AMBIENT: ATLAS SOUND AND PEAKING LIGHTS

These two releases have become the soundtrack for staying up really late alone in my bedroom. Atlas Sound's Weekend EP, whose only distribution was through a free download on the Deerhunter/Atlas Sound Blog in 2007, has been a favorite since I first heard it. The opening track, Friday Night We Took Acid and Laid on Matt's Bedroom Floor Staring at His Ceiling Fan While His Parents Watched T.V. Downstairs is the clear standout; it is eerie and beautiful, and somehow, like all of Bradford Cox's best work, it unravels in a way that makes it seem deeply personal both to Cox and to the listener. Even the track titles on this EP (Friday Night We Took Acid..., Saturday Night We Went Swimming And There Was A Light In The Water, Sunday Evening We Relaxed In Our Rooms And Called Each Other On The Phone) convey the kind of magical teenage nostalgia that almost everyone can relate to.

Peaking Lights' Imaginary Falcons was referred to me in early November by Zach, and has since gotten pretty heavy rotation. From the beginning of the first track, the simply-named Intro To Imaginary Falcons, Peaking Lights plunges the listener into the hypnotic, dream-like fog that is this record, full of analog synth, warm vocal melodies, and blown-up, drugged-out guitar. Wedding Song is a favorite but this record is so cohesive that doing anything but listening to it from beginning to end would be foolish. One of my favorite releases of 2009.

Download via Mediafire: Atlas Sound, Weekend EP (2007)
Atlas Sound Myspace | Deerhunter/Atlas Sound Blog

Download via Mediafire: Peaking Lights, Imaginary Falcons (Not Not Fun/Night People, 2009) RE-UPLOADED, 20 JAN 10
Peaking Lights Myspace

CHRISTMAS ISLAND: BLACKOUT SUMMER (IN THE RED, 2009)

Lo-fi garage pop from San Diego. I've started listening to this one in the morning; it goes well with the day's first cup of coffee. Highlights: "My Baby," a sad, jilted-lover song that descends from 60s girl group laments, and "I Don't Care," a catchy, jangly number about tunnel-vision obsession.

Download via MediaFire
Band Myspace

PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT: SHITGAZE ANTHEMS EP (WOODSIST, 2009)

Everyone seems to hate these guys. Is it because they call themselves shitgaze but more often than not, aren't? Is it because frontman Matt Whitehurst made us all feel kind of bad about liking Wavves?

I'm not sure, but either way, there is something really appealing to me about Psychedelic Horseshit just in theory; it's not that there is a swear in both the name of their band and the name of this EP, and it's not that this EP was released by my favorite label of the moment, Woodsist. It's that they're the weird, bad kids in the back of the class causing trouble. I can't help but identify.

They deliver in practice, too. Shitgaze Anthems, a self-proclaimed "nice, safe compilation of B-sides" boasts some of the catchiest songs I've heard this year (Are You On Glass is especially monstrous) delivered through a fun, textured mess of lazy vocals, handclaps, and distortion.

In a recent interview, Whitehurst proclaimed that everything sucks, including his own band. When the interviewer came back at him with the question "Then why should anyone listen to you?" he replied, "Because we're FUN, duh." Indeed.

Download via MediaFire
Band Myspace

THE MAYFAIR SET: YOUNG ONE EP (WOODSIST/CAPTURED TRACKS, 2009)

The Mayfair Set is Mike Sniper of Blank Dogs and Kristen Gundred of Dum Dum Girls. On this Woodsist/Captured Tracks co-release, Gundred's sweet, 60s vocals effortlessly float among Sniper's eerie shitgaze distortions to create something different from (and at times, better than) any Blank Dogs or Dum Dum Girls releases. Sniper and Gundred are undoubtedly best when they sing together on Dark House, a haunting take on the classic boy/girl duet that conjures images of a crazed Sniper chasing Gundred through a house full of ghosts.

Download via MediaFire
Band Myspace

GANGLIANS - GANGLIANS 7" (CAPTURED TRACKS, 2009)

More California psychadelia, this time from Sacramento weirdos Ganglians. Side A, Blood on the Sand, is a catchy as hell, reverb jam and Side B, Make It Up, oscillates easily between classic pop and zombie garage.

To Download (Via Mediafire):

Ganglians: Ganglians 7" (2009)

GIRLS: ALBUM (True Panther, 2009)

I have to admit, I was really wary of this album because of the hype. The never-ending comparisons to Elvis Costello and The Beach Boys seemed too good to be true. More Pitchfork bullshit, I thought.

However, casting aside all of that and actually listening to it, I really like this album. The mishmash of pop, surf rock, and psychedelia is pure California but there is something very beautifully and uniquely sad about the way Girls execute it. Frontman Christopher Owens delivers his uncomplicated, lonely lyrics in such a way that it is jarring how easily relatable they are without seeming cheesy or contrived. "I'm sick and tired of the way that I feel," he sings on Hellhole Ratrace, and on Ghost Mouth, "Now I'm a ghost man in a ghost town and I just wish I could get out and get into heaven."

A lot of people have called this a great Summer record, and although there is a song about the season called Summertime, it seems mostly nostalgic, like Summer is just another thing Owens has lost. To me, Album is much more suited to the colorful cold that is Fall.

To Download (Via Mediafire):

Girls: Album (2009) (Re-uploaded, 10 November 2009)

ATLAS SOUND: LOGOS (KRANKY, 2009)

When unfinished demos of Logos leaked in 2008, Bradford Cox almost abandoned the whole project. I, for one, am grateful he decided not to, as this is quickly becoming my favorite album of 2009 - and it hasn't even been properly released yet.

All of Cox's established trademarks are here - layered, sometimes muffled vocals that can border on ghostly; pop that is both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time; gorgeous soundscapes that make me feel like I am dreaming underwater - but Logos is a much more developed work than 2008's Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel. He's not just experimenting anymore; he's using everything he's got to really write songs now, and they are graceful, nuanced, and more often than not, stunning. The collaborations with Noah Lennox of Animal Collective and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab don't hurt, either.

To Download (Via Mediafire):

Atlas Sound: Logos (2009)

LO-FI LEAKS: NO AGE AND VIVIAN GIRLS

No Age: Losing Feeling EP (Sub Pop, to be released October 2009)


Vivian Girls: Everything Goes Wrong (In The Red, to be released September 2009)