Williamsburg’s Cameo Gallery – one of Brooklyn’s odder spaces, accessible only through the back of the Lovin’ Cup cafe – hosted Dawn Landes on April 14, but for me the real story was in first-opener Donora. The Pittsburgh trio turned up the reverb and gave every 80s baby ample reason to rock out that night.

Powered by a bass and guitar sound that’d be at home on a Cranberries record (or Wish-era Cure), the group worked through a good deal of their 2011 release, Boyfriends and Girlfriends, while also playing some tracks from their self-titled debut. Live they carry over all of the cuteness and sweetness from their recordings while adding an irrepressible energy. A lot of this has to do with lead vocalist Casey Hanner, who’s quite an expressive singer, but additionally the rhythms move faster, everything is louder, and from first note to last it’s hard not to break out into a huge smile. It’s even harder not to dance.

On one hand I think they’d be well served to bring a fourth musician to play the old school Casio keys from the record, but on the other it’s entertaining to watch drummer Jake Hanner and his epic beard play a sampler as if it were just another piece of his kit. From the big-time, anthemic, built-for-singalongs chorus in “Boom Boom” to the softly whispered verses of “Shhh,” Donora’s music is fun, engaging, and makes for a terrific show.

STREAM: Donora – “Boom Boom”

Those well-versed in the ways of DC indie rock have come across Mercies at one point or another. My first experience with the band — made up of guitarist John Russell, bassist Justin Hunter Scott and drummer Ezra Finney — was at a house show in Petworth a month back, where they won me over pretty quickly with their sweat-drenched garage rock. Mercies’ new EP, This Is Not About Control, captures the trio’s energy in full lo-fi glory. Those of you living in the District should mark May 11th on your calendars, when the band will be returning to the local live circuit with yet another house show, details on which can be found here. Listen to This Is Not Control below and check out the EP artwork after the jump.

STREAM: Mercies – This Is Not About Control

(more…)

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about MMOTHS and I have a feeling it won’t be the last. Last time MMOTHS appeared here on ATG was with his collaboration with Keep Shelly in Athens. This time, he’s enlisted the help of LA dream-pop wizards Superhumanoids on a new track, “Summer.” The song is laidback and atmospheric yet at the same time driven by a heavily percussive beat. The song’s title is an ironic one considering how depressing the lyrical content is. Listen for yourself below.

STREAM: MMOTHS – “Summer (Feat. Superhumanoids)”

Nite Jewel is the alias of L.A. artist, musician, singer-songwriter Ramona Gonzalez. Her sophomore effort, One Second Of Love, is another sexy, shimmery journey through synth-heavy nu-disco-girl-pop. Above is the brand new video for the album’s title track. It may be the perfect antidote to the temptations of psychedelics and dissociatives, because I can’t think of a better way to describe this visual short than as the cinematic embodiement of a strange and horrible acid trip. One Second of Love, is out March 6th on Secretly Canadian.

STREAM: Nite Jewel – “One Second Of Love”

Tennis‘ second album Young & Old is out this week and to celebrate they’ve put out a nice video for the track “Origins.” The song sounds like a fun 60s beach party with betties, dudes and good clean fun. The video takes that nostalgic, sunny vibe and brings it to the mountains. Shot in a vintage found-footage style, the video features masked gunmen causing mayhem on the slopes.  How’s that for summer? Young & Old is out now on Fat Possum.

STREAM: Tennis – “Origins”

During cold winter months like these, it’s pretty easy to get stuck in a musical rut.  This year, mine happens to be electro slow jams, and “Humble Bones” is the perfect fit to that rut.  Today’s installment comes from Labyrinth Ear, a very cool band with a much more questionable name.  In “Humble Bones,” the closing track from the duo’s upcoming EP, Labyrinth Ear sends us back to some industrial early 90′s-era synth pop churning underneath some fluffy, ethereal vocals.  The soothing combination comes together somewhere in the center, and while engaging and more danceable than much of the band’s output, it lends itself well to a lazy day inside.  Be sure to keep an eye out for the digital release of their Apparitions EP due February 7.

STREAM: Labyrinth Ear – “Humble Bones”

Recent obsession Summer Camp (which I covered here a few weeks back) is bathing in the Halloween spirit this year with their video for “Down,” off their debut full-length Welcome to Condale, which drops next week on Moshi Moshi. The video is comprised of dozens of .gifs from a Halloween house party. In other words, it was crafted to be put on ponybraxton. The entire album is streaming on Prefix’s soundcloud, so go preview it.

Summer Camp may just have won the imaginary award for most infectious sounds of 2011.

STREAM: Summer Camp – “Down”

Today, too stressed by midterms to study and too excited about Halloween to care about much of anything else, I put on my fuzziest sweater-and-corduroy combo, bought a pumpkin spice latte, parked myself at my favorite table in the library that looks out on my favorite panoramic view of the Potomac River, and snuggled down for some nostalgic, autumnal tunes. Somewhat of a romantic, I have a whole playlist dedicated to very specific moods like this one, but today I was content to sit back and let the enigmatic hush-pop maker Elsa do all the work. The Toronto based semi-dream-pop trio has just released their debut EP under the NotUnlike label and you can check out their single, “In Two,” and listen to their full EP on their bandcamp site. Good luck finding any other information, pictures, YouTube videos, or descriptions, though, but something about their anonymity makes Elsa all the more appealing. I’ll have to go back to the real world eventually (I’d say probably sometime in November), but until then, you know where to find me.

MP3: Elsa – “In Two”

I like my Southern power pop a certain way: hazy, lazy, and lo-fi. Kind of like how I like my pork butts smoked a certain way: low, slow, and slathered with apple cider vinegar. Anyways, my friends The District Attorneys continue to deliver the goods, and serve up their songs just how I like ‘em prepared. Thankfully they’ve just dropped a couple news songs that will likely appear on their still-unnamed debut full length that the band hopes will be released by the end of the year. The highlight here is “California Fire,” a shimmery summer jam with appealingly apathetic vocals echoing throughout. Both tracks below are worth a listen, so check ‘em out.

MP3: The District Attorneys – California Fire
MP3: The District Attorneys – Slowburner