To continue something of a trend, The Mugs are a band that e-mailed me last September, and I’m just getting around to posting them now. They are an indie rock band out of Brooklyn, and a good one at that. These songs are all from their latest EP, Ravel Day, which came out last year. They are not such a great band if your intent is to blow out your eardrums, but if you want to listen to something nice and relaxing, perhaps something similar to The Shins, then The Mugs are probably the way to go.

In other news, this is the last autopilot post for either/or, so hopefully I (or someone else!) will be back to post something nice for you to listen to.

From Ravel Day
Could It Be – (MP3, 4.9 MB)
Mile Seven – (MP3, 5.2 MB)
True – (MP3. 5 MB)

Mock Orange is a band I’ve been sitting on for months now, so it’s high time I’ve posted them. The album these songs are from, Captain Love, did not manage to capture my attention as a whole, but songs like World Of Machines certainly did. Undeniably catchy and slightly odd at the same time, you’d find yourself singing along if the lyrics made more sense. Song In D isn’t nearly as catchy, but one song of musical herpes (in a good way, I swear) is enough for any album.

From Captain Love
World Of Machines – (MP3, 4.5 MB)
Song In D – (MP3, 5.1 MB)

You weren’t expecting me to write another post so soon, were you, curious visitor? Hah! As luck would have it, I’ve made the mistake of telling a few bands that I’d write about their music. The Happy Hollows aren’t one of these, but that’s OK. They are basically a somewhat crazy indie-rock band from Los Angeles, with a crazy lady for a singer. I recently noticed yesterday that nary a band with a male singer has been posted on this site since December, so I also figured I’d keep the streak going strong. Anyway, I’m quite certain you indie-rock hipsters out there will love their song Lieutenant, and while Tambourine isn’t as noisy or crazy, it’s still damned good. And if you like what you hear, you can grab the rest of the EP from their website for free if you sign up to their mailing list. I think it’s pretty well worth it!

And it has come to my attention that the guy who provides our hosting, well, it’s his birthday. So happy 21st birthday kol, may there be much whiskey and many wenches in your immediate future.

From Imaginary EP
Lieutenant – (MP3, 4.6 MB)
Tambourine – (MP3, 3.7 MB)

And next up is My First Earthquake! I hope you enjoy newly-minted holiday songs as much as I do, or you may not enjoy their amusing holiday song, Fa La Freezing. It is based off of a song their singer remembered from her 5th grade holiday concerts. Awww, nostalgia! I’ve only heard it a few times and I’m already singing along. It’s ca-ca-ca-ca-cold outside…

The other song I’ve posted, Sack Lunch is not holiday-themed, but it is rather catchy. It has the distinct honor of being the only song I’ve ever heard to say “pre-pube,” or refer to “the pizza boxes of his heart.” It’s also one of the very few songs I know about statutory rape! That is probably not a great selling point, but hey, it’s still a great song.

From Fa La Freezing
Fa La Freezing – (MP3, 4.6 MB)

From Tremors
Sack Lunch – (MP3, 4 MB)

If I’m ever going to get through this backlog of bands I enjoy to post, I’m going to have start… posting more of them! So for the next few days at least, enjoy some double-post days. First up is The Pity Party, who are not just any band in LA. No, they were selected as the best band in LA by LA Weekly. I take that entirely at face value, because doing otherwise would cause me to delve into LA Weekly’s musical tastes, and indeed full-bore paranoia. Anyhoo, this is another tough one to pigeonhole. Love Lies is a song that can only be referred to as scrumtrilescent, and singer Heisenflei’s vocals on it melt my heart every time I listen to it. The song sounds very much like something out of 90s alternative, with a teensy bit of electronics thrown in for effect. Bottom Of The Hole is a different beast entirely, unless 90s alternative songs had such dark piano playing, and I submit that they did not!

If all that wasn’t mind-blowing enough for you, these songs are at 320 kbps, which is pretty impressive for a free band offering, so kudos!

From Orgy Porgy
Love Lies – (MP3, 12.6 MB)
Bottom Of The Hole – (MP3, 9.9 MB)

There is so much good music in my inbox, it’s unbelievable. There’s at least another 5 bands to post in there, which I guess isn’t that unbelievable, but it’s still pretty good. A fellow from the Brooklyn band Xylos e-mailed me about a week ago, imploring me to check out his music, and so I did. And I enjoyed it! And here I am, writing about it!

Anyway, their music isn’t easily pigeonholed, which is great for the listener but not so great for the blogger. Their debut EP, Bedrooms, is a fairly downbeat number. Gettin’ somewhere! Unlike most slow and meandering songs, though, these ones do not cause mind-numbing boredom.

The singer for Yeasayer, who I’ve written about before, does some guest vocals on Wrapped In A Page, and does them quite well. I was expecting something, well, weirder, and I’m glad what I received was different. It is indeed the most accessible song of the bunch; perhaps because it’s faster-paced, or perhaps due to its tropical influences. Yellow Flip-Flops also borrows Yeasayer’s singer and has tropical influences, and even adds some great female vocals, but it’s not as fast-paced or as accessible. Mystery solved! Since I haven’t mentioned any lyrics on here in a while, Testament has a cool lyric in “I left home to find myself a home.” Chew on that one for a while!

Also, if you like this music a whole lot, and you live in or near New York, they have a show on the 20th of this month and you should go see it. You can find the details and download the rest of their EP from their website.

From Bedrooms
Wrapped In A Page – (MP3, 4.1 MB)
Yellow Flip-Flops – (MP3, 6.8 MB)
Testament – (MP3, 7.1 MB)

I was going to post something a bit later, but after noticing my last piece of pie has been stricken with the precursor to penicillin, I figured that now was indeed the time to write about a lovely singer named Leerone. She’s from California and mixes her slightly unpredictable piano ballads with her lovely voice. That voice will help for those among you who don’t like or can’t get into songs that surprise you with the musical turns that they make. For instance, her song Care For Some Whiskey? has the catchy pop vibes that would make it on mainstream radio, but it is nowhere near formulaic enough. And slightly off the subject, it also has a rather strange and awesome music video which you should look on Youtube for.

My favorites of her songs, JUNK/Peace of Mind and Here on Earth/The Opening are, well, amazing. The first opens with a simple, repetitive, but oh-so-enjoyable piano bit that I could listen to for half an hour and not get tired of it. The second’s opening doesn’t entrance me as much, but the closing does with its layered vocals that I could listen to for another half hour and love it the whole time. I can’t find any links for the first, but you can listen to the second on her secondary Myspace.

And yes, I would most certainly care for some whiskey, please.

From Imaginary Biographies
Care For Some Whiskey? – (MP3, 2.1 MB)
To Fill The Void – (MP3, 2.6 MB)

The Robot Ate Me is a band I’ve been intending to write about for at least a year or so, so I suppose it’s high time that their number came up. They’ve never been a band that really resonated with me, which is to say that although I like a few of their songs, they’ll never be one of my favorite bands. They play what could loosely be defined as indie soft rock; something like Death Cab for Cutie, but much better. Earning them some extra points is the fact that they’re giving out some free songs on their website, which is something that every music blogger appreciates. First up is the mellow Bad Feelings from my favorite of their albums, Carousel Waltz. After that, you get The Genocide Ball which sounds like a song The Scarring Party might play.

From Carousel Waltz
Bad Feelings – (MP3, 2.7 MB)

From On Vacation
The Genocide Ball – (MP3, 2.5 MB)

For those of you not in the know, Emma Pollock was one of the singers for the now-defunct band, The Delgados. While they released quite a few good albums in their time, I think Emma’s solo album, Watch The Fireworks, completely and utterly puts them to shame. This is partly due to my strong preference for her beautiful singing, which I felt was criminally underutilized on many of The Delgados’ albums. She’s not just an incredible singer, though; she writes the most intelligent lyrics you’ll find in modern pop music, and the music itself it outstanding.

If I’d bothered with making a best-of list last year, Watch The Fireworks would almost certainly have topped it. If you’ve yet to hear the album, do yourself a favor and start now with Acid Test.

From Watch The Fireworks
Acid Test – (MP3, 2.7 MB)
The Optimist – (MP3, 3.4 MB)
Paper & Glue – (MP3, 2.6 MB)

A few months ago, I got a relatively unassuming e-mail from the band Kingsbury, telling me that I’ve written about some of the bands they like (Calla and Radiohead in particular) and that, perhaps, I would like their tunes as well. As luck would have it, I do. Perhaps this is because they actually let the bands they like influence their music, which is a good thing to do when you have good influences. Corpse is a very Calla-esque song, Desert Inn sounds influenced by both, and The Great Compromise is back to Calla again. Some could take that to mean that since Kingsbury is arguably derivative of these bands that they’re somehow less talented. I, for one, would disagree with that. To make music at the quality necessary to be considered derivative of those bands takes a level of talent that most bands can’t even imagine. Judging by the state of music today, most bands don’t even try. Not only does Kingsbury try, but they clearly succeed.

From The Great Compromise
Corpse – (MP3, 3 MB)
Desert Inn – (MP3, 2.4 MB)
The Great Compromise – (MP3, 2.7 MB