Polar Bear Club- "Ten Minutes" Video

I love this band. And I love the Get Up Kids. This video of PBC covering TGUK just makes sense. Both bands are on tour right now and Polar Bear Club has a new album coming out in mid-September. I suggest you get on all of that.

The Mountain Goats- The Hound Chronicles

This is the second full length release from North Carolina's indie/folk/lo-fi band the Mountain Goats. The Hound Chronicles is comprised of all acoustic songs because when the album was recorded, 1992, singer-songwriter John Darnielle was the only member of the band (The Mountain Goats are still considered John's band even though they know have consistent members other than John). The actually album was only available on cassette (and is long out of print) so the sound quality of the mp3s are pretty mediocre. As for the songs themselves, they are what you would expect from Darnielle (amazing lyrics), though the Mountain Goats' later efforts are stronger. If you've never listened to this band before, start now, you have a lot of catching up to do.

Link
Website
Track Listing:
1. The Garden Song
2. Going to Wisconsin
3. Spilling Toward Alpha
4. Alpha Negative
5. Torch Song
6. Be Quiet
7. The Cow Song
8. (Untitled)
9. Going to Chino
10. Standard Bitter Love Song #4
11. Going to Mexico
12. Lab Rat Blues
13. Going to Kansas
14. The Water Song
15. Going to Spain
16. Keep It on Your Mind (Hank Williams cover)

Brand New- Live At Southside Festival

Jesse Lacey may be the most annoying front man of the indie/punk/altrock/whatever music scene. Don't get me wrong, because I love Brand New's music to death, but there's something about the way he carries himself that makes me want to dropkick his perfectly gelled head off a cliff. The other attributing factor to this "problem" I have with him is the way he performs live. He's so whiny and squeaky one minute and the next he sings perfectly in tune. I know it's supposed to add to the performance because it's him being emotional, but it just ends up pissing me off. With that being said this is one of the better Brand New bootlegs, especially since it was recorded through the soundboard. If you're a Brand New fan then you should definitely check this out because the band only has a handful of legit bootlegs. Also they play a few songs from their new album that sound pretty good. I know this was circulating in a bunch of different (shitty) formats, for the one I just upped all of the songs are separated and there's no password, so there should be no problems.

Link
Myspace
Track Listing:
1. You Won't Know
2. Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades
3. Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't
4. The Shower Scene
5. Sowing Season
6. The Archer's Bows Are Broken
7. Millstone
8. Bought A Bride
9. Jaws Theme Swimming
10. Jesus
11. Gasoline
12. Degausser

Beans On Toast- Bedroom Sessions

I couldn't find any good pictures of Beans On Toast (aka Jay Kay) for this post and it was pissing me off. Not only does he not have legit pictures on the Internet (come on even I have some of those(but really)) but the only official releases that he has are on various, random compilations. Come On! Get me a full length or even just an ep, I want to hear that shit on vinyl. All of my complaining aside, Beans On Toast is a great artist that writes simple, clever, optimistic, and upbeat songs about whatever and whoever he feels like writing a song about. Most of his songs are politically charged with a humorous spin but he does slip some songs about love in there as well. To be honest he reminds me a lot of Billy Bragg (something he knows and takes pride in) and Frank Turner. Anyways this is one of the few recordings that he has so I figured I'd post it. Beans On Toast also does a whole lot of touring, mostly in the UK and usually opening for badass bands (the last flyer I saw was of the Frank Turner/Fake Problems/Beans On Toast tour) so get on that.

Link
Myspace
Track Listing:
1. you look alot fitter on your myspace picture
2. wave goodbye to EMI
3. kate moss's birthday party
4. i fancy laura marling
5. the last romantic fools.
6. fuck the smoking ban
7. the big goodbye
8. today is the tomorrow that we thought about yesterday
9. i shot Tupac Shakur and all i got was this lousy t-shirt
10. no fit girls in NYC
11. thanks for fucking up the world for us
12. the country's gone to shit
13. the media circus
14. you fat bastard
15. health & safety
16. m.d.m.amazing
17. hippy crack
18. fancy dress frisbee
19. eggs benadict
20. can't buy me love
21. binge drinking
22. steven nolan and the chinese army
23. 9,450,000
24. braintree

The Wild- The Wild EP

I found this ep while paroosing around the Quote Unquote Records website and was pleasantly surprised. The Wild, based in Atlanta, sound like a more chill version of Defiance, Ohio but instead of violins, The Wild sprinkles harmonica on their tracks to make things interesting. Most of their songs are to a similar vein of This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb's Front Seat Solidarity and have politically/ socially based lyrics. Definitely good stuff. The Wild are currently touring random dates around the country so check that out, and if you like the ep you can donate money to the band, buy a physical copy of the ep, or be the reason the band has to stop making music because you didn't contribute.

Link
Myspace
Track Listing:
1. They Too Will Know
2. The City That Never Sleeps
3. We Will Drive These Warlords Out
4. We Shall Overcome
5. Oh, Alex

Bomb the Music Industry- "Wednesday Night Drinkball" Video

I love this band. Scrambles is amazing. Buy it on vinyl.

Bomb the Music Industry- Wednesday Night Drinkball

Latterman- Demo

Latterman is one of those bands that was great from the start and this demo is the proof. They write fast, upbeat punk songs with anthem-like choruses and political lyrics that get the point across without being preachy. All three of the songs on the demo were later re-recorded for the band's sophomore full length No Matter Where We Go which is also highly recommended. There is an earlier demo/ep from the band called None Of These Songs Are About Girls but since Jay over at "With Hope in Our Hearts" already posted it along with some other Latterman goodies I figured it'd be silly for me to re-post the ep. Latterman broke up in 2007 but one of the new bands that some of the guys formed, Bridge and Tunnel, is really worth checking out.

Link
Myspace
Track Listing:
1. Doom! Doom! Doom!
2. My Bedroom Is Like For Artists
3. This Project is Stagnant

Weatherbox- An Introduction to The Cosmic Drama

I'm not really sure if it's completely legit for me to post this, but Altpress.com was giving it away for free so to me that's fair game (plus I can never resist anything Weatherbox related). All five songs that are in this ep-sort-of-thing are from Weatherbox's new album The Cosmic Drama, which comes out in September, and all of them are amazing. Complex musical arrangements, time changes around every corner, and thoughtful, creative lyrics make for an amazing group of songs. It also makes the wait for the entire album even harder. The vinyl pre-order went up on VC about a week ago so you should definitely check that out, especially since the record is only being released on vinyl and in digital formats (and on the 200 cassettes of the un-mastered version). This album is one of my most anticipated of the year and the Intro is proof that it won't disappoint.

Link
Myspace
Track Listing:
1. That Mann
2. Ask My Flashlight
3. Don't Say Nice Things
4. YouTube the Clouds (Anything That Flies)
5. No Hands (Anything That Moves)

Jets To Brazil- Orange Rhyming Dictionary Demos + Bootleg

Blake Schwarzenbach is one of the greatest songwriters of our generation. There, I said it. His lyrics are the perfect balance of raw, clever, and emotional. If listening to the song "Accident Prone" doesn't produce some kind of emotion out of you (whether it be tears, anger, or more tears), you don't have a heart. Plain and simple. These demos from Blake's post Jawbreaker band, Jets to Brazil, are a win for any Schwarzenbach fan. They show the epic musical arrangements of JtB with the closest thing to Blake's raspy vocals JtB ever got (no gloss, just raw). There are only six songs included in the demo but there is also a dynamite live radio set of 12 songs that makes up for it. The live set was taken from a Japanese radio broadcast in 2001 and has songs from all three Jets to Brazil albums. Schwarzenbach is or was in a new band (they may or may not have broken up. information is sketchy on this band) called the Thorns of Life. They apparently recorded an album in early 2009 but no details have been released on when or if it will be released.

Link
Website
Track Listing Demo:
1. Chinatown
2. King Medicine
3. Lemon Yellow Black
4. Morning New Disease
5. Resistance Is Futile
6. Rose

Track Listing Live Radio Set:
1. Intro
2. You're the One I Want
3. Morning New Disease
4. You're Having the Time Of My Life
5. Lemon Yellow Black
6. Air Traffic Control
7. One Summer Last Fall
8. In the Summer's When You Really Know
9. Orange Rhyming Dictionary
10. Chinatown
11. Sea Anemone
12. William Tell Override

Good Old War- Pure Volume Sessions

Fuck I slacked last month. Sorry. [Insert excuse here]. Anyways a while back I posted a great ep by a great band, Days Away, and said that since the band broke up I would post some stuff from the guys' new band(s). This is me actually following through. Good Old War are a pop band, an indie/folk pop band, but a pop band nonetheless. Think the Shins with more Simon and Garfunkel-Esq harmonies or Fleet Foxes minus the coma. All this makes one of the catchiest, happiest sounds heard in a long time while still maintaining a sense of creativity unlike most pop artists around today. It's a definite throwback to pop in the '60s and '70s. The Pure Volume Session itself lacks a little because it is only an acoustic guitar and three dudes singing but the practically perfect harmonies between the three of them make up for that fact. Basically if you're not sure if you want to buy the album (you should by the way because it's amazing) this session serves as a sort of introduction. Plus if you buy the album you get the track with Anthony Green's guest vocals.

Link
Myspace
Track Listing:
1. Coney Island
2. I'm Not For You
3. Tell Me
4. We've Come A Long Way
5. Window