In Case You Missed Them: The Receiving End Of Sirens

This Week: The Receiving End Of Sirens

The Receiving End of Sirens (often abbreviated TREOS) was a Post Hardcore/Rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. From 2003-2004, they quickly became a local favorite in the Boston scene. With the departure of lead singer Ben Potrykus and addition of Casey Crescenzo (The Dear Hunter),  the bands sound became far more technical compared to their simple rock roots. In April 2005, their highly anticipated full-length album “Between The Heart and the Synapse” was released on Triple Crown Records. With three singers and a mixture of straight up rock, hardcore, and electronic samples, Treos’ sound was very unique, thus allowing them to quickly climb the charts. Their follow up record “The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi” was a more toned down record, but still featured equally complex guitar work as their debut. TREOS disbanded in 2008 with the release of a statement by Singer Brendan Brown:

“I, Brendan, must admit that I am the main reason why TREOS is ending. My choice to no longer continue on with The Receiving End of Sirens has nothing to do with a lack of love for my band, and/or band members. It has nothing to do with a lack of passion for our music, or any music for that matter. My decision is due mostly in part to a huge rearranging of priorities in my life, and the unquestionable responsibility that comes along with becoming a father…”

Though the Band still plays one-off shows every few years, members have said the odds of seeing a full tour or a new album are slim to none.

For fans of: The Dear Hunter, Therefore I Am, Envy On The Coast, Gatsby’s American Dream.

Video: Saints of Valory- Man of Constant Sorrow (Soggy Bottom Boys Cover)

They took the name of the band they covered pretty damn literal, eh?

Listen to Saints of Valory on BandSoup

What are the best and worst stage moves in metal?

Metal Injection asked bands on this Summer's touring festivals what they think are the best stage moves in metal. After you find out what Crabcore is, you can check out these awesome BandSoup metal bands!

Red Fang (who appear in this video)

Balor's Eye 

Sky Came Burning

Fight on the Freeway

The Gods of Now

Cerebellion

Galaxicon

The Crow Murder

Snakeoil Salesman

Tolerance for Tragedy

SYLPHEED

Video: Halfway to Avalon- Bedroom Eyes (Live)

Boston bred alternative rock band Halfway to Avalon released a live performance of their song Bedroom Eyes, so I decided to share it since we haven't covered them yet. You can also watch their video for Artifacts below.

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Moovalya- Wasteland EP

Moovalya (Move All Ya) is a melodic punk trio hailing from the Phoenix desert led by Benjamin Jones on guitar/vocals, Sean Stroud on bass/vocals, and Mitch Hosier on drums. Last week, Moovalya released their new Wasteland EP featuring three infectious and energetic cuts ready to rock a skate park near you.

Listen to Moovalya on BandSoup

The EP was just released on iTunes, but you can also purchase the EP on Bandcamp where you have a few package options to choose from with original Moovalya t-shirts.

Moovalya also has two great videos from their debut album, First Degree. Here are the videos for "She Will Bleed" and "Overdrive" below.

Video: Fiction 20 Down- Say So Long

This past July, Baltimore's Fiction 20 Down released their Do Not Feed the Radio EP. Here is the first video from the release, Say So Long. 

Do Not Feed the Radio is available now on iTunes.

Hailing from Baltimore, MD, Fiction 20 Down delivers refreshingly diverse tunes that are at once upbeat, yet soothing; delightfully melodic yet rocking. Critics often try to neatly put them in the reggae-rock bucket, but that leaves out so much behind the fabric of their music. Perhaps Indie Music Review was closest to the target when they said, “(F20D delivers) a delightful, upbeat, soothing rock fusion mix, with elements of hip-hop, reggae and pure rock.

Click Here to Listen to More Fiction 20 Down on BandSoup

Videos: The Daily Times- This is Everything x Cause & Effect

The Daily Times is a four piece punk band from Toronto, Canada who have been playing since 2006. After four years, two line-up changes, tons of shitty and great shows, two car accidents, three jam spaces, new born babies, thousands of veggie burgers, tattoos, farts, fights, and a bio written BY them but in the third person: The Daily Times remains unified. So unified that they independently released their debut full length album "Bad News" in 2008. Their second album "Young Today Dead Tomorrow" was released in 2010 and has received solid reviews. The band is currently writing new music and has given their fans a taste of what's to come with the release of their latest single "This Is Everything".

Here is the video for This Is Everything (above) and the video for Cause & Effect (below) from their sophomore release, Young Today Dead Tomorrow.  You can download the full album and single from their bandcamp page right now!

Click Here to Listen to The Daily Times on BandSoup

(click artist link on This is Everything for free downloads)

Soup of the Day #16: Eyes of Mars- Dirty Kisses

If the words trashy, sex driven, and dark-pop didn't conjure up enough crazy images in your mind, you should try some Eyes of Mars videos. Grainy, grimey, odd-- their videos and youtube transmissions accent their catchy, heavy bass driven form of electronic sex rock perfectly and leave you aching for more. 


On September 23rd, Eyes of Mars will be releasing their anticipated Dirty Kisses EP, featuring the infectious title track that they recently shared on BandSoup. The EP is available to pre-order now for £3. If you pre-order here, you receive an exclusive first look at their new video‬. I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it and I can safely say it's worth the price of admission alone. 

Click Here to Listen to Dirty Kisses on BandSoup

In Case You Missed Them: You, Me, And Everyone We Know

Seeing as Bandsoup is giving me more freedom than my scatter-brained self should have. I have decided to start a weekly “incase you missed them” column. Where I feature bands that have broken up, but still feel you should listen to.

-Matt

This Week: You, Me, And Everyone We Know.

Formed in 2006 In Baltimore, MD YMAEWK’s tongue and cheek lyrics, and Infectious hooks were becoming a gaint in the pop-rock world. Their first release “Party For The Grown And Sexy” was a healthy mix of pop-punk, jazzy bass lines, and simple but fascinating guitar work. After the release of their second EP “So Young, So Insane” and a brief hiatus, the band resurfaced with a few new members. They also had a new full-length record in hand, titled “Some Things Don’t Wash Out, “Released on Dog House Records in 2010. Due to a well-publicized feud between members the band decided to call it quits. Although plagued with bad timing, and drama You, Me, And Everyone We Know’s Music is still one of MY favorites and hopefully a few listens will convince you of the same.

Young Circles

Today I found an interesting up and coming band from Miami that pride themselves on transcending genres and labels while creating "NEW" music for the information-raped 20th century music fiend.

The first impression came in the form of the Young Circles' first quarter gift, Bones EP. The first two songs had enough to perk my ears, but as soon as "Sharp Teeth" began to flip-flop back and forth between rap vocals and dirty guitar riffs I began to have flashbacks of my favorite childhood albums, Mellow Gold and Odelay. While tripping face off nostalgia, Young Circles continued their impressive onslaught. The end of "Sharp Teeth" melted flawlessly into the best song on the album, "Halfway Up", where a neat psychedelic grind in the first half of the song darts into a dreamy chorus (1:26) before diving back into a cesspool of beautiful distortion. To top things off,  they accomplish this without any sign of forced eclecticism or pretentiousness. What we have here is rare and really fucking exciting.

Click Here to Listen to Young Circles on BandSoup

The infatuation with the Bones EP turned into the discovery of their brand new free album, Jungle Habits. If the EP got you lifted, Jungle Habits is the trouble sack of pure that causes a lifetime habit. Riddled with circuitous compositions, spacey layers, and addicting genre-bending transitions, this is the album that will place Young Circles on the pedestal they belong on. It's only a matter of minutes before the youth form shrine circles around their bandcamp and start sucking down the electrifying kool aid this band has to offer.

Download: Young Circles- Jungle Habits (Free Album)

Video: Contrabland- Hollywood

Here is the latest bugged out video Contrabland.

Click Here to Listen to More Songs from Contrabland

LA Font- Fine Lines x Live Performances

After recently sharing two new songs with us on BandSoup, Los Angeles quartet LA Font sent over a few live performance videos and an awesome older video for a song from their debut album, The American Leagues. All of their material is available as a free download by clicking the artist link on their BandSoup songs.

Click Here to Listen to LA Font on BandSoup & For Free Downloads

Here is the official video for "Fine Lines" (featuring floating instruments, ghosts, machine guns, and a sasquatch murder) and two live performances for "Stay Dry" and "The American Leagues" in one of the band member's apartments.

"The band's garage-rock debut, 'The American Leagues,' smolders with 'Slanted and Enchanted'-style fuzz and spastic songs that threaten to run off the rails. Leading the charge is frontman Danny Bobbe, an Alaska native who arrived in L.A. by way of Montana who sings from a constant state of snarly irritation. His topics (and targets) of choice include girls, elitism and elitist girls; sounds like he's settling into L.A. just fine." – L.A Times Brand X

Free EP: The Peach Kings- Trip Wop

Paige Wood and Steven Trezevant are an East Los Angeles gypsydelic duo that go by the name The Peach Kings. Led by Paige's sensual vocals and supported by Steven's moody chords, The Peach Kings combine vintage blues, soul, and folk to provide us with what some call "heist music in technicolor".

Recently, The Peach Kings released a free EP, Trip-Wop. The Peach King's describe it as "a new breakthrough in The Peach Kings' hypnotic science of sound that fuses the melodic and vocal elements of doo-wop with the droning thump and choked up percussion of a trip-hop beat."


You can listen to the new EP here and download the EP by going to their home page.

Download: The Peach Kings- Trip-Wop EP

Click Here to Listen to the EP and more music from The Peach Kings

Video: DRGN KING- Holy Ghost

Here's the first video/song from DRGN KING's first full length album coming out this Fall. It's the follow up to their Warriors EP, which we covered a few months ago. 


A free download of this single is available when you click artist link.

Click Here to Listen to Dragon King on BandSoup

Dominic Angelella is a tall and lanky fellow with fire ant colored Jesus-hair and an unkempt beard, which is a perfect picture to paint of the man behind the divine vocals of Philadelphia based indie pop quartet, Dragon King.

The quarter lived singer and guitarist started Dragon King as a studio project with producer Ritz Reynolds. The project began as an exercise in collaboration and experimentation and evolved into a four piece band in late 2010. The band's first output, Warriors EP, is a tasty psychedelic-electro-pop sandwich with the upbeat tracks "Wolfboy" (ft. Peedi Crakk) and "Wild Night" serving as the crunchy toast and "Altamont Sunrise" and "Warriors" as the mouth watering meat.

Video: The 3 Fives- Blue Today

Cool video using stock footage from New Orleans, Louisiana alternative rock trio, The 3 Fives.

Click Here to Listen to The 3 Fives on BandSoup

Promo Video: Hum Tribute Album

Miami, FL based Pop Up Records are set to release a 15-track tribute album to 1990's alternative-rock band, Hum and were kind enough to share the single from City of Ships and the promo video for the album.

Read below for more info and where to pre-order/purchase the album.

Click Here to Listen to City of Ships "I Hate it Too" on BandSoup

I recently did the promo video for Pop Up Records exciting new tribute album, Songs of Farewell and Departure: A Tribute to Hum. Hum was an underrated alternative rock band in the 1990s that released two critically acclaimed albums, You’d Prefer an Astronaut and Downward is Heavenward, before disbanding in late 2000.

Pop Up Records and the entire HUM Tribute Team are extremely excited to announce the complete line-up for SONGS OF FAREWELL AND DEPARTURE: A TRIBUTE TO HUM. The announcement comes several months after strategically leaking out a handful of bands at a time, but alas the full line-up has gloriously emerged. We have assembled a diverse cast of bands to pay tribute to one of the 90’s most beloved space rockers HUM, and fans have good reason to be excited. The release will celebrate the Champaign, IL collective’s all too short career with astounding new takes of classic tracks from some of today’s brightest new and up-and-coming bands. SONGS OF FAREWELL AND DEPARTURE offers a brilliant look at the near decade long reign of HUM through the eyes of the musicians they influenced including Funeral For A Friend, Junius, The Felix Culpa, City Of Ships, Solar Powered Sun Destroyer with J. Robbins [Jawbox/Burning Airlines], Stomacher, Kellii Scott [Failure] & Eric Gorfain [The Section Quartet], and much more.

Head on over to the site to check out the exclusive Hum Tribute packages . The album is available in Platinum, Gold, and Silver packages, and the standard CD order, as well as the official Hum Tribute T-Shirt!

Video: Ghost Ghost- Bizarre Love Triangle

Music video to the song "Bizarre Love Triangle" by Ghost Ghost made from vintage Betty Boop cartoon edits. This is one of my favorite songs from their fantastic concept album, No Clothes on Ragged Island, which you can read more about here.

Listen to Ghost Ghost on BandSoup

Video: The Muddy Reds- Plan B (Live Performance)

I don't know how I missed this one a month ago, but I did. Here are The Muddy Reds jammin' in a van for the people at JamintheVan.com with a song from their forthcoming release.

If I was asked to describe The Muddy Reds, one of Los Angeles, California's finest new bands, in one sentence it would be: Rompin', stompin', throaty soul with a spellbinding swagger.

Click Here to Read Past Coverage of The Muddy Reds

Click Here to Listen to The Muddy Reds on BandSoup!

In a band? Need a Photographer? Here are some tips.

In 2008 I graduated from the New England School of Photography In Boston Massachusetts. Since then, the rise of the “user friendly” digital camera has turned everyone in to some sort of photographer. In my experience I have seen a lot of well deserving bands fall victim to these “fauxtographers.”

As much as it pains me to say it, image is truly a factor as a band. When putting together a press kit one of your main attachments will be promo shots and on a rare occasion, live photos. Here are a few things to consider when searching for a photographer as and unsigned band:

• Research your photographer. Do they have a degree or certificate in their field? Are they willing to show you previous work? Too many kids with their moms Canon Rebel think they are the next Robert Knight. They are somehow brave enough to jump in to photographing without the proper knowledge of their equipment, thus taking a huge toll on the end result. 
• ALWAYS ask what kind of equipment the artist is working with. Camera body, lens, lights ect. If they don’t seem to comfortable answering, or have a hard time doing so….RUN!
• NEVER pay for live shots. Unless the photographer’s work is something out of Rolling Stone Magazine, you will find someone who is equal to or better than them, that will do it for free. All we really want is Photo Credit.
• Most photo students are willing to work for free, take advantage of that!
• If you do end up paying for promo shots, see above, and make sure this person is a professional. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen bands throw away hard earned money on a “fauxtographer” only to get terrible results.

Taking all of these things in to consideration is going to help you on your quest of finding the right photographer for your band. Bad photos can ruin a press kit. Don’t let this happen to you!

Some of my Live work.

-Matt

Video: Outasight- Figure 8

Here is the latest video from Outasight off his 2011 EP, Figure 8, which is still available as a free download via Bandcamp.

Listen to More from Outasight on Bandsoup!

Free Download: The Awkward Robot- Oasis (Demo)

It's no secret that Bandsoup and The Awkward Robot have a short but exciting history together. Fresh off their first tour (sponsored by bandsoup.com), they decided it was time to start the follow-up to their first EP. Their first demo, “Oasis”, was released free to the public and has already had an overwhelming response. With the addition of a 3^rd member, drummer David Early, Oasis has an even bigger sound with a bit more pop sprinkled on top. Without straying from their folk/indie roots The Awkward Robot has released, In Bandsoup’s opinion, their best song to date.

Download Oasis for FREE.

The Awkward Robot on Bandsoup.com

The Awkward Robot on Facebook

The Awkward Robot on itunes

The Awkward Robot is Playing at "Hole In The Wall" In Austin TX tomorrow. Wed. August 9'th

The Itchy Hearts

Hailing from Richmond VA, The Itchy Hearts are presenting the world with their own brand of folk rock. With the vocals of Andy Cobb reminiscent of Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel) and an array of instruments, The Itchy Hearts sound is easy on the ears and fulfilling for the soul. Their Newest Album “ Tried To Be Punk” pulls from a vast collection of influences spanning all genres.

Key Tracks: Blink, S.S , I Went Off

The Itchy Hearts on Bandsoup.com

Purchase Music From The Itchy Hearts

The Itchy Hearts on Facebook

Phoster App

If you are a tech-savvy DIY musician that still believes in gig posters and flyers, then you need this iOS app ASAP!

Phoster ($1.99 from the iTunes app store) provides an intuitive, easy-to-use approach to poster creation that takes care of most of the design work for you.

Phoster provides 72 free templates to work with, and from there you can import your own photos from your photo library, or take a picture with your device’s camera. Tap on the imported photo to open a box that allows you to adjust the contrast, brightness, and saturation. You can also collapse, expand, and move it around with hand gestures.

From there, adjusting and changing the text is just as simple. Tap on the dummy text to type in whatever you want, as well as to choose colors, font, and size. Tap and hold a line of text to move it around within the frame. There are some basic limitations to how much you can do to the text, but if you start with a template that you like, this shouldn’t be a problem.

When you’re done with your basic design, you can choose from 19 different kinds of “paper” you want it printed on. After that, there’s a simple interface that lets you share it on popular photo sites, social networks, email it, or send the design to your wi-fi printer.

FM Pilots Mini-Documentary

Chevy Bricktown mini-documentary featuring FM Pilots & Kite Flying Robot.

FM Pilots is an Oklahoma rock/pop band that boasts catchy, polished tunes with heartfelt sentiment. The lineup consists of long-time friends Nick Whitaker, Josh Davidson, Josh Kephart, and Casey Meyering. “We’re all chasing dreams…chasing lives from movie scenes.” In the opening of their Debut EP, the band relates that we’re all in pursuit of our ambitions. This group of friends has an intense love for creating music…and music is where their ambitions thrive.

The band recently released their Self-Titled EP Fall 2010 and has since been embraced locally and even gained some national exposure. You can find their new EP at popular retailers such as iTunes, Amazon and Rhapsody, or grab physical copies from their website (http://fmpilots.net/).

Video: Mockingbird Sun- Lucky Guy

Here is the new single from Nashville, Tennessee future country stars, Mockingbird Sun. 

Click Here to Listen to Mockingbird Sun on BandSoup!

Charlie, Brett, and Truck have been strongly influenced by a variety of music icons from Hank Williams to Tom Petty. Their distinct voices and styles weld together in three-part harmony. They draw from the slow blue heat of vintage country to solder whiskey-washed folk with classic American rock and roll. They write and play what they love with a Texas twang and a Tennessee twist.

Click here to purchase the single.

Alex Haynes- Illinois Blues x I Love You x Poor Ship

Born in bred in the London borough of Hackney is one of the United Kingdom's best blues vocalists, Alex Haynes. Delving into the deep, dark depths of rock n’ roll, Haynes' new Last Train EP. makes a whistle-stop pilgrimage through blues and country, sung with a gospel singer’s intensity.

Above and below are three awesome live recordings at Golden Hum Studios where Alex laces inspiring covers from Skip James (Illinois Blues) and G. Love & Special Sauce (I Love You) with ease.

You can download 2 free songs here, as well as check out his new EP for a the low price of $5 bones.

Click Here to Listen to Alex Haynes on BandSoup!