Music

The Novel Ideas: Summer Demos

Natalie
Summer Demos is a fun filled collection of four tracks that serve as a little introduction to the forthcoming, and third in line, full length record from The Novel Ideas. The band, which hails from the not-so-distant suburbs of Newton, MA, play what is often described as a "rock-folk-romantic-pop" music full of gorgeous acoustic guitar and enchanting vocals. And with the songs talking about "books, girls, summertime, and the ambiguous hours between night and morning", this short yet sweet EP will certainly brighten up your day.
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These Animals: These Animals EP

Valerie
New York has always been home to some of the most interesting musicians and These Animals is one four-piece crew that you can easily add to this roster. The boys have just released their self-titled EP showcasing their brand of hipster style pop dance rock, and together with their previous album, Souvenir Sessions, made all of this musical goodness available as a free download through FrostWire. These Animals met in art school and decided to get together to form the band in 2010. Creating 60s style dance pop music, they showcase their various influences through their energetic sound and performances.
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Flesh Forest and The Elephant Only Zoo: Scream Dream

Valerie
Flesh Forest and The Elephant Only Zoo is a hodegepodge of sounds and genres. On the one hand, you get songs emanating with an indie electronic folk rock vibe, but as you progress through the album you encounter a darker, noise rock, experimental sound that leaves you wondering what happened. Well, for one, Flesh Forest and The Elephant Only Zoo are two different bands. Although both hail from Massachusetts, soundwise, that's about as far as similarities go. The former describe themselves as mainly into gothic/psychedelic electronica while the latter dubs themselves as belonging to the acousmatic/ tape music/ visual genre. Despite the differences, this five-track mini record resonates with both individuality and coherence.
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Pollux: Rspct

Youghp
The album Rspct opens up with a track that's proper for its role: Rspct Intro features a thin but layered drone shifting from this direction to that until it renders itself redolent of aircraft sounds, or of spacecraft ones (it depends on your imagination, really) and, consequently, creates the illusion of one taking flight, perhaps toward Pollux – not the artist behind the album, but the brightest star in the constellation of Gemini, from which the musician presumably took his moniker.
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MIT Choir: Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana

Valerie
Originating from 1230 AD, the Carmina Burana is a set of medieval manuscripts consisting of 254 poems and dramatic text. It was an epic piece of text that was created by theological students mainly to satirize the church. Most of the works centered on subjects such as wealth, the nature of life, financial abuses, joy of Springtime and even the pleasure and perils of drinking. The Carmina Burata was translated into an beautiful cantata by German composer, Carl Orff in 1937. The composer's version of the Carmina is now available as a free download right on FMA. Performed by none other than the MIT Orchestra under the direction of Dr. William Cutter (2006.) This is a great piece of classical/medieval music brought to life in these modern times.
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Galaxie Junktion

Natalie
Recently released by Junktion, a New Zealand music collective, compilation features some amazing and hand picked quality dustep, hip-hop, electronic, and ambient sounds from across the world. Featuring talented artists such as Mecca:83, B Lewis, Benny Tones & Mara TK, tom2k, and Ghost, Galaxy Junktion promises to bring in some refreshing beats for just about any type of electronic music lover out there.
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Eastern Phoebes: Wampum

Valerie
Wampun is the debut album of indie folk pop duo Eastern Phoebes. Made up of Ry Smith and Meg Bayley, the power couple formed back in January 2010. They started out with Ry recording songs he wrote and asked Meg to "sing and clap on a bunch of tunes." From them on, they have been unstoppable; recording and releasing several EPs, like Rods of Energy, as well as this full length record in just a year. Wampum is their official debut and carries 10 heartfelt, catchy indie pop tracks that will surely become a soundtrack to your warm and lazy summer afternoons. The album was also the band's official entry into the RPM Challenge.
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Silverpennies: Come On Villains

Natalie
Another great album from Sweden? Sure, why not. Meet Silverpennies. Following their previous two successful releases, the trio (Adam Leslie Jonsson, Anders Ludwigsson, and Oskar Eriksson) bring us their most recent EP Come On Villains. Filled with beautiful melodies, lovely piano, great vocals worthy of a radio hit, and lyrics that will make you sing along as you go about your day, the EP is a nice, and free, little treat from across the continent.
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Johnwaynes: What Is All About

Natalie
A little bit of bossanova, electro-acoustic sounds, electropop delight, some disco/jazz influence and great vocals in all the right places; What Is All About is certainly a melting pot for your senses. Released in 2010 by Johnwaynes album (made available for a download by the Optimus Discos Label), brings us five excellent tracks ready to bright up your day with their light and chill out sounds that will not be quickly forgotten.
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