Live: Stockholm Music & Arts - Day 1

Photo: Annika Berglund

What: Stockholm Music & Arts Festival
Where: Skeppsholmen, Stockholm
Who: Antony & the Johnsons, Patti Smith and her band, Marianna Faithfull, Frida Hyvönen
When: August 3, 2012

written by: Johan Alm

MP3: Ali Koehler - "Not Like Me"

Former Vivian Girls and Best Coast member Ali Koehler recorded a new track titled "Not Like Me" for Art Is Hard Records yesterday morning, and last night it was made available as a free download online. Check it out below.

Listen: Westkust - "Surf"

The Gothenburg act Westkust mixes dreamy shoegaze and punk into their own fuzzy sound and they released their debut Junk EP via Luxury in early July, and it's four tracks of pure brilliance, and together with Holograms easily the best punk-related thing to come out of Sweden this year. Give the opening track from the EP a listen below and head over here to listen to it in full (and perhaps even buy it).

Listen: Taken By Trees - "Dreams" (dub version)

Taken By Trees unveiled the first single from her upcoming LP Other Worlds in early July and last week it received a video as well, with the proper single release coming on August 7. Besides the album version of "Dreams" the single also includes an instrumental version and a dub version. Listen to the dub version below.

Listen: Grizzly Bear - "Yet Again"

As I've mentioned before I've been less than convinced by Grizzly Bear earlier but "Sleeping Ute", the first single from their upcoming LP Shields, blew me away and the second one, "Yet Again" is even better. Judging by these two Shields have the potential to be one of the absolutely best records of the year. Listen to "Yet Again" below.

Listen: My Morning Jacket - "Outta My System" (Washed Out remix)

My Morning Jacket and Washed Out isn't perhaps the likeliest combination but that's what we've got here. My Morning Jacket will be releasing a remix EP for "Outta My System", taken from last year's Circuital LP, on August 7 and for it they've recruited Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio and Washed Out to handle the remix duties. Below you can check out Washed Out's take on "Outta My System" - it works much better than you'd expect.

Listen: Six Organs Of Admittance - "One Thousand Birds"

Ben Chasny's Six Organs Of Admittance are set to release its new record Ascent via Drag City on August 21 and in May "Waswasa", the first track from the LP was released. Earlier this week a second track titled "One Thousand Birds" was unveiled, and you can listen to the dark psychedelic track below. Ascent features the members of Comets On Fire (of whom Chasny was a member himself) as the backing band.

Watch: Frankie Rose - "Know Me" (official video)

Former Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls member Frankie Rose released her solo LP Interstellar via Slumberland Records earlier this year, and it's definitely as good as anything her former bands have released. A few days ago the video for "Know Me" was unveiled and you can watch the science fiction-inspired video below.

MP3: The Janitors - "A-Bow"

Stockholm psych act The Janitors are releasing a new EP titled Head Honcho on August 29 and they've decided to share a first track from it as a free download. The track in question is the 12-minute-long "A-Bow", which begins low-key and hypnotic before, over five minutes into the song, really letting it rip. Check it out below and over here to pre-order Head Honcho.

Listen: The Unwed Teenage Mothers - "Why Does It Have To Be Tonight"

The Unwed Teenage Mothers are set to release a new 7" EP via Speakertree Records on August 8 and so far they've unveiled the first single from the album; "Why Does It Have To Be Tonight", and you can listen to it below. The Unwed Teenage Mothers is the side-project of Bass Drum Of Death drummer Colin Sneed.

Listen: Calexico - "Splitter"

Calexico released "Para", the first track from their upcoming LP Algiers, in early June and now they've followed it with the track "Splitter". Algiers will be released via ANTI- Records in the US and City Slang in Europe on September 11 and you can listen to "Splitter" below.

MP3: Halls - "White Chalk"

No Pain In Pop (who released the brilliant Echo Lake debut LP earlier this year) are set to release the debut LP from 21-year-old London producer Halls on October 15. The LP will be titled Ark and Pitchfork premiered the first track from it yesterday; the absolutely brilliant "White Chalk". Check it out below.

MP3: Dum Dum Girls - "Lord Knows"

Dum Dum Girls are set to release a new EP titled End Of Daze via Sub Pop on September 25 and yesterday the first track from it was released. Listen to "Lord Knows" below, plus grab the mp3.

Watch: Idles - "Germany" (official video)

Bristol newcomers Idles will release their debut EP Welcome via Fear Of Fiction on August 6 and some time back we posted the first video from the EP, for "26/27", and today a second one for "Germany" was unveiled. The track itself has something of a grunge vibe and the video is definitely a tad on the weird side. Watch it below.

Full album stream: Picture - True EP

Awhile back I posted Picture's "True", the title track and first single from his debut EP which is released today via Cascine. Picture is the solo project of Sail A Whale's David Kyhlberg and the four-track EP is a very fine piece of Swedish electronic pop music. Give it a listen below.

Listen: Niki & The Dove - "The Beach"

BNF favourites Niki & The Dove released their debut LP Instinct in Europe and the UK in May via Mercury Records and on August 7 it'll be released in the US via Sub Pop. With the US release comes two bonus tracks; one is "All This Youth", which was a bonus track on the Europe/UK version as well, but more excitingly there's also the brand new "The Beach" - a wonderfully huge '80s style tune. Check it out below.

Watch: Playlounge - "Conor, Oh Burst?" (official video)

London noise pop duo Playlounge released "Conor, Oh Burst?" as part of a split 7" on Art Is Hard Records in June and today a video for the track was unveiled. If you've yet to hear the track it's noisy and infectious indie pop gem. The video was shot while on tour using an iPhone. Check it out below.

Listen: Animal Collective - "Today's Supernatural"

I've never really bought into the hype regarding Animal Collective so it's something of a surprise for myself that I'm posting the first single from their upcoming LP, but "Today's Supernatural" is just a very good track. It's taken from their forthcoming full-length Centipede Hz, which will be released on September 3 via Domino. Give it a listen below.

Listen: Tyrannosaurus Dead - "Lemonade"

Brighton act Tyrannosaurus Dead will release their new EP Lemonade on August 24 via Reeks Of Effort but earlier today they made it available for streaming online. The fuzzy "Lemonade", the title track of the EP, is available below as a teaser and it's really very good. Head over here to stream the full EP.