During the time I was away in Frankfurt I didn’t have the time to check out the songs sent by bands & labels. Today I checked through them and most of them are quite cool. Thanks to some attentive PRs we never get sent the mainstream r&b or stuff like that. Most of the stuff that gets in the mailbox is somewhere between “I’d love to listen to this” or “I think it’s cool, but it’s not my usual style” and that’s good. Anyways here are some of my selections.

Let’s kickoff with the Dutch noise/avantgarde label (K-RAA-K)3 who previously released artists like Janek Schaefer, Main, Pimmon, Ignatz, Koehn and even an early Lali Puna. Here’s an mp3 from their recently released Satanische Vrede album by Belgian Funeral-Folk-Drone band Silvester Anfang. Interesting sound, it reminded me of the medieval sounds of Spires That in the Sunset Rise without the vocals but noisier and blurred. Love this.

“Nature of the Experiment” by Tokyo Police Club is a radio friendly singalong indie stormer. Nothing too original, but good sounding guitars and drums, probably a bit on the Bloc Party, Art Brut side. I liked the flow of the song and the chorus parts.

Tobias Fröberg is a Swedish chap that makes playful bubblegum/indie/pop songs, this song has the 70s band sound and it’s pretty uptempo and radio friendly. The funny thing is the PR text has this line “You’re gonna be like, wait, did Donovan get traded to the Beach Boys? Who is this? Sufjan Sweden?” Sufjan Sweden yeah!

And here’s Ohio’s Bel Auburn who’s just released their debut album Lullabies in A & C on their own record label. Here’s a chance for you to listen to all the tracks and even download them all. It’s not what I’d really listen to at home, but it’s a good old bit of indie and atmospheric rock with hints of emo. I’m pretty sure if they get themselves on the radio, they will be pretty popular and successful. I dig the tracks “Good Night” and “Blind Ward”

Silvester Anfang - Verkracht Door Demonen
Tokyo Police Club - Nature of the Experiment
Tobias Fröberg - When the night turns cold
Bel Auburn - Good Night
Bel Auburn - Blind Ward