Aushua, Foxes, Owls, Kooks

Aushua - "Stained Glass Blues". My younger brother is in town for a visit (and some SXSW festivities) right now and so of course we ended up talking about the new bands we're into. He dropped the name of an Orange County outfit called Aushua on me and they are honestly my new faves. Classic mid-tempo anthemic sounds, which can get admittedly trite these days, but done very well here. Some nice touches of The Verve. Check out their Myspace page for some great songs.

Fleet Foxes - "Oliver James" & "White Winter Hymnal". Miss early My Morning Jacket and first album Band of Horses? Of course you do. This guy's voice is UNREAL it's so good. That end of "Oliver James" is amazing.

Grand Archives - "Torn Blue Foam Couch". And, following on in that vein, here are Grand Archives (with some apparent tie to Band of Horses that I can't be bothered to research). Class tune in that same genre.

Cut Off Your Hands - "Closed Eyes". Now for a little noise. I wrote about these guys last summer and they just keep cranking out the hits. These guys and Tokyo Police Club keep me so happy.

Lykke Li - "Little Bit". If you don't know this one already, you really need to get out more. This is the seductive jam for Spring. And this Swede is definitely more than a one-hit wonder. The album is good. Investigate.

Mezzanine Owls - "Snow Globe". I wrote about these guys a year ago to the day (odd). Fortunately they are coming back to SXSW and I hope to sort them in (who knows this year...). This song is another bit of pure genius, second only to "Lightbulb".

The Kooks - "Always Where I Need To Be". I've loved these guys since that first note years ago. Somewhat over-the-top pop, but homeboy can sing and write a tune. This one didn't fully catch me at first, but now it's stuck up in me brain.

See you after SXSW... In the meantime (and if you are lucky enough to be reading this while the tune is still available), do yourself a huge favor and check out "When I Go" by Slow Club. As charming as they come...