Jasmina Maschina - Alphabet Dream Noise

1. Scott Free
2. Noise is Noise and Feelings Are Feelings
3. Forgotten Wood
4. Sun
5. Retrospective Hallucination
6. The City is Moving Like a Map
7. Crying Dream
8. Invisible Rays
9. Marry Me
10. Community
11. Nina's Feelings

Jasmina Maschina is Australian Jasmine Guffond, and ‘Alphabet Dream Noise’ continues her voyage into shimmering avant pop territory after 2008’s killer ‘The Demolition Series’. Through noisy field recordings, chattering guitars and her own gorgeous vocals we are led on a journey that is neither pop music, rock or drone – and like fellow Aussie Sanso-Xtro she manages to emerge with a sound that defies easy classification. There’s a little bit of Empress, a little bit of Hood, a little smattering of Slowdive, a hint of Stina Nordenstam – but nothing in ‘Alphabet Dream Noise’ sounds nostalgic or retro. Rather this is an album with both feet in the unsettling misery of 2011, and one that isn’t afraid to represent this with music just as woozy as its setting. Gorgeous stuff...www.boomkat.com

Sóley - We Sink

01. I'll Drown
02. Smashed Birds
03. Pretty Face
04. Bad Dream
05. Dance
06. And Leave
07. Blue Leaves - Album Version
08. Kill The Clown - Album Version
09. Fight Them Soft
10. About Your Funeral
11. The Sun Is Going Down I
12. The Sun Is Going Down II
13. Theater Island

"Sóley returns with her first full-length, an album full of rhythmic makeshift creatures, of handclaps hidden in the undergrowth, tempting us to join in. The 13 tracks are sometimes incredibly catchy; amazingly quirky at other times: think cardigan-folk from the northern hemisphere, an ocean of stained glasses bopping up and down in the shared apartment's dishwater, leeward in limbo. The result is refreshing in its lack of edginess; think Joanna Newsom minus her harp, or the Casady sisters circa 2004, but then clearly better trained, less crooked. In other words: her voice, those loops moving around like wooden toys, and finally the piano – that's the backbone, the essence of her compositions; at least until some unexpected element appears elsewhere, a rhythmic creaking or the lack thereof, like a hidden Rube Goldberg machine, setting off yet another component, thus paving the way across the threshold and on into the next realm of sound. And thus we keep on sinking, deeper and deeper, until we stand on terra firma once again, realizing that somehow, next to us, above us, around us, a beat is laid out, hesitantly moving along at first, then careering…"...www.boomkat.com

Bobby - Bobby

01. We Saw
02. Sore Spores
03. Tomb Bloom
04. Nam Champ
05. It’s Dead Outside
06. Loading Phase
07. Ginger (Water Birth)
08. Downing
09. Shimmychick
10. Groggy
11. Dustbeam
12. The Shed

Power. Mystique. Horrible artwork. These are a few of the things that surround Bobby’s Bobby, a journey through time and space which features vocals from Mountain Man’s Molly Sarle. Featuring tracks that pleasantly drone and spin yarns of mystic truths and spark truly transcendental moments for the listener, this collection comes close to unleashing a gentle fury among listeners, inspiring wholesale conversations, trips into the country, commune joining, the whole vegan menu. At least that’s the design.

In truth, Bobby isn’t the only outfit walking this terrain, creating a kind of mystique around itself and marrying elements of the Books, Björk and the polyrhythmic hand drumming of Yoruba. OK, maybe in this last, Bobby is truly alone but then again, how many of us have heard enough hand drumming from Yoruba to know when it presents itself in music made by kids who have probably recently graduated from small, private liberal arts colleges in New England?

I digress.

What you’ve got to know, of course, is whether this record is gonna go your way. And, in truth, it might. It comes close. The droning, the bleeping, the blopping. A musical atmosphere that’s thicker than a Brahmin accent, and nods to Kate Bush, Björk (did we mention this already?) and others all make for an interesting stew that is highly impressive upon first listen, then less so as the novelty, such as it is, of the whole thing begins to wear ever-so-slightly thin. The pleasant minimalism of album opener “We Saw” and its funky (for lack of another almost entirely inappropriate term) and Asian-influenced follow-up “Sore Spores” plus the meditative “Tomb Bloom” add up to a strong beginning. Problem is, one can only endure four or five five-minute-plus tracks that cover the same meditative feelings before feeling the need for what David Lee Roth would call something a little more rockin’.

The absolute nadir of the album comes via “Ginger (Water Birth)”, a track that, despite some inherent beauty goes less than nowhere and excites about as much as a radish burp. The group recovers from there via “Shimmychick” and the beautifully executed “Dustbeam” (more Asian influences here, incorporated to stunning results), but at an hour in length, this album is at least 20 minutes too long. After a time the compare/constrast/build-and-let-down/ying-yang/push-pull/Jagger/Richards/vegan/omnivore of the whole thing begins to grate rather than soothe. I assume that some of this might go easier if one is incorporating this collection into mediation practices, but as general listening, it’s all a bit much.

So, the bottom line is that these here folkers would be wise to unleash something a little more concise and a little less diffuse in the future, something that finds strengths in its compositions rather than in the vibe. Vibe, after all, is nice, but the back roads of popular music are littered with carcasses and empty dime bags of bands that attempted to live solely on vibe. Let’s hope that Bobby isn’t one of those bands, and that this often-promising collection is merely the sound of a band finding its compositional feet, its identity, itself, and that next time we get more songs...www.popmatters.com

Lily Of The Valley - Aquatree

1. Balloon
2. New World
3. Hikari Merry-go-round
4. 2216
5. Mabataki
6. One
7. Aquatree
8. Anemone
9. Fantasia
10. *
11. Marble Chocolate
12. Azure

Lily of the Valley hails from the northern town of Japan, Sendai. They are known to the crowds with their contribution to the great Japanese shoegazer compilation album “Total Feedback”. Nozomi (vocal, keyboard, programming, etc) and Tsukasa (guitars) creates dream-pop songs which consists of multiple chorus layers, soft beautiful guitars and electronic productions. They have released their debut album called “My Secret Garden” in 2009 from Happy Prince and the album was highly praised by shoegaze/dream pop fans not only in Japan but also all over the world. On their second album called “aquatree” they show big improvement on electronic productions and more sophisticated chorus layers and song writing. They are going to play with Letting Up Despite Great Faults (from Los Angels), Broken Little Sister and Twee Grrrls Club in Tokyo on April 2011.

Kindest Lines - Covered In Dust

1. Hazy Haze
2. Destructive Paths To Live Happily
3. Baltimore
4. Strange Birds
5. Dark Dream
6. Running Into Next Year
7. No Perfect Focus
8. Record Party
9. In Death Not To Part
10. Prom Song
11. Colors Treasured

**Sweet, slick retro-modern synth-pop from New York's premier cold wave stable Wierd Records.** This might just be the most direct, accessible and open-hearted record yet to come out of the minimal synth revival - from the opening track, 'Hazy Haze' a lo-fi yet epic girl-group anthem that sounds like summat Phil Spector might've produced if his only tools were a mic and a couple of kit-built synthesizers. A couple of cuts lapse into electroclash-by-numbers, but even these are lifted by the quality of songwriting, the infectious guitar-playing (which variously summons Johnny Marr, early Cure, 154-era Wire, John McGeogh's work for Siouxsie), and of course Brittany Terry’s wonderful pure voice, which effortlessly navigates 80s new wave sass and quivering 4AD-style drama. If you've enjoyed recent offerings from Frank (Just Frank), Austra, Tropic of Cancer and Zola Jesus, then give this one a whirl...www.boomkat.com

Damon & Naomi - False Beats and True Hearts

01. Walking Backwards
02. How Do I Say Goodbye
03. Shadow Boxing
04. Ophelia
05. Nettles And Ivy
06. What She Brings
07. Embers
08. And You Are There
09. Helsinki

Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang are still most often celebrated as the rhythm section of Galaxie 500, two decades after that beloved group's demise. Perhaps then it is important to note that False Beats and True Hearts is the fourth studio album the duo has recorded in collaboration with guitarist Michio Kurihara, of the psych-folk Japanese powerhouse Ghost. This means that Damon & Naomi have now officially created more music with Kurihara than they ever did with Dean Wareham in Galaxie 500, and over a considerably longer stretch of time. So it seems accurate to say that this, then, is their true music: hushed, vibrant folk-rock punctuated by discreet electric guitar and quiet horns, all of which bear only the most passing resemblance to vintage Galaxie 500.

In the time since Damon & Naomi's previous studio album, 2007's Within These Walls, the duo has kept itself characteristically busy. They've toured the world, released the video anthology 1001 Nights and the best-of compilation The Sub Pop Years, and overseen a lavish reissue of the Galaxie 500 catalog on their own 20/20/20 imprint. Given all that activity, it is somewhat surprising to hear how little has changed sonically on False Beats and True Hearts, and the album can give the impression that Damon & Naomi have used the recording process as a way to exhale and re-center themselves creatively.

It's interesting to observe the range of sounds that have now become a regular presence in the duo's work. There was a time when it would have seemed wholly out of character for a Damon & Naomi album to open with a trebly burst of psychedelic guitar, or for one of their songs to feature a languid saxophone solo. But over the course of their past several albums, these elements have become such a familiar component of their music that here at times the duo can sound a bit too comfortable. In addition to Kurihara, the album features guest spots by Ghost's leader Masaki Batoh, trumpet player Greg Kelley, and multi-instrumentalist Bhob Rainey, and there are points where Damon & Naomi's quiet vocals and thoughtful lyrics risk getting lost within their own lush accompaniment.

Damon & Naomi's recent archival activity has provided listeners with an excellent opportunity to investigate their entire musical timeline. The tempos have always been slow, and the volume still tends towards the hushed and intimate, but the overall texture of their music has undergone a gradual change. In Galaxie 500's music, Dean Wareham's voice and guitar, Naomi's melodic bass, and Damon's drums were each given a distinctive role to play, and each stood out in relative isolation in the group's spare production. On False Beats and True Hearts, however, the instruments are allowed to casually blur into one another, with acoustic guitars and piano and reeds uniting to create a single dense weave as Kurihara's hypnotic guitar soars in and out above everything. It's an inviting sound, yet one that often sacrifices sonic fireworks in favor of a general atmosphere of enveloping warmth.

Beneath the album's placid surfaces there is a subtle but persistent tug of melancholy. The Naomi-sung "How Do I Say Goodbye" is a direct song of loss and mourning, and nearly every track on the album references the silent passing of time and the invisible power of memory and nostalgia. "The past is who we are but not what we may become," Damon sings on "Ophelia", articulating the theme of acceptance that echoes throughout the album. In typical fashion, Damon & Naomi's lyrics on False Beats and True Hearts read very well on the page but don't necessarily lend themselves to immediately memorable choruses or hooks. As with their other work with Michio Kurihara, False Beats and True Hearts is a slow bloom, an album whose rewards can become fully apparent only through thoughtful immersion...www.pitchfork.com

Memory Tapes - Player Piano

01. Musicbox (in)
02. Wait In The Dark
03. Today Is Our Life
04. Yes I Know
05. Offers
06. Humming
07. Sun Hits
08. Worries
09. Fell Thru Ice
10. Fell Thru Ice II
11. Trance Sisters
12. Musicbox (out)

Memory Tapes’ Seek Magic was an excellent debut album. There was rave abetted by a bicycle pump (on, yes, Bicycle); drowsily amorous funk on Green Knight; and the calming chillwave ebb and flow of Run Out. Listeners could even forgive the fact that the man behind it, Dayve Hawk, spells his forename with a superfluous "y". His second album, Player Piano, suffers from an appalling punning title but does contain a few terrific songs, even if it can’t quite compare with Hawke’s first effort.

Three absolutely outstanding tracks overshadow the rest. Wait in the Dark is a perfect, simple psychedelic nursery rhyme, half Empire of the Sun, half Craft Spells. It’s full of terrific elliptical lyrics like, "This is it, don’t make me wait / Save it up for tomorrow and say it’s too late." Today Is Our Life is much the same, albeit with a seemingly incongruous (but great) guitar solo and a contemplative-but-arms-aloft synth outro. Sunhits continues the less-is-more manifesto and has all the necessary beats and chiming riffs of an instant summer classic. Collectively, the three songs sound as beautiful as the revelation that a secret love is elatedly requited.

Meanwhile, the rest of the album is only decent. Amid martial drumming Yes I Know hints at Kate Bush and Joy Division, but lands at Bat for Lashes and Interpol. Offers is a sleaze-free alt-Chromeo with snake-charming melodies and an air of mystery. The intriguing Worries sounds like Yeasayer mugging Vampire Weekend for their African beats and the regency air of The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance; while Fell Thru Ice has the glacial (sorry) feel of Silent Alarm-era Bloc Party.

Aside from the best three tunes, then, Player Piano is a musical jacket potato: satisfying but never amazing. For a more consistently excellent 2011 album of simple, affecting US alt-fare, check out Love Inks’ E.S.P. or the aforementioned Craft Spells...www.bbc.co.uk

Active Child - You Are All I See

1. You Are All I See
2. Hanging On
3. Playing House (featuring How To Dress Well)
4. See Thru Eyes
5. High Priestess
6. Ivy
7. Way Too Fast
8. Ancient Eye
9. Shield & Sword
10. Johnny Belinda

Though no sound suits every taste, the harp has to be one of the most inoffensive instruments in existence, which is why we aren't greeted in heaven by angels with marimbas. Active Child's Pat Grossi makes free with the harp's transfiguring power on his new album, and it's not the only thing stacking the deck in his favor. You Are All I Seeis full of stuff that almost everybody likes, or seems to, right now: epic electronic landscapes, monastically minimal R&B, and currents of rumbling post-dubstep sound design. Grossi's strong yet ethereal voice-- its corners neatly squared by a childhood spent in choirs-- masses and hovers, imparting an elevated piety to the music. The slick, timely aesthetic is appealing, but works at slight odds with the timelessness Grossi cultivates.

If you enjoyed how harps and beats entwined in a glittery haze on Active Child's Curtis LaneEP, you'll enjoy You Are All I See, which is similar but runs on finer gears. The EP's fairly rigid boundary between dance numbers and atmospheric ones has become much more porous, creating a subtler flow that carries us smoothly from the frosty soul and coiled percussion of "Hanging On" to the expansive art-pop of "High Priestess" and "See Thru Eyes", where jagged but spare synthetic drums and holographic tone colors make Grossi's voice seem to tower even higher. It all sounds like the work of someone whose computer expertise is catching up with his instrumental chops.

With this welcome refinement of style comes a minor downside, namely, that it feels overly familiar. This isn't to say that Grossi is ripping anyone off-- at a time when music is so instantly responsive to its own immediate context, his recombinant approach is routine. But on You Are All I See, craft edges out personality. The allusions to modern trends are so well-realized that it at least creates a slightly numbing impression of opportunistic pastiche, even if the similarities were unintentional. If you enjoyed the experimental soft-pop moods of Bon Iver's recent album and are looking for more spiritually glamorous music, step right up. Pacesetter How to Dress Well, who mines a vein similar to Grossi's but more ghostly, guests on the excellent "Playing House", while "Hanging On" sounds like a heartfelt synthesis of "Lady Luck", "The Boy Is Mine", and "Pony". To top it off, "Way Too Fast" and "Shield & Sword" both have the prayerful, hollowed out turbulence of James Blake. With a figurative dugout like that, it's hard to go wrong in 2011.

Nothing wrong with a low-stakes success if it sounds this good. But it's odd when a record that puts such a high premium on the personal feels so formal and emotionally opaque. Grossi's lyrics about longing and engulfing isolation have been polished to the point where they are immaculately vague, and sometimes, precious. They project plenty of emotional grandiosity. What's missed are more specific details, which might have led to something more relatable. As it stands, the sound of Grossi's voice is much more eloquent and moving than his words. Taken together, You Are All I See still can't help but feel like an old cathedral-- easy to admire in awe, but somehow cold and remote; hard to really make your own...www.pitchfork.com

Gem Club - Breakers

01. Twins
02. Breakers
03. Lands
04. Red Arrow
05. I Heard The Party
06. Black Ships
07. Tanager
08. 252
09. In Wavelengths

“Breakers” is the glorious new lo-fi number courtesy of Somervile duo Gem Club, and has already been featured on Pitchfork earlier in the week. With their debut LP of the same title set to be released later in the year via Hardly Art, and a rapidly expanding following eagerly anticipating it’s arrival; it’s set to be a hectic year for Gem Club. The piano driven “Breakers” is hauntingly heartwrenching, nervously shuffling in somewhere between Youth Lagoon and Perfume Genius, and expertly utilizing the soft yet piercing vocals of Christopher Barnes. Being the first new material since last year’s EP Acid and Everything, this melancholic track has been met with stunning reviews, cementing the two-piece as a real talent to watch out for...www.crackintheroad.com

Pallers - The Sea Of Memories

01. Another Heaven
02. Humdrum
03. Come Rain, Come Shine
04. Tropical Fishbowl
05. Years Go, Days Pass
06. The Kiss
07. Sound Of Silence
08. Wired
09. Wicked
10. Nights

With the aim of a three-dimensional sound Pallers have created the monumental ”The Sea of Memories”. Ten tracks where every influence finds it’s place in an ever shimmering mosaic. The wealth of details, the ever growing melodies and epic soundscapes transforms the listening experience into a space voyage of emotional discoveries.

After three years spent in apartments, basements, villas and cabins in Pallers, La mar, Stockholm, Miami and Cape Town the duo has completed their debut album ”The Sea of Memories” (out Sept. 27). The massive single ”Come Rain, Come Sunshine” was released on July 26th, and achieved Top 2 on The Hype Machine and rave reviews from Nylon, AOL Spinner, and NME among others.

“The pair continue to display a preternatural gift for electronic pop, and while they may prefer to remain ensconced in the studio and avoid the limelight, the expansive ‘Come Rain, Come Sunshine’ stands as a sky-scrapingly grand gesture.” NME

“Leeds producer Youandewan has turned Pallers’ blog hit (#2 on Hypem) “Come Rain, Come Sunshine” into a hazy, dub trip with clacking 2-step percussion.

“Youandewan transform Pallers’ synth-pop sunshine into a Burial-esque lament.” XLR8R...www.mvremix.com

Team Ghost - We All Shine

1. Lonely, Lonely, Lonely
2. A Glorious Time
3. Sur Nous Les Étincelles Du Soleil
4. Echoes
5. Only You Can Break My Heart
6. Colors In Time
7. Deaf
8. Red Light Corridor
9. High Hopes
10. Celebrate What You Can't See
11. It's Been A Long Way, But We're Free
12. Signs & Wonders
13. Into My Arms
14. We All Shine

Behind Team Ghost hides a ghost. Not a lonely soul with ball and chain but a star-eyed boy certainly not content with the idea of following the latest trend & determined to draw his very own musical path. Nicolas Fromageau – originally a founding member of post-french touch duo M83 along with Anthony Gonzales – co-wrote the first two albums “M83″ (2002) and “Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts” (2003). He decided to part ways before the third album was released. He left Antibes, M83′s hometown in the South of France, for Paris and formed Team Ghost, backed by Christophe Guérin (his sparring partner in this project) and Jean-Philippe Talaga (ex-Gooom founder, who became Team Ghost producer / manager). Nicolas and Christophe have been working on the music for a few years already. They created Kiss Me First, their own production team and have started playing live shows here and there...www.thesuperslice.com

Youngteam - Daydreamer

1. Intro
2. Daydreamer
3. Your Love
4. Black Lodge
5. My Only Friend
6. Northern Star
7. Not From Here
8. Summertime
9. Strange Days
10. Introducing Mr Gladstone
11. Ashes
12. Goodbye

A Swedish band named after a Mogwai album - I was pretty certain that Youngteam would be some kind of whimsical Northern European post rock. Here's the news - it's actually not, and the band seem to (oddly enough) prefer British shoegaze than our shimmery Ebowed friends from Glasgow. Just flick over to album centerpiece 'Northern Star' and you'll hear the kind of blurred, distortion heavy fretwork we'd have expected from Ride in their glory days. Unlike recent nu-gazers like M83 and Ulrich Schnauss, these Swedes don't seem to care too much for updating their craft or injecting it with electronic flourishes just so you know we're in 2011, these are good fashioned rock songs with all the grit and amp hum you would expect to hear in a pub basement in 1988. And that's a very good thing indeed...www.boomkat.com

Pepper Rabbit - Red Velvet Snow Ball

1. Lake House
2. Rose Mary Stretch
3. Allison
4. The Annexation of Puerto Rico
5. Family Planning
6. Murder Room
7. In Search of Simon Birch
8. Dance Card
9. The Ballad of Alessandro Moreschi
10. Tiny Fingers

Since Pepper Rabbit s debut album Beauregard was released last fall, the band has been touring consistently with the likes of Passion Pit, Freelance Whales, Miniature Tigers and Givers. Their sophomore album, Red Velvet Snow Ball, to be released August 9th, continues to see the Los Angeles based duo take inspiration from their favorite city; New Orleans. This album is a collaboration between Xander Singh and Luc Laurent, incorporating 11 instruments and a multitude of styles into their music. With influences spanning generations, from Portishead to David Bowie and Supertramp to Jamie Lidell, the group expands on their own brand of psychedelic pop music. Red Velvet Snowball is a great album for fans with tastes along the lines of Spoon, Blonde Redhead, Decemberists, Local Natives, and Freelance Whales.

The Flaming Lips with Neon Indian -The Flaming Lips with Neon Indian

1. Is David Bowie Dying
2. Alan's Theremin
3. You Don't Respond
4. Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want The Truth Part 2

Outside of geographic proximity (Norman, Okla., and Denton, Texas, are only 150 miles apart), psychedelia is the only obvious link between the Flaming Lips and Alan Palomo's project Neon Indian. The Lips often veer to the darker side of psych, especially recently (see their 2009 dread-filled opus Embryonic), while Palomo deals in a day-glo take on 1980's pop. So when Wayne Coyne revealed that they were banging out a fast collaboration-- as he put it, "that shit should be ready to go pretty quickly"-- the first question that came to mind was whether the result would lean more toward sun or shadows.

That's settled immediately by the opener on this four-track, 22-minute EP, the ominously titled "Is David Bowie Dying?" It's not completely clear what the lyrics have to do with Bowie's potential demise, but the music feels like an elegy, a kind of spaced-out funeral march. With its slow, crunchy beat, cutting sonic debris, and Coyne's weary intonations, it would fit well among Embryonic's doomy mantras. "Take your legs and run/ To the death rays of the sun," he sings with resignation, followed by a stoic chant of "goodbye, goodbye." It's pretty morose, but hypnotic and fully-realized-- impressively so considering how quickly it was made.

The rest of the record shares those dark qualities-- much of it is stark, cavernous, and full of murky low end. But the other three tracks are less polished, more loose and experimental. Which is not to suggest they're somehow unfinished. Their sounds are more suited to an amorphous form, making it tough to tell exactly what Palomo contributed. Even on "Alan's Theremin"-- an eight-minute soundscape that ranks with the weirdest stuff by either act-- there's no telling what came from that instrument (or even if he actually used one). But Palomo's anonymity reflects an internal coherence. This isn't a case of musicians who just met randomly throwing sounds at each other. As unpredictable as the music can be, very little comes off as gratuitous or out of place.

Still, if you're looking for something as song-like as "Is David Bowie Dying?", stick around for the closer. As with the first cut, its title-- "Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth Part 2"-- makes a specific reference, in this case to a Minutemen song. But again, how the music relates to that title isn't overt. The track sounds more like a krautrock jam, with a muffled bass groove that could've been ripped from a Can outtake. In keeping with the record's vibe, it blows apart near the end, with individual sounds dying off into the ether. It's a dark way to end, but it suggests open space rather than closed perfection. Turns out this collaboration is as much about implication as explication-- as much about what these artists could do as what they actually did...www.pitchfork.com

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Through The Devil Softly

1. Blanchard
2. Wild Roses
3. For The rest Of Your Life
4. Lady Jessica and Sam
5. Sets The Blaze
6. Thinking Like That
7. There s A Window
8. Trouble
9. Fall Aside
10. Blue Bird
11. Satellite

Since the release of Mazzy Star's debut album She Hangs Brightly, Hope Sandoval has defined the sound and style of California psychedelic dream pop. The world took notice when the breakthrough single "Fade Into You" (from sophomore album So Tonight That I Might See) hit the airwaves and MTV heavy rotation.

Sandoval's trademark vocals helped to make her a modern day music icon. Now the revered singer returns along side My Bloody Valentine's Colm O'Ciosoig to deliver her long awaited sophomore album Through The Devil Softly on September 15.

Over the past decade, the sought after vocalist has collaborated with artists from across the musical landscape: The Jesus & Mary Chain, Air, Death in Vegas, The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack and Bert Jansch, to count a few.

In 2001, she joined Colm O'Ciosoig to form Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions and release their debut Bavarian Fruit Bread. Now on Through The Devil Softly, the definitive star of the Paisley Underground scene reignites her trademark sound in an epic journey across the 11-song album. The project continues the laid-back, slowcore sound they are renowned for and places Sandoval's sensuous, hypnotic voice in the forefront. Recorded in both Northern California and the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland, the spare, subtle arrangements reinforce Sandoval's gentle vocal style.

Deastro - Moondagger

1. Biophelia
2. Parallelogram
3. Tone Adventure #3
4. Toxic Crusaders
5. Green, Grays And Nordics
6. Day Of Wonder
7. Pyramid Builders
8. Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed In The Heart With The Moondagger By The King of Darkness And His Ghost Is Writing This Song As A Warning To All Of Us
9. Rivers Of Life
10. Vermillion Plaza
11. Moondagger
12. Kurgan Wave Number One
13. The Shaded Forests (Gift Giver's Version) (Bonus Track)
14. Tree Frog (Bonus Track)

It's not even a stretch to imagine Deastro's Randolph Chabot once owning a Trapper Keeper overflowing with drawings of verdant kingdoms, threatened by a nasty King of Darkness, and a plucky protagonist battling through vast hordes of fantasy-novel nerdom for the coveted Moondagger. The point-and-click wet dream with the same name sets the 22-year-old Detroit native up as a full-fledged synthpop Link. The Master Synth anyone? Maybe we're not that far off. Chabot did all the artwork for his previous releases and his Myspace denotes his influences with animated gifs of a slobbering Venom or dancing Bugs Bunny.

Moondagger follows the monstrously popular eMusic.com demo compilation Keepers, which Deastro recorded in his parent's basement, and released last year. The full-band lineup now features Jeff Supina (drums), Mark Smak (electric guitar), and Brian Connelly (bass, keyboard). Plus, the album's got a Beach Boys-meets-Armageddon track entitled: “Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed in the Heart with the Moondagger by the King of Darkness and His Ghost Is Writing this Song as a Warning to All of Us." M83 and Dan Deacon fans take heed. There's a new superhero in the skies.

The Mary Onettes - Dare EP

01 Dare
02 Kicks
03. God Knows I Had Plans

The Mary Onettes are a Swedish Indie Rock band formed in the town of Jönköping, in 2000. Inspired by guitar pop from the 80’s and indie bands from the 90’s, The Mary Onettes were successful in releasing one EP with Sony/BMG before being dropped. Their sound has been likened to Echo & The Bunnymen, The Church, The Smiths, The Cure, and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

The Mary Onettes have since been picked up by the Labrador record label, where they released their debut EP Lost. Labrador claims the EP to be 2006’s. Their 10-track debut album “The Mary Onettes” was released in 2007

Grandiose new single by The Mary Onettes. Written in isolation and partly recorded in a church "Dare" still ends up their most uplifting song to date - iimagine a Swedish equivalent of The National on a diet of speed, Planet Earth DVDs and Go-Betweens singles and youll have a vague idea of how wonderful this is!

The Sleepover Disaster - Hover

01. Friend
02. Code Breaker
03. Funnel Cloud
04. Dark Star
05. Tremble
06. On A Sunday
07. Make You Sing
08. Edward Said
09. Songwriting For Dummies

Inspired one night by a particularly great set by local Fresno band Flaming June, songwriter/guitarist Luke Giffen and drummer Vince Corsaro formed The Sleepover Disaster in 1997. Sharing a love of the late 80s/early 90s Shoegazer scene, they immediately set about crafting a sound that combined big, atmospheric guitars with melodic songwriting and driving rhythms. The result is a sound rooted in the Shoegaze genre, but decidedly updated, as well as an energetic live show.

Surviving a few line-up changes in the early years, The Sleepover Disaster eventually found bassist/engineer Eric Peters, whose knowledge of the recording studio greatly enhanced the band’s recorded sound.

The Sleepover Disaster has played all over the West Coast with bands such as Earlimart, Starflyer 59, Radar Bros, Great Northern, and Lagwagon, along the way releasing four recordings. Their most recent releases, Loud is the New Quiet (2004), and The Oceanographer EP (2005), received glowing reviews from indie zines The Big Takeover, Dagger, and Losing Today, as well as many stellar web reviews, and garnered college radio and independent radio play across the U.S. and internationally...www.last.fm

Inverness - Forest Fortness

1. Forest Spirit
2. If I Were a Giant
3. A Lynx in the Tall Grass
4. Forest Fortress
5. Tongueling
6. Astral Slide
7. Bats
8. Her nectar
9. Your Eyes Are Flowers of Light
10. Flood Waves

The Brazillian Inverness is composed of: Lucas de Almeida on guitar and voice Marcio Barcha on drums, Mateus Perito on guitar and voice and Flávio Fraschetti on bass. Their debut album “Forest Fortress” is due to come out in the first half of 2009.

Action Biker - Hesperian Puisto

1. Intro
2. Love For Sure
3. By Myself
4. Tavaststjarnegatan
5. Refridgerator
6. La Duree
7. Hesperian Puisto
8. A Tiger In My Garden
9. I Look Out For You
10. Dance To Keep From Crying
11. ICA Lappis
12. Too Much Distance
13. Frosty Snow Winter
14. A Fight

It really is time for Action Biker's first solo album! It has now been six years since she emerged as an artist doing fun and popular live shows and releasing CD-R's in the indie pop scene of Gothenburg, Sweden, which included people like Jens Lekman and The Honeydrips. Since then, Sarah Nyberg Pergament has been involved in other projects, such as Flow Flux Clan, Kissing Mirrors and The Dreamers, whose record "Day For Night" has received great acclaim from different places around the world. Over the years, Sarah has also performed lots of Action Biker shows (some, as an opening act for Le Tigre and The Embassy), contributed to recordings with Lars Blek (The Field), Differnet and The Honeydrips, and all this time, new recordings with Action Biker have popped up on compilations and singles.

In brief, when "Hesperian Puisto" finally is released, it means the debut of someone with a lot of experiences The record is named after the Hesperian park in Helsinki, Finland, where Sarah lived for a while. She describes her music as baroque on synthesizers. It is pop music built on complex naivety - altogether very accessible music with distinct vocals and a crispy, sweet, analogue sound. Two great-looking videos are also included on the CD...www.tonevendor.com