Arcade Fire are one of the greatest bands of all time – Reflektor is one of the most important records of all time. Here is the movie: Reflektor Tapes:

Dan Auerbach‘s new band The Arcs is a labor of love between old compadres. The Black Keys frontman shows us how retro rock can be played without sounding dated. Slower but more effective than the Black Keys. The album is excellent: Yours, Dreamily is magic.

It was no coincidence that James Blake’s synth tempest “The Wilhelm Scream” preceded the Beats 1 rollout of Kacy Hill’s “Foreign Fields” last week. Blake built his career on minimalist digitized piano ballads and delicate, lost-in-the-woods vocals; it was spareness as aesthetic, a Kinfolk-ian complexity on musical scaffolding. So it makes sense that Kanye West, an artist who hits upon a sound he likes and subsumes it wholly (see: Coldplay, Kid Cudi, Bon Iver, Travis $cott), and has called Blake his favorite artist, would find a way to add a similar brand of austere melodica to his in-house arsenal over at G.O.O.D. Music.
Hill’s first single, “Experience”, released a few months before she signed to West’s imprint in December, is brighter, more neon, but similarly delicate in style to “Foreign Fields”. Everything hinges on her strong-as-silk falsetto. On “Foreign Fields”, it builds over a Blake-ian path of strong piano chords, a Morse patchwork of drum pads, and handclaps, before melting into the whirr and clatter of the song’s inner machinery. And from the din emerges grand design: Like Blake or Zola Jesus or Austra’s Katie Stelmanis—amongst other contemporary, classically-sculpted synth-pop acts—Hill’s spiritual predecessor is Kate Bush.

Rose is a french singer and she sings beautiful and simple songs. Je compete is intelligent entertainment. We like you Rose. Je compete is a beautiful little mainstream masterpiece from the album Pink Lady:

The Front Bottoms are a two-piece indie / pop / acoustic band based out of Bergen County, NJ, USA. The band was formed in 2006 and originally had three members: Brian Sella (vocals, guitar, lyricist), Brian Uychich (keyboard, vocals) and Matt Uychich (drums). However, as of fall 2010, Brian Uychich left the band to concentrate on school full-time. Brian Uychich was replaced by Drew Villafuerte (bass, keys). They have a new Album dropping soon and are lots of fun – a bit conventional some might say but definitely one of the best live bands.

We don’t really know a lot about these guys except one thing: We really like them. Listen to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-09o5teYr0o

A brand new London band here, with a cover of one of the most obscure songs ever. Featuring Isabel from Novella and Max from The Proper Ornaments, PinkFlames have been likened around these parts to Broadcast mixed with Brian Jonestown Massacre. The fabulously-titled ‘I’m Just A Star On A Democratic Flag’ was originally written by 60s LA stoners Smiles. It’s their only known song, and DJ Shadow dragged them into the limelight a decade or so ago by including them on ‘Diminishing Returns’. Here, PinkFlames take the track boldly into 2015 – it’s a mesmerising listen. Keep an eye out for their debut shows, which haven’t even been announced yet. Sorry to make it a bit complicated – but here is the Link to the Song

Boy are from – no joke – Switzerland and they are amazing.Well, almost true. Boy ist a duo consisting of Valeska Steiner from Zurich and Sonja Glass who is actually not from Switzerland but from good old Hamburg. Their music is beautiful and the second record was long overdue. We Were Here is the Titel Track of the new record that will be released on August 21.

The title track from the debut album by EL VY, released October 30th by 4AD. EL VY is the musical collaboration between Matt Berninger, vocalist and lyricist of The National, and Brent Knopf, the Portland musician and producer best known for his work in Menomena and his more recent band, Ramona Falls. We are very excited.