The Fix

Don’t have time to search out this week’s essential new music? That’s why we’re here.

Silver Jews “Strange Victory, Strange Defeat”
We’re instant fans of any song that opens with the line, “Squirrels imported from Connecticut, just in time for fall.” This one just happens to go above and beyond the call of duty with its jangly guitar refrain, shouted harmonies and the newly sober David Berman’s deadpan delivery. A winner!

(via Drag City)

Wolf Parade “Call It a Ritual”
A wobbly, woozy and thoroughly lovely taste from the Canadian indie rock heroes’ new album, At Mount Zoomer, driven by a pounding piano melody and stately vocals.
(via Sub Pop)

My Brightest Diamond “Inside a Boy”
Ever wanted to hear Bjork fronting Rush? The new album by classically trained vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Shara Worden might be the closest you get. The fact that she walks around with deer antlers on her head is just a bonus.
(via Toolshed Media)

Teddy Thompson “In My Arms”
Constant touring with fellow folk-rock offspring Rufus Wainwright has brought out the best in Richard and Linda Thompson’s kid, as evidenced by this lush ballad from his fourth and best album, A Piece of What You Need.
(via Shore Fire)

Tilly and The Wall “Pot Kettle Black”
Proper, fuzz-guitar fueled garage rock from the Omaha, Nebraska fivesome’s third album, O. It’s like the lo-fi version of Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl.”
(via Team Love Records)

Don’t have time to search out this week’s essential new music? That’s why we’re here.

Fleet Foxes “White Winter Hymnal”
If only every band with beards could pass through Detroit on its pilgrimage to Laurel Canyon, swallow a big gulp of baroque pop with its nightly intake of Beach Boys, and genuinely embrace the weirdness then maybe–just maybe–they would all sound as wonderful as this Seattle five-piece does on this little taster from its spectacular full-length debut.

(via Sub Pop)

The Futureheads “Broke Up The Time”
Their no-holds-barred cover of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love” will remain The Futureheads’ crowning moment, but with this choppy post-punk throwback they’re getting pretty close to having another.
(via The Futureheads)

Ed Harcourt “Revolution of the Heart”
Ed Harcourt hasn’t given up his lifelong pursuit of making every single one of his songs as epic as The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life.” This one packs on the pianos, handclaps and swooping vocals in several layers, sounding quite massive in its own right.
(via Dovecote Records)

Wolf Parade “Language City”
Wolf Parade is trying hard to escape the “prog-rock” tag. We can’t speak for the rest of the group’s second album, but this bouncy piano-driven rock track can only help. It turns out they’re actually just a new-wave band in search of the perfect John Hughes movie in which to make a cameo.
(via Sub Pop)

Bo Diddley “Who Do You Love?”
This rock and roll classic has been covered by everyone from Eric Clapton and The Band to The Doors and Jesus and Mary Chan, but never better than by the man who originally wrote it and released it in 1956.
(via Leather Canary)