Duck & Cover :: Indie rock music writing from Arcade Fire to the Zygotic Minci

Download The Paper Boy from The Racoon Wedding's album, Gather Gather Bones/Rattle Rattle Truth Sounds Like : they're gonna rip your ribcage out and find your heart RIYL : White Rabbits, Portugal. The Man, Fanfarlo, Rolling Stones ala Beggar's Banquet From the Press Release : Forming from the ashes of Vermicious Knid, and authoring songs in the basement of the all ages not-for-profit art space they own in a nook of the city’s forgotten downtown, frontman Tim Ford and company boast a sense of loyalty to their community that few other bands share. On their debut LP, Gather Gather Bones/Rattle Rattle Truth , issued this October via their own Ford Plant Recordings Co., the band enlisted the help of engineer Leon Taheny (of the Final Fantasy recording credit) and hammered out a record that teems with the spirit of long-forgotten roots music. It’s indebted to the history of mighty back porch music: unbridled, unedited, beautifully intense.

Buy The Pattern Prism from Amazon. Sounds Like: "forget the defibrillator, spark 'em up with Vowels." RIYL: Battles, Stereolab, Gang Gang Dance, Holy Fuck A Few Words: I dropped the press release for Vowels a few weeks ago. At the time I'd only listened to one track, but it was enough for me note something interesting going on. Since then, the 8-song album by UK producer James Rutledge has become a regular part of my daily listening. Although my audio routine may differ slightly from yours. After 9am and my fourth cup of coffee, Vowels grabs me by the ears and, with a gnarly grin, greets me with a fierce head butt. There is calculated madness behind it; from the tremolo syth on "Appendix" to the beats on "Two Wires" that roll and turn like tumbling boulders. Between this and the joe, I'm wired by 10am. Vowels invades again in the evening when there is talk of the pub. "On Up" has become a flat favorite with it's see-saw time s...

Download "Chivalry's Dead" of The Paper Cranes' debut album of the same name Sounds Like: the soundtrack for Autumn Sundays in the park. RIYL: Modern Skirts, The Clash, Portugal. The Man A Few Words: The press release that came with The Paper Cranes has a great line in it. Right off the bat, they moan "Welcome to 2k9, where it’s all about hazy bro-fi detachment, cocktail-soaked dancefloor music, and Hipster Runoff. Stifling . . . ". They continue on to introduce the antidote to all this detachment: Victoria, BC band The Paper Cranes. Artists who, I agree, are kicking out some excellent indie pop hooks. Good enough to open in the past 12 months for The Walkmen as well as Wolf Parade. Also included in that little press release is a great quote from Pitchfork (but I'd read this one before): If you're not afraid to admit your favorite Cure song was "Love Cats"; if you think Paul Weller hasn't written a classic song since "A Town Cal...

Download Langhorne Slim's "I Love You, But Goodbye" In a few weeks, that folk songer-songwriter with the tear-jerking voice will release his new album, Be Set Free on Kemado Records. In anticipation of what's sure to be a beautiful album and most definitely an autumn favorite, please treat yourselves to an mp3 prepared specially for you. I'd serve it up with coffee, but hot beverages don't compress very well. Slim will also begin his North American tour in October. In the past he's toured with Murder By Death, The Violent Femmes, and Lucero, but this one's all his. Check out Langhorne Slim on the following dates. I'll be at the Media Club in Vancouver if anyone wants to buy me a beer--er, I mean, say 'hello.' 10/15 - Bell House - Brooklyn, NY 10/17 - TT The Bears - Cambridge, MA 10/21 - Grog Shop - Cleveland, OH 10/22 - Blind Pig - Ann Arbor, MI 10/24 - High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI 10/25 - 400 Bar - Minneapolis, MN 10/26 - Waiting Roo...

I was recently in Denver visiting my muso-anthropologist friends, and The Phenomenal Handclap Band was a recurring mention. So when I came across this remix for "You'll Disappear," I couldn't help think it would make the doldrums of Wednesday seem a little less droll. This one's for you, Jaguars. Download the remix of "You'll Disappear" from The Phenomenal Handclap Band.

Go to Last.fm's radio and search for bands *like* Modest Mouse or TV on the Radio. Of course, you get your usual Built to Spill, Mars Accelerator, Halo Benders, Ugly Cassanova--but you will probably see this lesser-known NW band. With growling lead vocals, eerie backing harmonics, heavy bass, and just enough synth, Feral Children play nicely with the well-established sound of Seattle's indie scene. Haunted by chagrin and misfortune, the voice of Feral Children's SXSW EP (a prelude to their new album, Second to the Last Frontier ) is reclusive, but lonesome. It yearns to be alone, yet once in isolation, it howls for our ears. In just four songs Feral Children create a distressing mood: one akin to being followed by not one but a host of pursuers. And like the choruses who follow Oedipus, the ghosts on Feral Children's EP sing of misdeeds--namely, your own. Even the relatively uplifting final track ("Zyghost)" is reassurance come too late; an apology for how it...