New Music Night DJ Sets | River Gods | 26/27 January

Here are the songs we played whilst manning the figurative decks last night in the booth at the fabulous River Gods in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Avail yourself of all the relevant linkage; if you have any questions or want to know more, hit us on Twitter or drop a comment. We'll create a Spotify playlist of all the songs we played last night shortly and post a link right here [Edit: HERE IT IS]. Also, please click over to Bradley's Almanac and check out Brad's playlists for the 9PM and 11PM hours, they will move you, and tons of free music to boot.

Set Two/Jay -- 10PM

1. David Newton & Thee Almighty Angels -- "Paint The Town" -- Paint The Town EP
[listen / buy]
2. Lubec -- "You're A Good Idea" -- Rip Tide 7"
[listen / buy]
3. School of Seven Bells -- "The Night" -- Ghostory
[download / pre-order]
4. Night Fruit -- "Dark Horse" -- Dark Horse EP
[blogged / listen / buy]
5. The Big Sleep -- "Ace" -- Nature Experiments
[listen / pre-order]
6. The Blue Dress -- "My Deth Ray" -- These Happy Golden Years EP
[blogged / listen / buy]
7. Satellite Stories -- "Blame The Fireworks" -- Blame The Fireworks single
[blogged / listen / buy]
8. Amity Beach -- "You'll Never Hear That Sound" -- Amity Beach single
[blogged / listen / buy]
9. Earthquake Party! -- "Pretty Little Hand" -- Vs. Pizza cassette
[blogged / download for free / buy Vs. Pizza]
10. Ringo Deathstarr -- "Sailin' On" -- Bad Brains cover, for Esme
[listen / donate to help Esme Barrera's family; Ms. Barrera was murdered Jan. 1]
11. Ovlov -- "The City" -- What's So Great About The City? EP
[listen / name-your-price]
12. Chandeliers -- "Age Sex Location (rough mix)" -- digital single
[blogged / download for free]
13. BDRM Eyes -- "Soggy" -- What Are You Wrong With EP
[listen / buy]
14. White Laces -- "Dissolve Into Color" -- Split 7" with Arches
[blogged / listen / buy]
15. Work Drugs -- "Rolling In The Deep (Adele cover)" -- digital single
[listen / download]
16. The xx -- "Open Eyes (Demo)"
[listen / download link seems to be dead but maybe it'll come back? like Shane?]

Set 4/Jay -- 12AM

1. Occurrence -- "You, Me And Everyone We Know Will Die" -- The Apocalypse Is Postponed
[listen / buy]
2. Johnny Foreigner -- "If I'm The Most Famous (Robot) Boy You've Fucked, Then Honey Yr In (Robot) Trouble" -- You vs. Everything EP
[blogged / listen / buy]

Today's Hotness: White Laces, Satellite Stories, Allo Darlin'

>> Noise pop continues to thrive in Richmond, and scene stand-outs White Laces seem poised for a break-out 2012. The quartet has an ambitious slate of releases in the offing, the first of which is a cracking split single with sometimes-tourmates Arches, who operate out of our beloved Philadelphia. Richmond-based label Worthless Junk is taking orders now for "Dissolve Into Color" b/w "Late Last Night" right here. While the official release date is Jan. 24 (a certain blogger's birthday...), you can hear White Laces' A-side via the Soundcloud embed below and watch a video for the Arches jam right here. The single was pressed in a limited edition of 300 grey and blue flat vinyl circles, and all pre-orders will be packaged with a bonus split cassette with demos and outtakes from the two acts. "Dissolve Into Color" opens with shuddering, bending guitar chords characteristic of the White Laces sound, but what comes next points to the band's songwriting becoming more refined and focused. The arrangement is spare, the attitude tough, fronter Landis Wine's singing more confrontational, the surf guitars can't walk a straight line for the cops and the odd time signatures enhance the rush and push of more prominent drumming. White Laces' second release for the year (a full-length is also in the works) will be the long-awaited split 10" with scenemates Snowy Owls (have you heard this awesome jam?) on Harding Street; the 10" is slated to hit racks in February and you can pre-order and access streams at this Bandcamp page. We caught a brief, sweaty White Laces set in Boston last summer when the act came through town with Arches; here are some photos.

Dissolve Into Color by White Laces

>> At this point does anyone even want Bloc Party back? Their role as examplary purveyors of spiky guitar pop has been ably filled many times over by young and hungry acts since the quartet left the sound behind and went on hiatus. One successful aspirant to the silently alarmed throne is Finland's Satellite Stories. The Oulu-based, criminally unsigned foursome show their mettle with the recent digital single "Blame The Fireworks," a jittery guitar pop anthem carrying a forlorn vocal, two great tastes that taste great together. Listen as a bridge bursts into flames under a blistering guitar lead and ensuing mayhem and then And Then AND THEN... back to placid bridge yet again. And the vocal kicker is just too perfect, dropping a phrase to underscore a rendezvous gone awry, a relationship on the rocks. "I know these streets and I thought I knew you, but I got lost..." Satellite Stories plans to release an EP of new material in 2012, and they are definitely ones to watch. We previously wrote about the band here back in November 2010. Stream the new song below.

Satellite Stories - Blame the Fireworks by satellitestories

>> The new Allo Darlin' single takes a minute to wind itself up, a minute during which, let's face it, this sounds like an Indigo Girls song. But, by the time we get a drum build and a chorus, "Capricornia" takes off, higher and higher over its full four-and-a-half minutes of REM jangle and simple harmonies gilding Duritz-esque cascades of words. The whole thing accelerates to a surprisingly noisy, but delicious, conclusion of guitar scribbles and feedback. It's a great breezy pop song that is very comfortable staying within a small conceptual box neatly labeled "breezy pop song' on its firmly placed lid. But if you don't think about the box and just sing along you'll probably find "Capricornia" is an appropriate antidote for grey winter days. The song is the first single from the band's full-length debut Europe; the single is due March 6 and the full-length April 17. Catch the stream below. Allo Darlin' just announced a healthy slate of US tour dates in April and May, although the band has omitted Boston from its current plans, causing many of us to have an indie rock sad. Still, that's months away, and we expect Allo Darlin' will eventually see their way to Boston. And if not, there's always New Haven May 18.

Allo Darlin' - Capricornia by Slumberland Records

Today's Hotness: Satellite Stories, The Texas Governor

>> For reasons we don't fully understand, bands that arrive on the scene playing excellent spiky guitar-pop tend to quickly discard the style like it was an embarrasing childhood toy. Bloc Party, The Answering Machine and others wasted little time changing the formula that broke them into the consciousness of indie cognoscenti. Well, news flash, rock bands: we happen to like excellent spiky guitar pop, and when you discard the style, it makes us sad. Thankfully, there is a hot young Finnish quartet named Satellite Stories that is currently delivering the goods. The Oulu-based foursome formed only this year, if the rudimentary timeline at its MySpace tent is to be believed (we'll also point out to noone in particular that our college freshman year roommate once went to Oulu and to our knowledge has never returned -- maybe it's the hot rock that keeps him there?). The song "Helsinki Art Scene" is driven by a textbook new wave beat (sixteenth notes on the hi-hat and stuttering blasts of snare), delicious guitars and well-proportioned dynamics. "Mexico" doesn't sound Mexican at all, but instead approximates the jittery pop sound of British wonder-where-they-are-nows Look See Proof, but with dreamier vocals. It's all fantastic, and we recommend hitting Satellite Stories' Soundcloud streams below. The band plays a record release show for its debut EP Nov. 12 in Oulu. No word on how those outside Finland can get the EP, but full show information is posted at the band's MySpace dojo right here.

Satellite Stories' "Helsinki Art Scene"

Satellite Stories' "Mexico"

>> Indie rock savant David Goolkasian has apparently resuscitated his The Texas Governor project, at least based on the evidence of a new digital single bearing the act's name that is now on offer at EMusic and ITunes. For those of you who say "so what," we'll remind you that Mr. Goolkasian once fronted the astonishingly good indie rock trio The Elevator Drops. A new single attributed to The Texas Governor & The Starlight Orchestra, "Angels To Sleep," is 108 seconds of glistening pop swirl pinned to delay-pedaled reggae guitar chords. A quick jaunt over the The Texas Governor's web hacienda turns up news that a third Texas Governor CD, the combo's first since 2005's The Experiment, is being "casually finalized." This is welcome news; the set may or may not be called 13 Totally Broken-Hearted Love Songs. No release as of yet.