Releasing a series of four albums is a huge undertaking for any band, but with the release of Renmin Park (streaming free at their official site or simply looking under the seats right here), the band has already started this endeavor and is apparently going in a whole new direction for the band; described as completely starting over as they are now “completely free of any recording contracts and obligations.“

Thanks to RSL for allowing us to embed this track titled “Cicadas” from his site.

Cowboy Junkies – Cicadas by rslblog.com

The tracks I’ve heard so far sound great and are perfect for relaxing late night on the patio after a night of heavy drinks or maybe a blistering summer afternoon on the porch with some icy lemonade. Haunting and lovable at times, southern and gritty at others, the album soothes for a plethora of moods.

This album will soon be followed by Demons, on which Cowboy Junkies will cover the songs of their late friend Vic Chesnutt, who passed away in December 2009. “His catalog is so deep and, for the most part, so overlooked,” says Michael. “It will be a labor of love.” The final two volumes of the Nomad Series will be titled Sing in My Meadow the contents of which are still being discussed and The Wilderness, a full album of new songs.

 
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Canadian indie-pop group Stars are about to release their fifth full-length album The Five Ghosts on June 22nd, and yesterday they dropped the video for the first single, “Fixed.” It’s a heavily collaged and grungy-looking concert-style video that goes with Stars’ layered sound pretty well, I think, though as always, Amy Millan’s voice soars right over the top of it all.

Links
Official Site
Preorder on Amazon
Preorder on iTunes

Lots of changes in the life of Trent Reznor. The newly wed has put NIN aside for a moment to start a new side project with his wife Mariqueen Maandig (formerly of the West Indian Girl) and musician/producer extraordinare Atticus Ross.

A few weeks ago the band’s official website went live with snippets of audio followed a few days later by their first single, “A Drowning.” Over the next few days the band released two more tracks “The Spaces in Between” and “The Believers,” sending fans cruising the internet in search of the new tunes. The band’s 6 song EP (which you could “order” for free) went live at midnight last night, arriving in inboxes, including mine, at an ungodly hour. Rather than wait until this morning to take a listen, I stayed up a few extra minutes to take a sneak peak and ended up playing the bloody thing on repeat for nearly an hour.

My favourite track off of the EP: “The Spaces In Between” which features Maandig’s gorgeous melodic voice. It’s a haunting little track and one I can’t stop listening to. NIN fans seem, so far at least, mixed on the release some loving the soundscapes (I’m in this camp – I was always a fan of Trent’s non-vocal tracks) while others find it too much of a deviation.

I’ve tucked a few videos after the break. If you like what you hear, I suggest downloading your own copy of the EP from the official website. The web makes being a completionist way too easy.

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This year has already had a lot of great new music, and it’s only continuing to add and promise more all the time. Today, after releasing a new single last week that had the internets abuzz, Arcade Fire announced that their next full-length album will be called The Suburbs, and will drop August 3rd in the United States. This is their first album since 2007′s Neon Bible, and it’s easily one of the most anticipated records of the year.

Here are the so-far released tracks, the single “The Suburbs” and its b-side “Month of May.” Some of the comments I’ve been seeing haven’t been too high on these tracks, and I’ll admit I’m not as in love with them as I am with Funeral or Neon Bible, but we’ll see. I’ve only heard them through a time or two. What do you think?

“The Suburbs”: Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
“Month of May”: Arcade Fire – Month of May

You can pre-order The Suburbs on Arcade Fire’s website or presumably through the music purveyor of your choice.

(via lots of places, but primarily Pitchfork and One Thirty BPM)

Watch the video for the insanely popular “Fireflies” by Owl City (or at least as much as you can without having to go outside to throw yourself in front of a bus):

Then enjoy this.

Self-described “Keane purists” have been groaning for a while now about their push towards a new sound. There has been an even louder collective groan over their newest single, which infuses hip hop with their signature Britpop piano rock.

I am here to say that all of these naysayers are wrong. “Stop for a Minute,” which feature Canadian hip hop artist K’naan, is absolutely, positively one of Keane’s best songs in their fifteen year career. I whole-heartedly support the evolution of this band and the new direction that they have been taking. It’s bloody brilliant.

Their latest album is an EP titled Night Train, which was recorded during their tour for their 2008 album Perfect Symmetry. Check it out and keep an open mind, because it’s awesome.

As I strapped on my iPod the other day for a long, not so sunny bike ride, I figured Led Zeppelin would do as well as anything else (or better) for this day of musicness. I’ve been listening to Zep since about the 7th grade and really got into them in college. I can’t really stand any of their later stuff with all the synth and pianos. But everything up through “Physical Graffiti” is at worst, very solid or stellar at best.

Two of these stellar albums are “Led Zeppelin IV” and “Houses of the Holy.” On this particular day I decided to get the Led out with “Houses” and while listening made a gut level statement to myself that this is my favorite Zep album. Then instantly I had pangs of regret over that silent statement as I remembered how awesome “ZOSO” (“Zep IV”) is.

So now I’m caught in a dilemma: is “ZOSO” a better record, or is it the masterpiece that is “Led Zeppelin IV?” I’ve decided to do two things: one, pose this questions to reader(s): Which of these two albums is better? And is there another Led Zeppelin record that you like better than either of these? And two, I’ve listed out the tracks and assigned each one a grade. We’ll see which album comes out on top with the better GPA. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you today’s title bout…

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Picked up The National’s newest effort today and it’s likely their best yet. “High Violet” has been getting pretty high marks around the nets today and to help celebrate both the release of this great new album and also the prospect of getting to see them live again this summer, the band has released a new video for the song “Bloodbuzz Ohio”. The video is a little uninspired, but it fits with the mood of the song pretty well. Which, by the way, is just so hard not to close your eyes and just revel in. You can see and listen below…

Canadian group Stars are preparing their new album The Five Ghosts for release in June, and a few days ago dropped the first single from it, entitled “Fixed.” This will be their first full album since 2007′s In Our Bedroom After the War (they’ve been working on solo projects in the meantime, including Amy Millan’s Masters of the Burial, which I highly recommend for fans of Jenny Lewis, Neko Case, and other alt-country-esque singers), and I can hardly wait to hear the whole thing. This first track has Amy’s soaring vocals against a dense, poppy, upbeat synthy musical background – in other words, it’s what you expect to hear from Stars, but that’s not a bad thing AT ALL. If anything, it’s synthier and more layered than ever.

So enjoy “Fixed,” and look out for The Five Ghosts at the end of June, and for Stars on tour. The tour, incidentally, looks to be selling out in several places, so get your tickets while you can. For anyone in the LA area, the venue they’re playing here, Troubadour, is a FANTASTIC small spot – seeing Stars in such an intimate venue is going to be a treat not to be missed.

Tour dates tucked after the jump.

via Stars’ official site

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I do not do a lot of posting here on Morepop but I was lucky enough to be asked if I would like to review Grandpa Elliot’s first full CD Sugar Sweet. After I made the mistake of not jumping on the chance to pick up the original Playing for Change CD for review (I ended up purchasing it a bit after it came out) I knew I had to review Sugar Sweet.

Grandpa Elliot has been a New Orleans street musician since the 60s and finally has his own CD. Before I through the CD in I was expecting a straight blues album driven by Grandpa’s Harmonica and while I love that style I quickly discovered that Sugar Sweet was going to be more than that. The album combines many of the styles that are played in New Orleans. Ain’t Nothing You Can Do have a Rumba feeling to it. This Little Light of Mine has gospel overtones and several of the songs have a strong R&B feeling to them. I don’t want to take away from Grandpa’s Harmonica playing which is quite impressive. The live version of Fannie Mae which features Keb’ Mo highlights just how strong of a harmonica player Grandpa Elliot is.

Playing For Change has really caught my interest and I can’t wait to see what they release next. Their initial CD is really strong with many different styles of music and I hope they continue to release a CD from each of the artists. If they do release more CDs and if they are as strong as Sugar Sweet I will be sure to be picking each and everyone one of them up.

Track Listing for Sugar Sweet:

1. Ain’t Nothing You Can Do
2. This Little Light of Mine (Medley)
3. Sugar Is Sweet
4. Baby, What You Want Me to Do
5. We’re Gonna Make It
6. Share Your Love With Me
7. Another Saturday Night
8. Fannie Mae (Live) – featuring the Playing For Change Band with Keb’ Mo
9. Please Come Home for Christmas

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Sugar Sweet please send and email to john@rowthree.com with the subject Sugar Sweet by May 14th and I will pick a random entry. You may only enter once and the contest is open to everyone with the exception of the Row Three Contributors.

Available now for your streaming pleasure.

Sea Of Cowards

We’re just a couple of weeks away now from the newest release of one of the most entertaining and musical American artists to come down the pipe in some time, Band of Horses. Their third effort is sure to be as engaging and melodic as their other albums and we’ve already had a track or two dropped from the new record.

Today we’ve got their newest video, “Northwest Apartment” streaming for you compliments of MySpace video. See you at the record store on May 18th and we’ll certainly be on the lookout for tour dates. In the meantime, check out the newest video below. It’s worth it.

In this musical era where lip-syncing, generic computerized beats, and auto-tuning can get just about anyone to the top of the charts, it’s always refreshing to hear a new band break out who distances itself from the absurdity of mainstream music. Radio Empire does just that with their new album, Wishing Well, blending the familiar sounds of power-pop and punk rock, all while harnessing the increasingly rare beauty of actually being made up of talented musicians (*gasp* real instruments!).

Led by frontman Tyler James, one might be inclined to cite Fall Out Boy and Dashboard Confessional as influences to the Erie, Pennsylvania band – and while these comparisons may hold some weight, with Wishing Well, the band (much due to James’s unique vocals and their self-aware, lets-have-fun attitude towards music) succeeds at molding their own distinct and varied sound, be it the head-banging “Forgive, Never Forget,” the solely acoustic “Baby Doll,” or the anthem-worthy album-closer “For the Record Pt. II.” With heavy lines by bassist T-Woody and energetic drumming by Jess Scutella that’d make Dave Grohl proud, the album is an eclectic and fun mix of catchy tunes.

Wishing Well is light enough to play in the morning, it rocks hard enough to jam out to in concert, and for those who prefer to reflect on music in solitude, the lyrics are well-written, relatable to any young person, and brutally honest with issues ranging from life in a band, to girls, to religion, love, memories, and moving on. This is an exciting new album and I definitely look forward to hearing more from Radio Empire. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that it’s only a matter of time before these guys are signed and on the road to even more success.

Title Single

Tracklist:
01. For The Record pt. I
02. Wishing Well
03. Girls from the Show
04. Thousand Other Chances
05. Baby Doll
06. Forgive, Never Forget
07. Memories
08. Dress to Impress
09. Self Medicating
10. For the Record pt. II

Connect with Radio Empire
Radio Empire’s Official MySpace
Radio Empire’s Official Facebook Page
Radio Empire’s YouTube
Radio Empire’s last.fm Page
Radio Empire’s Pure Volume Page

Buy Radio Empire’s Wishing Well
iTunes
Amazon

Not sure where I’ve been, but never heard of these guys. This YouTube video has almost 1.5 million views so clearly I’m pretty late to the party on this one. But the name of the band is right on if this is the kind of fare they string together. I mean really, this isn’t anything we don’t know. Nirvana became the most overrated band almost overnight using just three chords, so it’s obvious slightly more talented artists use four. But they way in which these guys demonstrate that fact is not only funny, but it actually sounds pretty good.

This is a whole lotta fun. Check it out:

Can’t manage to get together a whole band? No worries, if you had one of these, a five-necked instrument that combines a bass, guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, plus a harmonica. It’s owned by Saskatchewan country music artist Steve Puto, who’s currently loaning it to the Cantos Music Foundation in Calgary for their museum collection of instruments.

Personally, I’m still working on learning to play a regular old one-necked guitar, but this looks pretty amazing. CBC News has the full story.