Nick Waterhouse will release his debut album “Time’s All Gone” on May 1st via Innovative Leisure.

For the last year or so, San Francisco native Nick Waterhouse has been plying his R&B, soul-hopped trade, both online and off, with his live shows having been noted for their bombastic and energetic nature.

He also released a 7″ single for “Some Place”, one that quickly sold out and was subsequently selling on eBay for upwards of $200, though the follow-up to that single “Is That Clear” can still be bought for $13 shipped.

We already spotlighted Nick Waterhouse as One To Watch for 2012, and now that he’s announced his debut album “Time’s All Gone” it’s only a matter of time before everyone picks up on him and starts singing his praises, and international stardom is the only fitting level of exposure he deserves.  Check out his track “Some Place” below but also make sure you check out his live performance of the album’s title track featuring Ty Segall on drums from last week in San Francisco.

Connect with Nick Waterhouse – Facebook | Twitter | Website | Last.fm

Jack White will release his debut solo album “Blunderbuss” on April 24th via his own Third Man Records and XL.

Almost exactly one year to the day since The White Stripes disbanded, Jack White announced this afternoon via his newly-designed website, that his debut solo album will be called “Blunderbuss”, with a release date of April 24th.

Today he’ll stream the first cut from the album “Love Interruption” which you can pre-order over at his website, but there’s also a 30 second snippet of it floating around the web, and it’s nothing like the wailing punk blues you’ve come to know The White Stripes for, instead it’s in the same vein as the acoustic tracks on their albums. We’ll update this when we have a stream of the song (expected later today). It’s here (below)!

In the meantime check out The White Stripes‘ video for “Fell In Love With A Girl”.

Sharon Van Etten will release her new single “Leonard” on March 6th.

She hasn’t officially announced it herself yet, nor have her label or PR people, but Sharon Van Etten will release “Leonard”, the second single from her stunning album “Tramp”, on March 6th.

You can wait for either herself or her label to announce it if you want to, or you can just go ahead and pre-order the 7″ before they sell out, but if you need further convincing as to just why her new album is so good, either listen to “Tramp” in its entirety, or watch her session for i-D below where she played “Leonard” live.

Connect with Sharon Van Etten - Facebook | Twitter | Website | Last.fm

January has come and gone. In some parts of the world Lana Del Rey‘s “Born To Die” has already been released to mixed reviews, nowhere near making as big a splash as was anticipated by some. I’ve given it a listen, it’s fine, but, as I expected, nothing remarkable. In not-LDR-related news, there have been plenty of good releases so far in this past month, with Cloud Nothings, Porcelain Raft or Hospitality dropping very solid albums. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg to what looks to be like a great year for music.

Below is the first part of what my personal picks (I want to emphasize that part, though some overlap, these aren’t the site’s picks, just mine) for great albums I hope this coming year brings. Supposedly it’s the last one we’ve got, and though I don’t really believe the 2012 hullabaloo, I really hope all these artists bring their A-game and blow me away just in case it actually is time to go.

Be sure to also check out Part One, which we posted yesterday.

News Of The Fire – TBA (Late 2012)

On the “Motions and Hints” EP News Of The Fire released about a year ago, the band displayed surprisingly strong songwriting abilities for a band so young. Standout songs like “1996” or “Faces” were good showings of indie rock, with strong guitar riffs and catchy melodies that made the EP a consistent and enjoyable listen.

After featuring the band’s video for “1996” from their Jam In The Van session, lead singer and guitarist Dan Fromhart contacted me to thank me for the feature, and I asked him about new material. I was excited to find out that there is an album in the works and though he couldn’t give me a guarantee, he did say that they would try and get it out by the end of this year.

Of course, the record is still in very early stages, but that’s good enough for me to put it on this list. It’s yet to be seen if News Of The Fire can live up to their promise, but I’m sure they won’t go down without a fight.

Nick Waterhouse – TBA (May 3)

Like other artists on this list, Nick Waterhouse could have easily made music in another era without sticking out. His style is similar to Mayer Hawthorne’s, revisiting classic Motown sounds with fat horns, vocals full of soul be they lead or backup. Unlike Hawthorne, though, Waterhouse doesn’t seem interested in making things sound current. Whereas with the former you could a get feel that it’s not quite from the 60’s and 70’s, it’d be much easier to confuse the latter with an artist from that period, particularly because of the production choices made with his music, which sound like they’ve been recorded on vintage analog equipment (and, as far as I can tell there’s nothing to indicate otherwise).

So far the California singer has only released a handful of songs, which combined don’t reach 15 minutes worth of material, but it’s been enough for us to declare him One To Watch for this year. Giving his songs a listen it’s easy to see why, but the brevity of the material isn’t quite enough to quench my thirst. Of course, I could always go listen to classic Motown, but where’s the fun in that? Until we have a proper album from Nick Waterhouse, due out May 3rd, I’ll keep playing his EP, though owning it digitally doesn’t feel right.

Passion Pit – TBA (TBA)

2009’s “Manners” served as the introduction to Passion Pit as a fully fleshed out band. Prior to that, singer/creative force/frontman Michael Angelakos had put out an EP, “Chunk Of Change” that displayed an interesting, pseudo-experimental direction for a synth-pop band. The record ended up on my personal year-end list thanks to its strong hooks, high energy and sonic variations in a genre that I consider one of my favorites. It was a collection of hits, almost all of which could have easily been singles, packaged in an album format, all killer no filler, if you will.

It’s been well over two years since “Manners” dropped, and it’s been known that the band has been in the studio for quite some time, which all seems to indicate that we will, in fact, get a new Passion Pit record at some point this year. Details are close to none, but Passion Pit fans, such as myself, are eagerly awaiting them. So far we also know that the band has a couple of summer festival dates lined up for the summer, so hopefully that means things are wrapping-up.

Phoenix – TBA (TBA)

French band Phoenix put out a killer album in 2009, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”, which garnered them well-deserved worldwide fame after a decade making music. The record, their fourth, was incredibly consistent, with 7 synth-pop tunes that were as best as they come for the genre and a two-part experimental piece that served as a break in between the hooks that songs like “Lisztomania”, “1901” or “Armistice” (I could have listed any track, really) presented.

It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting an album anything like “WAP”, or any of its predecessors, though. Lead singer Thomas Mars has gone on record saying that he’s tired of pop music and the band were working on a minimalist experimental style. While that description makes me a bit weary as to the type of songs the album will present, the five-piece from Paris are known for putting out consistent albums that have gotten better with the years and experience, so it’ll still certainly be one to watch for.

POLIÇA – “Give You The Ghost” (February 14)

This one is a bit of cheat, as I’ve had the record since I first introduced the band, but it really is one that I’m anticipating to be widely available for more to enjoy (you can enjoy the digital edition of the album if you pre-order it, actually). POLIÇA is not for everybody, though, but those who enjoy vocoded vocals and experimental R&B in the style of Active Child (but much less angelical and more hard-hitting instead) are most likely going to enjoy “Give You The Ghost”.

The tracks that have dropped so far, “Lay Your Cards Out”, “Wandering Star” and “Dark Star” are all fantastic shows of what the POLIÇA and the album is all about. I will say that they are album standouts, but that’s no reason not to give the rest of “Give You The Ghost” a fair listen and see just how good the band really can be, and the reason we touted them as Ones To Watch.

Sharon Van Etten – “Tramp” (February 7)

To be honest, I’ve never been completely sold on Sharon Van Etten’s previous material. The singer has released two records to date, “Because I Was In Love” in 2009 and “Epic” in 2010. The first was a much more acoustic record, that for me got a bit bland by the end, but it did contain the beautifully moving “For You”, a reason why I kept the Brooklyn singer in the back of my mind. “Epic”, a cross between an EP and an LP, was an improvement, benefitting from the added instrumentation, and again tracks like “Don’t Do It” or “Save Yourself” sparked my attention for what could come next.

And what came next was “Serpents”, the first song from Van Etten’s third album, “Tramp”. To be honest, if it weren’t for that song I doubt this would even be on this list. The track is great on its own, but her live performance made it even better. “Serpents”, while moody and dark, still remains catchy and upbeat in nature, and while seemingly contradictory descriptions, I can’t think of a better way to do so. It’s more aggressive than most (anything, I would say) of the singer’s previous material, and I’m really excited to finally be able to listen to “Tramp” in its entirety starting February 7th.

The Shins – “Port Of Morrow” (March)

I will admit to only being a casual fan of The Shins. I’ve listened to, and enjoyed all three of their albums and, while they contain some tracks I love, as a whole they fall a little short of the “great” mark for me. Regardless, my love of a few songs on each release always keeps the James Mercer-fronted band on the back of my mind.

Really, the thing that got me excited for “Port Of Morrow” was lead single, “Simple Song”. It contains much of what makes me love The Shins’ songs that I do, such as plenty of swells and changes in intensity and tempo and yet another great vocal delivery from Mercer, one of my favorite elements of both The Shins and his side project with Danger Mouse, Broken Bells. The song is built for arenas, with massive reverb on the vocals, something that reminds me of one my favorite tunes by the band, “Australia” off their 2007 release “Wincing The Night Away”.

While I’m not as excited for “Port Of Morrow” as I am for some of the other releases on this list, I am looking forward to giving it a listen and see if there’s another standout I can add to the list of songs I love by The Shins, or if maybe they finally put an album out that wows me from start to finish.

Sleigh Bells – “Reign Of Terror” (February 21)

Back in 2010 we awarded Sleigh Bells‘ debut album “Treats” our album of the year award, though that was definitely a polarising decision, and towards the end of 2011 they announced its follow-up “Reign Of Terror”.  Whilst the first couple of songs we’ve heard from it in “Born To Lose” and “Comeback Kid” haven’t been as assaulting and punchy-in-your-facey as the standouts form “Treats” they do still pack that extra 15lbs of explosives that other bands can rarely handle.

To whet your appetite, check out the previously mentioned “Born To Lose” and “Comeback Kid” and with three weeks left until “Reign Of Terror”‘s release, you better pick your melted face back up off the floor in time for the album drop.

South Of France – TBA (Early Spring)

South Of France have been labeled one of our Ones To Watch for 2012 based on the strength of their “Kings” EP which they released last year. The three songs on “Kings” were very much in the Cults vein, with a seemingly upbeat, 60’s pop influenced style loaded with hooks, although done in a more distorted manner. The music contained a lot of subtleties, though, which kept the three short songs interesting even on repeated listens.

When I contacted the band about a full-length, anxious to hear more, they told me that it was definitely in the works, they were very happy with it, and they were hoping to have it out at some point in February. So far, there’s not much news coming from their front, but my eyes, and ears, are peeled.

Twin Shadow – TBA (First Half of 2012)

Twin Shadow’s “Forget” arrived late in 2010, and I hopped on the bandwagon even later, but the album grew on me in such a way that it ended up in my personal top 3 of that year. The Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear)-produced album presented a very 80’s dance-groove aesthetic with lo-fi production. The songs were instantly memorable with plenty of hooks and catchy melodies that didn’t grow old on repeated listens, but rather got better.

One of my favorite songs on the album, “Shooting Holes” ended up being a year-end standout, but was just one example of George Lewis Jr.’s strong songwriting skills. And while most of the album was best when it was upbeat, the title track, which closed off the album, demonstrated that Twin Shadow was also able to keep things interesting and engaging even when slowed down.

Last year the project also dropped a song, “Changes”, which was a cover of an obscure 80’s Italian band, and presented a more pop-y direction for the band, but one that suited them well. As of right now it looks like Twin Shadow’s sophomore album is looking to be released in the first half of the year. Whatever that means, I hope it’s sooner rather than later.

Vampire Weekend – TBA (TBA)

As good of an album Vampire Weekend’s 2008 self-titled debut was, I’ve personally found myself revisiting its 2010 followup, “Contra” a lot more. Although both records maintain a lot of the same characteristics, the subtle (or not so subtle) electronics and experimentation used on “Contra” made for a more exciting listen for me. Songs like “Run” or “Giving Up the Gun”, despite their differences, were both strong shows that Vampire Weekend wasn’t going to let themselves get eaten up by the critics expecting a more than subpar follow up to their first album. The band took risks, such as sampling M.I.A. or closing off the album with the slow building, acoustic guitar-featuring “I Think Ur A Contra”, and they paid off, as they were executed to near perfection.

Now, Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanjli, Chris Baio and Chris Thomson are working on what is to be their third album. Despite saying themselves that they needed a bit of a break and Rostam’s solo tracks, released last year, it doesn’t look like Vampire Weekend is going anywhere just yet. For me, that’s great news, as I find their albums thrilling and refreshing. It’s still not entirely clear whether album number three will actually drop this year, so it’ll be a waiting game, and hopefully it’ll be worth the wait.

Woodkid – “The Golden Age” (TBA)

Woodkid is the stage name of French director Yoann Lemoine, famous for directing videos for Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and, more recently, Lana Del Rey herself. Already labeled as One To Watch for this year, Woodkid is currently at work to follow up his “Iron” EP which he released last year. While the title track was a dark, brooding number with spacey synths and thick drums, the remaining three tracks presented a much more acoustic path, so it’ll be interesting to see where Lemoine decides to take his sound.

Despite being early in the recording process, the record seems to already be titled “The Golden Age”. From the pictures that have been released of the sessions, it’s looking to be a grand record, as Woodkid seems to be recording with a small orchestra. He’s already demonstrated he’s a man of talent, so I’m anticipating the direction choices he makes for his first full-length album.

The xx – TBA (TBA)

The xx went into the studio late last year to write and record a follow-up to 2009’s haunting “XX”. The album’s minimalist sound on the album I feel marked an inflexion point in modern music, as since then there’s been a heavy emphasis placed on ambient sounds from numerous electronic producers that have chosen to keep things minimal, placing heavy emphasis on atmosphere. It’s funny that, in the same year that I loved albums by Passion Pit and Phoenix, both bombastic albums with tons of added instrumentation, “XX” also ended up as year-end favorite. It’s actually pretty incredible what it accomplishes with so little, in clear case of “what you see (hear) is what you get”.

Since the release of that album, the only member of The xx that’s managed to stay in the news has been beatmaker/producer Jamie xx. The produced dropped an album reworking Gil Scott-Heron’s “I’m New Here”, titled “We’re New Here”, few noteworthy tracks and remixes including “Far Nearer” and a stellar remix of Adele’s chart-topping “Rolling In The Deep” as well as some production credits on two of last year’s biggest releases, Drake’s “Take Care” and Rihanna’s “Talk That Talk”.

So far all we’ve heard from the new album, which the band is hoping to drop before their festival releases, is a hauntingly beautiful demo of a song titled “Eyes Open” that maintains the same train of thought as their debut. Jamie xx has gone on record saying that the new album is very inspired by club music, so we’ll have to see how the band are able to incorporate the new direction while still maintaining their style.

Click the image to enlarge it

Today Listen Before You Buy turns two years old, which may not sound like that big of a deal (things turn two all the time), but considering that I never expected anyone to really give a shit about the site besides myself and my cat, it’s pretty fucking huge.

Last year on our first anniversary I made an annual report of sorts, laying out all the stats and numbers and milestones we hit for that first year, and I’m doing the same again this year.  If you’re looking for some history on the site, how it began, and our first year you can check out last year’s post that gives a run down of everything.

The last 12 months for the site has been insane. We grew out of our shared hosting and into a relatively inexpensive VPS, but even that wasn’t enough for the amount of content we were posting and we’d quickly run out of resources, so the site would go down. That was a recurring theme throughout the year, especially when places like Pitchfork, Stereogum, Consequence Of Sound, Beats Per Minute, and others would link to us, our host is sucky and couldn’t handle it, but the links from those guys really propelled the site into a much wider audience, so if you work for either of those sites, or anyone else who linked to us in the last 12 months, I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you, thank you.

I brought on a shit-tonne of new writers, lost a shit-tonne in the process, and developed a really great team of dedicated staff members helping to bring you the content that we post every day. If you wrote for us in the last 12 months, I owe you all a (root) beer. If you still write for us, I owe you all a case pack of proper beer. A huge huge huge thanks to Alex (Reviews Team Editor) and David (Artist Discovery Team Editor) for helping to keep me sane in the last 12 months, and an equally as huge thanks to the newer faces on our Editorial staff (Jay and Jorge) as well as everyone else who writes for us. You guys fucking rock!

I’d also like to say thanks to every single artist who sent us their music this past year, whether we featured it or not. We hope to give everyone a fair chance and so we do listen to everything (literally).  It’s great that people think of us even if it’s just a blast email to 100 other sites, we like being in their company. To the bands who sent me their vinyl for free, thank you (I’ll never get tired of that), and to the bands who put our writers on their guest lists for shows, thank you for that too.

Last, but not least, I’d like to thank every single one of you who’ve ever read the site even just once in the last year. If you come back regularly, subscribe to the RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook, my eternal thanks couldn’t be enough. When artists give speeches and thank their fans, it always seems cliched, but with you guys who read us on a regular basis, it means a fucking lot that you do, not just to me but to the rest of our staff too.  So don’t be a stranger, come say hey, send us some music you like, hit us up on Twitter or Facebook, or just send is some fan/hate mail (we love it all).

So, onto the good shit. For some sites it’s taboo to talk about their stats. They don’t want to share how many pageviews they get for fear of appearing inferior to someone else (or something like that), but unless you’re Pitchfork or Reddit, you’re going to look inferior to some other site anyway. We can’t all do that well, but if you’re interested in stats and how we as a site are doing, then this is for you.

Thanks again to everyone involved in the site and everyone else who reads it or follows us. Support the artists, buy their music, see their shows, let them know you love their music, and let’s keep music alive.

Connect with Listen Before You Buy – Facebook | Twitter | Last.fm

Subscribers Overview (we switched RSS feed links and so some are still subscribed to the old, some to the new):

• Old RSS: 425 (one year ago: 246)
• New RSS: 213
• Feedburner: 366
• WordPress: 1,276 (one year ago: 329)
• Twitter Followers: 2,846 (one year ago: 1,017)
• Facebook Likes: 3,825 (one year ago: 682)
• Average No. Of Posts Per Week: 50.6 (one year ago: 36.9)

Facebook:

• Post Views: 6,372,735 (one year ago: 209,257)
• Post Feedback: 11,555 (one year ago: 461)
• Monthly Active Users: 18,474 (one year ago: 704)
• Last 30 Days: 809,203 Views (one year ago: 128,741)

Emails:

• Total: 11,354 (one year ago: 4,663)
• Unread: 0 (one year ago: 0)
• Inbox: 23 (one year ago: 44)
• Rejected Folder: 2,048 (one year ago: 449)
• Featured Folder: 619 (one year ago: 141)
• DMCAs: 25 (one year ago: 2)
• Total Number Of Twitter Followers (email notification for each new follower): 4,851 (one year ago: 1,586), 103 in the last 10 days (one year ago: 108 in the last 10 days)

Visits/Pageviews:

• January 2011: 87,627 Visits, 122,729 Pageviews (Jan 2010: 61 Visits, 135 Pageviews)
• February 2011: 72,247 Visits, 96,656 Pageviews (Feb 2010: 320 Visits, 491 Pageviews)
• March 2011: 74,637 Visits, 99,484 Pageviews (Mar 2010: 2,067 Visits, 3,334 Pageviews)
• April 2011: 64,946 Visits, 88,499 Pageviews (Apr 2010: 6,640 Visits, 11,102 Pageviews)
• May 2011: 86,328 Visits, 113,256 Pageviews (May 2010: 10,326 Visits, 15,185 Pageviews)
• June 2011: 59,830 Visits, 103,763 Pageviews (Jun 2010: 27,380 Visits, 37,719 Pageviews)
• July 2011: 59,274 Visits, 158,381 Pageviews (Jul 2010: 26,763 Visits, 36,361 Pageviews)
• August 2011: 55,849 Visits, 149,399 Pageviews (Aug 2010: 45,461 Visits, 63,156 Pageviews)
• September 2011: 59,783 Visits, 159,414 Pageviews (Sep 2010: 57,962 Visits, 80,589 Pageviews)
• October 2011: 64,121 Visits, 181,416 Pageviews (Oct 2010:  65,977 Visits, 94,630 Pageviews)
• November 2011: 211,585 Visits, 602,656 Pageviews (Nov 2010: 66,715 Visits, 95,234 Pageviews)
• December 2011: 106,216 Visits, 339,629 Pageviews (Dec 2010: 65,598 Visits, 91,663 Pageviews)
• January 2012 (with 5 days left in the month): 69,410 Visits, 216,336 Pageviews

Total Stats:

• January 27th 2010 – January 27th 2011: 448,521 Visits, 632,328 Pageviews
• January 27th 2011 – January 27th 2012: 999,010 Visits, 2,329,433 Pageviews
• January 27th 2010 – January 27th 2012: 1,447,126 Visits, 2,961,211 Pageviews

In the last week or two we’ve lost three or four writers and so we have some positions available again that we need filled. At Listen Before You Buy we’re always looking for more writers and contributors, we just don’t always make posts like this to advertise the fact (even though to some it seems like this is ALL we do).

That being said, below are the positions we have available (currently non-paying, but with the prospect of making a few bucks as the site grows). If you’re interested in these positions then please get in touch with us with your name, your preferred position, an example or two of your written work (if you don’t have one then write up a mock review of a song or album), and either include your Last.fm account or list your top five albums of 2010 and your top five albums of 2011.

Connect with Listen Before You Buy - Facebook | Twitter | Last.fm | Soundcloud | Albums

New Music Editor:
An integral part of Listen Before You Buy is posting some of the best new music that the musical world has to offer, and by new music I mean the kind that’s released on a daily basis that grabs people’s attention (OMG, new Radiohead song!). This is probably the most difficult position of all because it requires more of a time commitment than the others, but it’s one of the main aspects of the site that helps it grow and reach wider audiences.

As a New Music Editor, you:

• Must have an excellent grasp of the English language (English doesn’t have to be your first language)
• Must be open to different types of music
• Must be connected with artists, labels, PR companies, blogs, and sites via Twitter, Facebook, and RSS feeds
• Must be able available daily (Mon-Fri especially) to catch the new music as it’s released, listen to it, write up a post about it and post it live to the site
• Must be passionate about music and especially the music you’re writing about
• Must be easily reachable (via email, Twitter, or instant Messaging apps)
• Knowledge of WordPress, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and Grooveshark are preferred but not required (we can walk you through it)

From 23:59 tonight until 23:59 tomorrow (Wednesday 18th), Listen Before You Buy will be taking part in the SOPA/PIPA protests by doing a full site blackout for 24 hours.

There will be no regular content from us, that will resume on Thursday. Instead the site will be blacked out and in its place you’ll be met with information on why it is. Chances are as you make your way around the internet during Wednesday you’ll see a bunch of other sites taking part in this too, such as Wikipedia, Reddit, and Boing Boing, along with thousands of others who are doing protests but not full blackouts such as Google, WordPress (which is the software we use to host LBYB), Mozilla, and others.

You may not think that SOPA/PIPA are a big deal (or even if you’re not in the U.S. you might not think it affects you), but you’d be wrong. As basically as we can put it, these two pieces of U.S. legislation, which have very big chances of being passed, would mean that Listen Before You Buy and many many other websites would not able to function as they do now.

Any site that would provide a feature where copyright infringement could take place (such as YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, or even Gmail) would be branded as an infringing site, and for smaller sites like us we could be wiped off the face of the internet, no questions asked, just because we may have posted a video or a song that someone else thought infringed on copyrights. Think of a YouTube without the ability to upload videos, or a Facebook where you couldn’t share videos, music, or upload pictures, or a Gmail where you couldn’t send someone anything other than simple text emails. That’s what these bills will do.

Sound scary? It is, but you can do something about it.

• Read the bills (SOPA | PIPA) and educate yourself on what they propose and how it will affect you.
• Write to Congress
• Live outside of the U.S.? Petition the State Department.
• Why SOPA Is Dangerous
• Stop American Cencorship
• A Technical Explanation Of SOPA and PIPA

Our hotly-tipped Ones To Watch artist Alabama Shakes have just announced the official release date of their highly-anticipated debut album.

“Boys & Girls” will finally see the light of day on April 10th via ATO Records and will be preceded by a 7″ single (presumably for “Hold On”) that will be released by Jack White‘s label Third Man Records in a couple of weeks. That, my friends, will be one hot cookie, so when you see it up for sale, grab it before they’re gone.

They’ve also given us an official widget for “Hold On” that you can check out below, along with the tracklist of the album.  They’ve set some tour dates between now and the end of March too, including a stop at SXSW in the middle of March.

Connect with Alabama Shakes – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter

“Boys & Girls” tracklist:

1. Hold On
2. I Found You
3. Hang Loose
4. Rise To The Sun
5. You Ain’t Alone
6. Goin’ To The Party
7. Heartbreaker
8. Boys & Girls
9. Be Mine
10. I Ain’t The Same
11. On Your Way

In the last couple of months we’ve been going through some changes, from staff members, the direction of content, ways to connect with us, the design, and a bunch of others that we deal with at LBYB HQ behind the scenes.

One thing we noticed that was causing problems was the site’s RSS feed. It wasn’t always updating on time and sometimes it wouldn’t update for more than a day. We’d notice our subscribers had been steadily increasing but then they stopped, and then we started losing subscribers so we set about figuring it out and fixing it. Long story short is that it’s fixed, but there are now hundreds of you who are still subscribed to the old one, so below are all the ways you can connect with us as well as the link to subscribe to the more up-to-date RSS feed.

Let us know if you have any suggestions or if there are problems you find along the way, and thanks for reading, listening, and watching!

• Website: http://www.listenbeforeyoubuy.net
• RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ListenBeforeYouBuy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ListenBeforeYouBuy
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ListenB4YouBuy
• Last.fm: http://www.last.fm/group/Listen+Before+You+Buy
• The Hype Machine: http://hypem.com/blog/listen+before+you+buy/
• Elbows: http://elbo.ws/blog/10233/
• Instagram: http://www.gramfeed.com/listenbeforeyoubuy

 The Big Pink – “Hit The Ground (Superman)” (King Krule Remix)

Bon Iver have announced “Towers” as the next single from his overwhelmingly well-received second album “Bon Iver, Bon Iver”.

Following on from “Holocene” and “Calgary”, Bon Iver will be releasing a 12″ (and digital) single of “Towers” which is due out on January 23rd via 4AD, which will be backed with a cover of John Prine‘s country ballad “Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrow)”.

Initially featured on a John Prine tribute album released in 2010, Justin Vernon did the original cover so it may feature on the single or it may be a newly recorded version, band in tow. You can listen to the original cover below and hit up 4AD for a pre-orderof the 12″ when it’s available.

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