From Bushwick’s grey industrial streets, rose Spanish Prisoners’ strangely uplifting sound — a perfect blend of cloudy density and pop-y guitar riffs that brings to mind The Beach Boys on the verge of a heroin overdose. But don’t be fooled by the analogy, surf rock is nowhere to be found here — rather, a heap of perfectly listless waves crash over emotionally charged yet stoic lyrics.

Spanish Prisoners “Know No Violence” off of the band’s newest release, Gold Fools, carefully careens between dreamy layered vocals and lucid instrumental precision, a habit the band luckily doesn’t kick through the entirety of the album. We got to chat with songwriter Leo Maymind and singing drummer Mike DiSanto about finding the perfect amount of reverb, the influence of drunk douchebags and New Order on the album, and how, apparently, Nas’ Illmatic is totally timeless.

Oh and did I mention we have  a pair of tickets to check out Spanish Prisoners tomorrow night at Pianos with Ski Lodge, Wolff and more!? So check out the rest of the interview after the jump and leave a comment below for your chance to win and be sure to grab Gold Fools for the current price of whatever you want to pay for it.

First and foremost, where does the name Spanish Prisoners come from?

Leo Maymind: The name came from the David Mamet film “the Spanish Prisoner,” which I think is a classic con-artist movie. Mamet kind of has a cult following. I’m not even sure the rest of the band has seen it.
Mike DiSanto: I haven’t seen it and people always seem vaguely disappointed in me when I tell them that.
Leo Maymind: We’ve been talking about setting up a movie night and all watching it, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Tell me a little about the writing process of Gold Fools. How does it differ from the band’s previous releases?

M: The writing process was very much the same as the recording and mixing process.  It was all kind of happening at the same time as Leo and I would pass tracks back and forth with a pile of USB keys. I bought a new keyboard at the time and every time Leo gave me a song he was working on I would delete some of his tracks and recreate them with the keyboard, which was maybe a little annoying but I regret nothing.
L: Mike would also incrementally decrease the level of reverb without telling me. And then I would just increase it even more the next time around, hoping he wouldn’t notice. So it was mostly this long process of just sending things back and forth and sort of carving out something that was pleasing to the two of us and our other two bandmates. Suffice to say it took a pretty long time to arrive where we are now.
M: That’s true, at least 40% of our discussions on the album involved reverb.
L: It was more like 70-80%. We would start talking about reverb and end up talking about New Order for an hour.

(more…)

Not only do you have awesome plans tonight, you now have equally awesome plans for the following night! RSVP here to check out Suckers, Javelin and Lemonade at Santos Party House tomorrow brought to us by Death + Taxes and vitamin water, as well as FREE beer from none other than Pabst Blue Ribbon.

And, like all free events, we suggest you get there early to avoid any possible shitshow at the door!!

Tomorrow night, come out and celebrate the launch of The World’s First Perfect Zine — the brainchild of David Shapiro a.k.a. Mr. Pitchfork Reviews Reviews — with The World’s First Perfect Party hosted by Tumblr at Other Music.

And what makes a perfect party, you ask? Free booze, for starters, as well as DJ sets by zine contributors Victor Vazquez of Das Racist, Tao Lin and Jenna Wortham of the NY Times.

Shapiro also notes that the zine will have a password-protected Tumblr of supplemental content (photos, interviews, stories) which you’ll have access to by ordering your copy of the limited edition print of The World’s First Perfect Zine… or by solving the below riddle:

What is the first name of the girlfriend of the director in the only 9-minute official music video (presently unavailable in the United States due to copyright issues) by the band whose original guitarist’s older brother was previously in a band whose two other members went on to form a band whose most recent album’s first single prominently features a sample from a song by a now-defunct band whose percussionist is named John Braddock, nicknamed “Dutch”?

Click here for more info about the zine and its contributors (including members of the Brooklyn buzz band hall of fame, filmmaker Lena Dunham and Thought Catalog‘s golden boy, Ryan O’Connell). See y’allz at the party, where the FREEdubs crew will be perfectly drunk!

Since 2008, Mexican Summer has been cranking out records from some of our favorite artists like Best Coast, Washed Out, Kurt Vile, Real Estate, Nite Jewel and well, you get the picture, right? So we’re excited to see the release of their 100th record — two tracks from our synth-enamored friends Ford & Lopatin featuring Tamaryn and Shannon Funchess of Light Asylum fame.

May we suggest kicking off your night to the beat of  “Snakes,” then flipping the record for the late-night lullaby “Flying Dream” once you’ve made it back home with a belly full of Frito Pie.

Order the limited edition clear vinyl 12″ over at Mexican Summer & check out the rad cover art poster of all of the label’s past releases after the jump! (more…)

I’ve got a special place in my heart for CSS — let it be known that little miss Lovefoxxx’s adorable Brazilian accent can be found bopping around on many a travel playlist in my phone. Why? Because the girl brings me right back to a careless age when everything seemed complicated but was way more simple than I would have ever admitted, especially to my parents or my probably totally confused and tortured boyfriend. CSS’s newest single, “City Grrrl,” off of La Liberacion is basically a play-by-play of a suburban teenager’s weekend, changing in the Penn Station bathroom and hopping in a cab Downtown. But just like the song says, when you’re 13 the idea of paying bills and living on your own in the “big city” is exciting… until you’re a 27-year-old blogger with $100 to spare each month on cheap whiskey.

That said, I think I finally figured out a way to create a wormhole into space and time, or whatever… I’ll be on the train in the near future bumping this song in my headphones while wrapped in six layers of winter clothes reminding myself why New York is and always will be where I call home, while the NYU girl at the end of the train is making her friend listen to the song going “Aren’t we totally City Grrrls!??,” and the gay goth (who’s shoes I’ve been eying for the last four stops) will be subtly voguing to the chorus in his seat, and before we know it our subway car will have vanished into thin air. Now remember, we all have CSS to thank for that.

It’s no secret that we’re fans of Small Black here, and we’ve been anxiously awaiting a new release to solidify our love and kick off our longing for next summer — but doused with reverb and hearbreak, the Moon Killer mixtape has us feeling less “let’s hit the beach” and more “it’s too cold to smoke on the fire escape.”

But it’s not all down-tempo introspection, we promise. In addition to the laid back flows from Heems of Das Racist this 11 track gem is, according to the band, “full of samples from and homages to songs we love and the city that we live in. Something we could never do on a record” — and there’s no better example than “Love’s Not Enough,” a track that’s worthy of hand-holding at the roller skate rink. Remixes from Phonetag and Star Slinger close out the record to remind us that after the winter, we’ve got sunshine to look forward to once again.

“After 2 years of non-stop recording and touring, this project was a chance to give people who’ve supported us something free to enjoy,” says the band, so download Small Black’s Moon Killer Mixtape here. And be sure to check them out at the Moon Killer Release Party at Glasslands on Friday, Nov. 18th!

On November 1st, we introduced you to Christine Hoberg – the energetic songstress who serenaded a boat load of people on the East River Ferry, qualifying her as New York’s finalist for Pop Up Live presented by SPIN Magazine and popchips. Well, now it’s time to get to know Christine a little better…

We got to chat with the Midwest-gone-Brooklyn broad about her upcoming EP release, “junky instruments” and where you can find her slinging the best Bloody Marys in the ‘hood. So check out the interview below and be sure to cast your votes before Monday, Nov. 14th to get Christine to the SPIN Stage in Austin, TX! And find out how to win tickets to Miss Hoberg’s Record Release show for her newest EP, Moonlight Never Shined So Bright, TOMORROW night at 10pm at Rockwood Music Hall after the jump…

How would you describe your sound to, let’s say, somebody’s grandma?

I describe my music as indie rock meets indie jazz, which maybe doesn’t make sense to a grandma. I think the stuff I have out now is mainly rock meets throwback motown or jazz.  I love those old chanteuse-y and sassy songstress types and have embodied that into a lot of my songs, but I also write and love really messed up noise music and love creating new sounds–I’m in love with artists like fever ray and radiohead–and more and more of that kind of stuff is coming out in my songs, especially my new album I’m releasing this Friday!  Lots of layered vocal chanty stuff, can’t wait to put it out! (more…)

After sifting through 250 emerging bands, your votes and the expertise tastes of some of your favorite tastemakers, Spin Magazine and popchips are proud to announce New York City’s Pop Up Live finalist — Christine Hoberg!

With an infectious energy reminiscent of St. Vincent, Christine caught our attention by performing “Plain Faced Jane” on our new favorite mode of transportation, the East River Ferry.

Now the rest is up to you! Head on over to to the popchips Facebook page and vote for Christine, or one of the other contestants from Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago or Los Angeles… if you dare.  Remember, at stake for the grand prize is a performance on the Spin stage in Austin, TX. So show your fellow Brooklyn girl some love & vote!

So if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably still got Future Islands last album playing on repeat — and luckily for all of us, Thrill Jockey will be bringing us the Baltimore synth-pop trio’s newest, On The Water, on October 11th.

To visually capture these heart-breaking and simultaneously soothing tunes is our good friend and previous Future Islands music video director, Jay Buim, who takes us on a stroll through what feels like endless summer in some of New Jersey’s hidden gems. So go ahead, play it over and over and over again until you get mad at your make-believe boyfriend for not pushing you around in a shopping cart and gently sweeping the hair out of your eyes. Oh, is that just me? Le sigh.

Future Islands – Balance from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Check out Buim’s video for “Tin Man” after the jump and, since he’s a man of many talents, be sure to swing on by Good Company this Saturday to get a taste of the this one half of Rude Dudes’ DJ skillz.

(more…)