Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (320)

Brand New didn't exactly start out on the right foot, their first album being pretty mediocre and nothing quite special. Their second album, while being a vast improvement and a very good album it still felt like there was something missing. Then, they released this gem.

The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is such an emotion driven piece that you can't listen to it without having your mood being grabbed by the wrist and dragged along for the ride, no matter how you were feeling before you started. The vocals here are incredibly essential, it's leading the pack so to speak. The passion behind the lyrics and the way they're being sung is so good at times it gives me goosebumps, and then the instruments back it up perfectly to make it twice as powerful. What you get here is the whole package. There are some incredibly depressing songs that can be termed as "emo," some general alternative rockers with fairly catchy guitar riffs, and some with a mix of the two. There's also plenty of acoustics strewn about, with whispering quiet vocals not unlike Connor Oberst of Bright eyes that will make the song feel very personal, as if it's being sung to you from a few feet away. The entire first half of the album by itself should leave you not knowing what to think. The second half gets less emotional and more guitar driven, and will loosen it's grip on your heart by a bit. You'll feel like you just got your heart torn out and the person who did it is just standing there holding it in front of you while you wait for them to kindly give it back. They give it back eventually, but ultimately you're left confused and wanting to know more, kind of like after an open ended movie. Or at least, that's how I felt.

Personally this album has sky rocketed into my favorite albums list in just a mere two weeks or so. I'd suggest this album to anyone who likes emotion and vocal driven music, along with alternative fans. I leave this album with an incredibly high recommendation, but don't expect it to lift your spirits at all. You're in for something that will tug at your heart strings, especially if you focus on the lyrics.

Highlights: Millstone, Degausser, Luca

Download here.

The Flowers Of Hell - Come Hell Or High Water (V0)

Not really sure where to start with this one. When I heard about this album, someone told me that this was what it was like to hear colors. The Flowers of Hell were founded in the early 2000's by Greg Jarvis, a synaesthetic, whose "compositions and productions are largely based upon his timbre-to-shape synaesthetic visions."

I can't even begin to name the incredible people who collaborated on this album. Musicians from Broken Social Scene, Spacemen 3, Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, Guided by Voices, Patti Smith, and many many more all helped out and played with The Flowers of Hell over the past decade.

Come Hell or High Water is definitely one of my favorite albums from last year. Although until recently it was only available on What.cd, it has now made its way onto mediafire for all of you lovelies to listen to. This is one band that more people should know about.

The songs themselves are a combination of instrumental post-rock and psychedelic tones that evoke warm feelings and a sense of peace. This is one for the headphones, late at night, drifting through the moonlight.

Download here and buy it here.

Los Campesinos! - All's Well That Ends (V0)

So with their new album just released earlier this year, Los Campesinos! decided to release an EP containing four songs from Romance is Boring but in entirely different, acoustic versions. All the songs sound more folky and less fun, but it's an interesting listen for any Los Campesinos! fan. Speaking of Los Campesinos!, i'm planning on finally revealing to Gareth my secret crush on his accent at their New York show later this month. I hope his accent loves me back.

Download V0, because we need more post-coital, and less post-rock. Feels like the build up takes forever but you never get me off.

Grooms - Rejoicer (V0)

"For a band that loves terrifying, life-negating noise, Grooms are capable of making some of the prettiest music imaginable. On their debut album, Rejoicer, they effortlessly straddle lines between chaos and peaceful serenity, between nihilistic gloom and ecstatic fun. The album, self recorded at Death By Audio (home to A Place To Bury Strangers) and mixed at Rare Book Room by Nicolas Vernhes (Animal Collective, Deerhunter), crosses dark tribal beauty with moody propulsion, resurrects fractured no wave and makes it fresh with vibrant vocal textures and singalong melodies."

Download.
Support.

Echo & the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here (V0)

Post-punk legends Echo & the Bunnymen would like to believe that there is life after death. Weaving angular melodies and tribal rhythms into an album both morose and energetic, Heaven Up Here, the sophomore release by 80's-era cult masterminds Ian McCulloch and Will Seargent, is, almost thirty years later, still probably among the greatest post-punk albums of all time.

Download.

Twin Tigers - Gray Waves (256)

I went to an Interpol show earlier this year with my friend, and had the pleasure of being introduced to Twin Tigers, an amazing pop-shoegaze outfit who was opening for them at the time. I actually enjoyed them about as much as I did Interpol, which is saying something, since Interpol is one of my favorite bands of all time.

Gray Waves is their first album, released this year on Old Flame Records. It has obvious My Bloody Valentine influences, coupled with catchy hooks over the layered guitars.

I actually got to hang out and talk to a couple of the band members who were just loitering about in front of the venue. One specific member, named Forrest, even offered to get me into the next show for free, which made my car troubles all the more frustrating the following day.

You will enjoy this if you like shoegaze acts of any kind, and probably if you enjoy alternative rock, too. The vocals on this track are almost squeaky at times, and there's plenty of harmonies with bassist Aimee Morris. Try and catch these guys live sometime, they're incredible.

Download here and buy it here.

Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson - Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson (V0)

"Hey pa, are them corns done growing yet?"

"I'm trying to pretend you don't exist so I can be happy."

I'm a bad listener when it comes to post-rock, and I genuinely dislike "rock" instrumentals, but thank god for you, Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson. Finally, some post-rock made for me, the average cynic. It's deep, it's depressing, it's post-rock, and the entire catch is that there are vocals involved occasionally, but for long enough periods of time for you to have something to grasp onto, and the amount of empty space created by the band leaves room for whoever is listening to fill in the gaps with melody or whatever they want to do with gaps in places (I hear some people like putting gross things in them).

Sample this, yo: Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson – I Think E.T. Is Involved In My Family

Download V0

P.S. If requested, I'll upload in FLAC.