Arrows: Modern Art & Politics

I discovered this Australian band on Gimmesound.com and have been listening to this album nonstop since. Arrows makes great use of Mineral's slow tempo, intertwined guitar lines to make a gorgeous sound. The vocalist sings with some Springsteen-gruff which definitely separates them from the herd in a good way. Great album all the way through, you won't be disappointed.

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C-Clamp: Longer Waves

I've gotten a ton of great noodles recently plus I have a week left of holiday vacation (w00t) so hopefully I will be pretty active this week. I'm feeling a bit lazy so here's the wiki article on them:

From Wikipedia:

Sometimes referred to as slowcore, C-Clamp placed emphasis on mood, texture and rhythm. Known for their dense layering and simple, yet beautiful vocal harmonies, C-Clamp released only two full length albums in their career. Although they performed live infrequently, they managed to share the stage with many noteworthy bands of that era, including Braid, Castor, Dianogah, Karate and Hum.

Nick Macri went on to perform in the bands Heroic Doses, Euphone, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Lonesome Organist, The Analog Reception, and The Zincs, as well as with the artists Bobby Conn and Jeremy Enigk.


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Shapes Like Dinosaurs: Jurassic Geometry EP & Cretaceous Calculus EP

Shapes Like Dinosaurs is a mathy twinkly band based in Birmingham, Alabama. I have been meaning to post their stuff for a while and considering my last post was ALREADY posted I figured now is as good a time as ever. Their tunes are mostly instrumental with occasional songs with vocals. Personally, I think they should stick to being an instrumental band because their vocals can get a bit too much sometimes. Either way, their noodles are tight and twinkly, just the way I like em! They have two EPs, which I simply loaded up together. If you like one, you'll like the other as well.



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Pennines

It seems like more and more twinkly bands are coming from the UK these days. Bands like This Town Needs Guns and Cats Cats and Cats have gotten pretty big (at least in the blogosphere). Pennines is less mathy than those bands mentions and more melodic, similar to recent post Know Think. I found these guys last night and was hoping I would be able to find something downloadable to post. Luckily, the band has decided to give their music away for free. At first I thought this was their ep "Fair Do's" but that apparently only has 3 tracks and the download link they gave has 6. Maybe someone in the know could clear that up...? Anyway, enjoy the tunes!


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The Six Parts Seven: Things Shaped In Passing

Atmospheric, mostly instrumental twinkles. Definitely has an American Football vibe going on. They have 5 full lengths but this is the only one I am familiar with. Maybe I'll post more when I hear them. This is definitely a good album for this time of year. Enjoy.

Download here
Myspace

Touch Committee: Winter Beard

Touch Committee is another band I found out about through VLV. They play a really fun, catchy, and upbeat version of "indie rock" that would definitely be found in the 90's, but also reminds me of early Meneguar. Despite that, they still know how to riff it up and get noodly (see the whole beginning of "Gold Coast" for examples of this). They also have, what I think, is the best song title ever; "Shitty Avengers". Someone should really make that a comic book. It would be another Marvel universe where The Avengers are just really awful at being super-heroes, thus the Shitty Avengers. Anyways, "Spitting Speed" is probably my favorite jam on this is and is super ridiculous catchy. It also took me a while to realize that there are two different singers and it's not just one guy multi-tracking his vocals, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately, they don't have this album out on any physical releases (yet), but if you're feeling inclined, you can buy the mp3s from any place that would do that sort of thing (itunes, amazon, etc). When I first got this, I could not stop listening to it and every time I go back and remember how good this album is, I listen to it constantly, so listen to it suckas!

Download here
Myspace here

My Favorite Citizen

I forget how I stumbled upon this band, but they rule! They were from new jersey and were only together from 96-98, although their sound is not dated at all. If you would've told me that they were from now, I would totally believe it. Apparently there's supposed to be some discography cd out "soon" according to their myspace, but who knows! They're pretty standard emo/indie stuff from this time period with more jangly guitar parts than twinkly, but they rule and I figured you would all enjoy this as well!

download here
myspace here

Know Think: Clean Closet EP

I've been jamming this band for the past week and have really been enjoying it. 4 twinkly jams with very melodious vocals and great production. Sadly, like many twinkly shit bands these dudes don't play anymore. Many of the members now play in Communipaw but they are very different, stylistically. Enjoy.


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Twinkly Mix: Vol. 1

So I came up with the idea of posting mixes of various twinkly bands that I enjoy. I'm trying to spread it out and throw in some classic gems along with the newer stuff. If you enjoy this let me know, and I'll try to keep doing some every once in a while. Enjoy.


1. Brilliant The Brilli Ant - Cats and Cats and Cats
2. Open Sesame - Grown Ups
3. North Brandywine - Pirouette
4. Stranger, You Know - Castevet
5. The 1/5 Compromise - Colossal
6. Elementary Biology - Hightide Hotel
7. White Out - Joan of Arc
8. The Spargo Twin - ...Of Sinking Ships
9. Sepit - Pele
10. American Girl (Version 2) - The Promise Ring

Twinkly Mix, Vol 1

Maps & Atlases: Bird Barnyard EP

If you enjoy this blog, chances are you already know/love this band. I recently discovered Maps & Atlases' first release after years of playing "Tree, Swallows, Houses" and more recently "You and Me and the Mountain" and was surprised with what I heard. Gone are the frantic tappy guitars and crazy vocal lines. What we have here are 3 songs of fairly safe midwestern Braid fans (definitely not a bad thing). What amazes me about this band is how different each of their 3 releases are from each other. These dudes really strive to create something different with everything they do and I can't wait to hear what crazy shit they come up with next.

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