Broken Bells

Broken Bells - S/T (2010)

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Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (1997)

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Alex Bleeker & The Freaks

Alex Bleeker & The Freaks - S/T (2009)

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Various Artists

Various Artists - Forge Your Own Chains (1968-1974)

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Blakroc

Blakroc - S/T (2009)

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black keys + hip hop = win

Built To Spill

Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy (2009)

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Thee Oh Sees

Thee Oh Sees - The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In (2008)

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The Beets

The Beets - Spit In The Faces Of People Who Don't Want To Be Cool (2008)

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Them

Them - Again (1966)

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Black Lips

Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand (2009)

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The Dovers

The Dovers - We're Not Just Anybody (1966)

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Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs (2009)

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Why?

Why? - Eskimo Snow (2009)

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In abstract, WHY? is the process of adapting to the somehow simple business of existing. WHY? is the searching for something clearly unreachable, with hopes of finding small significance along the way. The attempt to understand what’s really going on by observing, neither by telescope nor microscope, but by naked eye, the intimate details in the most mundane of life’s happenings. The attempt to describe the gist of the feeling of the tiniest modicum of The Great Universal Unutterable Joke we are all always not laughing at—except when we are. WHY? is living out the set-up of that old gag over and over, until we finally reach a punch-line. Or we die and we don't.WHY? is, most often, a trio of handsome Midwestern men with a shared past, present and future. Today, they fiddle around with skins, strings and bells through microphones attached to tape, presenting their “findings” to the waiting world. In an earlier decade they were all born in Cincinnati. And in the time in between, much did happen. Yoni Wolf, for instance, grew up the second son to an art book editor and a rabbi. He got his start recording bad poems and sloppy beats on the family synagogue’s forgotten 4-track. In junior high he discovered hip-hop; in art school he learned how to drop out. His brother Josiah played drums at worship service as a tot, dominated Concert Band as a teen, and fell in love with the compositions of Thelonious Monk on his way to University of Cincinnati’s music conservatory. Doug McDiarmid would eventually get expelled from UoC for carrying a stun gun, but was first conceived by two French teachers and taught piano while in kindergarten. He went to high school with the Wolfs, where he played in Steve Miller cover bands. In various permutations together and with other now-notables (Dose One, Odd Nosdam, Mr. Dibbs, Slug), these three created and/or contributed to a number of freewheeling rap and lo-fi bedroom-rock related projects, some still unexcavated: Miss Ohio’s Nameless, Apogee, Greenthink, Reaching Quiet, and the now seminal cLOUDDEAD. Their wildest dreams were achieved when they relocated to the West to make pop-inflected psychedelic folk-hop.Yoni was the first to make the move. For four years, two EPs and one color-drenched album (2003’s Oaklandazulasylum), WHY? was his alone. He honed his trademark delivery—that sickly sweet, half-rapped, singsong-suicide style—shined up his wry, picturesque poetry on life, love and self, and developed a clip-and-collage composition aesthetic using keyboards, toys, guitars, samplers and anything worth banging on. When Doug and Josiah joined Yoni in Oakland, they brought a hoard of instruments and the ability to wail on every last one of them. By chops and imagination, WHY? grew into a thing of flesh, bones and fully fledged songs. In 2005, the band released Elephant Eyelash, and suddenly that once tenuous future seemed solid. Critics swooned; ladies lauded; WHY? did not rest. They toured (with Silver Jews, Yo La Tengo, and Islands). They collaborated (with Danielson, Department of Eagles, and Subtle; Yoni made Hymie’s Basement with Fog’s Andrew Broder). They put out yet more music (the Rubber Traits EP and “Dumb Hummer” 7-inch).Thus, the impending release of WHY?’s latest, brightest, darkest smile-twisted opus,Alopecia, isn’t so much a return as it is an affirmation of something already in the air. In February of 2007, the trio temporarily relocated to Minneapolis and became five, officially inducting Andrew Broder and Mark Erickson of good-art friendlies Fog into the band, then recording their new work live. As can be expected, Alopecia is a fantastic offering of raw sweat and dreams inspired by nothing more or less than the infinite erring bits of daily existence.

Thee Oh Sees

Thee Oh Sees - Singles Collection (2009)

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not the right album art but whatever, this collection fucking rocks.

Floating Action

Floating Action - S/T (2009)

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dude named seth kauffman recorded this whole album from his home studio in north carolina. kauffman plays all the instruments on this record, as far as i know. a lot of influences coming through in this release. ooo this is good.

Real Estate

Real Estate - Atlantic City Expressway (2009)

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really good surf, psych, kinda poppy, rock that is perfect for these hot summer days. i really enjoy this record.

www dot myspace dot com slash lets rock the beach !

Why?

Why? - Almost Live From Eli's Room (2008)

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Former wierdo rapper and Anticon alumnus turned indie rocker, Why? or lead vocalist multi-instrumentalist Yoni Wolf, has now adopted his name to recognize his entire band which also includes his brother Josiah Wolf on drums and Doug McDiarmid on guitars. Almost Live From Eli's Live Room documents rehearsal recordings and live arrangements... making it "almost live" as they practice before the show trying different variations of their long sets and playlists. Sold recently only at tours and now available for a limited time. Longtime fans won't want to miss out.

Why? - Almost Live From Anna's Cabin (2003)

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Earlier tracks.

V/A - James Pants

Various Artists - James Pants - Psychik Almanack Vol. 1 (2009)

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James Pants is from Spokane. In Spokane there are lots of people with long fingernails and lots of dogs. In Spokane, rent is very, very cheap and so James Pants can afford to buy records and not work too awfully hard. A long time ago, James Pants started playing drums and marching in bands. After hitting cymbals for a while, James Pants bought cheap turntables and learned to scratch with Steppenwolf. James Pants' turntables skipped so much that he lost many battles and was never a good DJ. Then James Pants started playing Showbiz and AG, but no one liked his rap, and he was never paid. Then James Pants started playing Cameo and his drums again and people danced a little. Now James Pants plays his new album and a few girls like it. "Mystical and enchanting," is what people in Spokane say about it. Teenagers at the park like to dance and make-out to the new James Pants sound. "What a kaleidoscope," said one lady with her dog. "I can feel the universe pulse."

Following on from the well received 'Electric Finger' mix tape, James Pants again comes with a wonderful selection of 26 psych rock tracks; a few well known nuggets, but mostly pretty obscure songs with some wonderfully odd electronics involved; a great listen and a further reach into the brilliant mind of Mr Pants...well reccomended!

Crocodiles

Crocodiles - Summer of Hate (2009)

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"San Diego's Crocodiles are about to release their debut album, Summer Of Hate on Fat Possum, and are out on a pretty extensive U.S. tour right now to promote it. The band draws comparisons to Jesus and Mary Chain, Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3 and contemporaries like Dum Dum Girls, Crystal Stilts and Wavves. We've pretty much had the album on repeat today. A lot of this contemporary lo-fi reverb-laden fuzz rock is so hit-and-miss with me lately. Love this and Dum Dum Girls...Wavves, not so much."

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hey, i like a few wavves tracks, but most of it really is hit or miss. this album, however, is consistently fucking awesome from start to finish. definitely on heavy rotation.

Deerhunter

Deerhunter - Raintwater Cassette Exchange EP (2009)

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