Love Is All - "Wishing Well"

"Wishing Well" is the second appetizer from Love Is All's forthcoming sophmore album, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night (out 11/11 on What's Your Rupture?). A little while back, I posted the furious "Big Bangs, Black Holes, Meteorites," but "Wishing Well" is an even more enticing gem. It's full-throttle, new-wave pop that diverges a bit from the Swedish quintet's established sound. In place of scrappy, lo-fi fuzz, "Wishing Well" is a shimmering wall-of-sound that bludgeons with melody. Naturally, it is highly infectious.

Download MP3: "Wishing Well"

Deerhunter - "Little Kids"

Deerhunter's sterling third album, Microcastle, was released today on Kranky Records. I posted the propulsive "Nothing Ever Happened" a few months back and, since then, Microcastle has grown on me even more. "Little Kids" is another standout track that I've been listening to incessantly. This dark, syrupy tune definitely feels more influenced by those '60s pop and doo-wop sounds that Bradford Cox has become so enamored with - the climax is a spectral rush that blends Phil Spector with Glenn Branca to wondrous effect.

Download MP3: "Little Kids"

Björk - "Nattura" (feat. Thom Yorke)

Björk's newest single was written as support for the Nattura Campaign. "Nattura" features Thom Yorke on backing vocals, Brian Chippendale (Lighting Bolt) on drums and Matthew Herbert on synth/bass. Bjork's mission statement is as follows:

"The single was composed specifically to encourage active
support for the Náttúra campaign, which aims at collating and providing
sustainable and eco-friendly options suitable for Iceland, and
generating alternative ways to utilize it’s natural resources."

All proceeds for the sale of the song will go to support the campaign. Is the song worth your 99 cents? Hell yes. "Nattura" is easily as good or better than anything on Volta, and bears a rhythmic resemblance to "Declare Independence" due to the fierce, tribal drumming of Brian Chippendale on both tracks. Despite the insistent beats, "Nattura" has a soft, ethereal element to it - especially in Thom Yorke's disembodied vocals which are looped into ghostly moans.

Buy "Nattura" from itunes.

Heavy Rotation: Helios

Helios is Portland-based ambient electronic musician Keith Kenniff. He also records solo piano recordings under the alias Goldmund. Over the weekend, I became enamored with his latest album, Caesura, which will be released by Type Records on November 11th. I can't lie and say that Kenniff is doing anything new or innovative, but he is fantastically talented at what he does as Helios: crafting gorgeous ambient instrumentals that seamlessly meld the electronic with the organic. The two albums that keep popping into my head as reference points are Brian Eno's Apollo and Four Tet's Rounds - that should give you a solid idea of the ethereal world Helios inhabits.

Download MP3: "Hope Valley Hill"

Iran - "Buddy"

It may be a bad time to be in a band called Iran, but at least they sound harmonious. Iran, the brainchild of singer/multi-instrumentalist Aaron Aites, is a soothing amalgam of sharp, pop melodies and twilit noise. Aites actually released his self-titled debut back in 2000 and quietly released another, The Moon Boys, in 2003. Their third album, Dissolver, will be released on October 28th via Narnack Records. As you probably already deduced from the above photo, TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone is now an official member of Iran contributing guitar and backing vocals. Fellow TVOTR member David Andrew Sitek produced Dissolver. In a recent phone interview with Pitchfork, Aites described the new album as "very hi-fi", and "more structured" and "fully fleshed out" than their previous two outings. He also said it's more lyric-based with material sounding "louder and grimmer." "Buddy" strongly supports this claim and it's probably their best song to date. Over a lovely doo-wop melody, Aaron's lead vocals tangle enticingly with Kyp's falsetto cooing while a scabrous guitar line snakes through the song until it climaxes with the hollered refrain "I'm sure I could help you along, but buddy, I think you should stay where you are!"

Hear another new song, "I Already Know You're Wrong," on their myspace page.

Download MP3: "Buddy"

The National - "What Goes On" (Velvet Underground cover)

This past Friday, The National and Grizzly Bear performed at the Hammerstein Ballroom for New York magazine's 40th anniversary party. During their set, The National did a blazing cover of the VU classic "What Goes On." I haven't been able to track down an mp3 yet, but the video is below.

Marissa Nadler: Under The Covers

I've sort of fallen head over heels for Marissa Nadler in the last year or so and have managed to collect some superb covers she has recorded. As for happenings new and noteworthy, Ms. Nadler recently started her own blog, and the follow-up to 2007's Songs III: Bird On The Water will be released in early '09 via Kemado Records. As for the covers below, her take on Neil Young's "Cortez The Killer" is especially lovely - it has been completely stripped of the original's dry, rumbling charge and transformed into gossamer folk. Also, her version of "No Surprises" may be just that - no surprises, but it's jaw-droppingly gorgeous nonetheless.

Download MP3: "Cortez The Killer" (Neil Young)
Download MP3: "Expecting To Fly" (Neil Young)
Download MP3: "Famous Blue Raincoat" (Leonard Cohen)
Download MP3: "No Surprises" (Radiohead)


Marissa Nadler - Famous Blue Raincoat from Greg Eggebeen on Vimeo.

Antony & The Johnsons - "Another World"

It's been three long years since Antony & The Johnsons' I Am A Bird Now enraptured my heart (and many, many others, I presume). The follow-up LP still won't be out until early '09, but Antony has just released the gorgeous appetizer EP, Another World, which is comprised of 5 new tracks. The EP begins with the sparse, haunting title track - another somber rumination on death and the afterlife much in the vein of I Am A Bird Now's opener "Hope There's Someone." Again, Antony manages to convey emotions that are simultaneously universal and intimate: "I need another place/Will there be peace?/I need another world/This one's nearly gone."

Download MP3: "Another World"

Vampire Weekend - "Ottoman"

It's been almost a year since Vampire Weekend unleashed their stellar debut, so I've been hankering for something new from these guys. "Ottoman" was written for the soundtrack to the latest Michael Cera film, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. The tune doesn't stray from the debut's lethal combo of staccato riffing and gleeful strings. Of course, it still works - wonderfully so. They even reuse the line "this feels so unnatural to Peter Gabriel, too" from "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" - which also works, somehow.

Download MP3: "Ottoman"

Beach House - "Used To Be"

"Used To Be" is the a-side from Beach House's first 7" single, Used To Be, which will be out October 21st on Carpark Records. The b-side is a 4-track, demo version of "Apple Orchard" from their debut. According to the band, "Used To Be" contemplates the spiritual and physical effects of life on the everchanging road, love and getting older." It pretty much follows their patented template of brooding dream-pop, but with some gently distorted guitar keeping the song rough around the edges. It also boasts a gorgeous, twinkling melody that's as good as anything on the lovely Devotion.

Download MP3: "Used To Be"

Gang Gang Dance - "House Jam" (Live in Tokyo video)

Pitchfork.tv just posted this superb video of Gang Gang Dance performing "House Jam" - a standout track from their mind-blowing Saint Dymphna (due 10/21 on Social Registry). Seeing this just makes me that much more excited to see them live in a couple months.

Download MP3: "House Jam"