walk the moon

Anna Sun Ep

Walk The Moon are currently in the studio finishing up their album, which is produced by Ben H. Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective). The album will feature a host of new songs as well as new versions of songs from their independently released 2010 album "i want! i want!", including the tracks featured on the "Anna Sun EP" (RCA Records), which is now available at all digital service providers as well as in physical form at all Walk The Moon shows.

After being featured in a profile piece on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly last spring following their stint at SXSW, Walk The Moon returns to network television on February 16th when "Last Call" films their live performance at The Wiltern. On April 5th Walk The Moon will be making their first-ever live performance on late night television when they visit Late Night wth Jimmy Fallon.

Named one of MTVs Artists To Watch for 2012, Walk The Moon, who will also be playing MTVU's first ever "Woodies Tour", have captured the attention of fans and critics alike with their colorful and energetic live performances, as well as the eye catching and whimsical video for "Anna Sun" which is currently in rotation on MTVU. They will be joining Young the Giant on their North American tour in February before playing SXSW and touring with the Kaiser Chiefs. Later this year they will also be headlining select North American markets.

Launched in Ohio in 2008 by lead singer, songwriter and keyboard player Nicholas Petricca, Walk The Moon includes Kevin Ray (bass, vocals), Eli Maiman (guitar, vocals) and Sean Waugaman (drums, vocals).

Listen: "Anna Sun" (radio edit)  

margo and the
nuclear so and so's

Rot Gut, Domestic

For seven years now, Margot and The Nuclear So and So's – led by singer and songwriter Richard Edwards –have been creating music that swirls with fear and doubt and tension and beauty.

Edwards saw Margot's last album "Buzzard" as the beginning of a 'panic pop' trilogy: albums filled with a gnarled version of the pop music of his childhood, loosely tied together by the concepts of aging and starting over. For the second installment, he took his notebook full of song fragments and went to the place that held some of his most vivid memories of calm, a mere five months after "Buzzard"'s release. Subsisting only on aloe vera extract and clam chowder, Edwards spent 26 days burying himself in sand, sleeping outdoors, and finishing a batch of songs inspired by childhood, fatherhood, and bad stomach pain. Calm evenings bore panicked music.

Because when Margot ended the touring cycle for "Buzzard", which included multiple headlining tours and a run supporting The Twilight Singers, Edwards was ill. Plagued with stomach pain, he boarded a bus and headed to Pismo Beach, CA. Over the years, Pismo had unintentionally become an oasis during Margot tours. The Nukes' battered black school bus, as if divinely inspired, always found its way there. They would spend a night or two by the fire, listening to music, eating clam chowder, drinking beer and recharging. With each tour, the band's collective narrative grew and the town became more mythical, especially on bad days; "Pismo" was conjured up and whispered into the ears of a grumpy, hung-over drummer, the guitar player sighed it while replacing blown tubes, the keyboard player chanted it in his sleep, the bus' engine grunted it. A place to rest. The end of the road.

On the last, alcohol-filled night in Pismo, Edwards wrote "The devil" and "Christ" in succession, and scribbled "rot gut, domestic" on the cover of his notebook and "panic pop" on the back. In the morning, he hitched a ride back to his adopted hometown of Chicago with a Bible salesman who told him, "Times have gotten bad."

"Rot Gut, Domestic" was recorded over a 10-day period at Chicago's Electrical Audio studio and the band's own Queensize Twin Aire studio in Indianapolis. At the helm was John Congleton (St. Vincent, The Walkmen). Congleton and the band turned the guitars up and produced an album filled with lyrics in turn sweet and sinister. "Rot Gut, Domestic" retains the distorted power of "Buzzard" but peels back another layer to reveal a rawer brand of grimy pop. Edwards' writing has never been sharper, stuffed full of memorable hooks and clawing guitar lines.

"Richard Edwards has the head of a punk and the heart of a new romantic....dark lovely, loud."--Huffington Post

"Masterpieces of controlled tension"--SPIN

"Margot is one of my favorite bands in recent years. Smart and soulful and even when they get dark there's a glint in their eye."--Greg Dulli

Listen: "Prozac Rock"  

magic wands

Aloha Moon

Magic Wands are Dexy Valentine (guitar/vocals) and Chris Valentine (guitar/vocals). Dexy and Chris started playing and writing music together in the summer of 2007, creating their own genre of music they call Love Wave.

Magic Wands has released several singles and an EP in the US and UK, and has played as a duo with bands such as The Raconteurs, The Black Keys, The Kills and The Horrors, and performed at major festivals like Lollapalooza.

The new album "Aloha Moon" will be available April 24th.

"a sexy and propulsive stunner. ...an atmospheric and cutting guitar soundscape....suggestive of the darker side of 80s pop and brighter side of falling in love."--SPIN

Listen: "Space"  

of montreal

paralytic stalks

Lyrically, "Paralytic Stalks" contains confessions of an infinitely more personal nature than anything Kevin Barnes has written since 2007's "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?" Never before has an of Montreal record moved so fluidly from one song to the next--each track feeding off the last in what seems a singular album-long movement that never allows you to rip your ears away.

As a result, "Paralytic Stalks" at times resembles modern classical with its intricate compositions, while at others echoes of neo-prog, pseudo-country and 60s pop can be heard.

Conceived on the fringe of a contemporary pop music landscape that seldom encourages listeners to dig beyond the surface level to receive satisfaction, of Montreal's "Paralytic Stalks" is the rare album with the audacity to demand such a response.

"Give the man a cake, he's a genius."--NME

"A perfect centerpiece for your winter soundtrack."--Nylon

"A soft-rocking, disco-tinged pop gem that's laden with harmonies from singer Kevin Barnes." ["Dour Percentage"]--Exclaim

"A glammy slice of power-pop that features group shouts in the chorus, sweet vocals, and a swirling flute solo in the middle. More like this please." ["Dour Percentage"]--Prefix

Listen: "Dour Percentage" (clean radio edit)  

the big sleep

nature experiments

Considering how quiet they've been over the past couple years, you'd think The Big Sleep decided to suddenly take their name seriously after the tireless tour cycle behind 2008's "Sleep Forever". The truth is much simpler…

"We took a little break, worked on stuff separately and just lived our lives," explains bassist/vocalist Sonya Balchandani.

"It obviously took longer than we thought it would," adds guitarist/vocalist Danny Barria, "but I wasn't feeling rushed or pressured. I just wanted to write good songs."

Which brings us to the hefty hooks and sugar-spun noise pop of "Nature Experiments", the filler-free full-length Danny and Sonya have hinted at since 2000. Helped by a more collaborative creative process, "Nature Experiments" is as robust as a Big Sleep record gets, bursting at the seams with restless rhythms and choppy power chords ("Ace"), venomous vocals and blown-out beats ("Meet Your Maker"), and effects pedals/synth pads that rub and ring out against some of the band's most climatic choruses yet ("Valentine," "Ghosts In Bodies," "Ladders"). And if you need a breather, there's always the psych-steeped balladry of "1001" and "Wood on the Water."

"There was definitely a tunnel vision thing going on with our last record," says Danny. "That pressure was cool and intense, but the guiding principle this time around was to take our time and do whatever we needed to. We'd work on things separately and then meet in each other's living rooms with just an acoustic guitar and a keyboard, which is funny considering that's exactly how the band started."

"This band's always been about what comes out of the two of us working together," adds Sonya. "I think it's normal to write a little past the edge of your capabilities, so then you have to deliver, and the next time around, you end up pushing yourself again. We are always just looking for and editing ourselves towards what feels right, what we can both agree is putting across a feeling in a style that's truly 'us'."

Listen: "Ace"  

buxton

Nothing Here Seems Strange

Buxton, a five piece folk-rock ensemble from Houston, TX with two self-released albums under their belt, is excited to announce their New West Records debut album "Nothing Here Seems Strange" will be released January 31st. Buxton's music is a study in contrasts: rock and folk, subtle yet eccentric, lush harmonies over prickly guitar. The group is currently coming off an extensive tour including numerous stops on the east coast, a sold out CMJ show, and a run of dates through Texas and California.

Buxton's fusion of lovely harmonies, jarring explosions of energy and meticulously applied instrumentation is led by Sergio Trevino on Vocals/Guitar with Jason Willis on lead Guitar/Mandolin, Chris Wise on Bass Guitar, Justin Terrell on Drums and Austin Sepulvado on Guitar/Vocals. Hayley Barnes often joins the group on keyboard and harmony vocals.

"Because if it suddenly becomes a big year for mandolin boogie, these Houstonians will be at the front of the stage. Think Jim James sitting in with the Punch Brothers."--Esquire 2012 Best New Artists

Listen: "Down In The Valley"  

foxy shazam

The Church of Rock and Roll

Welcome to "The Church of Rock and Roll", baby.

Foxy Shazam have traveled the globe for years spreading their bombastic gospel and singing the praises of a life less ordinary, leading a massive mutiny against the mundane and converting thousands of believers in the fight to save what's right about the world. But the world ain't seen nothin' yet.

Foxy Shazam have just crafted the most meaningful and grandiose record of their career and they're ready to unleash it into public domain. Produced by Justin Hawkins, the mastermind behind U.K. glam-rockers The Darkness, "The Church of Rock and Roll" is an ambitious and awe-inspiring cavalcade of passion and humanity. From the bawdy sex-strut of lead single "I Like it" to the heart-wrenching ardor of "Forever Together", this is a record for anyone with a beating heart.

"We're not concerned with what category we fall into," declares singer Eric Nally. "We want to stand for our generation."

They're currently doing a damn good job. With three albums (2005's "The Flamingo Trigger", 2008's "Introducing", and 2010's "Foxy Shazam") and nearly 1,000 live performances under their collective belt, this band of angelic hellions who call Cincinnati, OH their Earth-home, Foxy Shazam have few peers when it comes to live performance. However, it is their fourth studio album, and their first for the recently revamped I.R.S. Records, that truly begins to reveal the glorious potential that has been percolating internally for more than half a decade, a flourishing burst of refreshing yet timeless music waiting for the right time to strike the hearts of the masses. That time has come.

At the center of the pulpit stands one enigmatic man, a hypnotic hurricane of smoke and glitter. Cutting through the lush instrumentals like a fiery bolt from the Heavens, Eric Nally's unparalleled vocals power the congregation with a ferocious intensity that cannot be manufactured, with a roaring sincerity that burns deep within the mortal frame attempting to contain them.

"I didn't go to college. I knew what I needed to do," Nally explains. "Back in the day, rock stars were mythical creatures. Now there's no mystique, but I like the element of mystery and longing. The rock star is becoming extinct. I want to revive it."

Foxy Shazam are a soul band with a punk rock attitude and a symphonic attention to detail. A name that once represented a pair of cool sneakers has become synonymous with charisma, bravado, rock and roll. Here to pull you from the disparagingly bland edges of modern rock and return music to an era of glamour and emotion, this band has crafted the immaculate soundtrack to a world in moral disarray, each song the audial accompaniment to a work of epic cinema that exists only in the mind of the listener.

Listen: "I Like It" (clean radio edit)  

sleigh bells

Reign of Terror

Sleigh Bells will release their sophomore album, "Reign of Terror," on February 21st. Produced by guitarist Derek Miller, and written by Miller and singer Alexis Krauss, "Reign of Terror" is the follow up to 2010's critically acclaimed "Treats".

Prior to "Reign of Terror"'s release, Sleigh Bells will embark on a full tour of Florida, where Miller grew up, with fellow Floridian Diplo and Brooklyn's Liturgy.

Like you needed a Better reason to get excited in the new year?!

"The follow-up to their 2010 debut should be every bit the 'sonic equivalent of a beautiful shotgun to the head' we were promised. It's sure to be a gorgeously terror-filled February indeed." ~ MTV Buzzworthy

Listen: "Crush"