Everyone’s Saying Michael Jackson’s Singing’s Out of Sight…

If their secret is disrobing of their kix, your favorite band needs to bite. Nashville’s best kept secret, Heypenny, want to share their love for Peter Pan – or the king of pop, Michael Jackson. From today’s blog….

It’s tragic that Michael Jackson’s gone from our world. We can’t do much in remembrance, but we’re going to post a new and unreleased song that’s completely inspired by and about him. It’s called Ticket. We’re going to have it up for a couple days. Dust off your best MJ moves. We hope you like it…

Shit, it’s the band with as many pop tricks up their sleeve since TN’s other best kept secret: sElf

With “Oh No” and now this, I have a feeling 2009 might unveil another blissful masterpiece. Take “Ticket” for a spin and wonder why they are too good of a band to blog about…

Heypenny :: Ticket (MySpace stream)

The Dismemberment Plan Gets RichA!

What do you get when you mix spazz-rock, an exuberant Travis Morrison, and John Gotti’s fridge? A rather giddy track, to say the least. But this freak-out persona The Dismemberment Plan personified often was why I still return to albums like Emergency & I. A bonus track, to their debut LP is waiting to detonate below. Travis is about to explode; the drums are set to too many bpms and each hit makes this track bump that much stronger.

The Dismemberment Plan :: The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich

Reunite just so I can experience this song live….

All Kinds of Fantastic – Wait For It!

Remember when it was a huge deal when artists you respect and enjoy were on late night television? I’d go out of my way to let the crew know; set the Tivo and simply be amazed a coveted act is on a major network: The Features are on Kimmel tonight! Well, that was a big deal then and still is today. Autolux on Kimmel? But how about when out of the blue, LCD Soundsystem are all of a sudden on Letterman? Really? Maybe me, but isn’t it now common that bands in rotation by you are making the rounds on all the major networks? You can always tell the audience is going through the motions when one of these bands we like more than them are being showcased – the lack of enthusiasm and forced applause –if any – is plenty apparent.

It seems like Stereogum or your favorite board are showcasing on a weekly basis last night’s performance by bands you didn’t think we’re ready for the masses. Do they deserve the exposure? Most definitely. Take ex-Polyphonic Spree/ex-Sufjan Stevens’ bandmate St. Vincent unleashing “Marrow”. She’s received the exposure and accolades; and now she also makes her network debut on you guessed it, late night television.

This is some sophisticated shit – and when those horns come alive, I don’t know if I should stand in disbelief or move my feet.

Autolux – Set Your (i)Calendars…

From Autolux’s MySpace:

Tickets are now on sale for all east coast shows. For tickets, go here:

http://www.autolux.net/autolux_shows.htm

Also, the band will be touring across the country and back after they play San Francisco’s

Outside Lands Festival on August 28. Locations and dates will be announced soon but the

following cities are being confirmed now:

Portland

Seattle

Chicago

Minneapolis

Madison, WI

Chicago

Pittsburgh

Omaha

Denver

As I’m scanning the list, I’m not seeing Denver. Low and behold, there she is. A flight back to Chicago for this? Most likely.

Featuring the treacherous three – enjoy “Persons & Machinery” from Unkle’s War Stories…

Unkle :: Persons & Machinery (featuring Autolux)

Everything Is Shattering!

Instead of receiving one big helping of psychetronica, care of Maps, or a leak of his forthcoming Turning The Mind, I like these tasters the man is serving us. It has kept me anxious for his second full-length to be unleashed. “Let Go Of The Fear” is hard hitting and heavy on the trance atmospherics; “Valium In The Sunshine” is reminiscent of the We Can Create era – with whisper-like vocals and light pulsating beats, or music to lose yourself in while doing nothing. Bedroom dreamin’ at its best.

And now we have “Everything is Shattering”. As expected, from the rather somber title, the theme is about loss.

..about losing the true love of your life, and then having to settle for the next best thing, because, I guess sometimes you just have to. And it can be a really painful experience in the long term.

But upon listening, you’ll quickly notice the overall uplifting tone throughout. James had this also to say about today’s taster:

Everything Is Shattering can be taken to mean different things (feel free to comment on what you get from listening to it!!), it can either mean ‘shattering’ as in ‘everything is falling apart’, OR it can mean, although life IS shitty a lot of the time, it can also be shatteringly beautiful some of the time :). Even if only for brief moments.

Regardless of its true theme, I await Turning the Mind in September…

Maps :: Everything is Shattering (MySpace stream)

It’s Hard to Escape It…

The 90’s sound that is. I open up Facebook to be greeted to these lyrics on my wall…

The morning image from the satellites is all blue and green.
And we’ve all got wounds to clean,
here’s a rag, here’s some gasoline.
It’s all green to me.

From none other than the heavy and droning noise of Champaign, IL’s spacesters Hum. A like-minded music friend posted them; not the always geeky Hum scientists. Upon reading those, I fired up Downward is Heavnward – maybe one of the better albums to come out of this lost and never forgotten period.

Hum :: Green to Me

And this morning, we all were graced with the offiical reunion tour for Sunny Day Real Estate. If they can bring half of this churning guitar play, I’ll be pleasently satisfied. Their debut, Diary needs to be queued up quickly! Denver gets them 9/21 at the Ogden and Chicago greets them at Metro on 9/24. ’09 continues to bring nostalgia at its finest.

Off The Map!

As soon as the announcement of Simian Mobile Disco‘s forthcoming Temporary Pleasure was announced, I became anxious. It made me think of Royksöpp’s latest that is also guest heavy. SMD’s previous record, Attack Decay Sustain Release, had its moments – but around here, wasn’t what it could have been. After hearing “Off the Map”, featuring last year’s favorite white boy full of soul, Jamie Lidell, I think SMD might already be over their sophomore slump.

Enjoy the drug heavy beats and perfect delivery from Lidell, care of Audio Drums…

Simian Mobile Disco :: Off the Map (ft. Jamie Lidell)

Qui Est Cette Fille/Who’s That Girl…

And you thought iTunes was good for nothin’. Thanks to their Foreign Exchange program – an opportunity for artists to cover other artist’s tracks in their native language. Usually, a cover is sung in the original song’s language. iTunes provides a nice, foreign twist.

Take Yelle, the French, electro-popster who makes me shake. It’s not the lyrical content; French is low on my to-do list. She has a way with bubblegum beats, I guess. And her fellow Foreign Exchange mate, Robyn, outta Sweden – who has brought the fire to Royksöpp’s latest record – is capable of keeping my attention with her bright, club infused pop. Robyn’s single “Who’s That Girl” gets the French treatment care of sweet, lil Yelle. The beats spark and roll while the sensual and lively French songstress pops like only France knows how…

Yelle :: Qui Est Cette Fille

The always catchy and yes, cute video for “A Cause Des Garcons”…

Check Robyn’s rendition of the above single….

Robyn :: Because of Boys/ A Cause Des Garcons

Valium In the Sunshine…

A recurring theme throughout the album is that of the ‘journey of extremes’. An example of this could be from ‘depression’ to ‘euphoria’ (or ‘abyss’ to ‘bliss’, if you like).

So Maps new album is on some psychological meets psychedelia wizardy shit. Not only can you lose yourself in the rave-like beats, James Chapman –AKA the man behind ’07’s wonderment – proclaims Turning The Mind is essentially an album which explores themes related to the human mind and the way certain stimuli, particularly chemical, can affect the mind in different ways.

To keep us salivating, Mr. Drowned in Sound is slowly giving us a glimpse into his chemically fueled dome. Yes, I’m in withdrawal from We Can Create, too. Let’s take a valium….

Maps :: Valium In the Sunshine

Oh, No!

They are too good of a band to post about.

Nonsense. The above blasphemy was uttered about Heypenny – the quirky popsters out of Nashville. If a band has the goods, one shouldn’t covet them; set them free and let everyone hear them. Nowhere in the same genre, but Heypenny are reminiscent of Autolux. Both bands have put out one full length – years and years ago, but the quality of that first LP was so strong, we are anxiously – and far from patiently – holding on for ANYTHING. Both acts – who are favorites of mine today – are slowly whetting our appetite with an occasional release here; or a single there. Check Heypenny’s bone they threw us a few weeks ago in the form of “Oh No”. As you’d expect, from an act outta TN on the pop tip, it doesn’t disappoint.

Heypenny :: Oh No (MySpace stream)

Or check it live….

HP are fresh off the Bonnaroo stage. The frolicking foursome are out on tour again in July and this time, Chicago’s Subterranean welcomes them with open arms. Is an LP in our future? In the meantime, check out “Cop Car” below. Maybe it can make its way into your MySpace profile?

Heypenny :: Cop Car