MP3s: "Sometime" & "Corvalis" by Dive

Sometimes when you're an up-and-coming band with a mere 7" piece of vinyl to your name, it's hard to get attention from bigger indie publications, let alone the blogosphere hype machine. You know what helps? Being the guitarist for an already (modestly) succesful indie rock outfit.

While I'd like to suggest that Dive--the new side-project from Beach Fossils' Z. Cole Smith--is merely getting press for the reasons above, this Sometime 7" deserves every play your iTunes counts.

If you listen to Beach Fossils (which you should be), you'll know what to expect from Dive, though Smith swaps out the Fossils' suburban, drinking-from-the-hose, summer sounds for slightly darker, more nocturnal motifs; think Bernard Sumner on a winding, midnight drive. Thankfully, the guitar jangle and wispy melodies remain, making Sometime just as strong a release as this year's What a Pleasure EP.

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Dive - Sometime
Dive - Corvalis

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Summer's Ending? Citizen Insane's Got a Mixtape for That

Well, it's September and I can already feel the changes. I've started to wear actual shoes instead of, y'know, flip-flops. I'm finally wearing pants again, breaking my shorts-everyday summer record. I've even stopped sweating through every t-shirt I go out in. But before October rears is chilly, leaf-turning head, let's all soak up these last few weeks of sunned weather, patio bars and the outdoors with no jacket required... Pretty soon, we'll be missing it.

Citizen Mix Vol. VII - Summer's End


Tracklist:

1. Major Lazer - Keep It Going Louder (So Shifty Remix)
2. The Zombies - Time of the Season
3. TV Girl - Benny and The Jetts
4. Wugazi - Ghetto Afterthought
5. The Scientists - Frantic Romantic
6. Syme - Modern Love (David Bowie Cover)
7. SBTRKT - Right Thing to Do
8. Lil B - I'm God
9. Joy Division - Disorder
10. Ducktails - Sit Around With Ya
11. Big Star - September Gurls
12. Beirut - After the Curtain

Alternate Download Link: Click here to download the mix straight from MediaFire.

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Today's Best Song Ever - "Maggot Brain" by Funkadelic

Digging up rare, awesome or obscure tracks...
Today it's the 10-minute guitar epic from George Clinton's Funkadelic...

"Maggot Brain" is the opening track off 1971's Maggot Brain. The titular song features no vocals--save for the eerie spoken introduction--and little more than a soft arpeggio and drum flourishes.

The spotlight shines fully on Eddie Hazel's blistering guitar solo, rumored to have been inspired by an LSD-taking George Clinton telling Hazel during recording to imagine his mother had been murdered, only to learn that it wasn't true.

Further accentuating the greatness: the entire song was recorded in just one take, the solo was played in only one key and scale, and only two pedals were used to create the guitar's lush effects.

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Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

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MP3s: New Tracks from Wooden Shjips' Forthcoming LP

A couple days ago, Stereogum premiered the first single off Wooden Shjips' forthcoming LP, West. While "Lazy Bones" is a chugging psychedelic anthem that could make Jim Morrison blush, I've got a little premier of my own...

"Black Smoke Rise" is West's opening track. With muddy distortion thick as peanut butter, the desert dirge dutifully sets the stage for the album's overarching themes of "the American West and all of the mythology, romanticism, and idealism that it embodies." So in other words, the perfect soundtrack for Captain America, Billy and George.

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Wooden Shjips - Black Smoke Rise
Wooden Shjips - Lazy Bones

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The Yes Club - Guitars, Fuzz, Shouting and Drums

Last time I was back home, the little brother was giving me flak for blogging so much "weak" electronic music and indie tunes. While the young one still has a lot to learn, the blog could use the occasional distortion pedal, howl or blistered finger.

The Yes Club self-describe themselves as "garage, psych, punk, bitching, lo-fi" and "New York," but the trio's missing "raw." Don't know too much about these guys, but the '60 psychedelia, Ray Manzarek keys and murky, rambling recording of "Whoa" more than warrant repeat listens--179 seconds of basement verve.

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The Yes Club - Whoa

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Lisztomania: Seven Unabashedly Loud Foo Fighters Songs

Because everybody loves lists...
Two days ago, Foo Fighters released their seventh studio album, Wasting Light. Unfortunately, most of the record finds Dave Grohl and co. retreading familiar FM-rock ground. C'est la Foo Fighters.

While the band's been in a creative nosedive since One by One dropped in '02, Grohl occasionally rallies the troops to ditch the Tom Petty-safeness, put on some Sambas and crank the tube amps to 11. Wasting Light's "White Limo" is the album's black swan (the Lemmy-starring video is equally awesome) and a reminder that the band can do something different, loud and good when it wants to.

I submit the seven tracks below as evidence, your honor...

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1. Foo Fighters - White Limo
2. Foo Fighters - Wattershed
3. Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
4. Foo Fighters - Low
5. Foo Fighters - FFL
6. Foo Fighters - Iron and Stone
7. Foo Fighters - Stacked Actors

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