Category: Album Alert

[ALBUM] Points of Departure by Big Still

Coming down from the Outside Lands high, you can relax to tracks by Big Still. The San Francisco band brings back sounds of indie’s 2000-2009 period, with a more country twang. Think the wholesome frolic-in-a-grass-field harmonies of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros with the cadence of Stars’s Heart album (particularly tracks liek “The Woods,” “Romantic Comedy,” “Don’t Be Afraid to Sing”) and the flavors of Brokeback Mountain’s score.

Big Still takes you through a journey with Points of Departure – giving you the feel of a late summer road trip across the Southwest. Even the track titles (“Purple Fields” and “Beauty of California” among others) reflect leisurely traveling through various points of interest or sights even Tunguska – despite it being in Russia and being the location of an explosion.

You can see Big Still at Hotel Utah in San Francisco on Friday, August 22 as they open for The Fontaine Classic.

STREAM: “The Bones of What You Believe” by CHVRCHES NPR Preview

NPR is streaming a preview of CHVRCHES’s upcoming and much anticipated album The Bones of What You Believe!

BoxSpeaker’s counting down the days until the album’s release on September 24.

Finally hearing the mastered versions of so many songs we’ve heard throughout the year across both California and the whole UK (remember that time I went crazy and ran away to the UK to figure everything out?) is mindblowing.

The live versions will always provide an unique intimacy, but the mastered versions definitely contain little auditory details that unfortunately get lost in the reverberation against concert venues’ walls.

Remember to listen to the NPR stream here: http://www.npr.org/2013/09/15/221714011/first-listen-chvrches-the-bones-of-what-you-believe#playlist

Cheers and Happy Monday!

[ALBUM ALERT:] “Learn to Exist” by The Jungle Giants

Brisbane, Australia’s garage rock revival wunderkind The Jungle Giants have their album “Learn to Exist” on pre-sale.

The Jungle Giants are a cheery response to America’s The Strokes and join the San Cisco as part of the Australian Invasion of happy garage rock.

[VIDEO + ALBUM ALERT]: CHVRCHES – “Gun” / “The Bones Of What You Believe”

This morning, CHVRCHES released the music video for their single “Gun,” and it’s really fucking cool.

They took the kaleidoscope effect and just ran with it while overlaying the triangle and chevron design themes they’ve featured on their EPs. The video even features a dancer who gets multiplied kaleidoscope style.

The news of their video release also came with an update on their upcoming album The Bones of What You Believe which will drop on September 23 in Europe and September 24 in the US.