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Crystal Shipsss, “Yay” (Cakes and Tapes, 2011)

Our label Cakes and Tapes has just returned with its 17th installment. Yay is the debut album from Crystal Shipsss, a sideproject of our favorite Danish songwriter Jacob Faurholt, who released one of the best albums of the year earlier on. Yay leaves all that quietness behind, drenches itself in reverb, it even tries to stab you at times in all its low fidelity glory, but it’s still infected by melodies that’ll stick in your head for hours. Mastered by master James Plotkin (Khanate, OLD, Jodis), Crystal Shipsss is quite the antithesis of Faurholt’s solo work but that doesn’t make it less interesting. Discover it below.

Yay is now available on digital and limited edition cassette (50 white C30 tapes) formats. Streaming is free, of course.

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Penny Blacks, “Harbour” (selfreleased, 2011)

That awkward moment when you’re listening to a great album and realize no label, big or small, bothered to release it. Canadian songwriter Jason Ogden did it all by himself – or perhaps he didn’t, as his project Penny Blacks eventually grew to be a full 7-piece band – and selfreleased his first LP, Harbour, without any help from the big ones. The result is a stellar folk-rock album from a group of musicians who clearly look like they’ve been doing this for a long time now; although they’ve been compared to The Dears or Decemberists in the past I would place them somewhere between Americana acts Richmond Fontaine and Centro-matic – Ogden’s vocals definitely sound like Will Johnson’s, which is one of the best compliments you can give to anyone who sings in a band like this. Listening to Harbour while working on a cafe (like me, as I write these words) could be your favorite thing to do on these cold Fall afternoons. You can do it below on their Bandcamp – and buy the digital for a tenner if you like it enough.

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Girls, “Lawrence”

Girls’ frontman Christopher Owens proves he’s got his influences right by writing and recording a song dedicated to Felt’s frontman Lawrence. The limited edition, heart-shaped red vinyl containing the song “Lawrence” will be available next November 28th, the day before the guys/Girls hit Portugal for two concerts in Lisbon (29th, Lux) and Porto (30th, Casa da Música). You can listen to the song below already.

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Cliff Dweller, “Oil”

Amazing video/audio installation from “Ghosts of the Dust Bowl”.

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The Love Making Of An EP (MPD, 2011)

The Love Making Of is the new project by the Portuguese João de Almeida, the mastermind behind Elite Athlete. The instrumental, perfectly lovable debut EP is out now, through the wonderful MPD. Watch the video for “Chicanos” below, then stream and download (for free) the EP on Bandcamp.