"♫Makin' a soundtrack for another planet to hear♫" on @PumpUpThaVolume! Episode021 - Longevity was recorded live on RevereRadio.net and features brand new #SongOfTheDay sounds from Yeasayer, Langhorne Slim and the Law, Fang Island, Bloc Party, Adrian Sherwood, Line & Circle, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Staff Benda Bilili, Blonds, Allah-Las, Poolside, Admiral Fallow, Leisure Birds, Jens Lekman and The Antlers... because it can't be news and politics all the time!

Episode021: MP3/Feed\Archive

Previous: Episode020 - Warm And Easy

Notes

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♬Liner Notes♬: PUTV turns 21 this week and we celebrate, not by getting wasted and sick, but with another batch of exciting new music! As the Media Monarchy show prepares to go on hiatus, these new music shows will become that much more important to us. We've got brand spankin' new sounds this week from Ariel Pink, The Antlers, Adrian Sherwood, Bloc Party and much more... Let's kick it off with our title track - it's "Longevity" from Yeasayer!

Yeasayer
"Longevity"
'Fragrant World'
Secretly Canadian, 2012
Note: Stereogum says: "Yeasayer made this record at the studio operated by Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin, and the proprietor’s spirit seemingly seeped into the tone and tenor of “Longevity”‘s sluggish, syncopated synths; it’s off-balance yet locked in, interestingly affected and nicely mixed. Very good, also." This is the second track off Yeasayer's new album 'Fragrant World' to be featured on PUTV, the other was on Episode016 - Speed Of Sound.
(More Info)

Langhorne Slim and the Law
"I Found My Heart"
'The Way We Move'
Ramseur, 2012
Note: "If everybody’s break-up album were as rocking and joyous as Langhorne Slim & the Law’s The Way We Move, getting dumped would be a much better experience... It was also one of an increasing number of crowd-funded records put out by indie bands this year," says MTV's Hive. We played the title track, "The Way We Move," from Slim's new record back on Episode013 - So Lucky.
(More Info)

Fang Island
"Sisterly"
'Major'
Sargent House, 2012
Note: The 8,765,543rd band to relocate to Brooklyn, Fang Island formed at the Rhode Island School of Design (or 'riz-dee' for those in the know) and took their name from an Onion article about Donald Rumsfled's secret hideaway being a place called 'Fang Island'. Meanwhile, Pitchfork notes that "After releasing their irrepressible second record of high-fivin', guitar-tappin' spazz-rock, Fang Island started to incorporate a cover of Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby" into their live sets."
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Bloc Party
"Octopus"
'Four'
Frenchkiss, 2012
Note: So far, the reviews for 'Four' have been far from glowing. On the other hand, according to the Guardian: "After the mixed reception afforded 2008's Intimacy, London four-piece Bloc Party went on sabbatical for two years. On the evidence of Four, the break did them good: from the off there's an urgency – and an aggression – to their post-punk shapes that hadn't been evident since their bravura debut, Silent Alarm." Due to stupid car trouble, I missed seeing Bloc Party open up for The Pixies in 2005 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland.
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Adrian Sherwood
"Effective"
'Survival & Resistance'
On-U Sound, 2012
Note: "As a producer, Adrian Sherwood is known for his groundbreaking work with Nine Inch Nails and Lee 'Scratch' Perry. While he often operates in the shadows, his output as a solo artist is prolific and grounded in a bass-driven sound," notes KCRW.
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Line & Circle
"Roman Ruins"
b/w Carelessness
White Iris, 2012
Note: Song source KEXP writes: "Line & Circle is an unlikely L.A. band, formed originally by Brian J. Cohen & Brian Egan, friends and bandmates who actually met at college in the Midwest before making the move out California. It seems the fresh air and cool waves are a good match with their throwback anthemic rock that harkens back to another time... The result is their brand new 7-inch single “Roman Ruins”. Recorded live, “Roman Ruins” (side A) and “Carelessness” (side B) are nostalgic reminders of great music from our youth."
(More Info)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
"Only In My Dreams"
'Mature Themes'
4AD, 2012
Note: Slant Magazine doesn't have very many nice things to say about the latest full-length release from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. "A man without a scene, a full-tilt radical with nothing to rebel against, Ariel Pink has never really found his place. Pouring out music like gasoline, but never able to light the match, he's remained stuck as a novelty attraction and inveterate fringe freak. The sideshow continues with Mature Themes, which pushes further into Pink's subconscious, a bargain-basement repository of pop-culture ephemera, junky samples, and song fragments." But he is on 4AD, so how bad could it be?
(More Info)

Staff Benda Bilili
"Sopeka"
'Bouger Le Monde'
Crammed Discs, 2012
Note: "Staff Benda Bilili are a group of street musicians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They used to live around the grounds of the zoo in the country's capital city, Kinshasa, and play music which is rooted in rumba, with elements of old-school rhythm 'n' blues and reggae. The core of the band consists of four senior singers/guitarist, who are all disabled (they had poliomyelitis when they were young) and move around in spectacularly customized tricycles. They are backed by a younger rhythm section consisting of abandoned street children who were taken under the protection of the older members of the band."
(More Info)

Blonds
"Time"
'Bad Ones'
Gluck Music, 2012
Note: Song source KEXP says: "For a band of only two people, Blonds (not to be confused with Blondes) have an impressively sweeping sound. This is a pretty common feature of most dream-pop outfits, large enthralling sounds from one or two people at most... After the success of their 2011 EP, Dark Roots, the romantically involved duo relocated to NYC to record their first full-length Bad Ones, which was released earlier this month to critical acclaim. “Time,” the second single off the album, features plenty of driving drums and soaring synths..." And a huge thanks for the tweet from Blonds - you're welcome!
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Allah-Las
"Don't You Forget It"
'Allah-Las'
Innovative Leisure, 2012
Note: For the second week in a row, we get to hear from the Allah-Las! The Stark Online writes: "Impeccably capturing a late 60s garage/surf ethos and channeling the sound through a "Play With Fire"-era Rolling Stones filter, California's Allah-Las, have crafted several head turning new tracks... The full length (9/18 on Innovative Leisure) was produced by vintage perfectionist Nick Waterhouse (excellent in his own right). This is lo fi reverb done the right way."
(More Info)

Poolside
"Why You Wanna"
'Pacific Standard Time'
Day & Night, 2012
Note: Song source KCRW says: "After a releasing a steady stream of buzzworthy tracks on their Soundcloud page for the past year, including a brilliant reinvention of Neil Young's "Harvest Moon", and a brief tour in support of The Rapture, the duo hunkered down in their poolside studio (literally) and cranked out one of the most casually blissed-out, fully realized debuts in recent memory."
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Admiral Fallow
"Guests of the Government"
'Tree Bursts In Snow'
Nettwerk, 2012
Note: The BBC says that "Hearts might well burst under prolonged exposure to this record." This Scottish folk/pop group formed in 2007 and have opened up for other Scottish heavyweights like Belle & Sebastian and The Proclaimers. They just might be yet another reason to ask the question: Why are there SO many fantastic bands from Scotland?
(More Info)

Leisure Birds
"Egyptian Ring"
'Globe Master'
Moon Glyph, 2012
Note: Song source The Current calls this "another blissed out affair from psych-rockers Leisure Birds. Globe Master is different than anything these guys have done... “Egyptian Ring” is the standout on their newest effort, one which really pops through the eerie haze that most of this concept record explores... It’s challenging, gorgeously thematic and — to steal a word from the press release — propulsive in a way that gives us a sense of urgency: there is much left to explore."
(More Info)

Jens Lekman
"Become Someone Else's"
'I Know What Love Isn't'
Secretly Canadian, 2012
Note: KCRW says: "Everything But The Girl's Tracy Thorn has such a fondness for Swedish songwriter Jens Lekman that she wrote a song for him, a message about love. He wrote a song for her in return and you can hear it on his new album, I Know What Love Isn't." Meanwhile SoundsXP notes that "The follow-up to 2007’s 'Night Falls Over Kortedala', the new album chronicles the bittersweet pursuit of love. 'I Know What Love Isn’t' came out of a break up, something Jens didn’t see as worth writing about initially."
(More Info)

The Antlers
"Crest"
'Undersea' EP
Anti/Epitaph, 2012
Note: Consequence of Sound says: "Undersea, according to The Antlers’ Web site, is “the serenity of drifting off to sleep or sinking to the bottom of the ocean,” and the band executed its vision damn near perfectly. The EP moves like an octopus traversing the big blue: the slow guitar, meditative drums, haunting horns, and effects sink into four tracks that almost listen as one, yet stand out individually... “Crest”, the most surprising (and sexy) piece of Undersea, sees Silberman’s signature falsetto climb to the next level, as he hits lines like “bathe underwater with me” and “I’m the ocean under you.” The song’s slow haunt sounds like a sister track for Burst Apart’s “Rolled Together”, though “Crest” rocks a little less hard (we are drifting in the ocean, after all)."
(More Info)

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(Thanks again to @TheUdog, @KEXP, @KCRW, @TheCurrent and you!)