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♬Liner Notes♬: It's hard to make this episode while also trying to stream Coachella and get ready for this year's 'Night Owl Record Show' in Portland - but somehow I'll make it! This week features a ton of brand new music from BettySoo, Beck, Starwalker, Bad Suns, G. Love and much more... Kick back, put your headphones on and Pump Up Tha Volume!
Bad Suns
"Cardiac Arrest"
'Transpose' EP
Vagrant, 2014
Note: "Bad Suns formed in 2012 in Woodland Hills, California. The bandmembers were all relatively young, ranging in age from 19 to 22, but had taken cues for their sound from '70s and '80s post-punk pioneers like the Cure and Elvis Costello. The band blended the angsty songwriting influence of these legends with a more contemporary look into hook-heavy indie rock to form the basis of their extremely catchy sound... An EP entitled Transpose materialized in early 2014 on the Vagrant label, which signed Bad Suns for the release of their full-length debut..."
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Starwalker
"Losers Can Win"
'Losers Can Win' EP
Prototyp Recording & Bang ehf, 2014
Note: "Starwalker combines the synth-pop skills of Air's "Sexy Boy," Jean-Benoît Dunckel, and Icelandic composer/producer Barði Jóhannsson (Bang Gang, Lady & Bird), both of whom have a history of scoring well-received films and crafting alluring tunes. Now they've joined forces for the Losers Can Win EP, out March 18 via Prototyp Recording & Bang ehf. Nearly 23 minutes of electronic excellence, Losers Can Win opens with a motivational title track carried by Dunckel's sultry-as-a-slinky-gown vocals..."
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Hercules & Love Affair
"Do You Feel The Same?"
'The Feast of the Broken Heart'
Moshi Moshi, 2014
Note: "Led by producer Andy Butler, Hercules & Love Affair’s four-on-the-floor blend of nu-disco and house grows more and more diverse with each addition to its rotating cast of characters... Led by a slithering, pulsating bassline, ["Do You Feel The Same?"] picks up where the Chicago house-based Blue Songs left off, employing sleek synths and house-style piano that accentuate the song’s pristine bounce." The NY-based collective first blew up on DFA with an Antony Hegarty-sung song.
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S. Carey
"Crown The Pines"
'Range of Light'
Jagjaguwar, 2014
Note: Wow, S. Carey kicked off our second episode just over two years ago! "Bon Iver associate and multi-instrumentalist S. Carey is releasing his new solo album, Range of Light, on April 1st through Jagjaguwar. The album was recorded at Justin Vernon’s April Base Studios in Wisconsin and finds Carey expanding on the airy arrangements of 2012′s Hoyas EP. Our latest glimpse at the new record comes courtesy of “Crown the Pines”, a delicate, but richly layered number that sounds like a cross between Vernon and Sufjan Stevens. Tingling keys, xylophone, strings, and vocals lace and interlock with one another, forging a serene and blissful soundscape."
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Esme Patterson
"Never Chase A Man"
'Woman to Woman'
Greater Than, 2014
Note: "On Esme Patterson‘s second solo release, “Woman to Woman,” the Denver singer-songwriter takes the perspective of some of music’s most iconic female characters. Download “Never Chase a Man,” a song from the perspective of Dolly Parton’s Jolene... On Esme Patterson‘s new album, “Woman to Woman,” she assumes the perspective of characters like Jolene. This album theme originated while learning the Townes Van Zandt song “Loretta.” Patterson grew angry that Loretta’s perspective is never known, that so many love songs are one sided. Perhaps, she thought, the story would be totally different if anyone ever asked Loretta, or Jolene, or The Beatles Eleanor Rigby what they thought."
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Ramona Lisa
"Backwards and Upwards"
'Arcadia'
Terrible, 2014
Note: "Last month Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek, who has become one of Brooklyn’s most in-demand collaborators in recent years, announced her debut solo album as Ramona Lisa. It’s called Arcadia, it was recorded on a laptop in Rome, and it represents Polachek’s stab at “pastoral electronic music.” We already heard the eerie title track; now comes a second single, a clattering, dystopian electro-pop tune called “Backwards And Upwards.”"
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Pattern is Movement
"River"
'Pattern is Movement'
Hometapes, 2014
Note: "Pattern Is Movement will end its nearly six-year silence this spring. On April 1, Hometapes will release the Philadelphia-bred project's fourth album, a self-titled, 10-track effort that follows 2008's All Together. After undergoing various lineup and stylistic changes, Pattern Is Movement has settled into an R&B-mining duo featuring founding members Andrew Thiboldeaux (Rhodes piano, synth, bass, and vocals) and Christopher Ward (drums). To promote their upcoming effort, the studio-savvy shape-shifters have announced a month-long tour of the U.S. and shared the record's opening track, "River." Blending peppy piano, thick low-end buzz, and the kinds of vocal acrobatics usually associated with Dirty Projectors, the new single offers an inviting look at what Thiboldeaux and Ward have been brewing for the past few years."
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G. Love & Special Sauce
"Cheating Heart"
'Sugar'
Brushfire, 2014
Note: "G. Love & Special Sauce will spend 2014 celebrating the 20th Anniversary of their self-titled debut with a brand new album built on the trio’s signature hip-hop blues sound. Sugar, which will be released on April 22nd via Brushfire Records, reunites original members G. Love, upright bassist James “Jimi Jazz” Prescott, and drummer Jeffrey “The Houseman” Clemens for the first time in eight years. The band has also confirmed a 45-date U.S. tour, and will perform their first album, G. Love & Special Sauce, in it’s entirety during the first set of each show. The 1994 classic album features some favorite fan hits including “Cold Beverage” and “Baby’s Got Sauce.”" One of the best concerts I ever saw was G. Love at my college in spring 1997. It was the last time they had a free, open-air, come-and-go-as-you-please show on campus which is exactly what made it great. Even some members of the band Live were hanging out!
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Baseball Project
"From Nails To Thumbtacks"
'Third'
Yep Roc, 2014
Note: "Sports and rock music haven’t always been a winning combo, but the members of The Baseball Project’s earnest enthusiasm for the sport and musical pedigree produces one of the most consistently enjoyable musical tributes to sports... The subject of “From Nails to Thumbtacks” is Mets/Phillies center fielder Lenny “Nails” Dykstra, whose post-baseball years were filled with as many downs as his career was with ups." It's Scott McCaughey of Minus 5, Peter Buck AND Mike Mills of R.E.M. plus Linda Pitman of Zuzu’s Petals!
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BettySoo
"Listen"
'When We're Gone'
self-released, 2014
Note: "It’s been five years since BettySoo bubbled out of the Austin scene with Heat Sin Water Skin. Her third album garnered raves for its mix of country, folk, and pop, earning comparisons to fellow Austin tour-de-force Patty Griffin... “Listen” kicks off When We’re Gone with orchestral flourishes and a slowly building groove." And her fourth solo album is a crowdfunding success story, too!
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Beck
"Waking Light"
'Morning Phase'
Capitol, 2014
Note: Making his second appearance on PUTV after the first tease from his latest record came from last August, it's the chameleon known as Beck Hansen. "The idea that Morning Phase is a “companion piece of sorts”—to quote directly from a press release—to Beck’s 2002 album, Sea Change, is a nice way of saying he’s decided to re-explore the same musical terrain more than a decade later. For those enamored of Beck at his saddest, it’s a welcome return... the album is not all Bummertown...Album-ender “Waking Light” even makes a vague attempt to praise dawn’s early light, suggesting that Beck might’ve worked his way through some shit here, just as he clearly did a decade ago."
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MaLLy
"A Long Day"
'The Colors of Black'
self-released, 2014
Note: "It’s been almost two years since MaLLy’s debut album The Last Great introduced the world to the boastful Minneapolis rapper, but today [April 8] the MC finally unveiled his follow-up LP The Colors of Black online where it can be streamed for free. The project highlights MaLLy‘s raw, realistic wordplay, painting images of gritty urban neighborhoods over ominous instrumentals and dense rhymes" We heard from Mally way the eff back on lucky Episode007 where he shared a track with another PUTV alum that we also just heard new music from, K.Raydio!
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Vibragun
"Dirty Thing"
'Vibragun'
No-Count, 2014
Note: "In 2011, Vibragun was formed, a few songs were recorded and the band was headed for a trip to SXSW — simple enough, right? But not long after, in 2013, Berstrom went through a family tragedy, losing his grandmother. ”I started to find I couldn’t focus on anything and I kept telling myself I was handling it, but it pushed me over the edge,” he explained. After seeking treatment for depression and alcohol abuse, Berstrom went on, thankfully, to release the 8-track self-titled record in January 2014... On the song “Dirty Thing”, for example, there is a recognition that we must understand what’s good and happy, as well as what’s hard and, yes, sad. “If you don’t look down, that’s a dirty thing,” the opening lyrics note."
(More Info)
This week's b-sides: Snowmine, Eels, Robert Ellis, Work Drugs, Mac DeMarco, The Shilohs, Charlie Hickey, Moses Sumney, Israel Nash and Shovels & Rope
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@PumpUpThaVolume Music News:
@BryanFerry playing live at #Portland's @Portland_5 #Schnitzer Auditorium #roxymusic #slavetolove #morethanthis
Download @GirlTalk's new collaborative EP with Philadelphia rapper Freeway
@TheFaint's long-awaited new album '#DoomAbuse' out today; "Does it abuse you? Oh yeah…"
@Damonalbarn says new Gorillaz album will "almost definitely happen"
Review: @tedleo and @aimeemann double your power-pop pleasure as 'The Both'
10 Albums to Stream: Slint, @theafghanwhigs, Woods, the Both, and more
Morrissey's 'World Peace Is None of Your Business' track list might outdo its title
The Smiths talk recording "How Soon Is Now?" in an exclusive excerpt from 'Mad World,' an oral history on new wave
For all you punx out there this @CherryRedGroup @DeadKennedys 7 x 7" singles box set 79-82 is a must for #RSD14
“@RollingStone: Kim Gordon just joined Nirvana onstage to sing "Aneurysm" #rockhall2014” #mediamemes
Photo of @KimletGordon fronting @Nirvana at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction last night #Nirvana
Joan Jett, Lorde, Kim Gordon and St. Vincent joined the living members of Nirvana to perform at #RockHall2014
#MurderAndMayhem / #MediaMemes: #Pistorius Murder Trial Cites @KendrickLamar Song #BitchDontKillMyVibe as Evidence
Celebrities are reportedly being paid thousands to attend @coachella, and Aaron Paul may be looking for a sponsor
Watch the #Coachella live stream, starring @Outkast, @beck, @ArcadeFire @Pharrell, and more
(Thanks again to @KEXP, @KCRW, @KUTX, WXPN, @TheCurrent, @TwilightCircus1 and you!)
