The fourteen best songs I’ve heard in the last couple of weeks. This latest Cloudcast features indie and electronica, a track that’s heavily indebted to Daft Punk, a track that sounds like a lost James Bond theme, a track that sounds like a cross between Joy Division and The Stereophonics, a track that shares a title with a Duran Duran song but isn’t a cover, and plenty of Krautrock influences (or maybe I just hear those everywhere). It opens with a track by one of Sydney’s best bands, includes a remix of another Aussie band and closes with a cover version from a Melbourne post-punk icon collaborating with a New York new wave icon on a song from a legendary LA band.

Royal Headache ‘Down the Lane’
Sydney lo-fi retro rockers with a keen ear for melody and a ramshackle esthetic. Very catchy. Their self-titled debut album is due out in May. WARNING: their online presence is even more ramshackle than their music.
[Royal Headache]

Best Coast ‘The Only Place’
Carefree indiepop, the title track from the LA band’s forthcoming second album. This seems more polished than anything on Crazy For You but retains that 60s feel with a dash of country in Bethany Cosentino’s vocals. Download it for free from their website.
[Best Coast]

Pop Etc ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’
The Morning Benders’s Big Echo was one of my favourite albums of 2010. They’ve now changed their name to Pop Etc. (read all about it here) and seem to be going in a more electronic direction. Sadly, this is not a cover of the Duran Duran classic, but it is nearly as good. Available as part of a free 12 track mixtape which you can download from their website.
[Pop Etc]

James Curd ‘Guide Me (Gigamesh Mix)’
Chciago DJ makes a great Daft Punk / Stardust / Superman Lovers indebted
70s space disco funk number (with handclaps).
[James Curd]

Canyons ‘When I See You Again (Nick Zinner Remix)’
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ guitarist takes this track from the Aussie band’s Keep Your Dreams album and gives it an Italo / electro house makeover that plays up the piano and acoustic guitar riffs and adds some cowbell.
[Canyons]
 
Black Mouth Super Rainbow ‘Spraypaint’
New track from Pittsburgh’s folk-tinged electronic psychedelic pop veterans.
[Black Moth Super Rainbow]

Jai Paul ‘Jasmine’
Jai Paul’s ‘BTSU’ single passed me by completely – check out some of the hilariously negative reviews of it on his MySpace page. This, on the other hand,  is a great piece of bedroom space funk with loads going on.
[Jai Paul]

Suckers ‘Chinese Braille’
Brooklyn band return with a tune with a real 70s vibe to it.  Hints of Bowie and Ronson at their most glam and ELO’s Beatles plundering. There’s other stuff going on, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
[Suckers]

Dirty Projectors ‘Gun Has No Trigger’
I’ve found in the past that for every Dirty Projectors’ tune I’ve loved, there’s been two that left me cold. The fact that this sounds like a lost James Bond film theme came as a pleasant surprise.
[Dirty Projectors]

John Maus ‘No Title (Molly)’
A good song from the one-time Ariel Pink associate, despite the fact that after a few listens I’ve decided it sounds like he’s channelling Ian Curtis singing The Stereophonics ‘Dakota’.
[John Maus]

Liars ‘No.1 Against The Rush’
Another stylistic shift for Liars. This has a Krautrock-meets-glitch feel to it, an almost motorik rhythm and clearly they’ve been listening to some Kraftwerk.
[Liars]

Lower Dens ‘Propagation’
Like fellow Baltimore band Beach House, Lower Dens deal in the woozy, hazy dreampop but with more of a downbeat, Krautrock feel to it. This is the second track to surface from their forthcoming album Nootropics, out April 30. (The first track ‘Brains’ was featured in ITP Cloudcast #1 back in January).
[Lower Dens]
 
jj ‘Beautiful Life’
This is the lead track from the Swedish band’s forthcoming EP jj no.4 due out May 8. A lovely slice of chilled out indie pop.
[jj]

Nick Cave and Debbie Harry ‘Breaking Hands’
Fire of Love was the undeniable classic, but I always rated Mother Juno, The Gun Club’s 1987 album whence the original of this fine tune resides. This is the second time Cave and Harry have teamed up to record one of the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s songs, this is featured as part of the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project second album The Journey Is Long.
[Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project]

The 16 best songs I’ve heard in the last couple of weeks, some may be new to you, some not, but I hope you’ll find them all of the highest quality. This latest Cloudcast features a lot of rock and soul plus some electronica, glitch, glam, pop, post-dubstep, indie rock, space disco, indie pop and ambient gospel. You’ll find tunes that sound a bit like Queens of the Stone Age, Dinosaur Jr playing the Buzzcocks, Lana Del Rey on helium and chilled out club tracks. A lot of these tracks can be legally downloaded for free, so please follow the links if you like them and support the artists.

Kingswood – ‘Yeah Go Die’
Grunge-y stoner rock from Melbourne. This has blown up over the last couple of weeks, if they have other songs as good as this they’ll be huge. You can download it for free here:
[Kingswood]

Electric Guest ‘This Head I Hold’
Dangermouse produced indie soul from Los Angeles.
[Electric Guest]

King Tuff ‘Bad Thing’
Glam power pop from King Tuff, the alter ego of Kyle Thomas, lead vocalist of the J Mascis side project Witch and freak folkers Feathers. Download it for free over at Sub Pop:
[King Tuff]

Retribution Gospel Choir ‘Maharisha’
One of many side projects for Low’s Alan Sparhawk, this is quite different to the dirty indie rock and roll of the first two RGC albums. A big bright stadium rocker from The Revolution EP. You can download the whole EP for free here:
[Retribution Gospel Choir]

Bobby Womack ‘Please Forgive My Heart’
Last heard on Gorillas’ ‘Plastic Beach’ the soul legend has again teamed up with Damon Albarn to record his first secular album in nearly 20 years, The Bravest Man In The World (due out in June). This first track has a great vocal from Womack that could have come from one of his classic early 70s albums, while musically it’s as modern as you’d expect from a project featuring Albarn and man-behind-Adele / XL head honcho Richard Russell.
[Bobby Womack]

The Men ‘Open Your Heart’
Not sure how this Brooklyn band’s 2011 album ‘Leave Home’ passed me by as these guys are right up my street. This is the title track from their new album and sounds like Dinosaur Jr circa Bug playing The Buzzcock’s ‘Ever Fallen in Love…’.

DZ Deathrays ‘No Sleep’
Caught this Brisbane thrashy blues duo at Laneway at the beginning of February and this was one of the standouts of their set. The video pays homage to Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’ promo, with Arj Barker playing the Chevy Chase role.
[DZ Deathrays]

Jack White ’16 Saltines’
Jack’s voice spitting out the lyrics in it’s most hysterical falsetto pitch. Big crunching riff and a tasty guitar solo. Can’t wait for the album.
[Jack White]

Nick Waterhouse ‘Some Place’
25-year-old San Franciscan plays modern R n’ B in a classic style.  Think Daptone / Mark Ronson.
[Nick Waterhouse]
   
Gossling ‘Wild Love’
From rural Victoria, Helen Croome makes a record that is what I imagine Lana Del Rey might sound like if she stopped pouting, lightened up and sucked on some helium.
[Gossling]

Lotus Plaza ‘Strangers’
Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt prepares to release his second album under the Lotus Plaza name. ‘Strangers’ has sonic similarities to his work with Deerhunter, but with a more lo-fi, dreamy, jangly 80s indie vibe going on.
[Lotus Plaza]

Siamese Twins ‘We Fall Apart (demo)’
More 80s influenced indie-pop, this time from Chicago. The sound quality isn’t great, but I think that just adds to the lo-fi charm. There’s a link on their Facebook page to download the whole six track demo:
[Siamese Twins]

F3 ‘Lonely Land (John Talabot Midnight Club Revision)’
F3 are three brothers from Tel Aviv making space disco. I haven’t heard the original but this remix from so-hot-right-now Spanish dude John Talabot is late night chill-tastic. I keep switching between thinking this is brilliant to feeling physically sick at the thought of being in a club at 2 in the morning.
[F3]

SBTRKT ‘Surely’
Like John Talabot, Aaron Jerome aka SBTRKT can’t seem to do any wrong at the moment. His post-dusbtep music manages to appeal to hipster youth and people like myself who wouldn’t be caught dead in a club playing this sort of music.
[SBTRKT]

Chrome Sparks feat Steffaloo ‘All There Is’
Glitchy electronica from Jeremy Malvin aka Chrome Sparks
jeremy malvin grew up in pittsburgh then moved to ann arbor to study percussion. now he just chills and makes beats in ann arbor when he isn’t playing drums for stepdad.
[Chrome Sparks]

Mister Lies ‘False Astronomy’
Chicago producer Mister Lies deals in what he calls ambient gospel, a good description of this chilled out track from his Hidden Neighbors EP
[Mister Lies]

I listened to a lot of very average music over the past two weeks. For a moment there, this was looking like a really short cloudcast. There is no fixed length to these, I’m aiming to put one together every two weeks and only the very best tracks will make it whether that’s two tunes or 20. I end up having to listen to a lot of crap, but hopefully this means you don’t have to.

Black Mountain ‘Mary Lou’
Psychedelic / space /stoner rock often lacks tunes, grooves or both, but Vancouver’s Black Mountain get the mix of repetitive riffing and songwriting just right. After two superb albums 9their eponymous debut (2005) and ’In The Future’ (2008) I was a little underwhelmed by 2010’s ‘In The Wildreness’  (despite its awesome sky-shark sleeve). Good, then, to hear this near-eight-minute monster from their forthcoming soundtrack to Year Zero, a surfing movie. It’s like Morning of The Earth or Five Summer Stories for the 21st Century. [Black Mountain]

The Temper Trap ‘Rabbit Hole’
My wife is fond of Temper Trap as they remind her of the New Radicals, specifically the song ‘Fader’. When their debut came out there seemed to be a bit of disappointment that they were copping a little bit too much of the stadium friendly dynamic from Coldplay rather than Radiohead. Clearly, this is a band with ambitions, but they’ve already proved themselves better songwriters than Chris Martin and co. (although the jury is still out on the lyrics). What I like most about ‘Rabbit Hole’ is the way that, exactly half way through, the guitars power up and change the song from a slightly maudlin little semi-acoustic number into a full on rock out. Also, a lesser band would have stretched this out to a five minute song, whereas the decision to bring it to a dead stop at 3m17s makes it all the more powerful. [The Temper Trap]

Beach House ‘Myth’
From Baltimore, this is the first track to be released from their forthcoming fourth album ‘Bloom’. Its swooning dream pop built around guitar, keyboards and Victoria Legrand’s husky, mellifluous vocals. It doesn’t sound like they’ve strayed very far from the elements that made their last album, 2010’s ‘Teen Dream’ such a captivating experience. [Beach House]

The Dandy Warhols ‘Well They’re Gone’
Although they haven’t always held my interest across a whole album, the Dandy Warhols often throw up interesting little moments and occasional pop gems. I’m always ready to hear what they do next. This downbeat number, driven along by a ghostly swirl of quiet noise, some gentle percussion and what sounds like a melodica is a million miles away from the brash pop of ‘Bohemian Like You’ or the garage rock of ‘Smoke It’. [Dandy Warhols]

Brendan Benson ‘Bad For Me’
Epic piano ballad power pop from the singer songwriter and member of The Raconteurs / The Saboteurs. Lush and full, like Benson’s last album it carries the influence of Paul McCartney, ELO and Bowie as well as the likes of Jellyfish, Redd Kross and Jason Faulkner. [Brendan Benson]

Free Energy ‘Electric Fever’
Free Energy cop the best bits of 70s glam, power pop and classic rock and filter it through a 90s indie slacker prism. You can hear the influence of T-Rex, The Cars, Thin Lizzy and Pavement throughout their James Murphy produced debut, ‘Stuck On Nothing’ (2010). If that wasn’t enough to set them apart from their contemporaries, they also write brilliant, catchy tunes. This is the first taste of their forthcoming second album ‘Love Sign’, recorded with John Agnello (clearly the right man for the job as he’s worked on Redd Kross’s ‘Phaseshifter’, Dinosaur Jr’s ‘Farm’ and Cyndi Lauper’s ‘She’s So Unusual’ among many many others). [Free Energy]

Spiritualized ‘Hey Jane’
Upbeat and uplifting two-parter from Jason Pierce and co.  that serves as a quasi-title track for their forthcoming ‘Sweet Heart Sweet Light’ album. You can hear, Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Lou Reed in the first half, but it’s the glam stomp of David Bowie’s ‘The Jean Genie’ that really seeps through, while the second half is like gospel-tinged, double speed Krautrock. A monster 9 minutes that never seems too long. [Spiritualized]

Alpine ‘Hands’
I caught this Melbourne band live a year or so ago and while I thought they were interesting, I must admit I didn’t really hear the potential that this track has so clearly delivered on. A clubby, catchy hand clapping, little number that gets stuck in your head and seems incredibly assured for a relatively young bad. This came out here in Australia back in November, but has started to create interest in the UK (featured in The Guardian) and US (Pitchfork and The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne have mentioned them favourably). Their debut album is due out on Ivy League soon. [Alpine]

Apparat ‘Candil De La Calle (Apparat Dub)’
Apparat’s ‘The Devil’s Walk’ was one of my favourite albums of 2011. The original version of this song is one of that record’s standout tracks, featuring a wonderful yearning vocal. This dub version (mixed by the man himself) tones down the wistfulness and amplifies the spaced out clubbiness, turning it into a very different feeling tune without straying too far from the original. Clever. You can hear the original in they best of 2011 cloudcast here. [Apparat]

Bear In Heaven ‘Sinful Nature’
Reviews of this Brooklyn band, about to release their fourth album, are generally positive but always struggle to pin down what they actually sound like. On sinful nature you can hear prog, Krautrock, 80s stadium rock and electronica. If Simple Minds were writing ‘Up On The Catwalk’ today instead of 26 years ago, it wouldn’t sound a million miles away from this. [Bear In Heaven]

Neon Indian ‘Hex Girlfriend (Twin Shadow Remix)’
Mexico born, Texan raised Neon Indian (aka Alan Palomo) recorded his second album Era Extraña in Helsinki. He jumps around musically as well as geographically but touches mainly on 80s reference points (OMD, MBV) and similar territory to his contemporaries with a taste for that decade (Ariel Pink, M83). This standout track from the album gets a remix from fellow traveller Twin Shadow. The original’s mid-80s electro-pop charm is stripped away and what is left gives it an almost industrial backing, while the  wordless chorus is preserved as the main hook. [Neon Indian]

s/s/s ‘Museum Day’
A collaboration between musical polymath Sufjan Stevens, electronic composer Son Lux (aka Ryan Lott) and Chicago hip hop artist Serengeti (aka David Cohn). Not a million miles away from Sufjan’s All Delighted People / Age of Adz material, here he again favours Auto-Tune for his vocals, while Serengetti raps and Son Lux sings using a Pitch-Shifter. The backing track features among other things “piano, bowed glass, mod’ed boy-choir mellotron with the portamento engaged, strings, chopped noise, drum kit, bass, and i think some other things.” This is the first track released from what at the moment appears to be a one off EP ‘Beak & Claw’ outMarch 20 on Anticon. [s/s/s]

Georgia Anne Muldrow ‘Husfriend’
My tastes in both r n b and hip hop tend towards the vintage, so this Madlib produced track is right up my street, sounding very much like it could have been recorded 20+ years ago. Muldrow’s voice is rich and soulful and the beat will be familiar to Madlib fans as the same one from Strong Arm Steady’s ‘Follow Me’. [Georgia Anne Muldrow]

Luke Roberts ‘His Song’
Country-folk singer-songwriter Luke Roberts was based in Brooklyn when he wrote and recorded his debut album, last year’s ‘Big Bells and Dime Songs’. While the songs for his follow up (again on Thrill Jockey) were written in his old apartment, he’s since moved back to his hometown of Nashville where he recorded them with the help of some sympathetic musicians . Emily Sunblad’s backing vocals here bring some sweetness and light to an otherwise intense track and there’s a great laidback guitar solo that should appeal to Neil Young fans. [Luke Roberts]

AU ‘Get Alive’
Portland based Luke Wyland has been recording as AU since 2005. Somewhere between freak-folk and art pop, ‘Get Alive’ sits comfortably, but not complacently in the bit of the Venn diagram where Beirut and the Dodos overlap. [AU]

Part two of the best tunes of late February (listen to part one here). This features big hitters from Santigold, The Shins, and The Magnetic Fields plus my favourite track from the new Tennis album, the return of M. Ward and The Mynabirds plus tracks from Stockholm, Copenhagen, Brighton and Olympia, WA. Mainly indie with a handful of electronica at the end, including a Depeche Mode remix that’s a couple of years old, but somehow found its way into my music folder last week…

Santigold ‘Disparate Youth’
This is the best track I’ve heard so far this year. A bunch of producers and collaborators have worked on the new album but I reckon this has the fingerprints of David Sitek on it (presumably the title is a pun on TV On The Radio’s ‘Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes’).
http://www.santigold.com/

The Shins ‘Simple Song’
Has it really been five years since the last Shins album? Considering it’s called Simple Song, this actually has some fiddly prog bits on it and a proper pop vocal performance from James Mercer.
http://mercerhouse.theshins.com/

The Magnetic Fields ‘Andrew In Drag’
I was immune to the appeal of Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields for quite a while, until I heard ‘Strange Powers’ over the credits of an episode of Bored To Death. This is up there with that song, wonderfully played and arranged, great lyrics and all comes in at 2 minutes 13 seconds.
http://www.thehouseoftomorrow.com

Tennis ‘Petition’
Last year’s debut album ‘Cape Dory’ was a real grower. ‘Young & Old’, the second album from the husband and wife team is much more instant, chock full of surf and 60s girl group sounds like this bright pop soul number.
http://www.tennis-music.com/

La Sera ‘Break My Heart’

Katy Goodman-from-The-Vivian-Girls’s other band. Sixties influenced indiepop.http://www.myspace.com/iamkatygoodman

The Mynabirds ‘Generals’
A departure from the debut Mynabirds album, which was wonderful but couched in much more classic 60s production techniques. This is a glam gospel stomper with handclaps. Reminds me a little of Danielle Dax circa Big Hollow Man. Free download over on the website.
http://themynabirds.com/

M. Ward Primitive Girl
Indie troubadour Matt Ward takes a break from She & Him to record a new solo album. This reminds me a little of Ed Harcourt. Must be that insistent piano riff.
http://mwardmusic.com/

Simian Ghost ‘Wolf Girl’
Swedish pop with classic influences, sounds like a featherlight version of Phoenix.
http://simianghost.com

The Kills ‘Pale Blue Eyes’
I love The Kills. This surfaced in the middle of last year when they recorded it for Levi’s Pioneers Sessions, but it’s now getting a physical release so I thought it was worth revisiting. Covering an iconic Velvet Underground song is always a risk, but they’ve pulled it off with aplomb, bringing heir own highly stylized sound to it while retaining al the delicate charm of the original.
http://www.thekills.tv/

Dot ‘Simple Simon’
Glitch-y instrumental from 20 year old 20-year-old classical composer, pianist and opera singer-turned-producer Kate Ellwanger.
http://soundcloud.com/iamdot

Tourist ‘Jupiter’
Second appearance this year from Brighton’s Will Phillips who previously recorded as Little Loud but is now going under the name Tourist. This, like the previous track, is taken from his Placid Acid EP.

WhoMadeWho ‘Below The Cherry Moon’
Former Danish dance-punks continue their evolution into purveyors of “melancholy minimal techno-pop”. Like a moodier Hot Chip.
http://www.whomadewho.dk/

Depeche Mode ‘Fragile Tension (Kris Menace Universe Remix)’

Not quite sure how this one creeped into my music folder, think this first surfaced in 2009 and was on the Depeche Mode remix album last year. Too good to leave off.
http://www.depechemode.com/
http://www.krismenace.com/

So much great new music in the last two weeks I’ve split the cloudcast in two. Part one starts off very indie. Shoegaze, dreampop indie pop, new wave and retro-rock in the middle before ending on a quiet(ish) note. You might hear influences or be reminded of the following artists: My Bloody Valentine, Mazzy Star, The Lemonheads, New Order, Joy Division, Neil Young, Animal Collective and They Might Be Giants.

Whirr ‘Junebouvier’
Like My Bloody Valentine meets Sonic Youth. Shoegazing side project of the metal band Deafheaven. This actually came out on 7” back in September but passed me by. It’ll feature on the album ‘Pipe Dreams’ due out in March. [Whirr Tumblr]

Veronica Falls ‘My Heart Beats’
Lovely shuffling indiepop from London. This is their first new material since last year’s eponymous debut album. 7” single due in April. [Veronica Falls]

Beach Fossils ‘Lessons’
Indie rock from NYC, this hovers on the edge of Dream Pop and is the other side of the ‘Shallow’ 7” featured in the last cloudcast. Simple and a real grower. [Beach Fossils]

Hospitality ‘Eight Avenue’
Another artist featured in the last cloudcast, I make no apologies as the Hospitality album is my favourite album of the year so far. Just a bunch of really good, timeless indie pop songs. [Hospitality]

Frankie Rose ‘Interstellar’
A couple of Frankie Rose songs (‘Night Swim’ and ‘Know Me’) have missed out on previous cloudcasts as they just didn’t meet the bar set by similar tracks. This one, though, is a cut above. Almost like it was made by a different artist, this is the title track of her new album and ditches the pleasant indiepop stylings for something a bit more ambitious. [Frankie Rose]

Dana Buoy ‘Call To Be’
Sounds like They Might Be Giants meets Animal Collective. From his forthcoming debut album ‘Summer Bodies’. You can get this track as a free download in return for a Facebook ‘like’. [Dana Buoy]

Cloud Nothings ‘Fall In’
Taken from the Ohio indie rockers Albini produced third album ‘Attack on Memory’. Although the whole record is brilliant, I was torn between this track and ‘Stay Useless’. ‘Fall In’ won out because it reminded me of Ben Deilly-era Lemonheads. [Cloud Nothings]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Nothings

Holograms ‘ABC City’
Swedish 21st Century new wave / punk. Love that retro keyboard sound. This from their debut 7”, out April 3 on Captured Tracks. [Holograms]

Horrid Red ‘Nothing In My Heart’
From Swedish new wave to German post-punk, clearly indebted to Joy Division and New Order. [Horrid Red]

Gap Dream ‘Scary Dennis’
Hypnotic 60s-indebted psych-pop from one Gabe Fulvimar out of Cleveland, Ohio. Taken from the eponymous debut album which features a cover of The Squires ‘Go Ahead’. [Gap Dream]

Chromatics ‘Into The Black’
Portland band. This is actually a cover of Neil Young’s My My, Hey Hey (Out of The Blue), rather than Hey Hey My My (Into the Black). But let’s not quibble. From their first album in five years, ‘Kill For Love’ (Italians Do It Better). [Chromatics]

Sharon Van Etten ‘Give Out’
Although there have been some brilliant tracks out this year, it’s only the last few weeks that have seen a handful of high quality albums released. SVE’s ‘Tramp’ (produced by Aaron Dessner of The National) is one such album. This has a wonderful lazy, hazy feel to it with guitars and percussion that recall Mazzy Star, but where Hope Sandoval’s delivery is spaced out, Van Etten brings an urgency that sounds positively wired. [Sharon Van Etten]

The Krautrock influences present in the last cloudcast have all but disappeared (except perhaps on Mansions on The Moon’s stadium houes track ‘Athens’) and indie in it’s variety of stripes has come to the front, the Hospitality, Bowerbirds and Wild Nothing tracks are early contenders for my year end list already There’s a handful of superior electronic tracks, kicking off with another interesting Roxy Music remix before the mix ends with a couple of downbeat numbers.

Bowerbirds ‘In The Yard’
I am utterly charmed by this hymn to hard-won idyllic, bucolic domestic bliss. [Bowerbirds]
[good interview with background on Bowerbirds]

Hospitality ‘Betty Wang’
Wistful indie-pop. This track first came out 3 years ago but has been re-recorded for their debut album. [Hospitality]

Beach Fossils ‘Shallow’
Like the poppy-end of ‘Sister’ / ‘Daydream Nation’ era Sonic Youth. [Beach Fossils]

Wild Nothing ‘Nowhere’
Sounds like the Go-Betweens with a bit of early Primal Scream thrown in on the chorus.

Ben Kweller ‘Mean To Me’
A return to his melodic indie-rock roots after his last country influenced album. [Ben Kweller]

Father John Misty ‘Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings’
Former Fleet Foxes drummer and prolific solo artist J (Josh) Tilman adopts a new moniker and turns up the rock. [Father John Misty]

Jack White ‘Love Interruption’
Softer than what he usually delivers, but still obviously the work of the man who bought us the White Stripes, The Raconteurs and Dead Weather. [Jack White]

White Fence ‘It Will Never Be’
Gently shambling, garage / psychedelia form Darker My Love’s Tim Presley [White Fence]

Royal Baths ‘Faster, Harder’
San Francisco psych rockers move to New York and soak up the spirit of the Velvet Underground and The Cramps. [Royal Baths]

Shimmering Stars
From Vancouver, the noisier end of shoegazing meets the Everly Brothers, but better than that sounds. [Shimmering Stars]

Gonjasufi ‘Nikels and Dimes’ Gonjasufi’s ‘A Sufi and a Killer’ album was the last record I bought after hearing it playing in a record store. This is from his latest mini-album ‘M.U.Z.Z.L.E’. Layered, dusty trip-hop that draws you in with it’s spooky, vaguely mystic charms. [Gonjasufi]

Phèdre ‘In Decay’
Hypnagogic pop from “Monte Carlo, Monaco” (i.e really from Canada). [Phèdre]

Roxy Music ‘Avalon’ Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
I’m loving all these Roxy Music remixes that are getting released, although unlike the Todd Terje remix from the last cloudcast, this one has actually been knocking around for quite a few months. [Roxy Music]

John Talabot (featuring Pional) ‘Destiny’
Electronic Music evangelist Philip Sherburne says “Talabot has become an exemplar of a new breed of producers working at the intersection of deep house, disco, and indie pop”. I say, “Yup!”
[John Talabot]

Matthew Dear feat. Johnny Pierce ‘In The Middle’
Better known as a producer of micro house and techno, this is more chillwave meets hip hop with The Drums Johnny Pierce on vocals. [Matthew Dear]

Mansions on the Moon ‘Athens’
I read this on YouTube “Pharrell Williams-produced…harmonic shoegaze pop swirled around a blanket of space pops, fuzz synths and…the unmistakable smack of live drumkits and guitars”. [Mansions on the Moon]

Blondes ‘Wine’
Atmospheric and hypnotic hipster house. [Blondes]

Daniel Rossen ‘Saint Nothing’
Grizzly Bear and Department of Eagles man with distinctive vocal style releases sad sounding song with piano, muted horns and strings. A real grower. [Daniel Rossen]

Mirel Wagner ‘No Death’
Finland-via-Ethopia singer/songwriter / gloom-chanteuse [Mirel Wagner]

Members of Sonic Youth, Yeasayer, Bon Iver, Don Caballero, Books, Vivian Girls and Hot Chip turn up in alternative guises in this playlist of some of the best songs I’ve heard so far this year. A lot of electronica, a lot of it retro and some definite Krautrock influences, but all of it good.

Sinkane ‘Jeeper Creeper’ Ahmed Gallab from Yeasayer’s other band. Rhythmically not a million miles away from the latter’s ‘2080’.

Saint Etienne ‘Tonight’ seven years since their last album, this sounds like they never went away. Dancefloor friendly pop at it’s best.

Labyrinth Ear ‘Humble Bones’ hipster retro. Brotherhood era- New Order feel to this with some breathy female vocals.

Miike Snow ‘Paddling Out’ much better than that slightly disappointing Lykke Li collaboration, imho.

Roxy Music ‘Love Is The Drug’ (Todd Terje Disco Dub) Todd Terje, the man of the moment offers up this excellent remix of the Roxy classic with one of the best basslines of the 70s.

Sleigh Bells ‘Comeback Kid’ first single proper from second album doesn’t fuck with the girly vocals / distorted guitar formula.

Of Montreal ‘Dour Percentage’ 70s style soft pop  – reminds me of Steely Dan with elements of early Bowie and Psychedelia. Some nice percussion, flute and wordless vocals.

Oberhofer ‘HEART’ definite Arcade Fire, Beirut and Animal Collective influences in this modern baroque pop, hints of Brian Wilson. Indie with ambition.

La Sera ‘Please Be My Third Eye’ Katy Goodman from Vivian Girls still tapping that rich 80s indie seam.

Butcher Boy ‘The Day Our Voices Broke’ charming throwback 80s indie in an I’m-a big-fan-of-Felt-circa-Penelope-Tree kinda way.

Black Marble ‘The Pretender’ I’m sensing Kraftwerk and The Cure and a lot of Clan of Xymox.

Grimes ‘Genesis’ pretty art-pop from Montreal’s Claire Boucher.

Lower Dens ‘Brains’ Motorik rhythms, mumbled vocals, echo-laden guitars and understated synths add up to a hypnotic whole from this Baltimore band.

Disappears ‘Replicate’ more motorik drumming (from Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley), flanged guitar and barked vocals sounds like Mark E Smith meets The Stooges meets Joy Division meets Girls Against Boys.

Zammuto ‘F U C-3PO’ Former Books man Nick Zammuto delivers something intriguing with quite a few layers: hints of Pink Floyd circa Meddle, vocodered vocals, 60s melodicism, psychedelic backwards guitar, electronic nosies and some acoustic guitar.

Tourist ‘Placid Acid’ Brighton-based producer formerly known as Little Loud delivers instrumental head-nodder.

Todd Terje ‘Swing Star Pt 1’ Norwegian DJ/producer plays space disco composed on a vintage ARP2600 analog synthesizer.  Retro hipsterism.

Clark ‘Com Touch’ Most retro electronica seems to reference the 80s. Warp Records veteran Chris Clark delivers something that taps into the previous decade.

SBTRKT ‘Atomic Peace’ After a stellar 2011 the UK producer digs out this unreleased cut from 2009 which samples Múm’s ‘Flow Not So Fast My Old Mountain Radio’.

New Build ‘Do You Not Feel Loved?’ Al Doyle and Felix Martin from Hot Chip with their warmer, more engaging side project.

Tanlines ‘Brothers’ dance music from Brooklyn featuring Eric Emm (bassist for the late 90s incarnation of Pittsburgh post-rockers Don Caballero)

Zola Jesus ‘In Your Nature (David Lynch Remix)’ Like much of Gen Y, Zola Jesus lacks any idea of when something is actually any good or not. The Eraserhead director gives this so-so album track just what it needs to make it special, stripping away the histrionic strings adding an insistent rhythm track and foregrounding the vocals.

Poliça ‘Lay Your Cards Out’ Minneapolis band team up with Mike Noyce from Bon Iver for a bit of 21st Century trip hop. 

Aaron + Alia ‘Wicked Game’ Former Chairlift dude Aaron Pfenning and Arrested Development actress Alia Shawkat (Maeby Fünke) with a dreamy version of the Chris Isaak classic.

Lambchop ‘If Not I’ll Just Die’ Lush and beautiful opener from the Nashville alt/country/soul/indie band’s forthcoming 11th album ‘Mr.M’ (dedicated to the late Vic Chesnutt).

Please Keep The Shouting To A Minimum: Best of 2011 by Nickpeters on Mixcloud

A sweet-toothed playlist inspired by the deluxe edition re-issue of Mercury Rev’s Deserter’s Songs. An eleven course dessert degustation featuring cake, rhubarb crumble, jelly and ice cream, more cake and a five fruit salad – all served with an indie rock / electronica / power pop / classic rock and bubblegum jus. Brought to you by Tenuous Links r Us.

*Also available to Download as an enhanced podcast*

Aerosmith ft. Victoria Wood ‘Sweet Emotion’
1975 was slap bang in the middle of Aerosmith’s golden period, Get Your Wings (1974), Toys In The Attic (1975), and Rocks (1976) are essentials in any rock fans library. [Aerosmith]

Georgie James ‘Cake’
Laura Burhenn (now of The Mynabirds) and John Davis (formerly of Q And Not U) made only one album together, 2007’s Places, it’s a pretty nifty slice of powerpop. [Gerogie James]

Pop Will Eat Itself ‘Never Rub Another Man’s Rhubarb’
Jack Nicholson’s Joker sampling track from PWEI’s Cure For Sanity (1990) [PWEI]

Dinosaur Jr ‘Crumble’ 
Plaintive indie guitar from original line-up’s 2007 comeback album Beyond. [Dinosaur Jr]

The Unicorns ‘Jellybones’
A track from the sadly missed Montreal band’s masterpiece, Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone? (2003). An album I recently saw immortalized as one of Ted Mosby’s favourites in an episode of How I Met Your Mother. [The Unicorns]

Battles ‘Ice Cream’
For their second album Gloss Drop (2011) New York math rocker supergroup Battles got around the departure of vocalist Tyondai Braxton by drafting in guest vocalists. Here they roped in Chilean electronic musician Matias Aguayo. [Battles]

Ohio Express ‘Yummy, Yummy, Yummy‘
Bubblegum from the Super K Productions and the Buddah label. When this Joey Levine demo was released as a single in 1968, none of the ‘official’ members of Ohio Express played on it. [Ohio Express]

Spinal Tap ‘Cups & Cakes’
Nigel Tufnel sung baroque pop number. [Spinal Tap]

The Monkees ‘Apples, Peaches, Banana and Pears’
A Boyce and Hart penned number sung by Mickey Dolenz and recorded back in 1966, this had featured in The Monkees’ 60s TV series but was unreleased until 1987. [The Monkees]

Cornelius ‘Starfruit Surf Rider’
Keigo Oyamada started off in Tokyo’s Shibuya-kei scene and went on to male electronic and experimental music as Cornelius. Has been known to play ‘Love Me Tender’ on the theremin. This is from his album Fantasma (1997). [Cornelius]

The New Pornographers ‘Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk’
Canadian indie rock / power pop supergroup throw everything at this, one of the highlights from Together (2010). [The New Pornographers]

A playlist inspired by My Morning Jacket’s ‘Holding On To Black Metal’. Eleven great tracks which, in spite of their titles screaming Heavy Metal, are anything but: indie rock, electronic, Krautrock, classic 70s rock, reggae all make an appearance.

Now also available as an enhanced podcast and a (slightly different) collaborative Spotify playlist.

Holding On To Black Metal – My Morning Jacket

Indie rock jam band bring in the horns and get soulful on this standout track from their new album Circuital. 

A Daisy Chain 4 Satan – My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult

Late 80s sleazy electro-industrial dance pop / EBM from Chicago. 

Metal on Metal – Kraftwerk

Suitably industrial/locomtive track from German electro pioneers Trans Europe Express album (1977). 

Heavy Metal Drummer – Wilco

The least typical song from Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Programmed beats and electronics underpin this dose of power pop nostalgia.

Thrasher – Neil Young

This was inspired by Neil’s decision to leave CSNY in the mid 70s. But it’s about a wider disillusionment than just that with his former bandmates. Lots of references to farming, the land and traditional ways of living. I guess you’d call it a pastoral lament.

Heavy Metal – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

From the indie / blog rock warblers eponymous debut album (2005). A little bit of The Velvet Underground, a little bit of Talking Heads, a little bit of The Modern Lovers and a hint of Devo?

In Metal – Low

Mimi Parker takes lead vocal on one of the many, many highlights of Low’s Things We Lost In The Fire (2001), their last album to be produced by Steve Albini and a fan favourite.

Sawn Off Metallica T-shirt – Six by Seven

From the Nottingham drone rockers noisier second album The Closer You Get (2000).

Very Metal Noise Pollution – Pop Will Eat Itself

The song that launched a thousand t-shirts. From PWEI’s third album The Pop Will Eat Itself Cure For Sanity (1990). 

Chase The Devil – Max Romeo

From War Ina Babylon (1976) this is one of the classics that came out of Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Black Ark Studio in the mid 70s. As sampled by The Prodigy on ‘Out of Space’ (1992).

Metal Heart – Cat Power

The guitars seem to be playing two different songs but it works. This is the original version from Moonpix (1998) rather than the piano led version on Jukebox (2008), simply because when Chan Marshall sings “I once was lost but now I’m found” in the steal from Amazing Grace, it never fails to blow me away.