Rap battle--Kanye West's Graduation vs. 50 Cent's Curtis

Ani Difranco--Canon (New!)

Artist-Ani Difranco
Album-Canon
Release Date-Sep 11, 2007
Genre/Style-Urban Folk/Alternative Folk
Size-179M (36 songs)

Official site-http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/canon/index.asp
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/anidifranco
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ani_DiFranco


Review-Helium.com and About.com
Product-buy it here

Stars--In Our Bedroom After the War (New!)

Artist-Stars
Album-In Our Bedroom After the War
Release Date-Sep 25, 2007
Genre/Style-Indie Pop/Indie Electronic/Chamber Pop

Official site-http://www.arts-crafts.ca/stars/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/stars
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxeIivNDtFU

Review-Pitchforkmedia and Stylusmagazine

Product-buy it here

Earlimart--Mentor Tormentor (2007)

Artist-Earlimart
Album-Mentor Tormentor
Release Date-Aug 21, 2007
Genre/Style-Indie Rock/Indie Pop

Official site-http://www.earlimartmusic.com/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/earlimart
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earlimart_(band)

Reviews by critics-

Under The Radar: Mentor Tormentor stands as a testament to Espinoza's growth and resilience.

Los Angeles Times: Murray and co-founder Aaron Espinoza celebrate romance in tracks such as 'Answers and Questions,' but more affecting are such ruminations on vulnerability and heartbreak as the stark, propulsive 'Fakey Fake' and the electro-torchy 'Never Mind the Phone Calls.'

Pitchfork: There are still bands like Earlimart, quietly chugging away in Los Angeles and preserving the West Coast sound with a spirit that's more than just curatorial, as Mentor Tormentor elegantly shows.

Stylus Magazine: Props for being candidly happier, but as is often the case with bands with ten-plus-years of solid material, Earlimart’s newest release serves us better as an unwitting PR campaign for the rest of their oeuvre.

Product-buy it here

The Most Serene Republic--Population (New!)

Artist-The Most Serene Republic
Album-Population
Release Date-Oct 2, 2007
Genre/Style-Indie Rock/Post-Rock/Experimental

Official site-http://www.arts-crafts.ca/themostserenerepublic/index2.html
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/themostserenerepublic
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Serene_Republic
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yKSG__rmSI

Review-Spin magazine
Product-buy it here

Rilo Kiley--Under the Blacklight (2007)

Artist-Rilo Kiley
Album-Under the Blacklight
Release Date-Aug 21, 2007
Genre/Style-Indie Rock/Indie Pop

Official site-http://www.rilokiley.com/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/rilokiley
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rilo_Kiley

Reviews coming from critics-

The Onion (A.V. Club): "The L.A. quartet has returned with an album that's teeming with creatively executed ideas, to the point where it almost feels like the band was just using its first three albums to warm up."

Billboard:"Ultimately, the change in direction will likely raise a few eyebrows among some diehard fans, which isn't to say the songs here aren't noteworthy in their own right."

Slant Magazine:"Some of these genre shifts work better than others, of course, but the record is so tightly constructed that nothing ever crashes and burns."

Rolling Stone:"It's yet more adventurous, a prosperous band's challenge to its comfortable cult."

Stylus Magazine:"The one thing you can't accuse Under the Blacklight of is being boring, but it abides by an either/or sort of mentality that presumes that a complete lack of substance is the only alternative to the kind of music Rilo Kiley and their pals made in 2002."

Product-buy it here

Polly Paulusma--Fingers & Thumbs (2007)

Artist-Polly Paulusma
Album-Fingers & Thumbs
Release Date-May 21, 2007
Genre/Style-Alternative Singer/Songwriter

Official site-http://www.pollypaulusma.com/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/pollypaulusma
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Paulusma
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqH4vaQrAZU

Review-Reviewed by AMG. There seems to come a time in the career of every singer/songwriter when he or she decides to start rocking. Polly Paulusma's first record consisted of tender balladry, although not without its tug of exuberance (think Edie Brickell). The accompaniment was mostly acoustic guitar, with some strings to vary the mood. Why she decided to plug in after just one album is an interesting question, but regardless, it proves to be a good idea. The knock against Paulusma in the past was that she was a little too Meredith Brooks. Her songs were performed with an eye to maximum melodramatic effect, and they occasionally came across as cloying or ersatz (call it singsong singer/songwriter). Even if her lyrics occupied a higher level altogether — she's a former writer, after all — the performances didn't seem to fit the songs. Both the performances and songs on her second album, Fingers & Thumbs, are much better (and performed better). The thrust of the material may not vary much, just the basic singer/songwriter material of love and loss (which she experienced much of between albums, with two miscarriages and finally a successful pregnancy). The arrangements may be slightly monochromatic — electric guitars strummed in a similar fashion to acoustic guitars — but Paulusma has grown as a performer and as a singer of her songs.

Product-buy it here

Lori McKenna--Unglamorous (2007)

Artist-Lori McKenna
Album-Unglamorous
Release Date-Aug 14, 2007
Genre/Style-Contemporary Country

Official site-http://www.lorimckenna.com/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/lorimckenna
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lori_McKenna
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uIUK0HVubs


Review-Reviewed by AMG.

Unglamorous marks a new stage in the career of Lori McKenna, a gifted contemporary singer/songwriter from Massachusetts who makes her major-label debut here. Her previous releases — Paper Wings and Halo (2000), Pieces of Me (2001), The Kitchen Tapes (2004), and Bittertown (2004) — were spare, masterfully written, and sometimes painfully intimate. It was easy to envision McKenna sitting at home alone — her husband away at work and her kids safely at school — writing songs at her kitchen table with her acoustic guitar in hand, recording her music onto blank cassettes as a ticking clock fills the quiet between songs. The Kitchen Tapes romanticized this notion, its cover featuring a drawing of a kitchen table with a cassette lying upon it, a wooden chair pulled out from the spot at which McKenna presumably had been sitting, unassuming tiles dotting the floor. "Recorded by Lori McKenna," a back-cover credit reads, while a stark cover of Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" signals her knowingness. Songs like "Bible Song," "One Man," and "Stealing Kisses," each from her excellent Bittertown album, meanwhile turn such domestic suburban quietude into a kind of poetry, one marked by serenity as well as melancholy. It's pretty powerful music, especially if you can relate to the characters in her songs, the faceless towns those characters embody, or perhaps even McKenna herself. Evidently Tim McGraw and Faith Hill were among those moved by her music, because they brought her into their fold. Hill's Fireflies (2005), an album that sold a whopping 329,000 copies its first week, included three of McKenna's songs, one of them the title track. The superstar country duo also took McKenna on tour as their opening act, and McGraw even went so far as to produce Unglamorous with his longtime studio hand, Byron Gallimore. Hence the major-label contract with Warner Brothers. McKenna embraces her shot at the big-time here, as Unglamorous is far removed from The Kitchen Tapes. The production is full, bright, and punchy, with a full-band backing. A rocking wah-wah guitar solo even pops up on "Witness to Your Life," for instance. This turn away from lo-fi folk music and toward contemporary country sheen isn't necessarily bad in and of itself; in fact, it's tastefully done here on Unglamorous, to the credit of McGraw and Gallimore as well as McKenna, who sounds comfortable. And while Unglamorous is McKenna's first album to feature co-writers, among them Nashville pro Liz Rose, who contributed to the standout title track, the songs here are thankfully characteristic of the Massachusetts mom's past work. Still, as tastefully produced and characteristically well-written as Unglamorous may be, fans of McKenna's past albums are likely to be disappointed by the result. The soul-baring of Bittertown, the nakedness of The Kitchen Tapes, the intimacy of Pieces of Me — it's difficult to find those qualities in these dressed-up performances. On the other hand, fans of McGraw and especially Hill (who both show up here as harmony vocalists) will likely fall head over heals for Unglamorous. Though it lacks their star power and radio-ready hooks, it offers instead songs that are written and sung with a heartfelt authenticity neither McGraw nor Hill can rival.

Product-order it from Cduniverse

Travels--Travels (2007)

Anar is in Metal hearts.
Mona is in Victory at sea.
Anar and Mona met on tour in europe with their bands.
Anar and Mona have a garden.
Anar and Mona have almost identical bikes.
Anar and Mona love indian food very much.

They form a band called Travels and they like to introduce their debut record to you through CocoaMusic.

Check their myspace (http://www.myspace.com/travelsband) now. I am lucky to have previewed the whole album. What i can say is that they are really talented and this coming record deserves your attention. Here are some infos about them and this very first record.

"Travels is a Somerville (outside of Boston)-based duo made up Mona Elliott and Anar Badalov, two members of the enormously world famous money-making indie bands Victory at Sea and Metal Hearts, respectively. Travels self-released debut record comes out on October 30th.

After Metal Hearts’ and Victory at Sea’s last records were released on the same day in February 2006 (on Suicide Squeeze and Gern Blandsten records) and after playing one US show together in Buffalo, the bands decided to head to Europe for a winter of ’06 tour. After weeks spent dancing until morning, drinking thick German beer, and getting pulled over by the police (just because the bands were labeled ‘sadcore’ doesn’t mean they didn’t have fun!), Anar and Mona fell in love. Upon arriving home they moved in together and gave birth to Travels on their living room floor.

The songs on this record document everything from lost friendships, failed relationships, and a struggle with cancer, to new love, health and happiness.

There’s a three chord love song, a wall of distortion, clean doo-wop harmonies, pounding electronic drums, and a ton of talk about hearts, the sun, and traveling. Fans of Smog, Low, and Yo La Tengo might particularly like this record.

The self titled debut will be self-released on October 30th. It will be available to purchase digitally through Itunes and Emusic internationally. It will also be available through the Travels myspace site (www.myspace.com/travelsband)

The first 500 physical copies are limited and have handmade covers with Mona’s (and occasionally Anar’s) artwork. There are over 50 different drawings, each individually painted. We’ll personally ship them out to anywhere in the world.

Travels will also be returning to their meeting place during January/Feb 2008 for a month-long European tour. US and CANADIAN tour dates will be confirmed upon returning.”

Boring Machines

Boring Machines would like to introduce their label and talented artists to you through CocoaMusic.

Visit their offcial site on Myspace(http://www.myspace.com/boringmachinestv) and listen several songs online first. Here are some infos about their label and releases below.

"Boring Machines (in defense of quiet music) is a label / booking created by Onga (Martini Bros djset, Basemental) which takes care of boring stuff, music under the usual BPM rate, whitout chorus to sing happily when you're getting showered.

It doesn't matter if it's acoustic or electronic, it has to touch my soul.

Boring Machines promotes italian artists abroad and foreign artists in Italy. "

Released:

My Dear Killer "Clinical Shyness" Italian, but London based, strange kind of songwriter. Released June 1st 2006 in Italy, the album is a thirty minute black pearl which sticks togheter with biadhesive Nick Drake & The Sonic Youth. The album is now being released worldwide in a special gatefold package and you can purchase it here.

Be Invisible Now! "Neutrino" Italian electronic artist Marco Giotto (Cheswick, Apoteosi del Mistero, With Love) creates electronic soundscapes which reminds of interstellar spaceships, Kosmische Musik and Carpenter's soundtracks. RIYL: Klausch Schulze, Brian Eno, Sonic Boom, Cluster.The album is released worldwide in a special gatefold package and you can purchase it here.

Coming Releases:

My Dear "serial" Killer 3x3" CDEP September 2007

Satan Is My Brother CD October 2007

Be Invisible Now! / Expo'70 split CD winter 2007

Caribou--Andorra (2007)

Artist-Caribou
Album-Andorra
Release Date-Aug 21, 2007
Genre/Style-Downtempo/Indie Electronic


Official site-http://www.caribou.fm/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/cariboumanitoba
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribou_(musician)
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QklfmJ4vfLs

Review-Pitchforkmedia and AMG and Stylusmagazine

Product-order it here

Whistler--Whistler (1999)

Artist-Whistler
Album-Whistler
Release Date-1999
Genre/Style-Alternative Pop/Rock Indie-Rock

Official site-http://www.wiiija.com/frameset.html (Several samples are available)

Biography-Putting his days as a member of EMF behind him, Ian Dench — armed with only his acoustic guitar — began his collaboration with vocalist Kerry Shaw back in 1996 under the name Whistler. After recruiting violinist James Topham, who also played with Brian Eno, Whistler gigged around England as a three piece before releasing their 1998 single "Rare American Shoes." With their talent of combining Kerry's crisp, but soothing voice that leads on the sensible combination of drowning violins and rhythmic guitars, their second single "If I Give You a Smile" was released that same year and caught on to the acclaim of NME and Melody Maker. Their self-titled full length was released on Wiiija the following year. Whistler returned in early 2001 with Faith In The Morning.

Review-The harmonica and carefree mood of "If I Give You a Smile" kicks off the self-titled debut by British trio Whistler. The album's second single, "Don't Jump in Front of My Train," follows on track two. Kerry Shaw's vocals and insightful lyrics are highlighted throughout. Ian Dench, formerly of EMF, serves as Whistler's guitarist, performing sparse arrangements with James Topham's viola. The occasional frantic drum beat adds surprise to the generally hypnotic and gorgeous folk-pop. The jew's-harp at the beginning of "Rare American Shoes" inexplicably serves as percussion to Topham's enchanting viola. The band is at its best when they focus on melodies, like on "Heaven Help Me," where Shaw's vocals are eerily reminiscent of Amelia Fletcher's, of British indie pop acts Heavenly and Marine Research. The simple, gorgeous instrumentation is at its best when the ingredients are simple and uplifting. The disc ends with "Please Don't Love Me Anymore," on which Shaw's pensive vocals lead the way.

Product-buy it here

Castanets--In The Vines (New!)

Artist-Castanets
Album-In The Vines
Release Date-October 23, 2007
Genre/Style-Indie Rock
Quality-160kbps

Official site-http://asthmatickitty.com/musicians.php?artistID=2
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/castanets
Biography-http://asthmatickitty.com/musicians.php?artistID=2
Review-http://asthmatickitty.com/music.php?releaseID=79

Victor Bermon--Arriving at Night (2007)

Artist-Victor Bermon
Album-Arriving at Night
Release Date-Feb 20, 2007
Genre/Style-Indie Rock

Official site-http://www.virb.com/victorbermon
Last.fm-http://www.last.fm/music/Victor+Bermon

Review-Reviewed by Cokemachineglow
Product-buy it here

Nina Nastasia And Jim White--You Follow Me (2007)

Artist-Nina Nastasia And Jim White
Album-You Follow Me
Release Date-May 28, 2007
Genre/Style-Alternative Singer/Songwriter Adult Alternative Pop/Rock

Official site-http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/artistInfo.php?id=108
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/ninanastasia
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcozbLC3v8E

Review-Reviewed by AMG. What do you get when you add Dirty Three/Tren Brothers drummer Jim White to a Nina Nastasia record? It all depends on what you are expecting to hear, of course. White was part of the spiny little band that accompanied Nastasia on her initial Fat Cat offering On Leaving in 2006. While that record was skeletal, this one is positively minimal, yet in some ways it is also bigger. With only White's syncopated, iconoclastic beatmaking as a foil, Nastasia is challenged to get her songs across with her guitar playing carrying more of the weight. White is not an accompanist here, he is a collaborator, even though he didn't write the songs. In just 31 minutes the pair look into the strange shapes and images that are at the root of her mostly hummable songs and stretch them to the breaking point. Steve Albini recorded the set at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, and his trademark is on White's drum sound, full of bassy tom toms and wispy brushwork, even as his bass drum and his rim shots color the end of each line Nastasia sings, and creates breaks in the heart of lyrics to underscore a line or two, offering a portal to the meaning of her sometimes elliptical lyrics, or providing a tunnel into the emotion in a song. Topically, You Follow Me has reflections on family, broken commitments, memory — bitter and bittersweet — and death. These are bright and shiny subjects to be sure, but Nastasia's voice emits tenderness no matter what she is singing, creating a sense of equanimity in all of it. Her notions of regret, reverence, anger and fear are all offered matter of factly, yet there is no doubt of her devotion to the truth a song dictates. White gets that vocal instrument, and he does his best to point toward it in every song.

Standout tracks include the resigned yet potent and relatively up-tempo "The Day I Would Bury You," a portrayal of marriage gone bad with only the wife's resignation of an end where poisoned emotions are useless tools because the war is over. On the other side of this song, though, is the sweet if gray-shaded "How Will You Love Me?" one of the slowest waltzes ever played (and White is deceptive in that he inverts the beat, playing around the accents of the time signature). The protagonist asks questions about being loved, about loving, about the future, death, and the opportunity for resurrection. The sheer helplessness and anger in "Late Night," as the protagonist plays witness to another's self destruction is almost unbearable, as her words accent that helplessness and the rage it provokes. White's drums don't follow her words; his beats nearly predicate them. He contains emotion and brings it up, out, and over the edge. You Follow Me is worlds away from Dogs, from Run to Ruin, but picks up where On Leaving left off. These songs are sung either in retrospect or at the line of disintegration, their sharp, even fiery words held in check only by Nastasia's innate sense of musicality and melodic complexity. White can offer her edges of his own because his sense of time stretches to the past as well as pointing to conclusions that are open-ended in the future. He floats, digs, sputters, halts, and pushes through the music, just as the woman who is playing guitar and singing does. All of this feels effortless, but it is not: all of this coheres in order to convey these small but mercurial and sophisticated songs.

Product-buy it here

Laura Veirs interviewed with the Seattle Channel

Northwest recording artist Laura Veirs and her band Saltbreakers visit with the Seattle Channel to discuss her career as well her new Nonesuch recording Saltbreakers. Filmed before a live audience at the Triple Door in Seattle. http://www.youtube.com/v/pO7IDa5vuiY

Junior Senior--Hey Hey My My Yo Yo (2005)

Artist-Junior Senior
Album-Hey Hey My My Yo Yo [US Bonus Disc, 19 songs version]
Release Date-2005
Genre/Style-Dance-Pop/Indie Pop

Official site-http://www.juniorsenior.dk/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/juniorsenior
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Senior

Review-Junior Senior's second album is a dour, measured affair that pits subdued instrumentation against introspective lyrics and restrained vocals. Now, you didn't believe that, did you? As with their debut, 2005's Hey Hey My My Yo Yo is a Technicolor blaze of maximalist glory packed with over-the-top vocals, nonsense lyrics, woozy performances and dance floor ready summer jams. And handclaps, you can't forget those. Jesper (Junior) Mortensen's production leaves no room for subtly which is fine because Jeppe (Senior) Laursen's vocals have none. He's a classic shouter firmly in the Fred Schneider tradition (which makes the Cindy Wilson/Kate Pierson sung Take My Time seem just right) and while the album relies as much on the guest vocals (from all three members of Le Tigre, Anne Koster and amazingly, Motown girl group the Velvelettes) as it does his, his exuberant sensibility fills the proceedings with unhinged joy. On the songs he doesn't lead, you can picture him shaking his stuff with a huge grin on his face as the tapes roll and the imaginary hits stack up. Indeed, the record is stocked with songs that should be hits; Can I Get, Get, Get (with Le Tigre's JD on vocals) is a disco ball-shiny floor filler, We R the Handclaps is the Jackson 5 on helium, I Like Music (W.O.S.B.) is wonderfully hooky, space age Northern Soul. Really, you could pick any of the eleven songs for that list of highlights, the record is that strong. There are few bands on the scene in 2007 that are filled with such light-hearted love of music and life without even a slight trace of irony or fakery. Their heavenly mix of mix of giddy silliness, pop smarts and pop culture overload makes Hey Hey My My Yo Yo a fun-filled, joyride from beginning to end. [The album's release was delayed in the U.S. for two years but fans who waited patiently were rewarded by the inclusion of a bonus disc of songs recorded in 2007. The seven tracks feature few guest musicians and no celebrity vocalists, and have a much harder, almost new wave feel to them. Despite the lack of glitzy trappings, they are uniformly excellent, hooky and fun songs that prove conclusively that the band doesn't need to indulge in kitsch-en sink productions to be great.]

Product-buy it here

Fog--Ditherer (2007)

Artist-Fog
Album-Ditherer
Release Date-Aug 27, 2007
Genre/Style-Lo-Fi/Experimental Rock/Trip-Hop

Official site-http://www.fogtimewaster.com/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/fogtimewaster
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_(band)


Review-Cokemachineglow and Prefixmagazine
Product-buy it here

Eisley--Combinations (2007)

Artist-Eisley
Album-Combinations
Release Date-Aug 14, 2007
Genre/Style-Indie-Pop Alternative Pop/Rock

Official site-http://www.eisley.com/index.php
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/eisley
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisley
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBISYNFwwgg
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1zeQF07EK4

Review-Eisley gets more ambitious with each EP and album, as well they should: Combinations is the band's second album, but they recorded it when they were barely in their twenties — a time when growth and change aren't just natural, they're required. This set of songs reflects Eisley's evolution; they sound more grown-up and maybe a shade less playful than Room Noises and the band's EPs, but they keep the uniqueness that made Eisley worth hearing in the first place. Combinations gets off to a literally rocky start with "Many Funerals," which begins with a moody sea shanty-like melody that swells into charging choruses. It's the heaviest, angstiest Eisley song yet, and though it borders on overwrought, it shows the depth and breadth the band brings to their music this time around. The brooding, guitar-heavy feel continues, albeit in very different ways, on "Invasion"'s dark pop and on "A Sight to Behold," which finds the DuPree sisters questioning their sanity to a backdrop of pizzicato strings and distorted beats. The DuPrees' vocals and melodies remain Eisley's greatest, most unique strengths. The harmonies the sisters craft could've appeared on songs from decades ago (and sound especially sweet on the deceptively beguiling "Go Away"), while "I Could Be There for You"'s traditional-sounding tune is even more striking when set to a very contemporary arrangement. The album's eclectic-yet-cohesive feel spans the polished, poppy "Taking Control" and gorgeous "Ten Cent Blues" to the elegant ballad "If You're Wondering" (which boasts chimes, kalimba, and a rainstorm) and the title track, which with its lavish arrangement and fairy tale sweep, almost sounds like a Top 40-friendly version of Joanna Newsom. Eisley's mix of old and new, and accessible and unexpected, makes their music utterly charming, and Combinations is a blend of bewitching contradictions.

Product-order it at cduniverse

M.I.A.--Kala (2007)

Artist-M.I.A.
Album-Kala
Release Date-Aug 20, 2007
Genre/Style-Alternative-Dance Club/Dance

Official site-http://www.miauk.com/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/mia
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.I.A.

Review-Kala and Arular are similar in that they are both wildly vigorous and wholly enjoyable albums, generous with blunt-force beats, flurries of percussion, riotous vocals, and fearless stylistic syntheses that seem to view music from half of the planet's countries as potential source material. But Kala nearly makes Arular seem tame in comparison, magnifying most of its predecessor's qualities as it remains bracingly adventurous. While it certainly sounds like a second M.I.A. album, nothing about it is stagnant. Made in piecemeal fashion while located in several countries, Kala involves a few co-producers: U.K. "dirty house" producer Switch is the primary collaborator, while Baltimore club don Blaqstarr, Diplo, and Timbaland assist M.I.A. on one or a couple tracks each. Further variety is added vocally, not only through M.I.A.'s numerous modes, but also through feature spots from Nigerian MC Afrikan Boy and a crew of young Aborigine rappers. Roughly half the album — including the opening three-track sequence, which incorporates Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner," samples from two Tamil-language film soundtracks, squawking chickens, (what sounds like) yelping children, and clustered rhythmic devices that boom, stab, clap, rattle, twitter, and sometimes even prance — is more intense than anything on Arular. The tracks are so full of chaos and jagged noise that it is disarming to reach the relatively relaxed material, especially the two tracks that resemble actual songs. "Jimmy" is a rather faithful cover, willfully chintzy strings and all, of a flirtatiously lovelorn neo-disco number from the '80s Bollywood film Disco Dancer. "Paper Planes" has a sing-songy float to it, aided by the Clash's "Straight to Hell," though it also appropriates Wreckx-N-Effect's "Rump Shaker" while replacing "zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom" and "boom-boom" with sounds from shotguns and cash registers. Like the remainder of the album's best moments, it recalls the late Lizzy Mercier Descloux, another artist who made thrilling music by mixing cultures with respectful irreverence. Perhaps some of Arular's detractors knew M.I.A. was capable of this all along.

Product-buy it here

Kate Nash--Made of Bricks (2007)

Artist-Kate Nash
Album-Made of Bricks
Release Date-Sep 4, 2007
Genre/Style-Indie Rock

Official site-http://katenash.co.uk/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/katenashmusic
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Nash

Review-BBC and Musicomh
Product-order it here

Okkervil River--The Stage Names (2007)

Artist-Okkervil River
Album-The Stage Names
Release Date-Aug 7, 2007
Genre/Style-Indie Rock/Lo-Fi

Official site-http://www.okkervilriver.com/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/okkervilriver
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okkervil_River
Note-Their new tour will start from August until December. Please check the time and location on http://www.okkervilriver.com/. Be present and show your love.

Review-Okkervil River broke away from the crowded indie rock pack with 2005's superb Black Sheep Boy, a ragged but ornate barroom romp that drank its way to the top of countless year-end lists by finding that thin vein that separates triumph and desperation and hammering as many nails into it as they could in under 50 minutes. Fans used to Will Sheff's visceral, lo-fi caterwauls may be disappointed in the bruised and elegant Stage Names upon first listen, but further spins reveal BSB as more of a stepping-stone than a peak. "It's just a life story/so there's no climax," from the rousing opener "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe" sets the tone, and its floor tom gallop and volatile whoops sound like an unholy combination of My Aim Is True-era Elvis Costello and Transformer-era Lou Reed spilling out of an old player piano. Sheff has proven himself again and again to be a gifted wordsmith, and Stage Names features some of his finest parlor room romanticisms and slacker-poet observations to date. "Plus Ones," a studied rumination on some of popular music's most beloved numerically titled tracks ("96 Tears," "99 Luftballons," "Eight Miles High," "TVC 15," "7 Chinese Brothers," "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" etc.) adds an unnecessary integer ("Not everyone's keen on lighting candle 17/The party's done/The cake's all gone/The plates are clean"), cleverly illuminating pop culture's insatiable thirst for sequels and remakes. It's a trick that could easily turn trite in less capable hands, but one of the band's many strengths is its ability to mirror Sheff with arrangements that match the earnestness, wickedness and occasional pomp of the lyrics. Those talents are used most effectively on two of the record's other highlights, the soft and broken "Girl in Port" and the alternately heartbreaking and hysterical "John Allyn Smith Sails," the latter of which chronicles the suicide of poet John Berryman and manages to integrate the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" so seamlessly that you'd swear it had never existed before. It's not all winsome ballads about backstage passes and gutter bound writers though, as Sheff and company open up the full sneer on "Unless It's Kicks," "You Can't Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man" and "A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene," making Stage Names less of a metaphor for the cinematic lives we wish we could have and more of a reminder that it's us who make the films. [The first 5000 copies of Stage Names (the "Deluxe" edition) came with a bonus disc featuring all of Sheff's demos for the record.]

Product-buy it here

The Somnambulants--Paper Trail (2007)

Music market promotor "Fanatic Promotion" and "Clairaudience" want to recommend a band called "The Somnambulants" and their latest release "Paper Trail" to you through CocoaMusic.

If you think you recognize the electro-pop of The Somnambulants, you're not mistaken: the title track of their last record was featured on last year's Half Nelson soundtrack. The band's heavily cinematic yet energetic and dance-friendly sound, laden with lyrical imagery and complimented by spacious production, returns here on their third release, Paper Trail. The Brooklyn-born and now San Francisco-based duo has toured with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Tracy & The Plastics, Au Revoir Simone and Asobi Seksu, but pride themselves on a more rock, blues and pop influenced electronic music than their contemporaries. Far from delivering a set of sleepwalkers, Paper Trail boasts a mix of songwriting styles all wrapped in a single synthetic wrapper, with each track as unique and memorable as the next.

Official site-http://www.somnambulants.com/

Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/somnambulants

Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9LAToTIl70

Buy their cds at: http://www.somnambulants.com/papertrail.html

CrackSpace-The Trap

Staffs of "Movement Marketing" want you know that the latest episode of "The Trap" has been on the way through CocoaMusic.

"The Trap" is a biweekly show presented by CrackSpace (http://www.crackspace.com/) and hosted by the #1 trap star on the Internet, Heron. Past episodes have included Nas, Kelis, Jim Jones, Funk Master Flex, Chrisette Michelle, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Elephant Man, Swizz Beatz, Shop Boyz and others.

The latest episode features Kanye West, Common, Mos Def, "So Krispy", Kia Shine and New York Knicks star point guard Stephon Marbury.

Check this new video if you're interested. Thanks.
(link here if you can't see it online)

Apparat--Walls (2007)

Artist-Apparat
Album-Walls
Release Date-May 15, 2007
Genre/Style-IDM/Glitch

Official site-http://www.apparat.net/v1.0/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/apparat

Review-Having made a considerable splash with the Ellen Allien collaboration Orchestra of Bubbles, Apparat returned to his own path with Walls, a remarkable album that ranks as his best yet. Beginning with the gentle string and vibes beats of "Not a Number" — which in its own melancholy way, combined with the title, suddenly sounds like one of the most humanistic songs yet recorded, passionate in its elegant sorrow — Walls takes a simultaneously familiar and unsettled path. While the continuing impact of disparate strands of music — the fallout of My Bloody Valentine and its many imitators, the electronic obsessions of Warp, the stadium-ready melancholy of early Radiohead and its own horde of followers — has resulted in a 21st century computer music of crushed sorrow; on Walls, Apparat transcends the downbeat limitations of the incipient form with astonishing grace. Hearing how what could be a standard filter-house volume build in "Limelight" becomes a fierce trap for a voice barely understandable, or how the post-Jeff Buckley/Thom Yorke woundedly sweet vocal on "Arcadia" actually means something working alongside the busily frenetic beats make the listener regard familiar approaches in a sudden new light. Meantime, "You Don't Know Me," which appears towards the album's conclusion, might actually be the best song on it. While there are a lot of songs that could be described as soundtracking a nonexistent film, this actually feels like it, strings and a handclap beat creating a pitch-perfect atmosphere to the end of a romantic movie. Raz Ohara's various vocal appearances throughout are nice additions but the highlight is "Hold On," where his perfectly in-the-moment R&B style contrasts the squelching bass and nervous but righteous groove to a 'T'.

Product-buy it here

Blitzen Trapper--Wild Mountain Nation (2007)

Artist-Blitzen Trapper
Album-Wild Mountain Nation
Release Date-2007
Genre/Style-Lo-Fi/Alternative Country-Rock/Indie Rock

Official site-http://www.blitzentrapper.net/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/blitzentrapper

Note-Their new tour will start in Sep. Check time and location below. Be present and show your love if you love their music.

MON 9/17 Portland OR @ Berbati's Pan*
TUE 9/18 Vancouver BC @ Media Club*
WED 9/19 Seattle WA @ The Crocodile*
THU 9/20 Boise ID @ Neurolux*
FRI 9/21 Salt Lake City @ Kilby Court*
SAT 9/22 Denver CO @ Hi-Dive*
SUN 9/23 Rapid City SD @ The Imperial Inn*
MON 9/24 Fargo ND @ Aquarium*
WED 9/26 Minneapolis MN @ Turf Club*
THU 9/27 Iowa City IA @ The Picador*
SAT 9/28 Omaha NE @ The Slowdown*
SAT 9/29 Chicago IL @ Schubas*
SUN 9/30 Cleveland OH @ Grog Shop*
TUE 10/2 New York NY @ Gramercy Theatre*
THU 10/4 Philadelphia PA @ First Unitarian*
FRI 10/5 Boston MA @ Middle East Downstairs*
SAT 10/6 Baltimore MD @ Sonar*
SUN 10/7 Washington DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel*
MON 10/8 Chapel Hill NC @ Local 506*
TUE 10/9 Atlanta GA @ Drunken Unicorn*
WED 10/10 New Orleans LA @ The Parish*
FRI 10/12 Beaumont TX @ Votex*
SAT 10/13 Austin TX @ Mohawk*
MON 10/15 Tucson AZ @ Solar Culture*
WED 10/17/ San Diego CA @ The Casbah*
THU 10/18 Los Angeles CA @ El Rey*

Review-Why compile a wildly eclectic mix CD when you can create your own? That seems to be the guiding philosophy behind Portland, Oregon sextet Blitzen Trapper. Wild Mountain Nation picks up where 2004's schizophrenic Field Rexx left off, and offers a dizzying lo-fi psychedelic prog rock power pop alt-country indie rock jamfest (and that's just the first five songs). It's unlikely to win over any adherents of the "Consistency is Better" school of music appreciation. But if musical adventurousness and short attention spans are viewed as positive attributes, then these 13 short songs offer ample rewards. And if you don't like what you're hearing, just wait thirty seconds. It's easy enough to play spot-the-influences — the early ‘70s cowboy stoner songs of The Grateful Dead and The New Riders of the Purple Sage, the mad, fractured pop of Syd Barrett and early Pink Floyd, the sonic squalls and feedback blasts of Pavement, the fragile weirdness and melodic sensibilities ofThe Flaming Lips. What is more remarkable is that, for the most part, these disparate influences actually hang together as coherent songs. "Murder Babe" is typical — a choice slab of Who and Kinks inspired power pop, complete with windmilling power chords, that morphs into a psychedelic prog rock freakout worthy of The Soft Machine. The title track and "Country Caravan" would have been worthy additions to Workingman's Dead or American Beauty, while "Woof & Warp of the Quiet Giant's Hem" mixes prime Lips-inspired indie rock with what sounds like a hippie marching band. It's all wildly imaginative, and frequently excellent. The wild mountain nation appears to be a wide-open territory, but most of it is worthy of extended exploration.

Product-buy it here

This lady--Who is?

Artist-This lady
Album-Who is?
Release Date-2007
Genre/Style-Indie Pop/Indie Rock

Official site-http://mrsthis.3cc.cc/

Note-This Lady is a indie-pop/rock band which comes from TaiWan. The band formed 3 years ago and comprises 5 members. Listen one song online first here

Product-buy it here
link1 or link2

(The file links are just for pre-reviewed purpose and will be removed in 24 hours.)

Paul Wong--I'm Here (2007)

Artist-Paul Wong
Album-I'm Here
Release Date-13-July-2007
Genre/Style-Rock/Indie-rock

Official site-http://www.beyondmusic.net/ or http://www.paulwong.net/
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wong
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh5jcB-t9hM

Note-Paul Wong, the former member of the greatest band Beyond in HongKong, just released his new album last month. Check it if you're interested.

link1 or link2

(The file links are just for pre-reviewed purpose and will be removed in 24 hours.)

Jens Lekman--Night Falls Over Kortedala (New!)

Artist-Jens Lekman
Album-Night Falls Over Kortedala
Release Date-10/09/07
Genre/Style-Swedish Pop/Rock Chamber-Pop Indie-Pop
Quality-192kbps

Official site-http://www.jenslekman.com/
Last.fm-http://www.last.fm/music/Jens+Lekman
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jens_Lekman
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_JayWrkqDI

Review-Secrectlycanadian and Pitchforkmedia

Product-buy it here

Iron & Wine--The Shepherd's Dog (New!)

Artist-Iron & Wine
Album-The Shepherd's Dog
Release Date-Sep 25, 2007
Genre/Style-Alternative Singer/Songwriter Indie-Rock
Quality-320kbps

Official site-http://www.ironandwine.com/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/ironandwine
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_&_Wine

Product-Pre-order it here

Oakley Hall--I'll Follow You (New!)

Artist-Oakley Hall
Album-I'll Follow You
Release Date-Sep 11, 2007
Genre/Style-Alternative Country-Rock/Indie Rock
Quality-192kbps

Official site-http://www.oakleyhall.net/site/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/oakleyhall
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakley_Hall_(band)
Note-This album is to be released in Sep. No reviews available now. Buy it if you like it.

Product-buy it here

Chromeo--Fancy Footwork (2007)

Artist-Chromeo
Album-Fancy Footwork
Release Date-Jun 19, 2007
Genre/Style-Indie Electronic
Quality-320kbps

Official site-http://www.chromeo.net/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/chromeo
Biography-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromeo
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMz0mkfPCjY

Review-Back with a slicker set of moves and immaculately groomed hooks, on Fancy Footwork Chromeo are in even more control of their sound than they were on She's in Control. The duo's debut was undeniably fun, but it was such a slave to the rhythm that, at times, it was numbing; on this album, Chromeo take their electro textures and funky beats in a very pop direction, topping them with memorable melodies and witty lyrics. From the tongue-in-cheek drama of "Intro" — which conjures visions of Chromeo ascending the stage from a cloud of dry ice — Fancy Footwork builds on everything that made previous singles like "Needy Girl" good dirty fun. "Tenderoni" is a great example of the album's tighter, glossier sound and swivel-hipped rhythms, while "Fancy Footwork" itself boasts growling, squealing, and purring Moogs and a percussion breakdown made for busting a move. And, by trimming the fat off their tracks, Chromeo have made more room for knowing, entendre-laden fun. "Momma's Boy," with its instantly lovable electric piano riff and lyrics about finding your sweetie eerily similar to your folks, is a funny, catchy, twisted update on the Hall & Oates-style pop that the band loves so much. Skit-like humor seeps into "Call Me Up," which pauses while a girl looks around for Chromeo's phone number, and "My Girl is Calling Me (A Liar)," which ends with a brief conversation between Dave One and a talkboxing Pee Thug. Elsewhere, Dave and Pee show their sensitive side: "Bonafied Lovin" shows them taking more time to court a conquest, and the "Needy Girl" sequel "Opening Up" finds them trying monogamy — and liking it. Even though Fancy Footwork's grooves aren't quite as deep as those on She's in Control, Chromeo's transformation into polished Lotharios with pop skills to match more than makes up for it.

Product-buy it here

St. Vincent--Marry Me (2007)

Artist-St. Vincent
Album-Marry Me
Release Date-Jul 10, 2007
Genre/Style-Alternative Singer/Songwriter Indie-Pop
Quality-192kbps

Official site-http://www.ilovestvincent.com/
Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/stvincent
Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFrCIVoVj7A

Review-With experience playing with the Polyphonic Spree, Sufjan Stevens, and Glenn Branca, Annie Clark is more than qualified enough to start writing her own loosely ornate, lush pop songs. But while Clark, who chooses to use the name St. Vincent here, does incorporate the frilly strings and horns, background choirs, and various keyboards (most of which she plays) of her past employers in Marry Me, her solo debut, she also has an edge to her — something that shows up in the distorted electric guitar solos of "Jesus Saves, I Spend" or "Now, Now," the drums in the ominous "The Apocalypse Song" or "Your Lips Are Red," the growing intensity of the vocals "Landmines," the funereal waltz of the fantastic "Paris Is Burning" ("I write to give the war is over/Send my cinders home to mother," Clark sings sadly over electronic drumbeats and acoustic guitars) — that pushes her away from the overly sentimental and quaint. Not that Marry Me doesn't have its fair share of happy love songs ("All My Stars Aligned," "What Me Worry?"), but the album isn't seeped in that kind of joyfulness that sings blind and insincere. It's an mix of good and bad, of light and dark, of the woman who purposefully sets up the obstacles she must get through to find her lover ("I'm crawling through landmines/I know 'cause I planted them," she sings disarmingly), of sweet self-deprecation ("Marry me, John, I'll be so good to you/You won't realize I'm gone"), honest and quirky and totally enticing. Clark is young enough that she's still able to retain that sense of wonder about the world without seeming naïve, and old enough that she can say things like "My hands are red from sealing your red lips" and you believe her. It's an orchestral record for those who prefer the simplistic, a darker one for those who prefer theirs twee, love songs for the scorned and sad songs for the content, an engaging and alluring combination that makes Marry Me nearly irresistible, and one of the better indie pop albums that's come around for a long time.

Product-buy it here

Two Fathers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r__wxCK_RTU