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1. Dead Confederate – Giving It All Away (Feat. J Mascis)
Dead Confederate = Hardy Morris, Brantley Senn, Walker Howle, John Watkins, Jason Scarboro from Athens, GA. Singer Hardy Morris describes them as “kind of like a Jackson Pollack painting, brutally honest. There isn’t some big twist or turn, it just lays it all out there. Immediate, no frills, primal, emotional.” It’s Southern rock meeting alt-grunge and this song sees help from J Mascis of Dinosaur, Jr. fame. Their new album Sugar is out on 8/24 and you can download this track for free on their website now HERE.
Dead Confederate – Giving it All Away (Featuring J Mascis)

2. Record Club – Never Tear Us Apart
Somehow I totally missed Beck’s Record Club’s take on the INXS album Kick. According to the Record Club site it is an “informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day….there is no intention to ‘add to’ the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. only to play music and document what happens.” They recorded all of the songs from Kick over a 12 hour period on March 3, 2010. This song features Annie Clark from St. Vincent and is such a pretty take on a song that I remember very clearly from my youth. You can download all of their version of Kick now HERE. You can check out Record Club’s other album interpretations (incl. Velvet Underground and Nico and Leonard Cohen done by a handful of amazing artists) now on Beck’s website HERE.
Record Club – Never Tear Us Apart

3. Cults – Oh My God
“Oh My God” comes as the 8th and final single featured as part of the 8 free tracks over 8 weeks Adult Swim/KIA program. I have such a crush on this New York by way of San Diego couple. At only 21, Brian Oblivion (a Videodrome reference) and girlfriend Madeline Follin took the blog world by storm with their song “Go Outside” (you can listen to that in my entry HERE). If you are in Los Angeles, please do yourself a favor and check them out when they come to the Bootleg Theater (opening for Maps & Atlases) on 7/22. Ticket information for that show HERE.
The Cults – Oh My God

4. Fol Chen – In Ruins
Fol Chen = Samuel Bing, The Booksman, Gmo, Julian Wass, Patrik-Ian and Sinosa Loa from Los Angeles, CA. Shrouded in mystery, this band delivers music that doesn’t quite seem to fit into any specific genre. Their Facebook description includes this description: “You know that mysterious black object that the creepy family is staring at on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s Presence album? Fol Chen sound like that.” You can check out their video for the song below. You can download this song for free on the Asthmatic Kitty website (under the section labeled mp3s) now HERE. You can buy their new album Part II: The New December now HERE. You may also want to check out the bands twitter poetry HERE.
Fol Chen – In Ruins

5. Sunbirds – Sunshine
Sunbirds are based in London but the band members (James Buttery, Dean Reid, Ben Axtell and Denis Vittoz) hail from London, Los Angeles and Paris. You can feel the mixture of those places in their interpretation of the hazy indie rock sound. They chose the song title perfectly as the track is exactly what you would put on for one of those perfectly, lazy summer afternoons, beer in hand. It’s mellow but still surprises you with it’s musical complexity. You can download this track for free on their website now HERE. Their EP River Run, comes out on 7/19.
Sunbirds – Sunshine

6. Wavves – Baby Say Goodbye
After a drug-induced meltdown at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival last year, it wasn’t clear what to make of what would happen to Wavves and it’s singer Nathan Williams. Proving he wasn’t even close to being finished, he spent three months with producer Dennis Herring (Modest Mouse) at Sweet Tea Recording Studio in Oxford, Mississippi working hard on Wavves latest creation, King of the Beach. The band also sees the addition of two former touring Jay Reatard bandmates Stephen Pope and Billy Hayes. We see a much more hopeful Williams with this album as he states, “we all wanted to make something inspiring. It’s the type of thing where you have this much, but you could have more, so go get it.” You can buy their album digitally now HERE. You can also listen to the whole thing on their MySpace page HERE.
Wavves – Baby Say Goodbye

7. So Many Wizards – Nico
So Many Wizards = Nima Kazerouni, Erik Felix and Warren Woodward from Long Beach / Los Angeles, CA. Labeling themselves as “bedroom pop” this song perfectly captures that sleepy-late-afternoon-weekend kind of feeling. It’s dreamlike and slow and has just a tinge of longing heartbreak about it. Very Nico and very pretty. You can download this track for free now HERE. Their album Love Songs for When You Leave Me (produced by Morning Benders Chris Chu) is due out this year. If you are in Los Angeles, check them out when they play at LA’s Historical Monument One Fifty-Seven on 8/17. Info for that HERE.
So Many Wizards – Nico

Oldies but worth a re-listen:

1. INXS – Never Tear Us Apart
Since I am featuring the Record Club’s cover of this song, I figured it was only fair to post the original:

2. Röyksopp – Poor Leno

3. Rockwell – Somebody’s Watching Me

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