New Music: Horse Feathers, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Woodhands

(You Say Party! We Say Die!)

Download: Woodhands - "I Wasn't Made For Fighting"
Download: Horse Feathers - "Curs in the Weeds"
Download: You Say Party! We Say Die! - "Opportunity" (Montag Remix)

Three new tracks: one a remix, one a straightforward dance anthem, and the other being the kind of slow, whisper-in-a-dream folk music that Iron and Wine made his stake on before experimenting with Afro-Caribbean accentuation. The first is Montag's remix of excitable dance-punk group's You Say Party! We Say Die!'s "Opportunity". This remix nicks a little bit the melody to The Cure's "Close To Me", which itself was given a memorable remix treatment some years back. The 8-bit synth sounds here are wonderfully catchy. Next up is Woodlands, a Toronto-based electronic twosome whose track "I Wasn't Made For Fighting" stays more toward conventional dance music territory.

In other words, uh-tiss-uh-tiss-uh-tiss-uh-tiss ad infinitum. The track's got a lot of energy, and no doubt will induce many a hipster Heart Attack on the dance floor. It would surely sound better were I not typing this in my pajamas. Speaking of emerging from sleep, the new song from Horse Feathers sounds like music to help you do that exact thing. The Portland, Oregon-based folker will put out his newest release, House With No Home on Kill Rock Stars in September. Even though there's a strong current of Americana in here, the sweet, sad acoustic guitar part reminds me a lot of Big Star. In fact, there's a lot here that reminds me of other artists, and not in a good way. Nice violin part, though.

Listen to all three songs at the top of the post.

(Jonathan Graef)