Motel Glory is rock and roll with an “ex-members-of” genealogy that goes back to Clinton’s first term. They play clubs, bars, dives, houses, prisons, and forests. They want to be your friend.  The new album Weekend Treasures & Monday’s Trash is out –  Buy it now!

Born in suburban New Jersey to Scandinavian immigrant parents, Mikael Jorgensen developed a fascination with music and its production while accompanying his father Joe, an accomplished New York recording engineer, to recording studios in NYC at age 7. From this technology-rich childhood, Mikael went on to gain formal education ranging from fine arts and video to electronics and computer science, a combination that now forms the core of his creative endeavors as a master of modern-digital and retro-analog production.

Throughout this time, Mikael has been collaborating with a number of other musicians and producers, including his long-term musical partner, Greg O’Keeffe. Their 2009 album All is Golden – released under the moniker Pronto – led to a unique second album, Bunny Hates Wolf.

After listening to the basic live tracks, Jorgensen began to abandon the guitars, bass and vocals and replace them with vintage analog synthesizers, software samplers and music technology of any variety. At first just a few replacements accentuated the production, but eventually Jorgensen and O’Keefe would replace everything but the live drums. This labor intensive shift has produced one of the most interesting electronic music records in recent memory, one that artfully avoids the “clubby” and “dancey” and “ambient” cliches to cast its own sonic territory that spans playfully sinister grooves, euphoric 8-bit blossoms and quiet introspection.

Toward the end of production, Jorgensen noticed an article about producer/engineer Allen Farmelo’s retro-futuristic mixing console, and the two were soon into a long-term mixing collaboration for the Jorgensen-O’Keefe album. Mixing cemented Mikael and Allen’s relationship and eventually led to Butterscotch Records (founded by Farmelo) signing Jorgensen.

Available now as a limited pre-sale at the Solid Sound Festival, the record will be officially released in late September.  Released by Butterscotch Records.

Overseas is David Bazan, Will Johnson, Matt Kadane, and Bubba Kadane.  The self-titled debut album is a dreamy waltz of foreboding and reconciliation, a coin flipping head over tails in spotlight slow motion, landing briefly on its edge before accepting that it’s both sides at once if it’s anything at all.  Written, performed, and produced by Overseas, the album is available for pre-order now – every order receives a digital copy instantly.

Radio Valkyrie 1905-1917 is only the second proper full-length LP by this Portland Maine-based duo, although there are vast arrays of CDRS and split releases littering their wake. After spending time with both the cosmically-shifting Cerberus Shoals and the folkily psychedelic Fire on Fire, Caleb Mukerin and Colleen Kinsella decided to opt for something more personal and hermetic. Thus, we have Big Blood. The band’s multi-phasic discography has thus far reminded people of everything from the Parson Sound to Opal to Portishead at different moments, yet none of these thumbnails comes close to capturing the elegant mystery of their essence. Sometime electric guitar lines weevil hauntingly in the aether while acoustics strum quietly up front. At other points, muted chimes of freedom push against vocals and cloppety rhythms that recall White Noise’s “Making Love Without Sound”. Still others vibe early Comus or The Third Ear Band. Available from Feeding Tube Records now.

The Margots (featuring John D. on guitar and Adrienne P. on vocals) will be hosting a listening party at the Palm Tavern (Milwaukee, WI) on Tuesday, June 11th at 9pm. Tim Daisy (drums) and Ken Vandermark (reeds) will also be present.  Their new album Pescado will be shipping soon from Okka Disk!

Classixx have been intent on their debut Hanging Gardens, whittling the LP down from hundreds of sessions to a svelte 12 songs. At once beaming, breezy and wistful, Hanging Gardens features a variety of coastal summer anthems, from haunting collaborations with Active Child and Super humanoids singer Sarah Chernoff, to the gleefully catchy Nancy Whang-featuring “All You’re Waiting For,” French Touch inspired gem “Holding On” and sublime chords of “Dominoes.” Playing a wide array of instruments on Hanging Gardens, Classixx’ full-length debut features impossibly sunny grooves, blithe melodies bred by the coast, coaxed out by the surf, expertly crafted for road trips, pool parties and dance clubs.

Stone Titan‘s Scratch N’ Sniff LP is launching soon via Safety Meeting Records!  But – if you can hit up the band’s tour stops, you can grab a copy early:

5/31 Lima, OH @ The Leathershop
6/1 Fowlerville, MI @ Papa Chinn’s Chili Emporium w/ THC
6/2 day off
6/3 Oshkosh, WI @ Trash House Early Show
6/3 Appleton, WI @ Maritime Late Show w/ TECHNICOLOR TEETH
6/4 Minneapolis, MN @ Medusa
6/5 Iowa City, IA Gabes Downstairs w/ THEE NODES
6/6 Kansas City, MO ?
6/7 Little Rock, AR 8-Bit Taproom w/ CHRONIC RITUAL
6/8 Dallas, TX @ 406 Haskell w/ CHRONIC RITUAL
6/9 Houston, TX @ The White Swan w/ SCAPHE
6/10 New Orleans, LA @ Red Haus w/ SCAPHE
6/11 Birmingham, AL w/ SCAPHE
6/12 Jackson, MS @ Morningbell Records
6/13 Tuscaloosa, AL ?
6/14 Knoxville, TN @ The Poison Lawn
6/15 Columbia, SC @ Queen Punx Palace
6/16 Wilmington, NC @ Reggies
6/17 Day off
6/18 Harrisonburg, VA w/ IRON HAND
6/19 Philadelphia, PA @ JRs Bar w/ IRON HAND
6/20 Jersey City, New Jersey @ The Lamp Post w/ IRON HAND
6/21 New York, New York @ The Acheron w/ IRON HAND

Available very soon from BLVD Records, New Canyons’ Everyone Is Dark is the Chicago band’ new full length album.  You can hit up their FREE record release party on June 3rd at Empty Bottle (Chicago).

The Torches were cobbled together by Stephen Guidry in the late winter of 2009 as his other band, The Cassettes retreated into hibernation. Hoping to find a repository and hopefully fertile crescent for the music that had been shaking around behind his eyes for sometime, the net was cast wide and drew in both old friends and new to create a ramshackle group, including banjo, oboe, harmonica, several-part vocal harmonies and cacophony, as well as some hollaring and stomping. If you insist, they have been described as a combination of “Tom Waits, The Make-Up, the Sex Pistols and Temple of the Dog.” The Torches played their first show without ever having all been in the same room at once.  Watch Lujo Records for updates on the new album - The Authority Of.