John's New Music Blog

Today's featured band is Baltimore's Secret Mountains, a sextet consisting of founders Jeffery Silverstein and Kelly Laughlin and over time added Chris Muccioli, Cory Lawrence, Jake Winstanley, and Alex Jones. The band has a lo-fi, shoegaze sound with a good helping of American folk (it took a couple of listens, but it's there). Its as though Tennis started playing with Fleet Foxes and then met up with Company of Thieves to create a unique and inviting sound that will make you ask if you're still listening to the same band.


The first track is the band's new single, "Weeply Little Fingers," a spacey, shoegaze track that gives you a good feeling for the band's sound and Kelly Laughlin's vocal skills.





 Secret Mountains | Ottobar from Michael Muccioli on Vimeo.

The second track is the title track from the band's 2010 EP, Rejoice. This was my first introduction to the band and this is almost two songs in one. The first part is psych-rock and the second part is part Catatonia and part Belle and Sebastian twee indie pop.


 Secret Mountains - Rejoice from john andrews on Vimeo. 
Rejoice is available for download from Baltimore based Friends Records and the band's first EP, Kaddish, is available from Baltimore's Fall Records, iTunes and Amazon. Secret Mountains is playing at The Mausoleum in Philadelphia on August 12th (details to follow).

(H/T: Beat the Indie Drum)

The fine people at Gorilla vs. Bear have the new single from Seattle-based Seapony (one of the first bands featured by John's New Music Blog). The single, "Blue Star" is taken from their upcoming Hardly Art debut album, Go With Me. If you're a fan of fuzzy indie dream pop, you'll want to check out the new single. It has the sunny feeling of Tennis (compare for yourself here and here) and you can't help but have a smile on your face when you listen to it.


Blue Star by Seapony

Here's their last release, Dreaming:



Seapony - Dreaming from Double Denim Records on Vimeo.

Seapony's debut album, Go With It, will be hitting stores on May 31st and you can pre-order it from Hardly Art. There's a pre-release single with a track that won't be available on the album which is available from iTunes and Amazon.

Today's featured band is Chicago's indie pop supergroup, Tiny Fireflies. The band consists of Kristine from thew band Tiny Microphone and Lisle from the band Fireflies and they combined to release a three track EP called ePop005 on Eardrums Pop, an excellent net label that releases collaborations from indie pop and rock bands from all over the world.


The three tracks are an excellent example of indie pop shoegaze, the first track, 'Holding Pattern" is a steamy, slow song that has The xx's signature "make out music for the smart set" sound written all over it. It's a good track for a late Friday night impromptu dance party for two with someone you want to get closer to.

The second track is "Snow," a quiet track that falls around you like snowflakes as it fills the room. Like the TARDIS, it's bigger on the inside and the complex layers combine to create a lovely track that wouldn't feel out of place on a Belle and Sebastian album.

The third track is a true gem, a cover of Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World." Eardrums Pop asks the bands to do a cover of a song and Tiny Fireflies picked a cover of a cover, the Claudine Longet version of "The End of the World."


ePop005 is available for free download from Eardrums Pop. Kristine and Lisle also record together with a few more friends in the Chicago band Very Truly Yours, who have an album out for download from Amazon and iTunes. If you like Allo, Darlin', check out Very Truly Yours.

Today's featured band is Seattle's Seapony, a lo-fi trio that specializes in sun drenched songs that will have you asking "Are you sure Seapony is from Seattle? I don't hear any grungy guitars and I don't want to kill myself after listening to it." Yes, they are from Seattle and there's more to the Seattle indie scene than Nirvana tribute bands and flannel shirts. The song, "Dreaming," is their new single from Double Denim Records, is upbeat and has a retro feel that is becoming more prevalent in indie rock. Some might even call Seapony a twee band in the style of Belle and Sebastian and last week's featured band, Allo Darlin', but I would put them into the retro category and include them with Best Coast and other surf pop bands like San Francisco's Girls (a surf pop band who's songs are emo versions of the Beach Boys). I'm looking forward to hearing the EP and hopefully seeing them when they make it to the East Coast.

Seapony - Dreaming from Double Denim Records on Vimeo.

The EP is out as a free downloand from Bandcamp and Dreaming is available as a limited edition 7" from Double Denim Records (order now, only 700 will be pressed).

For today's New Music Sunday I bring to you Allo Darlin', a London-based indie pop four piece band that's been around since 2009, but the members have been recording with other bands and the lead singer, Elizabeth Morris, has been releasing her own music since 2007 and records with the Tender Trap. Allo Darlin' just completed a successful US mini-tour in conjunction with CMJ 2010 in New York (they were in Philadelphia in October and had I known about them before last night, I would have gone to see their set at Blocktoberfest). Their self-titled album was released in the US last October and has been gathering critical acclaim.

The first video is "The Polaroid Song", the first single from Allo Darlin'. The song itself is very fun and has a great guitar line and some shades of Belle and Sebastian's chamber pop sound. The video is a take on The Breakfast Club and the memories that an old picture can evoke. The use of 16mm film and not digital or even videotape recording gives it a warm feeling that digital film just can't create and supports the song's theme of fuzzy memories that a forgotten picture can bring back.

The second track is the second single, "Dreaming". The song is an invitation from a girl to a guy to go out on the town and the guy is hesitant because he likes the girl (and she likes him) but he doesn't want to get hurt but knows that the two of them have a connection, chemistry if you will. The video was shot on Super-8, giving it a very grainy but warm and intimate feel, like being invited to watch the couple as they go out on the town. The video and the song complement each other and capture the feeling of following your heart despite knowing that you're going to get hurt in the end.
    
Allo Darlin' -- Dreaming