Wolf Parade - Expo 86 Cover

Wolf Parade have revealed the cover for their upcoming third album Expo 86.  Now all we need is a tracklisting (until the album itself actually surfaces, that is).

Expo 86 is set to be released in June/July.  P-Fork has an interview with Dan Boeckner about the record here.

The New Pornographers "Together" Streaming on NPR

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You can stream Together, the new record from The New Pornographers, on NPR right now.

Even if you were 'bored' by their last record Challengers (a fair reaction, though certain songs - Myriad Harbour, All the Old Showstoppers - are undeniable), you'll wanna check out this set.  There's a lot more energy driving this record forward.  Definitely digging it.

Caribou - Swim

I don't know too much about Caribou (yet), but here's what I do know:

1. They're Canadian!  Add 'em to Wolf Parade, The New Pornographers, Arcade Fire...pretty soon it's gonna be meaningless to classify bands that I like by their Canadian origin, because there are too many of them.

2. They used to be called Manitoba until they got sued by Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba, the frontman for some band called The Dictators.  That dude sounds like a real winner (asshole).

3. Caribou's new album Swim is fucking fantastic.  Sending chills down my spine.  Competing with LCD Soundsystem's This Is Happening for dance rock supremacy in my mind.

Caribou - Odessa

Spoon - Who Makes Your Money on Jimmy Kimmel

last.fm Artists 26-30

26. Pixies - 320 plays
Legends.  It doesn't get much better than Doolittle or Surfer Rosa.

27. Sunset Rubdown - 317 plays
Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade's other band, or one of his other bands, at any rate.  They've released 3 awesome albums, leading me to wonder, at one point, if Wolf Parade was truly the side project.

I've listened to "Mending of the Gown" a fucking TON.  That song pumps me up.  The riff is incredible.  And I'm big fan of Dragonslayer in general.

28. The Hives - 302 plays
Yikes.  I don't listen to The Hives much any more.  But I've listened to them over 300 times.  It's fun.  "Tick Tick Boom" especially I listened to a bunch.

29. The Decemberists - 266 plays
Again...not really listening to these guys these days.  I was really into The Crane Wife and Picaresque for a little while, I dunno.

30. Wolf Parade - 228 plays
And we're back!  Excited for their imminent third record.

last.fm Artists 21-25

21. Yeasayer - 395 plays
Odd Blood was one of my early favorites of 2k10 albums, and remains one.  "Ambling Alp", "Madder Red", and "O.N.E." are undeniably good.  I was raving about this band for a little while here on this blog.  Their debut All Hour Cymbals is damn fine as well.  Put on a great show at The Guggenheim.

22. Passion Pit - 392 plays
I sure love this brand of electro pop.  This band hits a lot of pleasure centers for me.  I understand how the chipmunk style vocals can be a turnoff for some, but I dig it.  Both their EP Chunk of Change and debut LP Manners are stellar.

23. Dirty Projectors - 366 plays
Bitte Orca was one of 2009's standout albums, and shit, it stood out.  The music seems orchestrated and calculated down to the finest detail, and it's supported by gorgeous female vocals.  I've listened to the previous record Rise Above a fair amount as well.

24. Vampire Weekend - 349 plays
Not sure how I feel about this one.  I wouldn't name Vampire Weekend among my favorite bands.  But I listened to their debut a lot, and it's not like I avoided listening to Contra.  Some of that shit's annoying, but I like "Giving Up the Gun".  So here they are.

25. No Age - 347 plays
I like their most recent work, the Losing Feeling EP, more than anything I've heard from the band thus far.  Nouns is definitely cool, but I've never gotten into it into it.  Excited for a new long player from the band.

last.fm Artists 16-20

16. Weezer - 459 plays
I have loved Weezer for a long time.  Power pop nerd rock heroes!  Like fellow 90's originating phenomenon The Simpsons, Weezer are well past their prime.  My favorite part of Raditude was their cover medley of MGMT's "Kids" and Lady Gaga's "Poker Face", and that was one of the bonus tracks.

Nonetheless, I am glad Weezer are still around, still making records, still touring.  The Blue Album is pretty much perfect.  And Pinkerton is incredibly powerful.  I dig a few tunes off of The Green Album, and I think I loved Maladroit more than anyone.

17. Wavves - 441 plays
I listened to Wavvves a lot, for a while there.  New songs "Mickey Mouse" and "Cool Jumper" got a bunch of spins too.

18. A.C. Newman - 416 plays
The New Pornographers is definitely a team, but this dude still seems like the captain.  Anyway, his first solo album The Slow Wonder is pop perfection.  Get Guilty didn't best it, but it would have been hard for any follow-up to do so.

19. Radiohead - 401 plays
In Rainbows really is a damn good album.  And of course OK Computer is a classic.  I don't know if Kid A is the absolute best album to be released in the 00's, as multiple lists have claimed, but it's up there, definitely one of the most monumental.

20. The Raconteurs - 396 plays
Jack White doing power pop inflected rock with a full band!  Sign me up.  Loved their performance at Terminal 5 a couple years back.

"Steady, As She Goes", "Salute Your Solution" and "Consoler of the Lonely" can be added to White's list of anthems.

last.fm Artists 11-15

11. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 542 plays
It kinda quietly crept on me how much I like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  I loved "Maps" when it first came out, but didn't go any further than that.  Didn't even listen to Fever to Tell.  Seems strange now that I wouldn't have, considering.

But anyway, fast forward to It's Blitz! coming out, and the band has added some electro pop to their sound.  And electro pop is like my crack these days.  So I listened to It's Blitz!, loved it, listened to their previous two albums and loved them as well.  Now the YYY's are a staple.

Karen O seems like the ultimate frontwoman.  I have not had the pleasure of seeing this band live yet, but I hope to correct that very soon.

My favorite song of theirs is probably "Down Boy", off the Is Is EP.

12. MGMT - 529 plays
MGMT have risen the ranks!  Definitely the most recent addition to this upper territory of my last.fm chart.  This is in no small part to me loving their sophomore record Congratulations, only officially dropping this week.  Oracular Spectacular has the killer singles, and I do hope they make more songs like that again at some point.  But I love their new direction, it's a glorious album.  Do not understand the early wave of hate/disappointment.  I hope that over time it is vindicated, but who knows.

13. LCD Soundsystem - 499 plays
Just shy of 5k, LCD!  That will change by tonight.  This Is Happening is soooo fucking good.  James Murphy is a genius, and this is dance rock of the highest caliber.  That is all.

14.  TV on the Radio - 491 plays
Return to Cookie Mountain is one of the albums that got me into all this art-rock and electro-pop crap in the first place.  I was so impressed.  Dear Science is prolly even better, and came around during one of the best times in my life to date.  It'll hold a special place in my heart forever.

15. The White Stripes - 488 plays
The oldest band in the Top 15, in terms of when I started listening to them.  Jack White is the man.  His output across three bands (and counting?) in the past decade is legendary. 

"The Hardest Button to Button", "Seven Nation Army", "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground", "Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine" and "Conquest" are some faves.

last.fm - Artists 06-10

06. Animal Collective - 812 plays
Only my top 5 have cracked 1k plays, that's a solid divider.

Yes, I totally got on board the Animal Collective train when Merriweather Post Pavilion came out.  I mean, "My Girls" blew me away.  And it was only in this time that I started listening to the sort of music that AnCo produce.

I'll still hold MPP as my favorite album of theirs, and without a doubt one of the best albums to come out in 2009 (though Logos might be better).  But I really love Sung Tongs.  Strawberry Jam is really good too - I'm surprised a lot of fans don't like it.  I dig Feels, but it's probably my least favorite of these 4.

Similar to of Montreal, Animal Collective have several albums prior to Sung Tongs, but I haven't really gotten into any of that material.  Still, that's 4 pretty amazing albums, plus an EP - last fall's Fall Be Kind, especially the Grateful Dead sampling "What Would I Want? Sky".

07. Grizzly Bear - 681 plays
Grizzly Bear!  I would place them akin to Deerhunter in that they're also very atmospheric to me.  Veckatimest took me away to a different place.  I saw them in Central Park opening for The Decemberists, before I actually knew them.  Must see them again now.

08. The Shins - 640 plays
Really good poppy indie stuff.  I don't listen to The Shins so much anymore, though I'm definitely digging the Broken Bells album.

09. Atlas Sound - 630 plays
Bradford Cox has 2 groups in my Top 10!  Started off as Bradford doing bedroom electronic type stuff apart from Deerhunter, but it goes beyond that with Logos.  I fucking love Logos.

10. Destroyer - 611 plays
Dan Bejar, one of the singers for The New Pornographers, also has his own project - with a bunch of albums.  You would really have to say The New Pornos is his side project.  Some good stuff here - "New Ways of Living" is one helluva tune.  His eccentricities pretty much run rampant here, while they are kept in check and combined with different elements (A.C. Newman's brand of power pop) in The New Pornos.

last.fm - Top 5 Artists

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Last.fm is an awesome service that keeps track of the music you play.  It does other stuff too I guess...like you can listen to radio stations based on the music you like to listen to.  But outside of Pandora, I have no interest in investing in other radio stations, really.

But it keeps track of what you play!  And gives you all your music stats, makes recommendations on what you might like.
 
My top 30 artists on last.fm as of 4/21/2010...

01. of Montreal - 3,846 plays
What can I say?  I love me some of Montreal.  It's not even close.  They were my definitive favorite band for several years.  I listen to a lot of other artists now, but they're still one of my faves.

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? and Satanic Panic in the Attic are amazing albums, some of the best to come out in the past decade.  Skeletal Lamping and The Sunlandic Twins are fantastic as well.  They have multiple albums pre-Satanic that are of a different style...I've heard it described as twee.  It's interesting stuff, but for the most part, I dig Satanic and beyond.

New album later this year!  Dying with anticipation.

02. Deerhunter - 1,899 plays
Deerhunter have risen in the ranks!  Microcastle reeled me in, and I am totally hooked.  I think Bradford Cox is one of the most compelling songwriters we have out there, and dude's got a beautiful voice.  I've heard their music described as "ambient punk", and that's a pretty good descriptor.  Their music creates an atmosphere - certain tracks on Cryptograms, Microcastle and Weird Era Cont. are purely noise - but noise that comes together and sets the scene.  Then in the midst of the scene are rockin' tunes like "Cryptograms", "Nothing Ever Happened" and "Operation".

03. The New Pornographers - 1,678 plays
The new New Pornographers record Together has just leaked.  Go find it.  Only listened to it once so far, but it sounded pretty rad.  I love certain parts of Challengers ("All the Old Showstoppers", "Myriad Harbour"), but I'll concede it's their weakest album.  This is better.

The New Pornos are power pop personified.

04. Arcade Fire - 1,672 plays
I got totally obsessed with this band when Neon Bible came out.  Then I got a little burned out and put 'em down for a while.  Really excited for their third album though.  And Funeral really is incredible, holy shit.

05. Spoon - 1,215 plays
Spoon are motherfucking dependable.  Some people have twisted this quality and suggested that Spoon are boring.  In a way, I get it.  But in a lot of other ways, I totally don't get it, because Spoon are awesome.

I didn't love Transference as immediately as Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga or Gimme Fiction, but it's growing on me.  When you cover all their albums, they've built up a rock solid body of tunes.  Can't wait to catch them live again.

The xx - Islands (Video)

The subtle changes in choreography representing a disintegrating relationship...pretty cool.

LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls (Video)

Best Coast - When I'm With You (Video)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today

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I heard that these guys - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - were the first band to be signed to Animal Collective's label Paw Tracks.  If that weren't endorsement enough, I saw on Twitter that Of Montreal and Neon Indian were raving about their new record Before Today.

So I checked it out.  Holy shit it's good!  Psychedelic, funky, catchy.  If you need a song sampler, listen to "Round and Round".  But seriously, just go listen to the album, it is teh jamz.

New Wavves Record

I'm totally lifting this picture of Nathan Williams of Wavves from P-Fork along with the story, because I loved the pic, but whatever.  Check out the P-Fork story here.

And the story is...the new Wavves record is done!  They're mixing it now and it will be out this summer.  

I'm excited.  Wavvves was one of my favorite records from 2009, and the early new material "Cool Jumper" and "Mickey Mouse" was sounding great. 

Wavves had a whole bucket of hype when they first arrived on the scene...and the backlash was equally swift.  I hope the band comes out with a second (well technically third, but whatever) record that goes above the hype.

LCD Soundsystem

It's been an LCD Soundsystem week, for sure.  I caught James Murphy and co. at Music Hall of Williamsburg last Thursday 4/8.  James made a point of telling us that what we were experiencing could barely be considered a show - it was "practice", seeing as the gap between this show and the last time they performed was as large as the span from their first show as a band to their most recent.

You certainly couldn't tell from the performance - they fucking brought it.  Tribulations, Losing My Edge, Daft Punk Is Playing at My House, All My Friends, and Someone Great all got played.  They closed with New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down, which was fantastic.  No North American Scum though - whatcha gonna do?

Two new songs - Drunk Girls, which I already knew, and Change, which I didn't.

Now the album has leaked and I'm familiar with all the new stuff.  The record's amazing.  I'll wait for time to pass before determining its position in the LCD Soundystem canon, but it's fucking great.

Change is super catchy - I can totally see it becoming a hit.  Pow Pow is a fantastic 'talk over a beat' song in the mold of Losing My Edge.  Opener Dance Yrself Clean and Hit are early favorites of mine.

Stream This Is Happening here.

Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

This weekend I finally listened to all of Surfer Blood's debut album Astro Coast (and not just the awesome song "Swim").  Really enjoyed it all the way through.  There are multiple anthems here.  They remind me of early Weezer (Blue Album) and Pixies in certain ways, though they really sound nothing like either band.  Check it out, it's good stuff. 

MGMT - Flash Delirium (Video)