Listen: New How to Dress Well songs

How to Dress Well's first 7" just came out on Lefse Records, and its a beauty. Like Tom Krell (the man behind HTDW) announced some time ago, he has a lot more stuff coming out. Transparent Records will release his next 7" in just over a week. Ecstasy With Jojo / Take It On is up for pre-order right now at Pure Groove and the two songs can be streamed/downloaded below:

How To Dress Well - Ecstacy With Jojo (Single) by Pure Groove

This all leads up to HTDW's first full length release called Love Remains, coming September 21 also via Lefse. This debut LP will consist of songs Krell has released previously, only in recorded form and properly mixed and mastered. A first album song, You Won't Need Me Where I'm Goin', is up for grabs here as well (via Pitchfork):

MP3: How to Dress Well - You Won't Need Me Where I'm Goin'

Vondelpark: California Analog Dream (video)

I truly believed Vondelpark was a Dutch band bathing in obscurity. Just found their Last.fm page via Transparent Blog though, it seems they are actually from London. And one of the tags on their Last.fm is "Tom Vek", who made a great album some years ago. Could he be Vondelpark or one of their members? Anyway, really enjoying their music. Take a look at the video below and/or pick up some tracks from one of my previous blogposts.

Vondelpark - california analog dream xxx from Hurley on Vimeo.

Listen: Herzog - Search

Transparent just announced its first full length LP release, and what a great one this is. I hadn't heard of Herzog before, but listening to the sixth song of the album at the moment, I'm really darn enthusiastic. Herzog knows to write the catchiest of tunes you've heard in a long while. Sometimes rocking it out straight ahead in Dinosaur Jr.-style, sometimes searching or a bit more experiment in arrangements. They never seem to shake their ability to write perfect pop tunes. This album will be great company the coming summer. Listen to the full album below:



You can get a download from their Bandcamp page, or pre-order a vinyl copy from Pure Groove. First 25 get a nice discount.

Vondelpark: The Netherlands' best-kept secret?

Vondelpark (with no Myspace, website or Bandcamp that anyone can seem to find) is already being picked up to some blogs, like No Pain In Pop and Transparent. With the latter stating: "...just an email out of the blue and a fruitless Google trail that leads to Amsterdam. It’s a mystery and enigma that carries into their music..."

Well, if they really are from Netherlands, it's a band to be proud of. Their sound consists of hazy and laidback soundscapes with mumbling vocals sounding incredibly pleasant. I collected some of their songs I could find right here:
Vondelpark - Jetlag Blue Version 22
Vondelpark - Hippodrome
Vondelpark - California Analog Dream