No, that's not Dick Dale sliding down the guitar neck on "New Beginnings"...though that doesn't mean the opening track of Love is All's excellent new disc A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night (What's Your Rupture?) doesn't set a totally tubular kind of tone from the get go. Devoted fans and newcomers alike: prepare yourselves for giddy gobs of party starting pop from listen one. Electric tempos, gigantic breakdowns, spazzed out saxophone lines, "ba ba ba's" galore, and Josephine Olausson's faintly accented vocal yelps all help to minister the group's second recorded outing a genuine success.

cory chisel @ electric ladyland studio - chris gayomali

The CMJ Music Marathon is arguably the biggest, most extravagant, most ubiquitous music festival in New York City. Spread over five days, dozens of venues, hundreds of shows, and tons of bands all over Manhattan and Brooklyn. Many New Yorkers don't even realize they are attending a CMJ show until they get there; others front the hefty sum for a badge and attend multiple shows a night. College radio stations from around the country send delegates to scout new talent. Showcases highlight genre specific acts. And blogging skyrockets harder than Radiohead making headlines. It's a time of joy for music fans in the big apple.

Well, this is an absolute mess of a performance. The stage is totally trashed, the songs are slightly sloppy and slap dash in their own right, and...in all honesty...the leader of this pack of Shrines is a bit of an Amtrak pileup. See the fellow masquerading around in the Speedo, black cape, and golden swimming cap type thing? That would be King "Bama Lama" Khan - a freak of a front man, the likes of which we've never seen before.

Remember when we gave away the ultimate piece of Deerhunter memorabilia last month to one lucky reader? William Huntley does. That's because he took home an autographed cymbal hand signed by the entire band.

We thought it was a nice little giveaway...so nice, in fact, that we're doing it all over again in support of our latest concert release

If you haven't noticed, we're pretty darn excited about our latest concert release from King Khan and the Shrines. I suppose, the thinking goes like thisIt's but a few days until Halloween. Why not plaster one of the biggest freaks we've ever had the pleasure of squaring our cameras on all over the site! Of course, it's not just King Khan's big week here at Baeble. The man has plenty of plans for plenty of other places this week as well.

Don't be deceived by the scratchy, vinyl hiss that accompanies The Supreme Genius of King Khan. The nasty, psycho soul and raunchy rhythm and blues that sweats and swelters over the course of this electric collection wasn't compiled from a few pieces of wax someone, somewhere just sort of happened upon. No, King "Bama Lama" Khan and his 12-piece big band are very much of the here and now...a fantastic fact that'll have listeners testifying live in the court of Khan soon after the sixteen tracks offered here have run 'em clear over.

Gothenburg Sweden continues its' mighty churn of pop excellence...a fact hammered happily over our merry little heads by the latest album from Love is All. A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night is a rather ship-shape collection of potent and perky pop (more on that in the days to come)...one that's honestly got us whistling while we work here at Baeble HQ. So it's with a whole lot of welcome news that we recently learned of the band's plan to swing through our neighborhood in the months to come.

After an extended European tour, Clare and the Reasons' will be venturing out on their first coast to coast tour in support of the always immaculate, My Brightest Diamond. This, of course, couldn't come at a more critical time for the country. Currently, hidden amongst their timeless, pop-noir, the band is pushing a quant Obama tribute that will either take the shape of a sweet little reality, or a terrifyingly, depressing kind of daydream in the next 8 days.

Photos by Stefanie Giglio
The CMJ Music Festival kicked off here in New York on Tuesday, which is essentially the indie music geek equivalent of Fashion Week. We were lucky enough to catch the V-Magazine showcase at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, where notables like Miles Benjamin Anthony, Van Peoples, Lizzie Trullie, and Baeble favorite Lykke Li lit up the stage and kicked off CMJ in style.

The problem with revivalist rock in general is that it's oftentimes so niched and limited by the very history it draws from that it paints itself into a corner before eventually fading back into obscurity. The room for innovation just isn't there, and if music in itself is a progressive art form, then it's a nearly impossible task for revivalist bands to stay fresh and relevant. Compounded with the career defining test of making a sophomore album that doesn't suck, and Long Beach, CA's Cold War Kids had quite a daunting task ahead of them.

You wont miss Joseph Israels message. The Arkansas born reggae artist need not hide behind symbolism and metaphor to get his urgent point across. Power Douglas, on the other hand, is an LSD laced, freak out session, courtesy of one of New York's most daring musical outfits.

Loud and unapologetic, Kansas based Boo and Boo Too play a brand of raunchy shoegaze rock that taps into the noisy pulse of old New York City no wave. Their full length debut, No Tempo (Ironpaw/Chomp Womp) is a feedback laden monstrosity that can be likened to The Walkmen, but with an undeniably charismatic sprinkling of indie-pop charm.

If the slap dash, girl-group soundings of Vivian Girls is your flavor of the week, the Brooklyn band of babes is offering a mighty fine reason to stick with 'em well into the fall. Kicking off...well shit, this past Friday actually...the girls recently embarked on a raucous (we hope) road trip across the states with plenty of notable confidants, including F***ED UP, Deerhunter, Times New Viking, Jay Retard, King Khan, and Love is All, on in support (though I imagine Vivian Girls handle the bulk of the opening duties for these bands). Highlights include too many CMJ showcases to count, and a New Year's Eve outing with Yo La Tengo and the Feelies in Montclair New Jersey.

More often than not in the music industry, the loss of a band member can literally be dismembering to a band's lifespan. Once in awhile though, the adverse effect takes place, and sometimes a band can rediscover itself and chart its way into new and exciting musical territory (Joy Division's transformation into New Order is a prime example).

photos by Chris Gayomali. See more photos HERE.
Long Beach, CA's finest The Cold War Kids brought 150 decibels of dogmatic hootenanny to a "souled" out Webster Hall crowd last night. The foursome had the entire auditorium brimming from top to bottom with ferocious, gospel stomp energy, playing old fan favorites like "Hang Me Out to Dry" interspersed with selections from their latest album, Loyalty to Loyalty.

photos by Chris Gayomali. See more photos HERE.
There, quite possibly, may not be a more loveable bunch bopping about the scene these days than the peppy, precious popsters who comprise Syracuse NY's rag tag outfit, Ra Ra Riot. The band's recently released debut record, The Rhumb Line, has been a Fall standard 'round these parts...so we gathered half the office and made our way to Sound Fix in Brooklyn last evening to get a taste of the live evolution of the band.

The state of indie music in Texas was once crucial, but is now all but irrelevant to a band that is anything but new, and has lasted much longer than a year. I sat down with The New Year to discuss their long journey to today's music scene, and what got them there in the first place.

If there was an award for the 2nd catchiest song titled "Paper Planes" released within the last year, it'd hands down go to this group. I'm From Barcelona are a 29+ member band (!) counter intuitively hailing from Jnkping, Sweden. Led by songwriter Emanuel Lundgren, the bands' latest offering Who Killed Harry Houdini? (Mute) is a goldmine of indie pop paradigms - vibrant instrumentation underneath intelligent, poppy verses interspersing grandiosely memorable choruses.

The only rules are...there are no rules. It's the only creed I imagine Icy Demons...a free basing, freak out of a collective hailing from Chicago create their art by. A no limits outfit that packs electronic, funk, hip hop, jazz, lounge, rock, and world music elements into what are ultimately rather cool and carefree compositions, Icy Demons navigate more sonic terrain than Lewis and Clark over the course of this performance at the Knitting Factory.

The Icy Demons are taking their schizophrenic sound circus on the road. Opening up for fellow eccentrics Of Montreal and yeasayer, the show promises to be an over the top treat for your ears and eyes.

Icy Demons are a five piece experimental outfit hailing from Chicago. Comprised of members form Chicago notables like Bablicon's Griffin Rodriguez (under the pseudonym Blue Hawaii), and Man Man's Christopher Powell, Icy Demons make music that borrows elements as diverse as samba, dub, electronica, and no wave noise to form a sound that explicitly defies categorization. Their third full length offering, Miami Ice, sounds like a compilation soundtrack of old Nintendo games over the sandy rhythms of a Jamaican beach resort. It's earnestly invigorating and, oddly enough, easily approachable for an experimental album that's as out there as this is.

The directorial debut of Flaming Lips front man Wayne Coyne, Christmas on Mars, is as weird as you'd expect (and that's a good thing). Following the critical acclaim garnered upon its initial screening, Warner Bros. Records and Film company subsidiary Cinema Purgatorio will be showing the film in selected venues across the country. The film will also be available on iTunes on its November 11th national release date.

Photos by Joe Puglisi
Friday night was a big night for the New York music scene, with big name acts floating around all over town. We decided an old favorite deserved our attention, so we shuttled off to Williamsburg to groove to the laid back rock of The New Year, with support from Dirty On Purpose, and relatively new act Tre Orsi.

In a vast sea of female lead indie rock bands, School of Seven Bells set themselves apart from the rest of the Feist doppelgangers with an unwavering duet of bright, intelligent, and harmonious pop. The stylings of twin vocalists Alejandra and Claudia Deheza never step over one another rather, we're treated to a synchronized vocal dance, with each voice weaving in and out of each other's way with an almost telekinetic precision that only twin-ship would be able to afford.

Though we're generally the ones producing the exclusive, live content that airs on Baeble, enigmatic, English musician KiNo recently gave it a go, producing a series of clips that would take him on a virtual tour of several music sites. Today's stop? Baeble of course.

At first, I was kind of scared going in that Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist was going to be a cheesefest. I'm one of those people who approach new Michael Cera projects with a tiny bit of skepticism. I mean, here's a guy whose characters have never really deviated from the George Michael mold he crafted during his early days on Arrested Developmentanything outside of "lanky awkward teenager" would be a radical departure for him.

The "does art imitate life, or does life imitate art?" argument manifests itself rather handily within The Rosebuds' newest full length album, Life Like. On one hand, The Rosebuds are notorious for drastically changing their sound from album to album. Their latest offering is a mixed bag of interesting juxtapositions-- ostentatious, yet intimately accessible; morose, but strangely upbeat; grandiose, but intimately intricate.

Brooklyn based super musician Cale Parks is a busy guy. When he's not drumming for the likes of Aloha and White Williams, he's been overseeing every step of production for the November 4th release of his sophomore solo album, Sparklace.

photos by Chris Gayomali. See more photos HERE.
On a chilly, autumn, Sunday evening, Fleet Foxes managed to fill the sold-out auditorium of New York City's Webster Hall with their own brand of sticky sweet harmonies, lemonade acoustics, and inimitable stage wit. While the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young comparisons are more than obvious, Fleet Foxes manage to tap into old time, country soul with the finesse and expertise of worn vinyl veterans.

photos by Stefanie Giglio. See more photos HERE.
One of reggae's preeminent, modern acts, John Brown's Body let the good vibes flow throughout this performance, stirring an eager crowd into an absolute tizzy over the course of their hour and a half long set. For those not up on the Boston bred band, JBB don't exactly specialize in reggae alone. Their's is a much more hybrid take on the genre. Dub, electronica, hip hop, rock...JBB transform reggae into a vessel for bringing other influences and genres to the surface. The result is an utterly explosive blend of sound and style that recalls the classic offerings of Marley and Toots and the Maytals, as well as the more modern sonic ventures of 311.

In honor of our latest video from John Brown's Body, we're giving away not one, not two, but THREE Baeble prize packs that include a autographed copy of John Brown's Body's new CD, Amplify, and a Baeble DVD of the show. Wanna enter? Follow the instructions after the jump.

Liking our latest John Brown's Body concert release? Well, Baeble ain't the only place to check out the band. The venerable tour de force that is JBB is currently in the middle of a lengthy North American tour. So check out our show, then go see theirs'. Get all the details after the jump.

Setting and appropriately triumphant tone from the get go, Amplify is a thick, heavyset collection of reggae anthems that are strikingly contemporary in nature. Sure, tracks like "Be at Peace" and "Give Yourself Over" stem from classic, roots reggae influences. But JBB lift some serious weight on Amplify, beefing up traditional bedrock with a walloping, syncopated low end, a crisp, percussive shuffle, and big, bad, and bold brass horns. Progressing things along even further, the record exploits the genre for a fitting vehicle to chauffeur other modern influences to the surface.

A few months removed from the break up of Be Your Own Pet, I thought that the inherent fire of the genre was dying out, and maybe I should start listening to stuff that's more acceptable under the dull considerations of adulthood (like Sigur Ros or something). Thankfully, that youthful fire was again relit this morning (LIKE A BOMB) when I stumbled upon a bunch of noisy teenagers from Brooklyn who call themselves-- appropriately enough-- Fiasco.

It's been darn near two years since last we heard a fresh collection of tunes from one of Chicago's most virtuosic of musical residents. Andrew Bird - he of the classically trained violin mastery and otherworldly whistling tendencies - last released Armchair Apocrpyha back in early '07. An impressive gem of an album, Armchair played like the culmination of the idiosyncratic musician's many sonic talents, scoring big with critics and fans alike along the way. Now Bird's hoping his latest will pickup famously where his last record left off.

The Born Ruffians' are a three piece set hailing from Toronto, Canada. The EP follow up to their Red Yellow Blue full length, Little Garcon sounds kind of like the jukebox of your local, neighborhood dive bar at 1 am, jumping around with sing-song-y familiarity, an underlying country twang, and a healthy scoop of in-song unpredictability that has everyone in the bar drunkily mouthing along the wrong lyrics. ...Keep Reading... -chris gayomali

Back in November of 2007, Nick Johnston broke his leg on the last night of touring with the Foals. It was a magnificent leap, some 15 feet off a balcony, resulting in a hospital visit after the show. And yet, somehow, Cut Off Your Hands' rowdy lead singer found a way to finish his band's set. It's ape shit antics and attention grabbing situations like these that have lead audiences to expect nothing less than a great fucking time anytime he and his band churn it out live.

Remember how The OC made a Transatlanticism-era Death Cab the biggest band on the planet for a little bit? And then remember how all your friends swooned over how Garden State was "quirky and deep" and had a soundtrack that featured 20 or so songs from The Shins? Ah, the good ol' days of indie nerd pop.

Jinkies. What sounds like a caper straight out of Scooby-Doo is unfortunately a mysterious reality for UK darlings The Kills. The duo was on the Austin, TX leg of their tour when their entire bus (including their driver, Brian Berkenkemper) vanished without a trace.

photos by Chris Gayomali.
There was a bit of irony that went down on Monday at NYC's most carnivalistic of venues, Spiegelworld. The magnificent, wood and canvas tent that sits oh so awesomely on Pier 17's derives its' name from a Dutch word meaning mirror tent; an appropriate reference as it's a place plump full of plenty of aesthetic allusion and deception. But The Dodos, the band who sold out the venue, are none of that. Theirs' is a craft that offers absolutely nothing to hide behind. Theirs' is a brand of boozy, electric roots that's elemental, yet completely unique unto them.

Take a look at beauty that lies in wait after the jump. She's sleek, shiny, 16 inches from edge to edge, and most alluringly autographed by every member of Deerhunter. Even more impressive is the fact that this exclusive piece of memorabilia can be all yours.