new video: Apache Beat- "Tropics"

Already tapped as one of the bands to watch for 2009, you better get ready to hear a lot more of Brooklyn's Apache Beat. The pop/punk outfit are led by commanding frontwoman & Australian native, Ilirjana Alushaj, who has been wowing audiences with recent live shows opening for Deerhunter and Crystal Castles. The band has just signed on to Summer Lovers Unlimited, and there are plans to release their debut LP as early as this coming March. Included on the new LP will be the single "Tropics”, which the band just released a new video for.


Apache Beat- "Tropics":


Apache Beat myspace.

Asobi Seksu: new album details

Asobi Seksu have revealed details of their third full-length album, and follow-up to 2006's 'Citrus'. The new album, which features 12 new tracks is called Hush and is due out in the US on February 17th, with the first single 'Me & Mary' set to be released on November 18th. After losing their bass player and drummer following their last record, Asobi Seksu guitarist James Hanna said he and keyboardist/front woman Yuki Chikudate wrote their highly anticipated third album Hush when they “felt destroyed”, adding ..."The entire record has a phoenix rising vibe to it... We knew we didn't want to do 7,000 reverb guitars this time, so we stripped the sound down and built it back up from there.
The band can currently be seen out on tour across Europe & the UK supporting Ladytron, with some select dates with The Dears.

Hush Tracklisting:
01. Layers

02. Familiar Light

03. Sing Tomorrow's Praise

04. Gliss

05. Transparence
06. Risky and Pretty
07. In The Sky

08. Meh No Mae

09. Glacially

10. I Can't See

11. Me & Mary

12. Blind Little Rain



Listen to Asobi Seksu on myspace.

Our new video intvw w/ Martha Wainwright

With musical genes that run in the family, with her Mom, Dad and Brother all being in the business, Martha Wainwright has an abundance of wisdom to draw on. Wainwright released her latest LP, I Know Your Married But I've Got Feeling Too earlier in the year, which has been hailed by the critics as a more mature & confident sounding Martha. We had the chance to sit down with her on a recent tour stop, where we discussed topics ranging from the new album and using sex in her music, to getting together w/ family.

This weeks new releases: WK 11/11

With the holidays just around the corner, it can mean just one thing. It's almost time to start pondering the infamous year end lists. With only a handful of weeks left, will any of this weeks entries make their way onto your list???

here's this weeks new releases: WK 11/11

Au Revoir Simone- Reverse Migration remixes
The Battle Of Land & Sea- self titled
Blue Sky Black Death- Slow Burning Lights
Coldplay- Lost EP
Danielson- Trying Hartz
Deer Tick- War Elephant
Gnarls Barkley- Who's Gonna Save Your Soul EP
Helios- Caesura
Hello Seahorse!- Hoy a Las Ocho
Longwave- Secrets Are Sinister
Love Is All- A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night
The Morning Benders- iTunes Live Session
Oh Captain My Captain- Recklessly She Split The Sea
The Postmarks- By The Numbers
Stars- Sad Robots EP
Angus & Julia Stone- Hollywood EP
Vetiver- More Of The Past EP
Wintersleep- Welcome To The Night Sky

City and Colour: announce new headlining tour

Canadian singer/songwriter Dallas Green originally started out in the platinum selling post hardcore group Alexisonfire. Deciding to switch gears in between tours w/ Alexisonfire, Green put together some solo acoustic tunes that he had been working on and take them out on the road. The feedback Green received was all around positive and he decided to begin releasing the material. Green's latest release is his sophomore disc, Bring Me Your Love, which came out in the beginning of 08'. Having already toured the US earlier this year in the opening slot for fellow Canadians Tegan & Sara, Green has just announced his very first headling tour of the States. The tour kicks off Jan. 10th in upstate NY, and rounds out on the west coast in LA on Jan 28th.



Upcoming tour schedule:

Jan 10 The Town Ballroom Buffalo, New York
Jan 11 Middle East Cambridge, Massachusetts
Jan 12 Bowery Ballroom New York, New York
Jan 14 Black Cat Washington, Washington DC
Jan 15 World Cafe Live Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jan 22 Lakeshore Theatre Chicago, Illinois
Jan 23 Varsity Theatre Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jan 24 The Waiting Room Omaha, Nebraska
Jan 25 Bluebird Theatre Denver, Colorado
Jan 27 Slim’s San Francisco, California
Jan 28 El Rey Theatre Los Angeles, California

City and Colour on myspace.

'Video & Song of the week': Damien Jurado-"Sheets"

While relative newcomers such as Bon Iver gobble up all the press attention and buzz, longtime Seattle musician Damien Jurado continues to quietly go about his business with little fanfare. Jurado, who is equally as gifted a songwriter as any of his peers recently came out with his latest and possibly finest work, Caught In The Trees this past September. The new album sees Jurado craft an intensely personal journey, which is rare for him, as he is known for his gift of fictional story-telling in his music. One of the many standouts off the LP is the haunting track "Sheets", which ever since seeing Jurado perform in concert recently, just won't seem to get out of my head. Stay tuned for a new video interview w/ Jurado possibly sometime next week.

Damien Jurado-"Sheets"




Damien Jurado on myspace.

Gregory & the Hawk: launching new tour

DIY success story Gregory & the Hawk, led by singer Meredith Godreau has quickly grown from handing out homemade CDRs at shows back in 05' to having just recently signed on with Fat Cat Records(Animal Collective, Twilight Sad). The band became an underground hit in 2006 with their self released The Boats & Birds EP, which saw a groundswell of support without any type of management or label representation. Fast forward to 2008 and GATH have come out with their their new sophomore effort, and first for Fat Cat, Moenie and Kitchi. The band will be heading out on tour in support of the new LP kicking things off this Thursday in Massachusetts, with dates to follow across the States into the end of Nov. before heading over to the UK and Europe for a handful of shows.



Nov 13 TT the Bears (18+) Cambridge, Massachusetts
Nov 14 People’s Center (all ages) New Haven, Connecticut
Nov 15 Glasslands (21+) Brooklyn, New York
Nov 16 First Unitarian Church (all ages) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nov 17 Jammin’ Java (all ages) Vienna, Virginia
Nov 18 The Milestone (18+) Charlotte, North Carolina
Nov 20 Southgate House - Parlour (18+) Newport, Kentucky
Nov 21 Shubas Tavern (all ages) Chicago, Illinois
Nov 22 Cafe Bourbon Street Columbus, Ohio
Nov 29 Art Depot London
Nov 30 Sancuary Café Brighton
Dec 1 Chateau Neuf Oslo
Dec 2 Robotbutikken Bergen
Dec 3 Burkbar Trondheim
Dec 4 Camenten Stavanger
Dec 7 iBar (16+) Bournemouth
Dec 8 Big Chill House London

Gregory an the Hawk on myspace.

Syd Matters- Live in Brussels

One of our favorite artists at BTB, is the under looked French group Syd Matters. The band are largely unknown outside of France and the rest of Europe, but have still managed to draw some weighty comparisons that range from Radiohead to Nick Drake. Seeing the band live is always a treat, as they bring a completely different dynamic to their live performances. Where on the albums, SM's melancholy songs can be finely understated, live the band tend to hold nothing back, launching songs in new and bold directions with extra nuances and layers. The other night in Brussels was no exception, as the group brought everything to the table. Opening the set with a simple acoustic version of "Heartbeat Detector" from the soundtrack of the same name, the band then segued flawlessly into "Everything Else" from their most recent Ghost Days. From there on out it was a perfect mix of new and old, which saw the group play personal favorite, "Cloudflakes", which received an addition of drums and more electrified ending, to "End & Start Again", which is as close as the band gets to resembling Radiohead. Newer track "Anytime Now" was rollicking straight ahead rock n' roll, while crowd favorite, "Obstacles" was a steady building wall of guitars.
Three of the best moments of the show might have been saved for last though, starting with the epic "Me and My Horses" closing out the main set. This track is the perfect example of SM showing restraint on the LP and turning it up a notch in concert. The song swells into a crescendo of crashing cymbals and a feverish guitar solo that left the crowd buzzing. The encore then included the dreamy "To All Of You", which sees singer Jonathan Morali's longing for an American girlfriend, and "Bones" from 2004's A Whisper and A Sigh. Bones closed out the set and took the audience on a roller coaster of emotion, with explosive flourishes that finally led into an extended full on 4-5 minute powerful outro.

To see all the photo's from the show click here and to check out our interview w/ Syd Matters frontman Jonathan Morali from this past May, click below.

The Wooden Sky- Making US debut

It seems like once or twice a week maybe more, that were talking about another great band hailing from Canada. Toronto's, The Wooden Sky are no exception, and have been on our radar since back in 07' when they released their standout alt/country blended debut LP, When Lost At Sea. Ever since we've been telling anyone within earshot to check out the group. Now fans in the States will get their first chance to see the band perform live, as the guys have just announced their first dates ever in the US. Mixed in between dates around their homeland, the band will make stops in Boston & NYC in late November. To get more familiar with the band, you can also take a look at an interview lead singer Gavin Gardiner was nice enough to give us a few months back, to read the interview click here.

new US dates:

Nov 23 TT the Bear Boston, Massachusetts
Nov 24 Arlene’s Grocery New York City, New York

From 2007's When Lost At Sea- "North Dakota" live:



The Wooden Sky on myspace.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs- ready new album for 09'

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have announced via a recent myspace blog, that they are close to finishing their new album, which will indeed be released next year. In addition the band are claiming that the new work will sound "very different" from their previous efforts. The album will be the NYC groups third and will be their first full LP since 2006's Show Your Bones.
Here's some of what was posted on the blog:
...."New record is getting closer to being done done done!".... "You still won't be hearing it until 2009 but damn, are we close to finishing it, and only after a year of writing and recording! ... "Will it sound kind of like 'Show Your Bones'? No, been there done that. What about [2007 EP] 'Is Is'? Is that more of the direction it's going in? Absolutely not, it sounds VERY different." .... "... we miss all of you and we've been working extra hard on this one with the intention to make you as happy as possible. Just wanted to drop a line to let you in on how quickly we're approaching the finishing line and to GET PSYYYYYYYYYYYYCHED."

Here's an acoustic version of "Maps" from back in 2003.

What Made Milwaukee Famous- download FREE EP

The Austin Tx. indie rock quintet What Made Milwaukee Famous, have made their EP, Sugarhill Sessions available as a free download via two sites, eMusic and barsuk.com. The free download will be available only until November 17th. The SugarHill Sessions are taken from tracks that the band performed in Texas' SugarHill studios, which has played host to the likes of Lightnin' Hopkins, Johnny Bush, and Willie Nelson. All the songs from the session were recorded in one take with no overdubbing.

Earlier in the year, the band released their sophomore Barsuk release, What Doesn't Kill Us, and they can currently be seen out on tour across the Western US w/ The Little One's.

new video- Ten Kens-"Spanish Fly":

Ten Kens came out with their debut disc on Fat Cat records just this past September. Back when we reviewed the disc(click here), we told you about the bands clear nod to 90's infused grunge, which is evident on their latest single, the Nirvana-esque track, "Spanish Fly". The group just came out with a new video for the the song, which was directed by Kareem Thompson, w/ animation done by Peter Auld & Louis Norris.
The band is currently on tour across the UK in support of A Place To Bury Strangers.

Spanish Fly


Ten Kens myspace.

Black Rebel Motorcyle Club- unveil self released new LP

The California trio, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have taken matters into their own hands on their latest release, The Effects of 333. Choosing to go the route of self-releasing their new effort without any label support, the band instead dropped the new LP on their start-up endeavor, Abstract Dragon. The LP is said to be a collection of instrumental-ambient style tracks taken from the last several years, which differs vastly from last year's crunchy, guitar heavy Baby 81 . It is currently being offered as a digital-only release, and is available now via the BRMC website.

The Effects of 333 tracklisting:

01 The Effects of 333
02 Still No Answer
03 I Know You're in There
04 And With This Comes
05 A Sad State
06 A Twisted State
07 Sedated With Sterilized Tongues
08 We're Not Welcome Alone
09 Or Needed
10 And When Was Better

Margot and the Nuclear So & So's- imagine what Bush's last day in office will be like on (new video)

With the election results finally in, many are looking ahead to what George W. Bush's last days as President might look like. Indiana's Margot and the Nuclear So and So's didn't waste any time coming up with their hypothetical scenario for Jan. 19th (Bush's last day in office), as the band teamed up with a quasi-passable George W. Bush impersonator for the new video for "As Tall As Cliffs". Check it out.

new video: Kings Of Leon-"Use Somebody":

With popularity usually comes a backlash of negativity. Kings of Leon have been the recent target of a great deal of slagging since their new album Only By The Night hit stores this September. While it's not what i do on here, i will just add that having lived both in the US and in Europe, I find it interesting the contrast in poularity of the group in both places. The group has enjoyed mega-success in Europe and the UK, while in the States the band can certainly fill an arena or two, but they have yet to achieve the super star staus they receive overseas.

One of the best new songs to come from the new LP is the group's soaring track, "Use Somebody", which they just released a new video for.

Kings Of Leon-"Use Somebody":

Longwave: New LP next week

It's been three years since we last heard from NYC's Longwave. The group had a brilliant debut back in 2003 w/ the LP The Strangest Things, a disc that seemed like the beginning of bigger things for the band. However, their sophomore effort in 05' There's A Fire was disappointing to some critics and fans, and eventually cost the group their record deal. Now three years removed, the band are set to release their new LP, Secrets Are Sinister on Nov. 11th on Original Signal Recordings. The group have brought on board well known producer Peter Katis , who has worked with (The National, Frightened Rabbit, Interpol) . Katis is said to have helped the band capture a more mature and polished sound while still recapturing some of the Britpop, 90's alternative leanings that brought them their initial success.

new track from Secrets Are Sinister


From 2003's The Strangest Things


Longwave on myspace.

Get 'Clues' as to who could be the next big thing from Montreal

Montreal has been a massive breeding ground for indie music the last several years. While many try and guess who will be the next big thing from our neighbors to the north, all 'Clues' indicate that the answer might already be out there. The new collaborative project, Clues list several members that were influential to Montreal's indie sound, namely Brendan Reed of (Arcade Fire) and Alden Penner of (Unicorns). The group who are joined by Ben Borden, Lisa Gamble, and Nick Scribnerband, have managed to create a major buzz without even having put up a Myspace or Facebook site. The band have garnered attention mainly from their frantically paced shows, which include multiple drummers and lot's of instruments being traded off. The band are said to be releasing their debut LP on their hometown label, Constellation sometime in Spring 2009. You can catch a preview of the track "Perfect Fit" below.

This Weeks new releases: WK 11/04

I gotta say after digging thru what's new this week, it's pretty slim pickins out there. Maybe not too much to get excited about initially, but here's what we managed to round up that you might find interesting. You be the judge.

New Releases Wk 11/04:

Au Revoir Simone- Reverse Migration
Black Moth Super Rainbow- Drippers EP
CSS- Move
Dancer vs. Politician- A City Half-Lost
Eulogies- Tempted To Do Nothing
Frederick- Na Na Ni
Gamma Ray- Hell Yeah! The Awesome Foursome Live
Kanye West- Heartless (single)
Little Joy- self titled
No Age- Teen Creeps (single)
Past Lives- Strange Symmetry EP
Sara Bareilles- Between The Lines live
Smashing Pumpkins- G.L.O.W. (single)
The End Of The World- French Exit
Travis- Ode to J. Smith
Wilderness- (k)no(w)here

Video & Song of the week: Horse Feathers-"Curs In The Weeds"

This weeks 'Video & Song of the week' is one that ever since we received the LP a few weeks back, we just can't help but keep coming back to. It comes from Portland's indie/folk group, Horse Feathers and the track "Curs In The Weeds". The group while out on the road this past summer took things quite literally for this particular video, as the band wandered into the woods amongst weeds and all for an impromptu performance.

Horse Feathers-"Curs In The Weeds":



Horsefeathers on myspace.

Our 'Liner Notes' interview w/ Johnny Berlin

The Belgian band Johnny Berlin came out w/ their debut LP Find What You Love And Let It Kill You this past May. The group immediately saw success with their first single "Four", which climbed up the alternative music charts in their home country. The band currently have a new single out, "Bender Parts" which has seen the group achieve even bigger success.

We sat down recently with brothers Paul & Laurens Renner from Johnny Berlin to discuss the Belgian music scene, their early influences and more.



Johnny Berlin myspace.

Cut Off Your Hands: new album in '09

Two years removed from their first EP, New Zealand pop-punk band Cut Off Your Hands will finally be releasing their debut full-length. The new LP, You And I, which is out in their native NZ & Australia, will hit American shores on January 20th, 2009 via Frenchkiss Records. You And I sees the group working with ex-Suede guitarist and producer Bernard Butler. In the meantime, if you can't wait for the new LP, the band has put out the Happy As Can Be EP just a few weeks ago, that features two tracks from the upcoming full length, the title track from the EP, "Happy As Can Be" & also "Expectations".



You And I Tracklist :
01. Happy As Can Be
02. Expectations
03. Oh Girl
04. Turn Cold
05. It Doesn't Matter
06. Heartbreak
07. In The Name Of Jesus Christ
08. Lets Get Out Of Here
09. Still Fond
10. Closed Eyes
11. Nostalgia
12. Someone Like Daniel

Cut Off Your Hands myspace.