Orange Alert's Music Minute

Calling all kazoo fans... Earlier this month Michael Cadiz and Tyrel Stendahl (aka. The Terrordactyls) released their first full length album. The tracks are a fun mix of sweet melodies, quirky electronics, toy pianos, delicate vocals, and of course kazoo's. The album's artwork, which includes a pop-up piece of construction equipment, was all design and drawn by Tyrel Stendahl. The songs are bedroom recordings each made on their own, and then traded between each member. You can purchase their album here, or download the album here (for free!).

Listen to: Devices (mp3)

Merry Christmas from Canon Blue! Just in time for the Holidays Canon Blue is giving you his brand new ep, Halcyon, for free. It features four brand new songs, especially crafted for the season.

Feeling lonely tonight? Turn off the TV and lower the lights. Baltimore duo Beach House have returned with their sophomore full length titled Devotion. Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand have written eleven delicate pop tunes about love, feeling, and, of course, devotion. Their new album is a surefire antidote to the winter blues.

Beach House have developed their craft exponentially since their 2006 self-titled debut. The recording is crisper; the songs are fuller. This is a band that is taking the pop duo format to the limit.The organs, slide guitars and reverb are still there, but Beach House lay out some new sounds for their newest offering. While on their debut critics made comparisons to early ‘90s dream popsters like Mazzy Star, Galaxie 500 and Slowdive, on “Devotion” listeners will also hear the band’s longtime admiration for ‘60s Motown and country folk.

Listen to: Gila (mp3)

Listening to Wild Sweet Orange is a bit like looking back at your childhood, and out toward your future at the same time. Their music evokes at once a certain aching nostalgia and an uplifting hopefulness--all within the walls of a visceral, emotion-driven rock band. This is music that makes you feel something, music that makes you want to listen. The band will be releasing an EP called The Whale on their own label, Nervous Blood, on November 6. Canvasback Music (Columbia Records) will be releasing WSO's full-length record next year.

Listen to: Wrestle With God (mp3)

The Peel back: Jesus & Mary Chain "Psychocandy" (1985)

I was never much of a Jesus & Mary Chain fan. However, when they appeared on the bill for Lollapalooza in 1992 I bought this album. I recently pulled it out again while working on an interview with The Vandelles. The distortion and dead pan hit me in a new way this time around. The album has really found a new place in my collection after 15 years.

Psychocandy

Just Like Honey/The Living End/Taste the Floor/The Hardest Walk/Cut Dead/In a Hole/Taste of Cindy (mp3)/Some Candy Talking/Never Understand/Inside Me/Sowing Seeds/My Little Underground/You Trip Me Up/Something's Wrong (mp3)/It's So Hard (mp3)