You’ll recognize his haunting voice from his acclaimed project as one-half of The Postal Service and hear traces of those melancholy beats he mastered as James Figurine. But all that started out 13 years ago when Jimmy Tamborello was Dntel. The last studio album under that moniker came out …

Originally posted at Crossfade

Where psych-rock meets psychosis; where ambient meets its pharmaceutical analogue Ambien–that’s the cauldron in which this Atlanta quintet stews its sounds. Deerhunter makes an art-rock abstracted into something visceral, a swirling soup of jumbly guitars and medication revelations.

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Originally posted at Crossfade

Justin Vernon comes by this project name–sorta-French for “good winter”–honestly, having cut his LP in the snowy isolation of rural Wisconsin. There’s a reason we mythologize such outings. This is pristine lo-fi, run through with icy acoustic guitar and fragile vocals.

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Originally posted at Crossfade

With enough influences to drive a music critic insane, Honey Claws have similar creative range as Danger Mouse and the Beastie Boys. With help from their self-made DJ machine (called the “Junkbox”), they’re skilled at mashing up songs, as well as introducing a new sound with their original party …

Originally posted at Crossfade

If we just take it as a given that all post-punk bands are imitating Gang of Four, we can move on to who does the fairest impression. Certainly this New Zealand act is in the running. Razor-sharp guitars, Brixton vocals, and the trademark tricky rhythms are in perfect balance.

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Originally posted at Crossfade

Sometimes strange, sometimes otherworldly–but always incredible–marks the striking sound of Detroit-based band The Bodies Obtained. Reminiscent of the gloom and doom of Joy Division (their name is taken from a “Day of the Lords” lyric), The Bodies Obtained resurrect postpunk founding fathers from the grave on their debut album, From …

Originally posted at Crossfade

SoulStice is not your average emcee. Not only does he have a master’s degree in engineering, but he’s also a very skilled lyricist. His new single, “Crash the Party,” breaks new ground as the first to be released in three different languages.

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Originally posted at Crossfade

Indie rock’s bards of the border continue their remarkable hybrid: old Southwest dirges cross-bred with a particularly dark and brooding folk-pop. Few bands in the scene pull off such a natural dignity–or intimacy. “Absent Afternoon” is exclusive release for Threadless.com

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Originally posted at Crossfade

London’s latest band-of-the-moment takes a “more is more” approach, exploiting producer Ross Orton to mix multiple local obsessions: sweaty post-punk, tetchy synth stuff, and a sort of postmodern soul. The result is loud and garbled and guaranteed to instantly make you hipper.

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Originally posted at Crossfade

It has been a long time coming, but two Bay Area bosses are finally collaborating on a monumental release, hoping to reinvigorate the West Coast sound that the hyphy craze helped create. Expect a combination of party anthem bangers and underground anthems to please even the hardest heads.

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Originally posted at Crossfade