MM Shorts 169: More From Speedy Ortiz

The excellently named Speedy Ortiz have a new single titled Silver Spring, that’s part of a 10″ EP coming out on Exploding in Sound Records in a few weeks. It is another fine example of their infectious and intelligent songwriting craft, a hook-laden, lyrically sharp slice of twitchy indie rock that is well worth three and a half minutes of your time. Pre-order from their Bandcamp … Continue reading MM Shorts 169: More From Speedy Ortiz

Free Label Samplers From Saddle Creek, Jeffery Drag & Bridgetown

Here are three excellent and completely free label samplers that are well worth getting your grubby mitts on. The first comes from the wonderful Saddle Creek label and their thirteen track Summer Sampler 2012 includes offerings from The Mynabirds, Cursive, Tim Kasher, Bright Eyes and Maria Taylor. The second is from Jeffery Drag Records and is a collection of ten tracks from some top-notch garage rock’n’rollers, … Continue reading Free Label Samplers From Saddle Creek, Jeffery Drag & Bridgetown

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, … Continue reading Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: May 2012

Wednesday Means Seven Of The Best: Do Believe The Hype?

Here are a few streams of some of the latest singles and tracks to be creating a buzz round these parts. Worth the hype or not…you decide! This is Anthem from King Tuff’s self titled album – full-on glam rock revival anyone? Order the record and/or grab yourself a free download of Bad Thing from SubPop here. a This is Husbands by Savages, part of … Continue reading Wednesday Means Seven Of The Best: Do Believe The Hype?

Shrouded Strangers Release Lost Forever

We’ve posted a couple of times recently about The Shrouded Strangers following our discovery of Featherbed, one of our favourite tracks of the year so far. They formed in 1999 in Harrisonburg, Virginia and promptly dropped their debut LP, Yes, We Are the Shrouded Strangers, a convoluted concept album about nature vs. technology. Then they got sidetracked. Resurrecting the band in 2008, they released a EP … Continue reading Shrouded Strangers Release Lost Forever

Mega Round Up Time

Here is a collection of tracks that have found their way into our in-box or on to our iTunes one way or another recently, and which deserve far more time and effort spent on them than we are currently able to give. Plenty to soundtrack your Friday with. Brooklyn’s indie pop three-piece Violens have just released their second LP, True, on Slumberland Records. The album’s … Continue reading Mega Round Up Time

New Single And Free Download From Two Wounded Birds

Two Wounded Birds arrive just in time for summer with a debut that blends new wave and punchy pop with sepia-toned beaches. The band will release their self-titled album on June 4th (UK) and in the USA on June 24th via Holiday Friends Recording Company, a newly minted member of the Frenchkiss Label Group. You can check out and download the album’s first single To … Continue reading New Single And Free Download From Two Wounded Birds

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 … Continue reading Monday Means Eight Of The Best

Mad Mackerel Recommends…The Agnostic-Phibes Rhythm & Blood Conspiracy

We have been fans of The Agnostic Gospel Mountain Choir since we first heard the rollicking, raw, country-blues stomp of Ten Thousand a few years ago. They seem to have been relatively quiet since then so it was a great delight to discover that they had linked up with Jackson Phibes frontman of garage-punk, underground legends Forbidden Dimension to form The Agnostic-Phibes Rhythm & Blood Conspiracy. Back in … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…The Agnostic-Phibes Rhythm & Blood Conspiracy