Shock Mountain

Our first artist submission was from the Elkhart, Indiana band inbirdseye. Just a few days ago, I got an email from their guitarist asking me to let people know they have a new 7 song ep coming out soon called Speak Easy. It’s easy to see that these guys have grown quite a bit since quietly releasing their 3 song ep earlier this year, so you definitely want to be on the lookout for this ep when it comes out. As of now, there is no concrete release date, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking out two great songs off of the album!

Moral Crusaders

Sorry, Deric

Myspace

- James

I was tipped off to Dragon Turtle by Jessi Hector, of Goldest Egg, who has sent me lots of great Brooklyn based artists that her public relations company promotes. To my personal embarassment and regret, I have sat on some of her submissions for far too long, but Dragon Turtle is a truly captivating act to watch out for. The band describes themselves as “Ambient-Winter-Calypso-Space-Folk” and as contrived as a description as that may be, it’s quite accurate. The band’s sound is quite unique with vocals that are subdued and echoey, acoustics clamoring for your attention at every turn, and a good deal of electronic undertones to keep any listener paying close attention. For your listening pleasure, we have a track off of their new album, Almanac, streaming below. The album is being released by La Société Expéditionnaire in a variety of formats. However, if I had to choose one of the three it would definitely be the black and red vinyl, which is limited to 500 copies.

Dragon Turtle Myspace

Buy from La Société Expéditionnaire

Dragon Turtle – Island Of Broken Glass

- James

Since coming to NYU, I havent found a ton of people who like a lot of the same music as myself. One of the first people I became good friends with was Paul Kollmer, who shared a love of Flying Lotus, Boards of Canada and J Dilla.Not only this, he made music with his good friend Trevor, which happened to be phenomenal. Drawing together instrumental hip-hop in the vein of Flying Lotus and J Dilla, electronic music ranging from Boards of Canada to Prefuse 73 and electro-pop like Junior Boys or Hot Chip, Taul has made a sound that will appeal to fans of all mentioned groups. After shitting bricks over the random tracks he’d sample for me over the weeks, he finally hooked me up with his album, which I’m now super excited to share with everyone. There isn’t really a reason not to download this, it’s great and it’s 19 minutes.

MySpace

This album will be available on iTunes on Friday, November 20.

-Max

Yesterday, I received an email from Ian, one of the two members of No Anchor, asking me to give their album a listen. This time I was more excited than usual, as he noted that they were a bass and drums doom metal/sludge band from Australia. I’ve been wanting to post more albums of this variety, yet I’ve been a little stuck. Fortunately for all involved parties, No Anchor’s Steam is great. Drawing influence from The Melvins, Boris, Nirvana, Sunn O))) and Black Sabbath, No Anchor are reminiscent of OM for their bass-heavy grooves and growing, epic anthems as well as Electric Wizard for their crunchy, balls-to-the-wall, loud-as-fuck sonic assault. Another thing to be noted are the vocals, which really won me over. Too often, music of this variety has awful vocals and none of it seems to replicate the distorted howls of Electric Wizard, but these guys manage to come very close. I’m glad my room was empty when I was able to listen to this: any witnesses to the full-volume rocking out would have been terrified. If you were a fan of the OM album I posted a few months ago, this is right up your alley!

Website

Buy

-Max

I was recently emailed by the drummer of Sub Verso who conjssider themselves a post punk band, though I wouldn’t really pigeon hole them into any single genre. It’s a pleasant mix of synths in the background, shimmering guitars, and smooth vocals that somehow remind me of Native. The band recorded this debut EP with Ryan Stack who has worked with The Effort, Watchfire, The Nasty, Late Nite Wars, and My Heart To Joy. This release is being put out as a 10″ for only $6 and though it is set to be released on New Year’s Day, the guys seem to be sending these out ASAP.

Myspace

Website/Buy

- James

Last week, I received several more emails from bands submitting their albums (3, for those of you counting!) and this was the first one I’ve heard so far. Their press release described their sound as shimmering psychedelic pop with soft, ethereal vocals set against a lush soundscape. That pretty much sums it up perfectly. This reminds me of some of that chillwave/browave/hypnagogic pop along the lines of Memory Tapes, as well as the tropical drone-party sound of Universal Studios Florida. The final track on the EP, “Everything Will Be Alright” is rapidly becoming one of my “jams.”

MySpace

Note: I could not find a link to purchase the album. Check for their debut LP soon!

-Max

Drum Kit is a band based out of Lafayette, Indiana who play classic indie rock ala Pavement/Built To Spill. Though still relatively unknown, the band recently put out 300 copies of this 7″ along with a slightly more expensive run of deluxe editions that include a holographic poster and 3d glasses. If you’re in the mid-west, it would do you well to keep an eye on these guys because they seem to be the type of band that would have an amazing live set. I can’t comment on the matter personally, but I hope that changes sometime soon. In any event, I can’t wait to give this 7″ a spin when it finally arrives to me.

Myspace/Buy

- James

Like most blogs, we get a fair amount of artist submissions, some good, some bad. Since I’m not the head honcho here, I don’t get too many artist submissions, but when I do, it’s very exciting. Even better when the band is actually good, as we see in this case. The Constellation Branch play emo and post-hardcore in the vein of mewithoutYou and Sunny Day Real Estate, while taking cues from acts such as Radiohead, The Dear Hunter and Mew. Atmospheric while also emotive, this Phoenix band is worth keeping an eye on.

MySpace

Buy

-Max

For those of you Clevelanders who were lucky enough to see Thee TV Oh Dees should be delighted to hear this tape from Neon Tongues, the new band from Adam Upp, the singer/guitarist/older brother. Rather than continuing down the jerky art-punk of Thee TV Oh Dees, Neon Tongues record ultra-catchy lo-fi garage pop jams. This ultra limited cassette (only 20 c0pies produced, 10 red, 10 yellow!) features two songs, both of which bring to mind the playful sound of NODZZZ, Japanther and Nobunny. Download this tape and sing along! If you’re in Cleveland, they play shows pretty often, including two shows next week at Now Thats Class!

MySpace

Buy

-Max

Monument is a Mid-West emo band that just happens to play out of Washington D.C. I first heard about these guys from our good friends CHUG LIFE. The band cites Braid and American Football as their primary influences and this is quite clear in their passionate recordings. To date they have recorded a 4-song demo, an ep, and a 7″. Even with their limited discography, it’s easy to see how someone could fall deeply in love with this band. Everything is on point. Shimmering guitars get showered down with distorted storms of shredding. However, if I had to pick one aspect of their sound that I love the most, it would hands down go to their vocal stylings. Especially on the 3 song 7″ does the bands chops shine. Lead vocals are punctuated by exhilarating shouts of joy and despair. Please do yourself a favor and get into this band fast. They’re soon to be recording with Joe from Algernon Calfdallader, so be on the lookout for that when it comes out.

4 Song Demo

Florida EP

3 Song 7″

3 New Demos

PS: Copies of the 7″ are still available for only $5 on the bands myspace.

Myspace

- James

Seattle-based Universal Studios Florida have been causing quite a stir with their signiture brand of tropical inspired electronic music since the release of their debut full length Ocean Sunbirds, earlier this summer. Though the album picked up a lot of blog hype, the guys seemed to float under the radar for far too long. Pitchfork recently did an exposé on Jason Baxter and Kyle Hargus, the two men behind the somewhat bizzare pseudonym. Jason just shot me an email containing a remix they did of ALASKAS’ Unshackled. The song changed from a jaunting ruckus into an tranquil storm of muffled vocals, tripped out synths, and waves of reverb.

Not to be outdone, ALASKAS just released a music video for original version of the track. ALASKAS a.k.a. Dillon James Rego asked me to let everyone know that he is making his Brooklyn, NY debut with a show at Death By Audio on October 19th. If you’re in the city, be sure to make it out to the show and make the guy feel welcome.

Download by clicking on the album art above or stream below:

ALASKAS

Universal Studios Florida

- James

Shortly after I posted the videos for D.I.T. Fest, Richard sent me an email asking to post his newest output. Richard went to Walls Elementary in Kent, Ohio and taught six 3rd grade children to write poetry. He then wrote music to go along with the poems and created a 20+ page zine to accompany it. The innocent nature of the songs is something that can’t accurately be duplicated, though many have tried. Though there are so many things that could go wrong with a project like this, everything falls into place perfectly. The kids are intuitive and write about nature, curiosity, longing, and love. Richard  doesn’t care about making money, but he would love it if you gave it a listen and provided some feedback.

Blog

Accompanying Zine (in PDF)

-James

It’s sad here over at Shock Mountain, we rarely post any hip-hop, despite it being one of my favorite genres. Fortunately, a friend of mine who I had gone to school with for a long time was here to help us out. S7GHOST, the stage name of Chris Cannon, recently graduated with me and was one of the few kids in our school with a shred of musical talent. Having promising me this mixtape for months now, I’m beyond excited to share this with all of you. Not only does Chris have a knack for killer rhymes and a badass flow, but his Kanye West-inspired Auto-Tune experiments sound just as good, if not better, than their influencer’s. Pass this mixtape along, regardless of what you think, share it with a friend, your mom or your grandfather, I don’t care. This guy definitely deserves to be heard.

Facebook

-Max

Here’s another artist submission that I slept on for quite some time to my personal dismay. ALASKAS is the Seattle-based solo project of Dillon James Rego who loops his reverberated screams on top of gritty guitar hooks. It feels like what an early Atlas Sound would be like if Bradford Cox was way more punk. I’m still letting this one soak in, but I can already tell that it’s going to be on of the better sleeper albums of 2009. His album was released on Tuesday in all formats by Highfives and Handshakes.

Myspace

Buy

- James

Sam Goodwill is an Indie Rock band based out of Youngstown, Ohio. The band sent me their EP at the end of August, but it’s taken me until just now to give it a listen. The guys sure know a great deal about rhythm and tonality. Everything seems to fit very well. Smooth bass leads are met with  crunchy guitar and staccato keys. Then in the middle of the song, electronic beats subtly take over and spacey sound effects prepare for a rocking climax. On their myspace is a review by Alternative Press who compared them to be similar to Minus The Bear, which is certainly a fair comparison.

Myspace

- James