FREE DOWNLOADS:
The Duke Spirit - "Lassoo"
Mikal Blue - "Gold"
Foals - "Balloons"
She & Him - "Why Stay Here"
With hot new bands popping up like mushrooms after a storm, it can be exasperating trying to pick out the best of the bunch. Here, we direct your attention to four indie rock outfits that are really worth your time. Download these four free MP3s and hear for yourself.
THE DUKE SPIRIT
After a false start three years ago, the Duke Spirit return reinvigorated this year with their second album, Neptune. Revealing a heavy Velvet Underground influence, the group plays stormy guitar rock that lurches forward with the help of brawny platinum blonde singer Leila Moss. Ex-Voto, an EP that preceded the album, featured three songs recorded with Queens of the Stone Age’s Chris Goss in Joshua Tree. Of the magical setting, Moss enthused, “We woke up in a Mexican-style casita on a mountain side every morning. We looked for snakes everyday. We recorded while some of our favorite rock and rollers would pop by for a burrito. It was hot as hell. We drank margaritas and our new friends played us music by people we’d never had the chance to get into before, like Fatso Jetson and the Shaggs.”
MIKAL BLUE
The man who produced Colbie Caillat’s inescapable single “Bubbly,” Blue has also worked his pop magic for the likes of Augustana, One Republic, Save Ferris, Brendan James, and Five for Fighting. The British musician’s solo debut, Gold, is every bit as polished as you might expect, with its studio crispness giving way to big, bright melodies. “When I was six or seven years old, my mother gave me a very old record player and about a handful of Beatles singles, and I fell in love with them,” he told the Seattle Post Intelligencer. “Songs like ‘Yes It Is’ and ‘Eleanor Rigby.’ I played them over and over and just wanted to know more and more about them.”
FOALS
Another band of hipsters with an affinity for wiry African rhythms, Oxford’s Foals actually do much more with the inspiration than Vampire Weekend could ever imagine. On the group’s Sub Pop debut, Antidotes, producer Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio helps channel post-punk riffs, blaring horns, and haunting chants to create a sound that is extra tight. “We’re different to the other bands out there,” Greek-born singer Yannis Philippaks told SouthScene. “We’re trying to do something fresh that doesn’t just set out to rehash music from 10 years ago. Well, we might have a go at ripping some techno off, but translating that into guitars is something that not many other people are doing.”
SHE & HIM
People will rightfully approach this project with caution. After all, Zooey Deschanel is best known as an actress with roles in Almost Famous and the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan film The Happening. Not a good sign. But thanks to the involvement of indie stalwart M. Ward, this duo masterfully mines '70s AM gold on its debut album, Volume One. “I sort of always liked everything antique—it always just felt like a treat, like a little treasure,” Deschanel told New York magazine. “Compared to old music, new music just felt, by and large, sort of soulless. Though I’m sure there are tons of horrible old records I know nothing about.” If nothing else, it’s better than her duet with Will Ferrell on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in the movie Elf.
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