Michael Froh - Herbal Remedies [2010] [V2] [WEB]

A man, a musician, a movement.

The Canadian music scene has been creating a beast for the past 8 years. With roots in Canadian Punk, Hardcore and Metal, this beast, known as Michael Froh began as a teenage singer/songwriter in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Growing up on records as diverse as The Beatles, and The Clash, to Pink Floyd and the Sex Pistols, he began singing in church and school choirs at the age of 4. By graduation year, his band Away From Here, had already topped the Smartpunk CD charts with there debut full length selling over 3000 copies, and were invited to play Warped Tour across Canada.

Torrent:
Michael Froh - Herbal Remedies [2010] [V2] [WEB]

Tracklist:
01 The Birds and Bees
02 9 to 5
03 Mother Moon
04 Drunken Sun
05 DisBand Sucks
06 The Joker

As the band grew apart, Michael then 19, began creating Electronic Music on his mothers computer, and released a full length disc of songs called "Dear Solace-Everyone in the Room Knows But You" which has gone on to sell over 2000 self made copies via internet and touring, and an EP of cover songs, selling over 1000.

Size: 37.3 MB
Type: Album
Quality: MP3 - Variable Bitrate V0
Bitrate: ~210kbps

Collaborating with a local musician friend, they began to write music with a vision of metal, attitude, melody, and sonic creativity. The two began to look for members to start a full time band, which Canada would come to know, and either love or hate, as The Holly Springs Disaster. The next 3 years were filled with over 10 national tours, numerous headline tours, an EP recorded in Oakland, California with Zack Ohren, which debuted in the top 50 on the Canadian metal charts.

With the buzz of the EP, the industry came knocking, in major label fashion. At the same time as inner tension during the writing process for a debut album, Michael's health, and faith in major labels began to disintegrate. A decision was made to continue on his career in a separate direction, as a producer, singer and song-writer, and to rejuvenate his general love for music without influence of the forever indebted record industry.

Having shared the stage with the likes of All That Remains, Architects(UK), Cancer Bats, From First To Last, Suicide Silence, Protest The Hero, and Underoath by the age of 21, this shaped him into a respected member of Canadian front-men, he now looks to conquer the land of clubs.

With his upcoming EP "HERBAL REMEDIES" " (April 13th-DIGITAL/April 20th-PHYSICAL) he has just begun to explore the art of Synthesizers, Programming, and Production, while further expanding his palate as a complete vocalist.

His release provides just a glimpse of what is in store for this 24 year old, with all 6 tracks fully written, produced, mixed, recorded and released independently by Michael, from his home studio "OUTER SPACE."

http://www.michaelfroh.bigcartel.com/

http://soundcloud.com/michaelfroh/sets

Marina and the Diamonds - The Family Jewels [2010] [ALBUM] [320kbps]

Marina Diamandis has already come a long way. Only six months ago she was playing to a half-empty third tent on a drizzly Friday afternoon at Leeds Festival. Now, she's been named the runner-up in the BBC's Sound Of 2010 critics poll and sleb blogger Perez Hilton is tweeting at her, declaring his undying love.

Some of this could be put down to good timing, of course. One-woman bands with curious names and a penchant for quirky pop are pretty in vogue right now, after all. But Marina's singles throughout 2009 showcased a genuine new talent, with Obsessions and Mowgli's Road becoming two pop music highlights of the year. But the buzz has ensured that debut album The Family Jewels is one of the year's more eagerly awaited releases.

On first listen it's a somewhat bewildering concoction, dizzily spinning from overtly theatrical pop at one turn to heartfelt ballads the next with, ever so occasionally, a song that sounds like it's had everything bar the proverbial kitchen sink thrown into it.

Mowgli's Road is a good example of the latter. Brimming with energy from the first shout of 'Cuckoo!" at the start, it packs in a staccato piano riff, jungle animal noises and more cutlery references than your average restaurant review. It's certainly kooky, but with enough heart to keep things interesting.

[ Indie ]
Bitrate: 320kbps
Filetype: MP3
Release Date: Feb 22nd 2010

Torrent:
Marina and the Diamonds - The Family Jewels [2010] [ALBUM] [320kbps]

Her lyrics aren't always so unconventional or Kipling referencing. Girls is a witty, knowing song about challenging female stereotypes: "I fall asleep when they speak of all the calories they eat". The Outsider tackles alienation and insecurity amongst the first flourishing of fame: "Just because you know my name doesn't mean you know my game."

It's true that, sometimes, it gets a bit wearying. There are so many punchy choruses and electro hooks that, after a while, you start to feel a bit jaded - a point best made by the best songs here being the relatively downtempo numbers. Obsessions, a plaintive ballad about an abusive relationship, is beautiful, while I Am Not A Robot shows a pleasing touch of vulnerability which works very well.

Marina's voice will also divide people. In a similar manner to Amanda Palmer she takes a theatrical bent to her vocals, making sure to enunciate every word in a manner that becomes a bit grating after a while. She also has a habit of namechecking herself - whether you find Hollywood's line about "Oh my god, you look just like Shakira, no no, you're Catherine Zeta, actually, my name's Marina" endearing or infuriating will depend on your taste.

But she certainly has the charisma to establish herself as a proper popstar, and tracks like Oh No, Shampain and the aforementioned Hollywood are all infectiously catchy and have enough depth not to be dismissed lightly as bubblegum pop. The Family Jewels isn't the classic debut album that her early singles suggested was on the way, but there's enough promise here to carry her through the hype.



Website & Blog: http://www.marinaandthediamonds.com/

Bullet for My Valentine - Fever [2010][Album][320kbps]

The Welsh metalcore quartet raised its profile with its second album, Scream Aim Fire in 2008, and will look to build on its success with this third release. In Aug. 2009, lead singer and guitarist told Babelmouth.net that the album should be a departure from the last record, saying “on the last [album], we tried to be a bit more thrashy, and that was cool, but we just wanna go back to more kind of classic sound now." The album, which is being produced by American producer Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Dashboard Confessional) will contain no ballads, according to Tuck, and will reach back to sound of the band’s full-length debut, The Poison. The album was preceded by the single "Begging For Mercy," released on the band's website Feb. 16, and the track "Your Betrayal," which was previewed Feb. 19 by New Rock Radio.

[ Metal / Metalcore ]

Rip info: [MP3 / 320 kbps / CD]

Torrent:
Bullet for My Valentine - Fever [2010][Album][320kbps]


Tracklist:
01. Your Betrayal
02. Fever
03. The Last Fight
04. A Place Where You Belong
05. Pleasure and Pain
06. Alone
07. Breaking Out Breaking Down
08. Bittersweet Memories
09. Dignity
10. Begging For Mercy
11. Pretty On The Outside

MYSPACE

Deftones - Diamond Eyes [2010] [320kbps]

New Deftones!!!

**As it turns out, this version is a bad transcode (WEB)-Don't get me wrong, it is the real album and it sounds great- it's just not perfect. ;) I'm going to leave the link up until the true 320kbps comes out, at which point, that link will be shared. :)**

**
For a band pushed to the brink by the tragic events surrounding bassist Chi Cheng’s departure, it would be within reason for the Deftones to release a transitory, unevenly-footed album in the wake of their indefinitely lost brother. What we’re given instead is Diamond Eyes, a brilliant and fiercely colorful collection of tracks that finds the band reaching a new stage of evolution, delivering the most progressive, dynamic work of their careers.

******************LINKS ARE ACTIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Deftones - Diamond Eyes [2010] [320kbps]

Direct Download:

Deftones - Diamond Eyes [2010] [320kbps]

01 Diamond Eyes 03:08
02 Royal 03:32
03 CMND-CTRL 02:24
04 You've Seen the Butcher 03:31
05 Beauty School 04:44
06 Prince 03:37
07 Rocket Skates 04:12
08 Sextape 04:02
09 Risk 03:39
10 976-EVIL 04:33
11 This Place is Death 03:48

Rather than dive into righteous depression following Cheng’s accident, the band scrapped the oppressive & angry album they’d been working on prior (Eros) and focused on their own survivalism. Dwelling on the darkness would’ve likely resulted in the band’s demise, particularly had they tried to tour behind the material they’d just written with Chi. Diamond Eyes was recorded in two months with producer Nick Raskulinecz, with the band shunning the meticulous digital comforts of Pro Tools in favor of writing songs together as a band again, practicing them “a million times ’til they were perfect” in order to achieve a more raw and “personable” sound. The result is an eleven-track staggering success, defying expectation and leaping forward with optimistic, ambitious new fangs.

Surging from the word go, the title track lifts off with churning sexual ambition before a chorus that soars in gentle earnest before diving back into the groove. Chino feigns delicacy and seduction, with momentary guttural shreiks between verses. There’s hardly a noticeable transition between Diamond Eyes and Royal, a track brimming with rhythmic punchiness and explosive energy. Following a verse and chorus, all else falls away as a solo bass grind rises for just a moment before the song explodes once more, Moreno playing off his own vocal with alternating screams and the signature vocal caress he’s continued to build on over the years. After a spine-snapping groove pulls you from the progression, the final forty seconds are a tremendous, incinerating ray of supernova starlight – Chino’s screams reach inhuman levels, the crushing rhythm leaning in on each seventh count, holding an extra beat that feels like falling forward in a mammoth sprint.

There aren’t many albums that shred any doubt of excellence by the third track, but the opening moments of CMND/CNTRL confirm the ferocious seducing intent of Diamond Eyes as a whole. Moreno’s percussive off-time barking-jeer delivery is as mean as anything he’s laid down before, and any question of Deftones’ ability to rise from devastation and continue their evolution is laid to rest by the time the airtight labyrinthian rhythmic configurations of the chorus lay waste to expectation.

Quicksand alum Sergio Vega steps into his new role with all the ambition and intensity of a man who knows he’s got impossible shoes to fill, and he’s given various moments to shine throughout the album. Had the band continued a linear path with the bombastic melancholy of their previous work, the new low-end influence would undoubtedly draw numerous comparisons to Chi and message-board mercenary comparative critiques for years to come. Hell, that’s bound to happen either way, but the brooding doom has taken a backseat to aggressive fantasy with rays of blinding uptempo brilliance, and to great effect; Diamond Eyes isn’t an album devoted to mourning or dwelling on “keeping the faith” in their fallen brother’s absence. This is a sharp-angle evolution, an expansion, a revitalization that leaves little room for critical doubt as to whether the Deftones’ core has been scarred too deeply by their loss. In fact, the album’s damn good supporting evidence that true growth arrives through tragedy.

For example, Beauty School turns a potentially downtempo jam into a sadistic kind of love song, gloom supplanted by a poetic, darkly passionate thunderstorm dream. I like you when you take off your face, put away all your teeth and take a swing at me, Chino delicately croons before rounding the corner to a swaying, floating chorus that evokes infatuation and romantic drunkenness. Comparisons to the dark masterpiece of White Pony will undoubtedly abound in flaccid grasps for referential familiarity, but only the base formula of Prince nods back to that era, in a Digital Bath-meets-Change sort of way. That is, until a minute thirty into the track, when drummer Abe Cunningham signals a double-time shift and all sorts of new-territory hell breaks loose.

It’s fitting that “floating underwater” are the opening words to Sex Tape, a dreamlike exploration of subterranean, minimalist subtlety through two verses before blooming into a bridge & chorus as beautifully melodic as anything in their formidable catalogue. Singular, repeating two-count tom hits frame the next verse as Moreno waxes night-drive romantic; Cruising through the city after hours with me / fusing all our powers… It’s a hard left after the brutal Guns! Razors! Knives! of Rocket Skates, violent imagery laced through a racing alt-metal riff that knocked audiences on their ass last year when it was debuted live.

After the gently progressive 976-Evil – featuring an open throated high-end chorus laced with heartfelt undertones, album closer This Place Is Death strikes the ear like an indirect reflection on the possibility of what may have been, a looming danger embedded in spiraling aggression.

Refusing to hide behind the touchstone familiarity of their previous albums, these Sacramento rockers have obliterated any notion that they’ve been irreparably weakened by Cheng’s departure. He’s undoubtedly strong in their hearts and thoughts, but rather than dwell on the pain the Deftones have risen to remarkable new heights with an album that surges into the light and establishes promising new horizons.

PRE ORDER!!!

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles [2010] [Album]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

Crystal Castles is the second eponymous album from experimental band Crystal Castles. It will be released via Fiction Records on June 7, 2010 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and on June 8, 2010 worldwide.

LINK TAKEN DOWN, JUST USE THIS AS A REVIEW- WWW.ISOHUNT.COM AND WWW.TORRENTZ.COM ARE YOUR FRIENDS)

Tracklist:
01. Fainting Spells
02. Celestica
03. Doe Deer
04. Baptism
05. Year of Silence
06. Empathy
07. Suffocation
08. Violent Dreams
09. Vietnam
10. Birds
11. Pap Smear
12. Not In Love
13. Intimate
14. I Am Made of Chalk

NEW TRACK PREVIEW - DOE DEER

Not Given Lightly: A Tribute To the Giant Golden Book Of New Zealand's Alternative Music Scene [2009] [Compilation]

The full title for this is 'Not Given Lightly: A Tribute To the Giant Golden Book Of New Zealand's Alternative Music Scene'.

...Of New Zealand's Alternative Music Scene. Morr Music presents a 2CD compilation paying tribute to the great,highly-influential New Zealand indie-pop bands of the 1980s,whose steadfast DIY aesthetic paved the way internationally for the future development of all modern indie bands to
follow.

Torrent:


Direct Download:
Not Given Lightly: A Tribute To the Giant Golden Book Of New Zealand's Alternative Music Scene [2009] [Compilation]

Tracklist:
1. lali puna - i like rain (jean paul sartre experience)
2. people press play - kaleidoscope world (chills)
3. tarwater - death and the maiden (verlains)
4. it's a musical - all my hollowness to you (tall dwarfs)
5. b. fleischmann - not given lightly (chris knox)
6. go find - pink frost (chills)
7. guther - glide (chris knox)
8. wooden birds - afternoon in bed (bats)
9. butcher the bar - bee to honey (tall dwarfs)
10. sin fang bous - i think i'd thought i'd nothing else to think about (chills)
11. borko - up in the sky (jean paul sartre experience)
12. masha qrella - pink frost (chills)
13. saroos - prisoner of a single passion (graeme jefferies)
14. american analog set - anything could happen (clean)
15. bobby & blumm - on an unknown beach (peter jefferies)
16. contriva - light (chris knox)
17. isan - harmonic deluxe (robert scott)
18. electric president - you forget (david kilgour)
II
1. benni hemm hemm - stoffeise
2. radical face - wandering
3. guther - new science
4. sin fang bous - nothings
5. seabear - singing arc
6. butcher the bar - snakes
7. surf city - kudos
8. electric president - white noise
9. it's a musical - in case of harmony
10. seavault - cornfields
11. populous - zodiac
12. saroos - dubstar
13. tarwater - captain
14. isan - happy chord whore
15. bobby & blumm - take a sip
16. b. fleischmann - aldebaran waltz

CD1 features cover versions of New Zealand's most beloved songs from that era by Morr's best current artists, and CD2 features previously-unreleased tracks that look towards the future of indie-pop. In New Zealand, the archetype of what was called indie-pop was established.

Labels such as Flying Nun, Xpressway, IMD and Corpus Hermeticum rose up in response to punk, and bands such as The Clean, The Chills and Tall Dwarfs helped forge what would be called the "Dunedin Sound," characterized by jangly guitar,straight-ahead bass lines and no-nonsense drums.

Because of New Zealand's isolation, new music from the UK and U.S. only trickled in sometimes years after the fact, and out of the earnest desire of a passionate few to create an autonomous Kiwi scene (and the disinterest of overseas major labels), punk, pop, etc., was born in garages and pressed on screen-printed 7"s out of ingenuity and necessity. Everyone knew each other, everyone played in each other's bands, and everyone was influenced by each other's sound -- simple,lo-fi, untouched and singular, and completely apart from the rest of the world.

There was promise in songs like "Not Given Lightly" by legendary scenester and The Enemy and Toy Love founding member, Chris Knox or "Pink Frost" by The Chills, and it was eventually heard by compatriots in the U.S. -- Pavement, Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth referred to New Zealand's alternative music scene directly. In Germany, artists as well as heads of labels adapted a similar DIY model. Markus Acher, who is part of this compilation with Lali Puna, played together with
Graeme Jefferies (Nocturnal Projections, This Kind Of Punishment, The Cakekitchen). Suddenly, lo-fi was everywhere. The Morr Music label would not have been thinkable without this DIY-idea. Not Given Lightly features modern-day reinterpretations of seminal tracks from Jean Paul Sartre
Experience, The Chills, The Verlaines, Tall Dwarfs, Chris Knox, The Bats, Graeme Jeffries, The Clean, Peter Jefferies,Robert Scott, and David Kilgour, played by Lali Puna, People Press Play, Tarwater, It's A Musical, B.Fleischmann, The Go Find, Guther, The Wooden Birds, Butcher The Bar, Sin Fang Bous, Borko, Masha Qrella, Saroos, American Analog Set, Bobby & Blumm, Contriva, Isan, and Electric President. Other artists include: Benni Hemm Hemm, Radical Face, Seabear, Surf City,
Seafault, and Populous.