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 Mad Mackerel 
I saw that you deleted a track by Jordan Reyne. Do you have any more information on making it available again. Its a great track, and from what I know of Jordan she would not do what she is accused of doing. Your audience deserves to hear her music. Do you know who made the claim against her? Sadly removing the track does her a great dis-service. I hope you can resolve this for all of us- her fans. Thanks
It definitely wasn’t Jordan herself – she was happy to have the song posted. However, as soon as a DMCA takedown notice is issued, I have to comply, but they do not reveal who makes the complaint so it is impossible, without hours and hours of effort and form filling to even get someone to listen. Not even her PR company could find out who had made the complaint. It is a stupid system that penalises blogs that are obviously doing their best to be legal and only post authorised music so I’m sorry I cannot make it available again until the complaint is withdrawn – and obviously that will never happen….
Thank you and I do appreciate your position. I willl continue to attempt to bbring closure to it from this end and in the interim will provide you with new tracks from Jordan which hopefully you will enjoy as much as I do.
We’re you aware that jordan just released a printed and epub on cyber-gigging called Gigs In Space. She’s probably the defacto exppert on surviving in a cyber-world and the book is both a manual and her historical experiences using the various options that are out there. If you are interested I ill arrange to get you a copy.
Thanks again for your response.
Allen