Tag Archives: War On Drugs

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

by

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

a

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)

a

28 Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest

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

a

27 War On Drugs – Slave Ambient

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

a

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)

a

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

a

24 Wooden Shjips – West

Download Wooden Shjips – Lazy Bones mp3 (from West)

a

23 Metronomy – The English Riviera

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

a

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)

a

21 Decemberists – The King Is Dead

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

a

20 Dennis Hopper Choppers – Be Ready

a

19 Bill Callahan – Apocalypse

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

a

18 Moon Duo – Mazes

Download Moon Duo – Mazes mp3 (from Mazes)

a

17 Black Keys – El Camino

a

a

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)

a

15 Wilco – The Whole Love

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

a

14 PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

a

a

13 Yuck – Yuck

Download Yuck – Holing Out mp3 (from Yuck)

Download Yuck – Dark Magnet mp3 (from Yuck)

a

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)

a

11 Richmond Fontaine - The High Country

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

a

Top Ten tomorrow!

Insound’s Free December Mix

by

Insound's Free December Mix. The latest Insound free digital mix for December is up – this time it requires a click through on their Facebook Like button to grab yourself eleven of the latest tracks from Bon Iver, Bowerbirds, Sharon Van Etten, A Place To Bury Strangers and plenty more.

As usual, you can grab a couple of our favourites below or click here to go get the whole thing.

Download The War On Drugs – Come To The City mp3 (from Insound December Mixtape 2011)

Download Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Yellow Missing Signs mp3 (from Insound December Mixtape 2011)

Big Hitters Round Up

by

Big Hitters Round Up. A few of the big hitters and bloggers favourites have released tracks lately. Here’s our round up in case you’ve missed any.

Download St Vincent – Surgeon mp3 (from Strange Mercy)

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

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

Download M83 – Midnight City mp3  (from Midnight City)

Download Twin Sister – Bad Street mp3 (from Bad Street)

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

Download Gross Magic – We’re Awake Tonight mp3 (from Teen Jamz EP)

Listen: The Dum Dum Girls – Coming Down (from Only In Dreams)

a

MM’s Best Of The Month: October

by

Here is our regular round-up of the very best of October’s postings. Twenty great tracks for a great mix, plus three new ones to enjoy too. You can check out all of our previous best of the month mixes just by clicking the links for April, May, June, July. August and September.

No Age – Fever Dreaming mp3 (from Everything In Between)

A full on, take-no-prisoners punk rock anthem with a massive guitar riff, howling vocals and brutal, pummeling percussive support.

Download Pop. 1280 – Step Into The Grid mp3 (from The Grid EP)

Want a mosh-pit meltdown in your front room? Be our guest with this three and a half minute junkyard gem.

Download Howling Owls – Mood Ring mp3 (Demo)

Our favourite discovery of 2010. This one is a little quicker, more staccato, less downbeat, but lyrically still overwhelmed with regret and a barely containable bitterness.

Download Dr. Dog – Nobody Knows Who You Are mp3 (from Tour 7”)

More ramshackle countrified goodness.

Download Giant Sand – Fields Of Green mp3 (from Blurry Blue Mountain)

A gentle acoustic lament that Howe Gelb does better than just about anyone else.

Download Silver Swans – Anyone’s Ghost mp3 (National Cover)

Icy synths and a gorgeous, breathy vocal to send shivers down the spine.

Download Indie Folker – Monsters In Rome mp3 (from Monsters In Rome)

Genuine home-made indie folk in the tradition of anti-folk if you know what we mean.

Download Lanterns On The Lake – Lungs Quicken mp3 (from Lungs Quicken 7”)

Lush poetic, experimental folk soundscapes that are as evocative as they are poignant.

Download Wounded Lion – Pointed Sticks mp3 (from Pointed Sticks 7″)

Glam rock backbeat, handclaps and a catchy chorus.

Download Cowlick – Wires mp3 (from Wires)

Hypnotically groovy.

Download The Morning Benders – Outlaw Blues.mp3 (from Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute to Bob Dylan’s ‘Bringing It All Back Home’)

Superb, metronomic cover of Dylan.

Download Generationals – Trust mp3 (from Trust EP)

Shimmering hooks, girl-group choruses, and late-summer breeziness.

Download Salesman – So Much Faster mp3 (from Red Wine Jug Lover 7”)

The desert-rock murder ballad of a dancing girl and her two boyfriends at a strip club called Deja Vu Showgirls.

Download The War On Drugs – The History Of Plastic mp3 (from Future Weather EP)

Sprawling, epic centrepiece of new EP/mini album.

Download Gross Relations – You Don’t Know Me mp3 (from Fuzzy Timelines 7”)

Fuzzed up, reverb ridden, garage pop of the most infectious kind.

Download Kurt Vile – In My Time mp3 (from In My Time)

Distorted prog-folk from forthcoming album.

Download Paleo – The King James Fakebook mp3 (from A View Of The Sky)

Calls on the spirits of Guthrie, Kerouac and other hipsters of old and simply and easily transports the listener through melodic landscapes unique, immediate, emotive, playful, and filled with longing.

Download Tapes ‘n Tapes – Freak Out mp3 (from Outside)

A frenetic romp that is catchier than just about anything we’ve heard so far this month.

Download Coma Cinema – Hell mp3 (from Blue Suicide)

A wonderfully aching and melancholic snapshot of genuine heartbreak.

Download The Asteroid #4 – Ignition Slated For Eight mp3 (from Hail To The Clear Figurines)

Hypnotic hybrid of several different genres filtered through the kaleidoscope of all things psych, krautrock, shoegaze, folk and even 70s ‘cosmic’ country-rock.

And some new ones for you too. First up Heartbreaker by Girls from their forthcoming new release Broken Dreams Club, the Crystal Castles get all Cured up with Robert Smith guesting and lastly Jordan Reyne’s wonderfully dark, industrial folk-noir from her album How The Dead Live.

Download Girls – Heartbreaker mp3 (from Broken Dreams Club)

Download Crystal Castles (featuring Robert Smith) – Not In Love mp3 (from Not In Love)

Download Jordan Reyne – The Proximity Of Death (Blue-Eyed Boy) mp3 (from How The Dead Live) Despite being sent this song by the PR company and asked to post it, some fuckwit is now alleging infringement of copyright and has had the song removed – we can’t do anything about this, but posted in good faith based on an authorisation that it was OK to offer for free download. Clearly a case of right hand and left hand and arseholes.

The War On Drugs Offer up Second Track from new EP

by

In just under two weeks on October 26, The War On Drugs new EP Future Weather will be available in stores in the U.S. (and early 2011 in the U.K.). However, you can pre-order the album today and you’ll get an instant download of the record. In celebration Secretly Canadian are releasing a second single from Future Weather, the closing track The History of Plastic.

Unlike previous Drugs singles— like the lyrically-driven first single from the EP Comin’ Through — The History of Plastic is the quintessential deep cut. Of course, a great single is where a lot of bands are introduced to the world (and the Drugs have plenty of gems to go around), but it is the B-Side, the sixth or seventh track, the tune that clocks in over eight minutes that give bands their flavor, their depth. This is where The War On Drugs are unparralleled— that place where they have all the room in the world to stretch out in a meditative musical exploration.

So download eight minutes of classic TWOD, and go find that moment about three-and-a-half minutes in, where lead singer/songwriter Adam Granduciel repeats the line “You put a curse on me, babe.” On the last time through his voice just trails off into the abyss, like it is being pulled by a certain intangible gravity. Moments like these are what takes The War On Drugs’ music to that level of heart-stopping beauty only found on that other side of the record.

Pre-order here.

Download The War On Drugs – The History Of Plastic mp3 (from Future Weather EP)

Download The War On Drugs – Comin’ Through mp3 (from Future Weather EP)

MM’s Best of the Month: August

by

Here is our usual round-up of the best songs we’ve posted in August together with a couple of our favourite covers and three new songs to tempt you. Another perfect mix tape we think.

Black Angels – Telephone mp3

Gentler psych-pop approach from new album calling to mind classic era Zombies

Dreamend – Magnesium Light mp3

Superb psych-folk from the loosely joined and hellish story of a serial killer

The Migrant – The Organ Grinder mp3

Gentle, low-key start before the swelling, insistent guitar strum builds and builds while the plaintive vocals keep pace the whole time

Efren – Stay High mp3

Psych-folk tale of trying to lose love, dreams of family past, tall boys, gambling, and whiskey stills…

TV Torso – I Can See Your Face mp3

Excellent, hypnotic pulses and sixties harmonies

Amen Dunes – By The Bridal mp3

Hazy, sunlit psychedelic folk

Nick Marsh – Best Shag In The World mp3

Like an evil Richard Hawley on smack singing something from Blue Velvet

Victorian English Gentlemens Club – A Biting Wind Followed By An Occasional Drift Of Snow (Was No Way To Cure A Hangover) mp3

Excellent new track from post–punk, art-rock weirdos

White Noise Sound – Sunset mp3

Corrosive feedback, pulsating krautrock rhythms, floating vocals and wall-of-sound guitars combine into an ear-shattering, blissed out climax

White Dress – No Solid State mp3

Noir rock, taut and quivering with all kinds of emotion poured into the vocals

Small Black – Photojournalist mp3

Lilting sliding beat dropping into a gorgeous moment of ambient wash

Paul Hawkins & The Awkward Silences – I’m In Love With A Hospital Receptionist mp3

Anti-folk masters of oddball lyrics, black humour, biting satire and sometimes poignant political comment

Ono Palindromes – Black Lungs mp3

Ferocious energy, vicious circling guitars and gunshot percussion

The National – You Were A Kindness mp3

New, suitably downtempo piano ballad

American Graveyard – Common Ones mp3

Debauched Americana, delivered in the timeless style of all classic protest songs

Truman Peyote Featuring Emily Reo – Turn Into Feathers mp3

Like something from a banned 1970s horror flick it quickly transforms into a delightfully skewed three minute pop song for freaks and outsiders

Haunted Windchimes – Don’t Take My Baby Away (Baby Back) mp3

Authentic, bewitching folk that draws you in and holds you tight

Baby Eagle – Day Of Our Departing mp3

A corking track with echoes of Neil Young, Gram Parsons and Pavement

We Are Trees – Dear Chan Marshall mp3

Deceptively simple song with some lovely flamenco style guitar and clever lyrics

Pepper Rabbit – Older Brother mp3

Folk with chamber leanings and a twisted, slightly psych-pop edge

The War On Drugs – Comin’ Through mp3

Strummed guitar delight from forthcoming album

Roy Paymon – Imonetta mp3

Simply georgeous, fragile pop song

Our cover versions of the month are these two:

Download Fever Ray – Mercy Street mp3

Download Mumford & Sons – Unfinished Business mp3

And three excellent new tracks to finish off with: firstly another cover – The Drums doing Arcade Fire, the new taster track from indie-folk God Sufjan Stevens and finally some superb, caustic, drone punk from The Band In Heaven.

Download The Drums – We Used To Wait mp3

Download Sufjan Stevens – I Walked mp3 (from The Age of Adz)

Download The Band In Heaven – Suicide Pact mp3 (from The Band In Heaven / Weird Wives Split Tape)

New from War On Drugs

by

We were particularly delighted to get an e-mail from Secretly Canadian yesterday with details of the new War On Drugs album titled Future Weather.

The record follows their debut release Wagonwheel Blues, which was a truly brilliant record mixing straight up US rock with experimental folk and psychedelia, and was one of our favourites of 2008. In fact we had to buy it twice as our new puppy munched the first copy when the postman put the package through the cat flap instead of the post box.

Anyway, the new record will be out in the US on the 26th October with a release date still to be confirmed for the UK. Until then you can sample the strummed guitar delights of the first single from the eight track album called Comin’ Through.

You can buy Wagonwheel Blues from Amazon here.

Visit War On Drugs MySpace here.

Download The War On Drugs – Comin’ Through mp3 (from Future Weather)