Ashtar Command’s debut album, American Sunshine, is an expansive and coherent album that defies being reduced to a single genre. Nick Drake could come to mind, as well as the Chemical Brothers. Spiritualized could be seen in there as well as The Beach Boys. There are songs of exquisite beauty and ones that unabashedly rock. The duo were joined by many of the great and … Continue reading Introducing…Ashtar Command
Kevin are a Finnish four-piece who play kaleidoscopic pop/rock. With two albums and several EPs under their belt, Kevin are preparing for the release of their third album, due out in early 2012 – this is A Lonely Place, the first taster from the album. Continue reading MM Shorts 32: Kevin From Finland
Self proclaimed “Kings of the southwest slackers”, The Black Tambourines recently put a new track up for Halloween titled A Lot Of Friends, and it’s a little gem. Art Is Hard will be putting out their new EP in December, which is their first new material in about ten months. But for now this’ll keep us ticking over nicely – this track won’t make the EP … Continue reading New From Black Tambourines
We posted about the new Grass House single recently. Here is the rather cool video for Faun. a Continue reading MM Shorts 31: New Grass House Video
Since early 2010, Chicago indie-folk songwriter Christian Keck has performed and recorded as Fall Fox: a moniker fitting for an outfit that has drawn comparisons to lo-fi folk acts such as The Mountain Goats and Ghost Mice. Throughout the project, Keck has embraced the DIY bedroom pop aesthetic, weaving acoustic guitars together with analog synths to form an intimate and inviting canopy of sound. The followup to … Continue reading New EP From Fall Fox
Siskiyou’s new album Keep Away The Dead is an unsettling one. The vocals of Colin Huebert are probably the antithesis of what should be considered good and proper – the epitome of wavering, or quavering perhaps – and yet they work beautifully on this collection. The music itself is a restless blend of country rock, folk, and grander orchestral rock and like a musical butterfly, the … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Siskiyou
The first music video from their new album of the excellent Maine-based band Coke Weed. The song is Sister Spring and you can still pick up a free download of their excellent Volume 1 available here. Continue reading MM Shorts 30: Coke Weed Video
Sorry for the continuing Box.net bandwidth issues – we’re still trying to resolve it. In the meantime, Hello Caller describe themselves as a ‘dark folk’ band from Austin. They’re scheduled to record a full length in November, and until then have a nice free demo up on Bandcamp here that can be downloaded for the price of an e-mail address. Keep in mind that the demo is … Continue reading MM Shorts 29: Hello Caller
Another month, more than 20 great tracks selected from our October posts and five new ones too. Download and dive in. Download The Minks – Araby mp3 (from Araby 7″) Endearingly gloomy slice of indie-pop. Download The Bloody Hollies – Dirty Sex mp3 (from Yours Until The Bitter End) The dark side of raw garage punk with touches of organ, violin and xylophone. Download Bare Bones – Hope & Feather … Continue reading Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: October 2011
We’ve posted a couple of times about Carter Tanton and their excellent album Free Clouds. Here’s a third track from it, Fake Pretend, this time featuring the vocals of another MM fave, the enchanting Marissa Nadler. Order the album here. Download Carter Tanton – Fake Pretend mp3 (from Free Clouds) Download Carter Tanton – Horrorscope mp3 (from Free Clouds) Download Carter Tanton – Murderous Joy mp3 (from Free Clouds) Continue reading MM Shorts 28: More From Carter Tanton
