
Whether you’re a Rdio or Grooveshark user, here’s what I thought rocked in May (featuring songs by Here We Go Magic, Modern Superstitions, The Maccabees and many more).
Indie Music Filter May Mix (Rdio)

I’ve obviously got a thing for female musicians who know a thing or two about loop pedals.
“In “Mama’s Gonna Give You Love,” a track off her most recent release, Mama, she reinvents the southern spiritual, fusing a digital drum beat with live drums and creating a multi-voice chorus all her own. The song’s slow, dirge-like rhythm keeps the listener grounded as she seamlessly switches back and forth between the hip-hop influenced verses and traditional chorus, leaving no note untouched as she moves about her generous vocal range.”
Head to the Laundromatinee to download the track.
Just found out about Australia’s Hunting Grounds, nice find in song/video “Flaws” (by huntinggroundsmusic)
I do like it.
rac:
New remix for my friends from LA, Princeton!
I really wanted to take a much more laid back approach with this. Reinforce the vocal without any distractions.
I hope you like it!

Here come the summer albums!
Todays’ great find was at We All Want Someone with Will’s post about Philadelphia-based beach-pop project Cruiser. The band is Andy States and he just released his self-titled debut EP on Memorial Day, which was produced by Jeremy Park (Youth Lagoon). The 6 song effort has few weak points so far, I’m thinking this will have a solid run on my summer rotation. Maybe my Honeymoon soundtrack for sitting on the dock? Its below, check it out.
New track from Long Walks On The Beach “We’re Growing Up”.
Long Walks on the Beach - We’re Growing Up
Fritz Kramer writes:
Mark,
Hey dude, new tune, here’s the story.
After you premiered “Literally Crazy” last summer, industry folks came out of the woodwork. All the big markets, New York, LA, London — pr, managers, publishers, a handful of producers. I would take these calls, and have these conversations, and get these speeches about the ”importance of staying relevant in the industry,” and “brand management,” and “monetization,” and etc etc etc.
And while it was extremely flattering, it gave me pause. First off, it was clear that there was suddenly an audience listening, which, honestly, made me self-conscious of my sonics. I care about what I put out, and these songs are home-made, like laptop recorded/headphone mixed/unmastered homemade, and I just wasn’t happy with how the other cuts for the EP were sounding. I straight up shelved them, just put them away for another time when I knew a little bit more about wave propagation or sidechain compression or whatever was gonna allow me to achieve the sounds in my head.
But really, more than all that, I wasn’t convinced that any of the stragegizing would make for better tunes or a more interesting project. I wasn’t convinced an increase in output would make Long Walks a more sustainable creative outlet. I mean, the www presents so much opportunity, so much inspiration. And, sure I’m cognizant of the fact that there are now accepted modes of engaging an audience on the web, but the scale at which I was working makes a lot of that impractical anyway.
I’m not yelling about how much I hate money and collaboration and the man, all that stuff is cool, it all serves a purpose. But at the end of the day, after all the phone calls and all the pitches, nobody ever said, I really like what you’re up to, I can help you do it better. So I decided to just keep moving, make demos like normal, take my time with recording, and put things out when they’re really ready, which because of my television work has been a long long time.
So not only is this a way of saying I’m sorry — I didn’t deliver on what I said I would, and I apologize for that — but, in as sincere a way as possible, I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank you. Without people like you and all the blogbros supporting and nurturing new sounds, projects like Long Walks don’t exist. It’s been incredible to have all these experiences, to meet all these people, to be put in the position to even have the luxury to think about artistic integrity, or the creative process, or how someone could actually find the tunes twee (like, have they actually listened to the tunes??).
Attached you’ll find the new one, it should also be sitting in your inbox on soundcloud. I haven’t seen many lately, but if you’re still into doing premiers, all yours. Ultimately, it’ll go up on bandcamp for free dl with the others. It’s about growing up, individually and collectively, and my little sis is on the cover with me. She’s had an eventful last few months, so this one’s going out to her. Lyrics below, they’re always the #1 search in my analytics.
Hope our paths cross sooner than later,
Fritz
POLICA - “Wandering Star” (Official Music Video) (by polica)

“Reunion” by M83, the follow up to ‘Midnight City’ (http://youtu.be/dX3k_QDnzHE).
Taken from the new album Hurry Up We’re Dreaming.

“White Doves” by Young Empires. This video also has an interactive version, the first Facebook Connect music video actually. My allowing the video to access your facebook profile, it pulls photos from your account, as well as from the account of whoever you name your closest friend, and superimposes them over pictures/photos in the video.
Check out the interactive version here.

Torches have just released their first album called “Heads Full Of Rust”, which is already getting some spins on KROQ, KCRW, KSCN and some online buzz via RCRD LBL, Buzz Bands LA. The record was engineered by David Newton (The Soft Pack, The Henry Clay People, Happy Hollows) and their first single is the track “I Want Something” (below).
Nice tune, looking forward to streaming this album today.
Download the track here.