Thunder Bunny

It can sometimes feel a little false and pre-meditated when a modern band sounds exactly like the ‘sound’ from a specific era. Lots of the time it can be a sound fashionable at the time. The shoegaze scene is a clear influence on lots of the noisey and droney bands around today, and the Phil Spector wall of sound is seeing a good resurgence, too. IOf course it is increasingly difficult to be truly original, and it’s not necessarily a negative criticism of a band to sound exactly like the bands of a movement from yesteryear (The Horrors’ Primary Colours springs to mind, sounding a carbon copy of the likes of The Chameleons), but it can hint at...

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Well, This Is Just Darn Lovely: Teen Daze - Beach Dreams

I know it's not an especially sociable hour (in the UK at least), but Teen Daze have posted a new song on their bandcamp page and it's lovely. So lovely it even features Christmassy harmonies and jingly bells. Listen below, or at their bandcamp pa...

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Old Smile

Listening to my HypeMachine favourited blog-list whilst doing a bit of writing, two bands caught my attention enough to write a mental note to find out their name once I'd finished these few sentences - one with some wonderful psychedelic and jazzy pop reminding me of Connan Mockasin, the other bare and beautiful folk. Upon finishing the sentences and researching the names of these bands, the two bands were in fact just one, and this band was Old Smile.Old Smile is apparently the project of a Tom Herman, who is apparently also of the band Arches (who maybe I should check out more of). This information isn't particularly important. What is important...

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Sauna Youth

Having an obsession with the Ramones is no bad thing. Try to search for the word "criticism" on their Wikipedia page and you won't find it. Proof, if anybody needed it, that the punks are a perfect band to aspire to be like.Take Brighton's Sauna Youth. They might not sound exactly like the Ramones, but they certainly take a lot of influence from - from the simple, fast-paced, driving motorik-like drum-beat; to the raucous racket; to the general punk ethic. But far from being plain old punk rock (not that there is anything wrong with that, other than a band doing that today would be lacking at least a little in originality), the four-piece break...

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The Black Tambourines

Most holidays, I go back home to Plymouth to visit friends and family. It's nice to see them, but going back can be a little depressing with just how non-existent the music scene is in the South-West (beyond Bristol...) of England as a whole. That's why I assumed that the blog No Fear Of Pop must have made some sort of a mistake when featuring a band from "the very southwest of the United Kingdom". Cornwall's (Falmouth, to be more geographically accurate) The Black Tambourines are the perfect blend of everything that's big right now; surf, garage rock, punk, and noise. It might seem like a band trying to jump on the hipster band wagon, but it's...

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IT'S CHRISTMAASSSSS!

Christmas compilation album featuring the likes of Crystal Antlers, Coconut Records, and the first collaboration of stoner-lovers Best Coast and Wavves, streamable here. I'm not saying it's good, but it's certainly festi...

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On Lopez Tonight

Selena Gomez On Lopez Tonight Nov 201011-16-10 Selena GomezSelena Gomez hits up the George Lopez show.Selena Gomez Talks About Rubing Selena Quintanilla's Butt & Discusses Trip to Budapest and how it was filming out there.She also talks about recent football game she attended with Justin Bieber & Will Smith & She Talks To George About Singing in SpanishShe was actually able to speak! Remember the last time when she had to use a voice box because she was on vocal rest for work?! So the two joked about how the show footage wound up all over the world. Speaking of which, they chatted about SG's international travels, including her spy-like...

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Strange News From Another Star

Photo courtesy of Paul Gregory, Lense Eyes. Back in 2005, The Independent were correct when they wrote that “one way or another, we will be hearing quite a lot more of Jimmy Watkins.” Referring to an on-track incident where, during his career in athletics a few years back, Jimmy farted whilst lining up for a race, although The Independent, even after that, probably weren’t expecting for us to hear more of him quite in the way that we have over the past year or so. Indeed, the Jimmy Watkins in that article is the same Jimmy Watkins who fronts Cardiff band Strange News From Another Star and, indeed, also the same Jimmy Watkins who was asked to...

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Michael Parallax - Ghosts (Spirit Come In)

Yeah, more Animal Collective stuff. This time a chilled out sample-use from a song by the Florida-based Michael Parallax.Download Ghosts (Sprit Come In) from Pasta Primavera here, or tonnes of his stuff from his bandcamp pa...

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Oui Messy EP

Perhaps one of one of the most enjoyable parts of listening to music is being pleasantly surprised. It’s all too easy to dismiss a band on the blandness of their list of influences or the bagginess of their jeans (I jest, of course). Perhaps even better than that is being surprised when a band who have already put out some strong material come back with stuff that’s even better.I posted about Cardiff-based Oui Messy a few months back, based on one live performance and regular listens of a small collection of songs on MySpace, and listening to their most recent EP was exciting.Such is often the case with young bands the Oui Messy sound is a constantly...

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Fergalicious Fergie Glamour December 2010 Photo Shoot Scans

 See More Fergie Glamour December 2010 Photo Shoot Sc...

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Triptides

It's a Sunday, so this post isn't a long one, alright? Triptides are three American guys making surfy pop music who aren't releasing stuff through Holiday Records, but could be. Their six-track album/EP is downloadable for any name-able price (including $0) in the space below (or here if that fails), and is enjoyable on the ears....

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H. Hawkline

There’s lots to be praised for playing in a band, but there must be nothing more satisfying for a musician than releasing something that you can completely call your own.Cardiff-based musician Huw Evans has been playing in the bands of Sweet Baboo, Richard James, and Cate Le Bon for a while, and he’s even credited with assisting with some recorded Islet output, but only now that he is releasing a solo album under his H. Hawkline moniker may he be truly appreciated for his efforts.I made a bit of a bluff describing H. Hawkline in the Swn Festival 2010 programme as “psychedelic and gypsy-inspired folk sounds - often largely instrumental and almost...

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Beaty Heart: Free Song

I mention the words "Animal Collective" far too often. Whatever. This new Beaty Heart track reminds me of them, as well as The Ruby Suns. I really like it. Download "Lekka Freakout" from the box below. Oh, and if you missed "Cola", head to The Mix Tape to grab that or listen below, too. Beaty Heart - Cola...

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Living Rooms

It is dull and tedious to read so many bands said to be influenced by Animal Collective, but Animal Collective are almost a genre all of their own now. The biggest reason bands are compared to the Baltimore quartet tend to be either a tendency to opt for a worldly and ‘tribal’ drum sound, the recognisable heavy use of loops and effects, and unusual, drawn out, high pitched, harmonised (or at least echoing) vocals in the style of members Panda Bear or Avey Tare.Living Rooms are no straight up Animal Collective rip-off, instead borrowing bits and bobs (primarily the echoing, high pitched, unusual vocals), using them in as so far unused ways and,...

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Selebrities

This blogging world can be a fickle old place. It feels like some blogs will ignore a band if another blog has already covered them. Clearly if I went by that ethos, I would have very little content, but I’d also be going against the reasons I write here.Selebrities have been hyped from the four corners of the globe for a good few months already, but I’ve only recently discovered, and fell in love with, their music.Putting a charming twist on a number of different movements, Selebrities are less inventors and more recyclers, taking old things and using them in different, but still beautiful, ways. Clearly influenced from lots of the post-punk/goth...

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Boy or Bison

The amount of material I am stealing off of The Pigeon Post is becoming worrying. Luckily for me, he's a nice d00d and doesn't seem to mind too much. Plus, it's kind of his fault for posting so much material that I feel I have to share.Boy or Bison make hazy, almost lazy sounding, pop music that is indeed too good not to (steal to) share. With bits and bobs borrowed from other related musical genres (think along surfy, jangly, garage lines), Boy or Bison have a wide appeal - including mums, dad, granddads and grans - with their sound which, although not overly original since clearly heavily influenced by doo-wop, is well worth your time.They've...

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Gindrinker

When I was young, I used to listen to music with my dad. My dad’s a fan of Tom Waits, though evidently he was blissfully unaware just how terrifying “What’s He Building” might be to a young boy. Fifteen-odd years later, and I can just about listen to Mule Variations the whole way through without crying. To me, Gindrinker’s “Bob Grainger: Sexual Pervert” is Waits’ follow up.Opening with deep, heavy breathing which is then accompanied by birdsong, the track taken from the Cardiff band’s split release with Joy of Sex (out on I Blame The Parents Records in Septeber) is a fitting example of the weird and wonderful world of both Gindrinker and the...

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Hollywood Photo - Celebrities Halloween Costumes 2010

I have been searching for more than 4 hours and finally came up with some hot and famous Hollywood celebrities in their Halloween costume. check them out. Check out more celebrities here  Hollywood Celebrities Halloween Costumes 2010&nb...

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Pheromoans

Making music with the aim of becoming popular is one of the worst things that a band can do. Music is about expression, entertainment, passion, enjoyment; not about dating Hermione Grainger (I’m looking at you, One Night Only).It comes as a relief, then, to read on Pheromoan’s MySpace page, in a blog post addressed to potential promoters, that the band have no desire to become big. This statement should not only demonstrate that the band don’t want to be celebs, but it might also quash the possibility that they are making the music that they are right now – music with minimal production, lo-fi recording means, and a seemingly care-free attitude...

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Sweet Bulbs

Although this style of music journalism is incredibly lazy, describing Sweet Bulbs as ‘Best Coast if Bethany Cosentino listened more to Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine’ does give you a fairly accurate idea of how the band sound.Sweet female vocals accompany noisey and bending guitar distortions to delightful effect. According to their MySpace, their debut self-titled LP should be released now, though I haven’t managed to find it anywhere just yet. Download ‘Kissing Clouds’ from Gorilla vs Bear here, or do some listening below. Sweet Bulbs - Springstung Sweet Bulbs - Eyes Feath...

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Jonny: Free EP

Turnstile have been good to us these past few weeks. Free Gruff Rhys, free Girls, and now a free 4-track EP from Jonny; the collaboration between the greats Euros Child and Norman Blake.The free EP also arrives with the news of a full-length debut, (album artwork above) due out on 31st January, and a UK tour, dates here.Download the free EP by exchanging an email address in the box below: ...

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