win a 7″ made of ice from the shout out louds

Merge Records and the Shout Out Louds are giving away one of ten limited-edition kits for making a 7″ out of ice to celebrate the release of the band’s new track “Blue Ice”.

Everything about this project is crazy and we love it. It’s insanely easy to enter:

1. Send an email to merge@mergerecords.com
2. Make the subject of your email “Blue Ice Giveaway”
3. In the body enter your mailing address

A full-length from the Shout Out Louds will be available next year, but for now you can listen to “Blue Ice” below.

she’s a knife in the water

Divine Fits may be an indie supergroup, but they sound a lot less like their other bands than one would expect. Comprising Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs), and Sam Brown (The New Bomb Turks), there is some unavoidable familiarity (both Daniel and Boeckner have fairly identifiable voices), but overall A Thing Called Divine Fits treads ground not explored by their individual projects.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is the album’s overarching synth-filled 80s vibe. Lead track/single “My Love Is Real” did an excellent job of raising the flag to this fact, but expectations got in the way of realizing this would be the band’s modus operandi. Album favorites “Baby Get Worse” and “For Your Heart” further typify the sound – “Baby Get Worse” is diggable with its thick shimmy and danceable yet sullen “For Your Heart” is perfectly capped with a lovely guitar line at its end.

Despite the overall likability of A Thing Called Divine Fits, it’s got its imperfections. “Shivers” quickly becomes boring as it becomes clear that the song never really goes anywhere. “Like Ice Cream” takes a small step up by using vocals as part of the rhythm section, but it too seems out of place after the largely electronic-influenced rest of the album.

The good does far outweigh the boring, though, and there’s no doubt that the live pedigree of Daniel’s and Boeckner’s bands will make for an electric live show. What makes you shoulder shimmy in your seat on record will surely make you get up and dance in person.

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A Thing Called Divine Fits drops 08.28.12.
Find out more by visiting the official Divine Fits website.

put up a fight, watch what you say

Imperial Teen’s fifth release, Feel the Sound, may be the best English pop-rock album to not actually come from the UK. Organs, clapping, and vocal harmonies all salute the Union Jack of yesteryear, despite the band’s being from San Francisco and having been formed in the mid-90s.

The songs are immediately infectious. The shake and shimmy and boy-girl vocals make for a ray of sunshine. A few songs on the album dip in and out of the shadows (“Over His Head” and the sublime “Out From Inside”), but closer “Overtaken” erases any darkness.

Feel the Sound dropped 01.31.12.
Check out the Imperial Teen website.
Download “Runaway” here.