The Men - Turn Your Color

After releasing New Moon, The Men's fourth studio album since 2010, the New York band are planning the release of a new five-track EP Campfire Songs. Like the title says, the EP is strictly acoustic and actually recorded around a camp fire. Included in the collection are a few previously-heard tracks, and two brand new ones including "Turn Your Color."

Listen to the effort below. Campfire Songs will be released October 15 on Sacred Bones.

Kung Fu Necktie, Jan. 10 - Parquet Courts (Preview)

Throttled in the post-punk DIY scene in New York, there's diverging sects of bands. Groups like The Men, who rifle through spiraling rhythms and nurturing songs, live off the encompassed energy of the movement. But, more or less, The Men, and groups like it, suit the memories of modern day Paul Westerberg requisites; stylized in a present fury, but treading water with ageless notions of its influence.

Brothers Max and Andrew Savage and Sean Yeaton construct Parquet Courts, another band in the ever-growing stack of notable sounds emerging from Brooklyn. After last year's release Light Up Gold, the trio (originally from Texas) stabilized its sound in a rich Americana punk for an impassioned youth. Few songs express that message as well as "Stoned And Starving," which wonders what a real living is for a modern 20-something in America.

Andrew, the band's lead singer and songwriter, is loud and clear, but rarely so serious that it drags the sentiments through tough tread. For the punk band template, the winning formula is usually calculated mess. But among the littered gems in Light Up Gold, the mess isn't really the point. There's reasoning and proud, boisterous exclamation in the tracks for a band that is seemingly so small at the moment.

Alongside the band's performance at Philly's Kung Fu Necktie tonight will be a slew of smaller bands in a furious set, including; Amanda X, Priests, Mike Bell & The Movies, and The Cats. Tickets for the 9 p.m. show will be available at the door, which follows an 8 p.m. show featuring emerging hardcore band Raspberry Bulbs.

New The Men - Electric

It only takes about two seconds of "Electric" to remember what was so good about the band's previous two albums Leaving Home and Open Your Heart. Spiraling with friendly DIY sensibility and a tinge of romantic afterthought, it'll start the early 2013 hype for The Men's upcoming album New Moon.

Listen below and grab the new album March 5 on Sacred Bones Records.

Wednesday Bears: Albums of the Month - March 2012

Albums of the Month - March 2012

After hitting a snag in January and seemingly going through the motions last month, March exploded. Quality albums from big names like Odd Future and Tanlines, alongside some unknown entities really made gave a lot of optimism for the remainder of 2012. Number one may not be a surprise for some of you, but the month gave us a lot of unexpected gems. Here are my favorite three.

3.) The Men - Open Your Heart

Distilled and aggressive, Open Your Heart (Insound) spills out half chaotically, half practically. The New York four-piece's sound goes through like aging punk veterans, still stout enough to seem destructive, but fluid enough to displace garage punk's DIY side. It's hard not to love The Men here, who find a median to blend all the laborious elements of clever alternative rock without flipping over a boring pass. In effect, the record sounds like it could be from anywhere between 1987 to 1995, but maybe that's part of the brilliance here - reverence without falling over itself trying to sound like Husker Du.

2.) Chromatics - Kill For Love

Luckily, we were able to hear all of Kill For Love a little before the month actually ended, so that qualifies it for the list. Blippy and atmospheric, Chromatics find their niche in Euro post-wave, with subtle instrumental effects coursing over harmonizing romanticism. It's what gave the band a good amount of hype long, long ago in 2007 with Night Drive. The long delay, however, allowed the group to create a huge amount of material - 90 minutes in fact on the new double-album - full of bright, electric, indie pop that remains startlingly consistent.

1.) The Shins - Port of Morrow

If you follow me on Twitter, this can't be a surprise. There wasn't any album scheduled for release before April of this year that had nearly as much of hype as The Shins return after a five-year absence, especially after the release of the heavy favorite lead single "Simple Song." The reformed James Mercer project sounds affectionate, although slightly less experimental than the group's previous three albums, but is so perfectly crafted and polished that there isn't any desire for it. Mercer sounds more genuine than he ever has on Port of Morrow (Insound), crafting blissful harmony between his usually impeccable song-writing. Particular cuts like "It's Only Life" stand out, and will be one of the sweetest damn songs you'll hear all year. The delay may have been too long for original material, but if all that time means we get something this good, then it'll always be worth it.