Pete Hobbs, of Boy Least Likely To, has started a great solo project called Diving At Dawn. Departing from the indie pop sound that made Boy Least Likely To the most adored band ever, his new solo project is a chance for him to express a more acoustic, lush side.

The first single from Diving At Dawn is called “A Lot Like Love.” It’s a reflective song that Hobbs produced in the wee hours of the night, and eloquently addresses issues we all can relate to: the constant passion of time and frailty of love. Check it out below.

The single is releasing digitally and on limited edition 7″ vinyl on the band’s own label, Too Young To Die Records this month. The vinyl includes the exclusive track “The Spinney.” I’m definitely excited to see where Hobbs’ takes this side project– I’ll keep you posted!

Diving at Dawn – A Lot Like Love (mp3)

Boy Least Likely To – A Fairytale Ending (mp3)

label| myspace

One of my friends recently introduced me to the Portland band, Congratulations. If you like Boy Least Likely To than you should check them out. They incorporate everything in their music that I dream to incorporate in my imaginary band one day: horns, xylophone, hamornies, hand claps… it doesn’t get much better than that.

Congratulations is made up of members from the former band, Eskimo and Sons. I’m still a little hazy on the details, but it sounds like the band decided to refocus their music and, therefore, changed band names. They were starting to attract a pretty loyal fan base as Eskimo and Sons, so it’s cool that they stayed true to their music and went with their hearts. Congratulations doesn’t have much music to their name yet, but their song “Juice and Syrup” and work in Eskimo and Sons has definitely made me excited for their debut. I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks to Hallie for the rec. You should buy one of her hats on Etsy, they are awesome!

(mp3) Congratulations  - Juice and Syrup

(mp3) Eskimo and Sons – The Blizzard

Myspace | Brave Records

All I wanna do is clap/All I wanna do is sing/I don’t wanna sing another song in anger sing Zeus on “Kindergarten”, and I couldn’t be happier about all the musical things they do or don’t wanna do, because Say Us is a seriously good time. It’s got hand claps, group singing, parlour piano, bumbling bass lines and enough ooh’s and ahh’s to fill a swimming pool.

Zeus make no attempts to hide the fact that this Say Us is a pop album through and through. Sure, it has some buzzing, straight-up rock moments (“You Gotta Teller”) and sure it can simmer (“Heavy On Me”), and sure Zeus can do the buzzing, simmering thing well, but it’s when they give in to every pop-loving instinct in their bodies that the album comes so vibrantly alive.

Say Us has a grinning approach to music that just reeks of good times, often bringing a very Kinks-esque silliness to the songs that I completely adore.  And I could sit here listening to the album on repeat, pinpointing exact moments where Zeus bring to mind other musicians from yesteryear (because their sound can indeed be described with a lot of sounds-likes), but I’ll leave that to somebody else who’d rather pick apart the origins of Zeus’ hook-laden awesomeness than just enjoy the hook-laden awesomeness for all its awesomity.

And check out the equally a-word video for the album’s first single, “Marching Through Your Head”:

Say Us (2010)

(mp3) Zeus – Fever of the Time

(mp3) Zeus – Kindergarten

MySpace | Website | Buy

If you are a fan of Beulah (like myself), and cry yourself to sleep every night over their break up (like myself), then I highly recommend you check out the song below by the band Bears called “Who Knows.” Pretty much everything about the song brings to mind Beulah, from the instruments, to the catchy vocals… even the lyrics are Beulahesque. It’s really great.

Bears are based out of Cleveland, Ohio and band members include Craig Ramsey and Charlie McArthur (Pat McNulty, Devon Coffee, and Sean Sullivan help out live). These guys have some solid music and I also really appreciate their senses of humor from the little bit I’ve seen roaming their site. You’ll be seeing more Bears on IndieMuse soon, but in the meantime, check out their Myspace.

(mp3) Bears – “Who Knows”

Here’s an acoustic video version of the song they just posted today:

myspace | site | itunes

On an unrelated note: Sorry that we have been on an unannounced hiatus recently. A long story short, IndieMuse was hacked into by a spammer, and it’s been a huge headache to clean up. Between cleaning the site up and other projects keeping us busy (more on this soon), we’ve had a hard time updating IndieMuse. We finally have the site spam free (I think), so we are now back in business. Thanks for all your support!

You know that catchy Passion Pit song “Sleepyhead” that we all know and love so much? Well, if not, it’s below. But here is a pretty awesome video cover of the song by the band Run Toto Run. I love weird shit like this.

Manners (2009):

Passion Pit – Sleepyhead

Passion Pit – Little Secrets

Passion Pit’s debut, Manners, just released on Frenchkiss records. Feature coming soon! (hint: it’s good, buy it).

I only discovered XTC after I finally got sick of hearing Pretty & Nice consistently compared to them and not knowing who they were. So Pretty & Nice, I owe you for introducing me to Skylarking. This album has captured my mind for the last few weeks. I’ve left places early to go home and listen to it. If I have to walk somewhere, anywhere, if even for a minute, I’ll listen to Skylarking. Even 30 seconds of the first song. The hooks are irresistible. I’m slightly more insane for having heard this album. So cheers to my eroding sanity, and all hail Skylarking.

Skylarking has no grounding. The hooks float. They dive when they should pop, and explode when they’re bound to disappear. It’s entirely unpredictable pop music, a bit unsettling but ultimately enveloping. And that’s it, that’s the draw, the part that speaks to some evolutionary swirl beneath each passing listen. Of course the music stays the same, but the mind twists the interpretations and the associations. It’s nearly symbiotic in it’s infectiousness. The bass lines skirt the vocal melody in “Summer’s Cauldron” while jangly keyboards and piano build a dream-like foundation. There’s also a flute line that might have inspired the creation of the Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time. The bass/guitar interaction in “Meeting Place” is all Built to Spill, and the vocals punch from the ether, floating to and from existence before dissolving into lush, sweeping harmonies. Oh, and this lyric: “Machines that make you kiss in time.” There’s something oddly compelling about kissing in time. Romantic, even.

Also, this was released three days before I was born. Coincidence?

From Skylarking:

XTC – Summer’s Cauldron

XTC – The Meeting Place

XTC – Ballet for a Rainy Day

And this video is just strange.

MySpace | Amazon

The past few weeks, I’ve been listening to a band called Fan Modine. A friend introduced me to their 2004 LP Homeland, and I could tell 30 seconds in that this was an album that I was going to like. Give them a listen if you enjoy the Magnetic Fields, Belle & Sebastian, Arcade Fire, or Stars.

The band has an upbeat indie-pop sound that features some really solid instrumentals. After lead singer Gordon Zacharias helped the orchestral pop duo Hercules with vocals, they returned the favor by producing string arrangements on four songs (including two of the best tracks on the album, “Newstand of the Sun” and “Pageantry.”) There is also clarinet and electric harmonium, among other cool instruments.

A few years ago, main man behind Fan Modine, Gordon Zacharias, assembled a 5-piece band in Carrboro, NC, featuring Ash Bowie (Polvo, Libraness), Jeremy Chatelain (Jets to Brazil, Cub Country), Chuck Johnson (Shark Quest, Idyll Swords) and Lee Waters (Work Clothes, Lud). The band hasn’t released an album since Homeland, which means it’s been 5 years since they’ve released new material, but their Myspace says that a third album is in process “slowly.” Homeland is Zacharias’ sophomore album (debut is Slow Road to Tiny Empire), and he purportedly started work on the album while working as a “professional dog walker” in downtown Manhattan. The album was recorded in 5 different places across the US, including New York, LA, New Orleans, Western Massachusetts, and North Carolina.

Homeland (2004):

(mp3) Fan Modine – Newstand of the Sun

(mp3) Fan Modine – Pageantry

(mp3) Fan Modine – Waiting in the Wings

site | itunes | myspace

If you are a fan of Feist, Rilo Kiley, or Camera Obscura you should check out The Concretes. In an industry that is more or less dominated by males, it’s nice to come across good female led bands. Victoria Bergsman vocals bring to mind Jenny Lewis with maybe a hint of Nico. She left The Concretes in 2006 to pursue a solo career, but the band is still together and released Hey Trouble in 2007.

Although In Colour, which was a follow-up to the band’s 2004 self-titled debut, has received mixed reviews, I personally enjoy its charming sound.  I can definitely understand why some critics were harsh on the album– it does have some hit or miss songs, and at times the lyrics leave a bit to be desired–but the lush instrumentals and harmonies make this a keeper. On In Colour, you’ll hear glockenspiel, vibraphone, clarinet, and a variety of string and brass assortments.

“On The Radio” is by far the catchiest song on the album–the beginning piano chords sound like they would be at the opening of a Broadway musical. Other highlights on the album include “Fiction,” “Ooh La La,” and “Songs They Sing.”

The Concretes are based in Stockholm, Sweden. Victoria Bergsman, Maria Eriksson, and Lisa Milberg formed the band in 1995, but they gradually grew to eight band members. When Bergsman left the group in 2006, Milberg took over as lead vocals for the band.

In Colour (2006):

(mp3) The Concretes – On The Radio

(mp3) The Concretes: Song for the Songs

S/T (2004):

(mp3) The Concretes – Say Something New

Site | iTunes | Amazon | Myspace