’
Rarely does a band excel at both songwriting and interpretation as completely as the ‘Whigs. Here they cover Frank Ocean  on what has become one of the many highlights of their reformation shows. FREE DOWNLOAD
[The Afghan Whigs]

Stars ‘Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It’
Second track to surface from the Montreal band’s forthcoming album ‘The North’. Euphoric 80s influenced pop with a typically engaging lyric from Torquil Campbell.
[Stars]

Fergus & Geronimo ‘No Parties’
Keyboard and bass driven new wave from Denton, TX. probably been listening to a bit of early Wire, XTC and LCD Soundsystem.

The Babies ‘Moonlight Mile’
Garage rock jangle on the Woodsist label featuring members of Vivian Girls and Woods).
[The Babies]

The Mountain Goats ‘Cry For Judas’
I’ve never checked out the early lo-fi Mountain Goats recordings of the 90s, having only been aware of John Darnielle since 2002’s ‘Tallahassee’ and only really jumped on board with 2009’s The Life of The World to Come. So rich is that last decade that it’s akin to diving into Dylan or Neil Young’s first decade of material – you need to set aside some serious time to get an appreciation for the depth and quality of the achievement. ‘Cry For Judas’ is the first taste of the forthcoming ‘Transcendental Youth album’ and acording to Darnielle “it is about survival but that’s kind of an oversimplification, it’s also about building a vehicle from the defeated pieces of the thing you survived and piloting that vehicle through the cosmos. FREE DOWNLOAD
[The Mountain Goats] 

Tame Impala ‘Elephant’
Suitably named thick thumper from psych-obsessed Western Australian’s second album Lonerism.

[Tame Impala]

Menomena ‘Heavy Is As Heavy Does’
This band passed me by until their third album, 2007’s tasty Friend and Foe. This is a mini-epic which finds them sounding not unlike Blur when Damon was at his most confessional and Graham was at his most noise obsessed.

[Menomena]

Home Blitz ‘Frozen Track’
Lo-fi rock from New York. Sounds like Steven Malkmus meets the Pooh Sticks. You know how good that is.
http://www.mexicansummer.com/shop/home-blitz-frozen-track/
Mode Moderne Foul Weather Fare
New Wave goth pop
Vancouver band with catchy new wave goth pop.

[Home Blitz]

Black Marble ‘A Great Design’
Brooklyn coldwave band with the first track to surface from their forthcoming  debut album ‘A Different Arrangement’.

[Black Marble]

Bat For Lashes ‘Laura’
If you’ve previously been unmoved by the undeniably interesting records of Natasha Kahn, this could be the one to turn you into a fan. A real step up in song writing and arrangement.

[Bat For Lashes]

Eddi Front ‘Gigantic
’
Don’t know much about Eddi Front – she’s New York based but gauche enough to retweet complements on Twitter (why, do people do that? it’s the equivalent of going “hey, everyone who already likes me, this person thinks I’m great”. You’d unfriend them in real life). This though, is gorgeous.
http://soundcloud.com/eddifront

Helio Sequence ‘October’
Sounds like a cross between The Walkmen and Beach House, but with frontman Brandon Summers’ distinctive vocals.. Taken from their forthcoming fifth album Negotiations (their second on Sub Pop).
[Helio Sequence]

Band of Horses ‘Knock Knock’
From forthcoming fourth album Mirage Rock.
[Band of Horses]

Wye Oak ‘Spiral’
Very different from what this Baltimore duo usually play, this is weirdly prog-like and available for free as part of Adult Swim’s Singles Program.
[Adult Swim Singles Program]
[Wye Oak]

TEEN ‘Electric’
All female Brooklyn indie band featuring three sisters and their friend deliver a post punk / new wave vibe.
[TEEN]

Tall Ships ‘Gallop’
This song from the Falmouth band totally lives up to its name. From their forthcoming debut album Everything Touching.
[Tall Ships]

Dinosaur Jr ‘Watch The Corners’
Typical indie slacker brilliance from the re-united Dinosaur Jr, taken from their forthcoming album I Bet On Sky, their third since re-uniting the original line up.
[Dinosaur Jr]

Tame Impala ‘Apocalypse Dream’
More superior Beatles-y psychedelia from the band’s forthcoming second album Lonerism.
[Tame Imapla]

The Peoples Temple ‘Looter’s Game’
Garage-blues-psych-pop from Lansing Michigan.
[Peoples Temple]

Outer Minds ‘We Are All Stone’
Nearly featured this Chicago band back in April with ‘Gimmie A Reason’, but this time their retro fuzz rock nails it.
[Outer Minds]

Passion Pit ‘Constant Conversations’
Another track from forthcoming album Gossamer.
[Passion Pit]

Frank Ocean ‘Sweet Life’
While I was aware of FO, I hadn’t paid him much attention until I heard The Afghan Whigs cover of ‘LoveCrimes’. Polished R&B with a classic feel, a real grower.
[Frank Ocean]

Lockah ‘The Sour Drink From The Ocean’
Aberdonian DJ producer with retro bleeptronica.
[Lockah]

The Kills ‘Dreams’
Fleetwood Mac cover version from the tribute album Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac.
[The Kills]

It almost seems like there’s been a concerted effort to squeeze out a bunch of great songs in the last week of the first half of 2012. The return of Stars, Matt & Kim, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion another new Yeasayer track plus a Cars cover version. Plus plenty of swooning, jangling, grooving indie and lazy psych pop, Norwegian space disco, folk and krautrock influences etc.

jj ‘Times’
Blissed out indie pop from Sweden. Download the whole of their ‘High Summer’ EP for free.
 “Beer, Cigarettes, You and Whisky”.
[jj]

Matt & Kim ‘Lets Go’
Exuberant dance-pop from the Brooklyn based boy/girl duo.

[Matt & Kim]

Divine Fits ‘My Love Is Real’
Indie ‘supergroup’ featuring Spoon’s Britt Daniel, Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade / Handsome Furs) and Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks). This sounds very much like a cross between Daniel and Boeckner’s other bands.

[Divine Fits]

Stars ‘The Theory of Relativity’
Literate indie with 80s electronic pop vibe from the Toronto band’s forthcoming. Download for free on their website.

[Stars]

Mungolian Jetset presents Jaga Jazzist vs. Knights of Jumungus ‘Toccata’
Norwegian space disco.

[Mungolian Jetset]

Alpine ‘Gasoline’
Easylistening synth-pop from Melbourne six-piece follows up the more strident ‘Hands’ (featured back on ITP #4).
[Alpine]

Yeasayer ‘Longevity’
Second track to be lifted from the band’s forthcoming third album ‘Fragrant World’. Minimal, lots of autotuned vocals, some north African flavoured strings and a few synths over an insistent rhythm.

[Yeasayer]

Dark Dark Dark ‘Tell Me’
The sound of Regina Spektor meeting Beach House from Minneapolis band who have previously blended a folky Americana sound with New Orleans Jazz.
[Dark Dark Dark]

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ‘Black Mold’
It gladdens the heart that JSBX are still making explosive garage blues rock n’ roll records over 20 years down the line. This one is from their first new album in eight years, the forthcoming ‘Meat & Bones’
[Jon Spencer Blues Explosion]

Thee Oh Sees ‘Lupine Dominus’
Here the veteran San Francisco psych pop band sound like Can playing a freeform version of ‘My Sharona’.

[Thee Oh Sees]

Foxygen ‘Waitin’ 4 U’
Remember that terrible cover of ‘Dancing In The Street’ for Live Aid? Instead, imagine that Jagger and Bowie had collaborated back in 1971 when they were both at a creative peak. It might have sounded a bit like this.

[Foxygen]

Dignan Porch ‘Sad Shape’

Lo-fi psych-tinged indie with a lazy vibe and some laidback acid guitar soloing
.
[Dignan Porch]

Chris Cohen ‘Caller No.99’
More of that 60s-refracted-through-the-80s shambling indie psych-pop from sometime Deerhoof multi-instrumentalist.
[Chris Cohen]

Cold Showers ‘Double Life’
A cover of the track from The Cars’ ‘Candy-O’ album by this Los Angeles band with a fondness for the darker side of early 80s new wave.

[Double Life]

Barbara Morgenstern ‘Spring Time’
Veteran Berlin-based electronic musician sings in English on this slice of electronic pop with (given the title) a suitable pastoral medieval folk motif at its heart.

[Barbara Morgenstern]

The Antlers ‘Drift Drive’
Chilled out indie with mournful horns and Hawaiian guitar.

[The Antlers]

Today’s second cloudcast brings it up to date with the 16 best new tracks I’ve heard over the last couple of weeks. Superchunk have a killer summer anthem, Cat Power returns with the best track she’s done in years, The New Pornographers cover Fleetwood Mac and there are healthy doses of electronica, indie, dreampop, 80s influenced pop, 60s influenced pop, and more Canadians than you can shake a stick at.
  

Superchunk ‘This Summer’
Indie rock of the highest calibre from Chapel Hill’s finest. Although it’s pretty much winter here in Australia, there’s always time for a great summer song. And this is one of the greatest – certainly my favourite summer lyric.
[Superchunk]

Cat Power ‘Ruin’
This is the Cat Power that I love, idiosyncratic and not trying to be anyone but herself. Back to her Moonpix / You Are Free peak. Some great guitar playing, an insistent piano riff, driving percussion and that voice with a refrain you can’t get out of your head.
[Cat Power]

The New Pornographers ‘Think About Me’
Carl Newman and co take an OK Lindsay Buckingham Fleetwood Mac song from Tusk and turn it into power pop brilliance. Can’t wait to hear the rest of this Fleetwood Mac tribte album featuring the likes of Lee Ranaldo w/ J Mascis, The Kills, St Vincent w/ Craig Wedren, Tame Impala and Best Coast
[New Pornographers]

Wild Nothing ‘Shadow’
Lush pop with an 80s textural rock feel – almost like something from The Church circa Heyday.
[Wild Nothing]

Heavenly Beat ‘Tradition’
John Pena from Beach Fossils side project. Very polished catchy 80s pop.
[Heavenly Beat]

Weird Dreams ‘House of Secrets’
This is the other side to the split 7” with Girls Names’ A Troubled See that was featured back in In The Pharmacy #9. A much more laidback beast from this London band.
[Weird Dreams]

Opossom ‘Blue Meanies’
A shuffling ‘Young Folks’-like beat on this none more 60s tune from New Zealander Kody ‘Mint Chicks / Unknown Mortal Orchestra’ Nielsen’s psych-pop outfit.
[Opossom]

Levek ‘Black Mold Grow’
The 60s vibe continues with this utterly charming baroque / sunshine pop meets Mercury Rev tune from Gainesville, Florida native David Levesque.
[Levek]

Dirty Projectors ‘Dance For You’
No polyphonic female vocals but plenty of handclaps, west-african influenced guitar noodling and a touch of Brian Wilson from David Longstreth and co. Understated and a real grower.
[Dirty Projectors]

Matthew E White ‘One of These Days’
Hints of Bon Iver, The National and even The Beta Band, plus a definite New Orleans vibe on this track from this Richmond, Virginia based artist. You can tell it’s something special straight away, but it’s appeal grows with each listen as you begin to notice everything that is going on in this wonderfully arranged tune.
[Matthew E White]

Daydream Vacation ‘Dare Seize The Fire’
Bright and shiny electro pop from Dave Einmo of Head Like a Kite and Asya formerly of Smoosh.
[Daydream Vacation]

Purity Ring ‘Fineshrine’
Second In The Pharmacy appearance from the Montreal based electronic duo after April’s Obedear appeared in ITP #8. This manages to be both sweet and creepy. Their debut album is due out on 4AD in July.
[Purity Ring]

LOL Boys ‘GetClose to Me’ ft Angelina Lucero
Another Montreal-based electronic artist to go with that? Certainly. Jerome Potter and Markus Garcia are the terribly named LOL Boys and this is their insanely catchy new single featuring Chicagoan chanteuse Angelina Lucero.
[LOL Boys]

Eaux ‘No More Power’
Synth minimalism with a lovely bassline. This is the b-side to the London based three-piece’s debut single ‘Luther’.
[Eaux]

Port St. Willow ‘Amawalk’
This is just fantastic. Dreamy, layered ambience with a little bit of The National at their most melancholy reaches from Brooklyn based Nick Principe. There’s a whole album of his stuff over on Bandcamp.

[Port St. Willow]

Willits + Sakamoto ‘Completion’
Instrumental from San Franciscan guitarist/ electronic musician Christopher Willets and legendary Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto “tranquil ambience, lush piano chords and beautiful, elongated guitar tones”.
[Willits + Sakamoto]

The first of two Cloudcasts I’m uploading today, #10 recaps the best songs I heard back round the beginning of June.  This one starts off with a track that encapsulates the best of that certain NYC sound circa 78-82, a healthy dose of electronic and groove based music, some classic feel indie pop, indie rock, power pop, and influences from folk, blues, shoegaze and more. As usual. I always try and link to the artists official site or somewhere you can legally download the track.

Friends ‘Home’
This is my favourite track so far from these Brooklyn hipsters. This manages to sound very now while still shamelessly tapping 30 year old influences (specifically, ESG and Tom Tom Club). Recommended if you like the former two bands or LCD Soundsystem.
[Friends]

Beat Connection ‘The Palace Garden 4am’
Neat segue! This Seattle band are presumably named after the LCD Soundsystem single. This is a nice slice of feel good electronica which should appeal to Friendly Fires fans.
[Beat Connection]
 
Matthew Dear ‘Her Fantasy’
This is the second In The Pharmacy appearance for Matthew Dear (he featured back in January with ‘In The Middle’). To these ears, this has a lot of late 80s / early 90s influences in it’s use of samples, beats and an almost Electronic Body Music / light industrial feel (esp. in the dispassionate vocals) but mainly it sounds like an Andy Weatherall production circa-Screamadelica.
[Matthew Dear]

Mozart’s Sister ‘Don’t Leave It To Me’
retro electro-pop from Montreal’s Caila Thompson-Hannant. Clearly inamoured of Prince’s 80s productions, especially ‘When Doves Cry’ (no bad thing).
[Mozart’s Sister]

Moons ‘Bloody Mouth’
Sounds very French; like a moodier, dreamier Phoenix – but actually the work of Atlanta based Patrick Canaday who I believe previously recorded as Music Mountain.
[Moons]

Family Band ‘Moonbeams’
Don’t know much about this Brooklyn-based bad but love that this dreamy tune reminds me of a folkier, Tresspassers William.
[Family Band]

Seapony ‘What You Wanted’
That’s a fairly indie name right there. Classic bright 80s influenced indie-pop from the Pacific North West
[Seapony]

Eternal Summers ‘Wonder’
Their track ‘Millions’ was featured only a couple of Cloudcasts back, but this mix of female voiced indiepop and early Cure resonates with a man of my vintage. A little bit of magic in under three minutes.
[Eternal Summers]

Young Guv and the Scuzz ‘Heal Over Time’
I’m a sucker for power pop when it’s done this well. Ben Cook of Fucked Up is the Young Guv (previously Young Governor) in question and this is just joyous.
[Young Guv]
 
Redd Kross ‘Researching The Blues’
Reunited with their Neurotica / Third Eye-era line up featuring Robert Hecker on guitar, this is the title track of the band’s forthcoming album, their first in 15 years. Crunching, post-grunge garage pop.
[Redd Kross]

Grizzly Bear ‘Sleeping Ute’
This manages to connect with so many touch points and still sound cohesive. A few hints at the the sort of primitive electronica that so many other acts on the Warp label reference but mainly post-rock with a strong current of Led Zep blues/folk (although Edward Droste’s vocal is a million miles away from Robert Plant’s). A real grower and just the right side of massively pretentious.
[Grizzly Bear]

Laetitia Sadier ‘Find Me The Pulse of The Universe’
I haven’t been following the progress of Laetitia Sadier since Stereolab went on hiatus a few years back. This though, seems to be Sadier distilled down to her essence. The instrumentation and arrangement is faultless, the vocals all warm but slightly aloof in the way only a francophone singing in English can be, and less than three minutes long.
[Laetitia Sadier]

Calexico ‘Para’
The Veteran Americana duo went from their home of Arizona to New Orleans to record their forthcoming album Algiers. This is slow bluesy number with Joey Burns vocals at their most brooding.
[Calexico]

In The Pharmacy #9 – Late May 2012 by Nickpeters on Mixcloud.

Shit the bed! Some amazing tracks from returning artists: Yeasayer, CoCoRosie, The Afghan Whigs, Passion Pit. Plus the usual mixture of indie, garage rock, electronic pop and krautrock influences. Yet another great track from the forthcoming Heaven by The Walkmen and a haunting cover to round things off.

CoCoRosie ‘We Are On Fire’
Produced by Dave Sitek so the odds of it being good were always pretty high. This is my favourite track these often musically quirky sisters have done. Plus, it marks their return to and relaunch of the excellent Touch and Go label.
[CocoRosie]

Yeasayer ‘Henrietta’
First taste of album number three from my favourite badly dressed band. African polyrhythms have given way to more of a reggae / dub influence. Some lovely
Download for free on the website:
[Yeasayer]

Passion Pit ‘Take A Walk’
Upbeat electronic pop from Michael Angelakos. His first release since ‘Manners’ three years ago.
[Passion Pit]

Girls Names ‘A Troubled See’
Belfast band return with a split 7” (w/ Brilliant Colors) on Slumberland/ Tough Love. Indie influenced by early Cure with a hint of Krautrock.
[Girls Names]

Intelligence w/ Kelley Stoltz
San Franciscan garage rockers team up with Sub Pop guitar jangler for a split 7”
[The Intelligence]

John Maus ‘Mental Breakdown’
Sometime keyboard basher for Animal Collective / Ariel Pink with vaguely gothic, staccato, new wave and Krautrock influenced indie.
[John Maus]

Marissa Nadler ‘Apostle’
Haunted indie with a country / torch song / dream-folk feel. ‘Apostle’ comes from Nadler’s forthcoming sixth album ‘The Sister’.
[Marissa Nadler]

The Afghan Whigs ‘See and Don’t See’
First new track from the Whigs in five years marks a fully fledged reunion from Greg Dulli and co. No guitar pyrotehcnics this time, but plenty of blues.
[The Afghan Whigs]

Father You See Queen ‘We Give and Give and You Take and Take and Take and Take’
Minneapolis duo with penchant for long titles and slow, blissed out songs. Hear more on Soundlcoud
[Father You See Queen]

Melody’s Echo Chamber ‘Cystallized’
Electronic dreampop that has shades of a more lo-fi School of Seven Bells.
[Melody’s Echo Chamber]

Liars ‘No.1 Against The Rush (Vince Clarke Remix)‘
The original of this was featured in the last Cloudcast, but here Basildon meets Brooklyn as VC gives it a tasty techno remix. I love it when the twangy guitars come in at the 5 minute mark.
[Liars]

The Walkmen ‘Can’t Be Beat’
This is he third track I’ve featured from the band’s forthcoming album Heaven. Yes, I’m ridiculously excited about getting my hands on it.
[The Walkmen]

Oneohtrix Point Never ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’
Mercury Rev, Frank Sinatra and Beck are just three of the artists who have covered this 1934 penned classic, but the 1959 doo-wop version by The Flamingoes is the bench mark (hey, it’s the one they used in Buffy so you know it’s true). This Daniel Lopatin take is equally special, a real grower that taps into the Flamingoes’ version’s haunting atmosphere).
[Oneohtrix Point Never]

In The Pharmacy #8 – May 2012 by Nickpeters on Mixcloud

The 12 best songs I’ve heard in the last couple of weeks featuring songs that sound like:
• The Beta Band gone country
• (early) The Cure
• Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra gone electronica
• the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie
Plus the best pop song I’ve heard so far this year and new tracks from Spiritualized, The Walkmen, Silversun Pickups and more.

AlunaGeorge ‘Just A Touch’
UK duo with 90s R n B influences. The best pop song I’ve heard so far this year.
[Aluna George]

Spiritualized ‘Too Late’
My favourite track on the brilliant Sweet Heart, Sweet Light album. Half yearning / half resignation. A song about love, rather than a lovesong.
[Spiritualized]

Silversun Pickups ‘Gun-Shy Sunshine’
An early favourite off forthcoming album number three ‘Neck of the Woods’. The whole album is streaming over on Soundcloud.
[Soundcloud] [Silversun Pickups]

The Walkmen ‘Heartbreaker’
Second track to be aired from the forthcoming album ‘heaven’ I would have opened with this if I hadn’t already started the last cloudcast with the title track.
[The Walkmen]

DIIV ‘Doused’
Previously called Dive, the side project of Beach Fossils’ Zachary Cole. This is clearly indebted to The Cure’s early years without being a carbon copy.
[DIIV]

Purity Ring ‘Obedear’
Signed to 4AD, this electropop duo from Canada create a sweet but slightly creepy atmosphere which makes for beguiling tunes like this one. Download it for free on the website:
[Purity Ring]

Eternal Summers ‘ Millions’
Bright indiepop from Virginia. Short and sweet.
[Eternal Summers]

Twin Shadow ‘Five Seconds’
Twin Shadow is one of those artists who seems to yearn for an 80s that he was too young to experience. Like the best work of M83 and Ariel Pink, this sounds like it could have come straight off the soundtrack to a John Hughes film.
[Twin Shadow]

Au Palais ‘Some Velvet Morning’
I’ve lost track of the number of covers of this Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra classic. They never seem to diverge that far from the original. Here though, the Anglo Canadian electro goth pop drag it out of the 60s and if they don’t quite bring it up to date, they do make it as far as the 80s.
[Au Palais]

Sonny and the Sunsets ‘Pretend You Love Me’
This Bay Area band usually deal in lo-fi 60s influenced indie rock but this is from their forthcoming country album ‘Longtime Companion’. But while there’s some plaintive slide guitar and the title and lyrics are very much classic tropes, this isn’t straight country. There’s a loping bassline and some playful flute and the whole thing comes across a bit like the Beta Band if they were from Tennessee.
[Sonny and the Sunsets]

Field Report ‘Taking Alcatraz’
Wisconsin’s Chris Porterfield is a longtime buddy and collaborator of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. This is an unmastered version of a track from his forthcoming album.
[Field Report]

One Little Plane ‘Hold You Down’
Kathryn Bint, Chicagoan Four Tet collaborator with chilled out, gentle folk.
[One Little Plane]

Twelve shining gems from the last two weeks of new music. Along with the return of The Walkmen and Beach House you’ll find: a track that sounds like Teenage Fanclub if Gerard Love came from San Francisco; a cover of 80s Glaswegian post-punk types The Wake; a slacker guitar solo that wouldn’t sound out of place on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere; a Pet Shop Boys cover; the most jubilant electronica instrumental of the year.

The Walkmen ‘Heaven’
Ten years, six albums and a handful of labels in, The Walkmen are on a roll with their last two albums,You & Me (2008) and Lisbon (2010) being easily their best. This is the title track of the next one due out in June. It features the usual circular motifs of drunken trebly jangling guitars and Hamilton Leithauser’s imploring vocals.
[The Walkmen]

Beach House ‘Lazuli’
Mesmeric dream pop from Baltimore. This is one of the stand out tracks from their forthcoming album Bloom.
[Beach House]

Beachwood Sparks ‘Forget The Song’
It’s been 10 years since the last Beachwood Sparks album. If you like classic rock, Cosmic American music and and Teenage Fanclub, you’ll probably agree that this was worth the wait.
[Beachwood Sparks]

Felix ‘Oh Thee 73’
Can’t quite put my finger on who these UK guys remind me of, although for some reason I’m getting Shannon Wright meets Edie Brickell.
[Felix]

MV & EE ‘Too Far To See’
Matt Valentine and Erika Elder are incredibly prolific and deal in combining eastern and western instruments, often with a psychedelic, folk and raga flavour. This is from the aptly titled ‘Space Homestead’ album due out next month. About a third of the way in it becomes a vehicle for a lazy guitar solo that could comfortable sit bewteen Neil Young’s ‘Down By the River’ and ‘Cowgirl In the Sand’.
[MV & EE]

Ed Schrader’s Music Beat ‘When I’m in A Car’

73 seconds of conceptual punk from Baltimore featuring No Age’s Randy Randall on guitar. Intense.
[Ed Shrader’s Music Beat]

Field Music ‘Rent’
Half of Pets Shop Boys is of course North Shields’ favourite son Neil Tenant. Here they get covered by fellow North East boys Field Music (from Sunderland). Recorded specially for a Record Store Day 7” (with a cover of the PSB’s Heart on the flip).
[Field Music]

Blouse ‘Pale Spectre’
Portland based band take on this track originally by Glasgow post-punks The Wake. Their ethereal electropop reminds me of Clan of Xymox meets mid-80s indiepop.
[Blouse]

Zulu Winter ‘Silver Tongue’
London based band recently signed to Candian indie Arts & Crafts, where their charming homage to 80s pop will no doubt be at home.
[Zulu Winter]

Doseone ‘Last Life’
Doseone (aka Adam Drucker of cLOUDEAD / 13 & God and co-founder of Anticon) was talking about a supergroup with Tunde Adebimpe of TV On The Radio and Mike Patton as far back as 2008. I don’t think the results have seen the light of day, but for sure that’s Adbimpe providing some of the backing vocals here? While the main vocals deserve credit for channelling a bit of Mark Linkous.
[Doseone]

Solar Bears‘Cosmic Runner’
Wonderful retro electronica from this Irish duo.
[Solar Bears]

Unicorn Kid ‘Pure Space’
20 year old Glaswegian makes uplifting and joyous electro-house anthem.
[Unicorn Kid]