What would you ask The Builders and the Butchers?

Lollapalooza is coming and Future Perfect Radio will be there. We'll be backstage speaking to as many bands as we can, and on the top of our list is The Builders and the Butchers.

So, what should we ask them? That's up to you!

Tell us what you'd ask The Builders and the Butchers through Twitter (@fpradio) or by commenting on this blog entry!

(We'll also be interviewing Chairlift, Passion Pit, Blind Pilot and more...so start brainstorming good questions for them too!)

Project Playlist: The Big Apple

Future Perfect Radio has over 25 channels, thousands of artists and even more songs. It's a lot to take in and maybe it's tough to find your feet. That's where Project Playlist comes in. At (ir)regular intervals, we'll break out one of our channels and post the first 10 tracks that come up. This way, you get a more in-depth look at what's playing on our channels!

(Previous Project Playlists: Chamber Pop)

Featured channel:

1. The Fiery Furnaces - "Charmaine Champagne" from I'm Going Away

One of my favorite tracks from The Fiery Furnaces' new album, released on Thrill Jockey on July 21. We liked the new album so much here at Future Perfect Radio, we featured The Fiery Furnaces as a Future Perfect Pick here (even though they did abandon Chicago for New York).

2. Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard - "Roll Bus Roll" from 'Em Are I

There's something so wonderfully charming about Jeffrey Lewis' half-spoken vocals. In "Roll Bus Roll," they're complemented by an unceasing beat that imitates the feeling of a bus rolling on. Together, this simple song about spending way too much time traveling on Greyhounds ends up pulling at my heartstrings.

3. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart" from Everything with You

This was it. This was the song. After hearing this self-titled track off the Everything with You EP, I was hooked on The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. After hearing the chorus ("We will never die") repeated over Jesus and Mary Chain guitars, pulled straight from the '80s, I was a complete fan. I heard it for the first time driving to pick up pizza back in January...yeah, it's one of those songs.

4. A.C. Newman - "Miracle Drug" from The Slow Wonder

Before there was Get Guilty there was 2004's The Slow Wonder. It was Canadian-born singer/songwriter A.C. Newman's debut LP (at least, debut under the A.C. Newman moniker) and, in our humble opinion, still outshines Get Guilty.

5. Gabriel Kahane - "North Adams" from Gabriel Kahane

Singer/songwriter and pianist Gabriel Kahane creates chamber pop tunes, heavily populated by a quick-moving piano and often featuring strings. "North Adams" is sort of what I imagine New York to feel like, walking down a busy street on a partly-cloudy summer day--an off-kilter melody, batches of happy and sad that all somehow works itself out in the end.

6. The Depreciation Guild - "Digital Solace" from In Her Gentle Jaws

What do you know? One of our Future Perfect Picks for the week! The Depreciation Guild features members of the buzz band of the year, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and thus not surprisingly sounds as if it's been (almost) transported directly out of the '80s. There are more Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine comparisons to be made here, but The Depreciation Guild is a little more conscious of the decade they happen to be living in. "Digital Solace" is a good representation of this--there's plenty of blips, bleeps and other 8-bit goodies to remind us all that we are, in fact, almost 10 years into this new millennium.

7. Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks" from Veckatimest

Speaking of buzz bands, here's one that could give The Pains of Being Pure at Heart a run for their money. Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest was one of the most anticipated albums of the year and certainly did not disappoint. "Two Weeks" is one of (if not the) best tracks on the record. There's a bit of Vampire Weekend here, but with a smoothly somber chorus.

8. Excepter - "Give Me the Cave" from Ka

"Give Me the Cave" comes from Excepter's debut LP Ka from way back in 2003. It's not for everyone and definitely has a happy home in our Flux channel. The group is made up of experimental DJs from New York, who came together to explore just how far they could push the envelope.

9. St. Vincent - "Just the Same but Brand New" from Actor

Singer/songwriter Annie Clark (better known as St. Vincent) really hit a home run with her new 2009 album Actor. She first caught our attention with 2007's Marry Me, but Actor floored us. "Just the Same but Brand New" was a big reason why, developing from a soft and somber opening to a strong, drum-led anthem.

10. Vivian Girls - "When I'm Gone" from Everything Goes Wrong

Didn't think we could do a New York playlist without the Vivian Girls did you? "When I'm Gone" is from their (very very) anticipated new album Everything Goes Wrong scheduled for release on September 8. Like the new album, "When I'm Gone" is a tad longer than their earlier work, but features all of the same fuzzy garage rock we know and love.

Nurses release mp3 from upcoming LP "Apple’s Acre"

Portland's Nurses will be releasing their new LP Apple’s Acre on August 4. To satisfy your desire for psychedelic pop in the meantime, however, the band has released "Technicolor" from the LP as a free mp3.

Pick up the free mp3 here.

If you're looking for more about Nurses, be sure to check out Left | Right Hand's video interview with the group below. Additionally, Nurses have a ton of tour dates planned with The Brunettes, Pink Mountaintops, Throw Me The Statue, and many other groups. Find the dates after the break.




08/06 Portland, OR - Holocene w/ The Slaves, Inside Voices
08/23 Spokane, WA - Empyrean Coffee House w/ The Globes, Throw Me The Statue
08/26 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
08/27 Urbana, IL - Courtyard Cafe w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
08/28 Madison, WI - Annex w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
08/29 Chicago, IL - Subterranean w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
09/01 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Upstairs w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
09/02 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
09/03 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
09/04 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
09/05 Durham, NC - Duke Coffeehouse w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
09/07 Atlanta, GA - The Drunken Unicorn w/ Throw Me the Statue, The Brunettes
09/08 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder w/ Throw Me the Statue, The Brunettes
09/10 Houston, TX - Rudyard's w/ Throw Me the Statue, The Brunettes
09/11 Austin, TX - The Mohawk w/ Throw Me the Statue, The Brunettes
09/12 Dallas, TX - Cavern Ale House w/ Throw Me the Statue, The Brunettes
09/14 Phoenix, AZ - Modified w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
09/15 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo w/ The Brunettes, Devon Williams, Throw Me the Statue
09/16 La Jolla, CA - UCSD - The Loft w/ Throw Me The Statue, the Brunettes
09/18 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge w/ The Old Believers, Pink Mountaintops
09/22 Seattle, WA - The Vera Project w/ The Brunettes
09/23 Vancouver, BC - Media Club w/ The Brunettes

Music for Your Eyes: We Have Band's "You Came Out"

One of the creepiest videos I've seen in a long time. Since the Klaxon's "Magick," perhaps?

Apse to Release new LP "Climb Up" October 20

Newtown, CT experimental rockers Apse are set to release their sophomore LP Climb Up on October 20 through ATP Records. It's hard to believe the group has been around for around a decade. Through line-up changes, switches in location and relentless exploration in the limits of genre constraints, the group is finally follow-up their triumphant 2006 LP debut Spirit. That album prompted Pitchfork to call Apse a "latter-day Radiohead or Sigur Ros," so you can be sure to expect great things from Climb Up.

The new album has been in production since 2008, recorded entirely by the band in their homes in Cape Cod. The group promises a "greater use of electronics, a range of instruments both modern and classical and – notably – a much stronger emphasis on voices and melodies" in the album. It's going to be a long wait 'til October.

The Best of 2009 (so far)

It's never too early to start picking the best music of the year, right? Just like those ever-popular "Christmas in July" promotions, we're rolling out an end-of-year fixture a little early. But, while those swimming-trunk-clad Santas will disappear by fall, we intend to keep this rolling into the new year baby.

We've just launched a new channel on Future Perfect Radio featuring the music we feel best represents 2009 so far. Tune in clicking the button below.



Here's a run-down of the first 5 tracks that popped up on our radio player:

1. Deastro - "Biophelia" from Moondagger

In returning to his home state of Michigan, electronica producer Randolph Chabot was inspired to launch Deastro -- an '80s-loving synth-drenched group that released Moondagger in late June. The sort-of concept album has a lyrical storyline for those who want to look for it, but the addicting glittering electro-rock is the real highlight here. Future Perfect Radio interviewed Chabot here.

2. Frontier Folk Nebraska - "Lay It on the Line" from Pearls

I'd like to see a bill with both The Rural Alberta Advantage and Frontier Folk Nebraska -- what a delicious tongue-twister of folkish locale-inspired monikers. I have to admit, in a classic case of judging a book by its cover I desperately wanted to like this Kentucky group based on their name alone. Thankfully, their music backs them up: Pearls is one of the best indie folk records this year and it deserves way more attention than it's getting.

3. The Builders and the Butchers - "Raise up Your Weary Hands" from Salvation Is a Deep Dark Well

I (sorrowfully) missed Portland's The Builders and the Butchers' debut eponymous album from 2007, but their sophomore effort Salvation Is a Deep Dark Well blew me away. Where I -- a longtime Decemberists fan -- struggled to fall in love with Hazards of Love, Salvation instantly had me hooked. From the opening dark chorus of "Golden and Green," you know you're in for a darkly riveting ride through blasted Spanish landscapes, tortured souls and the occasional vampire lake.

4. Loney, Dear - "Summers" from Dear John

Was there ever an album that better captured the lonely and bleak feeling of January in Chicago? Sweden's Loney, Dear, headed by Emil Svanängen, hit gold on their third album Dear John. Introspective, self-critical lyrics are paired with somber, moving melodies that offer enough pop-friendly beats and upbeat synths to convince you to play the whole thing over again.

5. Passion Pit - "Moth's Wings" from Manners

Where Svanängen's music more often than not reflects the somber nature of his lyrics, Passion Pit wraps their sorrow in a pulsing synth-laden beat. "Moth's Wings" is a prime example: a shining, anthem-like melody offset by a disillusioned Michael Angelakos asking "Who's side are you on? / What side is this anyway?" For me, Manners is the king of 2009 so far. Every song is a gem. After two months I still haven't tired of this masterpiece.

Of course, our Best of 2009 channel isn't limited to these 5. It also includes music from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Jeffrey Lewis, Sonic Youth, The Decemberists, Silversun Pickups, Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, Pet Shop Boys and more.

We ain't perfect though: there may be stuff in there that totally sucks, and we probably forgot a few killer albums. It's up to you to point out the error of our ways. Comment to tell us, or yell at us on Twitter. Please. It's the only way we'll learn.

Summer on Future Perfect Radio!

Summer means a lot of things to us here at Future Perfect Radio. Freedom from homework, trips to the beach, camping, drawing on the sidewalk with chalk, enormous bugs, sunburns, selling lemonade, humidity and paying more for gasoline. But most importantly, it means music festivals where you and thousands of your closest buds come together to collectively sweat and listen to amazing music for days on end.

We're celebrating these summer music fests on Future Perfect Radio with a few specially programmed channels. We've got Pitchfork Music Fest, Lollapalooza, Treasure Island and Austin City Limits. They each feature only artists performing at the respective festival. Take your pick below!




Are we missing your favorite music fest? Tell us! Odds are we'll have a shiny new channel, just for you, in days.

Free music will lead to me spending too much cash

Free music gets a bad rap, more often than not. When a band releases an album for free, it's viewed as "experimental" and "cutting edge." People ask, "How will you make money?" and get their collective you-know-what's in a bunch. And it's really too bad, because free music is a musician's best tool to leverage bucket-loads of cash their way.

Case in point: Weezer. I don't like Weezer. Or, should I say, I didn't. After working for a physical therapy clinic for a summer -- and hearing "Beverly Hills" no less than 50,000 times on the radio -- Rivers and Co. didn't have a chance. I know they were better in the early days but I wasn't exactly motivated to spend time and money searching for such material. I just decided I wasn't a Weezer fan and went on with my life.

Until today. On Twitter, blogger and music connoisseur extraordinaire @christinajacobs pointed me to a compilation of 8-bit Weezer remixes from Pterodactyl Squad (here). I downloaded it (for free) and listened in. I was blown away. Here was "El Scorcho" redone as if it were the soundtrack to Pokemon on my Gameboy. "You Won't Get With Me Tonight" seemingly straight out of Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm a geek for this sort of stuff and was immediately sucked in.

After listening to the entire compilation album three times, I got to wondering what the real songs actually sound like. Sure, I knew a few, but most were unknown to me. So I headed off to iTunes and bought myself a dozen or so Weezer tracks.

Yesterday I would have laughed if you suggested that I would be buying Weezer songs today, but here we are. And why? Because of free music. Sure, it's not the original versions, but I wouldn't have been interested in those even if they were free. Through free remixes, covers and other "goodies," I became a fan.

I think bands can leverage this kind of approach to their advantage. Of course, more established groups will have an easier time of this, but it's not an impossible route for independent groups too. Provide goodies, B-sides, remixes and other "deeper content" for free that, hopefully, influence people to spend money elsewhere (in this case, in the original content).

Of course, to get people interested in the first place your music has to not suck. You'll notice "Beverly Hills" is not included in the 8-bit compilation.

New Music Adds, 7/21

Here's the run-down of the new tunes you can hear on Future Perfect Radio. Hear them all, and tons more great indie, on our New Music channel (click to tune in!).

Bad Veins - Bad Veins
Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
Mew - No More Stories
The Vivian Girls - "When I'm Gone" off Everything Goes Wrong
The Depreciation Guild - In Her Gentle Jaws
We'll Make It Right - We'll Make It Right
Dr. Dog - Fate
We Have Band - US EP
Starfucker - Jupiter
Rubik - Dada Bandits

Project Playlist: Chamber Pop

Future Perfect Radio has over 25 channels, thousands of artists and even more songs. It's a lot to take in and maybe it's tough to find your feet. That's where Project Playlist comes in. At (ir)regular intervals, we'll break out one of our channels and post the first 10 tracks that come up. This way, you get a more in-depth look at what's playing on our channels!

Featured channel:

(click to tune in!)

1. Tarkio - "Devil's Elbow"

Colin Meloy, pre-Decemberists (though the differences are minimal). The group released two albums before disbanding in 1999 -- I Guess I Was Hoping for Something More and the EP Sea Songs for Landlocked Sailors. They were combined in Omnibus, which was released in 2006.

2. My Brightest Diamond - "Feelin' Good"

This beautifully haunting cover comes off of the Dark Was the Night compilation, the 20th in the Red Hot series. The album is jam-packed with big indie names (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, The Decemberists, Jose Gonzalez) but My Brightest Diamond's contribution is one of the most notable.

3. Brendan Canning - "Snowballs & Icicles"

Another chapter in the Broken Social Scene Presents series, "Snowballs & Icicles" comes from founding member Brendan Canning's Something for All of Us... LP. It's a quick track, but the accompanying thoughtful feeling lingers for much longer.

4. Dirty on Purpose - "Send Me an Angel"

Dirty on Purpose, though sadly now defunct, was a Brooklyn shoegaze/chamber pop fusion group that brilliantly meshed post-rock and alternative influences. "Send Me an Angel," a Real Life cover, was a stand-out track on the group's Like Bees EP--their last physical release.

5. The Dears - "Life or Death We Want You"

"Nobody wants you / But we want you..." sings Murray Lightburn in the deliciously creepy track from The Dears. The Montreal group released the track in their 2006 album Gang of Losers. Lightburn's dynamic vocals never fail to impress, and "Life of Death We Want You" is no exception.

6. The Rural Alberta Advantage -- "The Deadroads"

Seems you can't go very far nowadays without running into these rurally-nostalgic chaps from Toronto. They're clearly the band of the moment and "The Deadroads" was the track that justified the hype surrounding The Rural Alberta Advantage. There's a bit of The Shins going on, with a quick upbeat foundation, matched with Nils Edenloff's ever-pained vocals. It comes from the group's Hometowns debut, soon to be a fixture in many "Best of 2009" lists (even though it originally came out in late 2008, just sayin').

7. Belle and Sebastian - "I Fought in a War"

No chamber or twee pop list is complete without a tip of the hat to Belle and Sebastian in some way. In this case, the influential Scottish group has shown up in person with their classic "I Fought in a War" track off their 2000 album, Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant.

8. Loney, Dear - "Hard Days 1.2.3.4"

Before Emil Svanängen was taking the world by storm with Loney, Dear's Dear John, he was wowing Sub Pop audiences with glittering tracks like this one off his 2007 LP Loney, Noir.

9. Windsor for the Derby - "Fallen off the Earth"

A wonderfully spaced-out groove from Tampa's ambient outfit Windsor for the Derby. The track comes off of the group's latest LP, How We Lost.

10. The Aluminum Group - "Two-Bit Faux Construction"

These guys have been pushing chamber pop since before it was cool. Chicago's The Aluminum Group formed in the early '90s, releasing their third album Pedals (on which "Two-Bit Faux Construction" appeared) in 1999. It remains one of (if not the) group's best albums to date.

Music for Your Eyes: The Builders and the Butchers' "Golden and Green"

Surreal video for an awesome song. Not what I expected.

Pitchfork Music Fest on Future Perfect Radio

The Pitchfork Music Festival will draw dozens of amazing bands and thousands of indie fans from all over the world to Chicago this weekend (where we're experiencing a wonderfully freakish cool summer, 70s in July, what is this?). But of course, not everyone will be able to make it out to Union Park.

Maybe tickets are too expensive for you. Don't worry though, you're not alone: I guess cause of some global recession that's apparently been going on since last year. Maybe because Chicago is too far away. Maybe because all your friends are lame and don't like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart or The Black Lips and you're one of those people who don't go anywhere alone. Maybe festivals just aren't your thing.

Or! Maybe you are going but just can't get enough. Maybe, instead of coming home exhausted after a live music-filled day like a sensible person, you're just hungry for more!



Whatever boat you're in, Future Perfect Radio has you covered. We've created a channel containing only the artists playing at this year's Pitchfork Music Fest! It's almost like being there...minus the crowds, the fickle weather, the ticket price and the waiting.

Click the button above to get listening!

Music for Your Eyes: The Depreciation Guild's "Dream About Me"

Beautiful shoegaze. It's like it's the early '90s and you're hearing My Bloody Valentine for the first time. 'Nuff said.



The Brooklyn group have announced that they will be releasing In Her Gentle Jaws on deluxe vinyl and digital this fall (it was originally released as a free download in 2007). The Depreciation Guild's follow-up LP is in the works this summer, and will be released on the group's new label Kanine.

They'll also be touring with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (who else?). Dates after the break.



07-17 - Chicago IL - The Hideout w/ Coltrane Motion
09-05 Boston, MA - Middle East Downstairs
09-06 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
09-07 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe Tavern
09-08 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
09-09 Madison, WI - Stage Door at the Orpheum
09-10 Omaha, NE - The Slowdown
09-13 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
09-14 Boise, ID - Neurolux
09-17 Portland, OR – Music Fest North West/Doug Fir
09-21 San Diego, CA - Casbah
09-22 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
09-24 Fort Worth, TX - Lola's
09-25 Austin, TX - The Mohawk
09-26 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
09-27 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder
09-28 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
09-29 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
09-30 Washington, DC - Black Cat
10-01 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
10-05 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church

White Denim sign to Downtown Records, new LP coming in October

Austin's punk and garage inspired outfit White Denim have signed to Downtown Records. Presumably, the new label will release the group's new LP Fits, due for release on October 20. The album follows-up White Denim's debut full-length, Workout Holiday, which helped launch the group to wide recognition last year.

We can expect the group to embark on a U.S. tour in support of the new album in October as well.

Here's what we've been told about the Fits:

When a band’s first album is unpredictable enough to invoke comparisons with artists as wildly diverse as hardcore innovators the Minutemen and professorial idiosyncrasy of Randy Newman, then you can reasonably assume its been made by people who care about music. Lots of it. Jazz, punk, funk, country, acid rock, even piano ballads – all these labels have been used, accurately, to describe White Denim. Their second record is more problematic though. It has to sound like them.

Or, the Whale preps new album for September

Or, the Whale is preparing to release a new album on the heels of 2007's Light Poles and Pines (which featured the band's debut single "Call and Response" and helped earn them a 2008 Hollywood Music Award for Best Americana/Roots Artist as well as a coveted spot on Radio & Records Top 100 Americana Artists of 2008).

Tracks like "Black Rabbit," which features a gale-force chorus above electric feedback and pounding drums, play out as if in an effort to prove just how hard the band can rock. At other times, as on "Never Coming Out" -- a paranoid and agoraphobic rail ride that explodes into a final a capella starburst -- Or, the Whale showcases their ability to present a reflective, stripped-down arrangement (no small feat for a band with seven members). Likewise, the creeping "Keep Me Up" shows how Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" might sound if re-imagined through the mournful wail of pedal steel.

The San Francisco group's new self-titled album is filled with more complexity and shape, not to mention diversity and emotional impact. It lands on September 22 on Seany.