We raved about them way back in October during their CMJ performance and now Passion Pit are finally set to release their debut album Manners in May. And from what we've heard, man is it a doozy. "Moth's Wings" exemplifies why I love this band. Insanely catchy and accessible melodies crafted from intricate layers of electronic synths and jangly percussion. Sweet and blended to perfection, just like a milkshake. Drink up!
It's been a while since we've heard from Tracyanne Campbell and company. But Camera Obscura are back with an album of what they do best. My Maudlin Career is nothing but immaculate twee pop for hopeless romantics, with a lot of heart and even more hooks. Check out first single "French Navy". 
Cloud Cult : Feel Good Ghosts (tea partying through tornoadoes)
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone have one of the most painfully emo band names I've ever heard. However do not let that deter you from checking out their music. Owen Ashworth creates some of the most lyrically devastating music this side of John Darnielle. Using lo-fi keyboards, electronic flourishes and deep, wavering vocals, CFTPA's music is at its most melodic on their latest album Vs. Children, which is sonically intricate and lyrically melancholy. Also many of the songs have to do with the unintended consequences of pregnancy, which is a fascinatingly weird yet oddly listenable concept. Check out my lengthy review at Crawdaddy! where I use my grown-up words to attempt to describe how awesome this album really it. 
For someone who makes such ethereal music, Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes, is surprisingly down to earth. I interviewed her two years ago for CMJ and she spoke articulately about her experiences not only as an artist, but as a preschool teacher. Now the British chanteuse with the haunting voice and spook-tacular arrangements is back with an even more remarkable album Two Suns . Among the best tracks, is "Daniel", which crescendos to glorious heights. With its snappy beats, atmospheric strings and yearning vocals, it's incredibly sexy AND both progressive yet accessible in a Kate Bush kind of way. "Prescilla" came to me in a dream by an imaginary friend. It was sung to me. I woke up and I was like oh my god that song is amazing maybe someone could tell me who it was by and then I had realized it was something I had written. I dream whole concerts. I woke up and was like ‘wow that was amazing’.
Between his deep, deadpan voice and dry witticisms, Jens Lekman was practically bred to cover Stephin Merritt. And now finally he has. His take, along with Tracey Thorn on the Magnetic Fields classic "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" on Score! 20 Years of Merge, The Covers is utterly glorious. One thing's for sure: we'll never fall out of love with Jens. Yeah, Oh Yeah!
I am a HUGE sucker for retro girl group melodies. Murder-Shmurder, Phil Spector is still a god to me. Anyways England's Lucky Soul does the retro girl group sound disturbingly well. "Whoa Billy" is an epic wallop of beauty and a brilliant contemporary take on the genre. The "WHOA OH OHS" shimmer and shine and sparkle among pixie dust strings and dancey electro rhythms. Back in 1995, Paul suffered a traumatic brain injury from a bicycle accident that has led to an early onset of Alzheimer's, not to mention a steady decline in speech and comprehension to where he now requires full-time care. The emotional hardship and financial burden this has put on his wife, folkster Cindy Lee Berryhill, and their seven-year-old son has been immense. As a freelancer, Paul lived his life without any structure of institutional support.
Understandably, this is a crazy time to be asking for money, but the time is now to share Paul's story with his fans in the hope that the word gets around enough where those with a little money to spare can give back to a living legend and slice of Americana, a person who's given so much to all of us lovers of music, science fiction, and/or philosophical meanderings.
Please visit http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://paulwilliams.com to learn more about Paul's extraordinary life and works, and where you can send a donation. And please pass this note around to others you know who might be interested in Paul's condition. We here at Wolfgang's Vault/Crawdaddy! will be doing all we can to help and get the word out.
Much love to Paul and his family and friends,
Jocelyn, Editor-in-Chief
Hey guys,
so, every year i participate in a fundraising walk for autism research. this year, i thought i would take my fundraising efforts to the internet. and, since mountain goats fans have been documented by me to be such cool people, i thought, why not start here on the forums?
but! before you make up your mind either way, you should know about the two deal-sweetening campaigns i am running. there’s kind of something for everyone: those who love to hear songs covered poorly by awkward amateur musicians, and one for those who like to make people pay more than they can afford to out of spite. (those ARE the two kinds of people in this world, yes?)
first, the “put your money where your mouth is” campaign: i am withholding my own donation to the fundraiser until the day of the walk, at which point i will match the largest SINGLE donation i receive from an individual. (note the key words single and individual; 6 donations of $50 will not count as $300. also, an employer-matching program does not double your donation amount for purposes of this campaign). this campaign ends at 12:00am eastern time on 6/13/09.
the other campaign is the “For a Song” campaign. in this campaign, i will accept cover requests, record my version of the song, and compile all of the cover versions onto a cd which will be shipped in September to all who donate over $20. this is my third year running a campaign similar to this; songs requested in the past include Justin Timberlake’s “sexyback,” the cure’s “fire in cairo,” “the most unwanted song,” *nsync’s “gone,” shearwater’s “nobody,” phil ochs’s “i ain’t marching anymore,” bob dylan’s “if you see her, say hello,” lou reed’s “dirty blvd.,” and patrick swayze’s “she’s like the wind,” among others. there is a bit of a sliding scale here - a particularly difficult or embarrassing song may call for a larger donation than $20, for example. also, if you donate a large amount, i may consider taking multiple requests from you. of course, multiple donations for multiple requests are welcome (and even encouraged!) it’ll be fun. it’s like yo la tengo when they slaughter the classics for wfmu, except that this is for autism research. oh, and also yo la tengo is actually a group of talented musicians. but other than that, exactly the same.
i can accept donations via check (made out to autism speaks,) but the easiest way is to donate through my online donation center, which is secure and run by kintera.org (link below). if you have an employer that matches charitable donations and need information concerning that, please let me know.
anyway, thanks in advance and i look forward to hopefully receiving lots of ridiculous song requests!
My autism walk fundraising page
