3-4-FREE - Los Campesinos!, Trips & Falls and @Peace

Los Campesinos! - By Your Hand
http://t.opsp.in/14Iz6





Los Campesinos! return in November with new album Hello Sadness and they've made lead single 'By Your Hand' available to download for free. And it's brilliant. Really, it's a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same - the opening salvo has a very Vampire Weekend / Harlem Shakes / Dale Earndhart Jr Jr feel about it and Gareth's vocals take on a level of affectation unheard of on previous LC! recordings, certainly sounding miles away from the scratchy rawness of his singing on tracks like International Tweecore Underground. But the theme of a deteriorating love affair racked with mixed emotions is very familiar, and lyrics such as "I'm not sure if it's love any more, but I've been thinking of you fondly for sure" and "I have been dreaming you've been dreaming about me" are classic Los Campesinos! And there's those reassuring hand-claps as well. So the lyrical content that's made them one of the most interesting and affecting bands of recent years is still here, while the band is also trying new things - all in all Los Campesinos! look to be on course to make a corking 3rd album.

Trips & Falls - Marginally More Than Annoying
 Trips and Falls - Marginally More Than Mildly Annoying by Song, by Toad 


With more than a hint of The Vaselines about it Trips & Falls dreamy lo-fi Marginally More Than Annoying bounces and lurches along its fantastic path for a little over two and a half minutes and raises my anticipation still further for their new album, People Have To Be Told, which will be released at the end of this month on Song By Toad records.


@Peace - @Peace
http://thepopcop.co.uk/2011/08/music-alliance-pact-august-2011/

And finally, it's my pick from the August edition of the Music Alliance Pact - @peace by @peace. The hip hop collaboration from Auckland, New Zealand have released their debut album (unsurprisingly also called @peace) and this chilled out meditation on nature, poverty and politics is a definite highlight from it. Sparse piano, violin and sounds of nature back tight, thoughtful flows from the various collaborators as they "bang beats from the soul". Other highlights from the MAP this month include tracks from Holiday Shores, Klak Tik, Oh Minnows, The Areola Treat, Possimisle and Tim Neuhaus.

3-4-FREE - 31/03/2011 - TRIPS AND FALLS, CRYSTAL FIGHTERS and CRAFT SPELLS

Hello there, peeps and peepettes. Since there hasn't been a 3-4-FREE for a few weeks I thought I'd treat you to one featuring 32 songs this week! Oh yes, that's the way uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it. Anyway, let's start with...

TRIPS AND FALLS - THIS IS ALL GOING TO END BADLY

So kicking off this mammoth edition of 3-4-FREE is The Song By Toad record sampler, the highlight of which, for me at least, is Montreal's Trips and Falls. Their bluegrass-infused indie is utterly wonderful and tinged with melancholy. Male and female vocals sing sweetly over simple guitar picking and military-esque drums in This Is All Going To End Badly. The 4-piece brought out their debut album on Song By Toad just over a year ago and continue to work with the Edinburgh-based label, hence their inclusion on the record sampler. All 13 tracks (plus a couple of toad-based skits) are available for free from Song By Toad's bandcamp page and show the pure quality of the artists on this amazing little label.

CRYSTAL FIGHTERS - AT HOME (TRUFIX MIX)

And from Montreal to Navarra, Spain and electronic folk 5-piece Crystal Fighters, who have been given the remix treatment from London dubstep type Trufix. The remix sees the original slowed down then have the aggression element pushed hard. The vocal still has a sweetness to it but it exists within a harshly swirling, stamping dubstep backing. This makes it less accessible than the original version but is still utterly brilliant, albeit in a somewhat different way. The band are planning Europe-wide gigs in the summer, including a performance at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk.

CRAFT SPELLS - YOU SHOULD CLOSE THE DOOR
http://stereogum.com/655072/18-dark-bands-to-watch-in-2011/franchises/listomania/





And finally, we have Seattle based Craft Spells, who have popped up on Stereogum's list of '18 Dark Bands to Watch Out For' (a list which also contains aTelecine and Brighton's Esben & The Witch). As the site acknowledges, Craft Spells stand out a little from the rest of the bands on the list, as they have a far more summery, blissful feel to their music, perfectly exhibited in You Should Close The Door. However, the darkness is there - the Ian Curtis comparison is obvious, but no less relevant for it and the synths are tinged with New Romantic misery. Craft Spells start their North American tour on Sunday, in their hometown, but here's hoping they'll be in the UK before too long, because they are utterly ace!

And that's your lot for this week, do have a spiffy weekend!