Yo Grapes - Human of the Week



Yo Grapes is back with another great track. As usual it's packed with quirky lyrics and bouncy electronic beats.



"My life is a mess, but I try to keep in pretty high spirits about it.
My mom's bolognaise is tasty, still it's not enough to make you stay"

Greenisforturbo - Dinosaur


I played bass guitar in greenisforturbo a few years
back. The band, very sadly and reluctantly, died after a brief spell of fun which played out

between Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Luckily for you the readers we managed to get our song into some microphones just in time.

Now presenting the second single off the upcoming album "Lunchbox for a dream".






The Phenomenal Handclap Band - Form & Control


The Phenomenal Handclap Band feels and sounds like a super group from the 60's playing songs written in the future. They manage to combine everything that is good into one sound that fits so well together, taking any part away would cause some sort of groovy apocalypse.

It has been 3 years or so since the debut, self-titled album but finally, their second studio album is here!



Yesterday's Pupil


Yesterday's Pupil has been hiding in the shadow of Bittereinder for a while now, so it's about time that we got something new from the beast that is Yesterday's Pupil.

"Hi, my name is Peach and Yesterday’s Pupil
is my solo project.
I am about to release my second full-length album.
Unlike my first album I am going to release this
album for free in sequential parts.
Part 1: Singularity will be released on 1 November
2011 and all following parts will be released in
approximately two-month intervals.
Each individual part will consist of two brand new
original tracks accompanied by an
artwork for each track as well as the lyrics
and artist notes."


Free downloads of Part 1 and Part 2 are available now at the official YP website. Each part comes as a zip file containing 2 high quality MP3's, beautiful artwork by Louis Minnaar, the song lyrics and artist notes. The music itself is top notch. Expect a whole bunch of dirty synth, energetic beats and that typical YP swagger you've come to love.


I was intrigued by the approach so I asked Peach a few questions:

Sad Birthdays: Does the new collection of YP songs have a collective name?
Yesterday's Pupil: Yes, I am looking at two options, but once I decide I will stick to one and announce it.

SB: Why did you decide to release the songs two at a time instead of the usual album release?
YP: Because it is a free release. I liked the idea of a little series that people could follow instead of giving them everything all at once. Besides people won't be able to handle it all in one go, they will OD.

SB: Has your involvement with Bittereinder changed the way you approach YP?
YP: It has in the sense that I have learned how to work faster. I don't know how working with Bittereinder can really affect YP musically but the experience is in there somewhere.

SB: The production on the new songs is world class. How do you manage this when so many South African musicians struggle to get a good sound out of their recordings?
YP: Thank you! I have been doing production for almost 10 years and I have worked on variety of different projects and genres, I think that it is a combination of those experiences and my own trial and error.
I have learned a lot from my production mistakes. I will never be done learning so I try learn something new everyday, and I do, I am Yesterday's Pupil.

SB: The collaboration with Tumi once again worked out really well. If you could collaborate with any musician worldwide, who would you choose?
YP: Thom Yorke from Radiohead.

SB: Do you have any plans to tour?
YP: Yes I do, there are a bunch of dates pencilled already.

SB: Any inspirational words for the kids out there?
YP: Don't try follow any scene or trend. Be yourself, nothing original sounded cool at first. Be patient but work your ass off!




Beach Party EP

I've really been enjoying the first release by self-professed Beachwave rockers Beach Party. While music genres are useful when trying to describe a bands sound I find them to be quite useless at the same time. In this case, after ruling out the chances that the Beachwave genre is related to the beach wave hairstyle I've concluded that Beachwave = A wave of Beach Party. Fair enough.

Much like their chosen genre, the bands aesthetic and music is littered with sense of fun and lightheartedness. I'll explain with an excerpt of their biography, "Beach Party are a popular South African band best known for their hit 'Girls' as well as for co-creating the music genre of heavy metal."


The production on the EP is solid, which when combined with some great upbeat tracks, makes it pleasant on the ear. To attest to this, I listened to it 3 times while writing this and didn't get bored. I'm genuinely excited to hear what Beach Party can offer when it comes to a full length album.




White Denim D

D is the fourth studio album by Garage Rock band White Denim.

If you like guitars, harmonies and good melodies, TAKE IT

They love petroleum products...
and know how to have fun with them!

Oh Owen!


OH OWEN!


What, you don't believe me?
OK, LOOK:

 

Stroked


I don't really need to say how awesome this has the potential to be.
It's pretty hit and miss, as most tribute albums are, but, who cares.
Can you believe it's been ten years since this release?
Can you remember how important this album was?
Can you?

Read this: http://stereogum.com/767531/stroked-tribute-to-is-this-it/mp3s/

Then download THIS.

My favourites are the Peter, Bjorn & John cover of Is This It; Owen Pallet's amazing string construction of Hard To Explain & Real Estate's rendition of Barely Legal.

New @tlas S0und.



Coxy's new album is out. It's called P@rallax. Enjoy it. I'm pretty certain it's good.

TAKE IT

Thank you for returning.


When Planes Mistaken For Stars (one of my all time favourite bands) called it quits in 2008 I was gutted - literally inconsolable. When Gared O’Donnell, the vocalist and guitarist of PMFS announced his solo project Hawks and Doves, and released his debut 7” single ‘Hush Money’, it seemed like there was hope. That was early 2009 and nothing had been heard from Hawks and Doves since. One single and an excellent cover of Springsteens ‘I’m On Fire’ cannot keep a rock n roll fan satisfied for very long. Other members from PMFS went on to form Git Some, and put out an album which was cool, but never reached the stunning heights of PMFS. I was very sad for a long time. A few days ago I found out that Hawks and Doves were back with a full length album. The word is elated. 

Something needs to be said about Hawks and Doves. When PMFS split O’Donnell was forced to move into his mother’s basement with nothing but his many demons - rock bottom for a man who spent over a decade on the road with his band. Hawks and Doves was born out of this situation.

Following the progression of the later PMFS records, the approach of the new record is all brooding sombre verses leading into loud driving choruses which fashion mental images of man and guitar thrashing about on a small and dimly lit stage. O’Donnell has clearly continued his diet of cheap whisky and razor blades which give him one of the most distinct, disturbing and haunting voices in modern rock n roll. I missed this terribly.

It’s always so great when a band or artist manages to return from near obscurity with renewed fire, newly acquired humility, and a great record.

Hawks and Doves - Hexing

Daytripping with Mr. Indian



Wow. That's pretty much all I can say. The Indian-bro really delivers on this daytripping trotter session.
It really is just wow. Like, wow.

YOU REALLY MUST TAKE THIS

Also, if you have never heard of Neon Indian (i'm lazy, so, wiki it is) or his Psychic Chasms well, fuck, you better take it:
HERE IT IS.

He@vy Hawaii


I really appreciate music that feels like you could climb inside, inside it's atmosphere, like a little mini-narnia - infinitely full of space and tiny discoveries. Or big ones. Like James McAvoy's yummytummyTumnus.
I preach reverb, from a synthetic pulpit - but for good godamn reason, cos even a touch just, well, gives a melody space to breathe.
He@vy Hawa11 were trounced into my life by one of my obvious taste-makers, my deplorable guitarist, Colin von Berg. On this latest release, they've cleaned up a couple of their DEMOS in an infinitely minuscule, but pleasing manner - their surf pop rings out true, slow, chiming and SPEKTOR-y as fuck, charming, soft-hearted, chunky & lo-fi-ish, draped with soft neon glow like a carnival - a carnival filled with hidden spooky delights, exploding slowly, with coruscating joy:
There is an undercurrent to their seemingly naive, cutesy, playful sound. Like The Unicorns; there is a darkness underlying these little tales. Albeit with HH the sound is smaller, compacted, less overblown - little packages, snowglobes of joy, sparkly, nostalgic and fragile - a little dash of 50s60s surfiness, a Beach Boys, but crapper.

If I haven't convinced you, well, you're a fucktard and you don't deserve to hear them.

Taste this:



TAKE IT TAKE TAKE IT, NOW, YOU FUCKTARD. 

New Shady Lane Mix.

This mix probably requires headphones, darkness and a not so sunny disposition.

6AM, Dusk, 10PM - Shady Lane Mix

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete!

The name of this band is what first caught my attention. It just sounded really weird and interesting. Turns out, that is exactly what the band is like. It's two folks from Mexico making noisy, droney, psychedelic-shoegaze-rock. After reading that description you will either have been put off or intrigued to the point that all further description is unnecessary. So, if you're still reading, check them out.

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - This Plain City

This band is called D0M. They are great.

I'mma gonna wait til Iain can drop the goods on this thar band. But, I can tell you, I listened to one of their new tracks, like, right now and it's Great. I know it's Great, because it sounds Great.

Here's a soundcloud link to help you make the decision real quick:
http://soundcloud.com/pmwtumblr/dom-family-of-love

And HERE, yes RIGHT HERE, you can DL the VIBEZ, yo.

I'm assuming you know how to work this. Clicksels on the SLOWER DL link. Peace, Homies. It's been TOO long.


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