The Secret Will Keep You - Brass Bed

I thought on writing a post on Brass Bed and their upcoming album “The Secret Will Keep You”, though honestly the first paragraph on the band’s description from Off The Air Recordings says it all...

“Listen through the ethereal haze that Brass Bed has created on The Secret Will Keep You, and you will find a soulful band suspended in a moment of frustration and anxiety. It's the sort of frustration that comes from growing old and realizing that the light at the end of the tunnel may just be the remnants of some dying star. You were a kid once. Maybe [your] dad put you on his knee and said "Kiddo, you sure are handsome, smart, and talented. The sky is the limit if you set your mind to it!" Well the truth is, that was kind of bullshit. Chances are, you were only one of those things if any of them at all, and you'll spend your life amid the great unwashed, grasping at whatever straws you can to express a promised individuality that's slowly turning out to be lie. They also didn't tell you that your dream job, your dream girl, your dream you, were really all just that: dreams.

The Secret Will Keep You is a cold awakening from that fever dream sound...”

In other words, the album is great and it is out on April 23rd, 2013 by Crossbill Records and Off The Air Recordings. I leave you with 3 links to tracks of the upcoming album...a great opening track ”Cold Chicory”, plus “A Bullet for You” and “I’ll be there with bells on”.



Enjoy


MM

(@MMLeiner)

Cold Chicory 

A Bullet for You  

I’ll Be There With Bells On

AMOK - Atoms for Peace

Dividing his time between Radiohead and a solo career, just because he can do all that and do it well, Thom Yorke has offered us the best in music throughout the years. As a solo artist, he focuses on electronic-driven tunes where his vocals are simply one of many layers that guide you through his mind, one of a musical Midas King that turns everything into gold.

Yorke’s latest achievement has morphed into Atoms for Peace, a new project, a new band with collaborations that include Flea, Joey Waronker, Nigel Godrich and Mauro Refosco. The name of the band comes from a 1953 quote from Dwight Eisenhower and it is also included in Yorke’s previous solo album The Eraser.

The band has recently released an album entitled AMOK....We have seen great things in music this year already and we’ll see more for sure. However, very likely only a few will withstand the pass of time the way the music made by Thom Yorke will.

We should be grateful we live in Yorke’s time.

I leave you with a clip from Ingenue, track 3 of this great album.

Enjoy,

MM

(@MMLeiner)

Optica by Shout Out Louds

Hard to describe when something just sounds familiar. When music tells you way more and the lyrics and chords bring you to a known place.

This is often what happens to me with the music from the Swedish band Shout Out Louds.

Without fear of dating myself, their over-worked, artificial, sweet sweet 1980s dominated sound brings me back...back to a place where dance floors and walkman dominated the scene, where music production was non existent and originality was not part of the vocabulary. Somehow, though, I found myself addicted to their music, and their fourth album Optica is not the exception.

For someone that claims to continuously seek for new trends in music, it is hard to say that Shout Out Louds bring something new to the table. Though perhaps that is the point, and the nostalgia of times well gone makes it just OK.

The album is out today...and I would not be surprised if it also is available on cassette tape.

Leave you with 14th of July, Walking in Your Footsteps, plus a link to NPR where you can listen to the album in its entirety

Enjoy,

MM

(@MMLeiner)


NPR's First Listen - Optica - Shout Out Louds

YAST (youth and student travel)

Nice surprise...

Artists: YAST

Album title: YAST

Release date: January 30, 2013

Label: Adrian Recordings / Double Sun

"Maybe it's just a coincidence or maybe it's actually a necessity to have your roots in a steel-producing town like Sandviken to acquire a deep enough longing for somewhere else, if you happen to be dreamy, alternative guys who play music. YAST, the lo-fi romantics, are just that. The band was formed in 2007 by Carl Kolbaek-Jensen, Tobias Widman and Marcus Norberg. In 2008, they were lured down to Malmö and a couple of years ago Markus Johansson and Niklas Wennerstrand, the drummer and bass player from the postrock band Aerial, joined forces.

In February 2012, they released their first single “Believes”. It was the first in a single trilogy, consisting of "Believes", "Strangelife" and "Stupid", leading up to their upcoming debut album. A trio of perfect dreamy pop songs which in their nonchalant but humble way are placing themselves on music blogs all over the world. Rarely has a Swedish band had a better start to their career. In addition to this viral attention, they have played tons during the year including together with related artists such as TOY, The Drums, Tame Impala and DIIV. Plus a UK tour and several festivals.

"Describing YAST can be hard, but also really easy. On the one hand, it's just plain and simple pop with a verse, chorus and solo. Songs about love, loneliness and confusion. With stolen melodies in a language a three year old could understand. On the other hand, it's our love, our loneliness and our confusion. It took just over a year and a half to record the album. But it feels like the first seed for what would finally become a record was sown back in 2008 when we moved to Malmö. We have the people we got to know there to thank for everything, and the city itself to thank for all the inspiration. But basically, this is a love album, about good and less good relationships, based on true events. And if it reaches out and touches people in any way, then we're happy.”"

 (double sun recordings website)

Foxygen- We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

The California band Foxygen led by Sam France and Jonathan Rado has released their album "We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic" via Jagjaguwar.This represents their second album, a follow up of their first full-length studio album, "Take the Kids Off Broadway", released (and totally missed by us) in July 2012.

In a little more than four weeks, the band has put now a fresh and daring album with deep influences from old classics including The Clash, Bob Dylan and The Beatles with a nice, soft layered sound, encompassing a fun and fresh approach to classic rock with a twist of psychedelia.

I leave you with a clip from "San Francisco", an annoyingly Wes Anderson-ized clip of their first single. Plus a link to their recent presentation at NPR’s World Cafe Live.

New music, new year, new City, 2013, here we go.

Enjoy

MM

(@MMLeiner)


NPR'S World Cafe Live

The Ghost of Piramida (official screening)

Screening oficial en el mítico 319

16-02-2013 20:00

Attend

Best Albums of 2012 - From the MUSICAL SOULMATE crew.

For over 4 years, MUSICAL SOULMATE has comprised of a group of friends that among many things collectively share and enjoy music. Some live this on a daily basis, fueling their friendship in a unique way, developing a sense of community hard to find somewhere else.

Music plays constantly filling the room and certainly playing a unique role in all this. In a strange way the level of an album increases when is heard in the apartment on Amsterdam 319. Others, like myself (not so lucky) are only exposed to this a few days per year, cherishing every moment of it.

Below, the recommendations of "the crew", which this year strangely differ from each other giving us a glimpse of the individuality of each crew member, all critical for this blog.

Enjoy,

MM

(@MMLeiner)


VANE

1.Grizzly Bear / Shields
2.The Antlers / Undersea
3.Porcelain Raft / Strange Weekend
4.Alabama Shakes / Boys and girls
5.The Walkmen / Heaven
6.Bear in Heaven / I love you it's cool
7. Fanfarlo / Rooms filled with light
8. Lost in the trees / A church that fits our needs
9. Lee Fields and the Expressions / Faithfull man
10. Sharon van Etten / Tramp

ALE

1. Grizzly Bear - Shields
2. Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend
3. The Antlers - Undersea
4. Bear in Heaven - I Love You, It's COol
5. Chromatics - Kill for Love
6. Wild Nothing - Nocturne
7. Daniel Rossen - Silent Hour/ Golden Mile
8. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp
9. Glen Hansard - Rhythm and Repose
10. The Tallest Man on Earth - There's No Leaving Now
11. M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion

JONSI

1.Grizzly Bear / Shields
2.Porcelain Raft / Strange Weekend
3. Tame Impala / Lonerism
4. Bear in Heaven / I love you, it's cool
5. Sharon van Etten / Tramp
6. Liars / Wixiw
7. Pond / Beard, Wives, Denim
8. Perfume Genius / Put Your Back N 2 It
9. The Walkmen / Heaven
10. Mac De Marco, 2
11. Alt-J - “An Awesome Wave
12. Merchandise / Children of Desire,
13. R Hawley/ Standing at the Sky's Edge
14. Efterklang / Piramida,

BARBS

1. Fanfarlo - “Rooms Filled with Light”
2. Lost in the Trees  - “A Church That Fits Our Needs”
3. Grizzly Bear - “Shields”
4. The Maccabees - “Given To The Wild”
5. Efterklang - “Piramida”
6. Alabama Shakes - ”Boys and Girls”
7. Alt-J - “An Awesome Wave”
8. The Walkmen - “Heaven”
9. Here we go magic- "A Different Ship”
10. Bear in Heaven - “I love you, it's cool”
11. Porcelain Raft - “Strange Weekend”

CHINOCONSUEGRA

1. Alt-J - “An Awesome Wave”
2. Grizzly Bear - “Shields”
3. Alabama Shakes - ”Boys and Girls”
4. Fanfarlo - “Rooms Filled with Light”
5. The Shins - "Port of Morrow"
6. The Walkmen - “Heaven
7. Sharon Van Etten - "Tramp"
8. Bear in Heaven - “I love you, it's cool”
9. Efterklang - "Piramida"
10. Django Django - "Django Django"

HAPPY 2013 from MUSICAL SOULMATE

Wishing you the best for 2013...a clip from my favorite song of my favorite album in 2012.

Enjoy,

MM

(@MMLeiner)

2012 best albums (Amarillo)

10. ALT - J - "An Awesome Wave" - Atlantic - Sep 18

9. - Alabama Shakes - "Boys & Girls" - ATO - Apr 10

8. Bear In Heaven - "I Love You, It's Cool" - Hometapes - Apr 3

7. LIARS - "WIXIW" - Mute - Jun 5

6. - Swans - "The Seer" - Young God Records - Aug 28

5. - Sharon Van Etten - "Tramp" - Jagjaguwar - Feb 7

4. - Tame Impala - "Lonerism" - Modular - Oct 9

3. - The Walkmen - "Heaven" - Fat Possum - May 29

2. - Porcelain Raft - "Strange Weekend" - Secretly Canadian - Jan 24

1. - Grizzly Bear - "Shields" - Warp - Sep 18

2012 Best Albums by MM

It’s the end of another year, a great one in terms of music.

Lots of changes in our lives are coming. New paths that promise a lot, new roads that most likely take us far, new ideas, new friends, but as always, music remains.

Below I summarize what 2012 meant to me in terms of music. Albums that traveled with me through the year, new artists that we discovered together, new songs and the meaning they acquired the moment we heard them first. At the end of this wonderful year all that becomes part of who we are and prepare us for what’s coming next.

My list below, hope you like it.


Enjoy,

MM
(@MMLeiner)

MM – BEST ALBUMS- 2012 

1 Efterklang – Piramida

“Piramida is perhaps the band’s greatest achievement: an album bringing the outside in, informed by frozen time and the relics humanity leaves in its expanding wake. 

Its roots were laid in 2010, when the band first saw photographs of a forgotten settlement lying, slowly dying, on Spitsbergen, an island of the Svalbard archipelago midway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole. 

This ghost town, which the trio eventually visited in Aug 2011 would give their 4th album its title, and comprise the conceptual catalyst for its contents.” Official Efterklang bio by Mike Diver



2 Grizzly Bear – Shields

“Shields, the band's fourth and most compositionally adventurous record… Though full of baroque, detail-rich production and latticework melodies, Shields also offers an emotionally resonant core. The album is an excavation of loneliness, melancholy, and self-reliance. It's also a demanding record, without an instantly gratifying single to hook restless ears. But the rewards that come from immersing yourself in it are odd and profound.“ Pitchfork

3 Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits



“Down to its tongue-in-cheek title, A Thing Called Divine Fits can seem at first blush like a one-off vanity project, two experienced mechanics building a hot rod in a garage over a few weekends, or two NBA players meeting up for summer pickup ball.… it's a match too good to be true…” Pitchfork

4 Swans - The Seer



“Swans has never traveled a straightforward, clean, or uninterrupted path. But with The Seer, one thing is certain: Even during its quietest lulls, Gira has never sounded louder.” The A.V. Club

5 Sharon Van Etten – Tramp



“It's a wonderful record, a colossal achievement, and features some of the most breathtaking, moving and downright beautiful music you'll hear all year.” Drowned In Sound

6 Alt-J -An Awesome Wave



“You can see every angle and every side of the shape they've made. And the unimpeachable logic of each song, added to their odd tunefulness of the songs, makes them exciting to listen to.” Prefix Magazine.

7 Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls



“Boys & Girls is more than a debut album. It's an introduction to a band you thought you knew for years, but are just fortunate enough to meet now.” PopMatters

8 The Walkmen – Heaven



“After 10 years and seven albums, Heaven finds The Walkmen in a better place.” The A.V. Club

9 Beach House – Bloom



“This is an album that is simply, in the most awe-inspired sense of the term, absolutely golden from end to end – a real treasure and an utter delight to experience every time you play it.” PopMatters

10 Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend




“All in all, it's a solid debut effort and one that never spares on electronic dramatics and an extensive array of far-ranging ideas.” Absolute Punk

11 Fanfarlo - Rooms Filled with Light




“For Fanfarlo, this is a follow-up that does all that it needs to do. It keeps us critics and fans happy with a healthy balance of familiarity and expansion.” No Ripcord

12 M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion




“A Wasteland Companion isn't a sonic tidal wave, per se - it's built on some of the folk troubadour's quietest, most intimate tunes in years. But where emotions are concerned, it pummels.” The Boston Phoenix

13 Poliça - Give You the Ghost




“It's the interpretation of a human voice that elevates this record beyond a curious obscurist record and makes the simmering (but never boiling over) electronica truly shimmer.” Drowned in Sound

14 The xx – Coexist



“The world adored the xx's Mercury Prize-winning debut album xx. Coexist is, if anything, an even finer piece of work.” The Independent on Sunday (UK)

15 Allo Darlin - Europe



“Allo Darlin' have achieved their aim of not producing a carefree record again, and then some--instead, they've created one of considerable, admirable depth and nous, though it retains the warm, personal nature of its predecessor.” musicOMH.com

BONUS LIST

16 The Antlers - Undersea

17 Lost in the Trees - A Church that Fits Our Needs

18 Liars - WIXIW

19 Glen Hansard - Rhythm and Repose

20 Yellow Ostrich - Strange Land

21 Japandroids - Celebration Rock

22 Bear in Heaven - I Love You, it's Cool

23 Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros-Here

24 Tennis - Young and Old

25 Perfume Genius - Put Your Back No. 2 It

26 Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light

27 Delta Spirit - Delta Spirit

28 Hot Chip - In Our Heads

29 Dr. Dog - Be The Void

30 Regina Spektor- What We Saw From The Cheap Seats