De-Leeching

Bandwidth is back...for now. I was three days late to resetting it and already a third of it was used. So I deleted songs the leechers likely gravitated to, and have a host of new ones to enjoy for the short time being. Let's get it crackalackin':

Sunset Rubdown - "Idiot Heart"




Spencer Krug (upper right, smokin' the ciggy) is pretty much untouchable in music right now, when judging work ethic and genius at an even ratio. The man must never sleep, as he's currently balancing two full time bands, and one ongoing side project. Wolf Parade may be one of the greatest bands in the world right now, but Sunset Rubdown ain't too shabby either, and Krug's not about to give them the short end of the stick. True, their songs have started to resemble each other: big, sprawling, 6-minute opuses that morph from one melody to the next with reckless abandon. But if your band has to get stuck in a rhythm, at least it's a rhythm of epicness. Regardless, like Sufjan, Krug and whatever band-mates he happens to be playing with can do no wrong by me: I'm always along for the ride. You can catch Sunset Rubdown at the Echoplex on June 23, and can look for Dragonslayer, the new album, in May. There's also a new Swan Lake album, too, just in case you were doubting the man's stamina.

Major Lazer - "Zumbi" (feat Andy Milonakis)




Major Lazer is the Gorillaz-style fantasy project between indie superproducers Diplo and Switch (M.I.A., Santigold), and concerns....well......I'll just let the press release that got e-mailed to me speak for itself:

Major Lazer is a Jamaican commando who lost his arm in the secret Zombie War of 1984. The US military rescued him and repurposed experimental lazers as prosthetic limbs. Since then Major Lazer has been a hired renegade soldier for a rogue government operating in secrecy underneath the watch of M5 and the CIA. His cover is that of a dancehall night club owner from Trinidad and he enlisted the help of long-time allies and uber-producers, Diplo and Switch, to produce his first LP. His true mission is to protect the world from the dark forces of evil that live just under the surface of a civilized society. He fights vampires and various monsters, parties hard, and has a rocket powered skateboard.

Enough said. Go over to Pitchfork for the whole mixtape.

White Rabbits - "Rudie Fails"



Given my obsessive love of The Clash's "Rudie Can't Fail", any band that writes an unofficial sequel/riff will immediately gain my attention. White Rabbits aren't actually a new band, but with all their sudden hype (partially thanks to a very successful gig supporting Radiohead), you'd think they were. Their second LP is due to be released shortly, and features Walkmen-esque vocals paired with Spoon-style production (which is appropriate, considering one of the guys from Spoon produced it), and it's a very enjoyable listen from beginning to end, never rocking too hard, and never slowing down to a halt. It's not flashy, but it's got potential to be an old-faithful style album that can be played 100 times and still reap rewards. You can also catch the band live at the Troubadour in a few weeks, and all reports indicate that you'll get your money's worth.

---------------Song of the Week-----------------

Passion Pit - "Little Secret" (zShare Link; direct click to download)




Or Song of the Summer, as I can't see anything topping this by indie party-starter standards. If you haven't heard of Passion Pit by now, get ready to hear their name. A lot. By far 2009's buzziest new band, I was honestly just partially on board. After all, while many of the songs off their EP were catchy, nothing I had heard was all that novel. Well based off the newest batch of leaks form their forthcoming LP, consider me a believer. This album is going to be huge, and justifiably so. For a small taste of the dance-pop nirvana, check out "Little Secret", which is a brilliant, highly addictive oddity that fuses psychedelic keyboards with a Fine Young Cannibals-style (!!!) arrangement (I put it up on zShare, to discourage the very leeching this whole edition is based on, btw, but you can download it just the same). Also, catch the band's two night stand in LA towards the end of May (they hit up the Troubadour and the Echo, to appease scenesters and hipsters alike). And to check out a charming video on the album's kid chorus elements, check this out:

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