Popular Damage are duo from Manchester/Berlin…They make catchy indie dance tracks, as this fun little number off their upcoming EP, “The Royal Fly” proves.  Catch them touring select cities in Europe this spring if you live in that part of the world.

Popular Damage – “Exclusive”

I’m beginning to regret not booking a trip to SxSW this year, especially now that the promotion onslaught for bands playing the festival has begun, and my inbox is jammed full of really good music.  Here’s one from Malachai.  It’s some fucking excellent guitar music…Which I’ve been sleeping on posting lately, so I figure if I’m gonna startdropping guitar music again, then it’d better be some high quality stuff.  If your not lame like myself, and have a trip to Texas planned, you can catch this Bristol UK duo on 3/19 at The Onion/Canvas Media Party at The Mohawk (1:00PM set)…or on 3/20 at the Domino Publishing/Press Here Party at French Legation (12:55 PM set) or later in the day at the SxSW Official Showcase at Antones (8:30 PM set).

Malachai – “Snowflake”

This track is rough.  The recording is totally blown out.  The highs are too high…red lining all over the place….not really mixed well at all….but there’s something in this Alex Winston song that’s kinda fucking breathtaking…She did this shit in her basement on Garageband…She’s in the studio now working with The Knocks….I can’t wait till they start dropping finished tracks.  This girl is good.

Alex Winston – “Pull My Heart Away” (Jack Penate Cover)

I’ve been dropping a lot of dance music on the site, but I thought it might be nice to change things up, so today I’m coming with a new track from the Baltimore-based folk outfit, Man&Dog.  The band has a new EP out on November 28th entitled “Another State By Dawn”, and will be playing the Ottobar that evening to celebrate.  I’m really impressed with the track, “All Day With No Rest” — great melody and some of the strongest lyrics I’ve heard from the folk/indie scene in a while — These guys are on my must watch list for sure….expecting big things.

Man&Dog – “All Day No Rest”

Warpaint have the coolest band name that I’ve come across this month. It wasn’t the fact that John Fusciante mixed their record, or the fact their getting rave reviews from all over the place that inspired me to take a listen — it was entirely the band name.  See, so if you have a dope name, I’ll probably listen…if not, well, I don’t know — you may never make it into the headphones…just sayin.  This track starts with a simple guitar lick, then the haunting vocal comes in, and by the time the drums hit, you can’t help but appreciate Warpaint’s sound.  Its psychedelic, sort of — I guess its psychedelic without really trying to be…I could make some comparisons with other bands that they sort of sounds like…but that shit is boring, and these ladies are not, so just listen. The L.A.-based band is currently on tour in the USA, doing the Fader party at CMJ  last night and sneaking their way across the country in the next couple of weeks. — oh yeah, and they have an EP out on Manimal Vinyl…so you can play that shit proper.

Warpaint – “Elephants”

TOUR DATES
Oct 24 Philadephia, PA @ 941 Theater ^^
Oct 26 Chapel Hill, NC @ Players ^^
Oct 27 @ Athens, GA @ New Earth Music Hall ^^
Oct 28 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon ^^
Oct 29 Texas A&M University
Oct 29 Austin, TX @ Emo’s ^^
Oct 30 Lubbock, TX @ Bash Riprocks ^^
Nov 1 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture ^^
Nov 3 Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland ^^

# w/ School Of Seven Bells
^^w/ Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

A few years back I had the opportunity to cacth Gogol Bordello play live and it blew my mind…Think spastic-gyspy-punk-dance-party….and you still wouldn’t even be close.  Word recently came through the wire that the band just released their first live cd/dvd set, “Live From Axis Mundi”– And a couple tracks came along with this information — so here they are….I’m not going to dissect them tonight — This is just good music, played very well live — Enjoy it, Play it loud, and maybe take your shirt off…

Gogol Bordello – “Wunderlust King” (BBC Sessions)

Gogol Bordello – “Troubled Friends” (Gypsy Punk sessions)

Just got word of this new project by the Buffetlibre DJ‘s — They’ve gotten together 50 of their favorite artists from across the globe to help put together a compilation to benefit Amnesty International, entitled, “PEACE”. With tracks from Dan Deacon, Van She, Crocodiles, Voxtrot, Ra Ra Riot, Black Strobe, Bonde Do Role, just to name a few, the full compilation will be available for “name your price” download in January of next year.  To help entice you they’ve sent over a couple tracks that are set to appear. The first is from Delaware-based group, The Spinto Band, who do an excellent cover of ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky”–adding post punk guitar work to this classic number.  The second is from South Africa’s, DJ Mujava, who made waves last year with his track “Township Funk”, but adds a little rock n roll edge to this new song, “Superstar”.  50 tracks, from 50 artists, all going to a really great cause, get up on this…

The Spinto Band – “Mr. Blue Sky” (ELO Cover)

DJ Mujava – “Superstar” (feat. DJ NonSense)

I’ve been listening to a lot of really heavy dance music recently.  Here’s one that grabbed my attention recently from UK band, Flamboyant Bella.  The band is comprised of four kids from Hertfordshire (I have no fucking clue where that is — but it’s what the press release said, and I’m not in the mood to google map) The remix of their debut single “Get A Reaction” starts as the basic peak time club banger, but has some nice cuts about 3/4 of the way in that should garner some looks from the dance floor.  Keep an eye out for this band, and not just because the press release says that they’re selling out a bunch of shows over in England,( — really — who am I to argue with what a press release says)…no, because they have great vocals, great hooks, fun beats, and a lead singer who looks like Debbie Harry, back when Debbie Harry was hot — You can watch the video of the unremixed joint over here.

Flamboyant Bella – “Get a Reaction” (Breakdown Remix)

Speech Debelle just won the Mercury Prize.  We posted on her a few months back, and you could tell that there was something special with that record.  So in the spirit of all things awesome, here is brand spankin new track from Pete Lawrie featuring Speech Debelle….(This is like mastered today new)  Lawrie drops an excellent cigarette toasted vocal, and Speech kills on the verse.  Congrats…

Pete Lawrie feat. Speech Debelle – “Black, Blue, Thats How I Feel About You”

This one comes from Portland’s Yacht, with a little help from New Jersey MC, Kosha Dillz.  Its got a funky indie electronic beat with a nice little bounce to it, definitely a fun end to the summer track.  Pretty familiar with Yacht, but this is the first time that I’ve come across anything from Kosha Dillz.  From what I heard so far I’m excited to listen to more.

Yacht feat. Kosha Dillz – “Psychic City”