The Hundred In The Hands

1. The Hundred In The Hands

See Them Live: Popscene 330 Ritch June 3rd

Free Download: (in exchange for email) ‘Ghosts’ off their recent This Desert EP here.

Everybody loves a dynamic duo, but when it’s a pairing of talents like Eleanor Everdell who’s worked with TV on the Radio frequently and Jason Freidman of The Boggs in a fevered, avant-discopop collective – it’s something to be talked about. Brooklyn’s (yes, Brooklyn again) The Hundred in the Hands combine 60s gauzy psychedelics with jagged percussion and dancey synths. You can download “Ghosts” from their recent This Desert EP and expect to see a full length debut later this year. See them live Thursday June 3rd at Popscene!

Suckers

2. Suckers

See Them Live: Rickshaw Stop June 2nd and Bottom of the Hill June 3rd both shows sold out

Get the album: Wild Smileout June 8th off FrenchKiss Records

Free Download: “Black Sheep”

If there’s any band expected to blow up the indie rock blogosphere this year, it’s Brooklynites (Brooklyn has it all) Suckers. Currently on a mostly-sold-out tour with fellow buzz band Local Natives, they’re getting ready to release their debut full length album, Wild Smile, which can easily be compared to Yeasayer’s All Hour Cymbals. The album is full of endearing three-part harmonies and driving guitar and synth riffs. Think a dance party of hippies who secretly have a collection of pop albums in the back of their closet.

The Drums

3. The Drums

Get the album: The Drums out June 7th off Island Records

You’ve undoubtedly heard about The Drums after their release of their Summertime EP last year and the many many remixes of its single, “Let’s Go Surfing,” but if you haven’t caught the wave on The Drums yet, it’s time you did. Next week marks the release of their debut self titled album, and they’re only getting bigger. Taking notes from The Cure (circa Head on the Door) and Shout Out Louds, The Drums have created an infectious combination of poppy lo-fi surf rock that gets stuck in your head for weeks.

Free Download:

ceo

4. ceo

Get the album: White Magic out June 29th off Modular Records

Free Download: “Come with Me”

The Tough Alliance’s Eric Berglund’s solo project ceo is something that isn’t exactly for everybody. Having been pretty under the radar until the release of the odd video for “Come with Me,” the album White Magic, which comes out at the end of the month, is expected to make some pretty big waves in the electronic scene. Compared to TTA, ceo seems a little less uppity electropop and a lot more raw with a strange juxtaposition of hip hop undertones and ethereal leading vocals. In the words of Eric Berglund himself, “ceo is the photosynthesis and an aria, it is the silence and virginity lost in a gang bang” – if that’s not something to check out, I don’t know what is.

Lookbook

5. Lookbook

See them Live: Elbo Room June 8^th

Free download: “Believe the Hype”

As reluctant as I was towards a band that shares a name with a hipster-fashion website, Lookbook from Minneapolis is an underrated gem of a duo. Maggie Morrison and Grant Cutler make some quality brooding, sultry synth rock. Morrison’s vocals are haunting in an Annie Lennox meets Emily Haines sort of way, while Cutler’s compliments with molasses thick bass and light dancey synths making a nostalgic yet fresh overall sound. Currently on an (extremely) small venue tour, you can hopefully expect a follow up album to their 2009 debut, Wild at Heart soon.

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