Great Month... Or The Greatest Month?

July is by far my favorite month out of the year. Not only does the hot weather finally roll in to the Northwest, but there is a busload of new music that gets released as well. And today I get to share my favorite bands' newest music. First we got Delicate Steve's newest full length called Positive Force. I love this album. Super awesome guitar and rhythm music that breathes life into the listener. Positive Force is a serious smile fest from the opening notes of "Ramona Reborn" to the lyrical "Two Lovers" all the way to closing cricket noises of "Luna." The music is an exact representation of the album name, so much positive energy forcing its way into your sound holes. So listen to it below. My favorite tracks are all of them but particularly "Love" and "Wally Wilder."



Next up is yet another positively charged band in Fang Island. Their brand new one called Major is set to come out on the 24th, but our buddies over at NPR has the entirety streaming on their site here. This is one rocking, head-banging, dancing crazily like no one sees you kind of album. It starts off with a great catchy piano line, the standard high flying guitar, and an awesome chorus of "I all I know, I learned in kindergarten." "Kindergarten" is an epic opening track that sets up the rest of the album for greatness. With the metal-pop rock anthem of the single "Sisterly" being the second track it might seem like that they will soon run out of steam. Not so, instead the second half starts out with a classic noodling track "Dooney Rock" that evolves into high energy metal about halfway through. Then comes another high flying, rock punching track that is probably my favorite so far called "Chompers." In short this is a great album and you should listen to it via the link above, then you should buy it when it's released, and then you should check out the tour dates and go to their show.

Now for some of the best house party music out there with Jeff The Brotherhood. Their new album is called Hypnotic Nights, which started out as an EP released a couple of months ago. This one is produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. This is seriously some of the best music to hang out with friends and drink beers to. Lo-fi fuzz guitar riffs and catchy, rocking drum beats fill this album along with lyrics about not caring, getting wasted, and being young. Hypnotic Nights starts off with a great track "Country Life" followed by the hugely popular "Sixpack." After the sludgy "Leave Me Out" we get treated to the mellower "Region Of Fire" which has a kick-ass saxophone solo in the beginning, followed by a kick-ass guitar solo. It feels like they experimented with their sound a little more towards the end of the album and it sounds fantastic. The album comes out on the 17th and you can stream it here for free.

Sharing Is Caring

As much as I love brand new music, sometimes it's fun to go back and listen to albums that you haven't heard for a while. That's what I did this past weekend and was pleasantly reminded how great these artists are.
First is The Besnard Lakes. This band is great. I mean great vocal work, great guitar ambiance and layering, and great songwriting. This is the kind of band that should be popular, but aren't. My favorite song/video is below and if you like that check out their stuff here. I really like the "Dark Horse" album.

Next up is a killer guitar band Fang Island. High flying guitars and awesome harmonics make up their self titled debut. Check out their bandcamp and listen to it for free. They are really fun to listen to. Also stayed tuned, there will be a new album very soon.

Why? is one of the best hybrid bands out there. Combining a great original hip-hop vocal delivery with a rockin' undertow of baselines and sweet guitar solos. Definitely one of my favorite albums of all time is their 3rd album Alopecia. Check out all of their music here.
For all of you new music junkies, how about one of my favorite bands The Shins. They just put out the new single "Simple Song" for their next album Port Of Morrow due out March 20th.