Bishop Allen, driven by Justin Rice (vocals & keyboards) & Christian Rudder (stringed thingies), is an amazing find. Whether you ran into their sound 5 years ago or if this is the first time you are hearing about them. Everything they produce is delightful, catchy, and indie perfect. I first heard ‘calendar’ off of their EP collection and have been craving more ever since.

Their most recent album “The Broken String”(2007) is amazing especially with Darbie Nowatka providing backup vocals on some songs and lead vocals on ‘Butterfly Nets’.

“Grrr…” is their third full length album scheduled to be released on March 10, 2009. I have yet to hear anything from these guys that I do not like. So I am thinking “Grrr…” is going to be some sweet audio deliciousness.

Check out a few songs off of “The Broken String”:
Bishop Allen - Butterfly Nets
Bishop Allen - Click Click Click Click
Bishop Allen - Like Castanets
. . . song off of “Charm School”:
Bishop Allen - Eve of Destruction
Bishop Allen - Things Are What You Make of Them
. . . song off of “EP Vol. 2″:
Bishop Allen - Calendar

Bishop Allen - Website
Bishop Allen - MySpace

Buy this sweet audio deliciousness (download or album):
Bishop Allen - The Broken String

Bishop Allen - Charm School

Bishop Allen - EP Collection Vol 2

*** Link Coming as soon as “Grrr…” is available ***

Fujiya & Miyagi are an English band formed in Brighton in 2000. They are self-described as being heavily influenced by 70’s experimental bands as well as early 90’s electronic music. Their music brings the looping beats and melody of Pinback, and throws in a lil’ eerieness of PJ Harvey. What can I say, they make great addictive music. Listen to “Knickerbocker” below and I’ll bet you’ll have this stuck in your head “vanilla . . strawberry . . knickerbocker glory . . vanilla . . strawberry . . knickerbocker glory . . vanilla . . strawberry . . knickerbocker glory“.

“Knickerbocker” off of ‘Lightbulbs’:
Fujiya and Miyagi - Knickerbocker
“Cassette Single” off of ‘Transparent Things’:
Fujiya and Miyagi - Cassette Single

A couple of mixes:
Mercury Rev - Senses on Fire (Fujiya and Miyagi mix)
Half Cousin - The Absentee (Fujiya And Miyagi Remix)

Fujiya & Miyagi - MySpace

Fujiya and Miyagi - Lightbulbs

Fujiya and Miyagi - Transparent Things

Dynamic Duo Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel make up the surprisingly full and catchy indie sound that is The Helio Sequence. I found the Helio sound to be quite addictive back on their “Love and Distance” release. 4 years later they have come out with “Keep Your Eyes Ahead” this year and it has a mesmerizing groove of its own.

Check out a couple of songs off of “Keep Your Eyes Ahead”:
The Helio Sequence - Keep your Eyes Ahead
The Helio Sequence - Can’t Say No

Elliot Smith Cover of Satellite:
The Helio Sequence - Satellite

The Helio Sequence - Website
The Helio Sequence - MySpace

Get the album: “Keep Your Eyes Ahead” or “Love and Distance“

One of the new bands that drew my attention this year is Jaguar Love, with their first full length Take Me To The Sea out August of this year. Band members Jay Clark, Cody Votolato, and Johnny Whitney come from The Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves, which seems to give them some good depth and cohesiveness. Most of their songs have a harsh ruffled punk sound with a bunch of them quite catchy. Make sure to check out the vocals of Johnny Whitney, which work very will with their music but are not quite identifiable as male vocals. Freaky.

Jaguar Love - Bats Over the Pacific Ocean
Jaguar Love - Welcome to the Birdskull Palace
Jaguar Love - Highways of Gold

Jaguar Love - Website
Jaguar Love - MySpace

Get yourself a bit of the Jaguar Love with: Take Me To The Sea

Les Savy Fav . . . what a great, gut wrenching - indie rock band. I have never seen them live but have caught videos of them at music festivals like Coachella and Pitchfork, and they look like one sick crazy act. Especially with frontman Tim Harrington turning the stage into some sort of psychopathic punk rock slam fest. The songs below off of their live album give you a good glimpse into their persona.

. . .off of their “Let’s Stay Friends” album (2007)
Les Savy Fav - What Would Wolves Do
. . .off of their “Inches” album (2004)
Les Savy Fav - The Sweat Descends
. . .off of their live “After The Balls Drop (Live NYE)” album (2008):
Les Savy Fav - Patty Lee
Les Savy Fav - Debaser (Live Pixies Cover)

Les Savy Fav - Website
Les Savy Fav - MySpace

Grab some albums:
Les Savy Fav - After The Balls Drop (Live NYE)
Les Savy Fav - Let’s Stay Friends
Les Savy Fav - Inches

Georgie James is on my short list for top bands I got into this year. Unfortunately this is the same year they decided to break up as a band. These guys, John Davis and Laura Burhenn, have been together for about 3 years with their first full length album “places” out last year. Now they have decided to put their efforts into solo projects. I am looking forward to following these two.
John Davis: MySpace
Laura Burhenn: MySpace

For now, I leave you with some pieces from Georgie James. Their music is pure unforgettable pop . . like I said some of the best I have listened to this year.
Georgie James - Need Your Needs
Georgie James - Cake Parade
Georgie James - More Lights

Georgie James - Website
Georgie James - MySpace

Get yourself the one . . . the only . . .
Georgie James - Places

I bought this soundtrack “Instrument” by Fugazi about 8 years ago. It is a soundtrack to their 1999 video of the same name that is more of a hodge podge of genius indie ideas and trials. I have seen a few reviews ripping on this album as a “bad introduction” to Fugazi. I disagree. Obviously their albums like “The Argument” are well rounded and solid songs, but that is not what this album is about. Instrument is a great sampling of demos, practice, and experiments in sound that gives you a good feel for Fugazi and its raw punk rock delivery.

Check out a few songs off of “Instrument”:
Fugazi - Lusty Scripps
Fugazi - Arpeggiator Demo
Fugazi - Turkish Disco

Fugazi - Website
Fugazi - MySpace

Get yourself a smooth copy of ‘Instrument’:
Fugazi - Instrument

These guys create light-hearted haunting music. Silver Jews was founded by Bob Nastanovich and Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement), along with American poet / cartoonist / songwriter David Berman, so it makes sense. Some of Berman’s vocals / lyrics sound like some old obscure crazy Lou Reed ramblings. That is the magic that is Silver Jews.

Silver Jews - Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed
. . . off of ‘Tanglewood Numbers’
Silver Jews- Strange Victory, Strange Defeat
. . . off of ‘Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea’

Silver Jews - Website
Silver Jews - MySpace

Treat yourself to ‘Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea’:
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea

and / or to ‘Tanglewood Numbers’:
Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers

Seattle home grown band The chromatics started off a little more aggressive and punk sounding then they are today. The sound of their last few ablums has been an odd combination of Til Tuesday, Berlin, and Bowery Electric. The best explanation of their current music is amazingly described by Pitchfork “. . . .(since changing their sound and record label) the trio’s gone even darker, feeding sultry, minimal disco-punk through spidery horror flick synths and scuffed guitars.”

Sorry, but “minimal disco-punk through spidery horror flick synths and scuffed guitars” is one of the best descriptions I have ever seen. Thanks Pitchfork!

Experience some of their music:
The Chromatics - Hands In The Dark
The Chromatics - Night Drive
The Chromatics - In The City
The Chromatics - Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush cover)
The Chromatics - I’m On Fire (Springsteen Cover)

Treat yourself - download songs or albums: The Chromatics downloads

The Cromatics - MySpace

I think hundreds of music blogs are sharing this video this week, but I was impressed with their performance . . so . .here it is again. Grizzly Bear performed their song “While You Wait for the Others”, on Conan O’Brien 4/22/08. Originally they had played this song live on KCRW when hosting the Morning Becomes Eclectic hour. Great Song . . .

Grizzly Bear - While You Wait For the Others

Grizzly Bear - Website
Grizzly Bear - MySpace

Chicago punk rock band The Ponys have been impressing indie fans since they formed in 2001. I haven’t heard much from them since their 2007 album Turn The Lights Out, however there is enough on that album to hold me over for a while. These guys make for great travelin’ music. . . . .in your face, raw punk rock.

Check out some songs off of “Turn The Lights Out”:

The Ponys - Double Vision
The Ponys - 1209 Seminary

The Ponys - MySpace

Be good to yourself. . .own or download The Ponys - Turn The Lights Out

Chris Bathgate is straight out of Ann Arbor Michigan, which has been said to be the hotbed of Ypsilanti folk music. Bathgate’s music is amazing. I find his sound so emotional and pure, yet quite relaxing. He released his 4th album at the end of June last year A Cork Tale Wake and it is absolutely incredible. It does not disappoint.

Check out a few songs off of A Cork Tale Wake:

Chris Bathgate - Everywall
Chris Bathgate - Serpentine
Chris Bathgate - Flash of Light

Chris Bathgate - Website
Chris Bathgate - Website (Quite Scientific Label)
Chris Bathgate- MySpace

Get ‘Chris Bathgate - A Cork Tale Wake’

The Bosch is a quartet out of NYC. I ran across some blogs on these guys last year and made sure to add a mental bookmark for them. They have a raw energy that drives their music (Yes that’s why they are sportin’ the 24 inch pythons). They released their last album ‘Hurry Up’ mid 2007 and it is being accepted pretty well online. Check out 3 songs off of ‘Hurry Up’:

The Bosch - Brooklyn Cars
The Bosch - Worst Thing
The Bosch - This Town

The Bosch - Website
The Bosch - MySpace

Guerolito, is the 2005 remix compilation of Beck’s incredible Guero. There are a lot of interesting remixes on this compilation. One of my favorites is the Boards of Canada remix of ‘Broken Drum’. Check it out, it is truly an incredible remix.

Beck - Broken Drum (Boards of Canada remix)

Get Beck - Guerolito

I first heard of San Francisco sextet Magic Bullets on 3Hive.com. About 1/2 year later I am finally getting back to them and realized how much I like this group. These guys exude that 80’s New Order type of feel, yet bring the current Arcade Fire style of free-flowing indie pop. Their debut album “a CHILD but in life yet a DOCTOR in love” came out early last year and is quite amazing.

Check out these songs off of their debut album. You’ll find it is easy to listen to these over and over.

Magic Bullets - Heatstroke
Magic Bullets - Yesterdays Seen Better Todays

Magic Bullets - Website
Magic Bullets - MySpace

Get ‘Magic Bullets - a CHILD but in life yet a DOCTOR in love’