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Featured Artist: Matthew Dear

Matthew Dear Featured Artist: Matthew DearArtist: Matthew Dear
Album: Headcage
Label: Ghostly International
Genre: Electronic : Indie
UPC: 804297815107
Territory: World
Release Date: 1.17.12

Depending on whom you ask, Matthew Dear is a DJ, a dance-music producer, an experimental pop artist, a bandleader. He co-founded both Ghostly International and its dance floor offshoot, Spectral Sound. He’s had remixes commissioned by The XX, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Spoon, Hot Chip, The Postal Service, and Chemical Brothers; he’s made mixes for the Fabric mix series and Get Physical’s Body Language. He maintains four aliases (Audion, False, Jabberjaw, and Matthew Dear), each with its own style and distinct visual identity. He straddles multiple musical worlds and belongs to none—and he’s just hitting his stride.

Matthew Dear’s EP, Headcage, stands as a testament to the New Yorker’s work as a relentless songwriter, producer and in a new light, collaborator. Working with other producers and vocalists as well as mixing/tracking at Nicolas Vernhes’ famed Rare Book Room studio has lent Headcage an openness and poise to the four songs presented here.

Hit the jump for more on Dear, a free promo track and a video.

 

Catch the rest after the jump!

Featured Release: “Bones for Tinder”

406705 72 Featured Release: Bones for TinderJustin Robinson & the Mary Annettes
download icon Featured Release: Bones for Tinder “Vultures” (mp3)
from “Bones for Tinder”
(Five Head Entertainment)

icon landing page Featured Release: Bones for Tinder More On This Album

Justin Robinson is most often recognized as a musician in the Grammy Award-winning, old-time African-American string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops. But Justin Robinson and the Mary Annettes’ debut full-length, Bones For Tinder, paints a much more vivid picture of this eclectic individual than his work in the Carolina Chocolate Drops ever did. “Bonfire” and “Nemesis and Me” recall the crepuscular indie rock of the Go-Betweens, while the slowly unspooling lyrical intro to “Kissin and Cussin” flirts with sepia-tone hip-hop. “Ships and Verses” dishes out grooves that could prompt the foot soldiers of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation to bust out in a buck and wing or a merry minuet, as mandolin and fiddle licks run rings around Motown handclaps. For “Vultures,” strokes across the autoharp ride skeletal funk breaks with the surprising grace of an equestrienne sitting sidesaddle. It is impossible to pigeonhole the Mary Annettes. “I couldn’t characterize it in any one genre,” concurs Robinson. “It’s what I like, which is lots of different things… and everything I’ve been influenced by.”

Justin grew up in Gastonia, NC. His mother is a cellist and classically trained vocalist, his older sister plays piano, and Justin began violin studies in the second grade. Actively listening to music—not just playing records or the radio—was an integral component of daily life. “I can’t have music on and do something else that I need my brain to be engaged in,” admits Robinson. Family favorites included ’70s R&B heartthrobs, classic rock icons, male country singers, and a lot of Tina Turner. When their parents were out, Justin and his sister scanned the radio dial surreptitiously for latest hip-hop joints.

Hit the skip for more on Justin Robinson and the Mary Annettes.

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Tour Date Roundup: Nicki Bluhm, Tycho, Blouse

350327 72 Tour Date Roundup: Nicki Bluhm, Tycho, BlouseNicki Bluhm
download icon Tour Date Roundup: Nicki Bluhm, Tycho, Blouse “Before You Loved Me” (mp3)
from “Driftwood”
(Tim Bluhm)

service icon 4 Tour Date Roundup: Nicki Bluhm, Tycho, Blouse Buy at iTunes Music Store
service icon 426 Tour Date Roundup: Nicki Bluhm, Tycho, Blouse Buy at Amazon MP3
icon landing page Tour Date Roundup: Nicki Bluhm, Tycho, Blouse More On This Album

 Tour Date Roundup: Nicki Bluhm, Tycho, BlouseNicki Bluhm’s sophomore album, Driftwood, shows an impressive expansion of Nicki’s natural talent and is well into its second pressing. The sounds range from the AM magic of Linda Ronstadt to the charming duets of Johnny and June Cash to smokey Memphis soul. Since Driftwood‘s release, Nicki has become the “It Girl” of the San Francisco music scene — performing with her band, The Gramblers; as a duo with her husband Tim; and as a guest artist with an array of revered performers. Her warm, strong voice and striking presence have undeniable appeal, confirmed by her sensational performances and rousing reception from music lovers at every show.

Jan 14: Fox Theater – Boulder, CO
Jan 15: Belly UP – Aspen, CO
Jan 17: Sheridan Opera House – Telluride, CO
Jan 18: Sheridan Opera House – Telluride, CO 1
Jan 20: 320 South – Breckenridge, CO
Jan 21: Pac 3 – Carbondale, CO
Jan 24: Pink Garter – Jackson, WY
Jan 25: Whiskey Jacques – Ketchum, ID
Jan 26: Top Hat – Missoula, MT
Jan 27: Whiskey Jack’s – Big Sky, MT
Jan 28: The Filling Station – Boseman, MT
Jan 29: John’s Alley – Moscow, ID
Feb 2: SLO Brewing Co. – San Luis Obispo, CA
Feb 3: Moe’s Alley – Santa Cruz, CA
Feb 4: Mystic Theater – Petaluma, CA
Feb 5: Humboldt Brews – Arcata, CA
Feb 8: SoHo – Santa Barbara, CA
Feb 9: Canyon Club – Agoura Hills, CA
Fen 10: The Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA
Feb 11: The Belly Up Tavern – Solano Beach, CA
Feb 12: Coach House – San Juan Capistrano, CA

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IODAcast 103: Sean Hayes, Pink Martini, Justin Robinson & the Mary Annettes

download icon IODAcast 103: Sean Hayes, Pink Martini, Justin Robinson & the Mary AnnettesDownload now or subscribe on iTunes and download the tracks to go below and after the jump.

411042 72 IODAcast 103: Sean Hayes, Pink Martini, Justin Robinson & the Mary AnnettesPolica
download icon IODAcast 103: Sean Hayes, Pink Martini, Justin Robinson & the Mary Annettes “Dark Star” (mp3)
from “Give You The Ghost”
(Totally Gross National Product / Polica)

service icon 426 IODAcast 103: Sean Hayes, Pink Martini, Justin Robinson & the Mary Annettes Buy at Amazon MP3
icon landing page IODAcast 103: Sean Hayes, Pink Martini, Justin Robinson & the Mary Annettes More On This Album

 IODAcast 103: Sean Hayes, Pink Martini, Justin Robinson & the Mary Annettes

406705 72 IODAcast 103: Sean Hayes, Pink Martini, Justin Robinson & the Mary AnnettesJustin Robinson & the Mary Annettes
download icon IODAcast 103: Sean Hayes, Pink Martini, Justin Robinson & the Mary Annettes “Vultures” (mp3)
from “Bones for Tinder”
(Five Head Entertainment)

icon landing page IODAcast 103: Sean Hayes, Pink Martini, Justin Robinson & the Mary Annettes More On This Album

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Poliça Premiers New Video On Life+Times

411042 72 Poliça Premiers New Video On Life+TimesPoliça
download icon Poliça Premiers New Video On Life+Times “Lay Your Cards Out” (mp3)
from “Give You The Ghost”
(Totally Gross National Product / Poliça)

service icon 426 Poliça Premiers New Video On Life+Times Buy at Amazon MP3
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 Poliça Premiers New Video On Life+Times

IODA artist Poliça is premiering their new video for the single “Lay Your Cards Out”, off their recent debut album Give You The Ghost, on Jay-Z’s lifestyle website Life+Times! “Lay Your Cards Out” is a prime example of Poliça’s custom blend of sultry R&B rhythms and intensely electro, goth-pop vibes. With Channy Leaneagh’s dynamic vocal experimentation, processing, and synthesized textures fitting in perfectly with the lush, electronic sound-scape of Ryan Olson’s arrangements. “Lay Your Cards Out” also features Mike Noyce of Bon Iver. Poliça says that this is “the first tease of more to come”. The video is a soft and smoky hypnosis of a girl, a beat and a black curtain.

Poliça – “Lay Your Cards Out”

Indie Darlings Frankie Rose And Grimes Getting A Ton of Love For Upcoming Releases

Frankie Rose Indie Darlings Frankie Rose And Grimes Getting A Ton of Love For Upcoming ReleasesArtist: Frankie Rose
Album: Interstellar
Label: Slumberland Records
Genre: Alternative : Alternative Rock
UPC:749846015082
Territory: World Except Europe
Release Date: 2.21.12

Frankie Rose and The Outs wowed critics everywhere with their 2010 album, the effortlessness of its gorgeous girl-pop mantras, the intimate immensity of its Spectoresque walls of reverb, the beauty of a song sung sweetly over the most graceful two chord vamps. February 21st, 2012 brings us a whole new Frankie Rose and her transformation into an entirely other kind of pop, the reverie and revelation of Interstellar, an album that floats free of its maker’s history – time spent with Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, Crystal Stilts, and creator of one of the most breathlessly compelling girl-pop albums of the past few years – and offers the listener something strangely other, as alien as it is familiar, as compelling as it is enchanting.

On Interstellar Frankie takes the lessons learned with her debut album – like reverb as the holy route to pop-grandeur, scaling a wall of teenage tears – fully digests, and transfers those skills into the brave new world mapped out by ten new songs. In its place is the confident swagger of a singer and auteur fully aware of how to build the simplest of pop moves into aching, full-blown melodramas, how to grab hold of an emotion and ride its darker waves. “I always have a big picture in mind,” Frankie reflects. “I knew I wanted a HUGE sounding record. Big highs, big lows, and clean. There is no fuzz on this record. I knew I wanted to make a streamlined, spacious record with big choruses that sometimes referenced 80s pop.” Cited by Pitchfork as “lean, elegant music that practically glows in the face of exceptional fuss,” and named one of New York Times Style Magazine’s “Ones to Watch,” Frankie Rose is truly a force to be reckoned with.

Click through to read about Grimes, grab some free promotracks, and check out a couple videos Catch the rest after the jump!