New Passion Pit video - Carried Away

Director duo Ben and Alex Brewer debuted their brand new video for Passion Pit's "Carried Away" earlier today. The second official single from last year's Gossamer, "Carried Away" stars lead-singer Michael Angelakos and his love interest (played by Sophia Bush - happy Valentine's Day, guys) in this constant "fight and make-up" video. Perfect for the couple that only has a small amount of things working out in between the crap.

New Ra Ra Riot - Dance With Me

It seems super-poppy indie band Ra Ra Riot are going the Passion Pit route - a la, introducing a more danceable element to their sound. The group's newest single, "Dance With Me," feels a little fun than usual. Listen to the track below and grab the band's next album Beta Love January 22.

Bears And Bullets Songs Of The Year (#50-#26)

Going in this year, I realized the previous year-end-list formatting was a bit limited. I opted for lengthy descriptions of the year's best songs, other than adding more. Looking at both, I opted to add more without the colorful paragraphs that follow. So as of today, here is the first edition of Bears and Bullets Top 50 Songs Of 2012 (part one):

New Ra Ra Riot - Beta Love

Is there an indie band that fits the commercial-friendly mode better than Ra Ra Riot? Sure, you can make arguments for Vampire Weekend and Passion Pit, but the band's new track "Beta Love" may question that whole thing. Check out the lovable new single below, and watch for the band's new album January 22.

New Passion Pit video - I'll Be Alright

A few days after Passion Pit announced plans to cancel a portion of their summer tour due to singer Michael Angelakos' "mental health," the band released the second video from the hugely anticipated sophomore release Gossamer.

The stunning video features a surprising visual display of engaging modern art, as well as one of the album's best tracks. Gossamer, which is due out July 24 via Columbia Records, is available to stream courtesy of NPR.

The band plans to return to its summer tour early next month at Lollapalooza.

New Passion Pit - Constant Conversations

The previous releases from Passion Pit's upcoming Gossamer have been, in my opinion, mleh. Nothing extraordinary from the high-falsetto pop group. However, "Constant Conversations" stands out a little stronger, and a little slower and more methodical than "Take a Walk" and "I'll Be Alright."

Check it out below, and grab Gossamer July 24, via Columbia.

Tuesday Bears: Our newest obsession - The Pass

When I got my first listen to The Pass, a dance-pop act from Louisville that should be on the lips of indie fans and several variations of hipsters very soon, the first response that came out was Passion Pit. Yeah, there's the obvious sound resemblance (outside of Michael Angelakos's super-high falsettos), but the reason the name jumped out, more or less, was the impossibly enriching single "Vultures."

I'm not calling it "Sleepyhead", the Passion Pit single that essentially began their commercial success, but I wouldn't be surprised if "Vultures" did the same thing.

If the video, below, looks a little weird, it is. It's a play on dozens of popular music blogs, directed by Zach from We Listen For You.

The Pass' debut album, BURST, is due out September 21, via sonBLAST! Records.

The Pass - Vultures

Bears and Bullets Top 25 Songs of 2009 (Pt. II)

We'll continue the top 25 countdown with songs #20 through #16.

#20: Feel It All Around - Washed Out

Ernest Greene, more commonly known as the solo outfit Washed Out, made his first real strides towards prevalence a couple months ago with "Feel It All Around," a dream-haze recreation of Gary Low's "I Want You." The loose, earthy semblance in Greene's sparkling vocals echo behind the rich synths and droning tones to create a spectrum of sound that sticks to the listener. Neither present, future or past captures what "Feel It All Around" is, but it isn't timeless either. It's a moment, a fraction of time between everything.

Washed Out - Feel It All Around - MP3

#19: Charlie Darwin - The Low Anthem

"Charlie Darwin," The Low Anthem's story of the American working-class, is a slow-building, harmony-driven song that sails towards the end of the world, or in this case, to a newer old world. The soft harmonica spins a solemn split between the "Oh my God," chants of the sad, sad world "Charlie Darwin" feared.

The Low Anthem - Charlie Darwin

#18: Dominos - The Big Pink

Brit pop, in most forms, took a relative backseat in 2009. The Big Pink, among very few others, seemed to emerge from the once dominating scene with "Dominos," a song that flourished under massive synth bass-lines and impossibly catchy hooks. Those "girls" that "fall like dominoes" may seem a tad more trivial than the subjects on the rest of this list, but what makes "Dominos" last is the constantly flowing rise and fall of the buzzing backdrop for a loud and constant chain of enticement.

The Big Pink - Dominos - MP3

#17: The Reeling - Passion Pit

Passion Pit landed their second slot on the Top 25 Songs of 2009 list with "The Reeling," off of Manners. The glistening, both of the electro rhythm and Michael Angelakos' vocals, invigorates the pulse of the "Reeling." It sparkles as an accessible dance track, something that Passion Pit have cultivated along well with churning and bright pop music.

Passion Pit - The Reeling

#16: Walkabout (ft. Noah Lennox) - Atlas Sound

I've mentioned more than once this year that Bradford Cox, the man behind Atlas Sound, Lotus Plaza, and Deerhunter is a total workaholic. The man churns out almost infinite amounts of music behind his three pet projects, and all seem to cling to the indie blogosphere with terrific fever. "Walkabout," the lead single from Atlas Sound's album Logos, features the creative influence of Noah Lennox, more commonly known as Animal Collective's Panda Bear. Never has Cox's music sound so blippy and uplifting as "Walkabout," a song about going away and never looking back to what may or not be left behind, the spins into dream cache'd end, asking "What did you want to be when you grew up?" The question is never answered, but that isn't anything to take away from the song.

Atlas Sound (ft. Noah Lennox) - Walkabout - MP3

Check Back Later for Tracks #15-#11.

Bears and Bullets Top 25 Songs of 2009

With the end of 2009 rapidly approaching, it's finally time for Bears and Bullets' annual Top 25 Songs of the Year list. Singles from The Walkmen and The Very Best topped our list in what many consider to be a somewhat paltry year in 2008, but with a huge 2009 from artists like Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, and many, many others, 2009 became one of the best years for music this decade.

First, however, lets clear some rules about what can and what cannot be considered for this list. Rule one; The artists' albums on this list must be released within the 2009 calender year - these aren't skewed Grammy rules. Rule two; songs considered for this list must also only be released within the calender year, so this is excludes songs like "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit and "While You Wait for the Others" from Grizzly Bear, which were heard long before the year started, even though the albums those songs were featured on were released this year.

Now that the rules are clear, lets start with number 25.

#25: Daylight - Matt & Kim

"Daylight," oddly enough, was probably heard more than the other 24 songs on this list. The lead single from Matt & Kim's January album Grand was featured in several TV shows and an immensely popular Bacardi ad, utilizing the song's saloon-esque piano lead and teenage daydream whimsy to capture a sound of youth and playful escape. Kim's light percussion back drop flows through Matt's often high-pitched voice and the gentle electro bass humming behind it, creating a sprawling and yet minimal sound that crashes quickly in the end.

Bacardi Mojito Ad (Featuring Matt & Kim's "Daylight")

#24: James Blues - J. Tillman

J. (Joshua) Tillman, part time solo artist and drummer for Fleet Foxes, released Vacilando Territory Blues (his fifth of sixth lesser-known studio albums) earlier this year. Tillman's quiet acoustic folk is a bit more stripped version of his more well-known band's sound, humming rusty, minimal sounds in "James Blues," a two-and-a-half minute short-story of "poor, poor James" behind slow clapping and aged piano. The end result is the sad story of James, cold and alone, weeping, trying to make sense of what he wants, looking for the same "purpose" as the rest of us.

J. Tillman - James Blues - MP3

#23: You and I - Wilco

Wilco's 2009 self-titled album saw a temporary end to the Chicago band's nearly endless album to album drift of trying to find their own identity since 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The new album's key song hit, thanks in large part to Feist's vocal contribution, is a heartfelt and warm "You and I." The song glues together in Feist and Jeff Tweedy's vocals, combining to a simple little love song and a minimal departure for the band.

Wilco - You and I ft. Feist (Live on Letterman)

#22: Don't Lie - The Mantles

The Mantles album debut clings to a late 50's/early 60's garage niche that explores the gnarling and rusty pre-punk era with fuzz laden-guitars and analog tones. "Don't Lie," is a slow march, compared to most of the other more frenzied tracks on the band's self-titled album, but the sketchy sounds like a journey down a dusty road with nothing around in sight; a minimalist portrait of the older jangly sounds that have found a delightful resurgence as of late.

The Mantles - Don't Lie (Scenes from Paper Moon)

#21: Moth's Wings - Passion Pit

Passion Pit truly broke out last year with their most popular and best single to date, "Sleepyhead." This year's full-length debut, Manners, however featured a stronger collection of songs than 2008's Chunk of Change EP, including "Moth's Wings." Lead singer Michael Angelakos, for as shrill as he may sound at times, never comes off so smooth and fluid as he does here, with the band building a lush score into the drum-lead and piano driven chorus the explodes and carries the song until it flutters away in a gloss of beauty and light.

Passion Pit - Moth's Wings - MP3

Check Back Later for Tracks #20-#16

Lollapalooza 2009 Review (Day Three)

After soaking in the rousing success that was day two of Lollapalooza I boarded the Chicago Blue Line Sunday morning anticipating (or at least hoping) for day three to be as good. While the headlining acts of Jane's Addiction and the Killers may be a bit lacking in my opinion, the rest of the schedule was stocked full of notable acts that I could hardly wait to see.

Day Three:

Taking the short walk to Grant Park I noticed the sun was bearing down much harder than the day before, reaching the mid-90's by early afternoon. With sweat and sunscreen on my face, I took to the Chicago 2016 stage to catch Syracuse indie-pop group Ra Ra Riot. The band, only in their second year of existence, played mostly from their full-length debut The Rhumb Line, released last year. The limited amount of material may have held them back a bit, but the on-stage product remained an early-day delight for many of the fans who stood patiently in the sweltering heat.

Ra Ra Riot

As the female counterparts of the band, Alexandra Lawn and Rebecca Zeller, careened their string instruments through the band's songs, strong likeness of The Shins and the fanciful pop of the Arcade Fire remained prevalent. While this charmed the aesthetics of many, a little maturity would suit the group well. In a few year's the band could be filling a steadier spot in the festival line-up, but as of now they still have a bit of growing to do.

After a small break I made my way towards to the Vitamin water stage to catch English via Pakistan act Bat for Lashes. Natasha Khan's powerful harmonizing voice resembles something of early listener friendly Bjork, touching the subject of mythical and imaginative love in songs like "Sleep Alone" and "Siren Song."

Bat for Lashes

A moment of surreality came when Natasha's voice rose so far that the Chicago winds blew the tarps completely off the stage, to which Khan gently commented, "Whoops" garnering a laugh from the crowd. The show, despite the raging heat and uncontrollable winds, went off extremely well, showcasing Khan's on-stage talents and irresistible charms.

After taking a small walk around for food and a meet and greet with Natasha herself, I hurried back to the Vitamin water stage just in time to snag a spot for Baltimore electronica dynamo Dan Deacon. His shows were rumored to be fantastical events where fans get riled up into furious frenzies of excitement and energy, and his Lollapalooza appearance definitely proved those remarks true. The show started off fairly normal, with Deacon getting the crowd going with "Get Older" off this year's Bromst LP. From then on the energy continued to climb and climb, with Deacon getting into the crowd, making them yell, hold each other, form tunnels, and dance around a circle, along with bringing out the What Cheer? Brigade as he orchestrated an intense ending show climax with "Of the Mountains" and "Crystal Cat."

Dan Deacon with The What Cheer? Brigade

Fans from faraway could see the sheer amount of people bursting through the crowd, as countless numbers of them proceeded to crowd-surf their way to the front as streams of bottles, floats, and toilet paper streamed through the air. The final result was impossibly satisfying, as sweaty fans drudged their way away from the stage (like myself) physically and mentally exhausted from what they have just experienced. And while I may have known what I was getting myself into, I'm still at awe of what I witnessed. Unlike anything else in my concert going experiences, Dan Deacon's shows are a must not for just electronica and indie music fans, but for anyone who has the nerve to they could have a better time somewhere else.

Drained, I elected to skip Vampire Weekend (who had already started their set at the nearby Chicago 2016 stage) and instead grab a nice spot for indie-pop upstarts Passion Pit at the Citi stage. My total exhaustion (along with the massive crowd) forced me to take a 15 minute breather in the nearby grass. As I collected myself the Citi stage crowd grew and grew, proving a miscalculation by concert organizers (see; Girl Talk 2008).

Passion Pit

After I collected myself, the band rounded out their hour-long set with two of my favorites "Sleepyhead," and a song that proved to be my favorite of the day, "The Reeling." Afterwards, while legions people fled to the South and North sides of the park to catch Snoop Dogg and Lou Reed (another hard decision to skip), I grabbed a good spot for Atlanta group Deerhunter. Technical disturbances (again, Citi stage) became a bit of a problem at the beginning as making out much of what frotman Bradford Cox said became a bit difficult. Half-way through the show Cox came out of his shell, throwing out witty banter discussing his talent, making fun of Tool, and how sick he truly is.

Deerhunter

The set was full of Deerhunter favorites, including; "Nothing Ever Happens," "Little Kids," "Vox Celeste," and the very new "Circulation," off the group's new Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP. One cannot ignore Cox indelable on-stage charisma and humor as he frequently took credit for writing other artists songs. "This is a song we wrote in 1965 called 'Heroin,' " Cox said. "After that we'll play a song we wrote in 1967 called 'What Goes On.' Then we'll play a song we wrote in 1992 called 'Gin n' Juice'" (remarking how the fans elected to skip both Reed and Snoop Dogg to see his band instead). Full of humor and solid songs, Deerhunter's set was another solid show, which makes me regret more and more that I did not go to Deerhunter, No Age, and Dan Deacon's aftershow later that night.

After a short trip over to Perry's Tent to catch MSTRKRFT (and a surprise encounter will Chicago Bull's starting center Joakim Noah) I trecked back to the South side of the park for one of the last shows of the festival from the Killers. As it stands now I was somewhat unaware of how much I actually dislike the Killers music. After only two songs I couldn't take the mediocrity of 80's ideologies and left the show to catch (ironically another 80's band) Jane's Addiction. Again, I choose to leave and instead spent most of my final night at Perry's Tent during Deadmau5's set.

As for Perry's, I have not given the stage a fair assessment yet. For the most part the acts and set-up blew away last year's, proving endless entertainment for electro fanatics. Fans loved it and even fair-weather fans frequented the area. To those who opt to see only main-stage acts you're seriously missing out on one of the festival's shining achievements.

Exhausted yet again, my legs torn from constant walking and dancing, the final night of Lollapalooza 2009 came to an inevitable close. And while it's always so sad to see it go, the amount of joy recieved is hard pressed to be replicated. At this point it is obvious to why I've become such a fan-boy of the annual festival, and I think it goes without question that I'll be doing the same next year.

By the way, the dates have already been set up for 2010; August 6-8. Tickets with be available on the 17th. And to whom is rumored to headline next year? Bjork, The Arcade Fire, and The White Stripes appear to be strong contenders.

Best Performances: Dan Deacon, Deerhunter, Deadmau5, Bat for Lashes

Worst Performances: Killers

Highlight: "Of the Mountains" and "Crystal Cat" by Dan Deacon. "The Reeling" by Passion Pit.

Lowlight: The Killers ending the festival.

Counting down the days until Lollapalooza 2010 ...

Passion Pit on Fallon

Taking a little break from the Top-Ten Must See Lollapalooza Acts today. Passion Pit (mentioned in yesterday's post) performed their single "The Reeling" from last May's debut LP Manners last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

It's their first television performance so there are a few clear jitters on stage. Hopefully come August 9 they'll deliver on a bit higher level.

Passion Pit - The Reeling (Live on Fallon)

Official Lollapalooza 2009 Countdown (Pt. III)

Continuing yesterday's countdown of my Top Ten Must-See Lollapalooza Acts we take a look at my number six selection, Los Angeles noise-punk duo No Age.

#6: No Age

Since the release of 2008's Nouns LP off Sub-Pop, No Age has earned quick acclaim their frenetically quirky sounds from fans and musicians alike. The duo of Randy Randall and Dean Spunt, only with a guitar and drums, created a sound akin to early Sonic Youth and Deerhunter. From that, one could conclude that it also sounds nothing like them, as is the appeal of No Age.

The duo will be performing August 8 (Day Two) on arguably the biggest night at Lollapalooza on the Citi Stage at 5:00.

An added bonus; No Age will be performing with Deerhunter and Dan Deacon at Chicago's Logan Square Auditorium August 9. Tickets available here.

No Age - Eraser


#5: Passion Pit

Passion Pit have, in a very short time, become one of my favorite up and coming artists. The easily accessible indie-pop group's 2008 EP debut Chunk of Change and spectacular single "Sleepyhead" brought the group into the easily recognized indie-universe.

This year the grouped took another step forward with the May release of Manners. While the album still had a lot of what made Chunk of Change so good, it also added even more dance-able tracks like "The Reeling," including the aforementioned "Sleepyhead."

The group will be performing August 9 (Day Three) on the Citi Stage at 5:00, following Gang Gang Dance's 3:30 performance.

Passion Pit - The Reeling


Continued Tomorrow ...

New Passion Pit Video: To Kingdom Come

Last Friday Passion Pit released the second video from their May full-length debut Manners. The band plays the part of late 19th century/early 20th century scientists who discover how to destroy the Earth behind the most gleeful and distracting indie pop music possible.

The band will be appearing at their fair share of summer festivals soon, including; Pukkelpop, Lowlands, the Leeds and Reading Festival, and the festival so frequently mentioned on Bears and Bullets - Lollapalooza.

Passion Pit - To Kingdom Come

Monday; A Lot of Videos

Happy 4/20 stoners, here's a bunch of videos that may or may not apply to you. Okay, they don't, but you may end up liking them anyway.

I'm on severe Lollapalooza alert, as the official line-up for the summer music festival is scheduled to be released some time tomorrow. But if I can get a hold on it at around mid-night you'll be some of the first to know. That being said, a couple videos from current Lolla-performers and likely Lolla performers are available today from Metric, Passion Pit, The Duke Spirit, and Franz Ferdinand.

Metric - Help, I'm Alive



The Duke Spirit - Take Me With You (Live on Last Call)



Passion Pit - The Reeling



Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls (Live on Kimmel)