Lean Horse Marathon

New Baltimore music from up North, Lean Horse Marathon is a healthy dose of lo-fidelity noise folk. LP1 EP is the debut album from this new solo artist, and you can stream it here exclusively in its entirety below.

Hums, crashes and echoes of all varieties are rocked, but always tearing back to that noisey dream pop sound which one can't resist. The EP as a whole sounds like if Elliott Smith and Bradford Cox had joined the Microphones to record, and Panda Bear's laptop treatment got involved somewhere in the process. Not to mention, Skinny Pony Race clearly has a ton of influences locally.

Internationally, Lean Horse Marathon just got signed to Netherlands label Rack and Ruin, who will be releasing the EP online. Stream the whole thing below, and look for another album in the coming months.

Bradford Cox <3's Halloween

Mr. Cox is a busy dude. Since 2007's epic Crypotgrams, Bradford has put out endless demos on his blog, dropped an LP on under his Atlas Sound moniker, and just this week released another critically acclaimed Deerhunter album.

Microcastle/Weird Era Cont., complete with spooky glass-eyed cover art, has even helped garner Radiohead comparisons to the band. Bradford continues to post Atlas Sound jams, with recent tracks encompassing the festivities of this week's holiday.

Deerhunter are in the area next week, rocking the Ottobar November 3rd and playing the Black Cat in our nation's capital on election night. Times New Viking support with extreme lo-fi pop music on both occasions.

Half Yearly Top 10

There's been some pretty decent releases in the the first half of 2008. While we have yet to come across to this year's Person Pitch, there's been no lack of quality albums. Here are my favorite 10 records so far this year:

10. The Black Angels, Directions To See a Ghost

9. The War On Drugs, Wagonwheel Blues
(out 6/19)

8. Atlas Sound, Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

7. BSS presents Brendan Canning, Something For All of Us
(LP out 7/22...digitally available now right here.)

6. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Lie Down in the Light

5. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes

If you don't like this album,
you are a jerk.





4. No Age, Nouns

Perfect for sunny day cruises with the windows down and the yearning for rock & roll music has ensued.





3. The Dodos, Visiter


Two dudes that sound like eleven dudes, and also put together an excellent freak/psych/whatever folk(ish) record.




2. Beach House, Devotion

If you have a wine cellar in your basement, or better yet a dungeon, play this record there. I have done neither, but am pretty sure it would be to your benefit.




1. The Ruby Suns, Sea Lion

This album consists of truly blissful musical elements from the entire world, by way of a band from New Zealand.





Honorable mentions include, but are not limited to:
Saturday=Youth by M83, Third by Portishead, In Ghost Colors by Cut Copy, Welcome by James Pants, and Heretic Pride by The Mountain Goats.