East Hundred – Slow Burning Crimes
(from Puddlegum)
Squeaky clean pop-rock from a Pennsylvania quintet trying to erase the Cardigans from living memory.
Mercy Arms – Down Here So Long
(from MySpace)
Gloom-wop's gone global with the arrival of Sydney's Mercy Arms, who belie their sunny heritage for Glasvegas's darker sound. The Scots will be happy. Oh … no … that's right – they won't.
The Gourds – Fossil Contender
(from The KEXP blog)
From the Texan's ninth album, Haymaker. Their goal is to make music that irritates country's "honky tonk badonkadonks". Covering Snoop Dogg's Gin and Juice was a good place to start.
AC Slater – Party Like Us
(from Palms Out Sounds)
First release from Party Like Us Records – AC's new venture with fellow hardcore veterans B Rich and Udachi. For good-time music it's a decidedly grouchy groove, with distortion all over the show. Now, when is someone going to give this one a record deal?
K-the-I??? featuring NoCanDo – Trading Places
(from Fluxblog)
K-the-I???'s sharp rap (along with the emergence of dance-pop five-piece Passion Pit) lends weight to the suggestion that Cambridge, Massachusetts could be 2009's New York, Glasgow and Portland, Oregon rolled into one.
