Herman Düne’s latest EP, 1-2-3/Apple Tree, features similar anti-folk style and engaging storytelling as The Decemberists and indie pop vocal style like Belle & Sebastian and Jermey Jay. 1-2-3/Apple Tree is uplifting and it is certainly a delight to listen to during these hot summer days!
visit Herman Düne’s MySpace here
"2 Atoms In A Molecule", the first track from Noah And The Whale’s Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down, begins the album with the narrator’s dream of an inseparable love, ("last night I had a dream, we were inseparably entwined, like a piece of rope made out of two pieces of vine, held together, holding each other, with no one else in mind, like two atoms in a molecule, inseparably combined") but he later woke up to the hush reality of lost love and fail relationships ("...and if love is just a game, then how come it's no fun? If love is just a game, how come I've never won?") This opening song perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the album: Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down is indeed full of wonderfully charming and cheesy pop song! In addition, the 40-plus minutes album is accompanied by catchy acoustic rhythms with occasional strings, horns, xylophones, and the lovely vocal of Laura Marling. The only drawback from this nearly perfect record is that 6 out of the 11 songs are from the band’s self-titled EP, I just wished that there were more new ones... but really, I can’t really complaint since the songs from the EP are so freaking amazing! Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down is irresistibly addictive, it is definitely up there with Mystery Jets’ Twenty One as the catchiest album of 2008!
visit Noah And The Whale’s MySpace here
When people first heard Evil Urges a while back, haters (mostly outraged My Morning Jacket fans) flooded blogs and messageboards with angry comments on how different Evil Urges sounded from other My Morning Jacket’s releases (really, it is only slightly different; in fact, it is stylistically quite similar to Z!) That was something I absolutely could not understand... I mean, why are people so against a band’s decision to evolve/experiment with new sounds? Nonetheless, I love Evil Urges and it is the band’s best work to date!
visit My Morning Jacket's MySpace here
High Places' 03/07—09/07 is a wonderful collection of avant-garde music. The album is characterized by a combination of ambient sound, irregular meters, drowned vocals, and catchy melodies. The style expressed on the album produces a fantastically airy and dreamy atmosphere. If you are a fan of Atlas Sound, you should like 03/07—09/07 ...a lot!
visit High Places' MySpace here
Rollie Pemberton aka Cadence Weapon is a hip-hop artist from Edmonton. His second full-length, entitled Afterparty Babies, is one amazing record! Not only is Cadence Weapon a smooth lyricist, but the music is top-notch and incredibly diverse as well. You get a dance/electronica sound in "In Search of the Youth Crew"; Viktor Vaughn like beats in "True Story" and "The New Face of Fashion"; 2-Step/Garage style in "House Music"; and finally, the music in "Limited Edition OJ Slammer" sounds like something out of old-school 8-bit Atari games... so awesome! Afterparty Babies is everything you ever wanted in a hip-hop album; it is an instant classic!
visit Cadence Weapon's MySpace here
