I’ve had a handful of listens to Great Elk’s just announced debut full length Autogeography and it’s just a huge step forward for the Brooklyn based band (and PHW friends).  The remnants of the very promising self-titled 2010 indie/folk EP, as well as its DIY EP follow up February, are still there, especially on the amazing “Your Worst Nightmare” and “I’m Going To Bend”, but Paul Basile and co. have taken the sound on most of these new songs to a much more polished and sonically ambitious place than what they’ve shown before.  They’re now writing rustic rock anthems worthy of Band of Horses or My Morning Jacket.  Get ready people, it drops May 22.

I don’t have any new songs to share with you as of yet, but check out “Bow Echo”, “Vibrations”, and “Walk Down Yr Own Rd” from the earlier EPs if you haven’t already.

MP3  ::  Bow Echo

MP3  ::  Vibrations

(from Great Elk. Download here)

MP3  ::  Walk Down Yr Own Road

(from February. Download here)

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Here’s a new track from Mirrorring, a collaboration between Grouper’s Liz Harris and Tiny Viper’s Jesy Fortino.  The oddly beautiful “Fell Sound” is a haunting 6+ minute drone of distant vocals and murky sounds.  It will lead off their upcoming debut LP Foreign Body, which is due through PHW faves Kranky on March 19. (via)

MP3  ::  Fell Sound

(from Foreign Body. Info here)

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Still one of the year’s most sublime and exciting singles, “Brains” now has an official vid from director Tristan Patterson.  Lower Dens, led by Jana Hunter, has their sophomore album Nootropics due May 1 through Ribbon Music.  

MP3  ::  Brains

(from Nootropics. Pre-order here)

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San Francisco based band Grandma’s Boyfriend play Ramones-influenced power-pop with every bit the tongue-in-cheek sense of humor you would expect from a band that named themselves “Grandma’s Boyfriend”.  They sent over “Murdered” and “Not Your Boyfriend” earlier today, and both have settled nicely into the ongoing garage/punk/psyche playlist that 2012 is shaping up to be.  Looking forward to their upcoming Loglady 7”, which will feature these two songs and four others. 

MP3  ::  Murdered

MP3  ::  Not Your Boyfriend

(from the band’s upcoming 7”. More here)

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Hailing from the city of Adelaide in Southern Australia, Bad//Dreems mix downcast lyrics (“I’m only happy when nobody’s happy”) with glistening guitar/pop that recalls the Flying Nun catalog on debut single “Chills”.  The grainy homemade video features footage of their home city and is a fitting visual accompaniment.

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Alls I’m interested in these days are bands that sound pretty much exactly like Costa Mesa’s TRMRS (yup, another band with no vowels).  “Goodtime Blues” just got sent over earlier tonight, and I’ve since had it blasting on repeat.  Over its 5 minutes this one evolves from a droning blues/dirge that sounds like Ty Segall on sedatives into an explosive garage/psyche JAM (all CAPS for emphasis!), matching lo-fi production values with undeniable hooks and ferocious guitars.  In other words, yeah, it’s what I want to hear tonight.  The song comes from an upcoming split 7” with Night Beats and comes out on both Volcom Entertainment and Resurrection Records in April.  Check out “Goodtime Blues” and bonus cut “Enter the Door”:

“Goodtime Blues”

“Enter the Door”

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“Cats & Dogs” is exactly the kind of jangly, spirited garage/pop that fills the excellent debut LP from Philly’s The Tough Shits.  Seriously can’t get enough of this record right now – it’s just a start-to-finish blast.  There’s a limited pressing of 1000 copies right now from Burger Records, so if you wanna have the same fun I’m having you better get on that shit quick.

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Here’s an appropriate song for this made up holiday– the rambling “Love”, from NYC songwriter Chris Maher, will appear on his debut album coming later in 2012.

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