SUNLIGHT by Swimsuit

Sunlight
Evaporation

Out of Michigan, Swimsuit make clean and minimal pop, which is just the way it should be sometimes. They are a new project featuring Fred Thomas of City Center and Shelley Salant, formerly of Tyvek.  As of now there's only an EP of demos, so you'll have to join me in waiting for

LAUGHING by Hooded Fang

Laughing
Promise Land

Ontario's Hooded Fang is a 7-piece that puts together quintessential indie pop with horns, chimes, xylophones, jangly guitar, twee, and the ever so lovely boy-girl vocals. It's a party...where they are all switching instruments and having fun.  They have a self-titled debut LP that was released last

REDHEADED GIRL by Tijuana Panthers

Redheaded Girl
Creature

Tijuana Panthers are a local band from Long Beach, California and will be part of the bill tonight put on by FYF Fest at the Echoplex that includes Ty Segall and Monotonix (tickets).  If you plan on going to the show, I'd recommend getting there in time to catch these guys because you

INVITATIONS by Puberty

Invitations

Estate Sales - by The Intelligence (previously on CWR)

A couple weeks ago I posted about the Seattle band The Intelligence because of the amount of time I've been spending with them lately. It turns out that two of the band's primary members, Lars Finberg and Susanna Welbourne have a side project called Puberty.  A few demos have been

LOVELY ONE by Ty Segall

Lovely One
Swag

Why another Ty Segall post?  Well, for a few reasons:
1.  He absolutely kicked ass last Saturday at Alex's Bar;
2.  He's going to kick some more ass this Thursday at Echoplex (tickets); and
3.  Well, he just kicks ass in general.

Let's not dismiss Tijuana Panthers who will

[on repeat] MIND SPIDERS THEME by Mind Spiders

Mind Spiders Theme
Dirty Secrets (previous posts on CWR)

The self-titled debut from Texas' Mind Spiders finally came out and I was able to get my hands on a copy over the weekend. I had been looking forward to this one for a while and it doesn't disappoint. The record was recorded at home with Mark Ryan himself playing most of the instruments. As

[on repeat] PLATH HEART by Braids

Plath Heart
Lemonade

Braids was formed by four best friends in their last year of high school in Calgary, Alberta. They actually lost to a Red Hot Chili Peppers covers band in high school. Convincing one another to skip university, they stayed in the garage all year and practiced obsessively. At 18 years old, they took

BUILDINGS by unouomedude

Buildings
Teens

This one man show comes from Jacksonville, Florida and goes by unouomedude (you-know-you-owe-me-dude).  His EP, Marsh, released last summer includes five dreamy, summery, lo-fi electronica tracks that have just enough of a pop element to compare to Toro Y Moi or Animal Collective and separate it from the never ending chillwave sound. The

[on repeat] OTHER SIDE by New Animal

Other Side
Ghost Police

It's always fun to get excited about something new. New Animal is a duo out of Atlanta that appears to be another example of how the new model of music is changing for new musicians trying to enter the industry, and more proof of the power of the internet (i.e. Bandcamp). Their self-titled debut

CARIBOU by The Jameses

Caribou
The Haunted Rider - (previously on CWR)

Floridians The Jameses are back with some more justification to look forward to their debut LP out sometime soon (hopefully) on Captured Tracks records. 'Caribou' is the A-side for their latest 7", which came out Nov. 30.  This song

TOUCHING DOWN by Therapies Son

Touching Down
Rose Red Rose

Therapies Son is the moniker of the 19-year old LA native Alex Jacob, and the newest artist to join the Transparent label.  His music has garnered quite the following over the interweb the past couple months praising his elegantly

[on repeat] RAY GUNN RADIO by The Franks

Ray Gunn Radio
Talk Soup

Los Angeles has another gem in its midst.  The Franks are a 3-piece that currently have two EPs full of power pop, punk energy to their name.  They are both available and waiting for you to download (for free) from their website.   The most recent EP, Duh, is loaded with 5 tracks that is over before

EDITA V by Balkans

Edita V
Georganne
 
Atlanta's Balkans are back with news of a single and a full-length, both on Double Phantom Records.  The Edita V 7" is coming out Feb. 22, is limited to 300 copies, and has 'Edita V' on the A-side and 'Cave' on the B-side.  The

WHITE CORVETTE by The Intelligence

White Corvette
Estate Sales

One of Seattle's best surf punk bands went the route of a proper studio for its 6th LP, Males, which was released in August, 2010, and the end results are spot on.  Lars Finberg usually records all the instruments himself for The Intelligence's records, but chose to record Males with his

HAPPY CREEPS by Ty Segall / CRUSHED GRASS by Thee Oh Sees

Happy Creeps by Ty Segall - (previously on CWR)
Crushed Grass by Thee Oh Sees

And yet another show of note, is Ty Segall coming back to town to do a couple of shows next weekend.  Friday, January 21 he’ll be at Thee Men’s Warehouse in Anaheim (w/ Moonhearts) and Saturday, January 22 you can

LILLIAN (WON'T YOU PLAY DRUMS) by White Fence

Lillian (Won't You Play Drums)
Who Feels Right - (previously on CWR)
Run Me Over by Babies

Another show of interest in town is Tim Presley's solo project White Fence.  He is one of the wonderful local LA acts and is a member of Darker My Love, The Strange Boys, and in 2006 worked with The Fall on the Reformation Post TLC record.  His solo project, White Fence, came out in early

ABOUT MY GIRLS by Dominant Legs

About My Girls
Clawing Out at the Walls

There are some good shows coming up in LA over the next few weekends.  First off, we have a free show at Space 15 Twenty, which is a collaborative retail center, gallery, and performance space.  This Sunday, January 9 is a free show presented by verb/re/verb &

GOT LOVE? GOT SHELLFISH! by Alcoholic Faith Mission

Got Love? Got Shellfish!
My Eyes to See

Denmark's Alcoholic Faith Mission released their 3rd LP, Let This Be The Last Night We Care, in April 2010 on Paper Garden Records.  They have an Arcade Fire quality about them due to the grand instrumentation, epic quality of their sound, and the everything but the kitchen sink type of

[on repeat] STROLLING PAST THE OLD GRAVEYARD by Gigi

Strolling Past the Old Graveyard (w/ Karl Blau)
Alone at the Pier (w/ Rose Melberg)

This is another record that I fortunately came across while looking at another favorites list.  Gigi's album Maintenant came out on Tomlab Records in Jan. 2010, and is the brainchild of songwriter Nick Krgovich from Canadian indie pop bands P:ano and No Kids.  It features a handful of guest

[on repeat] A SAVAGE NIGHT AT THE OPERA by Destroyer

A Savage Night at the Opera
Kaputt

The very talented Dan Bejar (aka Destroyer) is one of the many powers behind the supergroup The New Pornographers and is giving us his 9th solo LP, Kaputt, on January 25 from Merge Records.  His contributions to the Pornos releases

[on repeat] I WANT YOUR DAMAGE by Nice Face

I Want Your Damage
Hard Time

I'm not the biggest fan of all the year-end mumbo jumbo lists, but it seems obligatory to participate because it is all about sharing after all.  However, it doesn't go without its benefits.  There's always something that I'll see on someone's list that I hadn't heard of or just flat out didn't get around to listening to.  Case in point...Nice Face's Immer Etwas from Sacred Bones Records was listed on one of the

NO ROMANCE by Mind Spiders

No Romance
Dirty Secrets (from 7")

Hello all. Welcome back and Happy 2011. We have a new design here so I hope you enjoy it.  Some of the links have been broken and I've tried to find/fix them all, but please let me know if you come across anything that needs attention.

Back to the music...what a great way to start out the year with news of a