We first caught on to awesome Aussie band Middle Kids in January of last year. Their ability to write catchy, subtly-clever songs and to perform them with verve was evident from go. The trio today brings news of their debut album, Lost Friends, and gives us a video for their catchy new single Mistake. The song is just what you need to get you through the day. Check out director Onil Kotian’s video below.

About the album, lead singer Hannah Joy says: ““In a time where a lot of division is growing, we want to be part of the conversation that unites people around certain ideals that are universal, like hope and love. That’s so much a thread throughout this album: Even though things are tough, it’s worth believing in something good and in the idea that we can heal. And in some ways, I wanted the music to be beautiful and a respite from what’s going on.”

Amen to that!

We can’t wait for Lost Friends, which is out May 4th on Domino Records. You can pre-order it HERE.

Photo Credit: Maclay Heriot

Long-time Lefort-faves The Decemberists are back with new song Severed from their impending new album I’ll Be Your Girl to be released on March 16th on Capitol Records. Just as exciting, the band announced that they will be touring and playing the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara, their first ever visit to these environs. You can check out their tour dates and get tickets HERE.

According to the band’s press release, the band sought to mix it up and reach for something beyond their (phenomenal) standard textures on I’ll Be Your Girl:

“We recorded the eleven-ish songs during the early fall in Portland, Oregon, with noted producer and ailurophile John Congleton. You perhaps may be familiar with some of the work he’s done with such bands as St. Vincent, Lana del Rey, Wye Oak, Angel Olsen, Swans — oh, everybody, really. He’s a bit of a goer, production-wise. The songs tend to the darker, more absurdist side of things —  I mean, how can you blame us — and features a lot of nice vintage synth work by Jenny and Chris, some heavy drumming from Mr. Moen and, of course, the sort of baroque bass work you’ve come to expect from the former Mr. Lincoln High, Nate Query. All in all, everyone acquitted themselves quite nicely.”

Evidently, while working on the new material, the band discussed additional musical influences, such as Roxy Music and early glam music, and Meloy has described the album’s mood as “exuberant nihilism” to reflect these times.

Watch the Severed video below. The song is a sound update of The Decemberists’ musical motifs, with added analog-synth lead a la New Order or Depeche Mode, with autocratic, POTUS-inspired lyrics and heavenly harmonies. It’s a beauty that bodes incredibly well for the new album.

You can pre-order I’ll Be Your Girl HERE.  Severed’s lyrics are at bottom.

Severed:

“I alight like a whisper
I alight with the lights out
And it won’t take me long just to find you
And it won’t take me long just to find you

I’m allied to the winter
But don’t you get clever
Don’t you get clever
I’m allied to the landslide
Gonna leave you all severed
Gonna leave you all severed

I alone am the answer
I alone will make wrongs right
But in order to root out the cancer
It’s got to be kept from the sight

I’m allied to the winter
But don’t you get clever
Don’t you get clever
I’m allied to the landslide
Gonna leave you all severed
Gonna leave you all severed

I was born in a whiteout
Gonna smother you all till I choke you
Gonna smother you all till you kick out

I’m allied to the winter
But don’t you get clever
Don’t you get clever
I’m allied to the landslide
Gonna leave you all severed
Gonna leave you all severed”

Smoke. Fire. Flu. 1000-Year Flood. Isolation. Economic Crisis.  It’s felt like a six wave hold-down ’round the South Coast, and there is grief and anger to match. At least that’s we hear in the new song of the same name by the re-formed garage-punk band Hot Snakes (out of San Diego; former Drive Like Jehu members). Check it out below in all its fiery glory.

The band will release its new album, Jericho Sirens (its first in 14 years) on Sub Pop on March 16th. Based on the energy and verve on this captivating new song, we’re all ears.

Sub Pop will also reissue Hot Snakes’ first three albums, Automatic Midnight, Suicide Invoice and Audit in Progress, tomorrow (1/19). Hot Snakes are also heading out on tour, and all dates can be seen HERE.

“Six wave hold-down!”

May it relent.

Where have all the hours gone? Gone to smoke, fire-storms, flu, a new year, flash-floods and mudslides everyone. When will we ever learn?

Weeks have fallen to a fire and flu haze, but we’re making our way back.

David Byrne is a renewed and renewing inspiration. Ever since we first saw Byrne and the Talking Heads in that 200-person space in San Diego in 1978 (and every tour thereafter), we’ve drawn great inspiration from the artistry, entertainment, philosophy and humanity of David Byrne. Whether it’s his music, his bicycle infatuation, his art, his philosophy or a thousand other reasons, we’ve continued to be drawn to Byrne and his offerings. He’s never stopped making sense.

Despite (or because of) the political and cultural turmoil of late, and this life during wartime, Byrne has remained in the light and has been giving presentations entitled Reasons To Be Cheerful, about which Byrne has said:

“I began to look for encouraging things that are happening anywhere, and if they have been tested, if they have been proven to work, if they can be transferred and adopted in other places, if they can scale up—then let’s hold them up for consideration, and let’s invite others to add to this project. There are actually a LOT of encouraging things going on around the world—they’ve given me hope, and I’d like to share them.” We’re on the road to somewhere.

Continuing in this motif, Byrne has now announced his impending new album entitled American Utopia, which is his first solo album in 14 years. To introduce the album, Byrne has given us a video for the album’s first song, Everybody’s Coming to My House. The song was written with Byrne’s foremost collaborator Brian Eno and features the up-and-coming Sampha, TTY and Happa Isaiah Barr from Onyx Collective.

Check it out below in all its polyrhythmic glow and recognizable Byrne patter and epiphanies. It’s the Song of the Year so far.

Byrne said of American Utopia in a statement, “These songs don’t describe an imaginary or possibly impossible place but rather attempt to depict the world we live in now. Many of us, I suspect, are not satisfied with that world—the world we have made for ourselves. We look around and we ask ourselves—well, does it have to be like this? Is there another way? These songs are about that looking and that asking. This album is indirectly about those aspirational impulses. Sometimes to describe is to reveal, to see other possibilities. To ask a question is to begin the process of looking for an answer. To be descriptive is also to be prescriptive, in a way. The act of asking is a big step. The songs are sincere—the title is not ironic. The title refers not to a specific utopia, but rather to our longing, frustration, aspirations, fears, and hopes regarding what could be possible, what else is possible. The description, the discontent and the desire—I have a feeling that is what these songs touch on.”

We can’t wait for American Utopia, which is out March 9th on Nonesuch Records. You can pre-order it HERE.

The album’s tracklist and the song’s lyrics are found below the video:

American Utopia tracklist:

1. “American Utopia”
2. “I Dance Like This”
3. “Gasoline And Dirty Sheets”
4. “Every Day Is A Miracle”
5. “Dog’s Mind”
6. “This Is That”
7. “It’s Not Dark Up Here”
8. “Bullet”
9. “Doing The Right Thing”
10. “Everybody’s Coming To My House”
11. “Here”

Everybody’s Coming To My House:

I wish I was a camera
I wish I was a postcard
I welcome you to my house
You didn’t have to go far
A house and a garden
There are, there’s plants and trees
Make a, a closer inspection
If you get, get down on your knees

Now everybody’s coming to my house
And I’m never gonna  be alone
And everybody’s coming to my house
And they’re never gonna go back home

I’m pointing and describing
And I can be your guide
The skin is just a roadmap
The view is very nice
Imagine looking at a picture
Imagine driving in a car
Imagine rolling down the window
Imagine opening the door

Everybody’s coming to my house
Everybody’s coming to my house
I’m never gonna be alone
And they’re never gonna go back home

We’re only tourists in this life
Only tourists but the view is nice
And we’re never gonna go back home
No we’re never gonna go back home (all right)
We’re only tourists in this life
Only tourists but the view is nice

Now everybody’s coming to my house
And I’m never gonna be alone
And everybody’s coming to my house
And they’re never gonna go back home

Everybody’s coming to my house
Everybody’s coming to my house
I’m never gonna be alone
And I’m never gonna go back home