I just discovered the band The End of America and they’ve quickly become one of my favorite bands recording right now. Their debut album, Steep Bay was recorded over 9 days in and around a remote cabin on Schroon Lake, located in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York.

The result is 9 songs with an energy and fire you can’t get from a studio. Steep Bay has jumped to the top of my “Best of 2011″ list (yes, I know it’s early in the year) and is very much worth checking out. You can buy the album digitally for $4.99 or buy the CD w/ a poster for $8.99 HERE.

Hear a song, watch 2 videos and read the press release after the jump.

MP3: “Fiona Grace” –

Running – The End of America from Chris Newhard on Vimeo.

These Things Are Mine – The End of America from Chris Newhard on Vimeo.

THE END OF AMERICA
Steep Bay LP (Forest Park Recordings-12/14/10)
RIYL: Elliott Smith, Rocky Votolato, Ryan Adams, Iron & Wine
——————————————————————————————–
The End of America is not some grand political statement. Instead, it is an honest attempt between three friends to return music to its purest form. After years on the road with numerous bands, James Downes, Brendon Thomas, and Trevor Leonard found themselves all searching for meaning within the chaos of present day America. In the past the trio had discussed recording music in remote locations where they could distance themselves from the trappings of modern life. From these conversations sprung the concept of The End of America: to travel to the ends of the continent in search of inspiration and to write and record on the spot in unique locations.

The End of America’s debut album, Steep Bay, was recorded live in a cabin on Schroon Lake, located in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. The album is named after the cove on which the cabin was built: a beautiful bay surrounded by rock cliffs and towering pine trees, beyond the reach of power lines, accessible only by boat.

One mid-July afternoon the trio made the drive up to the family cabin and paddled across at dusk. The old canoe that carried them could barely hold their weight let alone the gear, but they made it over safely just as the sun was setting. Their first recording was by the light of campfire that night, guitars on the shore under a sky full of stars. Using a small battery powered recording device with two mic inputs, the group set up everywhere – in the cabin, on the porch, even out on the water.

In the course of one week the trio wrote and recorded the album live, unedited, 9 tracks in all. The takes that were kept are from performances that felt the most honest, regardless of minor imperfections. Steep Bay is as much a documentary as it is a record; an intimate snapshot of three friends living off the grid, trying to reconcile and understand life the only way they know how, through the emotions of music.

Buy the album here: http://theendofamerica.bandcamp.com/

Raw and catchy, The Cold Beat doesn’t need anything else other than their music to do that talking.  If you’re a fan of The Get Up Kids, The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Buffalo Tom, or Old 97′s you’ll dig The Cold Beat.

About the Band: In a little over a year The Cold Beat have released an EP, a 7” and are now back with their debut full-length, entitled Get Safe. The album expands the band’s anthemic take on punk-influenced rock n’ roll. Words like modest and working class might get thrown around rather easily when it comes to The Cold Beat but don’t let that fool you. These boys can write a melody and back it up in full force with some pounding, catchy rhythms. Featuring current members of Where The Land Meets The Sea and Dan Webb And The Spiders as well as former members of Lock And Key, The Call Up, inblackandwhite and The Murder Mile, The Cold Beat delivers an album chock full of mature roots rock anthems with a youthful punk energy. Get Safe sees the trio expanding instrumentally with flourishes of organ and horn. Those additions only enhance the band’s songwriting chops and lends to the tailor-made choruses that leave the listener searching for the repeat button. The Cold Beat’s songs remain ultra-melodic but show off a renewed depth. There is a darkness and a sense of urgency that is palpable here. Get Safe is anything but safe and the band has given us an album that breathes sincerity and authenticity. The Cold Beat sure didn’t take long to deliver on the promise of their earlier efforts. The band has arrived well ahead of schedule. [Beartrap PR]

Snake Oil:

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Bands You Should Know is a feature that will introduce you to hard-working, independent music artists that stand out from the overwhelming noise of today’s music scene.  These are bands that deserve to be heard and supported.  If you like them, please support them by going to shows and buying their music.

If you’re looking for something a bit more aggressive, but something that goes against the mainstream grain, look no further than The Saddest Landscape.  Originally formed in 2002, The Saddest Landscape quickly made a name for themselves in the “screamo underground.” But, after a handful of independent releases, they’ve remained somewhat dormant.  2010 marks their first full length album in 7 years, and while the “screamo” genre has become stale, The Saddest Landscape have not.  They’ve left that predictable sound behind and created something melodic yet aggressive and wholly original.

About the Band: Haunting and massive in its scope, The Saddest Landscape’s You Will Not Survive echoes a maelstrom of emotions while retaining a staggering poise and precision. Rarely does a record push you so close to the edge only to save you at its dying breath. The Saddest Landscape provides cathartic therapy for desperate and dark matters of the heart. With passionate vocals and pummeling, powerful musical landscapes the band never relents nor wavers as they drag you through their own personal hell. It is the fear of the journey that eventually makes us stronger and You Will Not Survive is that voyage. Time away has only enhanced The Saddest Landscape’s aggressive vitriol. The band has redefined expectations firmly reestablishing themselves back in a scene that desperately needs them. You Will Not Survive further entrenches The Saddest Landscape as an uncompromising pioneer in the ever-evolving screamo genre.

Declaring War on Nostalgia:

Official Site

Bands You Should Know is a feature that will introduce you to hard-working, independent music artists that stand out from the overwhelming noise of today’s music scene.  These are bands that deserve to be heard and supported.  If you like them, please support them by going to shows and buying their music.

Daniel G. Harman & The Trouble Starts took me by surprise.  Their 6th album Risk is really solid and grows on you with each listen.  Risk will be available on October 26th, 2010.

About the Band: For his sixth album, entitled Risk, Daniel G. Harmann has beefed up his sound with The Trouble Starts. Primarily a solo artist, Harmann describes the new album as a collection of “Big songs you dream about making and playing to lots of people”. Risk was recorded live over five days at Electrokitty Studios with Long Winters bassist Eric Corson. On Risk, Harmann and his band have created an intriguing collection of working class art rock with a full, sweeping sound leaving the pretense firmly at the door. Risk is lyrically all about taking chances. Harmann & The Trouble Starts has crafted an album that is difficult to pigeonhole. Risk lives and breathes at two separate corners only to meet somewhere perfectly in the middle between the elegant and the abrasive. “Call it what you will,” Harmann says, “but at its core, its rock and roll. It’s dirty and imperfect. It’s quiet and loud.” Finding beauty in the simpleness of everyday life is what sustains us all. Harmann knows this and the emotional depth within Risk is honest and remarkably uplifting. [Beartrap PR]

Listen

The Horse & the Sistine Chapel:

Dee:

Official Site

Bands You Should Know is a feature that will introduce you to hard-working, independent music artists that stand out from the overwhelming noise of today’s music scene.  These are bands that deserve to be heard and supported.  If you like them, please support them by going to shows and buying their music.

Prismo Perfect is a “noise/pop” band out of Brest, France.  Their Out Of Nowhere EP is being offered up for free at Sound As Language.  Check them out!

About the band: Self-described as noisy, fast and pop. In other words think No Age, Japandroids, Waaves etc. Basically, if you are a fan of this whole noise/pop craze, Prismo Perfect will hit a sweet spot for you. The French power trio ups the melodic pop energy and tunes down the noise ever so slightly. The result is a very nice medium that it seems many of these bands are searching for yet not really finding. The band was formed in January 2009 and Out Of Nowhere, is out now. [SAL Media]

Download This is a feature that will hopefully turn you on to new and exciting bands who are giving their music away for free.  If you like the tunes, please support the artists somehow by going to a show or throwing some cash their way for their music.

Indie Rock band Abel has decided to kick the normal “record label” model and has joined with the non-profit label Come&Live! to release their upcoming full-length record entitled Lesser Men on October 19, 2010.

I think this is a really interesting model and it will be interesting to see more bands follow suite.

Read the Press Release after the jump.

Former Facedown Records / Dreamt Music artist Abel have signed with Come&Live! to release their upcoming full-length record entitled Lesser Men on October 19, 2010.  The Poughkeepsie, NY natives have spent the last year touring in support of their Facedown debut, The Honest Love, which garnered excellent reviews from the likes of Outburn, HM Magazine, and Indievisionmusic.com–making their upcoming release a highly anticipated sophomore effort.

Come&Live! is a grassroots effort founded by former Tooth & Nail A&R executive Chad Johnson.  The label is a non-profit organization whose goals are to build a community of ministry-focused bands and give away 100% of profits to backyard and global charities.  Lesser Men will be available as a no-strings-attached free download through the label’s website, Comeandlive.com beginning October 19th.

“Music is about people, and we believe that Come&Live! really understands that,” Abel vocalist Kevin Kneifel explains.  “I think the organization’s non-profit ‘anti-label’ model can be a strange thing to anyone looking in, but we feel that C&L! is the right place for Abel to be–we want to make our music and message available to as many people as we can.”

ABEL is:

Kevin Kneifel – vocals / guitar

Dan Bishop – guitar / piano

Alex David – bass guitar

John Rell III – drums

www.myspace.com/abeltheband

After a 7 hear hiatus from music, Jennifer Knapp shocked the “Christian Music” scene by acknowledging she’s been in a long-term same sex relationship.  Knapp, 33, revealed all this in interviews with Christianity Today and Advocate.com, and is on the verge of releasing her new album Letting Go on May 11.

Jennifer Knapp on her 7 hear hiatus:

I’m certainly in a same-sex relationship now, but when I suspended my work, that wasn’t even really a factor. I had some difficult decisions to make and what that meant for my life and deciding to invest in a same-sex relationship, but it would be completely unfair to say that’s why I left music. [Jennifer Knapp, Christianity Today]

On being honest with herself:

The Bible has literally saved my life. I find myself between a rock and a hard place — between the conservative evangelical who uses what most people refer to as the ‘clobber verses’ to refer to this loving relationship as an abomination, while they’re eating shellfish and wearing clothes of five different fabrics, and various other Scriptures we could argue about.

I’m not capable of getting into the theological argument as to whether or not we should or shouldn’t allow homosexuals within our church. There’s a spirit that overrides that for me, and (that is) what I’ve been gravitating to in Christ and why I became a Christian in the first place. [Jennifer Knapp, Christianity Today]

and

“I’m quite comfortable to live with parts of myself that don’t make sense to you.” [Jennifer Knapp, Advocate.com]

What the future has in store:

I’m in no way capable of leading a charge for some kind of activist movement. I’m just a normal human being who’s dealing with normal everyday life scenarios.

As a Christian, I’m doing that as best as I can. The heartbreaking thing to me is that we’re all hopelessly deceived if we don’t think that there are people within our churches, within our communities, who want to hold on to the person they love, whatever sex that may be, and hold on to their faith. [Jennifer Knapp, Christianity Today]

You can preview her new album at www.jenniferknapp.com.  In my opinion, it’s the best and most honest Jennifer Knapp has sounded.  I grew up in The Church & she was on the short list of “Approved Christian Music” I was allowed to listen to.  I wasn’t a fan then, so it’s refreshing to actually enjoy Jennifer Knapp‘s music this time around.

Letting Go will be released on May 11, 2010.

For more on this check out these in-depth articles:

Jennifer Knapp Comes Out (Christianity Today)

Christian Singer Jennifer Knapp Comes Out (Advocate.com)

Christian music star Jennifer Knapp comes back and comes out (CNN)

Christian singer Jennifer Knapp says she felt pressure to choose between her faith, being gay (USA Today)

Circa Survive have made their new album Blue Sky Noise available for preview via streaming on their MySpace page (does anyone still use myspace?).  Check it out here. Blue Sky Noise will be released on April 20, 2010 via Atlantic Records.

One of the best albums in over a decade will finally get the deluxe treatment it deserves.  Refused unleashed the album The Shape of Punk to Come in 1998 and it changed the landscape of hardcore and punk for the better. (That is until bands like My Chemical Romance and Hot Topic ruined it again.)

Listening to The Shape of Punk to Come over 10 years later, it still seems ahead of it’s time.  For fans like myself, June 8th can’t come soon enough.  Epitaph will be releasing the 3 disc set.  It will include the original album, a previously unreleased live album recorded in Sweden in 1998, and a DVD of the breakup documentary Refused Are Fucking Dead.

Shortly after Refused released The Shape of Punk to Come the band broke up.  Frontman Dennis Lyxzén later formed the (International) Noise Conspiracy.

The Shape of Punk to Come (Deluxe Edition) Track Listing:

CD1:

01 Worms of the Senses / Faculties of the Skull
02 Liberation Frequency
03 The Deadly Rhythm
04 Summerholidays Vs. Punkroutine
05 Bruitist Pome #5
06 New Noise
07 The Refused Party Program
08 Protest Song ’68
09 Refused Are Fucking Dead
10 The Shape of Punk to Come
11 Tannhäuser / Derivè
12 The Apollo Programme Was a Hoax

CD2 (live):

01 The Shape of Punk to Come
02 Refused Party Program
03 Circle Pit
04 Worms of the Senses / Faculties of the Skull
05 Hook, Line and Sinker
06 Summerholidays Vs. Punkroutine
07 Rather Be Dead
08 Burn It
09 The Deadly Rhythm
10 Coup d’Etat
11 New Noise
12 Tannhäuser

[Source: Pitchfork]

These past couple weeks some really great bands have been drifting by my radar.  This week, I discovered Provo, Utah’s Shark Speed.

Overflowing with wonderfully tangled chords, summersaulting rhythms and vocals that easily hit all the highs without sacrificing the lows, Sea Sick Music keeps you intrigued with unexpected electronic flourishes and subtle touches of brass. Still, the unforgettable melodies and hook-filled choruses are the real show stoppers. For a debut album – for any album – Sea Sick Music is incredibly accomplished and varied, not to mention fun and completely entertaining. [Beartrap PR]

Listen to Battle Born

Sea Sick Music was recorded and produced by Pollen’s Bob Hoag (The Ataris, Dear And The Headlights, The Format) and was self-released by Shark Speed earlier this summer (05/12). It’s available from the band at shows, as well as digitally from iTunes.

Beginning today, Shark Speed will leave for a two week tour of the West Coast in support of its debut full-length, Sea Sick Music.

TOUR

AUG 15 – Ogden, UT @ Mojo’s Cafe
AUG 17 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Woodshed w/ Electron Deception, Small Town Sinners
AUG 18 – Provo, UT @ Foot Loose House w/ Code Hero
AUG 19 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Box Office w/ Neon Trees, Imagine Dragons, more
AUG 20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts w/ Five Speed, The Great Migration, The Burn Riders
AUG 21 – San Diego, CA @ Music Trader
AUG 22 – Anaheim,CA @ Three Clubs w/ Oliver Future, Shiloe, Craft Club
AUG 24 – Hollywood, CA @ The Doll Hut
AUG 28 – Nampa, ID @ Flying M Coffee Garage w/ Spondee, The Murders
AUG 29 – Boise, ID @ The Vac w/ Red Jacket Mines
SEP 05 – Provo, UT @ The Velour w/ Delta Mirror