With The Winds Of Despair

While yesterday's topic was the phenomena of avoiding a band based solely on their name, today's is the antithesis of that. When a certain "Tiger Forest Cat" showed up in my rarely-checked (sorry) submissions inbox , I downloaded the promo immediately. Normally to make it on to my precious hard drive a strict vetting process of internet streaming occurs, but I went out on a limb here because I just knew that any band with a name like that was going to be amazing. You may think I'm sounding silly and arrogant but you know what? I was so right.

Turns out in addition to having a great name, Tiger Forest Cat is from the greatest country - Sweden. So it's no wonder that his whimsical, breezy pop single With The Winds Of Despair seems destined to soundtrack the next great commercial spot -- Swedes are built and programmed since birth to make hits. This is fact. Even if you're skeptical of my sources, once you get to the chorus you'll agree with me. That run on "little darling of mine" is the stuff that dreams are made of. Kudos to me for finally checking a submission email, kudos to TFC for having the best name ever, and kudos to you for telling all your friends about him. I just knew you would.

With The Winds Of Despair

Stay

You know when you hear of a band and the lexemic association you place on their name completely overshadows any of their output for you? Like, "Awwwww man, Cake? I hate cake, why would I want to listen to a band called Cake?" Well, if you've ever found yourself in the preceding scenario, you're a sadist. Seriously, who doesn't like cake? But moving on.

Having lived in New York for just under a year, I've come to resent tourists with a fire equal only to how Beyonce undoubtedly feels about Kim K: I can't stand them. But I'm not letting that get in the way of enjoying Tourist, the man. Tourist is a London-based musician with an undeniable knack for the deep house-hearkening, lush production style so popular in the past year. That's not to say his downtempo beats and layered instrumentation render him a copycat act in any way -- his late night jams display a deftness artists twice his age could only dream of possessing. He's demonstrated this most recently in a string of EPs -- his next set for an early December release -- and some expert remix work. He'll be kicking off a US tour in NYC over CMJ, so be sure to shake off any xenophobia, and catch the man in action.

Stay - Tourist

Real Slow

While our government is crumbling under the weight of its own idiocy, in world news, Australian musicians are still killing it. At least everyone is being consistent, right?

As far as consistency goes, Miami Horror could very well have their picture in the dictionary in under the word, as their brand of sunny, feel-good pop rock never fails to disappoint. With this in mind, we had good reason to be excited when our buds at Neon Gold announced that they were releasing the band's new single, Real Slow. While Real Slow has a bit more of a dance groove to it than the name might suggest, its breezy chorus is everything we needed to help ease our begrudging transition from summer. You can cop the single here, stream it below, and -- GREAT NEWS -- see it in real time tonight, if you're in NYC.


While we're on the subject of Australians, another formidable group are making their way to the big apple, and various cities across the country. Gold Fields have been tramping around US for the past month, bringing their blend of hybrid power pop with them. They'll be in NYC on Thursday for NG's monthly Popshop installment. Check it out, as its sure to be all koalas and rainbows and sparkles. Best kind of party.

Treehouse (GLOVES Remix) - Gold Fields


Gold (Gold Fields Remix) - Sir Sly