January 2012
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December 2011
7 posts
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What were your favorite SONGS released in 2011?
Could be pulled from an album OR a stand-alone single.
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Big Wave - Another Year or Two
Promo video for “Another Year of Two” by indie-pop superstars Big Wave from Torquay in Devon, UK. This colourful burst of bittersweet sunshine pop is guaranteed to brighten up your wintertime blues…
November 2011
4 posts
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Book Review: 'Death of a Polaroid: A Manics Family...
Nicky Wire (Manic Street Preachers) has released Death of a Polaroid: A Manics Family Album on Faber & Faber in November, 2011. Also released in a super-limited edition (50 copies) that included a signed polaroid from Nicky and a slipcover. The first of Wire’s two planned releases for Faber & Faber (the second one not yet announced), Death of a Polaroid is a 304 page, 4-pound tome...
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October 2011
4 posts
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September 2011
4 posts
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INDIE MUSIC: YOU’RE DOING IT RIGHT
By fulmarausten
Art is Hard Records and the indie music scene in the South West of England…
There’s a new indie music label based in the South West of England called Art is Hard. In just a year they seem to have won over just about everyone with their winning combination of charmingly quirky releases, cut-and-paste DIY aesthetic and - most importantly - an uncanny ability to pick up on the...
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What are your favorite cover songs?
Cover songs better than the original, underrated cover songs…share them here!
A few of my favorites:
Nick Cave - “Avalanche” (Leonard Cohen cover)
Danielle Dax - “Tomorrow Never Knows” (Beatles cover)
Depeche Mode - “Dirt” (Stooges cover)
The Horrors - “Shadazz” (Suicide cover)
Manic Street Preachers - “Primitive Painters”...
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Music Video Genome →
Music Video Genome is like a Last.fm for music videos in that you type in an artist name and videos of that artist and related artists will stream through in-browser at full-size - check it out! As an example, typing in the Horrors brought up the Horrors, S.C.U.M., Cat’s Eyes, and Neils Children.
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WatchHTRK - “Poison”
I’ve finally set aside some time to listen to HTRK’s 2011 album Work (work, work), which is far more experimental and subtle than their previous release Marry Me Tonight. “Poison” is one of their most beautiful tracks yet.
August 2011
4 posts
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July 2011
10 posts
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Spotify: Coming Soon to the United States! →
Renowned music-streaming service Spotify is coming soon to the U.S.! Begun in Sweden in 2008, Spotify has spread across Europe as a service to rival Last.fm, with both free and paid account options. From the page:
The award-winning music service that’s taken Europe by storm will soon be landing on US shores. Millions of tracks ready to play instantly, on your computer and your phone.
Visiting...
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A Future in Noise: A Music Tumblelog →
The music blog A Future in Noise has today made the official transition from Blogger to Tumblr. You can trawl through the Archives for old posts and follow (or subscribe via RSS) for updates. Want to become a member of the team? Send a message to team@afutureinnoise.com and share why you’d like to write for us; genres of focus and a writing sample or two are recommended. To give you a taste...
Anonymous asked: how did you hear about thenewno2 playing every tuesday this month? I can't find anything about it. you might be mixing it up from where they played every tuesday of the month but that was in 2009
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The Horrors - 'Skying'
Stream the album now below and read on for the album review!
The Horrors - Skying has been, by far, my most-anticipated album of the year. Primary Colours, reviewed very favorably here back in 2009, has practically been on repeat wherever I go on my iPod since it came out, and I’ve been enthusiastic about Faris Badwan and Rachel Zeffira’s Cat’s Eyes…it seemed as though...
June 2011
5 posts
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The Horrors - Skying: New Cover Art + Pre-Order!
The cover art for The Horrors’ third album Skying, to be released July 11, 2011 (pre-order now at Recordstore.co.uk; July 26, 2011 release in the US), has recently been unveiled. Album cover artwork and booklet photography is by Neil Krug. You can view more in the set by visiting http://www.neilkrug.com/1221441/THE-HORRORS-SKYING
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Witch House Mix - FREE DOWNLOAD
Photo by MarxchivistDOWNLOAD ▲†HERE†▲ The latest music movement that I’ve found myself getting hooked into, witch house, has inspired me to put together a compilation of my favorite of the related free and legal mp3 downloads I’ve found through Last.fm tag radio. Witch house is the name for an oft-contested genre that throws dark ambient, shoegaze, and gothic rock into an electronic...
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Dandelion Radio: 5th Anniversary!
John Peel-inspired Internet radio station Dandelion Radio is celebrating its 5th anniversary! From the page: Dandelion Radio celebrates the 5th anniversary of its first ever broadcast with some special shows, the welcome return of one of our original DJs, and a surprise free birthday present for each and every listener! June’s 30-hour, 14 show schedule includes two additional shows: our...
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Free and Legal Music Hotspots
So you’re on the Internet. You know there’s a lot of free music out there. You can either navigate through a jumble of music blogs or surf around aimlessly elsewhere until you find some downloadable material or…you can use this handy guide from A Future in Noise, including a few tracks found on my free music journey! Did I forget anything major? Let me know in the comments!...
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New Release Guide: May/June
Love him or hate him, it’s hard to argue against that Tyler the Creator has been the most talked about act on the blogosphere in recent months, and his sophomore album, Goblin saw the light of day last month, to mixed results. With his lyrics being condemned by other artists, with accusations of homophobia and sexism, it appears the independent community has quickly turned against Tyler,...
May 2011
4 posts
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Last.fm's Playground
Last.fm’s Playground is a portion of the free internet radio and ‘scrobbling’ site Last.fm that, akin to Google Labs, includes fun toys for users to play with, pulling in stats from Last.fm ‘scrobbling’ (read: music listening-generated charts) and tagging data. Here are a few of my favorites: Gender Plot Shows the distribution of listening amongst men and women in...
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Independent Music Discoveries: Podcast #2 - Dark...
Yes, this week’s theme is…dark robot party. Just in time for the (supposed) Rapture…Er, anyway, here’s the podcast. Enjoy! Be sure to visit Holy Page and Vulpiano as well (netlabels mentioned in the podcast). Download podcast: click here Soviet Soviet - “Human Nature” Derek Piotr - “Overtaker” Shades - “Hard Fall” Ava Zandieh -...
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Independent Music Discoveries: First-Ever Podcast!
Download podcast: click here New format! Experimentation! In the future, I may cover music news topics as well and bring in guest speakers…Please let me know in the comments what you think about the new format in the feedback and what kind of content you may want to hear on the AFIN podcast. —- Artists and tracks featured: Fire Island Pines - “Heaven Till You Say” Apostles...
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Podcast or 'Bite-sized' Format On the Way...
Dear AFIN Readers, I am considering altering the format of AFIN to contain more brief music news and selections updates on a more regular basis. I may move the site from Blogger to Tumblr since Tumblr’s format would encourage this kind of posting and allow for greater ease of quick audio posts, but I am still considering my options. Another possibility is a podcast, where I might discuss...
April 2011
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Interview with Moe Adame (Burning Image)
American deathrock band Burning Image’s recent LP Oleander, following 2009 release Fantasma and 2004 compilation 1983-1987, described as “15 tracks of corruption, mystery and despair”, is certainly their most impressive output to date. To call Oleander ‘edgy’ would be putting it mildly, especially when considering the background of how this album got started. I got a...
March 2011
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Independent Music Discoveries: Issue #35
AFIN Announcement: Independent Music discoveries may be incorporated into a podcast (albeit with some possibly written commentary and mp3 download links for the artists featured as a supplement) instead of a written post as usual in the coming weeks - please comment with feedback on this! —- UPDATE: Richey Hackett - Alternative / Pop / Rock - Midlands, UK When Vulpiano Records artist Richey...
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An Open Letter to Those Who Say Rap is a Sham
Note: This piece comes from new contributor UFOROMANTIC, which AFIN is very pleased to have on board! Rap has gotten a raw deal since it has caught on as a mainstream style, and has lyrics that are sometimes alienating as they deal with subject matter that is less than identifiable with the vast majority of people. It comes largely from the same place as punk, from an ideological standpoint:...
February 2011
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Independent Music Discoveries: Issue #34
A couple quick updates on previously featured artists - future feature with never-before-presented-on-AFIN artists coming later this month! —- UPDATES: Jakob Battick and Friends - Other / Experimental / Shoegaze - Maine, USALast featured here at AFIN with Heavy the Mountains, Heavy Are the Seas, Jakob Battick and Friends have prepared to release something new, Bloodworm Songs, on 3/11/2011,...
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The Strokes - New FREE Single! Under Cover of...
The Strokes are back with a brand-new single, “Under Cover of Darkness” from forthcoming album Angles (3/22/2011), their latest since First Impressions of Earth in 2006. “Under Cover of Darkness”, immediately evoking a similar sound to Is This It (2001), which many fans and critics have continued to hoist up as The Strokes’ unbeatable first album. Now I’m even...
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Site Feature: MuMu Player - Stream Music With...
MuMu Player is a site which allows you to create your own private space to invite a limited group of friends into, for the purpose of listening to music together. Everyone in the group can upload songs to stream and all involved can listen in real-time! Hopefully this won’t go the same way as Muxtape for legal reasons, probably not because only a group of five can listen at a time. From...
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Interviewing the Readers - If You Could Resurrect...
Since today’s browsing around has reminded me that it’s the 16th anniversary of Richey Edwards’ disappearance, it got me thinking of a somewhat irreverent question for this week’s Interviewing the Readers segment: if you could resurrect just one musician who has died (or, er, bring back one who’s disappeared disappeared), for the sole purpose of creating new music...