Levi's Jeans appear to be joining Mountain Dew and Adult Swim in offering free new MP3s from indie buzzbands on their website.
Check out the Levi's "Pioneer Sessions" website here.
All of the songs here are newly recorded covers. They already had Dirty Projectors covering Bob Dylan's "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" and The Shins taking on Squeeze's "Goodbye Girl".
The latest addition is Passion Pit doing their take of Smashing Pumpkins' classic "Tonight, Tonight". You can download it for free at the link above, you just have to give 'em your email address.
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.
Easily one of my favorite songs of 2009. I love Passion Pit.
If you're feeling down, like so down that you've got a frowny face paper bag over your head, watch Passion Pit perform. Your frowny face paper bag will soon turn into a happy face paper bag. Then you'll be feeling so good that you'll no longer feel the need to cover your face with a paper bag. You'll start dancing, confetti will rain from the sky, and all will be well.
10) The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
I love the bass sound on this album. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was my last experience with the Lips - for some reason I never got around to listening to At War With the Mystics. Anyway, where Yoshimi was sunny and poppy, Embryonic is dark and heavy and intense. Both are awesome flip sides of the same coin. Album closer "Watching the Planets" is the standout track for me.
"Oh, oh, oh, finding the answer. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Finding that there ain't no answer to find."
Sunset Rubdown is supposedly the side project of Spencer Krug from Wolf Parade, but this being Sunset Rubdown's 4th album compared to Wolf Parade's 2, you could be fooled into thinking this was Spencer's main gig. Anyway, while previous albums Shut Up, I Am Dreaming and Random Spirit Lover are really good, I think Dragonslayer is their best set yet. It's got more of a live sound than its predecessors, and the strong female backing vocals really compliment Spencer's yelp quite nicely. Album opener "Silver Moons" grabs me from the start.
"I believe in growing old with grace. I believe she only loved my face. I believe I acted like a child, making faces at acquired tastes. And now silver moons belong to you..."
08) Passion Pit - Manners
I love Passion Pit. I first starting getting into this Massachusetts band a few months before this album came out. Their first release was an EP called Chunk of Change. It featured an incredible song called "Sleepyhead", with chipmunk vocals and an awesome beat. That track is included here on their debut album Manners as well, for good reason, but there are new tracks that match that song's gloriousness. "Make Light", "Little Secrets", "The Reeling", and "Moth's Wings" are all spectacular. Passion Pit have a bubbly electro pop sound with strong falsetto vocals from singer Michael Angelakos. This is happy music, it puts a smile on my face. A very impressive debut, and I can't wait to hear what they come up with next.
"Let this be our little secret. No one needs to know we're feeling...higher and higher and higher, higher and higher and higher."
