New music: Kingsley Flood - Dust Windows

   

Kingsley Flood's fantastic debut Dust Windows was officially released today - this is a release to take note of.  Dust Windows is a cohesive, consistent album of folk pop gems -- smart songwriting and brilliant execution.  Appalachain and country instrumentation pops up throughout - banjo, mandolin, fiddle, pedal steel - and at their heart these are true folk songs.  But the songs also reflect a pop immediacy that makes this album incredibly easy to listen to - elements of 60s pop, 80s college rock and modern indie rock round out those folk and country melodies, making this the type of album that will appeal to a broad audience.  The nearest songwriting touchstone I can make is Josh Ritter or Being There-era Wilco - but I also hear The Avett Brothers, The Band, Nebraska-era Springsteen, Townes Van Zandt, the list goes on and on.  Finally, the album sounds fantastic - nice production, sounds like the band is in your living room.

If it wasn't obvious, I LOVE this album.  You need to buy it - I'll even provide a link to make it easy:  Amazon

The band has graciously made a few tracks available for free download:

Cul de Sac
Roll of the Dice
Cathedral Walls

The entire album is streaming on the Kingsley Flood website

Lissie covers Lady Gaga (Bad Romance)

Wasn't planning to post anything tonight, but I stumbled across Lissie's cover of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance and HAD to post it.  This cover makes two things obvious:  Lady Gaga is a truly talented songwriter and Lissie has an amazing voice.  Kudos to Lissie and band for this killer arrangement...sounds fantastic. 

Mp3 for stream/download + video below:

Lissie - Bad Romance (Lady Gaga cover)

New music from Harlem, "Hippies" now streaming

"Hippies", the upcoming album from Harlem is streaming now on their myspace.  Go get it

Harlem is @ Great Scott on April 25

New music: Beach Fossils

Summer is coming and you know what that means - time to dial the reverb up to 11!  Daydream, the A Side on Beach Fossil's recent 7", is bouncy pop in the vein of Real Estate and Holiday Shores.  Desert Sand, the standout B Side, takes more of a plodding psych take on the beachy/reverb style.  If Daydream is for the exciting ride to the beach, Desert Sand is perfect for the lazy, exhausted drive home.

Beach Fossils - Desert Sand

New music: Crusaders of Love

Wow, killer garage pop from France!  Sounds like a garage-ier Posies to me.  After listening to the album I would have guessed these guys were from the mid-west or something, so I was surprised to find out their from France.  Excellent stuff here, impossibly catchy -- highly recommend a listen.  Free track is Shot to the Heart, from their fantastic debut album Never Grown Up -- speaking of which, that is exactly what this album makes me want to do.

Crusaders of Love - Shot to the Heart

Unfortunately, the band doesn't have any upcoming Boston dates

New music: Leisure (updated with video)

It isn't too often I get excited about a new Boston band.  To be fair, there are some great local bands - Magic Magic, Pants Yell, Hallelujah The Hills, to name a few - but few hook me on first listen the way Leisure have. 

Leisure is a four piece from Cambridge and have somehow slipped below my radar until now.  They are generously giving away their new 7", It's Alright (On the Suez Canal), free of charge (available here and below).  The A side is a breezy, baroque/british pop-influenced track in the vein of mid-career Kinks or Beatles.  The B side, Outside These Walls also draws influence from the other side of the Atlantic, but fast forwards about 15 years to new wave/post-punk.  Both are excellent, check them out:

It's Alright (On the Suez Canal)
Outside These Walls

Leisure will be opening for Girls on their upcoming east coast tour, which kicks off April 1 at the Paradise.  Tour dates and more music on their myspace.

UPDATE:  Found this killer video of Leisure in action:

Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons: Great Scott Allston 2.20.10

Cory Chisel and The Wandering Sons' record, Death Won't Send A Letter, is fantastic - but like most good bands, the songs reach another level when played live.  The band's excellent 45 minute set opening for Dawes at Great Scott in Allston showcased a wide range of songs - some catchy, upbeat songs that recall Petty's Heartbreakers, others bittersweet ballads with some great male/female vocals.  Really gave me a new appreciation for the album - looking forward to hearing more from these guys in the future.

Full set is available for download/stream below - think the sound on this one is excellent.  If anyone knows the names of the songs labeled "Unknown" let me know in the comments.  Enjoy!

Angel Of Mine
What Do You Need
So Wrong For Me
Curious Thing
Tennessee
My Heart Would Be There
Calm Down
See It My Way
Unknown
Born Again
In The Deep End
Longer Time At Sea

Note:  recordings are posted with the consent of the artist for personal use - do not sell any recordings found on visible voice.  Please support the artists featured on this page by buying their albums and visiting their websites.  Cory Chisel and The Wandering Sons official site

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RIP Alex Chilton 1950-2010

Really sad news.  Big Star and Box Tops front man Alex Chilton died of an apparent heart attack today.  Chilton is probably most famous for his work in Big Star, the massively influential band that defined the power-pop genre and inspired countless other bands.  Chilton was immortalized in the Replacements song "Alex Chilton" - the same song that gives this site its name:

Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes 'round
They sing "I'm in love. What's that song?
I'm in love with that song."

Cerebral rape and pillage in a village of his choice.
Invisible man who can sing in a visible voice.
Feeling like a hundred bucks, exchanging good lucks face to face.
Checkin' his stash by the trash at St. Mark's place.

I never travel far, without a little Big Star

Big Star was scheduled to play at SXSW this week.

Big Star - Watch The Sunrise

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New music from Real Estate

There were a few Real Estate tracks floating around that made it on to some of my roadtrip or party mixes last summer, but the full album didn't drop until Fall was fading into Winter...and though their music is great any time of year, I'm really looking forward to the summer when these songs will again blast from my open car windows as I drive to the beach (...or to work, but it will feel like I am driving to the beach).  Add one more great track to the Real Estate canon - this is a new song that might be called "All Out Of Tune", recorded a recent show in Brooklyn.  Thanks to the great nyctaper for the stellar recording - you can find the full set here.

Real Estate - All Out Of Tune

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