Stream The Hold Steady's New Album In Its Entirety

We first heard about how Brooklyn-via-MPLS quintet The Hold Steady were "Sequestered In Memphis". Now you, yourselves, get to hear the rest of the album, and see how it stands against past classics like Seperation Sunday and Boys and Girls in America. Stay Positive, the band's highly anticipated fourth album, is streaming at the band's MySpace page. Click on the link in the previous sentence to listen to it.

Stay Positive is in stores on July 15th

Once again, stream Stay Positive at The Hold Steady MySpace Page

h/t Stereogum

(Jonathan Graef)

Stream New Albums From Madonna, Jamie Lidell In Their Entirety

In terms of release dates, tomorrow is a great one for fans of pop music. Madonna's new record, Hard Candy, comes out tomorrow, with its cover art showing Madge to be the führer of sexy, and Berlin-based soulster Jamie Lidell, whose new album Jim presumably details his slowly, sweetly blossoming romance with its fellow album Pam. You can find out whether or not either of these efforts are actually any good by heading over to the artists' respective MySpace pages, which you can find below. Listen to two MP3s at the top of the post.

Jamie Lidell MySpace Page
Madonna MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Stream Atmosphere's New Record In Its Entirety (Plus Atmosphere Karaoke and Paint It Gold #8)

Download: Atmosphere - "Shoulda Known"

As the old aphorism goes, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold. Or rather, that's how the old aphorism goes if you happen to be Slug and Ant, the Minneapolis-based rap duo known professionally as Atmosphere. You yourselves can find out whether or not the duo has made good on its unique brand of inspirational quoteage by streaming their new album in its entirety over at its MySpace Page.

Those wanting to hear the new songs in a live setting as well. In addition to kicking off their tour supporting Gold with two shows in the Windy City, Slug and Ant will also be headlining the Soundset Festival, an all-day hip-hop extravaganza featuring many of Rhymesayers's best players. However, if you think that you can rap just as well as Slug can, then you are in luck. How does Atmosphere karaoke sound to you? Check it out, via the duo's MySpace blog:

atmosphere karaoke.

on this upcoming string of release parties,
"when life gives you lemons, you paint your city gold,"
atmosphere, abstract rude, and dj rare groove will be doing sets,
and doing our bestest to make you smile.

but I am pleased to announce that before any of us play our music,
dj rare groove and myself will be personally hosting some "atmosphere karaoke."
a handful of you will be pulled up on stage to attempt to perform your
favorite atmosphere songs (while trying to keep your face straight).

this is not the normal tv screen karaoke where you get to see the words. atmosphere karaoke means you need to know the words to the songs you're performing. you sign up, tell us which song you're going to rap, dj rare groove drops the instrumental and you perform your favorite atmosphere song.

we will have a sign up sheet at the merch table.
along with a list of various songs for you to choose from.
each one of you that gets chosen will walk away with a free copy of
the new atmosphere album, "when life gives you lemons, you paint that shit gold."

Can it get any better? Actually, yes. Here is what in all likelihood be the last episode (since the record drops on Tuesday and everything) of the 'Sphere's YouTube series "Paint It Gold":



When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold comes out on Tuesday.

Atmosphere MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Stream New Albums From Tapes N Tapes, Man Man, and The Breeders, All In Their Entirety

Download: Tapes N Tapes - "Hang Them All"
Download: The Breeders - "Bang On"
Download: Man Man - "Top Drawer"

With all of the talk surrounding the political significance of Super Tuesdays in the past few months or so, it might be easy to forget that indie-fans have their own Super Tuesdays to anticipate. Namely, this coming Tuesday, April the 8th, will see the release of not one, not two, but five--Three, Sir!--um, three of indie-rock's most highly anticipated albums of the year. First off is MPLS's very own Tapes N Tapes, who are following their highly acclaimed debut The Loon with Walk It Off; The Breeders, who are releasing their first album in six years, Mountain Battles; and Man Man, who are also following up their own highly acclaimed 2006 release with a record called Rabbit Habbits, their third.

What's an indie-fan/cheap bastard to do?

Why, when life gives you lemons, you...stream...those albums...online...?

Yes, yes, behold the cluttered, visual clusterfuck glory known as MySpace Pages. Two of the three can be streamed at the band's MySpace homes: those would be Mountain Battles and Rabbit Habbits, respectively.

Stream Rabbit Habbits here
Stream Mountain Battles here

As for Walk It Off, head over to a little thing called MTV!, where you can hear all of the tracks for the price of zip-point-shit.

Stream Walk It Off here

All three records come out this Tuesday, the 8th.

Man Man MySpace Page
The Breeders MySpace Page
Tapes N Tapes MySpace Page

Read Rolling Stone's take on Walk It Off here.

(Jonathan Graef)

Stream Tapes N Tapes Walk It Off In Its Entirety For 24 Hours

Download: Tapes N Tapes - "Hang Them All"

Tapes N Tapes' second album,Walk It Off is one of the most highly anticipated albums of the spring. How badly do you want to hear it? Pretty badly, don't you? Well, for 24 hours, you have your chance to see if the MPLS-quartet have beat the sophomore slump. Go to this website to hear all of Walk It Off. Then come back to MFR and leave a comment about what you thought. Sounds good? Sure it does.

Walk It Off is out on April 8th.

(Jonathan Graef)

Stream Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks' Real Emotional Trash in its Entirety

Download: Stephen Malkmus - "Cold Son"
Download: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - "Baltimore"

Whether or not you are a wise consumer who likes to try something before they buy something or merely a cheap bastard who doesn't want to pay for music (you'll never guess which category I fall under), you can hear Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks newest album Real Emotional Trash before its release date, tomorrow the fourth. Through the magical social network MySpace, you can hear the entire record. Just head here to listen the complete album. Listen to the two MP3s that Matador has made available for download, "Baltimore" and "Cold Son", at the top of the post.

Real Emotional Trash is out tomorrow. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks will be playing First Avenue on March 19th. Tickets for the show can be bought here.

MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Stream Goldfrapp's Seventh Tree In Its Entirety

UK electronic-pop duo Goldfrapp's newest release Seventh Tree - which is set to be released in the States tomorrow, February 26th - hasn't been receiving the greatest of reviews as of late. MFR will have its own take on the record posted in the next couple of days. In the meantime, those who want to stream the record in its entirety can, and should, head over to the band's MySpace Page where all of Seventh Tree's 10 tracks are streaming. Listen for yourself, then decide whether or not some critics are being too harsh on the album.

GoldFrapp MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Stream British Sea Power's Do You Like Rock Music? In Its Entirety (Plus New Video For "No Lucifer")

Download: British Sea Power - "Waving Flags"
Download: British Sea Power - "Atom"

Though UK residents have been able to answer the titular question of British Sea Power's latest record for about a month now, US residents will finally be able to make that decision for themselves tomorrow. That's because Do You Like Rock Music?, the latest release from the British quartet, will arrive in US stores tomorrow. If you want helping figuring out if you're fond of music that emphasizes the off-beats and features prominent vocal melodies which are accompanied by guitar, drums, and bass, then I'd suggest you head on over to the band's MySpace page, where you can stream Do You Like Rock Music in its entirety.

As far as MFR's own answer to British Sea Power's question? Yes. We do. Now check out the creepy puppets of BSP's new video for DYLRM? single "No Lucifer".



MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Stream The Helio Sequence's Keep Your Eyes Ahead In Its Entirety

Download: The Helio Sequence - "Keep Your Eyes Ahead"

Lost in all of the Vampire Weekend madness of the past few days (OMG! It's finally here! Praise Be To Jebus!) is the fact that The Helio Sequence, a none-too-shabby band themselves, have just released a record titled Keep Your Eyes Ahead. If you fine readers are interested in said record, The Helio Sequence's fourth, then head on over to their MySpace page where you can listen to Keep Your Eyes in its entirety. Before you do so, listen to the title track at the top of the post.

Buy Keep Your Eyes Ahead here.

The Helio Sequence MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Stream Black Mountain's In The Future In Its Entirety

Download: Black Mountain - "Tyrants"

Over at the band's MySpace Page. I'm about 90 percent complete with my first listen of Into The Future, which means you can expect a review up on Monday or Tuesday. So far, the tracks that have stood out for me have been "Angels" and "Wucan", but I'll obviously will go into more detail next week.

The band will be playing the 7th Street Entry on March 24th.

MySpace Page.

(Jonathan Graef)

More Streams Than You Can Shake A Stick At

Today is quite the day for indie releases, as you probably know. If, for whatever reason, you are hesitant about purchasing these albums and want to listen to the albums in whole before you buy them, you may stream the albums here:

Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War
Download: Stars - "Take Me To The Riot"

Stream at MySpace Page

Iron and Wine - The Shepard's Dog
Download: Iron and Wine - "Lovesong of the Buzzard"

Stream at MySpace Page

Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Download: Devendra Banhart – “Seahorse”

Stream at MySpace Page

The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
See previous post for MP3.

Stream at MySpace Page

Stream albums by Foo Fighters and Dethklok here.

(Jonathan Graef)