March 21, 2013 – Portland, Oregon-based popsmith Nick Jaina has quite a CV. He's written for the ballet in Brooklyn, composed scores for both the theater in New Orleans and the silver screen in L.A. He's worked on archaeological digs in Northern California, been rescued by a minister in Indiana, and contributed to the mid-'00s folk revival in Portland. But Jaina's also completed work on Primary Perception, a generous new full-length due April 16 on Fluff and Gravy that includes the head-spinning, harmony-soaked hooks of "Don't Come to Me." 111564:song:Don't Come To Me:

March 21, 2013 – No BS! Brass Band is a beloved 10-piece horns-and-drums band from Richmond, Virginia that was assembled and founded by drummer Lance Koehler and trombonist/Bon Iver member Reggie Pace. They've collaborated with and enhanced releases by Sharon Van Etten, Matthew E. White, Megafaun, and Feist, but on June 14, they'll uncage RVA All Day, a hot, irrepressible blast of brass and canyon-like grooves whose saucy title track you can hear below: 

March 21, 2013 – "The extra 'h,'" Splashh told Line of Best Fit last December, "was to avoid a lawsuit." But the London-based alt-rock revivalists actually took their name from a water park in their native Australia. And "Sun Kissed Bliss," an appropriately titled standout from their forthcoming debut full-length, Comfort, due June 4 via Kanine, is just that: a tidal pool of yawning guitars and frizzled pedal effects that would have also felt right at home on Smith Westerns' 2011 breakout LP, Dye It Blonde.

March 21, 2013 – You may know Liam Hayes for his work under his 20-year-old Plush pseudonym or his involvement with Will Oldham' Palace. You may also remember his cameo in 2000's High Fidelity, as a lounge singer providing sparse accompaniment to Cusack's "I am a fuckin' asshole" realization. Most recently, Hayes contributed his talents to Roman Coppola's A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, a Bill Murray and Charlie Sheen-enriched comedy whose soundtrack is comprised of Plush songs both old and new. "So Much Music," from 2009's Bright Penny, is one such track, a soulful, 1970s period piece that also called for another on-screen performance during the film. 111505:song:So Much Music:

March 20, 2013 – Next month, MMOSS and Quilt will combine their considerable psychedelic gifts on New Hampshire Freaks, a split 10-inch that both honors the former's home state and features a wealth of new material. On the A-side, you will encounter "Nothing Left," a sylvan, mostly acoustic cut that, at just two-and-a-half altogether striking minutes, feels relatively tidy beside it's B-Side. (That would be "Sandy," a collaborative jam with Quilt — also on the A, on their own — that stretches out over 14 hallucinatory minutes.) It's all landing on April 23 by way of Beyond Beyond is Beyond. 

March 19, 2013 – "My brother David took me to see Dinosaur Jr. live in Paris around the time when [1991's] Green Mind was released," says Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars. "I have been a fan since then." That's usually how it goes: whether you're bulldozed by the total volume or J Mascis' tear-jerking solos and staggering songcraft, a Dinosaur Jr. live experience — particularly of late — can feel like an unusually loud baptism. It's with great excitement then that we help present the trio's unexpectedly sedate cover-slash-"remix" of "Entertainment," the zippy first single from Phoenix's much anticipated fifth studio full-length, due April 23 on Glassnote. 

March 15, 2013 – And then there was more. Having already shared a generous amount of material (including Brian Eno collabo, "Digital Lion") from his impending sophomore LP, Overgrown, James Blake has unearthed yet another piece of new music. Below is a radio rip of non-album cut, "And Holy Ghost," a ruminative, rickety, cathedral-ready beauty that premiered late yesterday on DJ Benji B's BBC Radio 1 program. It is set to appear as the B-side to Blake's "Voyeur (Dub)" single, which, like Overgrown, is forthcoming on his own 1-800-Dinosaur imprint. Overgrown is due April 8. 

March 14, 2013 – A year ago at this time, both Girls' Generation and 2NE1 looked poised to steamroll the American market and shush those that might suggest K-Pop's increasingly global conquest would stop here. The former had a Snoop Dogg cosign (and Letterman appearance) in their handbags, and 2NE1, having already stormed Times Square in December of 2011, were rumored to be in the lab with known chart terrorist, will.i.am. It was only a matter of time. But then summer arrived and so did "I Love You," to relatively little fanfare. Girls' Generation went largely silent, and then came Psy. You know the rest. But as of this afternoon, the wait is over: The first listen from the 2NE1-will.i.am sessions has surfaced online in the form of "Take on the World," a spacious, house-informed hunk of stadium pop that drops the foursome's (often coagulated) vocals in front of a strangely familiar backdrop.

February 27, 2013 – "I remember that we laughed a lot," says Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin, of writing Above, the lone (and beloved) 1995 release from Seattle supergroup Mad Season. "We laughed about being sober for the first time, and the newsness of that. We laughed at ourselves and a lot of the stupid things we'd done as young men."It's a memory that stands in moving contrast to the soon-to-be-reissued full-length's relatively somber origin story: Having just left a rehab facility in Minnesota after the completion of 1994's Vitalogy, Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready approached Martin and Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley about the prospect of writing together, in hopes of helping the latter gain some distance from a battle with addiction that would haunt him until his death in 2002. Joining them on bass was late Chicago native John "Baker" Saunders, a friend and fellow rehab alum.

February 26, 2013 – Originally, Úlfur's "Heaven in a Wildflower" was meant to feature the extra-terrestrial vocals of Sigur Rós frontman and bandmate Jonsí Birgisson. But, when tour scheduling prevented that particular collaboration from happening, its six-plus minutes of strings and flutes and thickets of woodwinds were left to themselves, a decision's that made the highlight from the Icelandic composer's solo debut, White Mountain, all the more hypnotic. Featured instead are the instrumental talents of Sigrún Jónsdóttir (who contributed to Bjork's Biophilia and Volta) and Skúli Sverrisson (a noted Blonde Redhead collaborator), both of whom breathe life into Úlfur's composition in ways that may have been overlooked had anyone so much as hummed over them.