Songs

Podington Bear - Proof

Really pretty electronic pop from Portland, Oregon's Chad Crouch.

Alias - Well Water Black

Nice to hear some great stuff still coming out of the Anticon camp....

While the name might be new, the members of Paper Lions have been kicking around the east coast for nigh on a decade as the indubitable Chucky Danger. Paper Lions pick up where they left off with Danger on their self-titled 2007 debut, borrowing from big guns like The Police and MJ, but offering up their own twist on contemporary sounds of Franz Ferdinand and The Shins.

Adventure - Battle Cat

Adventure is 24 year-old North Carolina native and recent Baltimore transplant Benny Boeldt. His ultra-melodic synth compositions pull from his earliest exposure to the 8-bit soundtracks of the Sega Genesis video game catalog. But it's not just retro video game music. Mix in the kitschy Moogy sound of Hot Butter's "Popcorn", the saturated disco-theatrics of late seventies electro-pop acts like Sparks and Yellow Magic Orchestra, and a penchant for Eastern European diminished scales and you've come pretty close to Adventure's accelerated baroque sound.

Dead Sea - Throne of Blood

Seattle-based The Dead Science has created a majestic, ornate and soaring collection of postpunk avantpop on this, their third full-length album, and their first for Constellation. Villainaire is a brilliant song cycle driven by layers of Sam Mickens' vibrato-laden voice, dark lyricism and sterling guitar work. Bassist (acoustic and electric) Jherek Bischoff and drummer Nick Tamburro anchor the tunes with endlessly inventive polyrhythmic suppleness. Together the trio unleashes a truly unique sound, intensely literate in both word and sound, with a controlled and commanding fury.

Sunfold - Sara the American Winter

Smooth pop from members of Annuals....

E.S.L. - Prove Me Wrong

Good Gatsby-era flapper jazz from Vancouver

The Diggs - Careen

Good indie rock....

Ndidi Onukwulu - SK Final

Nice blues/jazz singer/songwriter stuff from Vancouver/Toronto featuring some killer arrangements and great playing from many noteworthy Vancouver-scene players including Paul Pigat on guitars, the incomparable Jesse Zubot on fiddle and my good buddy Roey Shemesh (formerly of Be Good Tanyas, now playing in Fighter Lover in Toronto) on bass....