STLS are two women performing drums – just drums. Lisa Schonberg (Explode Into Colors, Kickball) and sts (The Haggard, Cadallaca) play standing up, facing each other, on two drum sets.

Their sound is huge and their syncopations are rhythmically energizing and entrancing. Their drumming utilizes the tones and textures of the drums to play melodic patterns that recreate the dynamic structure of a typical pop song.

The band was born out of an invitation by a friend to come to NYC and perform entirely percussionbased shows.

STLS continue to perform in interesting and unexpected settings, as well as the usual venues, in the Northwest, California, and NYC, often collaborating in performance with dancer Janet Pants.

TRACK LISTING

ABC
Drumcore
Katy
Four

This remains true with Dear God, I Hate Myself as it delivers a look at responsibility, fear, healing, and societal roles wrapped in rich gothic pop music. The sound is still distinctly Xiu Xiu, but Jamie Stewart's vocals are finally effortless paired with vibrant melodies full of subtlety and the distinct sonic accents expected of this anticipated Xiu Xiu release. The result is a record that proves that art can be pop and pop can challenge you to look inside yourself.

Each new Xiu Xiu release has evolved alongside the lives of Jamie Stewart and company. On this record you'll find more intensity and introspection than ever before, but sonically and lyrically it continues to move forward with a subtly new perspective ' hyper-focused yet aware of a larger, external picture unfolding. The pace of the record grips you, the music offers layers of detail, and the themes focus on not just the past or stark present but hint towards vespers of the future as well. Dear God, I Hate Myself will challenge you and force you to look inside yourself, but only after you get lost in the music. It's passionate, it's energetic, and it affects you. Dear God, I Hate Myself is a beautiful piece of humanist art. It's an important addition to the growing body of intelligent music from Xiu Xiu. And it's a brilliant gothic pop record that can stand next to anything.

TRACK LISTING

1. Gray Death 
2. Chocolate Makes You Happy 
3. Apple For A Brain 
4. House Sparrow 
5. Hyunhye's Theme 
6. Dear God, I Hate Myself 
7. Secret Motel 
8. Falkland Rd. 
9. The Fabrizio Palumbo Retaliation 
10. Cumberland Gap 
11. This Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddy) 
12. Impossible Feeling 
13. The Ropes Have Pulled Tight 
14. Cute Pee Pee

Big Joanie - This is the first demo version of Cut Your Hair we recorded. At this time we were thinking about potentially recording an album but weren't sure what to do. Thanks to Chris for giving us the time and space to consider our music in preparation for recording our debut album. Charmpit - Our bassist attended one workshop and then helped record Bad Attitude xoxo Without people looking at their individual and collective resources, and then inviting others to share in them, CHARMPIT would not have existed and thrived. Viva anarchism & solidarity forever, folx!

TRACK LISTING

1. Cut Your Hair (Kluster Rooms Sessions)
2. Bad Attitude (Kluster Rooms Sessions)

There is no doubting that interest in Deerhoof has reached new levels... full tents at festivals, larger venues – it only seems a snip of time since I caught them in a tiny Manchester shell – and a curious omnipresence on fringe radio. And all this, it seems, while the band reside individually in Tokyo, Wisconson, Oregon and New York. Separated by distance, united by technology.

Such attention naturally swells interest in a back catalogue that stretches back an astonishing 16 years and, in its own jagged and barbed way, appears to touch and tease most identifiable genres - and quite a few that have yet to be confidently pinned down. Although it is arguable (and aficionados of this band are certainly prone to arguing) it is their 2004 outing Milk Man that continues to attract the most attention. Not necessarily because it is their finest (argue away... go on) but because it is unquestionably the recording that saw the band retreat to 'bunker mentality' and sink back into a comfort zone which might seem to be anything other than comfortable.

TRACK LISTING

1. Milk Man 
2. Giga Dance 
3. Desaparecere 
4. Rainbow Silhouette Of The Milky Rain 
5. Dream Wanderer’s Tune  
6. Milking (MP3) 
7. C 
8. Dog On The Sidewalk
9. That Big Orange Sun Run Over Speed Light 
10. Song Of Sorn 
11. New Sneakers

This album finds Corin Tucker, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Kurt Bloch, and new drummer Linda Pitmon flexing their muscles both sonically and thematically: the music contains more surprises and sophistication, while the lyrics take on the current state of our planet and our people.

The album title and title track come from another name for Eugene, OR, Tuckers home city, and evolved, in her words,into “a sort of manifesto about the kind of place we are at as a country but also as a region. Just taking stock of where were at and feeling like I cant believe we let things get this bad.

TRACK LISTING

Emerald Valley
Pipeline
November Man
Only Lovers Are Broken
Angels
The Elliott
One Flew East
Break Me
Last Chance County
Hey Lacey

Horse Feathers feels like a secret you don’t really want to share. Over twelve years and five albums, a passionate fan base has experienced this band as a precious commodity that they want to keep close to their hearts.

On Appreciation, out May 4 on Kill Rock Stars, the signifiers of the band are there: Justin Ringle’s warm tenor and taut lyrics that speak of work, love, and other struggles. But on this album less of the song dynamics are achieved with strings and more with an exciting new rhythm section steeped in Northern Soul, creating a sound that leaps into the spotlight. Diehard fans are going to have to make room in the club house for a lot more people with this album, the Horse Feathers secret is officially out.

TRACK LISTING

Without Applause
Born In Love
Best To Leave
Broken Beak
Don’t
Mean To Pry
Altamont
Evictions
Faultline Wail
The Hex
On The Rise

After 40 years as one-third of the creative core of the B-52s, Cindy Wilson steps out with her own solo album, Change.

A collaboration between Wilson and friends and Athens musicians Ryan Monahan, Lemuel Hayes, Suny Lyons, and Marie Davon, Change marks a signifi cant departure from Wilsons other band. With echoes of Air, Bjork, Tame Impala, and Gary Numan, the band refers to its infecti ons brand of new-wave electro-pop as Turbo Chill. Rather than shouti ng in a rock voice, on “Change” Wilson gets to experiment with more emoti onal, subtle vocalizati ons, crooning and whispering over swirls of subtle psychedelia, Quincy Jones-era strings, and pulsing synths.

TRACK LISTING

People Are Asking
Stand Back Time
Mystic
No One Can Tell You
Change
Things I’d Like To Say
Sunrise
On The Inside
Brother
Memory

Invitation is the debut album by Filthy Friends, the new supergroup from Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Kurt Bloch (The Fastbacks), Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, The Minus 5) and Bill Rieflin (King Crimson).

The 12-song collection works through a flurry of different moods and styles, genre exercises and joyous experiments. The intricate guitar knots and blasts of bubblegum pop of Buck's beloved Television are all over the herky-jerky "Windmill." A mashup of '60s downer vibes and rootsy rumblings makes up the marvelous "Second Life" whereas "Come Back Shelley" is all swagger and glitz in the style of a lost glam rock 45. There aint nothing this band cant do with the wet clay of rock music and what they sculpt out of it is pure art.

Peter Buck knew he wanted to be in a band with Corin Tucker from the first time he saw Sleater-Kinney play to an empty room in 1997. "It was the day that Princess Diana died," the former R.E.M. guitarist says. "I remember thinking, 'Where did these people come from?' It was a totally unique take on what punk rock was." He told Rolling Stone.

TRACK LISTING

Despierta
Windmill
Faded Afternoon
Any Kind Of Crowd
Second Life
The Arrival
Come Back Shelley
No Forgotten Son
Brother
You And Your King
Makers
Invitation

Building off the success of their 'Massive Context EP' (Small Plates) released in 2012 and a 7" released on White Iris in January, songs like "Videolove" and "Trouble" show Hands’ innate ability to blend instruments and electronics into a deep texture that moves ethereally through genres. Hands moves from rock to synth-pop to skyrocketing stadium anthem, often within the same song.

The band made a mark on the scene immediately, quickly playing packed shows across the USA including stops at SXSW, CMJ and Deluna Fest, headlining Echo Park Rising, sessions with Daytrotter, and a west coast jaunt with Maps and Atlases.

Hands’ ability to win over fans with their feverish live show and dance-party ready sound has already earned them opening spots for the likes of Deerhoof, DeVotchKa, Foster the People, and Kimbra as well as playing shows to sold out crowds at venues across LA.

"The band blends thumping bass, esoteric guitar riffs, frenetic drumming and soaring, looping vocals to get staid indie rockers moving." - Time "If you’re a fan of Hot Chip or Tanlines, this is your band to follow in 2013." - Stereogum

Sunday Times 'Hottest Download'

There’s little doubt that Marnie Stern lives up to her reputation as “the lady who shreds,” but for Marnie, shredding is not enough. After putting out three critically-acclaimed albums, Marnie could have gotten away with putting out another album filled with her richly layered sound, singular frenetic finger tapping and almost philosophical lyrics. However, as anyone who has given her last few albums a good listen can tell, Marnie is not one to stand still. Instead she attacks her musical evolution with full frontal bravado, revelling in musical risk instead of relaxing in the comforts of the known.

Her new album, 'The Chronicles of Marnia', finds Marnie not only working with a new drummer (Oneida’s Kid Millions), but also passionately subtracting from her normally dense song structures to craft a sound that is both familiar and wholly original. “I always gravitate towards interweaving and a more abrasive sound,” Marnie said about working on the new album. “I was working with Nicholas Vernhes from Rare Book Room Recording in Brooklyn, and he was the producer. He wanted my voice clearer and fewer guitar parts. I tried it because I wanted to try something different.” The musical transformation evident on her new album isn’t entirely unexpected, as fans who have listened to both “For Ash” and “Every Single Line Means Something” in a single sitting know. That same slow progression can be seen between 2010’s self-titled album and the forthcoming The Chronicles of Marnia. Even as Marnie evolves from what Pitchfork called her “art-metal math-rock bubblegum pop” genre, fans will still find themselves jumping head first into the album and quickly bonding with the emotionally resonant material, cascading hooks and transcendental guitar riffs. Plus, the album shreds. She is Marnie Stern after all.

Boats makes music songs in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Sometimes their songs are about fictional performing duos who have holes in their bodies and/or have a belief that they will one day give birth to a flock of birds. Sometimes they are about winning the Superbowl and finding buried treasure. Often they are about failure and death. A noisy indie-pop band with high-end hopes but low-end equipment, Mat Klachefsky's bizarre vocal chords mixed with his infectiously catchy pop songs and boundless energy have been freaking out audiences ever since they released their critically acclaimed first album "Intercontinental Champion" to local audiences in October 2007. Since then they have embarked on several North American tours, played packed houses at SXSW, NXNE, Pop Montreal, Halifax Pop Explosion and Sled Island.

The band, led by bassist and classically trained vocalist Sherry Fraser, crafts songs with just as many sonic nooks-n-crannies and trapdoor surprises as the oft-cited "Funhouse" references associated with the band's particular dark, infectious pop. This is their long awaited debut full length.

New album from this Canadian duo. All the songs were written over a year ago, the band then took them out on tour to refine the songs and get them exactly how they wanted before recording them with Unwound's live sound engineer and Swearing At Motorists frontman Dave Doughman.