Another Round Up

Round Up Time Again - Part 2

Here is another collection of just some of the notable new tunes that have come our way recently…we’re still catching up, so expect some more posts like this over the next few days.

Kicking off with Nightingale Floors which will be the fifth album from indie duo Rogue Wave. This is the first taste from it, a mighty fine track titled College.

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We also have another taste from the forthcoming Alex Bleeker & The Freaks album How Far Away. This is Leave On The Light.

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Someone Else is the second single from Pure X’s forthcoming Crawling up the Stairs LP.

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Mikal Cronin also has a new album due in May titled MKII. This is the first taste, the breezy Weight.

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Lauren Mann & The Fairly Odd Folk release new album Over Land And Sea next month full of captivating folk-pop melodies. This is the title track.

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Camperdown & Out effortlessy evoke the golden age of jangle guitar pop with their excellent debut single Down & Out from their forthcoming LP Couldn’t Be Better - imagine Lou Reed, Kevin Ayres and the Go-Betweens jamming together..

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We’ve featured the glam-rock garage stomp of the Burnt Ones previously on MM, and Fountain of Youth from new album You’ll Never Walk Alone mines that territory even deeper. Time to dig out some platforms and some flares.

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Spectrals are another that have featured a few times on MM and new single Milky Way comes from new long player Sob Story and on this evidence could be the best thing he’s done to date.

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Jonny Fritz (Corndawg as was) has also offered up another track from his new release Dad Country due next month. This is the droll Goodbye Summer with honkytonk fiddle providing a suitable backdrop to his wry observations of life on the road.

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Lau Blues is the second single from Gun Outfit’s album Hard Coming Down, which is out next week and somehow sits somewhere between The Meat Puppets and Lucinda Williams.

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We were a bit slow in discovering the ominous, humming post-punk of Spray Paint, but Yawn Factory is an absolutely top-notch single so just in case you’ve not heard it either…

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We’re also really liking Shovels & Rope’s interpretation of the Springsteen classic Johnny 99, which is a new single out on Third Man Records.

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Virginia Wing (another to feature previously on MM) create thrillingly crafted pop tunes that exist within that time honoured dialogue between the popular and the avant-garde. Their sound veers from the minimalist post punk of Young Marble Giants, to the twisted 60s psych bliss of Arthur Lee and Love and the Radiophonic Workshop inspired cinematic krautpop of Broadcast. The excellent Red Sails is due to be released via Critical Heights on 6 May.

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Courtesy of the always wonderful Yankee Calling blog comes Riptide by Australia’s Vance Joy, it has echoes of The Tallest Man On Earth about it and certainly marks him out as one to most definitely keep an eye on.

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We are longtime admirers of Hawk And Dove and on forthcoming debut album, This Yesterday Will Never End, the band mixes hauntingly beautiful ballads with thunderous stoner grooves to create a sound quite unlike anything else. Grab yourself Things We Lost So Far and look out for the album at the end of April.

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Lastly a track from Sweden’s The Fiery Piano, More Like A Tiger, Less Like A Dove is yet another fine example of the indie rock coming from that neck of the woods so to speak. Quirky, upbeat and melodic, for no good reason it makes us think of something Conor Oberst might do if he was off his tits on speed. You can get a free download of their album here.

No Direction Home Festival: Free Mix

No Direction Home Festival: Free Mixtape.

As you read this I will probably still be speeding northwards through the torrential rain on the M1 heading for Sherwood Forest and the inaugural No Direction Home music festival. Having spent the last two years happily enjoying the fantastic End of the Road festival, my plans were scuppered for a hat-trick by a sneaky move in dates making it clash with our first overseas family holiday in years to the beaches of Spain.

Thankfully, the same folk are behind this one so despite the rotten weather forecast, hopes are high for another fantastic event and judging by the line-up, we should be in for a treat. Friday night will be headlined by The Low Anthem, Saturday by Andrew Bird and Sunday by Richard Hawley. In between times we will have the pleasure of sets from Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves of Destiny, Other Lives, Moon Duo, Lanterns On The Lake, The Wave Pictures, Wet Nuns, Father John Misty, Mikal Cronin and Spectrals. Best of all though will be discovering those artists and bands that we’ve not come across before and who turn out to be jaw-droppingly good.

Here is a free mix just to give you a taste of what we’ll be enjoying over the weekend, or if you fancy snapping up one of the last few tickets you can get one here.

Look out for a full review next week.

Download Father John Misty – Nancy From Now On mp3 (from Fear Fun)

Download Mikal Cronin – Apathy mp3 (from Mikal Cronin)

Download Mikal Cronin – Get Along mp3 (from Mikal Cronin)

Download Other Lives – For 12 mp3 (from Tamer Animals)

Download Spectrals – Chip A Tooth (Spoil A Smile) mp3 (from A Spectrals Extended Play EP)

Download Moon Duo – Mazes mp3 (from Mazes)

Download The Low Anthem – Charlie Darwin mp3 (from O My God, Charlie Darwin)

Download The Low Anthem – This God Damn House mp3 (from What The Crow Brings)

Download David Thomas Broughton – Nature mp3 (from Outbreeding)

Download David Thomas Broughton – Walking Over You mp3 (from The Complete Guide To Insufficiency)

Download Lanterns On The Lake – You’re Almost There mp3 (from Gracious Tide, Take Me Home)

Download Slow Club – Beginners mp3 (from Paradise)

Download Django Django – Love’s Dart mp3 (from Storm / Love’s Dart 7″)

Download The Cornshed Sisters – Nowhere Man mp3 (from Mojo Presents – Yellow Submarine Resurfaces)

Download Peter Wolf Crier – Crutch & Cane mp3 (from Inter-Be)

Download Zulu Winter – Lets Move Back To Front mp3 (from Language)

Download Woodpigeon – I Live A Lot of Places mp3 (from Treasury Library Canada)

Download Wet Nuns – Heavens Below mp3 (from Heavens Below 7″)

Download Tiny Ruins – The Death Of A Russian mp3 (from Some Were Meant For Sea)

Download The Wave Pictures -Stay Here And Take Care Of The Chickens mp3 (from Long Black Cars)

Download Veronica Falls – Bad Feeling mp3 (from Veronica Falls)

Download Austra – Lose it mp3 (from Feel It Break)

Download Joe Gideon & The Shark – True Nature mp3 (from Harum Scarum)

Mad Mackerel’s Albums Of The Year: Part 2 (30 – 11)

Carrying on from where we left off yesterday…

30 Josh T Pearson – Last Of The Country Gentlemen

Download Josh T Pearson – Woman When I’ve Raised Hell…(Alternative Version) mp3

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New Album From Real Estate.

29 Real Estate – Days

Download Real Estate – Green Aisles mp3 (from Days)

Download Real Estate – It’s Real mp3 (from Days)

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28 Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest

Download Gillian Welch – The Way It Goes mp3 (from The Harrow & The Harvest)

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27 War On Drugs – Slave Ambient

Download The War On Drugs – Come To The City mp3 (from Slave Ambient)

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Mad Mackerel Recommends...Mikal Cronin.

26 Mikal Cronin – Mikal Cronin

Download Mikal Cronin – Apathy mp3 (from Mikal Cronin)

Download Mikal Cronin – Get Along mp3 (from Mikal Cronin)

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25 Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Download Girls – Vomit mp3 (from Father, Son, Holy Ghost)

Download Girls – Honey Bunny mp3 (from Father, Son, Holy Ghost)Removed by order some uninformed halfwit – available everywhere else for free on the web

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24 Wooden Shjips – West

Download Wooden Shjips – Lazy Bones mp3 (from West)

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23 Metronomy – The English Riviera

Download Metronomy – The Look mp3 (from The English Riviera)

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Henry's Funeral Shoe Release Donkey Jacket.

22 Henry’s Funeral Shoe – Donkey Jacket

Download Henry’s Funeral Shoe – Anvil And Chains mp3 (from Donkey Jacket)

Download Henry’s Funeral Shoe – Dog Scratched Ear mp3 (from Donkey Jacket)

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21 Decemberists – The King Is Dead

Download The Decemberists – This Is Why We Fight mp3 (from The King Is Dead)

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20 Dennis Hopper Choppers – Be Ready

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19 Bill Callahan – Apocalypse

Download Bill Callahan – Baby’s Breath mp3 (from Apocalypse)

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18 Moon Duo – Mazes

Download Moon Duo – Mazes mp3 (from Mazes)

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17 Black Keys – El Camino

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Wooden Wand Releases Briarwood Tomorrow.

16 Wooden Wand – Briarwood

Download Wooden Wand – Winter In Kentucky mp3 (from Briarwood)

Download Wooden Wand – Big Mouth USA mp3 (from Briarwood)

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15 Wilco – The Whole Love

Download Wilco – I Might mp3 (from The Whole Love)

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14 PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

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13 Yuck – Yuck

Download Yuck – Holing Out mp3 (from Yuck)

Download Yuck – Dark Magnet mp3 (from Yuck)

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12 Hurray For The Riff Raff – Hurray For The Riff Raff

Download Hurray For The Riff Raff – Too Much Of A Good Thing mp3 (from Hurray For The Riff Raff)

Download Hurray For The Riff Raff – Take Me mp3 (from Hurray For The Riff Raff)

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11 Richmond Fontaine - The High Country

Download Richmond Fontaine – The Mechanic’s Life mp3 (from The High Country)

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Top Ten tomorrow!

Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: July 2011

Mad Mackerel's Best of July Mix. Oh yes, it is that time again. Here is a round up of the very best of what we posted in July, plus a couple of new ones to add to the mix. Enjoy.

Download Dennis Hopper Choppers – Good To Me mp3 (from Be Ready)

Morricone inspired spaghetti western feel and Tijuana style horns combine to give an authentic dusty desert twang.

BTW: Whichever knob alleged infringement of copyright and reported to DMCA – get your facts right or contact us direct! This track is shared with full permission of Top Button Digital who represent the band.

Download Jenny Owen Youngs – Great Big Plans mp3 (from Great Big Plans)

First taste of singer-songwriter’s new album. It’s good!

Download The Deep Dark Woods – Westside Street mp3 (from The Place I Left Behind)

Another lovely example of their warm, resonant folk sound – it meanders slowly and surely along on the back of some lovely harmonies and easy going instrumentation.

Download Wooden Shjips – Lazy Bones mp3 (from West)

Takes the spirit of the Velvet Underground and melds it perfectly with the pummeling space rock of Hawkwind to create one of the best tracks of the year so far.

Download The Happy Thoughts – Sweet Dirty Love mp3 (from The Happy Thoughts)

Two and a half minutes of perfect, roughly hewn, garage style power pop.

Download Grass Widow – Mannequin mp3 (from Milo Minute 7″)

A suitably jangly and messy cover of Wire’s classic.

Download Megafaun – These Words mp3 (from Megafaun)

A round-robin of gamelan, ambient sounds, frogs, and cicadas underpin a hauntingly indelible piano melody and a hypnotic beat.

Download Vacant Fever – Heavy Leather mp3 (from Heparin And Saline)

Brilliantly sparse and stripped back affair with not a wasted note or murmur from first moment to the last.

Download Blind Atlas – Mary Anne mp3 (from Iron Wall EP)

The band put down their electric guitars and picked up acoustic instruments for Mary Anne and produced a lovely, laid-back country song.

Download The Sainthood Reps – Monoculture mp3 (from Monoculture)

Gem of distortion, bludgeoning percussion, and a nagging, jagged riff that sets it well apart from the usual fare and, played loud enough, might just remove the paint from the walls.

Download Brown Bird – Fingers To The Bone mp3 (from Salt For Salt)

Traditionally dark and eerie sound that is often backed with some of the most ominous and foreboding lyrics you’re likely to hear.

Download The Parson Red Heads – Burning Up The Sky mp3 (from Yearling)

Harkens back to the most prolific and inventive elements in the canon of West Coast psych-folk, the band’s music is intricate, gorgeous and rich.

Download The Tallest Man On Earth – Weather Of A Killing Kind mp3 (Adult Swim free single)

Gravelly tones and strummed acoustics.

Download Pepper Rabbit – Murder Room mp3 (from Red Velvet Snow Ball)

The dark undertone takes its time to bubble to the surface before dragging you back down in to its hidden depths.

Download St. Vincent – Big Black Mariah mp3 (live at Rain Dogs Revisited at The Barbican)

Cover of the month?

Download St. Vincent – Surgeon mp3 (from Strange Mercy)

And a brilliant taster from forthcoming new album.

Download We Were Promised Jetpacks – Act on Impulse mp3 (from In The Pit Of The Stomach)

An absolute cracker, featuring two minutes of tribal drumming and building guitars as an intro before launching into an anthem of stadium proportions.

Download Carter Tanton – Murderous Joy mp3 (from Freeclouds)

Our first point of reference was Sparklehorse: it is elegant, forlorn, and intimate.

Download The Pack A.D. – Sirens mp3 (from Unpersons)

Treat yourself to some trademark full on blues-rock riffage a la Zeppelin or Sabbath and that throaty Joplin like roar. Marvellous.

Download The Roadside Graves – Double Feature mp3 (from We Can Take Care Of Ourselves)

Country rock and whiskey raw vocals from stalwart MM faves.

Download Rhubarb Whiskey – Bears In The Lot mp3 (from Cautionary Tales)

Unique tale of bears and booze whose lyrics were penned by the infamous award winning horror author Poppy Z. Brite.

Download Case Studies – The Eagle, Or The Serpent mp3 (from The World Is Just a Shape to Fill the Night)

Download Case StudiesYou Folded Up My Blanket Like We Were Already Lovers mp3 (from The World Is Just a Shape to Fill the Night) (via RSTB)

Two brilliant tracks that tell the tales of the dysfunctional and the disenchanted, the dreamers and the hopeless. Faultless folk!

Download Mikal Cronin – Apathy mp3 (from Mikal Cronin)

Download Mikal Cronin – Get Along mp3 (from Mikal Cronin)

And two brilliant blends of sweet melodies and chords with chunky, psychedelic guitar freak-outs - a California fuzz take on gorgeously unexpected psych garage pop.

Download Amen Dunes – Lower Mind mp3 (from Through Donkey Jaw)

Dark-hearted psych-folk over a repetitive almost drone-like rhythm – it calls to mind another MM fave in Wooden Wand.

Download Peg Simone – Wait For Night mp3

An eerie, otherworldly approach to blues and folk featuring lingering, ghostly guitar riffs and silver-tongued vocals.

And to finish off a cracking mix we have the dreamy pop loops of Gauntlet Hair, the easy-going folk-pop of Book Club (via MOKB), Jeff The Brotherhood’s faithful Nirvana take for their contribution to SPIN magazine’s free tribute album (get the whole thing here) and finally The Fungi Girls offer up a taste of their wonderful mix of psych-pop hooks and garage fuzz from forthcoming album Some Easy Magic.

Download Gauntlet Hair – Top Bunk mp3 (from Gauntlet Hair)

Download Book Club – Meal Of Dreams mp3 (from Ghost)

Download Fungi Girls – Velvet Days mp3 (from Some Easy Magic)

Download JEFF The Brotherhood – Something In The Way mp3 (from Newermind: SPIN Tribute to Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’)

See all our previous Best of The Month mixes in the side bar on the left. You might also like our recent free Truck Festival mix here or Big Hitters Round Up here.

Mad Mackerel Recommends…Mikal Cronin

Mad Mackerel Recommends...Mikal Cronin. Stepping away from the rhythm section of Orange County surf-punk bashers The MoonheartsMikal Cronin has emerged with a fully realized, cohesive and beautiful debut self-titled LP, out September 20, via Chicago’s Trouble In Mind.

Cronin blends sweet melodies and chords with chunky, psychedelic guitar freak-outs so if you’ve ever wondered what the Beach Boys would sound like if they became pals with the Ramones…this is a California fuzz take on gorgeously unexpected psych garage pop.

Download Mikal Cronin – Apathy mp3 (from Mikal Cronin)

Download Mikal Cronin – Get Along mp3 (from Mikal Cronin)