Yourself In Peace is an upstart group that just formed this year and are making their way to us from Los Angeles with Westley Ulit on drums, synthesizer and vocals and Justin Corral on lead vocals and guitar. You can stream the band’s debut, self-titled release below and go over to Bandcamp for a “name your price” digital download.

The album opens up ominously enough with “Expo”, a more experimental and atmospheric track which might give a listener a false sense of what they’re in store for. With the start of “Watch Your Breath” the album’s sound comes into form with heavily distorted guitar, prominent synth beats and Corral’s hushed lyrics. The album is tantalizing with feelings of shoegaze, lo-fi and even an occasional take on an industrial vibe.

Yourself In Peace is definitely a band that has a chance to make an impact if they can get the word out.

Everyday is a good day to listen to Yeasayer and We All Want Someone To Shout For came across a brand new Yeasayer tune today that they say is being sent out to all their mailing list fans. I haven’t heard whether this track is going to be included on an upcoming album or not but for now lets just be happy that we have it.

they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect

their finest art
–Charles Bukowski, “The Genius Of The Crowd”

That about sums it up, no? The new album is here, a short play in three acts featuring Bukowski’s poem, some Milton Friedman interviews, and that Esther Burns crazy we love so well. Preview the album at page bottom, and read more at the buttons.

“Breath of Life” is a brand new track from Florence in a time where, I believe, we’re all still trying to fully absorb what we have so far. None the less, it’s a welcome addition to her catalog which mixes darker percussion under tones with her uplifting voice.

Snow White and The Huntsman is out June 1st.

Kristian Matsson is a machine for churning out high quality folk music year after year. It fees like only yesterday that his 2010 release The Wild Hunt came out but that may be because we were graced with both an LP and EP that same year which gave us plenty of material to keep ourselves busy with.

2012 will see Matsson releasing his third full length studio album titled There’s No Leaving Now and Rollingstone has premiered the lead off single “1904″. The track stays close to what we love about Matsson with minimal accompaniment, strumming guitar and his gruff Dylan-esque voice.

The Tallest Man On Earth – “1904″

There’s NO Leaving Now is out June 12th via Dead Oceans

Last year artist Travis Aulsebrook, under the moniker Hudson, landed himself on the top ten list music video for 2011 with the fantastic stop motion, Dropbear directed video for “Against The Grain”. A video is nothing without a track for it to be built around and Hudson has proven that he has the ability to write more than one great. His Open Up Slowly EP was packed with textures and imagery in spades and now we’re getting a taste from the new track “One & One” which is a beautiful slowly building track with just the right amount of twang in Ausebrook’s voice to be quite inviting but not so much that it’s off putting.

I’m anxious to hear whether this track is a part of a new album that we might be seeing from Hudson this year.

Hudson – “One & One”

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros made their way back to play Letterman last week with a rousing sing-a-long to “Man On Fire”. The track will be featured on Here, the band’s upcoming part 1 of what’s promised to be a 2 part album that will be released in 2012.

Watch Alex Ebert as he ventures out into the studio audience and tries to convince a few members to get up and dance with him. Unfortunately there were no takers.

Here is out May 29th via Rough Trade Records

Take only one metric, say, substance abuse. Most of us can relate, because at first glance a drink or two at night is the path of least resistance. These are frantic times: full schedules, long commutes, stressful jobs, a constant deluge of information and images, artificial light. The body grows accustomed to two drinks, so we add a third. Months pass, perhaps years, and three becomes four: an entire bottle of wine a day, or nearly half a gallon of beer. Sleep is adversely affected by alcohol, and this compounds the stress, anxiety, or depression the drink was meant to relieve. In time we take medication to sleep, then caffeine or other medications to wake back up. We ingest anti-depression and anti-anxiety drugs. Stress and sleep disturbances aggravate physical pain, but there is medication for that, too. There are secondary pills for lessening the side effects of our primary pills. Even when it is perfectly legal and in many cases over-the-counter, it is substance abuse all the same, from the humble coffee bean and the leggy Malbec to the long-chided OxyContin. And it might all start with a single drink a day.

Some remain sick, yet somehow press on. Tragically, others succumb. But some seek out the treatment they need. Yet what of those who have no access to treatment? Expand the view now from substance abuse to physical or domestic abuse, sexual assault, relationship breakdown, bereavement. Or in the case of adolescents, widen the lens to street violence, parents’ addiction, self-harming, family breakup, trauma, bullying, exclusion, restructured family systems, abusive parents. Or in the case of very young children, family breakdown, peer pressure, social exclusion, sexual abuse, young carers, domestic violence.

Crisis Counseling, located in Erskine and some 15 miles northwest of Glasgow, provides treatment to those who would otherwise have no access.

Their website proudly states: “Crisis provides counselling and support to people who need it when they need it.” Fraser McGowan, whom we know as Caught In The Wake Forever, recently sought out the clinic’s care, and discovered that funding was short. Economic pressure risk putting Crisis Counseling out of business. He writes:

From the first moment I contacted Crisis I felt a genuine warmth & compassion I had never come across before. They quickly provided me with a fantastic mix of specialist therapeutic services & weekly counselling sessions which were tailored specifically to my needs & what I wanted to achieve. One of the best things was that there was no set time limit for my treatment, there was no pressure for me to get well, I could work at it at my own pace & in my own time. Throughout the last 6 months I’ve been on a wonderfully strange & beautiful journey. Each day I get stronger & stronger & it’s all thanks to the continued support & teachings of the amazing staff & volunteers at Crisis Ltd.

McGowan and the community at Mini50 Records have responded with a benefit album, featuring 17 tracks, just under 80 minutes of previously unreleased material. Buy it for about US$10, and all proceeds will be donated to the center. Longtime TMIM favorites Matthew Collings and Antonymes have contributed music, as has new Muse band-crush Hiva Oa. McGowan has also contributed a track to the collection. But the most rewarding part of compilations like this is new discovery, and the walzy, provincial “Daylight” (Christian Eldefors) is a terrific surprise. Try also the edible and fire-lit “Recent Waves,” by Guy Gelem.

Stream below, but please purchase at the Bandcamp page.

Nothing would please me more than to be known as The Girl Who Likes Italian Party Bands From Israel. Let’s put that on today’s personal FB timeline: May 12, 2012 – the day Desiree became obsessed with Monti Fiori, a five piece ensemble from Tel Aviv. They didn’t say much in their email pitch, but brevity is the soul of wit. All they had to tell me was this:

Monti Fiori takes their inspiration straight from the masters, such as Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad & The Ugly) and Nino Rota (The Godfather). Their songs are bold and colorful, expertly weaving Italian surf rock, 50’s-60’s San Remo classics and festive Mediterranean beats. It also helps that they follow our blog and know this is the kind of stuff we want in our Inbox every day (check out Fred’s post from last August here).

Today we share “Caro Capitano”, the band’s first single from their debut album, out next week. Also available for streaming on Bandcamp today.

Allegro is a full-body experience. Only play “La Musica” if you have ample space to throw your hips around the room.

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The first half-minute, indeed the first ten seconds set the terms. This whitewashed chorus is the sound of inner dissonance, nothing really to do with the external world of instruments or processing. This is a place of quiet disorder, of serotonin failure. It is a relief when the mournful cello joins the slight vocals. Rapturous when the sharp cracks of snare drum part the ether and echoes and unbalance.

The song is named “Badger” and it opens the ravishing EP Future Nostalgia for sale, from Edinburgh-based three-piece Hiva Oa. “Badger” and the following track “Urban” will appear on the full-length album The Awkward Hello, Handshake, Kiss, slated for a May release by Mini50 Records. The imprint is curated by Euan McMeeken, who fronts The Kays Lavelle and has a forthcoming collaboration with Matthew Collings, who mastered this EP.

And back to it. The album finds more discernible rhythms with “Urban” and “Ghosts,” consecutive indie folk tracks with fragile hum-along verses and, in the former case, an aching cello line. The slow march of drum and uncomplicated acoustic guitar keep “Urban” afloat between harmonica lines, and the sloppy hi-fi ethic stands in clear contrast to the clear-lensed unraveling of “Badger.” The latter of the two tracks is warm and personal, and brings the EP title into better view. Album closer “Morning” is clearly mispelled: a bereaved, sometimes distant, and — in the end — furious piece of composing for voice, cello, and electric guitar. A breathtaking finish, and the promise of a spectacular follow-up.

The band takes their name from one of the French Polynesian islands on which Paul Gauguin spent the last eight years of his life. He made the lush, hidden place famous with such paintings as The Sorcerer of Hiva Oa (Marquesan Man in the Red Cape). Fitting, somehow.

Stream Future Nostalgia for sale, and come back soon for our review of the forthcoming album.

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