Toy

London band Toy make a catchy brand of rock music that fuses elements of psych, krautrock, alt-rock, post punk, and Britpop that gets in the ear canals and stays there.  New album "Happy in the Hollow" is out now on Tough Love Records.  Order it here and watch the video for "You Make Me Forget Myself" below.

Proper Ornaments

Ultimate Painting's James Hoare (also of the band Veronica Falls) has another project in the works, Proper Ornaments, with Max Oscarnold of Toy.  "Cremated (Blown Away)" has a soothing and jangly feel to it, a kind of gentle indie psych pop to while away the time to.  Listen below and grab the "Foxhole" LP in January from Slumberland.

Sexwitch

The crazy cool Shawn Baker posted about the upcoming project from Bat for Lashes' Natasha Khan, the band TOY, and Dan Carey a few days ago, the fantastically titled Sexwitch.  Come on.  Like i'm not going to listen to something called Sexwitch.  Anyway, i've been bumping first taste "Helelyos" ever since, and now we get some more music with the transcendent and entrancing "Ha Howa Ha Howa."  This is ritual music at its very finest.  Listen below and get the self-titled album on The Echo Label Limited.

Toy & Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes)

Speedy Wunderground Records will be releasing an excellent compilation of Iranian funk and psych rock next month, "Zendooni:  Funk, Psychedelia, and Pop from the Iranian Pre-Revolution Generation."  In conjunction with that release, the label is also putting out a 7" single of prog band Toy and Bat for Lashes front woman Natasha Khan's cover of Amir Rassaei's "The Bride."  It's pretty groovy.  Take a listen below, and you can pre-order the 7" here.

Toy

One of the things i love most about living in Austin during SXSW is that i seem to come across new bands and artists at an almost hourly rate.  There is so much to discover.  And so, hailing from London, i heard the band Toy today, and they're marvelous (now attempting to find a show they're playing at).  The 5-piece incorporates elements of psych, prog, post-punk, and krautrock to create a really full sound.  The songs are arena ready, yet also sound like they could be jamming away in the garage just as easily.  Listen to the epic, 10-minute album closer "Kopter" below and look for their self-titled album on Heavenly Records.