Slowdive

Woke up this morning to the news that Slowdive are back with new music.  Happy day!  The band's new album, "Everything Is Alive," is out in September.  Pre-order it here from Dead Oceans and let's all listen to the dreamy "Kisses" while we wait for the rest of the thing to drop.

Slowdive - Sugar for the Pill

Today brings welcome and excellent news, as reunited shoegaze wunderkinds Slowdive will be releasing their new, self-titled record on May 5th via Dead Oceans.  Hooray!  In the meantime, watch the video for the album's second single, "Sugar for the Pill" below.

Bleached

Bleached have a new EP out in March after last year's excellent "Welcome the Worms" LP.  Punky, feminine alt-rock for the masses, listen to the title track from the "Can You Deal?" EP below, grab the record in March on Dead Oceans, and pre-order a zine the band put together with proceeds benefiting Planned Parenthood.

Slowdive - Star Roving

It's been 22 years since their last album, but the reunited Slowdive have been hard at work on new material since they started playing together again.  And today we get our first new jam, the driving and uplifting "Star Roving."  The band seem to be getting back to their shoegazey roots, leaving the more ethereal electronics of 1995's then swan song "Pygmalion" behind in favor of layers of guitar and floating vocals.  It's wonderful to have them back.  Listen below, download it here, and be on the lookout for a full-length hopefully in the very near future.

Bleached

LA's Bleached have always made fun little garage rock nuggets, but on their new album "Welcome the Worms," out next week on Dead Oceans, the ladies seem to be tapping into a bigger, more stomping form of pop-rawk, belting out the jams like some kind of spitting, sneering sirens, luring and daring you to the stage.  It's really damn good and fun.  Listen to "Wednesday Night Melody" below.

Julianna Barwick - Nebula

Singer/astral traveler Julianna Barwick has a new album of beautiful dreamscapes coming out on Dead Oceans in May.  Watch the video for "Nebula" below and float away.

Mitski

One of the things i enjoy in the lead up to SXSW every year is checking out the scores and scores of artists and bands playing that i've never heard of, searching for something brand new to listen to at some free day party somewhere.  I discover a ton of great stuff that way.  New York by way of Japan artist Mitski is one of those discoveries.  Her work is beautiful and brutal and feminist, a mix of lo-fi, DIY motivation with shades of 90's alt-rock aesthetic, and some dreampop wonder.  It's goddamn good.  Listen to "Your Best American Girl" below from the upcoming, and wonderfully titled "Puberty 2" LP, due in June from Dead Oceans.  And be sure to catch a set from her if you're in Austin next week.

Julianna Barwick - One Half video

The lovely (often a cappella) Julianna Barwick has a new album out next week, and it's as lush and gorgeous as should be expected.  Watch the video for "One Half" below and look for "Nepenthe" next week on Dead Oceans.

Gauntlet Hair - Bad Apple

Denver act Gauntlet Hair have taken their noise aesthetic and jangly guitars and added a layer of cold synth and darkness, maintaining their sound, albeit in a much more Gothic direction.  Consider me a fan.  Listen to "Bad Apple" below, taken from the band's sophomore album "Stills," out now on Dead Oceans.

A Place To Bury Strangers cover Dead Moon

With so many RSD releases to sift through, some have been neglected by me, like the wonderful release from Brooklyn's noisy sonic assault that is A Place To Bury Strangers.  On "Strange Moon," released via Dead Oceans, the band tackles a number of songs from 80's/90's Oregon based punk band Dead Moon.  The result is like listening to the best neighborhood garage band you've ever heard.  Listen to "Don't Burn the Fires" below.

Phosphorescent

I first came across Phosphorescent about a decade ago with the brilliant "Aw Come Aw Wry," and they still manage to find new and interesting places to go on each subsequent release.  New album "Muchacho" is probably their best yet.  Haunting and dust, it sounds kind of like if Lee Hazlewood was on a downer kick, toying with synthesizers and other modern studio devices, and recorded an alt-country album with Bruce Springsteen.  Yeah...that sounds about right.  Listen to the beautiful "Song for Zula" below and grab the album from Dead Oceans.