Cathedrals: "Harlem"

Not quite sure what the end game will be for San Fran's Cathedrals, but we loved their first offering "Unbound" and they give us a great second look with "Harlem."

Harlem - NYC Dates

[mp3] Harlem: "Friendly Ghost"

In advance of their much anticipated new record and Matador debut Hippies (April 6th release), Texas trio Harlem are hitting NYC for 3 dates as part of what the Matablog labels a "promo tour." Silly record labels. Whatever they end up doing in their time not playing, we're psyched for these shows and for the new album.

Wed, 2/10 – Mercury Lounge (early show) (tickets)
Fri, 2/12 – Monster Island (with Frankie + The Outs, The Siberians)
Sat, 2/13 – Union Pool -(with Jemina Pearl)

Harlem: Cover Art and First mp3

[mp3] Harlem: "Friendly Ghost"

This morning we get the first mp3 from the HIGHLY anticipated new Harlem record Hippies coming April 6th on Matador. We thought this write up on was too good not to share. From the Matablog...

[Hippies] recorded with the assistance of Mike McHugh, reveals the triumvirate of Coomers, Curtis and Jose in fine fettle. The gents really “knocked it out of the park” as ice hockey fans are so fond of saying, but we remain hopeful, if not confident this album will have great appeal even for those of you who’ve never laced ‘em up. Harlem’s 2nd album, ‘Hippies’ hits North American record shops, farmers markets and digital storefronts on April 6 on the always popular LP, CD and MP3/FLAC configurations.

Harlem Signs to Matador!

[mp3] Harlem: "South of France"

Some (more) really great news. One of our favorite new-ish bands out of Austin, TX., Harlem, just inked a multi-record deal with Matador as reported on the (bitchin') Matablog and GVB who has been a long-time champion of the kick-ass garage rock three-piece. Congrats all around! New record coming in 2010. Free Drugs is out now and freaking amazing. (We stole Matador's photo because it's awesome).

West Texas Teardrops

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Ok. So maybe it's more like central Texas teardrops, but that's not a song. But yeah, your regular editors (Vince, Andrew, Matt) are not going to be at SXSW. We're over it, even if you may not be. We'll be in New York paying the bills at our day jobs. BUT, contributing writer Lauren Mooney will be there writing for Pop Rock Candy Mountain, and we are dispatching rogue writer and musician Tim Emmerick to the scene to see what Texas beer tastes like. Our guess is pretty fuckin' delicious.

Yes, there are hundreds of bands we'd like to see and lots of publicists we'd like to party with. But, we're not going to list all the bands or weep too much over our missed connections. Tim will be checking in with his musings from time-to-time, and we'll provide most of our updates that way. We just wanted to throw up the Gorilla vs. Bear showcase though because we think his line-up is pretty ace. He's got some of our favorite bands including Here We Go Magic, Harlem and new favorite Golden Filter (worth the price of admission alone even though it's free.) Go to the original post for set times and more great showcases. We'll throw up some more under the radar picks over the next few days including Crocodiles, Caitlin Rose and Ezra Furman. We'll see all of you back in NY after the fest anyway.

MP3 Round-up

Harlem

This week, there has been a TON of new music circulating around the interwebs. It's tough to keep up and keep your day job. But since we strive to please, you, our fans - we complied a bunch of new and great stuff in a little post for you. Click through for mp3s from Harlem, Neko Case, Elvis Perkins and Phosphorescent.



mp3s are below...

Yesterday we received a heavily taped, crudely addressed jiffy envelope from Austin, Texas. Inside was the Harlem LP Free Drugs. It immediately hit us in the most visceral way. Played loud, this record is instantly amazing. It's trashy, fuzzed-out and amazingly catchy in that garage rock, hand clapping, tambourine shaking way. Already noted in GVB's top 20 of '08, Harlem is poised for something bigger, but have yet to capture the attention of the more mainstream press in the blog world. Listen, just buy the record and join the party.

Could Neko Case be more lovable? Doubtful. Read below from the press release. We're just doing our part here...
"Anti- Records has released a free download of "People Got A Lotta Nerve," the first single from Neko Case's new album Middle Cyclone (March 3), and for every blog that posts the song and iLike user who adds it to his/her profile, Neko Case and Anti- will make a donation benefiting Best Friends Animal Society. Five dollars will be donated for every blog post and one dollar for every user of iLike that adds the song to his/her profile."

We posted awhile back on the new Phosphorescent LP To Willie, modeled after Willie's To Lefty record. Yet, on To Willie you won't find your run-of-the-mill Willie Nelson songs. The track list culled from Willie's catalog could only have come from a true fan. From what we've heard live, Matthew Houck authentically interprets these songs and makes them his own. Definitely looking forward to more.

Elvis Perkins recently posted 3 new songs from his upcoming record to his website. XL releases Perkins' follow up to his stunningly amazing debut Ash Wednesday on March 10th. These new tracks succeed in that they capture the organic joyous jamming that happens during Elvis' live shows but was (understandably) absent from Ash Wednesday. Here's to you Elvis.


Harlem - "South of France" - mp3
Neko Case - "People Got A Lot of Nerve" - mp3
Phosphorescent "Reasons to Quit" - mp3
Elvis Perkins in Dearland "Shampoo" - mp3