As part of their First Listen program NPR have made The Walkmen’s sixth studio album Lisbon available to listen to in its entirety as many times as you want, completely free on their site for the next two weeks until it is officially released. Just head to this page to take advantage right now.

And if you like it, make sure you go out and buy it, or go see the guys in concert at the very least. They’re touring for pretty much the rest of the year in both North America and Europe, supporting great bands like The National and The Black Keys, as well as being supported by Japandroids on several of their own dates. Check out the full listings below.

9/8: The Showbox @ The Market w/ Helio Sequence, Seattle, WA
9/9: Malkin Bowl, Vancouver, BC w/ The National
9/10: Malkin Bowl, Vancouver, BC w/The National
9/11: WOW Hall w/ Helio Sequence, Eugene, OR
9/12: Music Fest NW, Portland, OR
9/14: The Fillmore w/ Japandroids, San Francisco, CA
9/15: The Music Box @ The Fonda w/ Japandroids, Los Angeles, CA
9/17: Clubhouse Music Venue w/ Japandroids, Tempe, AZ
9/18: Belly Up Tavern w/ Japandroids, Solana Beach, CA
9/19: Neon Reverb Festival at Beauty Bar, Las Vegas, NV
9/25: Nor’easter, Lincoln, NH
10/07: Royale Night Club w/ AA Bondy, Boston, MA
10/08: Cabaret Juste Pour Rire w/ AA Bondy, Montreal, QC
10/09: Opera House Concert Venue w/ AA Bondy, Toronto, ONT
10/10: Magic Stick w/ AA Bondy, Detroit, MI
10/12: The Vogue w/ AA Bondy, Indianapolis, IN
10/13: Metro w/ Japandroids, Chicago, IL
10/14: Barrymore Theatre w/ Japandroids, Madison, WI
10/15: Cabooze w/ Japandroids, Minneapolis, MN
10/16: The Waiting Room w/ Japandroids, Omaha, NE
10/18: Fox Theatre & Cafe w/ Japandroids, Boulder, CO
10/19: The Bottleneck w/ Japandroids, Lawrence, KS
10/20: Off Broadway Nightclub w/ Japandroids, Saint Louis, MO
10/21: Zanzabar w/ Japandroids, Louisville, KY
10/22: Mr. Smalls Theatre w/ Japandroids, Pittsburgh, PA
10/23: The Trocadero w/ Japandroids, Philadelphia, PA
10/28: 02 Academy, Glasgow, UK w/ The Black Keys
10/30: 02 Academy, Newcastle, UK w/ The Black Keys
10/31: 02 Academy, Leeds, UK w/ The Black Keys
11/2: 02 Academy, Brixton, London, UK w/ The Black Keys
11/4: Rock City, Nottingham, UK w/ The Black Keys
11/6: 02 Academy, Liverpool, UK w/ The Black Keys
11/7: 02 Academy, Bournemouth, UK w/ The Black Keys
11/9: Le Bataclan, Paris, France w/ The Black Keys
11/11: BeCool, Barcelona, Spain
11/12: Ramdall, Madrid, Spain
11/14: Coliseu dos Recreios, Lisbon, Portugal
11/15: Tripod, Dublin, Ireland
11/16: Roisin Dubh, Galway, Ireland
11/18: Trix, Antwerp, Belgium
11/19: Flesh’Or, Paris, France
11/20: Crossing Border Festival, The Hague, Netherlands
11/21: Tivoli, Utrecht, Netherlands
11/22: Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Denmark

If I were you, I wouldn’t question Kanye West’s ability to deliver on anything, even something as conceptually ridiculous as the proposed Kanye/Justin Bieber/Raekwon collaboration. While we’re at it, don’t question Raekwon’s intent, either–c’mon, he’s the chef. These guys will prove you wrong every time. They have provided us with a song/re-do/remix that combines Wu-Tang’s “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothing ta Fuck Wit”, Bieber’s vocals from “Runaway Love”, and new verses from Rae and Ye.

Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Here it is–you’ll just have to scoot over to Hip-Hop Connection to have a listen. (Kanye West feat. Justin Bieber and Raekwon – “Runaway Love”)

While you’re listening to that dose of craziness, you might want to read Sean Highkin’s column about the collab and the controversy that initially surrounded it.

One of our very favourite bands here at One Thirty BPM is The Wrens. Their album The Meadowlands was one of our favourites of the last decade and we have been waiting with baited breath for the follow-up.

It’s now been seven years.

Finally we have something new from this New Jersey band; a song called “Crescent.” Unfortunately it’s not clear whether this is a preview of a new album, but it is a new track and that’s good news. “Crescent” is to appear on a compilation called Dear New Orleans; a benefit album to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Check out the song below.

The full tracklist for Dear New Orleans is as follows:

01. OK Go – “Louisiana Land”
02. The Mendoza Line – “Catch a Collapsing Star”
03. The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello) – “Midnight in the City of Destruction”
04. Janet Bean and the Concertina Wire – “My Little Brigadoon”
05. Matt Sweeney and Bonnie “Prince” Billy – “Love in the Hot Afternoon”
06. Paul Sanchez – “Don’t Be Sure” [ft. Shamarr Allen]
07. Alec Ounsworth – “Dr. So and So” [ft. Al "Carnival Time" Johnson and John Boutte]
08. Steve Earle – “Dixieland”
09. Luke Reynolds – “Flood”
10. Jon Langford – “Last Fair Deal Gone Down”
11. Laura Veirs – “I Can See Your Tracks”
12. Vijay Iyer – “Threnody”
13. Jill Sobule – “Where Is Bobbie Gentry?”
14. Flobots – “Stand Up”
15. Rebecca Gates – “Doos”
16. The Wrens – “Crescent”
17. Indigo Girls – “Kid Fears” [ft. Brandi Carlile]
18. Timothy Bracy’s Collection Agency – “Matching Scars”
19. Nellie McKay – “Late Again”
20. Blind Pilot – “I Buried a Bone”
21. Mirah – “NOLA” [ft. Thao Nguyen]
22. Allison Moorer – “A Change Is Gonna Come”
23. 2nd Chief David Montana – “The Change of Heart Man”
24. Wonderlick – “The American Way”
25. Bonerama – “Mr. Go”
26. Thao Nguyen and Bonerama – “Body”
27. Erin McKeown and Bonerama – “Blackbirds”
28. Nicole Atkins and Bonerama – “When the Levee Breaks”
29. Mike Mills and Bonerama – “Ohio” [ft. Wayne Kramer and Dave Herlihy]
30. Wayne Kramer and Bonerama – “Kick Out the Jams” [ft. Mike Mills, Erin McKeown, Nicole Atkins, and Martin Perna]
31. My Morning Jacket and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band – “Carnival Time”

The album is being released on August 24th and all proceeds go to various New Orleans non-profit organisations.

Sometimes it’s in the most non-assuming places that some of the greatest surprises can emerge. Presidio is a three piece based in Buffalo, New York who succeeds in many ways through addition by subtraction. Stripped of both vocals and bass, the band is comprised of two dueling guitars and clever drumming (along the use of far too many pedals to mention here). This group of humble musicians has spent the past year writing some of the best “post rock” that I have heard in quite sometime. Keep an eye on this band as they continue to record (eventually finishing a full length) and play shows throughout the Northeast.

Check out the epic thirteen and a half minute track “The Drake Passage” named after one of the world’s most treacherous stretches of ocean to navigate, a narrow passage located in the icy waters off the coast of Antarctica. This track truly is a journey in and of itself as is carries the listener through various phrases and textures, shifting from gentile to almost violently chaotic, like a clipper ship casting off only to find itself broadsided by a death-defying ocean storm. The track opens melodically, emitting a tonality that initially conjures visions of Explosions in the Sky but diverges from that trajectory as it builds in layers and complexity just before the tracks middle erupts into an ambitious and grand low-fi crunch. At the mid point of the track emerges a phrase that is both eerie and calming and features the addition of spacey and airy trumpet, as if the voyagers have entered into the eye of the storm. The track jumps out of this segment erupting again as the guitars add sonic tension and the constant and varying cymbals give off a texture that seems like waves crashing onto the hulls of the ship. Much like navigating a storm in the icy waters of Antarctica, “The Drake Passage” is unpredictable, as every phrase is different, never repeating, at once toying with time signatures and throwing away the A-B song structure, a structure that even pervades much similar music in the post rock genre. This undoubtedly impressive track closes on an understated note, through the soft guitar harmonies as if the vessel has finally emerged from the storm, both peaceful and battle tested on the other side.

Presidio – “The Drake Passage”

Presidio just recently finished a brief East Coast Tour which included dates with Summer People (former Fire When Ready) and was capped off with a stop at New York City’s Lit Lounge with This Moment In Black History and Sun God. Presidio also plays a hometown show in Buffalo, NY Tuesday night (8/17), again with Summer People at Soundlab.

Here’s another single from the upcoming Mesita album. You gotta love how he keeps releasing this songs to help quell anxiousness for the release.

The as-of-yet titled album should be due out by the end of the year.

Originally posted on The Film Stage:

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World week is finally here! Spinner has kindly allowed both the score and the soundtrack to Edgar Wright‘s latest to stream in its entirety. The original score by Nigel Godrich is just beautiful, as it is seamlessly infested with videogame influences. He also had some help by Beck Hansen, Cornelius, Dan Nakamura, Kid Koala, David Campbell, Danny Goffey, Gaz Coombes, Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Joey Waronker, and Gus Seyffert. As for the soundtrack is is completely rockin’ and definitely worth a listen (and many more). Read the full story

So who pissed Rivers Cuomo off? Weezer revealed the new single “Memories” off their upcoming album Hurley and the song is definitely different from anything they have put out this past decade. As the title suggests, it seems like Rivers is trying to get back to an older time/sound. A lot of angst and aggression. Of course, the lyrics are still hokey. And the question we are still wondering, is this an album about that fat guy from LOST?

Hurley drops September 14th 2010 on Epitaph.

If you’ve been keeping up with Major Lazer news this year, then you know about the mixtape Diplo and Switch released earlier this summer called Lazerproof. For the uninformed, Lazerproof is a mixtape that blends La Roux and Major Lazer’s respective debut albums. On that mixtape, you can find “In 4 the Kill Pon de Skream,” a track that mixes the vocals from La Roux’s “In for the Kill,” the militaristic drumline of Major Lazer’s “Pon de Floor,” and some dubstep remixing from London-based producer Skream.

This morning, news came that suggested the Skream and La Roux collaborations didn’t stop there. Now, we have a new Skream track featuring vocals from La Roux. It’s called “Finally,” and you can listen to it (or download it) over at Fader.

Download or stream “Finally” here.

This track will appear on Skream’s forthcoming album, Outside the Box, due this August.

As of right now you can stream From the Cradle to the Rave, the debut LP and swan song of Marcus Lambkin, aka Shit Robot. Years in the making, From the Cradle to the Rave is classic house album, rich with analog synths and booming crescendos.

Stream: Shit Robot From the Cradle to the Rave [link was asked to be removed]

The album is set to release on September 21st via DFA Records, home to Shit Robot’s various singles over the past few years. And three of those singles, “Simple Things,” “Triumph,” and “I Got a Feeling,” have made the final track list which you can view below. The album was mixed by James Murphy and features apperances by Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem, Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip, Saheer Umar of House of House, The Juan Maclean, and many others. From the Cradle to the Rave is one of my most anticipated albums of the year, so of course I highly recommend you give it a listen.

From the Cradle to the Rave:
1. Tuff Enuff? (feat. The Juan Maclean)
2. I Found Love
3. Losing My Patience (feat. Alexis Taylor)
4. Take ‘Em Up (feat. Nancy Whang)
5. Grim Receiver
6. Simple Things (Work it Out) (feat. Ian Svenonious)
7. Answering Machine
8. I Got a Feeling (feat. Saheer Umar)
9. Triumph!!!

Wanna hear Best Coast’s debut album Crazy For You? Head on over to Wichita Recordings to hear the full stream, or stay here and check out the embed below.

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