Restorations

“Piles of plans that never panned out.”

Another one of punk’s best and brightest from Beartrap PR.  Pick your favorite subgenre, and Philadelphia’s Restorations probably has a bit of it covered. They are exactly what I wish most bands could be.  The perfect mix of gritty rough and tumble rhythm,  twinkly post-punk melodies on lead guitar, and frontman Jon Loudon’s “raspy yet tuneful” growl. The band appeared in my inbox sometime early yesterday, and I have already filled the day’s playlist with not much else.  The debut, self-titled album was released back in April, but it looks like it is getting a well-deserved push this month.  Grab it for $8 on Bandcamp.

Restorations – Broken Vacuum

Restorations – Neighborhood Song 

 

 

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Letting Up Despite Great Faults, “Sophia In Gold” single

“Write me empty letters talking about our best day .”

When band names are sentences, and tracklistings read like novels – we’ve gone too far.  Letting Up Despite Great Faults, luckily, is only guilty of the former.  They may seem like they just floated in on a cloud of buzzy critical acclaim, but the band has been banging around its hometown of LA for some time, and released a full-length back in 2009.  In the traditional model of cutting teeth of paying dues the band may seem like infants, but in the of world of today’s supersonic rate of band break ups, make ups, and everything in between, two plus years is an accomplishment.  Old Flame will release the band’s new Paper Crush EP on August 2, and a series of Southern Cal gigs will take place throughout the remainder of the summer.

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Ryan Adams, “Empty Room”

New track from Ryan Adams called ‘Empty Room’ via his European acoustic tour 7″, which also contains an Alice in Chains cover of ‘Nutshell’.

Scoundrels, “Sniff It Up” EP

“Hold onto my records, share them with your friends if you want.”

The band’s official bio is quick to paint a very clear a genre picture. Yes, the suburbs of London are indeed a long way from the swamps of Louisiana, and the novelty is not lost on us. For such a young group of men, the ‘shared a love of 50s soul, roots, doo wop and classic rock’ is an interesting throwback.  As if I wasn’t already intrigued enough, the shout out to my favorite neighborhood venue, Notting Hill Arts Club, sealed the deal.  Scoundrels is giving away their new EP Sniff It Up for free  by way of the good people over at Noisetrade. Five tracks of unexpected (and paradoxical?) London blues. The band has taken up residency at London’s Ronnie Scott’s – which is not in the least bit surprising.

Scoundrels – Outta Town Blues

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Official Site

Noisetrade

Augustana, The Maine cover Ryan Adams

Pop/rock takes a stab at Ryan Adams – thoughts? San Diego’s Augustana, fresh off the release of their newest self-titled disc, teams up with The Maine for a cover of “Dance All Night”, a Cold Roses favorite of mine, on their current tour together.  I will take any excuse to talk about Ryan Adams, and I’ve found yet another.  Audio available below as well.

Romance Is Born, “All Talk” EP

“Can we rebuild, can we begin again?”

It’s not often that I listen to bands who arbitrarily follow me on Twitter, but something about Romance Is Born took me that one extra step further.  The band’s familiar 90’s inspired mix of melodic alt-indie is a welcome addition to my never ending stack of new music. The new EP, All Talk, was released in mid June and is available for a measly $2, and even less for those of you paying in GBP.  No gigs on the books at the moment, but people in the Jersey/Philly circle should take note.

Romance Is Born – I Got Time

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