My idea was to make this post a round-up of the best releases from these past few weeks but I decided to save that for later (there are still a couple of albums I'd like to listen to) and instead I'll just point you in the direction of some excellent music available here and there on the web at the moment: JMascis has offered a new track from his forthcoming solo album (still a few weeks to go!) - the song is called "Is It Done" and can be downloaded over at Pitchfork. It's pretty good if you're into grungy acoustic stuff in the vein of Nirvana's famous unplugged set - well, considerably less angsty - and totally genius if, like me, you have been following Dinosaur Jr for decades. Otherwise, it probably won't do much for you.
Personal favorites The Limiñanas have also been busy and got a lot of high profile recognition lately. Mojo gave them a 4 stars review in their march edition and seminal DJ and producer Andrew Weatherhall played "Je Ne Suis Pas Très Drogue" on his radio show (so, what do you say about The Thinking Noise's infallible radar for good stuff, mmmmh??). Let's hope this is only the beginning of greater exposure for them... A new 7" is coming out next month - meanwhile you can listen to one of the new tracks here.
Last but not least, don't miss the opportunity to get new italian project Dumbo Gets Mad's debut album (out on Badpanda records) in its entirety for free! All you have to do is go to this page and follow the instructions - basically just post a small advertisement for the album on your twitter or facebook profile in order to get a link to download the whole thing. Fair enough!
This is the typical outsider LP seemingly coming from nowhere and slowly building devoted groups of admirers everywhere. Glowing reviews for "Elephants At The Door" won't be hard to find on the net by now so I won't bother writing a whole article about it, but if you're into vintage psychedelia echoing the likes of Zappa or Captain Beefheart-era californian bands - all in a DIY fashion - you will definitely love this record and the mind trip it takes you on. The production is warm and richly detailed, overflowing with colorful sound effects and fun ideas, stylistically all over the place but still focused and coherent overall. Impressive work since the guy behind the Dumbo Gets Mad moniker apparently recorded the whole album by himself with limited means and budget. This is great music to chill out to that falls in the "weird and wonderful" category, really out there in some places yet referencing enough classic pop and retro sounds not to be inaccessible. So don't go looking for hit singles on "Elephants At The Door": it is only great if you let it play as an experimental journey, and I guess it might work even better if you've got a lump of hash within reach and some time to kill... Haven't tried that yet, so I can't say for sure! HIGHly recommended!
