Crystal Castles

Sounding off from Canada and repping Last Gang Records (home to Death From Above 1979), Crystal Castles is a two-piece hybrid of Nintendo-core sounds with dance sensibilities and thrash metal spirit.

The band is a manic dance machine on full-tilt. Listen to a few tracks on the first MySpace listed below and see if they can't get you to move (the first track is a remix of 'Crimewave' by Health, and is especially sweet). They've got it all, from down tempo chill tracks to uptempo, dance your ass off/ swing your arms around like a maniac, lo-fi, monster dance tracks.

Don't get me wrong though, this music isn't just for dancers. There's a reason they list their three genres on MySpace as "Thrash/Thrash/Thrash". Whether you're a fan of electronic music, disco, Nintendo-core, or you're just looking for something new entirely, I'd definitely recommend that you listen to at least a few of CC's tracks. And between their 3 MySpace profiles, there are plenty of addictive tracks to be heard.

Crystal Castles, for the maniac in all of us.

Think: Seizures, monsters dancing at your favorite club, music that can physically deliver electric jolts to your body, 8-bit demons.

Sounds like: Horse the Band on psychedelics and amphetamines.

Links:
First MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/crystalcastles
Other MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ccrystalccastles
Second Other MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wearecrystalcastles

Burning Idiot Noise

Burning Idiot Noise (Brighton, United Kingdom)
Psychedelic / Punk

Think- This British four piece composes noisy, slow, repetitive, sex music. Good for that all night weed infused dance party or like I said hot hot sex. Actually that might pan out on only one of the tracks (the back half of The Calculus) and the rest are more geared towards what is known as chillage.

Try - The Calculus

Total Downloads- 8

http://www.myspace.com/burningidiotnoise
http://www.burningidiotnoise.co.uk/

The Wintermitts

The Wintermitts (Vancover, Canada)
Indie

Think- Whoever had the Idea to put a droning accordion blaring at the top of nearly every single Wintermitts song was a fucking genius! The Wintermitts are full of all sorts of good vibrations and witty humor all under the guise of some very sweet sound droning instrumentals. The main vocalist Lisa Monique seems to float between English and Canadian French as though she doesn't know which she prefers but that is to no Ill effect. God bless Canadians, their free health care, and The Wintermitts. Thats it.

Try- Petit Monstre and Heartbeat

Total Downloads- 6, three from the new full length Cascadia Falls and
three from the stylistically different Alouette EP.

http://www.myspace.com/lisemusic
http://wintermitts.com/

Monotonix

Monotonix
(Tel Aviv, Israel)

Think- Monotonix, An Axe, Drum, Vocal Trio, came all the way from the Middle East for one thing and one thing only. To blow our floundering American showmanship away with the most energetic, intense show ever preformed. Seriously, I can't really decide which part of the show I enjoyed most, perhaps when Ami Shalev (Lead Singer) started playing the Bass Drum with his head or when upon breaking his microphone he decided to sing a cappella while perched on top of the Rock Bottom Tattoo Bar's very expensive looking digital Jukebox, the fact that the band played the entire show wandering the audience and disregarding the stage also helped. In Israel Monotonix is somewhat of a supergroup Ami Shalev owning the largest indie/garage studio/record label in Tel Aviv, developing producing skills by recording hundreds of bands. Yonatan Gat a formidable guitarist, who records under various band names often playing all instruments, just ripped it up at one point peeling off a blazing solo while standing on top of the bass drum head. Which leads us to Ran Shimony, I have never seen anyone who can work so much sound out of two drums and three cymbals, nor anyone who could keep perfect rhythm while his lead singer moves his entire drum kit and suspends it from the ceiling culminating in the most amazing jam I've ever seen with Ran pounding a tribal beat on his upturned bass drum, Ami smacking in rhythm on a snare drum hung upside down from a cymbal hung from the ceiling and Yonatan peeling off the aforementioned solo. Monotonix achieved its goal by blowing my mind if you ever find yourself in the position to see them live, do so.

Try- On The Road and Summers and Autumns

Total Downloads- 4 (Half of the 8 track Cd Monotonix is currently touring behind)

http://www.myspace.com/monotonix
http://www.monotonix.com/

The Bad Robots

The Bad Robots (London. England)

Think - Rather then succumb to the recent UK trend of dance oriented bass lines and prominent if not exaggerated British accent *Cough* Franz Ferdinand *Cough* Arctic Monkeys *Cough* The Bad Robots prefer downplaying their accent and have a rather straight forward yet notable bassist. Sometimes (Disarmingly Charming) they rather dismayingly remind me of American 90's bands such as The Gin Blossoms, whether or not this is a bad thing I have not yet decided.

Try- Disarmingly Charming and I Don't Wanna Know.
Total Downloads- The Bad Robots offer an entire eight track album for free download on their website.

http://www.thebadrobots.com/music/Music.htm

Welcome.

J Thane here, letting you know that this soon will be a fully functional blog focusing on what's good in the vast world of online music. My co-author Antonio is hell-bent on finding free legal music downloads, and in fact, he writes a pretty mean review to go along with them, whereas I, J Thane, will write about what's good, whether it be industrial, visual kei, folk music, psychedelic, or rap.

Come back often. Antonio and I always have something to say, so expect frequent posts. Antonio is a schedule sort of guy, and I'm more of the type that will post a few articles a day and then disappear for a week or two. It's all good, though, just know that there will always be something new to read (and listen to).

(First reviews forthcoming, as soon as we sort some things out between us.)

Cheers.