The excitement for The National's fifth LP, High Violet, is almost hitting critical mass right now. Well, add these videos of the quintet performing the brooding "Afraid of Everyone" (above) and the propulsive "Conversation 16 to the pile. The clips are from the indie-rockers' set at Knoxville, Tenn.'s Big Ears festival. The Brooklyn group's new tracks hit iPods and store shelves on May 11. The dude rock abides. Check MySpace for upcoming tour dates. (Via Stereogum.)
Stars' fifth full-length, The Five Ghosts, their first since 2007's In Our Bedroom After the War, will be out June 22 via Vagrant and the quintet’s own imprint, Soft Revolution (via Universal in Canada). Everyone in the group penned and recorded the eleven-song suite in Montréal. Broken Social Scene and Apostle of Hustle member Andrew Whiteman, makes a guest appearance.
Stereogum posted "Fixed" today. The synth-led debut single is quite the earworm and Amy Millan takes hold of the mic. At the beginning of June the Canadian group will set out on a pre-release trek where they plan to play The Five Ghosts in its entirety. Fans who plan to attend can vote for the classic tracks played during the encore at youarestars.com.
Snowglobe's fourth LP is entitled Little More Lived In and finds the Memphis, TN-via-Athens, GA band honing their flower-power pop even more. The new release was recorded at Memphis' Young Avenue Sound by Kevin Cubbins, and drops May 4, via Makeshift Music. Today we proudly present the premiere of Snowglobe new music video for lead single, "Love." The Olivia Tremor Control-like clip takes its psych-pop cues from zany Beatles short films and children's TV shows. Soak in the sunshine folks.
In addition to "Love," the group will soon release another AV treat: their debut full-length feature film. After ten years of touring and recording it's probably about time for their own Help! or Head. According to a press release, the movie "will follow the band for 24 hours as they race to make it to 'The most important show of their entire career!'" Stay abreast of all Snowglobe tour and film news through the group's MySpace.
Broken Social Scene also had a knack for the cinematic side of musicmaking and Forgiveness Rock Record isn't going to change that. Check out these awesome YouTube teasers for the forthcoming LP. Each song is paired up with a short clip from a "classic film." (Apparently, Ghost is considered a classic.) The tracks included are “Art House Director" (above), “Chase Scene," "Sweetest Kill," and "Ungrateful Little Father." Note: The "Sweetest Kill" clip is NSFW.
Check out more new BSS tunes here. Forgiveness Rock Record will be out May 4 on Arts & Crafts.
Inlets' debut LP, Inter Arbiter, is a ghostly sequence of pure songcraft by Brooklynite Sebastian Krueger. All of its melodic elements quietly slosh back and forth like Kreuger's aquatic namesake. The release will be out April 20 on Twosyllable. Kreuger's lo-fi Baroque-pop project started in his homestate of Wisconsin with early piano lessons, before moving to the big city.
November of 2006 saw the free online release of Inlets' The Vestibule EP, an eight-track suite that gained attention from several influential blogs. The self-released EP has since been downloaded over 40,000 times. Krueger sharpens his craft even more with Inter Arbiter. Bask in the sunset-lit glow of the video for "Bright Orange Air" above. Dusty acoustic guitar scrapes, snatches of woodwind, and Krueger's soaring voice soundtrack a pointillistic rowboat tale. Check out current shows at Inlets' MySpace.
San Francisco quartet Thee Oh Sees are back with yet another full-length. (These guys just don't stop recording.) The guitar fuzzy debut single, “I Was Denied,” slots nicely into the recent deluge of lo-fi garage bands from the Bay Area, and hits the same pleasure centers that Nuggets artists tapped into during the late-1960s.
The band will release Warm Slime on May 11. It's their second LP on the L.A.-based imprint, In the Red. Sacramento producer Chris Woodhouse recorded the new release, which features a 14-minute title track. Go to the band's MySpace for information on upcoming gigs.
Blind Man's Colour continue their oceanic theme in the new music video for "Canoe Paddles." The hazy track is off their mesmerizing Wooden Blankets EP (released only on digital/vinyl earlier this year.) We're proud to host the premiere today. The hazy clip was lensed with one of those huge over-the-shoulder VHS cameras your dad used to have and it was filmed in the garage of Kyle Wyss' parent's home in South Florida. (Sidenote: I love the tape manipulation on this track.)
Friend and director Frank Traynor (who made the cover art for Wooden Blankets) combined BMC's vision with his own before collaborating with editor Isaac Royffe. The analog short gets a little psychedelic with its use of crystal prism lenses and there are some gypsies invloved too. Get your glittery warble on above. Wooden Blankets is available now on Kanine. BMC will perform at Tampa, Fla.'s Mojo Books & Music on April 17.
If you haven't checked it out already, click the YouTube clip to the left to see Lissie's cover of Lady GaGa's "Bad Romance." It's pretty badass and already has 174,908 views. While you're here also watch an exclusive live clip of "Little Lovin'," featured on Babelgum.
Next week Lissie heads out on her first U.K. tour as the support act for Joshua Radin. You can download Lissie's In Sleep EP on iTunes. It's her debut release on Columbia. Her forthcoming debut LP, Catching a Tiger, is set to drop in early June.
Stars
San Francisco quartet 
