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Identical Homes

I love this time of year. My kids are out of school, starting tomorrow. We’ve been enjoying our son’s baseball games, chilling out on the porch until dark, a little yard work and some serious (not really that serious) street carving sessions on our skateboards lately. The soundtrack to these recent good times has been the electro-pop beats of Identical Homes’ new LP, A. Hydrophelia.

Identical Homes is the new-ish project of ex Rum Diary member, Daniel McKenzie. He crafts a catchy, chilled-out, yet warm brand of electro-pop that is sure to cause involuntary head bobbing. Check out “Formula” (below) from the B-side, it’s one of my favorite tracks from the album.  A. Hydrophelia is out now and is available to buy/stream, digitally, from Identical Homes’ Bandcamp page. It’s also available on a really cool looking 12″ picture disc LP through the same Bandcamp page. This is a great summer time album, that belongs in your collection.

Thanks to Daniel for sending this my way through the inbox, along with a picture of his cat, Barracuda, and generously sending me one of the sweet picture discs.

Identical Homes – Formula from A. Hydrophelia (2014)

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Los Dos Hermanos

Los Dos Hermanos is a two-piece garage rock band out of Bordeaux, France. Their mix of 60’s style garage, surf guitar and echoey vocals (played in a face melting “Thee Oh Sees”-esque style) makes their new single Alienor a must listen for any fan of this style of music or any kind of rock ‘n’ roll. Alienor is available to purchase from their Bandcamp page or as a 7″ from Six Tonnes De Chair which includes an awesome Ty Segall cover medley on the B-side.

Special thanks to Jason at 7 Inches blog for introducing these guys to me.

Los Dos Hermanos – Alienor [MP3] from Alienor single (2014)

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Curtis Harding

My first introduction to Curtis Harding’s soul stylings was his cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Here She Comes Now”, from Burger Records’ tribute cassette to White Light/White Heat. His take on the VU classic left me wanting for more. That want is over as Harding just released his debut LP, Soul Power, with Burger Records. It’s 12 songs of funk-soul-garage-pop goodness will keep you spinning the album over and over again.

Check out the funk-fueled, toe-tapper “Keep On Shining” (below) his first single from the LP. Soul Power is out now, and available on vinyl (highly recommended) and cassette from Burger Records.

Curtis Harding – Keep On Shining from Soul Power (2014)

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May 2014 Mixtape

May’s mixtape is full of hits from Love Battery, Campfires, PJ Harvey, Habibi, Say Hi To Your Mom, Toui Manikhouth, Dwellers (SLC), Little Joy, Mac DeMarco, Fingers of The Sun, The Raveonettes, Night Beats, Slothrust.

A MAY MIXTAPE from 3hive on 8tracks Radio.

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Skye Steele

Straight from the inbox comes multi-instrumentalist Skye Steele’s new EP Glorious Sunshine. It contains 5 songs of dreamy, haunting and sometimes pretty sparse folk songs.

Skye’s guitar and vocals play of each other well while the vocal harmonies and piano hauntingly swirl in and out of the foreground on “Singing In The Street” (below), the standout track from the EP. Glorious Sunshine is available now through iTunes. Enjoy.

Skye Steele – Singing In The Street from Glorious Sunshine (2014)

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Silver Dapple

If you’re a fan of fuzzy pop music, Montréal’s Silver Dapple is the band for you. Their brand of grimey shoegaze is quite intoxicating. Hear for yourself (below) the title track from their new 4 song EP I Hate My Birthday. It is available to buy digital or on cassette from Silver Dapple’s Bandcamp page. Enjoy.

Silver Dapple – I Hate My Birthday from I Hate My Birthday (2014)

(Pauses) from silver.dapple on Vimeo.

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Yalls

Berkeley-based musician Dan Casey’s (a.k.a. Yalls) debut album, United, is a 44 minute escape from reality, filled with groove-holmes beats and synths straight from outer space. The warbly synths of “Warlords” (below) is just what I’m talking about – combined with a chilled-out beat and hushed vocals, it’s one of my favorite tracks from the LP.

United comes out May 6 on Gold Robot. Do not miss out on this release.

Yalls – Warlords from United (2014)

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Denney and The Jets

Nashville’s Chris Denney has taken 70’s arena rock and mixed it up with bits of 60’s psych/garage, and a pinch of AM country gold to create his debut LP – as Denney and The Jets, titled Mexican Coke.

If Mick Jagger and Hank Williams were combined in some awesome accident of science, and Kiss was the backing band, their music would sound like Denney’s first single (below) from Mexican Coke, “Bye Bye Queenie”.

Mexican Coke was just released (April 8th) on Burger Records and Limited Fanfare Records. You can also stream/buy it from Denney’s Bandcamp page. Enjoy.

Denney and The Jets – Bye Bye Queenie from Mexican Coke (2014)

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Toui Manikhouth

Canadian singer-songwriter Toui Manikhouth’s 3 song EP, This Service, is very chill and quite elegant. His hushed vocals are barely audible over his guitar, which reminds me a bit of Elliott Smith.

Have a listen to “Flowers In Zara” (below) the standout track from the EP. This Service is available to stream/download (name your price) on his Bandcamp page. It’s very much worth a listen. Enjoy.

Toui Manikhouth – Flowers In Zara from This Service (2013)