John's New Music Blog

Today's featured band is San Francisco's The Ian Fays, a trio consisting of twin sisters Elizabeth and Sara and their older sister Lena Fay. They have been playing in the Bay Area and in Europe since 2005 and released their second album, Jensen's Camera, in January on We Were Never Being Boring Collective.


The featured track is from a one-off impromtu show for the cameras of Vienna's They Shoot Music Don't They in the halls of the University of Vienna. The song captures the sisters' quiet and understated sound and it shows off the songwriting skills of the Fay sisters.


The second track that I'm featuring is the single from Jensen's Camera, "Everyday." The track also showcases the Fays' understated style and gives it an intimacy that's missing from most music. If the xx is make out music for the smart set, The Ian Fays is looking into the eyes of someone you love music for the smart set. It's my favorite of the tracks from the album.

Today's featured band is London's Summer Camp, an indie synthpop band that's just dropped a preview of a track from their upcoming summer album. The track, I Want You, is a retro-80's track that lends itself to the inevitable DJ remix version, and will be the hit of the indie summer.

Today's featured band is Brooklyn's Team Genius, an eight-piece band that's taking Arcade Fire's gloomy sound and making it fun and upbeat.


The featured track is "Making Myths," the theme song for the Lovely Hearts Club, the official blog of Paper Garden Records and will be on Team Genius' upcoming summer album. It starts softly and builds to a crescendo chorus that you don't expect and then fills in with an excellent jangly guitar that complements the vocals and horns.

Today's Fresh New Music band is Northern Ireland's Girls Names, a newish fuzzy indie pop trio that's seeing quite a bit of success in England and is now showing up in the US. The band has released a couple of singles and in November released a split 7" single with San Francisco's Brilliant Colors on Slumberland Records.




The band will also be releasing a full album, Dead to Me, on April 26th, also on Slumberland. The first single is Seánce on a Wet Afternoon and it's one of the best things I've heard so far this year. There are some hints of Joy Division in the guitars and the fuzz gives it the lo-fi surf sound that's all the rage in indie rock right now. Girls Names show that you don't have to be from Brooklyn or Southern California to make a good surf pop record. I encourage you to download the single and listen for yourself.



"I Lose/You Win" is out now from Slumberland Records and for download from iTunes. Dead to Me will be out on April 26th on Slumberland, also. The band's 2010 EP is available at iTunes and Amazon, as well as You Should Know By Now is available at iTunes and Amazon.

I'm featuring a few bands today, the next one is Brooklyn's Vivian Girls, a surf pop trio consisting of Cassie Ramone on lead guitar and vocals, Katy "Kickball Katy" Goodman on bass and vocals and Fiona Campbell on the drums. The band formed back in 2007 and has released three studio albums and a handful of 7" singles and EP's since then. The first single from their upcoming new album, Share the Joy, is "I Heard You Say," a bouncing surf pop number that if you listen closely, you'll notice that it's a rather bitter breakup song. Some compare the band to Best Coast (here and here), but Vivian Girls have their own sound and keep with the lo-fi ethos of fuzzy pop played loud. Yes, Vivian Girls did lose their second drummer to Best Coast, but I think it shows that Vivian Girls has the sound that Best Coast was looking for, not the other way around. "I Heard You Say" is a much more polished single compared to their prior releases, but it shows a maturing sound and not an effort to try to copy the style and subsequent success of their friends. Take a listen, listen takers and judge for yourself.

Vivian Girls are currently on tour and will be at The Trocodero in Philadelphia on April 9th, supporting the Black Lips. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Share the Joy drops on April 1 at Polyvinyl Records and April 12th at Amazon. You can also order their previous albums at Amazon. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the new album when it's released.

Today's featured band is another one of Portland, Oregon's contributions to indie music, Blouse. The featured track, "Into Black", is a gothic inspired indie pop track that oozes early Cure and Depeche Mode influences and is quite possibly one of the best tracks of the young year. The video is from a Portland based video collective that combines the song with clips from a film with Juliette Binoche titled les amants du Pont-Neuf.

Today's Fresh New Music featured band is Manchester's Stella Marconi, a three piece band consisting of James Bagshaw on guitar and lead vocals, Andrew Smith on bass and backing vocals and Sophia Hardman on drums.


Stella Marconi have three tracks up on Soundcloud, the  first one I'm featuring is "One Off Free," a driving track that evokes the Manchester punk scene of the late 1970's and brings it forward to the 21st Century. There are elements of The Clash, Sex Pistols and The Ramones audible in "One Off Free" and I highly recommend it as an example of the pre-Joy Division punk sound that was taking shape in Manchester. If I didn't know any better, I would think these guys were at The Gig to End All Gigs.

Stella Marconi is unsigned and is currently posting their tracks on Soundcloud. They are performing in the Manchester area in February and March (Click here for gigs and dates).

Today's Fresh New Music is from Nashville's The Shakespeares, a collaboration of Merry Ellen Kirk (a Fresh New Music alumnae) and Aaron Krause that's produced some of the most charming indie folk-pop that I've heard in a long time. The Shakespeares released their first EP on February 1 and I've been enjoying it very much. Merry Ellen has a bit of Sarah McLaughlin in her voice and Aaron reminds me Glen Hansard from The Frames and The Swell Season (you know him better as "Guy" from the film Once).


I can't give you a single track that stands out from the others because they're all excellent. Each is a just a little bit different and all five complement each other. If I had to pick two that I would call favorites, I'd pick Tonight and The Catchers of Time (this one will be big at weddings and anniversary parties).

Here's a streaming version of the EP from their Bandcamp site.


The Shakespeares will be appearing on Vanderbilt University's WRVU-FM on February 9 at 8pm Central. If you're in the Nashville area, they will be playing The Listening Room on February 12 as the opening act for GreeneLight (Click here for details).

The EP is available for download from iTunes and directly from the band via Bandcamp (buy it from the band, they get a bigger cut and it's cheaper) and the CD will be shipping on March 1. These are two very talented individuals who've released a gem of an EP and I'm looking forward to hearing more from them in the future.

Today's featured band is Boston-based, indie folk singer Marissa Nadler. She's released several albums and she's currently in the studio working on her fan-financed new album. Her most recent album, 2009's Little Hells, is an excellent introduction to her haunting voice.


The video for the song "Rosary," from the Little Kills album, is the perfect accompaniment to Marissa's stark lyrics and melody. The song is crisp like a cold winter's day and the visuals reinforce that theme: trees devoid of leaves, ice flows on a lake against an overcast sky. It's not to say that the song is cold and dark, but the images do make the viewer want to turn up the heat and put on a sweater.