Crocodiles Announce New Album, Premiere ‘Cockroach’

Though they just released their last album, the fine Endless Flowers, last year, San Diego-bred rockers Crocodiles are already back with a new album. Fans of loud, creeping, melodic rock rejoice! “Cockroach” is already up for streaming via Stereogum. The Raveonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner adds extra noisy strut as producer. It’s from Crimes of Passion, due Aug. 20 on French Kiss.

 

 

 

 

Sonny & the Sunsets – “Palmreader”

Sonny & the Sunsets have premiered the third single from their upcoming Antenna to the Afterworld (due June 11 on Polyvinyl) and it’s another winner, full of gleaming synthesizers, grimy guitars and a beachside attitude. It’s like a perfect California afternoon captured in a song, with a shivers-inducing chorus. Sounds like Antenna to the Afterworld is gonna be one of the albums of the summer.

Classixx Releases ‘All You’re Waiting For,’ Featuring LCD Soundsystem's Nancy Whang

Classixx’s recent singles in advance of Hanging Gardens, the L.A. act’s upcoming debut LP due May 14 on Innovative Leisure, have gotten their fair share of press, but now they’ve gone and dropped their best jam yet, featuring cool as F vocals from LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang. Here’s your early summer jam.

 

IO Echo Unveil Interactive Video

I’m already a fan of L.A. group IO Echo and their recently released shoegazey electro-pop album, Ministry of Love. Now they’ve released a cool interactive video for the title track that just makes them that much cooler. Wow. Why don’t more bands do stuff like this? And more importantly, do I win something if I rearrange singer Ioanna Gika correctly in the beginning? Check it out on VICE’s Noisey blog.

Jeremih & Shlohmo – “Bo Peep (Do U Right)”

Shlohmo DJing live at Amoeba Hollywood

Producer Shlohmo and R&B singer Jeremih have collaborated on a song that melds the styles of both artists, with Shlohmo’s dreamy beatscapes becoming harder-edged and Jeremih singing lushly, breathily while still singing those come-ons acrobatically (“I’m gon’ do you” he repeats, just slightly tamer than his track “Fuck U All the Time,” which Shlohmo has also remixed). It was recorded for Adidas’ “Songs from Scratch” series. Amoeba Presents Shlohmo with Jeremih at the Henry Fonda Theatre April 6; tickets are $20 (plus a $2 service fee), purchasable in-store. Read more here.

 

Young & Sick – “Continuum”

Example of Young & Sick's artwork

Young & Sick’s “House of Spirits” was a sad little piece of electronic R&B in which the L.A. based music, fashion and art project lived up to its name, with lyrics about drowning in a car with the one you love. “Continuum” is no less obsessed with drowning, but it is less directly influenced by R&B, instead spinning out ethereal soul somewhere between likeminded acts How to Dress Well and Rhye. As much as I like the song, the story of how they released it sort of takes precedence — they released it via the Tor underweb, a sort of black market of the Internet that makes Craigslist seem like the Pennysaver, with killers for hire and all sorts of unspeakable porn. That and apparently they turned down six figures to do it their way and remain anonymous. They sure have their values in check! Read all about it in Forbes — Forbes, for crying out loud.

Noise Pop and Amoeba Music continue the ever-popular and biweekly vinyl party Noise Pop Record Collective with a show this Tuesday, September 11th hosted by Sonny Smith of Sonny & The Sunsets! The party goes from 8pm till midnight at San Francisco's The Homestead.

Ever since the music industry tried to quietly kill off vinyl, it appears that the medium, complete with its accompanying cover art form, has triumphantly resisted eradication. In fact, not only have records, along with album & singles & ten-inch cover art, refused to die -- they've actually grown in popularity with a whole new generation of appreciative vinyl fans.

As we well know, these days vinyl sales are continually going up and it seems you can't go a week without encountering some wonderful new album cover art show somewhere. Not only are curators presenting classic album cover art on exhibition, but this week one most innovative individual is presenting an exhibit of all new & original record cover art by many different artists complete with all-new corresponding music -- fictitious songs for fictitious bands!

Bay Area artist Sonny Smith (of Sonny & the Sunsets) melds his love of both music and art in a unique new gallery show titled 100 Records that opens tomorrow (April 9th) at Gallery 16 in San Francisco. The diverse & tireless San Francisco artist, who just recently returned from SXSW in Austin, TX with the Sunsets (the band he formed three years ago with Tim Cohen and Kelley Stoltz and whose changing lineup now includes Ryan Browne, Tahlia Harbour and Zack Ehrlich), spent the past year meticulously piecing together the 100 Records show in which he created the names and song titles for 100 different fictitious bands.