IAMX - I Come With Knives

http://www.iamx.eu/

   Chris Corner aka. IAMX just unveiled a video for the song I Come With Knives. After The Unified Field and Quiet The Mind, I Come With Knives is the third output of IAMX‘s upcoming album The Unified Field (out March 22).

  I have waited for this song and video as IAMX announced their new album. THIS is Chris and his magical art, full of intense emotions, seductive noise and exploding energy!  Thanks to IAMX!!
  I'm chilling to these next days to hear whole new fucking good album :))  

Julian Plenti Is... Skyscraper

  Paul Julian Banks is an English American musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and guitarist of the rock band Interpol. He is also a solo artist under the name Julian Plenti. As a singer, Banks' voice lies in the baritone range. 
  Banks released a solo album under the name Julian Plenti on 4 August 2009 entitled Julian Plenti Is... Skyscraper. Banks claims to have multiple solo projects and monikers in mind. He released a five song EP entitled Julian Plenti Lives... on 26 June 2012. His second full-length studio album, Banks was announced on 6 August 2012 and will be released on 22 October 2012.
  As of August 15th, 2012, it would appear that Banks laid to rest the use of the alter-ego, "Julian Plenti" as on the official site of InterpolNYC, the name is referred to as "ditched". 
  Also, the domain URL for the Julian Plenti website is as of this time deactivated and all mentions of the character removed from Banks' official Twitter account.

   Julian Plenti Is... Skyscraper (2009) 
  Julian Plenti Lives... (2012) 
  Banks (2012) 

Blouse - Into black

  Blouse is based out of a 6,000 square-foot warehouse in North Portland. 
  The project started in the summer of 2010, after Los Angeles native Charlie Hilton met Patrick Adams in art school.
   They made a few home recordings and soon began spending nights at the warehouse recording with Jacob Portrait (Producer of Mint Chicks, Dandy Warhols, Starfucker).

  Having played music since their teens, the three found that there was something inexplicable in their coming together. 
  After posting two demo tracks to Bandcamp's website, the group was picked up by Captured Tracks. 
 

  Into black is Blouse's debut single.

http://www.blouseblouse.com/

Tearjerker - So Dead

  Tearjerker is from Toronto. Their music is rich with dreamy guitars, thoughtful vocals, driving bass, and a mix of live and sampled drums. Tearjerker is Micah, Trevor, and Taylor.

  Their newest album Rare was released on November 15th, 2011.

Free download - So Dead 

  Tearjerker plays music that has been described by various people as indie rock, shoegaze, chillwave, glo-fi/lo-fi and other subgenres.

 The official Video for So Dead from the album Rare, by Tearjerker.

http://www.tearjerker.ca/ 

http://tearjerker.bandcamp.com/ 

The Ropes - Lack Of Technology Made Me A Killer

  The Ropes are a duo. The band has received praise from NME and CMJ for their lyric driven new wave / indie rock style.

  The group consists of vocalist/bassist Sharon Shy and multi-instrumentalist Toppy (who is known for playing the drums with the guitar hanging around his neck). They have toured extensively throughout the US, opening for acts such as The Bravery, Innerpartysystem, The Used, Spoon, and others and have also played several UK dates. Music critic Allan Raible chose their album “What They Do For Fun” as #15 on the ABC News 50 Best Albums of 2008.

   The Ropes have released a string of EPs, singles, and a full length, all produced by Toppy and Nic Hard (The Bravery).

http://theropesmusic.com/

 

Piano Magic - Ovations

 Piano Magic is a musical collective formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, England. 

  Their sound has been described as ambient pop, post-rock, indietronica, coldwave, dark wave and ghostrock.

   While the most recent releases have seen them operating with a traditional band format, they originally started their career with the intention to base their recordings around their small nucleus and whoever else would like to contribute. 

   Glen Johnson is the only remaining band member from the original trio.

  Ovations is their 10th album and features guest appearances by Brendan Perry and Peter Ulrich of Dead Can Dance. 

  Perry sings on The Nightmare Goes On and You Never Loved This City, whilst Ulrich adds percussion and hammered dulcimer to March Of The Atheists, A Fond Farewell and La Cobardía de los Toreros. This album finds Piano Magic at their most confident, melodic and unabashed, merging early 80’s coldwave electronics with Eastern European acoustic instrumentation. 

  The opening prowl of “The Nightmare Goes On” is a key indicator of the overall trajectory of Ovations. With commanding guest lead vocals from Dead Can Dance’s Brendan Perry, intoning Johnson’s funereal prose over washes of synths, exotic strings and almost African rhythms, the long-player feels like a much more successful attempt to capture the true ‘80s 4AD spirit that the ensemble strained a little hard to reach on 2002’s collaborator-heavy Writers Without Homes.  With Johnson back to the singing fore, the thicker rhythmic mélange hits with even greater force on the ensuing Moroccan-vibed “March Of The Atheists” and the skittering electro-beats-driven “On Edge”. 
   The more minimalist, Details Not Recorded-like, “A Fond Farewell” brings a serene momentary breathing space before “The Blue Hour” and “Recovery Position” crash in with towering waves of Robin Guthrie guitars put through Modern English amplifiers.

  
  Before proceedings slide too close to unadulterated ‘80s noire retrophilia, the wordless “La Cobardía De Los Toreros” chimes in with an Eastern European baroque eloquence that might not sound out of place on Beirut’s Gulag Orkestar. Following this refreshing interlude, a second Perry-sung track, the elegantly-orchestrated “You Never Loved This City”, glides in with unapologetically lovelorn Tindersticks-style grace and gravitas.  The somewhat automatic New Order-referencing of “The Faint Horizon” consequently feels a little anaemic in its wake. 
  However, the closing “Exit” more than makes up for it, with squelchy Kraftwerk electronics and a Vini Reilly guitar figure enveloping an elegiac duet between Johnson and regular golden-toned Piano Magic chanteuse, Angèle David Guillou.

  Like its predecessor, the impressive Ovations provides no linear entry-point into the labyrinthine world of Piano Magic. Yet, it undoubtedly finds Glen Johnson and co. regaining a stronger sense of collective purpose; reinforcing the belief that the group still has plenty of reasons and room to exist alongside its members extra-curricular roaming, for a little while longer at least. 

Longtime fans will love it unreservedly.

  A fantastic album, Highly recommended!

Tracks:
1. The Nightmare Goes On
2. March of the Atheists
3. On Edge
4. A Fond Farewell
5. The Blue Hour
6. Recovery Position
7. La Cobardia De Los Toreros
8. You Never Loved This City
9. The Faint Horizon
10. Exit

 Pianon Magic - Ovations 2009

Piano Magic official site 

Cold Showers - Highlands

   Based out of Los Angeles comes the fresh sounds of  COLD SHOWERS. 

  Highlands is their first release to date with a promising sound coming from the Mexican Summer label.

  Combining influences of late 1970s post-punk with a sonic exploration closer to something from Neu!, it is the carefully constructed spatiality of the music that gives the somewhat minimal lyrics their weight; distant and atmospheric. 

 Moments of aggression and transcendence transform the songs from mere sound to rich sonic narratives: within the rise of the language lies a vision under restraint, a pent up joy that is like nothing else. The resulting sound is unexpectedly tough, vital, and contemporary.

http://www.facebook.com/coldshowersband

Take a listen, a really nice surprise in these post punk waters , lovely indeed!! 

In their first Room 205 installment, the aptly named Cold Showers deliver an icy hot, uptempo performance of "So I Can Grow" from their forthcoming debut album.

 

Seaside Postcards - EP

  

  For fans of Joy Division, this trio hailing from Pesaro, Italy is a must listen. Their dark indie sound is reminiscent of the stark moodiness of Ian Curtis and with their minimal guitar lines and heavy bass.

  Their personal interpretation of a perfectly connotated and deep-rooted sound is the sound of the cold Manchester at the end of the '70.

   Tangible proof is the new homonymous EP, self-produced, recorded and mixed in summer 2011.

   Seaside Postcards are already playing live and writing new songs that will see the light at the beginning of 2012.

   Watch the video for “Strange Days” below and be sure to download your free copy of their self-titled EP, give them support!

 Seaside postcards - EP
Bandcamp 

Soviet Soviet - Contradiction

    The masters of  Europian post-punk/new wave are back with a new video for their track “Contradiction”, the opener off their 2011 release, "Summer, Jesus". 

   The band has received numerous feedbacks from audiences and critics, "Contradiction" comes to crown a golden period for the Soviet Soviet, who had many dates abroad , particularly in eastern Europe. 

  Amazing artists with a sophisticated sense for making an extraordinary music, its hardly to find such a high-quality band in these waters. 

  Big support and good luck in the future!

Highy recommened!

Myspace

 The video was directed, edited and produced by Roberto ‘RUP’ Paolini. 

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - On Welfare

  Lorelle Meets the Obsolete is a psych band from Guadalajara, Mexico. Their debut, On Welfare, was released on May 24th of 2011 via Captcha Records.

   The Mexican duo sear their way through a heady mix of shoegaze and psychedelia that wobbles when you think it's going to run straight into the foam and scorches just when you're least expecting it to catch fire. The band has a way of wrapping the two genres (and the edges of quite a few more) around their guitar strings and pulling them tight into knots, only to have those same knots disappear in a puff of black smoke. Their On Welfare album is a perfect soundtrack to humid rains, streaked with heat and swelled with the promise of relief.

Official site

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - These Days from Jaime Martínez on Vimeo.

Download 

Mint Julep - Save Your Season (2011)

   Formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2007, Mint Julep is the husband-and-wife team of Keith and Hollie Kenniff. Subsequently relocating to Portland, Oregon, the duo cut a limited release album, Songs About Snow, in 2008 – effectively a trial run for further recording in their home studio, the fruit of which is a sublime follow-up, Save Your Season, released by Village Green in August 2011.

  Hallmarked by Hollie’s seductive, dreamy vocals and a succession of memorably soaring choruses, all of it etched with Keith’s vivid, glinting keyboards, towering guitars and miscellaneous instrumental hooks, Mint Julep make lustrous modern pop music that is wistful and mellifluous yet simultaneously powerful, even epic – equal parts shoegazing romanticism and cool, Kraftwerkian polish. 

  Their songs seem instantly familiar, like old musical friends, a ’classicism’ offset by the freshness and luminosity they exude as they usher you on a breathless ride through the sunlit uplands of electronic indie-rock.
 

  Mint Julep was designed as a conscious departure from Keith’s previous, ambient-orientated projects. “When Hollie and I set out to do something, I wanted to find some way to incorporate her vocals into a slightly different style, rather than just write similar material to my solo work and lay her vocals over top”, he says. “I had the need to write something that had some distorted guitars, loud drums and was a little bolder than what I had previously done. We messed around with a track one night (which became ‘Stay’) and it was a fun process, so we just kept writing more songs so we could do a project together.”

   Soon a working pattern emerged, with Keith composing music around Hollie’s lyrics or making tracks which Hollie would then add to. “It just developed after a lot of trial and error, and after a while the material started to plateau and began to sound like an album…”

A Pennsylvannian by birth, Keith Kenniff is an honors graduate of Boston’s esteemed Berklee College of Music, best known as the brains behind dulcet ambient/electronic practitioners Helios and the fingers on the ivories of post-classical piano minimalists Goldmund (the latter’s music once described by no less an authority than Ryuichi Sakamoto as “…so, so, so beautiful…”).

  A succession of albums under those aliases has made Kenniff the darling of discerning critics and his music has also been widely used in film, television and advertising, not least on the soundtrack to Harmony Korine’s 2007 comedy-drama Mister Lonely and the trailer for the 2009 Academy Award-nominated Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes.

   Originally from Ohio, singer Hollie Kenniff maintains dual US/Canadian citizenship, having spent part of her life in Ontario. Aside from Mint Julep, she has collaborated on several additional musical endeavors in tandem with husband Keith, including a children’s music project, Meadows (inspired by the couple’s young son), whose debut longplayer was recently released, and an ambient diversion under their own names. An album of the latter, A Deep and Dreamless Sleep, is slated for later in the year.

Mint Julep’s ultra-rare Songs About Snow debut is also set to live again in the near future, remixed, remastered and with additional tracks.

 by David Sheppard. July, 2011.

Mint Julep Official site

 Tracklist

---------

01. Chasing the Wind Catching the Shadows

02. Aviary

03. Days Gone By

04. Save Your Season

05. To the Sea

06. Cherry Radio

07. No Letting Go

08. Stay

09. Time Is Distance

10. Why Don't We

Mint Julep - Save Your Season

Minks - By The Hedge (2011)

   "In April of 2010 Captured Tracks released a 7" single by an unknown new york band called Minks. On the date of release, few people knew any information about the musicians behind the music. Most writers and listeners assumed that it was a one man bedroom music project, like many other artists on the label, and were confused even more when six musicians appeared on stage to perform songs at the first Minks concert. 

  The first single, titled "Funeral Song" was quickly praised by music journalists and publications like Pitchfork, Stereogum, and Fader. Fader said that it sounded like "If Robert Smith gave birth to a baby, and the baby was actually a cassette of Cure demos that had a lot more staying power than actual Cure demos." Seasons changed, and MINKS returned with a follow up 7" single titled "Ophelia," which continued to shadow people's minds with curious thoughts and open ears.

  The uniqueness of these early singles showed the ability to balance the feelings of joy and sadness, as well as a door to past and present worlds. 
  For these songs were less about the songs themselves, but the ability to make you feel a certain emotion when listening to them. No element alone would stand out, but as a whole, the swirling waves of sound which Pitchfork would describe as "all texture and drift," would drive you away to a nostalgic place in your mind.

  With the release of "By The Hedge," MINKS further the ability to make you feel eternal autumn.

  
   Frontman and songwriter Sean Kilfoyle's ability to capture the raincoat grey Boston mornings of his youth, have the desire to make you feel like you are listening to a dream while awake and standing in the pouring rain. put on your raincoat and enjoy the splendor."

Tracklist: 

1. Kusmi
2. Out of Tune
3. Life at Dusk
4. Indian Ocean
5. Funeral Song
6. Our Ritual
7. Cemetary Rain
8. Bruises
9. Boys Run Wild
10. Ophelia
11. Juniper
12. Arboretum Dogs

Minks - By the Hedge 

Flying Turns - As Good As

   French Cold New wave band Flying Turns from Paris, with beautiful deep dark voice and energetic post punk guitar riffs made such a great videos that make me excited to find a real high-quality band that reminds a lot to Joy Division, the first album of Depeche Mode, Bauhaus, Devo and so on..

   One of the band members is Gesaffelstein, a french producer of techno/electro music.

  Their first single was called as good as, listen to this promising and talented trio. Enjoy!!

Directed by Francesco Colombo 

Video by Marie Athénaïs - marieathenais.com

myspace/flyingturns

soundcloud/flying-turns 

Tammar - Visits

   Tammar is the Indiana-based quintet with post-punk anthems of classic sounds of paranoia, malaise and misanthropy mostly alike to Joy Division, The Velvet Underground, The Fall and early 90s alt-rock. 

   Visits, the band's confident debut studio LP, with it's sensual sound is more like the product of a late-night jam session in 1970s Dusseldorf or New York City.

   They carry you on the steely pulse of Suicide's proto-synth pop conjuring a strange kind of nowhere feeling, really hypnotic and intense guitars jams.

  You can imagine it all by listening their video for the song The Last Line which you can download free on their website  (down below find the link)

Website 

Faunts - Feel.Love.Thinking.Of

  Faunts is an Indie rock band from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

  Faunts was formed in the fall of 2000 by two brothers Steve Batke and Tim Batke. Faunts are released on Friendly Fire Recordings. In 2005, their debut album High Expectations/Low Results was well-received.

  In 2006, a 40-minute EP entitled M4 was released that grew out of music crafted to accompany short films for theFilm and Video Arts Society. One of the tracks from the M4 EP (M4 Part II) was featured during the final credits of Bioware's 2007 RPG Mass Effect. This raised the band's profile and "a sizeable new audience was exposed to Faunts’ moody, subdued melodies".On November 18, they released a remix album titled Faunts Remixed, featuring remixes by acts such as Mark Templeton and DVAS, which is available exclusively through iTunes. 

The newest Faunts album,Feel.Love.Thinking.Of  was released on February 17th 2009, and is the result of songwriting over the course of the touring across America.

  "Let's breathe a collective sigh of relief, because the five-piece Canadian outfit doesn’t disappoint with this album. Their second proper full-length, Feel... is rife with gauzy, shoegaze-influenced guitar compositions and effects-laden melodies that have a rather tranquilizing effect on one's mind."

           Official Faunts
           Myspace Faunts

Download

SideSteps - The Heartbreak song

SideSteps is a project from Belgium consisted of Mr. sidesteps (Greece) & Dag Otto Braende (Norway).

Mr. sidesteps is along with huge ambitions and passion, creator of one beautifully special piece of music.

If you’re lover of darkness, melodic and powerful tunes, love bands like Depeche Mode or She Wants Revenge, then you're gonna love them a lot!

I was overwhelmed when I find out that they put their official music video for the Heartbreak song on you tube, so I speed up to share it with more music people and hopefully they get more support and love for their work and art, 'cause they deserve it. 

They are a band with great potential and artistic sense, I wish them all luck and success!

Mr. SideSteps says: "Our goal is to express our feelings and find like-minded people who appreciate it, not become another rockstar-idol"

 

            You can download the whole album for free

            Just follow the link below ..

            SideSteps Official
            SideSteps myspace

IamX - Volatile Times

IAMX is the illegitimate brainchild of Sneaker Pimps front man and whiz kid producer Chris Corner. His self-produced, performed and perfected debut album “Kiss + Swallow” is a moving collection of songs for unhinged and creative mind.

The content is sexual, synthetic, dark and melodic, like 80s’ electro glam soundtrack to Svankmajer film. Call it a cross between Detroit or Berlin escapades, Prince or Roxy Music’s pop, or the electronic universe of Cabaret Voltaire. IAMX erotic vocals accompanied with frantic guitar noise breaths life into the songs. 

 It is not often that a band infiltrates the essence of your being, where you live and breathe their music and their words. But for many, the Berlin based IAMX has created a die-hard cult who wait for their every move with bated breath. While most artists tend to see their art as a finite entity, IAMX's mastermind Chris Corner sees his music as ever evolving; morphing and shifting... open to interpretation and changes. 

IAMX mixes Chris' erotically-charged vocals with music that is, at once, frantic yet controlled. A full-on aural and visual attack. In 2004 was the release of IAMX's debut album 'Kiss + Swallow' which has already been considered a classic, with songs such as the title track 'Skin Vision', 'Missile', and 'Sailor' among others, setting up a new sound many call 'Glam Noir'. The follow up, their internationally acclaimed second album 'The Alternative', voted the Number One Album of 2007 by XM Radio, was the sound of an independent revolution offering the perfect "alternative" to the insipid radio drone of the mainstream. With their third studio album 'Kingdom of Welcome Addiction', Chris Corner has created another masterpiece, in which the glam noir styling of IAMX got an organic and much more intimate makeover. The naked and raw emotions are embracingly welcomed on this album and coddled with care, from the vulnerable shuffle of 'Tear Garden' to the regal march of 'Kingdom of Welcome Addiction' to the late night primal dance floor rhythms of 'Nature of Inviting'. His exposure of his tender underbelly however couldn't be more apparent (and beautifully presented) than in the ethereal ballad 'I Am Terrified' that is filled to the brim with emotion, passion and pain. The slinky 'My Secret Friend', featuring a duet with Imogen Heap, further pushes the boundaries for IAMX's music, as this is the very first duet Chris has ever done. IAMX is currently planning the next chapter of their very storied history which includes a new album, 'Volatile Times', set to be released in March 2011.   

IAMX announce their Fire and Whispers tour for 2011 to support the highly anticipated release of the fourth studio album Volatile Times.

Emotionally charged and sensually produced, 'Volatile Times' is an explosive psychological journey that explores themes of mental and sexual instability, religious perversion, socio-political ignorance, celebrity and the music industry.

'Volatile Times' is set to a backdrop of the unique electro-organic IAMX sound with glorious rhythms, melancholic melodies and operatic performances.
 

“I have been decoding the past and hitting walls for years but finally I feel this album is my personal breakthrough.” Chris Corner

    As I'm a greatly and devoted admirer of Chris Corner, I barely waited another precious artmake from this extremely talented artist.

    Ghosts of Utopia indicate that his unique alterego is willing to give more and more...

    Luckily we can enjoy in this particle of undryable thirst of his mind.

    Filled with seducive contrasts, thrilling controversy, this will make you love them again as always...

        Support this high-quality band, buy their cd and ENJOOOY!!

     http://www.iamx.eu/
     http://www.myspace.com/iamx