Where do we even start? Haim is a trio of beautiful sisters producing music that you seriously can’t stop listening to. The Los Angeles-based sisters (Danielle, Alana, and Este Haim) are packed with groove, great bass, and a wonderful sound that is literally addictive. If you were to put Stevie Nicks, Cyndi Lauper, and Heart into one brightly painted van and have a sing along, they would sound something like this. The coolest part about them is that they’ve done a great job of staying low on the radar, doing most of their “getting around” simply by word of mouth. What’s even cooler is that they started out playing guitar and percussion in their family band, “Rocking Haim,” with the sisters along with their parents rocking together until 2006.

Priscilla Ahn & Charlie Wadhams are just two singer-songwriters who sing and songwrite together. They live in Los Angeles, California and it just so happens that you can download their sweet little EP for the incredibly low price of $0. It’s a wonderful little 5-track EP filled with love songs and sweet nothings that are perfect for this time of year. We wish they were our valentine.

On February 24th, The Cranberries will release their long awaited album, Roses, to the Republic of Ireland. If you happen to not be living in Ireland on the 24th, you’ll have to wait until the 27th to get a copy. Produced by Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur), it’s the band’s first studio release in… 10 years. We’re more excited about this than anything chocolate. And even if we don’t get tracks like Dreams, Linger, or Zombie, the fact that we get to hear Dolores O’Riordan’s angelic voice again just simply warms our heart.

Be The Void is the 6th full release from Pennsylvania’s Dr. Dog, which is filled with absolutely everything that a good rock album should be. Still somehow, even with the numbers, Dr. Dog has remained one of those C-list bands that can easily fill a decent sized club or pavilion on a week night. There’s a good chance that’s about to change with the way Be The Void is sounding. With songs like That Old Black Hole, Dr. Dog could be quickly leaving that black hole and coming closer into the larger spotlight. That is, if that’s what they’re shooting for. Either way, the album is consistently good all the way through. If you’re doubting us, go out and buy it or listen to it on Spotify.

If you haven’t already had the chance to listen to the music of Lana Del Rey, then what on earth are you waiting for? Once in a while a vocalist appears out of the blue that stands so far out from the mundane buzz of modern music you’d swear it was like witnessing a supernova. Well here that singer is, and her name is Lana Del Rey. She has been described as a “self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra“, and cites Britney Spears, Elvis Presley and Kurt Cobain amongst her musical influences.

YEARS is an insanely amazing project produced by Bartholonäus Traubeck. It literally tells the life story of a tree in musical form. The modified record player reads the tree like it would a vinyl record and interprets the tree rings into an impossibly haunting composition. Technically speaking, it reads the rings by its light and dark value and its texture. It then interprets that data into a musical scale and outputs that data as music.

We’re well into 2012 and yet to find a new artist (or new to us) that truly stands out. That is, until we heard Minnesota bluesman Charlie Parr over at Rollo & Grady. Charlie’s influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, and Reverend Gary Davis, as you can see in some of his religious-based lyrics. He pulls influences from both historical and fictional accounts, often singing about people down and out or general human despair. Think American tall-tales from the gutter. He also just so happens to be an experienced yarn-weaver and quite a hit in Australia. He’s currently on tour promoting his seventh album, ‘Roustabout‘.

First of all, if you’re from Richmond, you’ve got to admit the fact that Baltimore’s Future Islands played at The Camel is awesome. Samuel Herring’s voice and energy sounds like it could literally be heard all the way from Baltimore. He’s got more character than a Disney movie and a tone that sounds like it could be from a video game. Along with Gerrit Welmers, William Cashion, and the heat from the crowd, The Camel felt like a sauna tonight. Their next two shows will be held in their home state of North Carolina and then head further down south. If you can get the chance to check them out, it’s worth your time.

One of our favorite bands of the year, the young (still in High School) trio from San Diego, Dirty Gold are still sounding good since their 2010 debut. Their amazing single and one of our favorite songs of the summer, California Sunrise, was hands down one of the biggest hits of 2010, resulting in an almost cult following afterwards. Their sound is an amazing combination of early surf culture mixed with the harmonizing of Vampire Weekend and then throw in a little bit of Paul Simon to the mix. Not sure exactly where we’ve been, but we just found out that they came out with a 5 track EP this past April!

Sit back in your seat, put on some warm socks, add a little “spice” to that egg nog, and relax because Jim Henson’s 1977 holiday favorite, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas is now streaming on Netflix All those 80′s babies out there can thank us later. We found the full downloadable soundtrack and bloopers reel over at Aquarium Drunkard.

What looks to be one of the best seats in the house has turned up with some of the best photos of the night. Tommy Ton, of Jak & Jil just posted a photo set from one of the two Watch the Throne shows at Madison Square Gardens last month. You can hate them or love them, but when you sell out two nights in NY, you’re on top.

The newest single from Ki:Theory featuring Maura Davis (formerly of Denali) has us getting a little weird up and around the office. This mix of steadily dropping beats and haunting synth, perfect with accents of Maura’s chilling vocals, makes a killer combination for a song you want to play on repeat on a long drive through mountains. Love.

It took us a minute or two to actually give The War on Drugs a chance. What’s worse is that because of this tunnelvision, realizing that the band is made up of Adam Granduciel and Kurt Vile was overlooked too. On top of things, these guys have been making music since 2005 in Philly, just north of where we are now. What rock were we under? Their 2011 release, Slave Ambienet, on Secretly Canadian, is currently on our winter playlist, especially with the amazing sounds and vibes wer’e getting from the track, Baby Missiles.

Everybody Taste just released their “Best of 2011 EP and Vinyl Singles” list and at the top of the charts is Allah-Las. The L.A. based garage/psych group recorded their two-track 7″ with Nick Waterhouse specifically for vinyl and you can really hear it as soon as the needle hits. “Catmaran 7″ plays true to the vibes that inspired it. They’re everything you want  surf rock group to be and it’s hard not to move your hips when you hear ‘em. Music like this might not belong in the winter, but we really don’t care.

Could that amazing sound your hearing be coming all the way from Minneapolis? In this case, the answer is certainly, yes. Peter Pisano and Brian Moen who make up Peter Wolf Crier surprise you with fuzzy distortion, rolling and crashing drums, and laser-focused purposefulness into an intensely dynamic yet supremely polished album. If you’ve never heard them before, the provided track “Settling it Off” might not be what you expect. Pisano’s voice hits you like a blind-sided punch when you least expect it. It combines perfectly with Moen’s textural sounds to create an album made with great care.

Phantogram’s newest EP, Nightlife, is amazing. Not a single track is alike. Once again, Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter have created music that is almost impossible to give a genre label to. The only way to describe their sound is, really good. Nightlife, takes the duo’s previous sounds and tweaks them, refines them, and serves them up in an entirely new plate. We might be listening to the same things, but we would never know it.  You could easily say that this EP holds some of the duo’s best songs to date.

When the topic of background music at Thanksgiving dinner comes to mind, the stuff that I grew up listening to might not settle well in most families. Besides from a traditionally untraditional meal when my family and friends got together growing up in the sticks, my dad’s music selection was always a surprise when it came down to carving the turkey, or tofu, or shrimp… If you’re looking for a completely new take on that special meal, you’d be surprised how much difference some good, upbeat dinner music can make.

Just browsing the internet world in search of some new music and happened to stumble on Radiation City, an ensemble of four out of Portland, OR. Reading their info on Facebook is funny enough; the band’s interests include “puttin’ a stank on it.” So while it’s raining outside in Richmond and the current weather in Portland looks to be the same, it’s nice to hear some light-hearted, rewarding pop sounds from some friendly looking people. You can purchase Radiation City’s, The Hands that Take You over at the Tender Loving Empire.

We’ve been following Florence + the Machine for a while now, so of course when they started releasing singles from their newest album, Ceremonials, we’re going to share them with you. Most of you by now have heard their first single, Shake it Off, and the handfull of remixes to go along with it, but our current song on repeat is, Lover to Lover. It’s in this track where Florence Welch’s voice reminds us of a young Annie Lenox. Almsot like something off of the famous Medusa album to be specific. Welch’s voice and talent simply go without question and it’s more apparent than ever in Lover to Lover.

This is one of those songs you hear and you’re lucky enough to have Shazam on your phone, thus we discovered Laura Marling. We could have easily mistaken her for Joni Mitchell. She’s poped up on the London music scene sometime around 2007 and hasn’t left. She released her debut album, Alas, I Cannot Swim (2008) when she was only 17 years old and was instantly nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in the UK – an award given annually for the best album from a British or Irish artist.

Fall naturally brings out whisky drinking, knit gloves and pumpkin bread music. To us, that sound is made up of beautiful voices, banjos, guitars and the twang of the country. Unless you’re a history buff or live in a very particular part of the world, you probably have no clue what a “battery kinzie” is. It’s really an old fort built in Fort Worden, Washington. It’s also the second track on Fleet Foxes latest album, Helplessness Blues, with a wonderful sound, great drums, depth and a bit of peacefulness.

We just got tipped on this nice little release from Gummy Soul: Fela Soul! Combine some Fela Kuti with De La Soul and whalla, you get Fela Soul. This 8-track journey that combines afrobeat with hip hop gems, Nigerian instruments, politics, and native tongue. Produced by Amerigo Gazaway for Gummy Soul, it’s 33 minutes of one-of-a-kind music.

You can always count on Los Angeles to bring you really anything you want. Traffic, glitz, sunshine, heads in the clouds, beautiful people and here and there you’ll actually get a decent music group. Fidlar seems to have made it out of the smog and they’re still going. But what type of music is Fidlar? We’re going to skip all the sugar coating going around and just call it “rock-n-roll.” Yes, actual rock-n-roll. They’re kind of like your favorite band in highschool just a lot better and much louder. They’re also probably much drunker.

I remember growing up listening to Randy Newman’s 1974 release of Good Old Boys, and the first track “Rednecks“. I also remember hearing that same, unique voice on Pixar’s Toy Story. It’s the variation in lyrics that draws me most to the artist. He’s a man that certainly has his way with words. For someone who take them the wrong way, or can’t understand Newman’s viewpoint for lyrics and subjects, then we can only wish them the best of luck.

Our buddy Nick put us on to this particular track, Cub (Keep Shelly in Athens Remix). It’s a track from Solar Bears a Dublin/Wicklow duo formed in 2009 that was named after a Russian science fiction by Andrei Tarkovsky. Made up of John Kawlaski and Rian Trench, Solar Bears music combines beautiful sound, electronica, programming, acoustics, synths and vintage tape machines. This particular track was remixed by Keep Shelly in Athens, a Grecian duo who just hit North America.

The following version of “Lover’s Spit” might be one of the best (if not the best) ever recorded. We heard the version nearly four years ago from our friend and muse, Rachpop. “Lover’s Spit” is an original Broken Social Scene single from the album, You Forgot It In People (2002) that included the original member, Leslie. Then in 2004, with Bee Hives, Leslie Feist takes the vocals to the song and records it again at the Black Sessions broadcast by Radio France. This versions electric guitar paired with Feist’s unique voice give us a unique version to an amazing track.

We never saw this collaboration coming: Bushwick’s Menahan Street Band remixes Cult’s ever-so popular hit, “Go Outside.” It’s a nice little tune-up with the addition of some organ, saxophone, bass and drum, all in true Menahan street jazz style. We’re especially love the guitar high’s that resonate through Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion’s voices. Sounds kind of like the two groups ran into each other on the subway and decided to just throw down. We’re all for it.

We’ve been waiting to share this one with you, unless of course you’re already aware of it – The Rising Storm. The Rising Storm is a music blog in the sea of music blogs that hits us in the funny bones of soul, rock, folk, blues and everything your parents listened to when you weren’t around yet. It’s a blog about the forgotten albums, the ones that collect dust in record crates – the lost gems in the genres of garage, country rock, psych folk, psychedelic rock and other overlooked classics. The best part – it’s run by seven friends including Len Liechti, Brendan McGrath and Jason Nardelli that do it out of the love for music.

What a great little find for a Tuesday evening. New York/Philly’s The Walkmen, strummed the low country sounds of Johnny Cash that they learned on Seattles KEXP radio station. In particular, their version of “Wanted Man,” a song written by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, sounds particularly good at the moment while we’re sipping this lemonade and hanging our toes over the balcony railing.

We’re not necessarily saying that Trevor Powers, aka Youth Lagoon is the next Washed Out, but he just might be even better. Like Ernest Greene of Washed Out, hidden in the woods of Georgia, Trevor Powers, 22, is from a city that you normally don’t hear this type of solo performance from: Boise, Idaho. But in this case, you do – and it’s amazing. The multi-instrumentalist currently provides us with a two-song single on his Bandcamp and The Year of Hibernation, but is now providing us with a little upcoming gem that we can’t stop listening to, Cannons.

The Mondo Boys have once again put together a whopping 35 track mixtape to cruise your through these last sweaty days of summer. Listen to it before September 21st and you should be good to go.

Not that Foster the People are a new thing, though they did form in 2009 and have already signed with Columbia and played sold-out shows in the US and Australia. Their music just seems to naturally fit in these last remaining weeks of summer, particularly the song, “I Would Do Anything For You.” It’s straight up catchy, simple and almost feels like we’re listening to a rom-com (romantic-comedy) as corny as that sounds. It’s one of those songs you can listen to with your girlfriend and still feel somewhat good about yourself. She’ll love the chorus.

Ted Lucas is a name that we certainly had never heard of before. Not surprising though being that his peak was during the 60′s and 70′s Michigan folk rock scene. But that well-lived span came with some amazing and completely unique psych-acid-folk sounds that blend music genres and haze over doubts. His self titled solo album was released in 1975 and was just re-released last year. Try one a new hat and have a listen after the jump.

Last week Aquarium Drunkard cut a session with Colorado’s Sonny & The Sunsets that’s simply amazing. The session was recorded, produced and engineered by Andrew Murdock at Hobby Shop Studios in Highland Park. Thanks to Aquarium Drunkard for putting out such a great cut. Keep up the good work!

There will always be music, but periods where everyone is making music come and go. We’re not necessarily comparing current movement in sound to the 60′s and 70′s, but more and more people are getting up, making music and putting it out there for the sharks of the internet to eat up. It’s usually hit or miss but at least they’r doing it. This year some of our favorite new groups are just releasing a few songs via Bandcamp and the ever-so-faithful Myspace. Enter TV Girl, a duo from San Diego that like many others, we’re currently in love with.

Composed of Maria Lindén and her musical partner Fredrik Balck, Sweden’s I Break Horses has just given us their debut album, Hearts. Boy are we happy. Hearts takes guitars of the early 90s shoegaze  and pushes them to a higher level through Lindén’s black-angel vocal and the ‘lub-dup’ heartbeat of Balck’s drum patterns. The duo has just signed with Bella Union and is set to release Hearts in early August. One interesting fact about the pair is that they’re both severe hypochondriacs which is evident in some of their lyrics. If anything, their songs are the cure.

Tennessee Thomas is the founding member and drummer of the band The Like, and on top of incredible musical talent, has a perfectly unique & absolutely adorable sense of style. Quite frankly, she can’t help it, with fashionable friends such as Alexa Chung, who has called her “a 60′s it-girl born in the wrong decade”. With a head full of bangs and a closet full of vintage frocks, Tennessee is busy making her way into my heart and my itunes playlist. Click for pics to see why we dig her so much! And to see much, much more, check out this cute blog dedicated to Ms. Thomas!

The brilliant, clever, forever cat-loving, manager of our brick and mortar store, Miss. Holly Caroline, has pulled together a list of her favorite Summer songs. Here is the run down for Summer 2011 Playlist no.1:

To me, the word “county” has a lot of meaning and good vibes attached to it. When I think of “county,” I instantly think of the rural counties where I grew up in, Buckingham County and Nelson County, Virginia. Full of rolling blue mountains, mountain springs, rope swings and gravel roads. It’s rare that I hear music that I’m not already familiar with that takes my mind back to the “county.”

We just left the pool and it’s hotter than hell outside. Hot enough that your sunscreen sweats right off of you and starts to boil. It’s the type of heat where anything below 90 degrees feels good. The type of heat where even your sunglasses are useless. It’s summer and you’re in it. Here’s a little nostalgic suft tune that will get you though that drowsy heatwave and ready for a cold beer. Hope you all are having a great holiday weekend! Click for the continuation.

Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest” is a documentary film directed by Michael Rapaport about one of the most influential and groundbreaking musical groups in hip-hop history – A Tribe Called Quest.  Having released five gold and platinum selling albums within eight years, A Tribe Called Quest has been one of the mos commercially successful and artistically significant musical groups in recent history, and regarded as iconic pioneers of hip hop.

The Sandwitches are that band that we put on a mix cd months ago, forgot who they were but know that we love their work and know the exactly what track they are on the cd. Everybody Taste has already named them their “Mrs. Jones’ Cookies” the best album for the first half of 2011. Subtle electric guitars, simple drumming and some of the best and most unique female vocals we’ve heard in a while. Their music sounds like it could fit in anywhere from a Disney movie to a horror film. Listen to “Lightfoot” and you’ll get the picture.

Take a minute to check out this very sexy new video from Metronomy entitled, “The Bay.” Directed by “the realizer” David Wilson in Devon, the shots are amazing, the edit is amazing and we must say, everyone is dressed very nicely. Makes us want to spend summer at the bay. That was an easy decision. Click for the video.

When we frist hear this duo the first thing we thought was that they Tashaki Miyaki was just a spinoff from Stone Darling, but that’s not the case, at least we think. The truth is there isn’t much known about Tashaki Miyaki besides their simple, three track Bandcamp page. No Myspace, no website, no nothing. But hey, mysteries are always good. What we can tell from their song, “Something is better than nothing,” is that whoever Tashaki is, he/she/or he & she or she & she sure know how to sing, especially when paired with some great guitars and reverb.

Matt, over at Evrerybody Taste just dropped an awesome mixtape earlier this week that is guaranteed to make you shake a leg. Filled with new and old, once again they’ve pieced together an amazing compilation of songs with artists ranging from Appaloosa to Yelle, perfect for any second of your day.

It’s hot as hell outside. You can look off into the horizon and see the heat rising already – and it’s not even summer yet. Get your beach towels out, trunks on (if you’re even wearing any) and throw some D batteries in your old boombox. Add in some Y Niwl (the fog), an alt-rock surf band from Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom, and you’re good to go.

The UFO Club is a really neat name of a band. It just so happens to be a nice little collaboration between Lee Blackwell of Seattles Night Beats and Christian Bland from the Black Angels. The two just did a really good cover of Phil Spector’s, “Be My Baby,” available on Austin’s Reverberation Appreciation Society. You an listen to all eight tracks from the record on Night Beat’s Facebook page.

The simple pleasure of discovering a new artists or hearing a song you’ve never heard before, it’s really great. It also happens to be Friday. So, we went over to Rollo & Grady and right in front of our eyes was Anika, an artist that we were somewhat familiar with, but got even closer when we heard the track, Terry.

Last weekend, you should have been in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was a rare occasion of musical talents joining forces to create one hell of a cover. Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Sharon Van Etten and Richmond’s own, Fight the Big Bull, got together for a special rendition of Alan Lomax’s Tribulations. The artists were part of the MusicNow festival in Cincinatti during the performance of Sounds of the South, an evening of re-imagining of Alan Lomax’s songs from his early travels in the south. Click for the amazing video and give Richmond some love.

You hear that beat in the background? Reminds us of Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding and Stevie all blended together. Yet this young London chap (he’s only 23)  is providing us with enough rhythm and soul to make our parents get up and groove. We’re picturing late night summer parties with white Christmas lights strung from tree to tree, an ice cold drink in your hand a warm breeze floating over your face. If you’ve somehow forgotten how good soul music is then let this be your reminder.  Michael Kiwanuka is the new face of R&B, in our eyes anyway. Downloads after the jump.