Why has no-one ever told me about Neva Dinova? Anyone? Anyway. They're from Omaha and play very nice soft, folksy indie country. That's the best description I can offer. People who are into the late Bright Eyes are definitely going to like these guys.

Also, you should check out The Moth & The Mirror from Glasgow, they play incredibly warm indie pop. Listen to the song Soft Insides, it was instantly my new favourite song. Their live cover version of MGMT's Kids is cute!

Buy Nena Dinova — You May Already Be Dreaming and/or The Moth & The Mirror — Say That It's Summer/Soft Inside.

There's a hot tip from my girlfriend. She says she listened to these guys a while ago, then forgot about them and then found the link somewhere on her computer. I'm talking about Portland, Oregon-based quartet Botanist. It's very mellow indie pop with electronic beats and a soft voice. They've got some nice arrangements there and a new, selftitled album out. You can check out three of their new songs on their Myspace.

Another band whose awesomeness I had no idea about is indie rock band The Good Life from Omaha, and being on Saddle Creek they're probably pretty well-known. Anyway. The other day I came across an acoustic version of October Leaves and fell in love with it. There is actually a limited edition of their third album Album Of The Year which features very pretty acoustic versions of the same songs on a second CD. If you can, get your hands on a copy of this one because these versions are brilliant.

• Botanist — Rifles Shoot Hearts
  from Botanist
• Botanist — Fluorescent Microwave
  from Botanist
• Botanist — Motor
  from Botanist
• The Good Life — Heartbroke
  from Help Wanted Nights
• The Good Life — You Don't Feel Like Home To Me
  from Help Wanted Nights
• The Good Life — A New Friend
  from Album Of The Year
• The Good Life — Always A Bridesmaid
  from Lovers Need Lawyers
• The Good Life — I Am An Island
  from Black Out

Buy Botanist — Botanist and/or The Good Life — Album Of The Year (Limited Edition).

There's a really nice label called Lucky Madison, check out their artists.

Also, you should listen to Rogue Wave and Palomar because they're good. Oh, and of course, listen to the band with the most hilarious Myspace nickname ever (take a look at the link in the browser bar): Talulah Gosh.

Au Revoir Simone are a bunch of girls from Brooklyn who play pretty and pretty sad keyboard pop.

There's a band that would have definitely worth checking out when they were still around: Neutral Milk Hotel. But one would have had to live in Denver in the 90s. Two Headed Boy has an intensity that peels off your skin.

Attention, download:

• Neutral Milk Hotel — Holland, 1945

And listen to this:

• Neutral Milk Hotel — Two Headed Boy

Everyone who likes Tegan And Sara should give An Horse's glorious album Rearrange Beds a listen. And similarly wicked are indie-pop-fetishist-happy-making Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin from Springfield, Missouri. Their song Glue Girls is such a nice reminder of Built To Spill's 90s sound. Also, please listen to Grand Archives, especially their song Index Moon will be stuck in your head forever.

• An Horse — Camp Out
• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin — Glue Girls
• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin — Think I Wanna Die
• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin — Oregon Girl
• Grand Archives — Miniature Birds
• Grand Archives — Torn Blue Foam Couch

Silversun Pickups have a new album out. Enough said.

Everything's gonna get lighter, even if it never gets better.

It's Barsuk time again. Thank you Tim for showing me Mates Of State. And, you gotta love this line from a Say Hi song: "I feel better when the winter's gone." How true.

• Mates Of State — My Only Offer
• Say Hi — Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh

Have a nice weekend!

Don't be afraid, you're already dead.

For this weekend I picked two bands. The first one is Akron/Family. I must have had a random mp3 of one of their songs on my computer for years. Today it accidentally played in iTunes and I thought, wow, that's actually pretty good music there. The other band I just started liking is Ra Ra Riot. They're on tour with Death Cab at the moment.

• Ra Ra Riot — Each Year
• Ra Ra Riot — Dying Is Fine

The Beauty Shop was a band from Champaign, Illinois. One of the members now plays in Golden Quality whose recordings sound like they must be massive live. I should fly over to check them out. There is another really awesome band who is from there, New Ruins. And I also just found out about Califone, a wicked dreamy acoustic kinda band from Chicago.

• New Ruins — Ships
• Califone — Spider's House
• Califone — The Orchids

I found a good band I didn't know called Via Audio, there were amongst Chris Walla's Myspace friends. And they had friends on Myspace called Headlights who are really great.

• Headlights - Cherry Tulips

Have a nice, snowy weekend!

This weekend's post is a little early because we will be recording the whole weekend. Check out the solo project of Amy Millan who is one of the singers of the band Stars. Skinny Boy is probably one of the best songs of all times. I also really like her cover version of Death Cab For Cutie's I Will Follow You Into The Dark.

I don't actually remember how I came across Ester Drang and if they're any good, but check them out anyway cos they might be.

"(T)he words 'Deerhoof' and 'Enjoy' have no meaning to my programming." That's what your browser bar says when you go to the page of San Francisco's most insane band on the Killrockstars Website. I gotta thank Jörg for sending me Holy Night Fever a while ago.

• Deerhoof - Chandelier Searchlight
• Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
• Deerhoof - +81
• Deerhoof - Wrong Time Capsule
• Deerhoof - My Purple Past

And here is another song someone recommended the other day:

Das Wochenende ist seit einer Stunde vorbei, es ist nachts, und akustische Musik kommt grad mal wieder ganz gut. Ein Traum: Yellow Tape von Canyon. Kann man unter anderem runterladen.

Der Link öffnet die Epitonic Website, da auf "Download Mp3" klicken:

• Canyon - Yellow Tape
  

...und hier Rechtsklick und Target As... saven!

• Canyon - Ten Good Eyes
• Canyon - Other Shore
• Canyon - Wheat Penny

Habt 'ne gute Woche!

Gestern vor der Burlesque-Probe saßen Matze und ich im meinem Zimmer rum und haben The Anniversary gehört, und ich dachte so, hm, was machen die eigentlich jetzt so? Weil die haben sich ja 2004 aufgelöst und irgendwas muss man ja machen danach.

Kurz mal rumrecherchiert, drei von denen spielen jetzt bei The Only Children, und dann gibt's auch noch D*R*I, die letzten November ein Album gemacht haben. Plus Soloprojekte, Josh Berwanger und White Flight.

Auf jeden Fall runterladen:

• The Anniversary - The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
• The Anniversary - All Things Ordinary
• The Anniversary - Sweet Marie
• The Only Children - Change Of Living

Denn mal schönes Wochenende!

Hello highway, goodbye L.A.! Hier ein Schmankerl für die countryesk angehauchte Singer/Songwriter-Fraktion: Arabella Harrisson. Die Dame spielte seinerzeit Bass spielte bei den And/Ors und davor bei Jejune, welches beides auch endzeitgeile Bands waren.

Rechtsklicken, Ziel speichern unter, hören und freuen:

• The And/Ors - As We Play The Tape Tricks Us
• The And/Ors - Flexiclocks
• The And/Ors - Screams Nicole

John und ich machen gleich Roadie für Blast Furnace in Lübeck. Uff. Euch ein weniger arbeitsreiches schönes Wochenende!

Übrigens: Falls ihr mal zuviel Zeit habt: Bei epitonic und Insound kann man ungefähr ALLES(!) von irgendwelchem Indie-Zeugs runterladen, lesen undsoweiter.