EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Stream Cole Hamilton's Debut EP 'Afraid To Be Alone'

It’s hard to believe rising Tulane University sophomore Cole Hamilton didn’t begin writing music until his first year of college. It’s not that that’s too late in life, it’s just surprising considering the amount and quality of work he has already completed in such a short time when most of us were still trying to figure out which building our classes were in.

“I spent the whole year writing music and ended up with 20-plus songs,” Hamilton told us.  “From those 20 I took my favorite four and made the [Afraid To Be Alone] EP.” 

Hamilton recorded these tracks after returning to his hometown of Northbrook, IL where he reunited with high school friends Chris Neuhaus (drums), Paul Tisch (bass), Gracie Sands (guitar), Peter Roberson (trombone), Danny Neuson (trumpet), and Joseph Lee (saxophone) and worked with producer Craig Williams at Dr. Caw studios.

Afraid To Be Alone begins with catchy Two Door Cinema Club-inspired pop-rock tracks “(Just Between) Everyone You Know and Me” and "Louisiana" before descending into darker vocals evoking an Arctic Monkeys-esque swagger in “Crystal.” The EP ends with “Stay/Go,” a track adorned with a heavy horn section and an earnestness that will leave you wishing Hamilton would indeed stay instead of go. 

Afraid To Be Alone is out now and available on Spotify, which you can listen to below.

Thanks, Obama! POTUS Releases Two Summer Playlists

The White House released two Spotify playlists today, both "hand-picked" by POTUS himself. One is made for the daytime, featuring artists such as Bob Dylan, Coldplay, and Florence + The Machine, while the other is for the night, with music from Van Morrison, Ray Charles, Leonard Cohen, and more.

Due to popular request, here are my vacation playlists: http://t.co/uer5sIl4Vk http://t.co/zHEekHvQBr What's your favorite summer song?

— President Obama (@POTUS) August 14, 2015

This comes after current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently released her own playlist, though her airtight, overly-uplifting pop picks came off more as a campaign exercise while Obama's selections feel a bit more genuine, especially with so much classic soul and surprise picks like the lesser-known Okkervil River. If you're gonna feed us a PR stunt at least make it sound good enough to make us forget that part.

The President's playlists clock in at just over an hour and a half each, and you can Ba-rock out to both of them below. (We're so sorry.)

Now we eagerly await Donald Trump's inevitable contribution.

Santah Announce New Album 'Chico'

Chicago-based indie outfit Santah have confirmed their second full-length record Chico, in which they "try to live inside two worlds at once," will be released November 6th.

You can preorder the album and various merch through their Pledge Music page here, and check out the post-break up heavy music video for "Sunkeeper," the first single from Chico, below.

Majical Cloudz Announce New Album 'Are You Alone?', Release Single "Silver Car Crash"

Thankfully it appears that the first minimalist, white-colored album containing hauntingly emotive music from Majical Cloudz was not a one-off deal, with the Montreal-based duo of Devon Welsh and Matthew Otto announcing they have done it again.

This time it is called Are You Alone?, and you can hear the beautiful first single from this sophomore LP, "Silver Car Crash," below. Continuing the dreary yet intensely driven synthesizers and immaculately heavy vocals of 2013's Impersonator, the track is quintessentially Majical Cloudz.

In a Tumblr post today, Welsh revealed an Andy Warhol painting to be the song's main inspiration, saying,

“Our song “Silver Car Crash” is named after this painting by Andy Warhol, called “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)“. He made it in 1963 as part of a group of paintings that are known as the “Death and Disaster series”.
His paintings can sometimes be very spiritual and preoccupied with an other world, even though their surface makes them seem more innocent. (When I look at these paintings I always imagine that Andy Warhol is asking, “What happens after death?”)
I really like that kind of double meaning, and the way the paintings combine two different preoccupations that are, in life, always mixing together.
I think the song “Silver Car Crash” also has a kind of double meaning and combines emotions which are usually combined in some form anyway.
It was inspired by life but also by Andy Warhol!”

Andy Warhol's painting "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)"

An official statement on the forthcoming LP further explains,

“Building off a solidly-laid visual and sonic foundation, the narrative remains – simple yet emotionally forthcoming lyrics showcasing raw vulnerability, backed by sparse instrumentation and minimalist production. [Main songwriter Devon] Welsh delivers melancholic but melody driven vocals echoing off elemental tones, praising love and friendship, commiserating over heartbreak and sadness.”

Are You Alone?

1. Disappeared
2. Control
3. Are You Alone?
4. So Blue
5. Heavy
6. Silver Car Crash
7. Change
8. If You're Lonely
9. Downtown
10. Easier Said Than Done
11. Game Show
12. Call On Me

Are You Alone? is due out October 16 via Matador.

Watch Gardens & Villa's Bizarre "Fixations" Music Video

Gardens & Villa are back already, following 2014's spectacular record Dunes with two new singles for the forthcoming album Music For Dogs which is due out August 21st via Secretly Canadian.

One of the tracks, "Fixations" comes with a bizarre music video that's a cross between the Warhol-esque psychedelic party scene in Midnight Cowboy and MGMT's "Flash Delirium," featuring costumes, vomit, and a particularly aggressive drone. "Fixations," and the other new song "Everybody" to a lesser extent, show Gardens & Villa seem to be moving away from the more hard-hitting and dramatic sounds of their last LP and subsequent Televisor EP for a more light and playful vibe.

Check out both singles, the video, Music For Dogs cover art, and tour dates below.

Gardens & Villa Fall US Tour

8/17 - Los Angeles, CA @ Bardot (DJ Set)
9/15 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom 
9/17 - Austin, TX @ The Parish
9/18 - Dallas, TX @ Club Dada 
9/19 - Houston, TX @ House of Blues/Bronze Peacock
9/20 - New Orleans @ Gasa Gasa 
9/22 - Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 
9/23 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle 
9/24 - Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel 
9/25 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
9/26 - Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle 
9/29 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
9/30 - Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB 
10/1 - Toronto, ON @ The Garrison 
10/2 - Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory
10/3 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall 
10/4 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry 
10/6 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
10/7 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge 
10/8 - Las Vegas, NV @ Bunkhouse Saloon
10/9 - San Diego, CA @ IRENIC

Arcade Fire's 'The Reflektor Tapes' Tickets Go on Sale, Release Date Changes, Watch New Trailer

The Reflektor Tapes, Arcade Fire's "unique cinematic experience [that meets] at the crossroads of documentary, music, art and personal history" will now be released a day earlier on September 23rd. It's also been announced today that the band's first feature film will premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. You can find screenings and purchase tickets here.

Arcade Fire explained via The Guardian, “There were parts of the Reflektor tour where I think we, Arcade Fire, came the closest in our careers to putting on stage what we imagined in our heads. We were insanely lucky to have Kahlil Joseph documenting from the very beginning.”

Watch the new official trailer, which joins previous previews shown here, below.

Watch Modest Mouse Feature in a Particularly Awkward Episode of 'Sound Advice'

Saturday Night Live's Vanessa Bayer (who also recently appeared in Trainwreck) has been playing painfully uncomfortable media coach Janessa Slater in her Above Average web series Sound Advice for a while now, making us cringe with sessions including artists from Drake to Sleater-Kinney. Today, she somehow got the elusive yet outspoken Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse to sit down with her and take some constructive criticism, rendering him speechless. Watch below as Brock awkwardly nods off her suggestions and proves he's not really one for improv. 

Strangers To Ourselves is available now on Epic. 

Peter Bjorn and John Debut Two New Songs, Hint at New Album on NPR's World Cafe

Much-beloved Swedish indie trio Peter Bjorn and John have recorded a session for NPR's World Cafe as part of the radio program's Sense of Place series' Stockholm edition.

The episode, which you can stream in it's entirety below, features two brand new track titled "Breaking Point" and "Do Si Do," the latter of which you can watch being performed in the video below.

In the broadcast Peter Bjorn and John mention they have "scrapped" previous developments of a new album, but coyly claim to have "more than five" and "less than 100" tracks ready for a future release, which would be their first (barring the one-off "High Up (Take Me To The Top") since 2011's Gimme Some.

UPDATE: The video for "Do Si Do" has been taken down. Hopefully it is only temporary.

Youth Lagoon Announces Tour Dates

Now you may get to see Savage Hills Ballroom in an actual ballroom.

Youth Lagoon, AKA Trevor Powers, has already released "The Knower," the first single from his forthcoming record due out September 25 via Fat Possum Records, both physically and online. Now he has announced the dates for his tour in support of it.

Below you can check out the official photo release and the dates typed out as well, just in case one time wasn't exciting enough.

Youth Lagoon Tour Dates:

09/10 – Bozeman, MT @ Filling Station
09/11 – Missoula, MT @ Top Hat
09/12 – Boise, ID @ Egyptian Theatre
09/21 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
09/24 – London, UK @ XOYO
09/26 – Paris, FR @ Cafe De La Danse
09/28 – Brussels, BE @ Rotonde Botanique
09/30 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet
10/02 – Berlin, DE @ Magnet Club
10/04 – Copenhagen, DK @ Jazzhouse
10/15 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
10/16 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
10/17 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
10/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
10/20 – Milwaukee, MN @ First Avenue
10/21 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
10/23 – Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar
10/25 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
10/29 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
10/30 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
10/31 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
11/01 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
11/03 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
11/04 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
11/05 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
11/06 – Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s
11/07 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
11/09 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Studio
11/10 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
11/11 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
11/13 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
11/14 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
11/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
11/18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
11/20 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
11/21 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge

Stream The Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr.'s Forthcoming Solo Album 'Momentary Masters'

The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.'s third solo LP Momentary Masters, his first since 2008's ¿Cómo Te Llama?, isn't due out until July 31 (via Vagrant), but you can now stream it in its entirety here, along with watching the music videos for "Losing Touch" and "Born Slippy" below.