All posts by Concrete Opinions

[on the road] The Mynabirds

New Body of Work 7″ out Nov. 20th.  Generals available now.  Both courtesy of Saddle Creek records.

10-24 Hoboken, NJ – Maxwell’s *
10-25 Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church *
10-26 Washington, DC – Black Cat *
10-27 Durham, NC – Motorco Music Hall *
10-28 Atlanta, GA – The Earl *
10-29 St. Louis, MO – Duck Room at Blueberry Hill *
10-30 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle *
11-01 St. Paul, MN – Turf Club *
11-02 Winnipeg, Manitoba – West End Cultural Centre *
11-03 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Amigo’s *
11-05 Edmonton, Alberta – Starlite Room *
11-06 Calgary, Alberta – Republik *
11-09 Hood River, OR – Cebu Lounge
11-10 Seattle, WA – Sunset Tavern
11-11 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
11-13 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
11-14 Los Angeles, CA – Bootleg Theatre
11-17 Omaha, NE – Slowdown
(* with AC Newman)

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[new music roundup] 10.23.12

A few of my favorite new releases this week, including new LPs from Bat for Lashes and Titus Andronicus, a new EP from Yellow Ostrich, and a Christmas album from The Polyphonic Spree.  As always, be sure to visit Largehearted Boy for the rest of the week’s new releases.

What are your favorite new releases this week?

 

Bat for Lashes//The Haunted Man

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Diamond Rings//Free Dimensional

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Gary Clark Jr//Black and Blu

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Paul Banks//Banks

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The Polyphonic Spree//Holidaydream: Sounds of the Holidays Vol. One

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Rah Rah//The Poet’s Dead

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Sinkane//Mars

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Skipping Girl Vinegar//Keep Calm, Carry The Monkey

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Steffaloo//Would You Stay

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Titus Andronicus//Local Business
Full album stream courtesy of NPR Music
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U.S. Girls//Gem

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Yellow Ostrich//Ghost

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A few more worth a listen:
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead//Up To Infinity
Of Montreal//Daughter of a Cloud
Shiny Toy Guns//III
Swedish House Mafia//Until Now
Talk Normal//Sunshine
XELLE//Queens

[anticipation] Blue Hawaii//Untogether

Back in 2010, the Montreal duo that is Blue Hawaii, aka Alexander Cowan and Raphaelle Standell-Preston, released their debut Blooming Summer.  I for one really enjoyed that record and I still listen to “Blue Gowns” on a regular basis.   Since then though, they’ve been pretty quiet, likely due to Raphaelle’s involvement with Braids.  But that all changed when the lineups for this year’s CMJ began to pour out.  I was pleasantly surprised to see Blue Hawaii among the CMJ masses and after further digging, I stumbled upon a post over at We All Want Someone To Shout For with some exciting news.  Blue Hawaii are set to release a new LP, Untogether, on Jan 22 via Arbutus Records!

On top of that, the duo also dropped a brand new single, the two-parter “In Two”, which will appear on the new record.  Stream my favorite “Blue Gowns” below, then head on over to We All Want Someone and download “In Two”.  And stay tuned for more as we get closer to the release of Untogether.

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[on the rise] Trails and Ways

photo magic credits to Alex Khomyakov via facebook

I must admit, this post is long overdue.  Along with the rest of the blogosphere, I’ve been obsessing over Trails and Ways for the last couple of months, so i’m a little confused on why I waited this long to spread the love.  Oh well, better late than never.

Hailing from Oakland, CA, this quartet is producing some of the most infectious dream pop (or in the band’s own words “bossa nova dream pop”) i’ve heard in some time.  They’re premiering a brand new track, “Border Crosser”, tomorrow (Monday, 10/22) over on Indie Shuffle and i’ve heard rumblings of some upcoming shows in SF and LA.  I don’t really know much of anything  in regards to a full-length, but i highly doubt one’s not in the works and i expect news on it’s release sooner than later.  In the meantime, head on over to the band’s SoundCloud page and enjoy the plethora of fantastic tracks, including their take on Miike Snow’s “Animal” and M83’s “Midnight City”.  If you only have time for one track, you must listen to “Mtn Tune”, by far the band’s standout track and easily my favorite.

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