Just Rolled In: D.D Dumbo - "Walrus" and "Satan" [experimental pop / psychedelic / folk]

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Oliver Hugh Perry, the Australian multi-instrumentalist behind D.D Dumbo, and what may be this year's most inventive and infectious music, is nothing short of a musical genius. He made his mark back in 2013 with some standout solo performances and a subsequent 2014 self-recorded eponymous EP, creating his own bizarre sonic world by mixing psychedelia, pop, and folk with the aid of a microphone, 12-string guitar, two drums, and a floor full of effects pedals.

This year he released what immediately became my favorite song of the year, "Satan"—a chaotic groove that chugs along at a menacing pace and, compared to his debut EP, really ups the ante in terms of instrument/effects experimentation and vocal force. And if "Satan" wasn't enough to secure D.D Dumbo's upcoming Utopia Defeated LP as my most anticipated album of the year, Perry releases another catchy single, "Walrus", employing the same dynamic vocal range, frenetic fret work, and innovative approach to percussion and looping as its predecessor. I can't wait to see what other gems the upcoming full-length holds.

D.D Dumbo's Utopia Defeated hits shelves October 7 on 4AD. Grab a copy here. Check out the two singles below, as well as the excellent music video for "Satan".

Just Rolled In: Local Natives - "Coins" [indie rock]

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"Coins" is the latest cut from Local Natives' highly anticipated third album Sunlit Youth, hitting stores September 9 via Loma Vista Recordings. What starts out as a subtle bluesy track quickly unfolds into a lustrous, impassioned affair, replete with airy synths and velvety vocal harmonies, fitting in nicely alongside the arsenal of strong singles recently released in support of the new album.

Listen to all four singles below and preorder Sunlit Youth here.

holaTUBE: Brian Cook - "Playground Love" (Air cover) [indie folk / singer-songwriter / acoustic]

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San Diego-via-Colorado singer-songwriter Brian Cook, who also records music as beardream, leads us slowly into the sunset in beautiful Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California with his dreamy, acoustic cover of Air's "Playground Love", which was co-written and sung by Thomas Mars (aka Gordon Tracks) of the French indie rock band Phoenix. Check out the video above, which was produced by holaOLA's Sean Lewis.

Artist Making Waves: Whitney - "No Woman", "Golden Days", and "No Matter Where We Go" [indie rock / alt-country / soul]

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About a year and a half ago, Chicago indie rock band Smith Westerns announced their breakup after penning three solid albums together. Since then, the band's frontman Cullen Omori has released a solo record on Sub Pop while guitarist Max Kakacek and drummer Julien Ehrlich (ex-Unknown Mortal Orchestra) have gone on to form the band Whitney, subsequently signing with Secretly Canadian.

Ehrlich and Kakacek share songwriting duties in Whitney, crafting warm, melancholic songs layered with jangly acoustic guitar, Kakacek's signature twangy guitar leads, triumphant horn sections, and topped with Ehrlich's soulful, unassuming falsetto. They recorded with a full band in California with Foxygen's Jonathan Rado, which makes sense seeing as both band's songs sound like they could have come from the late 60s.

Whitney will be on tour for the next couple months in support of their debut album Light Upon The Lake. Go out and catch a show and pick up a copy of their record when it hits shelves June 3rd. Check out the first two singles from the album that have been bringing Whitney lots of positive attention, "No Woman" and "Golden Days", plus their first demo, "No Matter Where We Go".

Swell Album: Mothers - When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired [indie rock / folk / experimental]

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Mothers is an indie band from Athens, Georgia with one hell of a debut album and an unforgettable live performance to back it up. When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired came out a couple weeks ago and is currently my favorite release of 2016. Singer/guitarist Kristine Leschper's gorgeously fragile voice bears a striking resemblance to that of fellow indie folkstress Angel Olsen (whose last album wound up at #2 of our best of 2014 list), but Mothers makes a name for themselves by experimenting with richer instrumentation and more complex compositions.

What begins as a simple folk song with acoustic guitar and piano, the beautiful album opener "Too Small for Eyes" really takes off when it welcomes a sweeping string orchestra into the mix about halfway through. Mothers flips the script on the next couple of songs, "It Hurts Until It Doesn't" and "Copper Mines", introducing the listener to the more rock-driven sound that they do so well, with busy intertwining guitars and powerful percussion. Not unlike other bands drawing from multiple genres, on the rest of When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired Mothers balances these two different styles song to song before leading us to the epic 7-minute rollercoaster of a closer, "Hold Your Own Hand", which alternates between uptempo with downtempo, catapulting you into space one moment while channeling veteran post-rockers Explosions in the Sky, then abruptly cutting the power to let you slowly drift away with Leschper's voice as your only beacon. Instead of letting you coast to a smooth stop, Mothers caps their debut with a bang to remember, one final shot for the stars.

Stream When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired below and get your hands on a copy of the album here.

Artist Making Waves: Szymon [indie rock / folktronica]

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Szymon Borzestowski was a talented young singer/songwriter/musician from Newcastle, Australia who lost his battle with depression at age 23. When he was 19 years old he struck a deal with EMI but never got to release his music, so following his tragic passing his family got together with some record industry people to see that the music he had recorded in his home studio got released. More often than not, tragic backstories such as this one tend to be what carries posthumous works of art to a certain level of success or notoriety, but Szymon's debut LP Tigersapp speaks for itself, seeing as I was hooked on the album before ever hearing anything about the artist.

Drawing from the indie rock, folk, and electronica genres, Szymon employs his smooth vocal harmonies, intricate guitar melodies, ambient electronics, and catchy songwriting to make Tigersapp a truly unique album that is sure to live on, both as a celebration of an artist's life and talents, and as an extraordinary record in and of itself.

Listen to two of Tigersapp's singles below, the upbeat "Medusa" and dreamy "Golden", and order the full album here.

Swell Album - Moses Gunn Collective - Mercy Mountain [psychedelic / indie rock] ***ALBUM STREAM***

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Brisbane's favorite psych-rockers Moses Gunn Collective have just unleashed their epic debut album, Mercy Mountain, complete with dreamy chops, oozy guitar solos, tumultuous jams, anthem sing-alongs, soulful falsettos, and just overall weird beauty. The five-piece have been around for a few years and are known for their trippy homemade costumes, impressive onstage dance moves, and of course, their frantic and fun take on psychedelic rock. Mercy Mountain just further solidifies them as one of Australia's most promising new bands.

As you drift through the 13 beautiful tracks on Mercy Mountain, you may be reminded of contemporary psych greats Tame Impala, MGMT, Foxygen, Connan Mockasin, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Deerhunter, or Thee Oh Sees, but just as each of those bands differs greatly from the others, Moses Gunn Collective also fit into their very own space on the psych spectrum, a glittery place where songwriting, melody, and good vibes rule.

Stream Moses Gunn Collective's debut album Mercy Mountain below and purchase your very own copy on iTunes.

Swell Album: Triptides - Azur [psychedelic rock / indie pop / surf]

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Los Angeles's new residents Triptides have come a long way from the bedrooms of founding members (and primary songwriters) Glenn Brigman and Josh Menashe in Bloomington, Indiana. They have since transformed into a four-piece and have been steadily pushing out recordings for almost five years now. The psychedelic guitar pop band's most recent LP and followup to last year's Colors EP is Azur, which came out July 10 via Requiem Pour Un Twister.

As you may have gathered from the band's name and album art, Azur is a very warm, summery listening experience, but it shouldn't be limited to that. Although Triptides' intricate guitars and overall breezy vibe may recall current bands like Real Estate at times, it's their effortless ability to fuse 60s-influenced psychedelic, surf, and pop melodies together into fresh, memorable songs that makes them irreplaceable.

Considering the balance that the guys of Triptides have crafted between upbeat guitar pop songs and more relaxed psychedelic tunes on Azur, it's clear that they are more than just a one-trick pony hoping to get one of their sunny tracks lost amongst the uniformity of someone's Summer '15 playlist. Azur is an impressive album front to back and deserves to be listened to in full, no matter the season.

Grab yourself a copy of Azur here and check out the excellent singles "Wake", "Dark Side", "Hideout", and "Where You Are" below!

Just Rolled In: Darwin Deez - "Kill Your Attitude" [indie pop / indie rock]

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Two years have passed since Brooklyn's charismatic indie-pop mastermind Darwin Deez released his sophomore effort Songs For Imaginative People. A few weeks ago, the first song since that album, "Kill Your Attitude", was featured on Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 show and not long after, Deez sent out a blast email to his mailing list fans announcing that his band's third LP Double Down was finished and that it would be available September 18th via Lucky Number Music. A good month for Darwin Deez fans!

We are yanked back into the bittersweet world of Darwin Deez with "Kill Your Attitude", an upbeat indie pop song about the not-so-cheery issue of "interpersonal squabbling". It's immediately recognizable as a Deez tune for its bare-bones introduction with nothing more than a punchy guitar, pulsing snare hits, and Darwin's heartfelt vocals which eventually evolves into a bouncy, hook-heavy jam (complete with a rad half-minute guitar solo) that you can't help but imagine singing and bobbing along to live.

Stream Darwin Deez's new single "Kill Your Attitude" and/or watch the creative official music video below, and check out the classic "Radar Detector" from his 2010 self-titled debut. Pre-order your digital copy of Double Down here and for the physical copy click here.

Just Rolled In: Redspencer - "Ride It Out" and "Happy Slow Riverbends" [jangle pop / indie rock / lo-fi]

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Based in Melbourne but originally from New South Wales, the jangly indie rock trio Redspencer have shared two catchy singles this month in anticipation of the June 1st release of their debut EP.

The first single, "Happy Slow Riverbends", is the sunnier of the two and gives off a sort of Darwin Deez or Spoon vibe with its bouncy rhythm, punchy guitar riffs, and distorted vocals, while the newest single, "Ride It Out", is a more introspective cut, allowing the restless guitars to do most of the talking, much like summery guitar-pop poster boys Real Estate and Mac DeMarco.

Stream Redspencer's two new singles below and be sure to buy the debut EP coming out June 1st via Deaf Ambitions! And if you're in Melbourne, hit up their EP launch show at Bar Open on Friday, June 5th with Tourist Dollars and Head Clouds.

holaTUBE: Unknown Mortal Orchestra - "Multi-Love" [psych pop / indie rock / soul]

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Five years have passed since Ruban Nielson's first song as Unknown Mortal Orchestra, "Ffunny Ffrends", first infiltrated and spread like wildfire throughout the interwebs. After living up to the first adjective of his moniker by actually remaining anonymous for some time, forming a band, and gaining a huge following for their first two full-lengths of lo-fi polychromatic psych pop (the second of which made holaOLA's list of the best albums of 2013), the Portland-based Kiwi is back with a third, Multi-Love, which hits shelves May 26 via Jagjaguwar and, interestingly enough, was influenced by his recent experience with a polyamorous relationship.

UMO's first two singles (the lead-off title track and "Can't Keep Checking My Phone") set the bar high for the new album, not straying too far from the feel of their previous recordings but enriching their unique sound with noticeably higher fidelity production and the addition of other instruments and sounds that give their songs new depth and texture (especially on the latter track).

Hear it for yourself in the psychedelic music video for "Multi-Love" below and stream their funky second single "Can't Keep Checking My Phone" below that.

Purchase a physical copy of Multi-Love here or download it on iTunes.

Just Rolled In: Denpasar - "Don't Know Why" [indie pop / indie rock / dream pop]

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Ben Fahey and Alex L'Estrange from Brisbane's Denpasar are back (with the help of Sam Cromack) with a new song called "Don't Know Why". This one's much more laid back than their previous singles and evidently, melody and charm are still a priority. Beyond Fahey's effortless vocals, the catchy guitar melodies, and smooth bass lines, lies a hazy blanket of dreamy, but subtle electronics, which gives the song kind of a Grandaddy feel.

Denpasar's track record may be pretty concise at the moment but it sure is looking good, and "Don't Know Why" further proves that they have range and a knack for good songwriting.

Stream "Don't Know Why" below and follow the link to listen to "Dumb Fun" and "Old Enough" from our first post about Denpasar. The new song is available for download on their Bandcamp on a pay-what-you-want basis.

Just Rolled In: Sans Parents - "Loose People" [indie rock / garage pop]

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Yet another new project rising from the ashes of the breakup of the beloved Australian indie pop band Hungry Kids of Hungary (see Rolls Bayce and Born Joy Dead), Sans Parents have just released  "Loose People", their second single as a band.  The four-piece is made up of two ex-Hungry Kids, Kane Mazlin (vocals/keys) and Ryan Strathie (drums), as well as former HKOH touring member Alex Bennison (lead vocals/guitar) and Babaganoüj/ex-Yves Klein Blue member Charles Sale (bass). They debuted their first single, "Coming Back To You", last November before Sale had joined. That 2-minute aggressive garage pop jam is followed by "Loose People", another short and catchy song that sounds kind of like the 90s indie rock equivalent to Paul Simon's "Kodachrome", filled to the brim with breezy guitar hooks and irresistible vocal melodies. Seeing as they're two for two so far, you can add Sans Parents to that list of up-and-coming Australian bands that churn out nothing but instantly appealing pop greatness.

Stream "Loose People" and "Coming Back To You" below.

Artist Making Waves: Waterstrider - "Nowhere Now" [indie rock / afropop / world]

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So far this year, Oakland, California's indie-rock five-piece Waterstrider has been featured on Hype Machine's weekly Most Blogged Artists list three times. That's saying a lot, considering they aren't a major label electro-pop band or remixing already popular songs. What they are doing is making danceable indie rock with afro-beat percussion, catchy guitar hooks, and energetic vocals, which certainly deserves all the hype it's getting.

In preparation for the release of their debut album Nowhere Now, Waterstrider has shared four beautiful singles, each one differing quite a bit from the last while sticking to the worldly instrumentation that sets them apart from the rest of the indie scene. With their most recent single, the title track "Nowhere Now", the band really embraces the upbeat guitars and percussion characteristic of afropop but the distorted bass and lead singer Nate Salman's frenzied falsetto and not-so-sunny lyrics provide a unique contrast, a slight contradiction that really makes Waterstrider interesting.

Stream Waterstrider's 2011 Constellation EP on Bandcamp (available for free download) and listen to the first four singles ("Nowhere Now", "White Light", "Redwood", and "Calliope") from the upcoming Nowhere Now LP below. You can pre-order the album on Bandcamp (and get 4 tracks now) or get your hands on one when it hits shelves April 6.

Swell Album: The Migrant - Flood [indie rock / folk rock / psychedelic / blues] (FULL ALBUM STREAM)

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The Migrant is the moniker of Danish musician Bjarke Bendtsen, which, intrinsically, is what he is—a migrant. Although Bendtsen is from Copenhagen, he is also a sporadic resident of Austin, Texas, a place he says "has everything a Dane needs" and where he even has a second backing band (for US tours), the first being in his natal city. He has been performing as The Migrant for five years now and has four albums to show for it, the latest being Flood, which was released this past January.

Flood is essentially a guitar record, something that is, unfortunately, becoming more and more archaic in the constantly changing world of indie rock. Throughout the album, Bendtsen skillfully draws from his colorful palette of influences—rock, folk, blues, psychedelia—to produce captivating songs that range from soothing ("Flood", "Silence", and "Row Row") to rocking ("Belly of a Man", "Water", and "Tiger"), and ones that find a happy balance between the two ("The Climber" and "Give Up").

While listening to Flood, a couple of my favorite bands/musicians come to mind. Bendtsen's nimble fingerpicking and tender vocals alongside the driving percussion on "The Fixer" wouldn't sound out of place on a Dodos record, while his occasional quivering voice and falsetto tend to give off Thom Yorke vibes, which would make sense seeing as Radiohead is one of his main influences.

Similarities and influences aside, Flood is an excellent indie rock album from start to finish with equal doses of folk and psychedelia injected into it. The fact that The Migrant isn't already flooding the blogosphere with his new album is beyond me, but he's got the perfect chance to change that this upcoming weekend in Austin, where Bendtsen will not only be playing with his local backing band at SXSW, but he will have a handful of songs featured in an independent film called Limbo that will be showing tomorrow (March 18) at the festival.

Check out the tour dates on his website or Facebook page and stream the entire album for free below. To listen to his first three albums in full, head on over to The Migrant's BandCamp page.

Just Rolled In: Crepes - "Stages of Fear" [slacker pop / indie rock / jangle pop / psychedelic]

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The promising Melbourne-based slacker-pop band Crepes have just put out their second single, "Stages of Fear", which sticks to the psych-tinged jangle pop we were introduced to in "Ain't Horrible" but shows that they can do upbeat just as well as downbeat. This bouncy track along with its contrasting predecessor paint a pretty clear picture of the range of songs that you can expect on their debut EP being released in mid-April. In the meantime, boogie down with "Stages of Fear".

Swell Album: Gibberish - 'Winter Coat' [psych pop / indie rock / experimental]

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Released just after the turn of the year, Winter Coat is the beaming debut album by Fayetteville, Arkansas psychedelic duo Gibberish, a.k.a. married couple Derek and Lorie Bromley. They started writing music together under the moniker 'monsterheart' last year but were recently forced to change their name, deciding on 'Gibberish' a couple months ago, just before the release of the self-produced and self-released Winter Coat. Considering that the Bromleys had only been performing live for audiences for just over two months at the time their debut effort hit the proverbial shelves, it shows that they are wasting no time in establishing Gibberish as a force to reckon with in this ever-expanding world of independent music.

With only one song coming in under the five-minute mark, this gem of a record pushes along for a solid 45 minutes, relentlessly charming the listener with its penchant for lustrous melody, abstract soundscapes, and spacey ambience. Winter Coat is a psychedelic concoction of organic instruments, electronic embellishments, and reverb-heavy vocals carefully thrown together with plenty of loops and effects via lo-fi-leaning production techniques. By listening to its eight individually diverse tracks, I was able to draw some comparisons to Animal Collective, Atlas Sound, Gauntlet Hair, and Youth Lagoon, but when asked about Gibberish's influences, this is what Derek had to say:

Our influences vary, but lately we've really been getting into Morgan Delt, Viet Cong, and Cant. We've also been listening to a lot of ambient, space-hop type stuff (or whatever you call it) like, Shlohmo, Balam Acab, Gold Panda and Teebs. When I first started really getting into music as a teenager, Radiohead was the gate-way drug that led to what's probably our "main" musical influences like – Animal Collective, Pavement, Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Beck, The Flaming Lips, Sigur Ros, Deerhunter, Grizzly Bear, Menomena, Chad VanGaalen, Modest Mouse, Portishead, Broadcast, etc... 

Stream Winter Coat in its entirety below and hit up Gibberish's BandCamp page to download it on a pay-what-you-want basis.

Just Rolled In: Crepes - "Ain't Horrible" [slacker pop / jangle pop / indie rock]

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One of the most recent additions to Melbourne's robust indie music scene, the four-piece band Crepes (originally from Ballarat), has just released the easy going indie pop track "Ain't Horrible" as the first single from their forthcoming 2015 debut EP. The song's laid-back guitar/drums interplay and singer Tim Karmouche's lackadaisical vocal delivery remind me of a mix between Cass McCombs and Melbourne "dolewave" band Dick Diver, while its gratifying blend of harmonizing vocals and keys and the sometimes-strange assorted sound effects layered throughout the choruses and latter half of the song give me the feeling that I'm falling in slow motion into the freaky psychedelic realm of Connan Mockasin or Mac DeMarco. However, the way that Crepes have managed to draw from multiple influences to make a "slacker pop" song sound so rich, smooth, and catchy is what makes them truly unmatchable, and as the title seems to suggest, not horrible.

Just Rolled In: Denpasar - "Dumb Fun" / "Old Enough" [indie pop / indie rock]

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As I tend to do in my spare time, I was spending the evening clicking through SoundCloud pages on my endless search for new music when I came across something that immediately stood out: the instantly gratifying and catchy-as-hell indie pop song "Dumb Fun" by Brisbane, Australia duo Denpasar (off their upcoming Joy EP). In the same vein as the snarly San Diego surf punks Wavves, Ben Fahey (who composed the song and seems to be the primary singer of the band) along with his production-savvy counterpart Alex L'Estrange pummel through this addictive track tirelessly, winding up just under the two-and-a-half minute mark, and with Fahey hardly having taken a breath.

Another pick from Denpasar's Joy EP, "Old Enough", caught my ear with its shimmery guitars, complex structure, and glossier indie pop finish. This one was composed by L'Estrange and rolls along at a more leisurely pace, but is unfortunately even shorter than "Dumb Fun". The slightly snotty vocals of the previous track are traded for more dreamy-sounding ones on "Old Enough", which makes for more of a euphoric listen.

The Joy EP was slated to be out mid-2014, but I haven't been able to locate it online, so check Denpasar's Facebook page for updates.

Stream the two songs below, along with a couple great tracks from Fahey and L'Estrange's previous indie rock band Don Koyote and a recent song from another one of L'Estrange's current projects – Bilby.

Just Rolled In: Wilder Maker - "Hope Springs" [americana / indie folk]

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Boston-born, Brooklyn-dwelling Gabriel Birnbaum is the songwriter behind the Americana/folk rock band Wilder Maker, which used to be known as Boy Without God and already has a couple records out, but his credits don't stop there. Whether on stage or in the studio, the twenty-eight-year-old musician has played with the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Jens Lekman, Akron/Family, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, DeVotchKa, Landlady, and SKATERS. He is also a member of the Ethiopian pop group Debo Band who released a critically-acclaimed full length back in 2012 via Sub Pop Records.

With this extensive résumé and the release of the lead single, "Hope Springs", from the first volume of Wilder Maker's upcoming Everyday Crimes Against Objects of Desire series, Gabriel Birnbaum is on the right track to making a name for himself and putting his band on the map. The song floats along at a leisurely pace with wispy guitars, dreamy organs, and beautiful boy/girl vocal harmonies, but the most standout characteristics of the track are Birnbaum's blues-y baritone (much like Bill Callahan's voice, or Justin Vernon's, when he's not hitting falsettos or tweaking the AutoTune knob) and the contradictory echo of the word "die" during the hopeful choruses. However, considering that Everyday Crimes... is a conceptual series of three EPs dealing with the tribulations of a rough breakup, the mixed emotions of the choruses make sense, and when bandmate Katie Von Schleicher chimes in with Birnbaum on the choruses just after he finishes reminiscing over his lost love in the verses, it effectively adds a realness to the melancholic situation of which we have just scratched the surface with "Hope Springs".

Pre-order a copy of Everyday Crimes Against Objects of Desire, Vol. I here or get your hands on it when it's released November 18 via Bleaksploitation Records. Enjoy the first single "Hope Springs" from Wilder Maker's three-part EP series below, as well as an excellent track from their 2013 album Year of Endless Light.