February's hit list, part 2

Second part of our February hit parade (click here for part 1) featuring some of our current favorite tracks and videos, with less text and more music this time. To ease your way into our playlist, we’ll start with a few bands you already know and then proceed to some of our new discoveries: 

Primal Scream - 2013

5 years is nothing compared to 22, but it is certainly a significant amount of time. By the way, this is exactly how long Cool Music Central has been on Blogger and we'll be having one or two posts on the subject at the beginning of March to celebrate. Anyway, this is also how long we had to wait for a new Primal Scream record and now the wait is over. Here is "2013", their new 9-minute epic single in full - their new album "More Light" will be released on May 13th:

Foals - My Number

"Holy Fire", the third album by Foals, is certainly a hit and the infectious "My Number" is their latest single which reached number 23 in the official UK chart. It'll certainly be way higher in our upcoming "Listening Habits" playlist for January-February:

DIIV - Wait

New, spicy and certainly NSFW video for "Wait", one of the highlights off DIIV's fine debut "Oshin":

Widowspeak - Locusts

Widowspeak's second album "Almanac" is another excellent addition to Captured Tracks' fine catalogue. Great video as well:

California X - Spider X

I've posted this video to our facebook page a while back and since I still can't get enough of it, here it is again. California X are not from California at all - in fact, they are from Amherst, Massachusetts, Dinosaur Jr.'s home town, and guess who they remind us of:

G A L P A L S - For Our Sake

It seems that more and more females are getting into the two-member, guitar & drums minimal garage rock sound lately. Here is G A L P A L S, a duo from Austin, Texas, who has shared a stage with the likes of Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Crocodiles, and The Babies, and their awesome single "For Our Sake" - I also recommend visiting Howling Owl's soundcloud page (their UK record label) for more ace neo-garage ditties:

Mozart's Sister - Mozart's Sister

Mozart's Sister is the solo project of Montreal's Caila Thompson-Hannant. The eponymous track comes from the "Hello" EP released February 25th on Merok Records and its '80s pop inspired sound is a perfect fit for fans of Grimes and tUnE-yArDs:

LAw - The Noise met Sound EP

Highly prolific Los Angeles electronic artist LAw (pronounced L-A-Double U) has just released the free three-track "The Noise met Sound" EP, the inaugural release of his DIY music label Noise Met Sound. Many more sounds are coming our way soon, including his third full album "ODDyssey" coming out March 15th. Check out the new EP (drum & bass meets John Carpenter's soundtracks) here:

Wolf Alice - Fluffy

It's not cool to break stuff kids, these things cost money, you know. OK, I'll admit it, it looks pretty fun though. Here's Wolf Alice from London, UK, and the video for their debut single "Fluffy" which is about boredom, misspent youth and a neutered cat:

Paul Banks, live @ Fuzz Club (Athens, February 15, 2013)

Almost two years after Interpol’s first live gig in Athens, Paul Banks returned to the city, this time without his famous band. The release of "Banks" last autumn, the second solo work for Interpol’s singer and the first under his own name after dropping the Julian Plenti moniker, has added momentum to Paul Banks’ solo career and proved that he can deliver great music even without the help of his talented Interpol mates. Friday night's show gave us the opportunity to get a better feel of his solo material and enjoy once again one of the greatest voices in alternative rock.

The 75-minute set contained most of the material from "Julian Plenti is…Skyscraper" and "Banks" without any significant omissions. "Unwind", from the first album, even without the trumpet and saxophones that characterize the recorded version, was a good opening for the set which continued with "Fun That We Have", another "Skyscraper" highlight, and "I'll Sue You" from the new album.

Paul Banks appeared to be in good spirits, smiling and thanking the audience after almost each song, giving us also the name of each one, perhaps subconsciously acknowledging the fact that this material is not as well known as that of his more famous band. However, songs like "Over My Shoulder", "The Base" or "Summertime is Coming" are certainly cut from the same cloth and, given time, can easily become just as loved by his fans. The three musicians that accompanied Banks, including Secret Machines’ bassist and keyboardist Brandon Curtis, served the music well without stealing the limelight from their band leader.

The concert came to a close with a three song, low key encore that included "Skyscraper", "On the Esplanade" and "Games For Days". Banks has certainly got his work cut out if he wants to reach on his own the dizzy heights achieved by Interpol, but this show as well as the quality of the material on his two solo efforts so far, confirm that he does possess enough star power to keep our interest in his new endeavors.

Paul Banks - Over My Shoulder, live @ Fuzz Club (Feb. 15, 2013)

February's hit list, part 1

As I was saying last week, I think 2013 has had a pretty great start with some awesome new singles and albums. We've already highlighted killer tracks by My Bloody Valentine, The Knife, Factory Floor and Foxygen in previous posts. Here are five more tracks to support the theory that the number 13 might turn out to be lucky for new music:

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Jubilee Street

"Push The Sky Away", the 15th studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds is currently streaming here and there and sounds very good indeed. The official release date is February 18th and here is the excellent, John Hillcoat directed video for "Jubilee Street" featuring Ray Winstone, one of Nick Cave's favorite actors:

Yo La Tengo - Ohm

"Fade", Yo La Tengo's 13th album, was one of the most played records in C.M.C.'s headquarters during January. Listen here to "Ohm", the track that opens impressively the new album and is yet another addition to a really long list of excellent songs we've got from Hoboken, New Jersey's finest in the last 28 years:

Veronica Falls - Teenage

The second Veronica Falls' album, "Waiting For Something To Happen", was just released this week and all I can say right now is that it sounds even greater than their awesome debut (one of our Top 20 LPs of 2011). More about them soon - meanwhile here's the video for their new single "Teenage":

The History Of Apple Pie - See You

On the same mid-80's, early '90s jangly guitar trip as Veronica Falls but not as accomplished just yet. After releasing a handful of very promising singles, it's time for The History Of Apple Pie to give us their debut album; "Out Of View" came out at the end of January and it certainly delivers on that early promise. "See You" is the London five-piece's latest single, included in the album along with their previous three, now sold-out, 7inch releases ("You’re So Cool", "Do It Wrong" and personal favorite "Mallory"):

Parquet Courts - Stoned and Starving

Parquet Courts’ debut LP "Light Up Gold" got a limited release of 500 vinyl copies last year on their own label, Dull Tools. The album just got re-released and it’s bound to find a wider audience in 2013 thanks to its intoxicating garage punk ditties, somewhere between "Slanted" era Pavement and early Strokes.



More early '13 hits soon...

New Releases: January 2013

Today we’re all listening to "m b v", My Bloody Valentine’s first new album in 22 years, but while we do that, let’s take a moment to look at the most interesting releases of January '13, including Yo La Tengo’s thirteenth full-length (and 9th since MBV’s "Loveless"!), Foxygen’s awesome sophomore work (see also here) and two singles certain to be among 2013’s best, Factory Floor’s "Fall Back" (more here) and The Knife’s amazing comeback after seven years with "Full of Fire" (yet another killer track in the first month of the year). I think 2013 has started pretty well!

Albums

YO LA TENGO - Fade
FOXYGEN - We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic
WIDOWSPEAK - Almanac
ESBEN AND THE WITCH - Wash The Sins Not Only The Face
THE JOY FORMIDABLE - Wolf's Law
THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE - Out Of View
CALIFORNIA X - California X
FIDLAR - FIDLAR
PERE UBU - Lady From Shanghai
RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR - 3
ARBOURETUM - Coming Out of the Fog
LOCAL NATIVES - Hummingbird
EVERYTHING EVERYTHING - Arc
TORO Y MOI - Anything In Return
A$AP ROCKY - LONG.LIVE.A$AP
PANTHA DU PRINCE AND THE BELL LABORATORY - Elements Of Light
INDIANS - Somewhere Else
DUCKTAILS - The Flower Lane
DUTCH UNCLES - Out Of Touch In The Wild
CHRISTOPHER OWENS - Lysandre
THE RUBY SUNS - Christopher
HOLOPAW - Academy Songs, Volume I
VILLAGERS - {Awayland}
WOODEN WAND - Blood Oaths of the New Blues
L. PIERRE - The Island Come True
I AM KLOOT - Let It All In
FALTY DL - Handcourage
ULRICH SCHNAUSS - A Long Way To Fall
SHUGO TOKUMARU - In Focus?
SERAFINA STEER - The Moths Are Real
BROADCAST - Berberian Sound Studio
FOUR TET - 0181
NEW ORDER - Lost Sirens

Singles & EPs

THE KNIFE - Full of Fire
FACTORY FLOOR - Fall Back
VERONICA FALLS - Teenage
THE MEN - Electric / Water Babies
GUIDED BY VOICES - Down By The Racetrack EP
THE STROKES - One Way Trigger
PULP - After You
BAT FOR LASHES - A Wall
DAUGHTER - Still
THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE - See You
BLOOD RED SHOES - Water EP
DEAP VALLY - Lies
YOU SAY PARTY - Friend
KENDRICK LAMAR - Backseat Freestyle
JEREMY GREENSPAN / LAURIE SPIEGEL - Drums&Drums&Drums / Sirius Shake
FUZZ - This Time I Got a Reason
BO NINGEN & SAVAGES - Nichjyou
SHUGO TOKUMARU - Katachi
FRIGHTENED RABBIT - Woodpile
TIM BURGESS - The Doors Of Then
JESSIE WARE - Sweet Talk
ROOTS MANUVA - Banana Skank EP
THE CHILD OF LOV - Give Me
PEACE - Wraith
THEME PARK - Tonight
THE FAMILY RAIN - Trust Me I’m A Genius
LAw - Oddysey

The Knife - Full of Fire

New MBV, New You

I bet you're all listening to "m b v" right now and so are we. It starts all woozy and whispery and then it explodes with a big bang towards the end with the final three tracks ("In Another Way", "Nothing Is" and "Wonder 2"). It feels like opening a portal to a parallel universe and discovering the alter-ego of "Loveless". My Bloody Valentine have finally delivered the goods and the space-time continuum is disrupted: it feels like we're back to 1991.

Favorite track after the first listen? I'm between "In Another Way" (where the big bang begins) and "New You", "m b v"'s pop moment which is wisely put between the album's dreamy first part and the explosive finale. One of the most anticipated albums of the last 22 years is finally here and it is all we could hope it would be.

My Bloody Valentine - New You

My Bloody Valentine - In Another Way

The Twilight Sad, live @ KooKoo, (Athens, January 31, 2013)

The Twilight Sad’s tour for their third album "No One Can Ever Know" brought the Scottish indie rockers for the first time in Greece for three shows, the first of which took place at Athens’ KooKoo bar on Thursday.

The Glasgow five-piece combines post rock’s wall-of-sound guitar noise with a rhythm section that takes its cue from Joy Division’s more upbeat moments to create ambitious, epic-sounding songs, colored by James Graham's heavy Scottish accent. The new record’s material has added industrial and electronic music elements to the mix, creating an even more adventurous listening experience.

 

The dynamic, hour-long set comprised material from all three of the band’s records and although their fans would certainly want to hear a few more, there is no doubt that the ten songs they played gave a fair representation of The Twilight Sad’s path so far. The fact that some of the best moments of their show ("Don't Move", "Dead City") came from the new record, proves that their move into electronic-influenced musical territory is paying off handsomely and there is a good chance their best work still lays ahead of them.

The Twilight Sad, live @ KooKoo

The Twilight Sad - Dead City, live @ KooKoo (Athens, Jan. 31, 2013)

The evening’s entertainment kicked off with a spirited performance from Nalyssa Green and her band. The silky-voiced, indie pop songstress presented songs from her new work, "The Seed", as well as her debut album "Barock". An enchanting, melodic opening to a night that was about to get very loud and noisy (listen to Nalyssa's sounds here).

Nalyssa Green, live @ KooKoo