IndieUprising #43: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (471)

Featured Band: AKissForJersey. Interview with Tyler Lucas (Bass).

Music By: Lukestar. Barcelona. A Midday Atlantic. Get Young. Planes Crash. AKissForJersey. Penguins Know Why. Search/Rescue. Easton Legacy. Running Red Lights. De La Hoya.

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The Indie Review

By Sean Duregger
May 16, 2008

Artist: Polar Bear Club
Album: Sometimes Things Just Disappear
Label: Red Leader Records

Rating:

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Sometimes you want to ditch the “over production wonderland” of today’s music and hear what you’re going to get at a dirty, sweaty, stuffy live show. So many bands today are supported live by pre-recorded tracks and synth just so they don’t look like total jackasses live. Welcome my Saviors, Polar Bear Club with their debut full length Sometimes Things Just Disappear.

Polar Bear Club draw minor influences from bands like Hot Water Music and Lifetime, resulting in some of the most exciting songs I’ve heard this year. There’s no over produced vocals here, Jimmy Stadt’s voice is perfectly imperfect. His gruff voice adds the perfect touch to the music and isn’t over dominant, letting the clean background vocals add depth to each song. I absolutely love the vocals on this album.

Musically, the other members deliver on all fronts. There is a post-punk edge here, with a combination of clean guitar and distortion. I really enjoy the balance of the production as well. This is one of the few albums that will translate from album to live performance. A quality that more and more albums are lacking. This is what makes Polar Bear Club so special. They remind me of all the bands I’ve fallen in love with throughout the years. Bands that can translate their raw energy and passion and energy into an album are the ones who have staying power.

Sometimes Things Just Disappear captures the rawness and passion of Polar Bear Club. So, buy the CD, learn the lyrics and get to that small, dark, stuffy bar and scream the lyrics along with everyone else in the room. I know I’ll be there.

Stand Out Tracks

“Hollow Place”

“Burned Out In a Jar”

“Our Ballads”

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RED LEADER RECORDS - Limited Edition 10-inch Birthday Picture Disc Available Now!
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* Only 500 Pressed
* Featuring covers from Scream Hello, The New Dress, Attica! Attica! and Nakatomi Plaza

SCREAM HELLO - New EP!
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* Pre-order Smart & Stupid from Interpunk

The hits keep coming from the Red Leader camp these days as label has just released an extremely limited, hand-numbered 10-inch picture disc featuring four amazing covers from four amazing bands.

This delicious piece of vinyl was originally conceived as an elaborate birthday surprise from one half of the Red Leader team (Matt) to the other half (Claire)…with a little help from four “sweetheart” bands on the label, too.

Scream Hello tackles Superchunk’s Hyper Enough, The New Dress takes on No Depression by The Carter Family (as inspired by the Uncle Tupelo version) while Attica! Attica! covers No Children by The Mountain Goats. Rounding out the compilation is Nakatomi Plaza’s rendition of Build To Spill’s Car.

Of course, like all things totally awesome, there is a finite number available, and the slices of this delectable birthday disc will disappear quickly. Limited to 500 copies (and never to be repressed), the ten inch is available exclusively from Red Leader and the bands at shows. You can go here to order your copy now. The label will also send you the mp3s for all the songs, not to mention some extra goodies. Plus, a few randomly chosen orders will have the option of receiving a test pressing of the record. Happy Birthday, vinyl freaks!

Moving on, New Brunswick, N.J. four piece Scream Hello are preparing for the release of their new EP via Red Leader, Smart & Stupid. These four incredible songs are the precursor to Everything Is Always Still Happening, the band’s upcoming full-length due out in the Summer of 2008. Smart & Stupid will be out on April 8th but you can pre-order a copy from Interpunk here. Take it from someone who has spun both the LP and EP approximately seven kabillion times…these new songs are truly incredible. You can stream a couple tracks on their myspace page.

Beside the new releases, the next two months will find Scream Hello getting way active on the road, playing shows with Weston and Ensign…plus a short tour with The Gaslight Anthem.

And finally, don’t forget that Red Leader has made their new 20-song sampler free to download! Go here for unreleased / rare tracks from End Of A Year, Marathon, Nakatomi Plaza, Dear Tonight, FireWhenReady and Scream Hello…plus awesome released material from Polar Bear Club, De La Hoya, Attica! Attica! and The New Dress.

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RED LEADER RECORDS - March News
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* Polar Bear Club debut full-length out now
* New distro deal with LMMG
* Nakatomi Plaza at SXSW
* Free Label Sampler

Plenty of exciting stuff going on at Red Leader Records this month, beginning with the highly-anticipated full-length from Rochester, New York’s Polar Bear Club. Sometimes Things Just Disappear is officially out as of yesterday via the label’s new distro deal with LMMG. Unquestionably worth the wait, you can swing by your local indie record store and pick up a copy…or as always, get it directly from Red Leader.

If you’d like to listen beforehand, the fine folks at Punknews.org are streaming the record in its entirely. Go here to check it out.

Next up, Brooklyn’s hardest working band, Nakatomi Plaza, is playing three shows at SXSW this week. All these shows are FREE.

Nakatomi Plaza SXSW Shows!
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MAR 13 - Austin, TX @ The Parlor, 100 B. East North Loop Blvd, 7pm (Nakatomi at 8pm), AA, Free!
MAR 14 - Austin, TX @ Parts and Labour (back parking lot), 1604 S. Congress, Nakatomi at 5pm, AA, Free!
MAR 15 - Austin, TX @ Agave Bar, 415 6th St., Nakatomi at 3pm, 21+, Free!

Finally, to celebrate all the madness, Red Leader has made their new label sampler free to download. Go here for 20 awesome songs from recent releases, not to mention unreleased / rare tracks from End Of A Year, Marathon, Nakatomi Plaza, Dear Tonight, FireWhenReady and Scream Hello.

Speaking of Scream Hello, it’s worth noting that the band’s new 4-song EP, Smart & Stupid, will be out on April 8th via Red Leader. It’s the precursor to Everything Is Always Still Happening, Scream Hello’s upcoming full-length due out in the Summer of 2008.

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*From Deep Elm Records

Deep Elm Records is pleased to debut the new DARTZ! video for “Once, Twice, Again!”, one of 12 tracks off the band’s new album “This Is My Ship.” The video was directed by Marcus Diamond and James Harris in the UK.

SEE the VIDEO here: http://www.deepelm.com/video/

Dartz!’s “This Is My Ship” is available now from Deep Elm on a Limited Edition basis. Only 1,000 CDs are available to the public. You can also download the album from iTunes or eMusic: http://www.deepelm.com/466/. For a FREE full-length mp3 download of Dartz!’s song “St. Petersburg” go here: http://www.deepelm.com/466/.

Dartz!
“Once, Twice, Again!” (mp3)
from “This Is My Ship”
(Deep Elm)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Buy at Amazon
Buy at mTraks Download
More On This Album

“Fast, giddy, heart-bursting, danceable as s**t… f**king brilliant.” - NME
“Original, exciting, intricate pop that will make you dance, think and grin.” - Rock Sound
“Dance punk is the future, and Dartz! are the leaders of the revolution.” - Metal Hammer

Dealing in equal parts visceral punk, splintering math rock and kinetic pop, DARTZ! bring the noise. It’s a fun, riotous listen with genuine heart and intriguing complexities. It’s not often that words like “discordant” and “melodic” are thrown about in the same sentence, but the band’s willingness to let loose with raucous dance-punk abandon while delving into more adventurous, angular soundscapes — all without losing sight of each song’s irresistible hook and propulsive beat — makes for a cohesive and addictively explosive good time. Instantly captivating and undeniably enduring, This Is My Ship keeps an animated pace throughout its twelve exuberant tracks. Songs like “Prego Triangolos” and “St. Petersburg” give you an idea of which dynamic, spiky Q and Not U-esque school of indie rock these boys attend, but the handclaps and catchy hooks on cuts like “Once, Twice, Again!” remind us that, first and foremost, the band is here to make you move. Still, pigeonholing DARTZ! as anything other than an extremely intelligent, complex and exciting band would be doing them an injustice. Off-kilter riffs and catchy choruses rip a melodic groove into your brain while intersecting instrumental passages are compelling enough to keep the hipsters zigging and the punkers zagging. Make no mistake: This Is My Ship is an phenomenal release…one of the most memorable, enjoyable debuts in recent history.

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