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Miss me? Sorry for the slow updates, I'll try harder this year.

Rock Plaza Central
Are We Not Horses

According to their myspace page,

The new record, Are We Not Horses, is all about robotic horses.

Robotic horses who think they are real horses.

For real.

And in the end, the robot horses are going to give up on trying to figure out what they are and what they should be doing, and instead they decide to just ride off toward some lights they see in the distance, hoping that the lights will have the answers for them. But the lights turn out to be nothing other than the stars, billions and billions of miles away. Fortunately the horses have no conception of time and thus experience no real sense of loss. In fact, because they were designed to run, they are elated to run forever.


Think Broken Social Scene meets the Mountain Goats with a sprinkle of Soggy Bottom Boys, but way more appealing than that amateurish description indicates. I think I have found my new favorite band.

Listen:
"When We Go, How We Go part 2"
My Children, Be Joyful(Probably my least favorite track on the album)

Check out more incredible music at Rock Plaza Central's myspace

Annuals
Be He Me

Be excited, be, be excited! These young folks are cranking it up to 11, with their wheat field and pipe bomb combinations. They possess some of the same endearing enthusiasm and explosiveness as Ace Fu labelmates, Man Man. Their refreshing excuberance and unbridled energy reach through the speakers and forcibly bang your head. But underlying all the chaos is a nuanced, layered, transluscent texture that adds a compelling depth to the sometimes acerbic, sometimes dreamy rock. You can't deny the awesomeness of this record.

Listen:
Brother (Mandatory)
Bleary Eyed
Dry Clothes

There are more examples of sublime cacophony at Annual's myspace.

The Coup
Pick A Bigger Weapon

A refreshing blast of politically charged, socially-aware hip-hop. Smart, incisive lyrics challenge the American dream with a decidedly Marxist bent. A vintage flavor in the vein of KRS-One permeates the album, lending a warmth and familiarity to the music. While I don't especially enjoy some of the slower R&B inspired jams, the passionate odes to revolution should inspire everyone to pick a bigger weapon and fight the power. I just read the band suffered a terrible fire in their touring van and lost all of their equipment and many personal belongings, they have a paypal donation button on the group's myspace page to help them pay some bills, hit it up if you are feeling genereous.

Listen:

My Favorite Mutiny (Flat out banger!)

We Are The Ones

For more tunage, visit The Coup's myspace page.

Malajube
Trompe–L'Oeil

I have been listening to Malajube consistently for the last few weeks, and was reminded of their awesomeness today by MOKB.
I think there are two types of people, those who focus primarily on the lyrics, and those that focus primarily on the beat. I tend to focus on the lyrics, and the fact that this album is entirely in French and I stilll enjoy it immensely is a testament to the kick ass nature of it all. They remind you of all your favorite bands, in a good way.

Watch:

"Montreal -40˚c"

Malajube's myspace

MSTRKRFT
The Looks

My lame habit of letting band names dissuade me from checking them out needs to end. I was always hesitant to check out MSTRKRFT because the moniker reminded me of KMFDM, who always bored me. Pretty silly. But after Chris Walker Versus ranked The Looks his favorite album of 2006, I decided to give them a much needed listen and I wasn't dissapointed. This is hot, sweaty dance music that pulsates with the force of a piston. No beating around the bush with these folks, each track cuts right to the chase which comes in the form of unyielding, dark, mechanical dance beats with a dose of vocoder tastefully holding it together. Admittedly, I found some of the beats a little "blah" and disinteresting, but overall MSTRKRFT put together a fantastic record sure to get the party people moving.

Watch:

"Easy Love"

MSTRKRFT's myspace is here