Sun Araw - Off Duty EP + Boat Trip EP (2010)

Cameron Stallones wasn't finished when he released his fourth LP titled "On Patrol" back in March. Continuing the police theme with these releases, this EP titled "Off Duty" is more fantastic work by Stallones.

"Last Chants" is high-quality and so is the rest of the EP. I'll shut up and let you listen to it.

By the way, am I the only one in thinking that this cover and the cover for "On Patrol" are two of the best in 2010?

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Nice Face - Immer Etwas (2010)

Immer Etwas is the first full length release from this one man bedroom recording project turned full on five-piece live band. Nice Face have been turning out singles, comp tracks, and cassettes at a steady clip over the past two years and change. This LP is a solid thirteen tracks of drum-machine driven blown out hook-laden punk rock.

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If not at least give this song a listen, it fucking rocks:

Nice Face-Situation Is Facing Utter Annihilation
Sample

The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight (1980)

The soft boys have a peculiar mix of influences and underwater moonlight exemplifies that wonderfully. They wear their influences on their sleeves(The Beatles, Syd Barret, The Byrds), but on this album they have enough originality to make it their own. Robyn Hithcock's lyrics are best described as arranged stream of conscience...being that he'll take random, off kilter thoughts and put them together to make a cohesive theme(most of the time). The music provides a superb backdrop to this. The band are very tight players(not in the sessionman sense)and stylistically diverse as well. Whether playing hyper rock & roll(i wanna destroy you), jangly pop(the queen of eyes), or loopy krautrock-ish instrumentals(you'll have to go sideways), the band pulls it off with ease. If you're a fan of late 70's-early 80's British music (Wire, Gang of Four, Joy Division, etc.), but get tired of the gloominess and (sometimes) pretentiousness of it. Then this album is your swan song. <--Yes I did just say that. Buy it
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Sample

Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker (2008)

Kurt Vile (yes, Vile is his actual last name) is a musician from Philadelphia who makes dreamy music best described as "bedroom pop". Vile began to gain fans quickly in late 2008/early 2009 when his track "Freeway" started to gain steam, getting mentions on assorted blogs and websites all throughout the internet. It culminated in a record deal from Matador Records, one of the most respected indie labels in existence, and newfound fans like Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth.

To me, Vile is at his best on this 41 minute album in which he goes from hi-fi ("Freeway") to no-fi ("Breathin' Out"), from straightforward to sleepy and dreamlike, and so on and so on. The standouts here are "Freeway", "Space Forklift", "Slow Talkers", and "Classic Rock in Spring/Freeway in Mind" (the latter half being an acoustic version of "Freeway"). Vile's latest release, Childish Prodigy, was his first on Matador and was the album that received rave reviews from Gordon and many other music review sites. Check this out; you won't be disappointed.

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Magic Lantern - Platoon (2010)

Magic Lantern is, in Last.fm's words, a "psychedelic/kraut/space rock band" out of Long Beach. Their most famous member is Cameron Stallones, lead guitarist and vocalist, who performs solo as Sun Araw. Stallones seems to create something good wherever he goes; Magic Lantern's debut, High Beams, was highly acclaimed and his albums Heavy Deeds and On Patrol are in my best-of lists for 2009 and 2010.

While High Beams was an enjoyable album, Platoon seems to take the band where they haven't gone before. The songs are (slightly) shorter and quite a bit more likable, with "Dark Cicadas" being the standout to me here. Unfortunately, according to their Last.fm shoutbox, it appears they've broken up. Hopefully that turns out to be false, as I'm eagerly anticipating whatever may be the next release by this fantastic group.

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