Golden Animals

Golden Animals' life, look and sound is as organic as it is glam, the kind of effortless beauty that can only have a tune-in, turn-on, drop-out story behind it and, these days, nothing but the stars above it.

When Tommy Eisner met Linda Beecroft in Brooklyn three years ago, he was studying oil painting at Cooper Union and she was a Swedish model in town for a job from Paris. Soon they became each other's world-pond-hopping between Paris and New York, Eisner writing songs on acoustic guitar and Beecroft learning drums -- and realized they wanted to leave New York.

"We were living in a basement apartment in Brooklyn and we were just like 'What are we doing here?'"says Eisner. On the eve of their planned trip west, Charles Slomovitz of HappyParts Recordings offered them a record deal in Cali, and the rest is free-living history. via

"...all the while we were working on this new album, we felt very free, society felt (and was) very far away. We made a record and called it 'Free Your Mind and Win a Pony.'" via

MySpace | Last.FM

I like their free and easy music style. They compliment each other with their light hearted melodies and harmonies without being too catchy or hook-driven.

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mr Gnome

The music of mr. Gnome (Nicole Barille and Sam Meister) has been described as utilizing elements of AltRock, Metal, Post Punk, and Prog, but land in a realm of their own making, crafting a compelling sonic-psychedelic melange of indie rock.

Since their conception in 2005, the Cleveland duo has released two EPs, receiving wide-ranging and honorable comparisons to Massive Attack, PJ Harvey, Tool, Portishead, Cat Power, Pelican, Death From Above 1979, Bjork and Blonde Redhead.

Their third cd, Heave Yer Skeleton, was just released (November 2009) with a free download of the single, Slow Side, on MySpace.

Regarding the band's name, I saw this on their blog: "I guess it probably wasn't a good idea to name our band after a recurring character from my acid trips." and it endears me to them even more. ha! But let me also add that there is a lot of 'tongue in cheek' on their blog so don't take that comment literally! I like these guys.

link | blog

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Royal Bangs

Royal Bangs are Ryan, Henry, Brandon, Sam, and Chris, and they are the most original sounding band from Knoxville, TN, ever.

Their 2nd album Let It Beep came out in September 2009. We Breed Champions from 2008 is also really very good.

It's fresh and original ROCK music. It's neither post, heavy, emo, nor kraut, neo, or indie. It's ROCK music. Remember what that sounded like?


Royal Bangs - Poison Control
Royal Bangs - War Bells
Royal Bangs - My Car Is Haunted

Link | MySpace

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Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo is a London based band formed by the Swedish musician Simon Balthazar (vocals, guitar, clarinet). Their name refers to Charles Baudelaire’s novella, "La Fanfarlo."

They've released some singles over the past few years but Reservoir is their debut cd that was introduced in 2008.

According to music fans on Last.FM, if you like Arcade Fire and Beirut, you'll like Fanfarlo. I pretty much agree with that assessment. The arrangements and instruments used by Fanfarlo are Arcade Fire-like and the harmonies blend nicely like Beirut but they do have their own style that I've been enjoying here at home and via my mp3 player.

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