As if I need another Swedish musician to follow, out pops Molly Nilsson. Her songs are equally simple and beautiful, creating some dreamy synth-pop tunes that are sure to put you into orbit. All of the tracks below are from her new LP, History, but you can check out some of her earlier stuff from her label Dark Skies Association (founded by Nilsson herself).

Molly Nilsson // You Always Hurt the One You Love [via]

[Directed by: Olivia Kastebring]

Here is some local flavor for you from where I (still) call home: Lubbock, Texas. Growing up dead center of quite literally the middle of nowhere meant that we very seldom had any touring bands make a pit-stop in our college town. A plus to this otherwise negative isolation proved to be that local acts thrived. In fact, I would say that out of all of the places I’ve lived, Lubbock has had some of the most eclectic and better sounding local bands that I have heard. Not surprising, alt-country proved to house the best-of-the-best of bands, that being Thrift Store Cowboys. Although the group has toured extensively and recorded incredibly polished and delightful albums, they still have remained local at heart.

When I first started going to their shows about ten years ago, the core of the group consisted of singer/guitarist Daniel Fluitt and singer/fiddler Amanda Shires. Both are hyper-talented and incredibly hard-working and are deserving of higher acclaim. Below are two videos highlighting them individually (Amanda has since moved on and started recording solo albums, although her ties to Lubbock can still be seen in the video). Enjoy the best of West Texas!

Carnivores is a four-piece garage rock band from Atlanta. On first listen, the spidery guitar intro and the sparse, drum-heavy arrangement of “Prom Night” reminded me of the former glory of Portland’s Explode Into Colors — a comparison that, in itself, is enough to excite. However, the resemblance fades at the bridge where the song breaks completely open courtesy of singer/keyboardist Caitlin Lang’s sprawling vocals of “Sheeeeee // she really loved the way you swore (?)…” before reverting back to the the Halloween-ish melody. Also, the jam-session at the concluding sixty seconds left a nice after taste in my mouth, urging me on to press reply at the end of each listen.

Download the track and check out the trippy vid below. You can cop the 7” via Double Phantom Records here.

Carnivores // Prom Night

First heard these killer tunes from New Zealand’s Ghost Wave via Sally Fork via Rose Quartz (looking like a re:re: chain e-mail, I know). It’s been a while since I covered a group from the Southern Hemisphere on the blog, so I’ll forgo a bunch of “down under” puns for both your sake and mine

Call me a sucker for fuzzy guitars, monotonic vocals, and instagram visuals, so it comes as no surprise that the track + video for Ghost Wave’s “Hippy” hits all the right spots for me. With all the summer shots/sounds, it almost makes me forget that I’m freezing my ass off in Salt Lake right now. Almost…

Check out the video and download the track below. Head over to the band’s bandcamp for a couple of more tunes.

Ghost Wave // Hippy

If you live in Austin, go to this. If you live in the world, buy this. And if you like music, listen to this:

(full review forthcoming)

Seems after a year of no news, we’ve been hit with a slew of Veronica Falls releases/tours/tracks in a span of two weeks — and I couldn’t be happier. Most posts center around their new 7” being released on Slumberland Records (which you can cop here). Slumberland has posted a stream to the A-side title track and Steregum premiered the video — all of which you can check out below. In addition, Weekly Tape Deck shared what looks to be a fan-made video for the VF’s track “Come On Over” (a twinge of loss when hearing it’s not a Christian Aguilar cover) which is a song scheduled for their upcoming LP, also on Slumberland.

Veronica Falls – Bad Feeling by Slumberland Records

Veronica Falls – Bad Feeling from Slumberland Records on Vimeo.

Veronica Falls – Come On Over from Army Of Kids on Vimeo.