Mount Pleasant Sympathy Orchestra - Can I Convince You

Daniel Gray of Memoryhouse is set to release a beautiful record of solo material under the monicker MPSO with the help of his musically talented family - he recorded the songs in his recording engineer dad’s studio, and had his mom, Wendy Rose, who happens to be a violinist for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, drop in violin parts. 

Wisdom Teeth LP will be on February 14th. The first 100 downloads will be free of charge, and a limited run of cassette tapes will be available as well. Give it a preview listen right here, and don’t miss another stand-out track “Let Go” right here.

Hop Along - Tibetan Pop Stars

This is definitely on the far edge of my taste in ‘rock’, but wow, I love a lead singer + guitarist like Frances Quinlan who’s got pipes of solid brass.  Together with her brother Mark and bassist Tyler Long, they’ve been tearing up Philadelphia with a balls-out brand of fearless heavy.  Says Mark, “our parents always urged us to get together and play music, but we were in different projects and initially skeptical about the idea. It turns out we work pretty well together.” Bet you wish you were so cool w yr sibling, huh?

Considering all that, they’ve ironically named their forthcoming record Get Disowned LP. Look for it to drop on their Bndcmp soon, stay in touch on their Tumblr!

Princeton - Florida

Not worried about these guys.  Not worried at all.  

Grab their other great single “Remembrance of Things to Come” if you’re vibing to this one.  They be on Tumblr here.

Previously: “Clamoring for Your Heart”

ahhday:

Oh man, their upcoming record is going to be absolutely gorgeous. This is such a beautiful song. Jesse’s voice has always been a favorite of mine.

Mesita - Onward, Upward

Last time we heard from James Cooley, the 23-year-old Coloradan sent along an incredible song called “The Coyote”. IMHO, this song’s even better. Hold on to your seat!

Says James, “I’m self-taught and can’t read a note of music. I record everything in Audacity. I went to college for audio engineering but dropped out. I’ve been bouncing around and living in different cities the last few years working retail & grocery jobs and spending my free time recording. I’m not sure where I’m headed now, and I’m damn broke but having a fantastic time for sure.”

Look for his The Coyote LP to be released this spring.

Conner Youngblood - Australia

I discovered this Dallas native’s music at the end of 2010 when he was just uploading a few demos to the web, and I’m stoked to see him flesh out the project a bit with his first collection of work: the Sketches pt. 1 LP. His sound is laid back, driven by chillwave synths layered under a banjo skin(!), and while that might sound like an odd combination, it results in lovely, ethereal, crafted music.  This is one of those albums that it’s hard to pick just one song to blog - they’re all top-shelf. Don’t miss the video for this piece, too.

Previously: “Monster”

White Birds - When Women Played Drums

It’s an honor to bring you the premiere of this hot new track from one of Philly’s rising indie rock outfits. “We decided to go ahead and release this album as kinda a little fuck you to Valentines Day since it is most definitely a break up album through and through.  The song itself is of that same nature, just being the ghost to your widow who’s now living her life on earth without you.” For such heavy themes, this song breathes on its own not suffocating under that weight. Its big chorus and rousing harmonies keep it soaring, and will likely offer the heart-broken some reprieve. 

When Women Played Drums LP drops on V-Day, and you’ll be able to catch them live at a couple shows in the North East including a spot opening for the High Highs at Piano’s in NYC on Leap Day.

Mac DeMarco - Rock and Roll Night Club

For the last few years I’ve been trumpeting the work of Canadian art rock outfit Makeout Videotape (see: here, here, here) as one of the most original up-and-coming voices in indie music.  Mac’s decided to make some changes, going solo slash rebranding, signing to Captured Tracks and mellowing out his sound to sexxxxed-up androgynous hip thrusters like this. I feel like I’m watching a Jim Jarmusch film when I listen to this song - though Mac told me in self-deprecating humility, “it’s so funny to me everyone likes it so much, since I just recorded these songs as a joke album when I had tonsilitis last month haha.” Dare I say, ‘stay sick, bro!’

Look for the currently-titled Rock and Roll Night Club EP on Captured Tracks in March.