The School - 2008 - Destructive Sounds

Genre: Indie Rock
Label:Kong Tiki Records (NO)
If you like Interpol & Co

Yeah finally I got their last album. Their debut album (find it here) was pretty nice and i am not sure if Destructive Sounds could drop it. I think no, but this depends on personal listening behaviour.
So - we talk about norwegian The School, right? There is another band with the same creative name outside, but I didn't know them... These School Band is solid Indie Rock in vein of Interpol but with a lot more drive. And like Kings of Leon with less Hard Rock influences. Danceable and a bit dark and melodic...
Check it!

Tracklisting

1. The Show
2. Rules
3. Golden Key
4. Radio Girl
5. I Swear
6. Killer To The Core
7. White Boys Dance
8. Elijah
9. Katharina
10. Destructive Sounds
11. Untitled

Try - Buy - My

Alan Madej - 2005 - 11 Love Songs

Genre: folk, indie pop
Label: Terrapin Records

Mh, the voice reminds me a bit on Smashing Pumpkins, high pitched boys voice - acoustic guitar and 11 love songs.

Nothing more to say - it's pretty nice and enjoyable.

Check it.

Try it - Buy it - MicePays

of Montreal - Microuniversity 7", Sony Connect Set EP, The Interface Session

Genre: Indie Pop
Label: Polyvinyl Records US

My favorite Band! Yes - I fell in love in 2007 with the Hissing Fauna Album and it was easy to fell in love with their previous releases, too.

I'm not sure about their new output ( listen here or here) it's pretty sick, but I'm sure Kevin Barnes have a vision of his music and he's brilliant.

Here I will post a nice 7" and two great acoustic sets. Especially the epic "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal" as acoustic version is pretty nice and still work as fragile Singer-Songwriter thing. The Sony Connect Set EP contains a wonderful Love Is All Coverversion (the orginaltrack is also very good) and Harvest Moon by good ol' Neil Young.

Tracklisting - 2006 - Microuniversity

1. Microuniversity
2. I Am A Christian’s Son

Try it

Tracklisting - 2007 - Sony Connect Set

1. Harvest Moon (Neil Young Cover)
2. We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafing
3. Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse
4. Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up (Love Is All Cover)

Try it!

Tracklisting - The Interface

1. Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse
2. Lysergic Bliss
3. The Past Is A Grotesque Animal

Try it! - See the Video of that Performance

Buy their merch & records - MicePays

Edit: Linkf of that Interfacesession is fixed now.

Church - 2009 - Song Force Crystal

Genre: Indie Pop
Label: Sohitek (Vinyl) + Tender Loving Empire (CD)

Similar Artists: Grizzzzzzly Beer...

Ay, always that Grizzly Bear reference here, seems I don't know any other band with beautiful arrangements and lot of reverb ;-).

But it comes close.

I featured Church in a previous post - look here, with their wonderful Demo releases and now they put out a CD/Vinyl release. The CD is in a beautiful 3 coloured hand-screenprinted paperfolder and contains 8 tracks with, lets say melancholic slowed down surf music. Reverbed guitar, multiple voices, earthy synth basslines.

It lacks of a remindable hit like Happiness on the first demo, but it's a very constistent record with unique sound. So check it and visit their shows in the next two month (see myspace below).

Church utilizes this unique analog instrumentation to unite factions of noise rock with psychedelic folk and experimental pop. Song Force Crystal, the debut long play from Church, is a honing of musical themes heralded in two prior EP's. Picking up where previous titles Gold and With All Our Love for Francisco the Man left off, Song Force Crystal was recorded in a living room to an 8-track tape machine. The album reverberates with a warmth and rawness more familiar to 70's era basement productions than to modern day digitalia. The songs revel in dense slabs of tabe saturation, perfect for showcasing cavernous four-part harmonies, or trebly tube amplifiers. Song Force Crystal is a contradiction fo sounds, at once expansive, and cohesive, experimental yet familiar, brooding one moment and soothing the next. (Labelinfo)

PS: this is a medium quality rip, to give you a chance to say hi to the label, when ordering the CD/Vinyl ;-)

Tracklisting

1. Graveyard
2. Opposite People
3. Hidden Tone
4. Quilty's Guilty
5. Aquamarine
6. Paloma
7. Crab Magic
8. Golden Girls

Try it - Buy it CD / Vinyl - MicePays

Dragibus - 2004 - Tutti Frutti

Genre: Music for Children, Indie Pop, Twee
Sounds like japanese pop music with french singer or Stereo Total or nothing like that.

Driving aroundin my car, listening to music and thought I should post this, so I do.

It's a french project with roots in HC/Punk movement and now they play shows for kids, in costumes, the internet said.

Ahora Que Vamos Despacio is a real hymn. Check it...

Tracklisting

1. Orazio Il Cane Dello Spazio
2. Pinguim!
3. Kaptain Kangoroo!
4. Palladium (The Hip)
5. Allo?
6. Human Fly
7. Pigmy Pig
8. Kirin
9. Azor
10. Jackanory Stories
11. Ahora Que Vamos Despacio
12. Naïf Song
13. Namida Kara Ashita E
14. Mashed Potatoes
15. Riquet
16. L'Omino Della Luna
17. L'mino Sonico Remixo!
18. Stop!!!!!

Dragibus music is based on the twisted children pop songs with electronics. Their songs drive us in an electro-pop trip that mixes 60's pop culture, 80'synth.. melodies, cartoons taste and traditionnal songs from all over the world (Italy, Hungary, England, Japan...) with a little bit of joyfull experimentations. The band plays an electronic pop music for kids and kidults, where the retro-futurist child songs are played with drums, old-fashioned keyboards, cheap effects, electronic guitare and toys, unusual sampling and Lore childish voice.

Try it - Buy it - See Live - MicePays

King of Prussia - 2008 - Save the Scene

Genre: Indie Pop
Label: Kindercore
If you like the Shins and similar

Here is some light weight Indie Pop by the King of Prussia.

Even if the summer is shite till now, the sun shines behind the clouds.

Tracklisting

1. Spain In the Summertime
2. Misadventures of the Campaign Kids
3. Shades of Hippiedom
4. Cheerleaders
5. The Doctor & the Mathmatician
6. Terrarium
7. Physics Never Stood a Chance
8. Spain In The Summertime (Live)
9. Oh Me (Live)
10. The Ascend (Live)

Try it - Buy it - MicePays

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - 2003 - I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness EP

Genre: Post-Rock, Indie
Label: Secretly Canadian

Similar Artists: Bloc Party, Interpol

This is maybe the best bandname ever. It's their first ep and if you like Interpol or Bloc Party or Joy Division you may like them too. Maybe it's not 100% compareable with them, but just to give you a direction. Enjoy!

Tracklisting

1. We're Still The Weaker Sex
   
2. The Less You See
   
3. I Want To Die In The Hot Summer
   
4. When You Go Out
   
5. Your Worst Is The Best
   

Try it - Buy it - MicePays

Church - 2008 - Gold EP; 2008 - With All Our Love For Francisco The Man

Genre: Indie Pop, Avant-Pop
Label: Sohitek (US)

Similar Artists: Grizzly Bear, Le Loup

„Playing records backwards in the basements of our friends

we only wanna just to learn to play guitar“ (walrus)

I would compare them to Grizzly Bear, even if it fits not 100%, but it cames in my mind on first listen. Here are wonderful, athmospheric pop songs, with the warmth of analogue tape recording, multiple voices, electronic gadgets and all the goods that makes a song fine (for me and maybe you).

What keeps in my mind is their love and use of rich and phat sounding saw-tooth synth drones (King Crow, Asleep in the weeds).

The song Happieness is really happieness inducing.

They are on tour right now, so go and see them! Check their myspace! Now!

“The best, most unfuckwithable, avant-pop I’ve heard…my default jam of the month.”

“One of Portland’s finest indie outfits.”

-Portland Mercury

“A perfection of textures that leaves little room for improvement.”

-Vanguard

“Lush melodic songs built upon echoing acoustics…”

-Willamette Week

“There’s no end to [their] spinning wheel of blossom/decay/sunshine/gloom.”

-Eashfa

“Soft beautiful music that pulsates, drones and spikes…you should be there for this.”

-Fuck Bad Music

Tracklisting - Gold EP

1. Right As Rain
   
2. Cloud
   
3. King Crow
   
4. Happiness

Try it

Tracklisting - With All Our Love For Francisco The Man

1. Islands
   
2. Walrus
   
3. Song Force Crystal
   
4. Hugz
   
5. Bee Cave
   
6. Asleep In The Weeds
   
7. The Sea
   

Try it - Buy it - See Live - MicePays

Danielson Family - 1997 - Tell Another Joke at the Ol' Choppin' Block

Genre: christan freak folk/indie

Label: Secretly Canadian

Similar Artists: Danial Johnston, CYHSY, The Polyphonic Spree

It's like the post before, christian related indie music (that means nothing). I like the quirky music, I like the weird falsetto singing and the psychedelic parts. It's fun!

Daniel's quirky songwriting and the family teamwork may prompt references to the Shaggs, but musically the Famile is far more accomplished. Being devout Christians, there are religious undercurrents to every track. Make no mistake, though, because these folks are miles from the stuff that comes to mind whenever you hear the words 'contemporary Christian music.' Their sound lies closer to the Pixies or They Might Be Giants. Daniel regularly sings his unique lyrics in a shocking falsetto that sometimes recalls Black Francis, Jad Fair, and Daniel Johnston. (by a amazon reviewer)

Tracklisting

1. A No No 
   
2. Ye Olde Battleaxe 
   
3. Me To Datee 
   
4. The Lord's Rest 
   
5. Flesh Thang 
   
6. Jersey Loverboy 
   
7. I Am My Beloved's 
   
8. Big Baby 
   
9. Deviled Egg 
   
10. Quest For Thrills 
    
11. Smooth Death 
    
12. Jokin' At The Block 

Try it - Buy it - MicePays - Bandwebsite with lot of info/videos etc.

Chauchat - Upon Thousands (2007)

Genre: Indie, Folk, Shoegaze
Label: YerBird (US)

Similar Artists: As if Galaxie 500 meets mid 80's Sonic Youth to play some early 90's Codeine

I'm really addicted to them since last year love sickness and maybe that's the theme of Chauchats music.

"I was interested in the relationship between sickness and love, as well as the idea that you could really come to know someone without ever having interacted with them," Whitney says. "It was an attempt to reverse the common songwriting process, which typically reproduces Hans' tactics of watching a woman from across the room, making her into a pure abstraction or idealization."

If you like them, you need to load the free self-titled album (with all lyrics) and you can download the full album Cardboard Projectors and The Homeless Shelter on last.fm. There are really some pearls on it! (Eyelash, Meganne (Natural Ice version)) Check this!

Tracklisting

1. Murdering Chair 
   
2. Let's Get Sick 
   
3. Yoko Turns 71 
   
4. Fight Obscurity 
   
5. Slayer Bitch 
   
6. Beat Ups 
   
7. Hospice Song 
   
8. A Stylization of Health 
   
9. Grievances 
   
10. Ten Years of Pregnancy 
    
11. I Grew Up in the Shadow of Your Death Drive 
    
12. Marriage of Misunderstandings 

Try it - Buy it - MicePays

Kyst - Tar EP (2008)

Genre: Indie Pop, Folk
Label: Self release (PL)

Similar Artists: Grizzly Bear, Akron Family

I think this is recorded by one person, even if the band start as a trio. But the songs sounds very mature and good, you should give it a try.

Kyst started in Halden, Norway as an international three-piece (Tobias Biliński, multi-instrumentalist from Poland, Jens Kaupang from Norway and Pavel Dahle from Russia) and quickly became a one-person project due to different views on it’s style and direction.

Tracklisting

1. Tar 
   
2. Coast 
   
3. Cover Up 
   
4. Shining 

Try it - See Live - MicePays