The Airplanes of Arkansas

This Fayetteville foursome has been making pretty pure pop for several years now and within seconds of contact, we were airborne . . . starry-eyed and laughin' and such. They've just rereleased 2012's "Paper Hearts" on a "single" paired with newsong, "Waiting for June." Climb aboard and see what you think. Inflight entertainment provided below and at their Facebook pages.

A minimum of clicking also turned up a bunch of excellent poppers at their SoundCloud page. We're posting a few of our favorites and suggest you check out the rest. (We dl'd 8, but your intake might vary.) Notice that several of the songs at Soundcloud are in WAVE format and are in the 35MB jumbojet class. All the ones we're widgeting below are more Piper-Cubby-sized mp3s.


Download here.


Download here.


Download here.

Jeremy Neale, Go Violets, & Triple J

That first song down there is one of our Top Ten Favesongs of 2013. (Yes, there were probably more than ten in our Top Ten, but let's skip the metaphysics.) It was also the best $1 ($.88 U.S.) we spent all year. We therefore decided to see if we could track down more by Brisbaner Jeremy Neale and sure enough, found some free & legals at his Triple J Unearthed page. The two of those we liked best are also widgeted below. Visit Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and Facebook to hear and learn more. His webpage might drive you nuts (with angst or delight), so be forewarned/tempted. Click here to explore more by co-conspirators Go Violets.


Free download here

Free download here

A Glaze of Glaze of Cathexis

Yes, only a thin coating for now, but click here, here, and here and you can go much, much deeper (or higher) with Dr. Schluss, aka Matthew Comegys, aka Glaze of Cathexis, of Maebashi, Gunma, Japan. Trippin' already? You've only just begun. Anyway, our remarkably intelligent telephone just now reminded us we'd scored the first song below some time back and it was high time we got off our bloggy bee hinds and sent it forth. We're also adding a couple of the more poppy numbers we love. You want more, you know where you can go.

Recent Finds at Bandcamp: Sisters, Bilderberg Motel, Pataha Hiss, Vibravoid, Volage, Eagles Gift

Thanks, big birds.

Here's a baker's handful of recently found loved ones at Bandcamp.

From the Bandcamp Collection page of last.fm friend, the excellent Wub-Fur


It says "buy," but free download is here.

Prepare now to be psyched.


Download with The Active Listener Sampler 14 on name-your-price basis here.

Download with The Active Listener Sampler 15 on name-your-price basis here.


Free download here. We also particularly like #5, 6, & 7 on this excellent psychedelic psampler.

Catching Up with The High Water Marks

We try to stay abreast of every single piece of music released in the world but must confess to sometimes falling short. Please, then, imagine our embarrassment/ecstasy at finding we'd overlooked this September 2013 release by one of our favebands. We've posted on The High Water Marks several times, most recently here, but also here and here. (Sorry some of those mp3 links no longer function.) We love all three songs widgeted below. If you do, too, you know what to do.

Goin' to a Jargon Party

At one time it was a party of "five-six," but it's thinned down to lone Brooklynite Zach Lewis. (He's gone to an island in Portland, Maine, if you're wanting to . . . party with him?) We're loving the lo-fi Beatlesquerie of the following. More f&l's are available at SoundCloud, info at Facebook.


Download here.

Shy Boys' Bully Beauty

Their shy girlfriends?

We're loving this beautiful, haunting jangler by apparently not-so-diffident Kansas City trio, Shy Boys. The song is off their upcoming January 21 self-titled debut via High Dive Records. The record release party is tonight at Harling's in Kansas City, so don't be shy, do drop by (if you can). You can nab another tuneful beauty at Bandcamp.


Download here.

Music of the Sphere: Jonly Bonly, Warm Soda, Steel Phantoms, Best Coast, Gap Dream, Kinks, Crocodiles, Bubblegum Lemonade, La Luz, Tropical Popsicle, Of Montreal, FANS

Tasty licks.*

We've been throwing some longish lists at you lately, but no one seems to object. (Of course, no one seems to flutter either, but c'est la guerre. Admittedly, we kind of shrivel putting our dinky little lists up against the likes of Rollo & Grady's Brobdingnagian Top 100 Songs of 2013. Long list envy? Oh, yeh.) Anyway, we thank the blogger elite for hosting and posting the following.

Jonly Bonly - Never Thought I'd Die - Austin Town Hall

Warm Soda - Spell Bound - Gimme Tinnitus
Steel Phantoms - Matt LeBlanc - Gimme Tinnitus

Best Coast - This Lonely Morning - Indie Rock Cafe
Gap Dream - Fantastic Sam - Indie Rock Cafe
The Kinks - Better Things - Indie Rock Cafe - one of our all-time favesongs by one of our all-time favebands

R&G have enhanced by 20% their aforereferenced Top 100 Songs of 2013 list, to our incalculable awe. (Thanks, R. You too, G.)

Warm Soda - Someone For you - Rollo & Grady - #119
Crocodiles - I Like It In The Dark - Rollo & Grady - 109
Bubblegum Lemonade - This Is The New Normal - Rollo & Grady - 120
La Luz - Morning High - Rollo & Grady - 117
Tropical Popsicle - Havana - Rollo & Grady - 115*
Of Montreal - Fugitive Air - Rollo & Grady - 112
FANS - Another Way - Rollo & Grady - 105

Hermits' Delight: Jeremy and The Harlequins

We love the way this NYC quintet combine retro stylings with wry insight into digitally mediated "romance." If you and they click, click here, here, and here for more. Added bonus: no need to go outside.


Click here to download.

From the Archives - Into 2010, Part 1

We explained this here. (Favesongs. Archives. Hope you like. Etc.) Click to play, right click/save to save.








Baskervilles - A Little More Time mp3
The Black Hollies - Paisley Pattern Ground mp3
The Black Hollies - Gloomy Monday Morning mp3
Ceremony - Someday mp3
Cut Off Your Hands - Happy As Can Be mp3
Deep Sea Arcade - Keep On Walking mp3

Elephant Stone - The Seven Seas mp3
Frankie Rose - Thee Only One mp3
Frankie Rose And The Outs - Little Brown Haired Girls mp3
Frankie Rose And The Outs - Candy mp3
Head Like a Kite - Noisy at the Circus mp3

The Joy Formidable - The Last Drop mp3
The Makes Nice - Candy Wrapper mp3
My First Days on Junk - Try Hard mp3
One Weekly Gun - Dear John mp3
The Ruling Class - Flowers mp3

Surfer Blood - Floating Vibes mp3
Telekinesis/Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Gotta Get A Record Out (Green cover) mp3
This Is Ivy League - The Richest Kids mp3
Watch Out For Rockets - a Lotus Yet mp3
Watch Out For Rockets - Buckle Yer Hair mp3

The Lovetones - Journeyman mp3 - Click the link; the widget ain't always launching it.

Dining on Kaviar Special

We're in that tense time between making a friend request and receiving the results thereof. We got up the gumption to ask an incredibly musically compatible last.fm neighbor (as in 99.73% red bar), one jasemoz of Canada, to befriend us and in the meantime have been exploring various links he's made available. One took us to Rennes, where we grooved to the garage pop stylings of a four-piece called Kaviar Special.

We can't say we've eaten enough (actually we haven't eaten any) kaviar or caviar or qaviar to determine what would be considered rockin' roe, but these Frenchgents definitely make some special rock 'n' roll. KS have recently released their self-titled first LP, and we found our favorite song, "Summer," had been previously released with the title, "Pope Of The Pop." You'll find it below, along with some more we particularly liked. Various links are available for your clicking/dining/downing pleasure. Bon appetit, nos visiteurs.

Quite Aloft with Flyying Colours

Yes, we're flyyying verrry hiiigh indeeed, courtesy of this Melbourne crew. (Seeing nice colours, too.) You can listen below and, if't please you, download "Wavygravy" at their Triple J Unearthed page. We're grateful to possible future last friend isabellakman for the headsup on this. (We say "possible" for we are, at this point, far too shy to actually presume to ask, but, who knows, maybe one day?) We clicked on her link to Melbourne's Black Night Crash Records and found there much to please our personal ears and, who knows, yours, too?

Update, 3june16 - Triple J Unearthed widget added:

Download here.