Meagan Grandall and Kendra Cox make up the gentle dream-pop duo Lemolo. The name is derived from a street in their hometown of Poulsbo called Lemolo Shore Drive. The street is apparently loaded with personal memories for the pair, plus Lemolo means “wild and untamed” in Chinook jargon, so that’s kinda cool.

Lemolo’s music, though, is anything but wild and untamed, a gentle brand of synth-pop that shimmers with sincerity. They’ve scarcely got any tunes out in the open right now, though they’re working on a full length at the moment. For now all we’ve got to hear is the fittingly named “Singles Record”, a short-but-sweet affair consisting of only two tracks. The first, “Whale Song”, is a drifting, synthy tune written for Grandall’s six year old neighbour.

The vocals are appropriately whimsical – “We were out walking the dogs, all of us/ The rabbits wore dresses and all talked a lot”, with perhaps a tinge of envy for the innocence of childhood: the song’s protagonist, presumably said six year old “sees the world the way she wants.” “Open Air”, the second of the singles on “The Singles Record”, is even more sparse, a sensitive number that relies on little more than a piano and Grandall and Cox’s beautifully merging vocals for propulsion.

Perusing Lemolo’s Facebook page I couldn’t help but notice photos of their recent live performances, I’m thinking these two, that suggest this pair have a little more oomf than their recorded work shows off right now, so I’m looking forward to hearing how Lemolo’s first full length balances the fragility displayed so far with the group’s live spark. For now, stream “The Singles Record” below and head over to KEXP for an interview with Lemolo from earlier this year.

Connect with Lemolo: Facebook | Bandcamp | Website

Conveyor are a former keyboard-duo turned four-piece, founded in Gainsville Florida but now working in Brooklyn. Their debut EP, called Sun Ray, brings a brand of synth-meets-guitar indie-pop that’s hardly unfamiliar, but is delivered with a calm maturity that’s worth checking out.

The highlight of the EP is the opening track, “Foreword”. It opens with gentle group harmonies extremely reminiscent of Low, except where Low usually make me want to weep, this track is comforting and warm, a result of the gentle synths that bubble in the background throughout. Throw in a distortion drenched guitar solo for the bridge, and you’ve got a winner. The EP’s third track, “Yes Some Things Are So Heavy”, pulls off the same trick of appearing sombre before cheering up, so that the song’s fadeout, which would be chilling in isolation, is somehow uplifting. This time it’s achieved with a lyrical turn around rather than instrumental warmth: “Yes, some things are so heavy. I’ll pick them up. You don’t have too.”

The other two tracks on the EP are more unambiguously cheery, all catchy drum loops and chirpy synths. Closing track “Milkman” is just silly fun, cutting loose after the more serious efforts that come before. There’s something of Local Natives to the song’s opening harmony, which is followed by some irresistibly funny “yum yum yums” and playful lyrics: “I am the milkman, my bones are thick and stronger than bricks”.

Swing by the Bandcamp link to download the EP, check out the dates for Conveyor’s north-eastern tour in August and September, and even pre-order a swanky, limited edition, orange vinyl copy of Sun Ray which will be released on September 6th.

Connect with Conveyor: Bandcamp | Website

Brazilian Money, a band that we’ve featured before who have a new and mightily focussed 6-track EP out, turned me on to Little Jungles, and I’m sure glad they did: “Winter Was Warmer”, an impossibly delicious slice of shoegaze that’s drenched in early nineties influences, has instantly become one of my favourite tracks of the year so far, and the rest of Little Jungles’ debut “Wuts Goin Thru Yer Head” is pretty gorgeous too.

“Drive Yerself Crazy” opens things up with inviting, playful synths and beats that wouldn’t feel out of place on an Aphex Twin album. The deliberate misspelling of the title puts Mercury Rev’s early work in mind, and this is indeed dream-pop in the same mould. Beneath the chirpy sound, though, there’s some obvious emotional unrest:  “You’re always telling me all the negative things that I know I could change, but it takes a long time to change.”

Clearly then, Matthew Niemann, the man behind the Little Jungles name, isn’t afraid to speak his mind or tell us his troubles. These come further to the fore on a couple of the album’s weaker numbers, namely “Please Put That Knife Away”, an appropriately menacing but over-long song, and “1000 Cigarettes”, a howler that challenges Bon Iver’s “Beth/Rest” for corniest opening synth stabs of the year. Yeah.

Happily, these two tunes are nothing more than blips: Niemann puts gloom on the backburner for most of the album. “Turn To Me” combines the obvious sincerity of the album’s more serious tracks with a message that is as uplifting as the music actually sounds: “When all your plans have been derailed, don’t let it get you down. When you’re not sure which way to turn, turn to me.” “Blue Heron”, with its big riff, big drums and big distortion, is screaming to be played in a stadium and then, of course, there’s “Winter Is Warmer”. Too good.

If, like me, you hope that the echoes of the shoegaze heyday keep on reverberating forever, you have to check this album out. Stream all of “Wuts Goin Thru Yer Head” below and swing by the bandcamp link for a name your price download.

Connect with Little Jungles: Myspace | Facebook | Bandcamp

Connect with Gardens & Villa – Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp | Blog

It’s not an official video but instead Burnt Ones lead singer Mark running through this new song on his own.  It’s the first new music we’ve heard from the Indianapolis/San Francisco-based band since last year’s excellent debut album “Black Teeth & Golden Tongues”.

Connect with Burnt Ones - Facebook | MySpace | Website | Last.fm

See Land is the side project of Doug Kaplan, electric guitarist for college/post/math/prog/heck, pretty much anything-rock outfit The Earth Is A Man. Where The Earth Is A Man demand repeat listens to fathom out the intertwining layers of their fascinating grooves, See Land’s self-titled debut needs to be heard over and over for just the opposite reason: it’s sparseness. These are delicate, ambient tracks, in the same vein as Brian Eno’s early works and taking cues from minimalist composers like Steve Reich.

“Language Of The Unheard #1″ opens the album sounding not unlike a simple digital music box, before some loose, scratching percussion fades it’s way in and quietly back out again. The reverberating guitar plucks that underpin this track recur throughout the album, supported by a lush bass wall on “Language Of The Unheard #2″, almost entirely swamped on “Language Of The Unheard #3″, and back to the fragile foreground on “Language Of The Unheard #4″, the album closer.

“See Land”, though, is not just a series of variations on a theme: those four tracks are interspersed with others that, while equally bare, are diverse in sound. On “Ambient”, a naggingly familiar chord sequence suggests that Kaplan may owe something of a debt to Radiohead’s “Idioteque“. Far from the unbridled panic of that track, however, “Ambient” is a slow, stripped down number that parts ways with its inspiration and turns into a near hypnotising drone as different elements of the mix fall slowly out of sync with each other.

“Everything And Everything” and the perversely named “Intro” mark something of a contrast, with the rough guitars of the first track putting it closer to a My Bloody Valentine soundscape than the minimal, soothing tones of the rest of the album – not a bad thing in itself, but undeniably jarring in context. Still, this is a fine ambient album, richly rewarding if you pay attention to it and, unlike the output of The Earth Is A Man, perfectly functional background music too. Stream the whole album below or head on over to See Land’s bandcamp page for a name your price download.

Connect with See Land: Bandcamp | Last.fm

The Mhurs gave us a generous preview of their album “In Another Tongue” a couple of months ago. The four tracks they shared, two of them tender emotional outpourings and two of them loud, adventurous rockers, had us pretty excited for the full length, but they did beg the question: can these two styles be balanced for a whole album?

Happily, we need look no further than the title track for the answer, and it’s a resounding yes. For the most part the song is driven by an upbeat, Strokes-alike riff with a bluesy edge. One brief interlude, however, sees the song turn into a doleful confessional with lyrics bemoaning that “everything I do I just won’t change… Anything to forget, and accept your love.” Jarring? Not at all. It’s a great track that, fittingly, plays out like a microcosm of the whole album.

With the tone set by “In Another Tongue”, The Mhurs lay out some space to explore their dichotomous sound with a suite of four tracks that form the bulk of the first half of the album. “Oh World Part 1″ is a wonderfully perky tune that eventually gives way to the heartfelt part 2, which sounds like an extended sigh, making sense of the name. When lead singer Johnny Maguire tells his lover that “there’s no place that you’d rather be than to grow into a family with me”, it sure doesn’t sound like he’s stating the facts: this is a plea.

Another gapless segue ushers in “Amy’s Wine House Part 1″, emphatically not a statement on the passing of its namesake – these songs were recorded long before that tragedy. Nor is it, to my ear at least, a comment on her life, though some may hear that in the filthy, fuzzed up bass riff of this brilliant, raucous track. The follow up, “Amy’s Wine House Part 2″, kicks in without a moment’s respite, and there’s little more to it than a repeated cry of “give in to me, cos I need you so much”. At first this refrain seems to providee some much needed breathing space after the cacophony of the previous track, but as the song progresses the repetition becomes suffocating. A comment on addiction? If you like. Certainly it’s an unconventional way to end a run of songs that demonstrate ambition beyond what you might expect from this relatively young band.

Impressive as the suite is, on first listen it can be tough to find something to hold on to in all of those elided tracks. The rest of the album, though, offers plenty of easy hooks. Rollicking opener “On The Farm” will get in your head instantly [might that opening yelp of  "1, 2, 3!" be a tribute to 1, 2, 3, the very same band who put us onto The Mhurs in the first place? Almost certainly not, but hey, it's nice to pretend]. The soaring vocals and matching guitar of “Why?!” and the crunching blues rock of “I’m Sorry Forever”, two tracks that the Mhurs have shared with us before, have lost no impact for their familiarity. They were two of my tracks of the year when I first heard them, and remain so now.

So it’s a brilliant debut album. Maguire’s vocals are the only potential turnoff. It’s not the case on every track, but on a few of them, and particularly on “Amy’s Wine House Part 1″, his high-pitched wail sounds as delerious as anyone since Jack White when his girl lost her faith in medicine. While that’s a thrill to me, it might be a strain for some. If you’re not put off by that, then you’ve really got to check this album out. Stream the whole album below and head on over to The Mhurs’ bandcamp page, or find them on iTunes, to buy.

Connect with The Mhurs: Myspace | Facebook | Bandcamp | Last.fm

I just graduated from college in the Chicago area, and now that I get out into the city a lot more often, I get the chance to pick up on bands making the rounds at local venues. Pet Lions are one such buzzed about local group that has opened for Maps & Atlases and White Rabbits around the city. They released the Soft Right EP back in spring 2009, but their full-length debut Houses came out in the beginning of May, full of shimmery tracks just in time for summer. The album title is pretty apt, as the band shifts from style to style pretty easily, though always within the confines of staying catchy, which isn’t a bad thing at all.

With influences as diverse as the catchy moments of Sonic Youth (“When I Grow Old”) to the power pop of Phoenix (“Mexican Cigarettes”), these guys are all over the map reaching for the tightest hook. My favorite at the moment is album closer and great beach track “Thieves” which melds some great harmonies into a foundation of unimpeded guitars. It’s like bubblegum indie rock, enjoy it while you can.

Stream the full album below or at Pet Lions’ Bandcamp site, or head over to their official website to see some live performance videos that give you an idea of their shows around Chicago. Hopefully they’ll get out on a full tour soon, they’re a lot of fun.

Connect with Pet Lions – Facebook / Twitter / Website / Bandcamp

Pet Lions – “When I Grow Old”
Pet Lions – “Mexican Cigarettes”

Eugh. Just look at those publicity shots. Dylan Champagne has been crafted to look like the most smug man on the planet. His fighting stance on the left is just inviting you to hit him. With photos like those, an album called “Love Songs of the Apocalypse Volume 1″ and a bandcamp blurb that describes the record as “a shout-out to all the ghosts haunting the mid-sized semi-urban dystopia in my head”, I fully expected to hate Champagne’s music, knowing that I already hated him.

Well, I was wrong. The opening guitar part of “Greenfield Manifesto”, the album’s lead single, and accompanying faint strings have an inviting mystery to them, and any thoughts that Dylan’s work might be smarmy or insincere disappear as soon as his voice kicks in. This is a tender, affecting song in which we learn of childhood trials and tribulations, of bullies who made Dylan cry “like a front-yard dog, all chained up and halfway starved”. The chant of “la la la”, which might be celebratory in a very different song, is perfectly doleful here. Consider me disarmed.

There’s more than just acoustic folk on this album: “The Daily Albatross”, “Finally Ready” and “The Ballad Of J. Flato” all feature ragged but driving guitar parts that make sense of Dylan tagging his music as prog-punk. The songs are strongest, though, when their focus is lyrical. Dylan is full of self-deprecating witticisms,  bemoaning “living his life in parantheticals” and saying he’s “no livewire… just a filament”.

This is insecure self-reflection made listenable and even uplifting, stirring similar emotions to Arcade Fire‘s Neon Bible. Now, let’s get this man some good PR and do away with that terrible first impression. And if that’s just how Dylan always dresses, well, my bad.

You can download “Greenfield Manifesto” and “California Song” below, and ead over to Dylan’s bandcamp page to stream the whole album or buy it for $5 [or more, you generous thing].

Connect with Dylan Champagne: Myspace | Facebook | Bandcamp

Dylan Champagne – “Greenfield Manifesto”
Dylan Champagne – “California Song”