Tag Archives: Crocodiles

Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: May 2012

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Mad Mackerel's Best Of The Month: May 2012.

Another crackerjack month of new tunes on MM, all lovingly compiled and packaged up for you in one sweet playlist ready to download.

Here are 33 of our favourite tracks from our May postings and 6 new songs too. No need to thank us.

Download Virals – Gloria mp3 (from Coming Up With The Sun EP)
Shines bright with an insanely hooky vocal and charged guitar riffs, taking cues from the sunny California coast yet retaining a suitably English feel.

Download Blasted Canyons – Holy Geometry mp3 (from 2nd Place 12″)
Infectiously driven by a brilliant needling guitar refrain that is guaranteed to stick with you long after the song has finished.

Download Michael J Epstein Memorial Library - Faith In Free Part 1 mp3 (from Faith In Free EP)
Military stomp that comes across like a brilliantly vicious hybrid of Siouxsie & The Banshees and Sparks.

Download Sun Kil Moon - That Bird Has A Broken Wing mp3 (from Among The Leaves)
More starkly beautiful folk.

The Wind-Up Birds – Cross Country

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Skilfully blends influences from folk to punk to create a restless, hybrid sound that has feet in many camps, but a home in none.

Beast make Bomb – Coney Island

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Shimmering slice of indie rock played out against a backdrop of old-school punk attitude.

Dog Moon Howl – Blues Like A Hammer

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Full on sleazy blues and desert rock – imagine if you will Mark Lanegan duelling with Howling Wolf…

Download The Ruminaters – Timmy mp3 (from Timmy Digital Single)
Beatnik, barnyard, hillbilly swamp rock.

Download GravelRoad – Devil’s Eyes mp3 (from Psychedelta)
Sinewy, swamp inspired grooves with a rough and raw blues groan.

Download Marissa Nadler - The Wrecking Ball Company mp3 (from The Sister)
Haunting and ethereal folk that mixes melancholy with yearning in a wonderfully unique way.

Download Hunx – Let Me In mp3 (from Hairdresser Blues)
Flamboyant 60s inspired doo-wop garage-pop.

Download Lord Buffalo - Cold Bones mp3 (from Lord Buffalo EP)
Unsettling and haunting, a blend of darkly shrouded Americana as fiddles moan and guitars ominously brood and slash.

Download Old Bricks – Waves mp3 (from City Lights)
A night’s ride through a dark, sparkling desert.

Download The Doc Marshalls - Here They Come mp3 (from Look Out, Compadre)
Crooked, shimmering folk; evocative and nostalgic.

Download The Tallest Man On Earth – 1904 mp3 (from There’s No Leaving Now)
Characterised by his trademark strum and those wonderful Dylanesqe pipes, but there is a darker twist and turn to the lyrics than we’ve been used to.

Download Hallelujah The Hills - Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire mp3 (from No One Knows What Happens Next)
Wholly absorbing and lyrically scalpel sharp track.

Download Duquette Johnston & The Rebel Kings – Roll Baby Roll mp3 (from Communicating Vessels 7″ Series)
Driving boogie and infectious holler-along refrain.

Download Spacin’ - Sunshine No Shoes mp3 (from New Directions Home- Uncut 2012 07)
Mangled graft of Velvets chug and Stones insouciance.

Download The Agnostic-Phibes Rhythm & Blood Conspiracy – Neckin’ Party mp3 (from Campfire Tales)
Hypnotic swamp rock tale of teenage lust and voyeurism gone horribly awry.

Download The Crocodiles – Endless Flowers mp3 (from Endless Flowers)
Snaking, noise pop.

Download Purling Hiss – Lolita mp3 (from Shaking Through Volume 3)
Huge slab of fuzzed-up riffage.

Download Holograms – Chasing My Mind mp3 (from The Holograms)
Clattering, garage-punk.

Download Hurray For The Riff Raff – Ode To John And Yoko mp3 (from Look Out Mama)
Gorgeous bluesy folk with a slightly retro-feel.

Download Dubious Ranger - 1999 mp3 (from Found Recordings From The Panda Valley Mining Company c.1931)
Gloriously mournful and hypnotic Americana.

Two Wounded Birds – To Be Young

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Exquisitely crafted pop gem full of their trademark surf-twang and velvet vocals – it drips with vacation nostalgia.

Download The Broken Needles - Saltflat Baby mp3 (from Terra Nullius)
Mix of country balladry and spit ‘n’ snarl punk rock that is a little like Tom Waits fronting the Mekons.

Download Jaill –  Waste A Lot Of Things mp3 (from Traps)
Their signature slack yet tightly wound musical style and self-deprecating humor retains all its charm.

Download The Virgins – Venus In Chains mp3 (from Venus In Chains single)
Charmingly nonchalant slab of garage inspired rock oozing with glam undertones.

Download Stagnant Pools – Dead Sailor mp3 (from Temporary Room)
Heavy, distorted, squally and reverb heavy, pierced with shafts of melody; would probably be prime candidates to soundtrack the end of the world.

Download The Shrouded Strangers – Drinking The Spider Silk mp3 (from Lost Forever)
Masterclass in whiskey-soaked hillbilly stompers, fuzzed-up psych freak outs, and white-noise wigouts.

Download Rainer & Calexico – Be Prepared mp3 (from The Inner Flame: A Tribute To Rainer Ptacek)
Achingly gorgeous dusty Arizona blues and moan, as elegant and moving as anything you’ll hear for a long, long time.

Red Cosmos – England’s Glory

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Tale of a mother visited in the middle of the night by the pale spectre of her son dying alone, somewhere far away on a battlefield.

Download Grave Babies – Nightmare mp3 (from Gothdammit EP)
Gloomy, drone-filled Goth that manages to keep its tongue firmly in its cheek.

And here are a few new ones to round off your day and set you up for the weekend nicely. First is another taste from the forthcoming Sonny & The Sunsets album, Longtime Companion in the shape of Be The Void. We also have two tracks from our new favourite band, Broken Water: Underground and Drown are good enough to strip the paint from the walls and come from just released new album Tempest.

We have the melodic indie pop dusted with notes of surf rock from Scotland’s The Imagineers and their track The Legend Of John The Terror (Notorious) and Home Groan, a new taste from Dent May’s much anticipated new album. Finally, we have a welcome reissue of some early Silver Jews recordings by Drag City Records to celebrate, from it comes this track Secret Knowledge of Back Roads. 

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Download Broken Water – Drown mp3 (from Tempest)

Download Broken Water – Underground mp3 (from Tempest)

Download Dent May – Home Groan mp3 (from Do Things)

Download The Imagineers – The Legend Of John The Terror (Notorious) mp3 (from The Legend Of John The Terror (Notorious))

Download The Silver Jews – Secret Knowledge Of Back Roads mp3 (from Early Times)

Don’t forget to check all our previous monthly Best Of mixes in the sidebar too.

Monday Means Eight Of The Best

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Monday Means Eight of the Best! It has been a while since we’ve had a round-up from round the web and our favourite blogs. These are some of the tunes that have been monopolising the MM stereo recently and should get your week off with a snap, crackle and pop!

We have a new track from The Crocodiles with the snaking, noise-pop of Endless Flowers from forthcoming album of the same name and some more crunchy garage rock from the prolific Fresh & Onlys with new single I Would Not Know The Devil . Third up, is  Sea of Bees quirky folk matched with an other-worldly vocal from her recent album Orangefarben.

We have a new tune, Chasing My Mind, from Swedish garage punks Holograms from their forthcoming self-titled album via Captured Tracks and a huge slab of fuzzed up riffage from Purling Hiss from their recent Shaking Through contribution. There is some swirling, eerie psych-folk from MV & EE in the shape of Sweet Sure Gone from new album Space Homestead and some anthemic indie rock from Fang Island with new track Asunder.

Lastly, we have the excellent new single, The Stars Above Looked So Bright And Green, from Swedish indie-rockers Let’s Say We Did.

Download The Crocodiles – Endless Flowers mp3 (from Endless Flowers)

Download The Fresh & Onlys – I Would Not Know The Devil mp3 (from I Would Not Know The Devil 7″)

Download Sea of Bees – Broke mp3 (from Orangefarben)

Download Holograms – Chasing My Mind mp3 (from The Holograms)

Download Purling Hiss – Lolita mp3 (from Shaking Through Volume 3)

Download MV & EE – Sweet Sure Gone mp3 (from Space Homestead)

Download Fang Island – Asunder mp3 (from Major)

Download Let’s Say We Did - The Stars Above Looked So Bright And Green mp3 (from The Stars Above Looked So Bright And Green)

Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: February 2012

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Mad Mackerel's Best Of The Month: February 2012.

Musically, the year is starting to really kick into gear now and February saw lots of top quality tunes hit the web. Here is our pick of the best of last month’s posts along with four brand, spanking new tracks for you to download, sample and treasure. All in all over thirty great songs in one great mix.

Download Hoots & Hellmouth – Why Would You Not Want To Go There? mp3 (from Salt)
Country rocker with a slow-burn intensity that builds in tandem with some expertly judged flourishes of piano and electric guitar.

Download Mirel Wagner – No Death mp3 (from Mirel Wagner)
World-weary, doom-laden, sparse and skeletal. Oh and stunning too.

Download Mark Lanegan – The Gravedigger’s Song (from Funeral Blues)
Brilliant electronica-style drum beat throughout, with the trademark ML growling vocal delivery.

Download Dr. Dog – That Old Black Hole mp3 (from Be The Void)
Classic vintage, ramshackle country rock from excellent new album.

Download Orpheum Bell – Poor Laetitia mp3 (from The Old Sisters’ Home)
Seductive, yet slightly mocking tale of a beautiful, but awkward girl with a haughty tango beat and muted trumpet.

Download Jesse Thomas – Fire mp3 (from War Dancer)
Raw, whiskey soaked folk.

Download The Pharmacy – Dig Your Grave mp3 (from Dig Your Grave)
As good an example of indie-pop-garage bliss as you’ll find.

Download Benjamin Shaw – Kick The Dog mp3 (from The Birds Chirp And The Sun Shines Single)
Idosyncratic, perverse folk ramblings.

Download The Chromatics – Into The Black mp3 (from Kill For Love)
Sublime chilled out cover of Neil Young’s classic.

Download Maps & Atlases – Winter mp3 (from Beware And Be Grateful)
Typically tight and dense, but still catchy indie-pop.

Download Shrouded Strangers – Featherbed mp3 (from Lost Forever)
Skuzzy slacker anthem - a glorious amalgam of surf guitars, krautrock rhythms and fuzzed up hillbilly stomp.

Download Moonface – Teary Eyes And Bloody Lips mp3 (from With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery)
A stormer – all buzzing guitars, massive keyboards and nailgun percussion.

Download Cheers Elephant – Doin’ It, Right mp3 (from Like Wind Blows Fire)
A sublime slice of upbeat sunshine pop that morphs into a brief kaleidoscopic freakout before settling back down again.

Download Black Mountain – Mary Lou mp3 (from Year Zero Original Soundtrack)
Almost eight minutes of perfect heavy riffage.

Download Horse Feathers – Fit Against The Country mp3 (from Cynic’s New Year)
Typically rustic folk from one of Portland’s finest.

Download  Guy Capecelatro III – Girlfriends mp3 (from North For The Winter)
Another slice of quirky folk with sly observation and mischievous lyrics.

Download Zulu – Sistine Chapel mp3 (from Wa Of The Zulu)
Clear the cobwebs with this brilliant tribal rumble and punk rock swagger.

Download Teitur – Let The Dog Drive Home mp3 (from Let The Dog Drive Home)
Gently upbeat, elegant, and expansive folk rumination.

Download Wooden Sky – Malibu Rum mp3 (from Every Child A Daughter, Every Moon A Sun)
A beautifully paced folk ballad tinged at the edges with the faint wisp of melancholy – lovely.

Download Damon Moon & The Whispering Drifters – Lungs, Dirt, & Dreams mp3 (from Lungs, Dirt, & Dreams)
A downtempo slow burn of barely picked electric guitar washes over sighed vocals that gradually swell to an appropriately lugubrious and mournful climax.

Download Colleen Green – Worship You mp3 (from Milo Goes To Compton)
Throbbing garagey guitars over a sweetly saccharine vocal.

Download Band In Heaven – Sleazy Dreams mp3 (from Sleazy Dreams 7″)
Visceral, pulsating industrial punk riffing of the very best kind.

Download Drifterswift – Rule Of Twelfths mp3 (from The Rule Of Twelfths EP)
Spacey dream pop, slightly fuzzy and a 100% bona fide ear worm.

Download Ray Wylie Hubbard – Drunken Poet’s Dream mp3 (from Daytrotter Session)
Sublime version of standout track from country outlaw’s last album.

Download The Crocodiles – Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9) mp3 (from Endless Flowers)
Full on, catchy indie rock. Noisy.

Download Coke Weed – Magpie mp3 (from Nice Dreams)
Gently haunting and woozy-at-the-edges folk psychedelia.

Download Ceremony – Adult mp3 (from Zoo)
Loud, fast, uncompromising. This is searing punk rock.

And to finish off we have new tracks from These United States and their rambunctious melting pot of rock-and-roll, folk balladry, and outlaw country that went into taster track Dead And Gone as well as the psych rock influenced indie of Temporary from White Rabbits, one of the best things we’ve heard from them. Exitmusic have a new album scheduled and title track Passage is typically powerful and haunting with layered guitars and drums building to an extraordinary crescendo. Lastly it is the sonic guitar blast of Yellow Orchestra on their outstanding new track The Shakedown.

Download These United States – Dead And Gone mp3 (from These United States)

Download White Rabbits – Temporary mp3 (from Milk Famous)

Download Exitmusic – Passage mp3 (from  Passage)

Download Yellow Ostrich – The Shakedown mp3 (from Strange Land)

Friday…Let’s Mix It Up

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Friday...Let's Mix It Up. We’re trying to juggle a few plates at the moment, so can’t do full justice to these tunes other than to say all are worth some of your time.

The obvious answer was a straightforward Friday afternoon mix.

After all there is absolutely no point in starting anything new in the office now, so download this mix, stick a complicated spreadsheet up on your screen and stare intently at it while giving these a blast on the earmuffs.

Download The Cribs – Chi-Town mp3 (from Chi-Town)

Download Sun Kil-Moon – Sunshine In Chicago mp3 (from Among The Leaves)

Download Violens – Unfolding Black Wings mp3 (from True)

Download Morningbell – You Think I Don’t Know But I Know mp3 (from Basso Profundo)

Download The Crocodiles – Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9) mp3 (from Endless Flowers)

Download Pond – Mystery mp3 (from Beard, Wives, Denim)

Download No Ceremony – Heartbreaker mp3 (from NOC///4)

Download The Wrinkle Neck Mules – Leaving Chattanooga mp3 (from Apprentice To Ghosts)

Download The Mallard – Vines mp3 (from Yes On Blood)

Download Pyyramids – Don’t Go mp3 (from Human Beings EP)

Download Electric Flower – Eclipsed mp3 (from EP II)

Download Bear & Moose – Poor Man’s Blues mp3 (from Moose)

Download Stars In Coma – Paint My Picture On The Thick Shell mp3 (from Midnight Puzzle)

MM’s Best Of The Month: June

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Here is our regular monthly round up of 25 of the best tracks posted on Mad Mackerel in the past month, and three new gems too. That’s a more than decent mixtape sorted even if we were crap in the World Cup!

The Futurebirds – Battle For Rome mp3

Glorious, up-tempo alt-country gem that recalls Neil Young at his finest

Puro Instinct – California Shakedown mp3

Dreamily seductive slice of icy pop

Burnt Ones – Bury Me In Smoke mp3

Sleazy, dirty, hook-laden surf rock and heavy doses of 7os glam

Mississippi Man – Mountain mp3

Superb blend of Americana and country-folk

The Vitamin Sees – Illumanati Mind Control mp3

Mesmerising and hypnotic, with repetitive guitar riff and laconic vocals. Our discovery of the month!

Black Mountain – Old Fangs mp3

Scorched, driving, desert blues

Hollowbelly – Long Road mp3

Raw, stomping, hellfire and brimstone blues

Sharon Van Etten – I Couldn’t Save You mp3

Languid, lonely and desolate. As stark and as stunning a heartbreaker as you could imagine

Ferocious Few – Kathleen mp3

Joyous raiding of the rock’n’roll cupboard to produce a two-minute classic

Elf Power – Stranger In The Window mp3

Gentle, pensive, country-tinged, psych-pop. Gorgeous

Mathew Sawyer & The Ghosts – Mynah Birds Call mp3

Fragile, Syd Barrett influenced unorthodox folk whimsy

All Saints Day – You Can’t Be Alone mp3

Pop overdosing on distortion and reverb

Lail Arad – Everyone Is Moving To Berlin mp3

Wonderful blend of sharp-tongued pop and lovely folk overtones

The Whigs – Dying mp3

Visceral, slow burn of a track, builds into crescendo of guitars, drums and feedback

Tame Impala – Solitude Is Bliss mp3

Bold, fuzzed up blues standout from recent album Innerspeaker

Karen Elson – The Ghost Who Walks mp3

Gothic-tinged, country murder ballad

Tennis – Marathon mp3

Sweet and catchy pop gem

Tweak Bird – A Sun Ahh Ahh mp3

Brilliant mix of full-on old-school metal riffing and psychedelic overtones

The Minks – Funeral Song mp3

Vintage Cure bassline, icy synths and shadowy, sombre lyrics

The Black Lips – Before You Judge Me mp3

Typically swaggering boozy cut of garage rock

We Are Country Mice – Festival mp3

Garage goodness, awash with reverb, duelling guitars and a tinge of psychedelia

The Local Natives – Careful mp3

Chiming cover of Television album track

Salem – King Night mp3

Ghostly leanings and haunting, desolate beats

Crocodiles – Sleep Forever mp3

Full on indie rocker in the spirit of the Bunnymen

Emily Reo – Witch Mtn Pt. 2 mp3

Dreamily seductive and captivating fuzzy Beach House style pop

And  three new ones for you to finish off:

The Vitamin Sees –Evil Eye mp3

More tripped out, pulsing krautrock from our new band discovery of the month

Port O’Brien – My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes To Bitburg) mp3

From the wonderful Buffetlibre/Amnesty Peace project (180 tracks for $5 minimum) comes this brilliant Ramones cover by MM faves Port O’Brien. Buy this compilation here now!

Wild Nothing – Your Rabbit Feet mp3

Latest chilled (and chilly) dream pop from new indie-wunderkind

New from The Crocodiles

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One suspects The Crocodiles have had the Echo & The Bunnymen manual out for this, their new single, Sleep Forever.

In fact Barry-Sean from the office (and a great E&TB fan/expert/obsessive) was suitably moved to observe that everything right down to the vocal phrasing seemed deliberately Bunnyesque. However, as he also observed, this is no bad thing – especially when they also manage to bring quite a lot of something of their own to the party.

And for those of us who are just that little bit less obsessed with the Bunnymen, it is simply a damn good song and well worth your time and (as Mr McCulloch so memorably once said), “friends, Romans, and Bunnymen”, your ears.

Visit their MySpace here.

Buy the single via Fat Possum here.

Download The Crocodiles – Sleep Forever mp3 (from Sleep Forever 7″)

Buffetlibre & Amnesty’s Peace Project – 180 tracks for not very much

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We may be late in coming across Buffetlibre and Amnesty International Catalunya’s Peace Project, but that’s no reason not to give it a bit more publicity.

Basically, for a donation of anything upwards of five Euro’s (that’s about £4 or $6) you get to download 180 tracks from artists all around the world. It covers all the continents and features artists from more than fifty countries. And there are some very well known names amongst them offering exclusive tracks, covers and remixes. They include The Antlers (offering a remix of Two), Port O’Brien’s own superb take on the Ramones, Voxtrot, a remix from Ra Ra Riot, Asobi Seksu, Dan Deacon, Dent May, A Place To Bury Strangers, Micah P Hinson, Sic Alps and many, many, many more.

You can buy quickly and easily from the website here – and it includes a pop up radio so you can even try before you buy. However, at that price, for those tracks and for that cause, it seems pretty much a no brainer to us.

Download a couple of tasters below and then go and get the other 178 tracks…

Download Voxtrot – Whiskey And Water mp3 (from Peace)

Download The Crocodiles – Nothing To Be Done mp3 (from Peace) – Pastel’s cover.