Yep, it is that time again. We’ve trawled back through all our e-mails, favourite blogs, and new music discoveries to bring you up to date with all that’s been good on the MM stereo recently. Because of the time of year it includes a few we missed from way back before Christmas, but which still more than deserve some ear-time – you may have missed them too.

Rummage around. Dig in. This is only Part 1 – more coming tomorrow…

The first offering is from Western Medication’s 7″ EP (released Jan 29th) is a song entitled Big City. Clocking in at about a minute long, the song packs frenzied amounts of energy into a short, guitar-fueled ride. It encompasses the emotions that an isolated, small-town farmer would probably feel if he were dropped in the middle of Times Square.

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Summer Aviation combine the fresh, supercharged sound of 60s pop arrangements with post-punk avant-garde: Think Burt Bacharach meets My Bloody Valentine. This is their version of the classic 60s song Love So Fine.

Download Summer Aviation – Love So Fine mp3 (from Love So Fine single)

Stuart Warwick, who first started creating music under the alias Jacob’s Stories back in 2003, returns this year with The Butcher’s Voice. The second album to be released under his married name, it is a collection of eleven lyrically provocative and spellbinding songs, perfectly showcasing the haunting purity of his voice, hushed musical delivery, and his dark tongue-in-cheek humour. Order here.

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Praetors is a psychedelic folk band hailing from San Diego, CA. Heavily influenced by bands such as Velvet Underground, Tame Impala, Grizzly Bear, and Donovan, their debut album, Creases and Flaws is available on a pay what you want basis via Bandcamp here.

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As well as his psych-pop band Crystal Shipsss, Danish songwriter Jacob Faurholt has released four solo albums between 2005 – 2012, his latest release is an EP title Geek Love is the Best Love and calls to mind the noir-ish folk of Will Oldham and the fractured individuality of Daniel Johnston. The title track, a freaked-out ballad somehow mixes strummed acoustics with detuned distortion to most gratifying effect. Currently you can get the EP free via Bandcamp here.

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Many times we meant to post about the new album, Stands Alone, from established MM faves Moses Luster & The Hollywood Lights – a chronicler of tales of the weary, the disenfranchised and the downtrodden par excellence. Somehow we failed. Available via his Bandcamp page here, again on a pay-what-you-want basis, it is a must-have! Try the murder-ballad Mary Winkler, who does away with her preacher husband and then arrives at an epiphany in jail.

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Starting off with an epic slow-burning guitar solo, Drunkest Man is a knuckle-dragging shredder that progresses from a softer riff to a head-banging voyage, while chronicling the mythological drunkest man who was born and raised on bourbon and gasoline. It is the first single from Linus Pauling Quartet’s epic triple-disc collection Assault on the Vault of the Ancient Bonglords.

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Similarly plundering the blues/garage/psychedelia/rock cauldron are Black Manila whose latest single is titled June ’95. Heavy.

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Girl Band are a four piece noise-rock band from Dublin. There are no girls in the band. They have a six track EP, France 98, available on Bandcamp for free and are described as “a smack around the head“. Nice.

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Malpas create a mixture of intimate folk songs and ambient electronica that is both dense and ambitious – imagine Beirut meets M83 and Aphex Twin, via Talk Talk, Nick Drake and the Beta Band. EP Where The River Runs is a free download via Killing Moon Records ahead of a whole album of material later this year.

Download Malpas – Where The River Runs mp3 (from Where The River Runs EP)

We are very late with Sin Fang’s first single Young Boys from his third solo album Flowers, which is released on February 19th. A heady mix of sonic delights including psych-pop, indie-rock and even a nod to stadium anthems…

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With a sound remeniscent of Galaxie 500, The Jesus and Mary Chain and This Mortal Coil, Honeyslide are a young band who combine warm distorted guitars, complex hooks and captivating melodies swathed in reverb to create piercing sonic landscapes. Draped in luscious boy/girl vocals, their sound wavers between an ethereal echo and a discordant slacker-inspired drone.

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The excellently named Eerie Deer is a one-man band from cold cold seaside town in Finland. Actually in July it’s quite hot. And there’s a beach. And the music is some sort of folk or pop. With little bit of gloom. Or quite a lot.

Download Eerie Deer – Fisherman’s Gone mp3

We have been loving this track for a good while – PRAVADA’s Campfire Song, is a catchy-as-hell tune filled with swirling guitars and sugary indie pop harmonies that will have you melting. For no good reason it reminds me of Pumped Up Kicks! It can be found on their latest release, the No! EP.

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Lastly (for now), the wonderfully folky Americana of Frontier Ruckus, who have made Dealerships from their much anticipated forthcoming album Eternity of Dimming available for free via Rolling Stone. If you missed it there, grab it here.

Download Frontier Ruckus – Dealerships mp3 (from Eternity of Dimming) via Rolling Stone