MP3s Up The Ying-Yang: Hopewell, Sea Wolf, Chickenhawk, Grand Archives

Soon we’ll be doing another roundup of all the MP3s we’ve posted since our last one. But for now, go gaga - not Lady Gaga, mind you - over this crop of heretofore-uncovered free downloads.

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Artist: Air Waves
Label: Catbird
Latest release: Air Waves EP
Downloads: “Knock Out” (demo) and “Shine On”

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Description: What do Air Waves and Cat Power have in common? Err, they sound a hell of a lot alike. Dan Deacon really loves ‘em too, so they get a gold star for that.

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Artist: The Ams
Label: Shields
Latest release: The Release of an American Soul
Download: “Your Mere Presence”

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Description: Another one that is advertising itself accurately. Wrenching out all his heartache with the desperation of Thom Yorke, Frank Carey finds solace in his sister Anne, who provides the keys and additional vocals. Keep this song close - but your Kleenex closer.

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Artist: David Bazan
Label: Barsuk
Latest release: Curse Your Branches
Download: “Bless This Mess”

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Description: If Bazan - he of Pedro the Lion fame - didn’t have all that indie-rock cred tucked into his pocket, we probably wouldn’t go near this song. But he does, so we did. In case you’re wondering whether his faith was just a phase, the first and most oft-repeated word in the song is “God.”

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Artist: The Blakes
Label: We Are OK
Latest release: Souvenir (October 13)
Download: “Basket”

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Description: Brit pop gets a breath of fresh air courtesy the Blakes - who are from Seattle. Nasally sung but adroitly performed, they come across as a saner and softer version of tourmates the Brian Jonestown Massacre.

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Artist: Bygones
Label: Sargent House
Latest release: By-
Download: “Click on That (Smash The Plastic Death)”

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Description: Zach Hill can do no wrong. Ever. Not never ever.

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Artist: Chickenhawk
Label: Brew
Latest release: A. Or Not? EP
Download: “Yo Dude-a-Tron (Gavron Remix)”

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Description: We keep mistaking these guys for Joe Satriani’s guitar-hero group, Chickenfoot, but Chickenhawk couldn’t be on a further end of the rock spectrum. Their new EP, A. Or Not, isn’t about showing off licks, it’s about clobbering their lucky victims - which is to say, the listeners - with chugging riffs and a punk-inspired, loud-as-hell delivery. The best record we’ve heard so far this year that won’t be released in the States, we don’t have anything to share from it, but this remix of one of the band’s other songs might tide you over. Even if it sounds nothing like the description we just gave you (after all, it is a remix). Anyhoodle, on to the next one …

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Artist: Choir of Young Believers
Label: Ghostly International
Latest release: This Is for the White in Your Eyes
Downloads: “Action/Reaction” and “Next Summer”

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Description: What do you get when you cross an overemotional Danish singer/songwriter with a bucketful of instruments (banjos, strings, synths, etc.) and orchestra-ready arrangements? This.

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Artist: Clare and the Reasons
Label: Frog Stand
Latest release: Arrow
Download: “Ooh You Hurt Me So”

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Description: Probably the most tender song within this litany, it tiptoes away from being too cutesy and edges closer to a late-’60s-era torch song. The whistling is a bit much, but we’re looking to look past it. This time.

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Artist: Keegan DeWitt
Label: Izumi
Latest release: Islands
Download: “Telephone”

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Description: What in the name of Randy Newman is this? Oh, it’s a dude who sounds just like Randy Newman. Yay Dodgers. And Disney movies.

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Artist: E-603
Label: Hype Machine
Latest release: Torn Up
Download: “Lights Out”

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Description: File this one under “insane.” As if he were holding the skeleton key to the vaults for every record label of note, Ethan Ward samples hundreds of songs over the course of his recently released album, Torn Up. Take “Lights Out,” for example, which brings in bits from 25 songs - we’re talking AC/DC’s “Back in Black” and “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You),” Nas’ “I Can,” Muse’s “Starlight,” Outkast’s “B.O.B.,” Be Your Own Pet’s “Bunk Trunk Skunk” and, well, 19 more cuts. Talk about ADD.

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Artist: Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Label: XL
Latest release: The Doomsday EP (due October 20)
Download: ”Slow Doomsday”

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Description: Perkins isn’t singing about an apocalypse that’s taking awhile - “Slow Doomsday” is simply a quieter and longer version of the EP’s title track. Sounds like a dirge you’d hear at a tragic funeral held in a Southern church on a sweltering August afternoon.

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Artist: Girls in Trouble
Label: JDub
Latest release: Girls in Trouble (due October 27 in digital form; physical versions due November 3)
Download: “I Was a Desert”

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Description: Alicia Jo Rabins does it all, as they say: plays guitar, sings, performs various string instruments. Tapping into Jewish folklore on her first album, she gets a few assists - from Old Time Relijun’s Aaron Hartman, most notably - as she spins soft-spoken yarns.

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Artist: Glorytellers
Label: Southern
Latest release: Atone (September 8)
Download: “Concaves”

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Description: You probably wouldn’t have expected to hear Geoff Farina to reach for a harmonica back in his Karate days, but it makes sense for him to blow on one here. This sunny song would make John Denver proud.

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Artist: Grand Archives
Label: Sub Pop
Latest release: Keep in Mind Frankenstein (September 15)
Downloads: “Oslo Novelist” and “Silver Among the Gold”

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Description: Weepy pedal-steel guitars and mournful singing shouldn’t sound this heartwarming, but they do on “Oslo Novelist.” On the other hand, “Silver Among the Gold” is jauntier and livelier in spirit - good music to ride your bike along the coast to.

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Artist: Hopewell
Label: Tee Pee
Latest release: Good Good Desperation
Download: “Stranger”

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Description: This song has “Brooklyn post-rock” written all over it - loud/soft dynamics, cavernous rhythms led by tribal drumming, guitar freakouts galore. Paging Dr. Thurston … (Also, don’t miss Hopewell’s hilarious “Shoebox” entry here.)

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Artist: Hanne Hukkelberg
Label: Nettwerk
Latest release: Blood From a Stone
Download: “Blood From a Stone”

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Description: When we hear the phrase “Blood From a Stone,” we immediately think of Alice in Chains’ “Bleed the Freak” (hey, at least it’s not the Cinderella song of the same name that comes to mind). Take that for what it’s worth; this song by Norwegian chanteuse Hanne Hukkelberg could not be farther away from hard-rock territory. It’s as twinkly as a jewelry box. 

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Artist: I Love You
Label: Joyful Noise
Latest release: Bell Ord Forrest (October 27)
Download: “The Colloquialism Is Simply ‘Gas’ ”

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Description: If you miss Death From Above 1979 half as much as we do, we bet you’ll eat this one up.

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Artist: Ivan & Aloysha
Label: Cheap Lullaby
Latest release: The Verse, the Chorus
Download: “Easy to Love”

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Description: Could this be Lucinda Williams crooning into that empty hallway? Neigh, it be a man, Tim Wilson, backed by Ryan Carbary on guitar and other instruments. The guys’ band name will make sense to Fyodor Dostoevsky readers - and exactly no one else - but their acoustic-folk is accessible to all.

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Artist: Daniel Johnston
Label: Eternal Yip Eye Music/High Wire Music
Latest release: Is and Always Was (October 6)
Download: “Freedom”

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Description: Has Daniel Johnston, now 48 years old, finally found his marbles? He sounds as well-adjusted as ever on this song with Beck collaborator Jason Falkner. Touching stuff.

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Artist: Jookabox
Label: Asthmatic Kitty
Latest release: Dead Zone Boys (November 3)
Download: “Phantom Don’t Go”

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Description: Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are” is just about ready to hit screens, but Jookabox have their own jungle adventure with their third record. Half Beastie Boys-inspired ego goofery and half expert experimental composition, our curiosity is piqued.

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Artist: Carolyn Mark and N.Q. Arbuckle
Label: Mint
Latest release: Let’s Just Stay Here
Download: “All Time Low”

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Description: “You can’t get dinner in Reno/ In a place that ain’t a casino.” That smart lyric has stuck with us for the past few weeks, ever since we heard this sampling from the just-out Let’s Just Stay Here. Thankfully, now when we hear the phrase “All Time Low,” it’s not juvenile pop-punks that come to mind.

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Artist: Maserati
Label: Temporary Residence Ltd.
Latest release: Passages (September 8)
Download: “Monoliths”

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Description: Bordering on bleepy, this math-prog song originally appeared on a vinyl-only split release with Zombi but was re-proposed via the instrumental band’s soon-to-be-issued Passages rarities collection.

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Artist: Mean Creek
Label: Old Flame
Latest release: The Sky (or the Underground)
Download: “The Sky (or the Underground)”

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Description: The Boston press has been raving about this melodramatic folk-rock band. Finally Buffalo Tom can claim to have influenced somebody.

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Artist: Monotonix
Label: Drag City
Latest release: Where Were You When It Happened? (September 8)
Download: “Set Me Free”

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Description: Jon Spencer has new Heavy Trash material on the way, but if you’re into the spirit of his earlier Blues Explosion material, you might as well look here instead. Sweaty bluesy and a sense of humor always make for a gnarly combo.

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Artist: My First Earthquake
Label: none
Latest release: Downstairs
Download: “Outta the Band”

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Description: “I would never get that boob job you wanted me to.” That’s one of the handful of takeaway lines from this short (1:41) feminist rally. In our book, the San Francisco electro-rockers get an A (for “attitude”).

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Artist: Omo
Label: LOAF
Latest release: The White Album (September 22)
Download: “Tea Break”

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Description: Play this one loud - because you won’t be able to hear it otherwise. With wicked-quiet vocals and guitar, and even more hushed percussion swipes, what sticks out most in this song is the occasional whistling. Like a Chekov play, this is about as minimalist as you can get.

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Artist: Panther
Label: Kill Rock Stars
Latest release: Entropy 12-inch
Download: “Love Is Sold”

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Description: This song gives us chills like Polvo used to - even if Polvo never utilized the piano (as far as we can remember), never sung in falsettos and almost never played in key. Looking past the fact that we basically just shot down our own analogy, think of jumpy, fractured post-post-rock that digs into your skin like those slugs in “Slither.” Read more here.

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Artist: Cale Parks
Label: Polyvinyl
Latest release: To Swift Mars EP
Download: “One at a Time”

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Description: We’re not sure how much longer the whole early-’80s synth-pop revival is going to last - what’s it been now, five years? - but on “One at a Time,” the Brooklyn singer/songwriter makes a good case for extending it.

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Artist: Paucity
Label: Friction
Latest release: Deer Bird Bear Ship
Download: “Funnel Web”

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Description: Mogwai fans know the drill: A sparse instrumental arrangement slowly metastasizes over a good chunk of time (six minutes, in this case), building into a crashing crescendo. There’s a key difference here, though - and it’s that Paucity rely on keys more than Mogwai do. And they’re from Grand Rapids, not Glasgow.

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Artist: The Red Channels
Label: Ten Dollar Recording Co.
Latest release: Ghetto Cooking
Download: “Waltz”

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Description: Judge this album by its title - there’s really no better way to describe the hip-hop-informed smorgasbord of sounds that is Ghetto Cooking, judging by this track, at least. Ancient soul meets dub meets we like it.

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Artist: Sea Wolf
Label: Dangerbird
Latest release: White Water, White Bloom (September 22) outtake
Download: “Stanislaus”

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Description: That this song did make the cut for the band’s upcoming album must mean the record is going to be scary-good. Haunting, catchy, heartfelt - this is indie folk at its finest.

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Artist: The Shaky Hands
Label: Kill Rock Stars
Latest release: Let It Die
Download: “Allison and the Ancient Eyes”

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Description: “Hands” being the operative word here, as there’s hand-clapping both featured on the track and inherently encouraged within it. You know that co-worker who’s always just a bit too chipper? Especially in the mornings, when everyone else is still waking up but Chippy has been alert for the five hours already? Yes, this music might just be that sunny. And it’s on Kill Rock Stars.

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Artist: Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers
Label: Kepler
Latest release: A Fish Hook an Open Eye (September 22)
Download: “Beating St. Louis”

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Description: Ray said in a recent press statement that the album is “about recovery after failure,” and as soon as you start listening to “Beating St. Louis,” you’ll get the drift. Imagine a person stranded at the bottom of a well, and hopeful beams of sunlight finally appearing above. Ray sings like a female version of David Byrne, but the song arrangements aren’t nearly as busy as the Talking Heads’; Ray and her prostitutes know full well that less is more.

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Artist: Slaraffenland
Label: Hometapes
Latest release: “Meet and Greet” 7-inch
Download: “Meet and Greet”

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Description: We’re smelling strong Mekons aromas in this lush bouquet, Denmark’s latest contribution to the mellifluous, instrument-packed indie-folk craze.

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Artist: Still Flyin’
Label: Ernest Jenning Record Co.
Latest release: Never Gonna Touch the Ground
Download: “The Hott Chord Is Struck”

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Description: If the whole girls-and-guys sing-along craze isn’t floating your boat, sail onto the next track. But if you dig that (ironically?) cheery trend, this bass-guitar-driven pop song by the San Francisco squad might have you running to grab your dance shoes.

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Artist: Spring Tigers
Label: Ernest Jenning Record Co.
Latest release: Spring Tigers
Download: “Just Suggesting”

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Description: Sounds like a remodeled version of the Cars with Ima Robot’s Alex Ebert at the mic instead of Ric Ocasek. A little too crispy for our tastes normally, but it beats the hell out of recent Weezer.

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Artist: John Vanderslice
Label: Dead Oceans
Latest release: Romanian Names
Downloads: “Fetal Horses” and “Too Much Time”

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Description: Rufus Wainwright and John Vanderslice have been putting out albums for about the same length of time - the past 10 years - but when it comes down to brass tacks, RW’s got nuthin’ on JV. What you’re hearing is a man and his piano, and not much else - it’s musical intimacy at its purest.

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Artist: Visqueen
Label: Local 638
Latest release: Message to Garcia
Downloads: “Hand Me Down”

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Description: We didn’t realize until we had already started creating this capsule that we really aren’t too crazy about the song at hand. Too poppy for us. But maybe you’ll dig it, so (t)here it is. The lyrics “When you’re walking and you feel it and you can’t believe it’s real, it’s my love” remind us of another familiar stanza: “People say it’s gross, but it’s really good on toast, diarrhea.” Yes, we have no shame.

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Artist: Vowels
Label: LOAF
Latest release: Pattern Prism (September 22)
Download: “On Up!”

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Description: DFA fans, you’ve found your next favorite band. Chaired by James Rutledge, the U.K. producer who’s linked up in the past with Danger Mouse and Prefuse 73, this is a kraut-rock informed trip into the bowels of whatever machines he used to create it.

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Artist: The Weight
Label: Tee Pee/The Colonel
Latest release: Are Men
Download: “A Day in the Sun”

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Description: Frankly, we’re not too blown away by this song, but we are intrigued. What on earth is a drooly bar band like this doing on Tee Pee - and not Bloodshot, for example? And are they so obsessed with the Band that they named their own band after them? Questions, questions. At any rate, it sounds like they stumble where the aforementioned Monotonix succeeded - this cut is a bit too over the top.

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Artist: Wiretree
Label: none
Latest release: Luck (October 20)
Download: “Back in Town”

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Description: Strum-aliciousness with some Bright Eyes flavors and lots of bells. They’re from Austin, so they’re not faking it.