Here’s a new one from Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos) off his upcoming solo release.

Download

Wolf Parade’s At Mount Zoomer is weird and nuanced and filled with bizarre energy. For the most part this works for them, but occasionally it works against.

At Mount Zoomer starts strong with the synth-accented 3/4 swirl of “Soldier’s Grin”, which builds to an impassioned release. The skipping piano march and hollowed-out vocals of “Call It A Ritual” continue to please. Zoomer also ends strong with the reigned-in 80s vibe of “Fine Young Cannibals” that would do Hall & Oates proud, and the grandiose epic that is “Kissing the Beehive”.

Though their quirkiness is part of their charm, Wolf Parade gets a bit too weird for the less-adventurous listener. Misplaced pop (”The Grey Estates”), a lengthly retro organ jam (”California Dreamer”), and an odd dance (”Bang Your Drum”) work together to make the middle of the album a little off-putting for the more sober among us.

This murky ground can be ignored, however, by the inclusion of “Language City” - a track that is earnest, stark at points, but still teeming with movement and warmth - and “An Animal in Your Care”, which begins relaxed and pretty but grows into a fierce declaration.

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At Mount Zoomer dropped 06/17/08.
Get downloads and more from Wolf Parade’s Sub Pop page.

On their self-titled LP, Fleet Foxes sound like the Beach Boys had they grown up in the middle of a forest instead of a sunny beach. Or like My Morning Jacket if MMJ was made up of classically-trained choir kids. Or The Shins on a granola high. Fleet Foxes paradoxically sound like everyone and no one at the same time.

The group’s main feature is their mastery of vocal harmony. It’s thick and echoing and cathedral-worthy and used more often than not, which makes lead singer Robin Pecknold’s voice that much more powerful and striking when heard on its own.

Several of Fleet Foxes’s songs evoke quasi-nebulous places, like the country road sunset of “Ragged Wood” and the dusty southwestern sprawl of “Your Protector”.

The non-verbal humming on “Heard Them Stirring” completes the overall tapestry of the piece (yes, Fleet Foxes make you use words like ‘tapestry’ - but without gagging) and the short piano addendum to “He Doesn’t Know Why” is downright beautiful.

Tracks like “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” and “Meadowlarks” wouldn’t be out of place in your average New Age shop, but they translate well enough into the indie-folk world to keep people from smashing their heads into the wall from boredom and spite (it may be from the merciful lack of pan flutes and chimes).

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Fleet Foxes dropped 06/03/08.
For the MP3 and video of “White Winter Hymnal” click here.

Perspective and circumstance shouldn’t have a bearing on musical perception, but it does. The initial listen of Falcon’s self-titled EP warranted a good but by no means stand-up-and-shout review. However, after learning of the backstory to the Falcon legacy, things fall into place and what on first glance is run-of-the-mill shows itself as extraordinary.

A blind listen to the Falcon EP yielded notes that were generally favorable but had an overall want for growth and sophistication. There was promise in tracks such as “The Sandfighter”, which had instrumentals that strove to be epic a la Appleseed Cast & Explosions in the Sky but didn’t quite get there. “Birds and Mice” felt a little Snow Patrol-y, as did “Listen In” when it strayed from the rather interesting combination of darker claps, kick beats, and bass drops. Departing a little was the decidedly 80s feel of “Q of T”, featuring a smooth bass line and hooky chorus. Rounding out the EP was the early indie sound of “Bees”.

After taking it all in, I read Falcon’s bio to familiarize myself with them a bit. The story of their formation and what the EP really is struck me and gave me a new outlook on what I’d just heard. In short, all of Falcon’s songs were written between 1987 and 1988 by a fourteen-year-old prodigy (Jared Falcon) and recorded onto a Fischer-Price tape recorder prior to his death from spinal meningitis. Twenty years later, a couple of his former classmates and their friends (including members of Longwave) took Jared’s songs and gave them new life.

In a new context, the songs take on a new shade. They aren’t good because they were written by a fourteen-year-old - that’s not it. It’s the fact Jared Falcon was able to anticipate so many styles and sounds that work long after he’d written the last note. It’s also not that Falcon (the band) has zeroed-in on a moving story - it’s that they managed to take acoustic recordings two decades old and make them something palatable and relevant.

Jared Falcon wrote “You only feel right when you’re alone,” but in the case of the Falcon EP things feel right with his friends.

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Falcon EP drops 07/22/08.
Get more information about Falcon here.
Right-click to download “Q of T” and “The Sandfighter“.

In June, Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis) released Feed the Animals for download. The 53-minute LP is another frenetic mash-up drawing on a prolific scope of musical styles. Kicking off with the Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’”, one of the most recognizable song openings in recent history, and encompassing everything from classic rock and roll tunes (Roy Orbison, Question Mark and the Mysterians) to more recent flash-in-the-pans like Soulja Boy, Feed the Animals is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and to get you up and dancing.

Girl Talk and Gillis’s label, Illegal Art, have made the album available for download at whatever price you want to pay. The album is worth at least a few dollars, and for $10 you’ll get a hard copy of the disc once it’s released on September 23. To get your copy, go to Girl Talk’s MySpace page.

Later this summer, Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez will release his first solo  effort, Why Is Bear Billowing?.

Opener “A Magic” is a thesis statement for the album - the acoustic guitar is relaxed and breezy and Alvarez serves up quirky and unexpected lyrics with his satiny voice. Though the album is fairly consistent (and consistently good), there are a few standouts and breakaways.

“All With Golden Locks” features fable-like lyrics, while the next track goes out a little farther on the limb with lines like “boy are you a sight for my pinecone eyes.” Said track (”Pinecone Eyes”) also has some lovely and slightly off-kilter picking at the end that is the musical equivalent of throwing your arms out and spinning til you fall in a sun-drenched field.

“Love for Longer” gets a little deeper in sound, but the timbre of “The Letter B” transports listeners to a bongo-filled beat coffeehouse. Another destination on Alvarez’s musical trip is the Spanish-tinged guitar and punchy claps of “Mostly A Friend”.

A magical romp, Why Is Bear Billowing? manages to be fantastic without becoming precious or silly. For fans of Mason Jennings or Fionn Regan, this is the perfect soundtrack for soaking up the summer sun.

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Why Is Bear Billowing? drops 08/19/08.
Click to download “Mostly A Friend”.
Check out Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez’s MySpace page here.

Sub Pop was kind enough to send over a few downloads for you fine folks from two of their upcoming summer releases.

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
“Language City“
“Call It A Ritual“

CSS - Donkey
“Rat is Dead (Rage)“

And don’t forget you can download “White Winter Hymnal” from Fleet Foxes here.

The latest release from Tall Firs, Too Old To Die Young, is a bit like an abandoned building on a vacant lot. Big space, room for potential, some points of interest, and a lot of semi-controlled chaos.

The three-piece leans toward melodic guitars and crashing cymbals at the album’s head, sounding like the Appleseed Cast would if they’d formed in the early nineties and had a less completely ridiculous version of the singer from the Crash Test Dummies fronting the band. Overall the first third of the album (and particularly the song “Hairdo”) is agreeable to the summer months and the open road.

The next third of the album is a little less structured. A large portion of “Warriors” is an instrumental jam that slowly reins in the chaos and comes back in surprisingly cleanly, while the slow-meld of “Good Intentions” is just a bit too nebulous. “Lookout” features paired guitar work, one in each ear, that proves to be an engaging listening experience.

The bluesy, All-American sound of “Loveless” leads off the album’s final third, sounding different from the rest of TOTDY but not out of place. “Secrets + Lies” serves up a low-key twang and a guy/girl duet that’s good enough to erase the near-comedic delivery on the previous track, “Hippies”.

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Too Old To Die Young dropped 03/18/08.
You can download “Hairdo” here, and find out more about Tall Firs here.

It’s been far too long since I’ve made a mix. Here’s one to kick off summer:

Saturday Nights In Neon Light
01| Stars - Take Me to the Riot
02| Alphabeat - Fascination
03| Jimmy Eat World - Here It Goes
04| Vampire Weekend - I Stand Corrected
05| She & Him - Sweet Darlin’
06| Head of Femur - Jetway Junior
07| The Fashion - Solo Impala
08| Hot Chip - Ready For the Floor
09| Kate Nash - Pumpkin Soup
10| Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have to Leave It

Just a couple things for you kids to check out on this lovely weekend:

1) No Age is offering a free download of “Eraser” from their upcoming release Nouns. You can get it here or listen in the player below. It’s full of jangly summer goodness.

2) More happy summer-friendly music comes your way from Architecture in Helsinki with their tune “Like It Or Not”. The video features some hapless coconuts on an embroidered journey. It takes almost half a minute to get into the actual song, but its worth it.