Gem Club: "Twins" Video

[mp3] Gem Club: "Twins"

Writing in the first person here - I really love this band. Not sure what the personal connection is with their meditative and down tempo music that appeals so much to me. Perhaps it's just that 3 or 4 minutes of peace that you can get out of one of their songs, or maybe it's just the initial onset of some sort of pre-seasonal depression that makes the songs on Gem Club's gorgeous new full length 'Breakers' (Hardly Art) so poignant. Whatever it is, as long as this band keeps releasing assets, I'll keep posting them. Via NPR

New Video and mp3 from Gem Club

[mp3] Gem Club: "Twins"

Today we got a 2 for 1 Gem Club press release that includes a gorgeous video for "Breakers" and a taste for new song "Twins." We wrote about our excitement for Breakers (September 27 Hardly Art) a few weeks ago, and these new assets continue to whet our appetite for the full length.

Royal Headache: "Down The Lane"

[mp3] Royal Headache: "Down the Lane"

We give Altered Zones a lot of shit - but for every 8 posts on bands you will never hear from again, or care to, there is one really solid act that makes it worth reading. We discovered Gem Club there, as well as Shimmering Stars. Add Sydney's Royal Headache to that list. Royal Headache's song "Down The Lane" (from their forthcoming S/T Sept release) may not just be the best song we've heard on Altered Zones, but maybe the best song we've heard all summer. It's a REAL song. It has a hook, and a melody, structure - holy shit - you'd think it was the second coming "Brown Sugar." Well, that it's not, but it IS just a great pop-punk tune that's refreshing as hell. They'll be in the US around release in Sept. Their album was produced by Mikey Young of Eddy Current Suppression Ring and Straight Arrows' Owen Penglis. Very much looking forward to hearing it all.

Gem Club Sign to Hardly Art

[mp3] Gem Club: "Breakers"

Gem Club's 6 track Acid and Everything, was amazing. It was haunted, sad and beautifully well written. So good it almost hurt. In our lust for bright sunny Brazilian tunes, the fantastic news that this talented group (Christopher Barnes and his collaborators, cellist Kristen Drymala, and vocalist Ieva Berberian) had signed a solid label deal and announced their debut, slipped by in the unrelenting glut of press releases. While searching our inbox for another band (the excellent I Break Horses) we stumbled upon this press release, and we're so glad we did.

As soon as the above track "Breakers" finished, we replayed it, and we're not the repeating type. It's that good. After the promise of their EP, and this new song, we're sincerely hoping that Breakers (September 27 Hardly Art) is in our top albums of the year list.