For a band so steeped in pop music history, this group has moved forward quite a bit over the past two years. Coming from their heavier roots, We Can’t Enjoy Ourselves have mellowed out quite a bit for their latest record ‘Make A Mess of Sacred Ground.’ Now they seem to both enjoying themselves more, while finding themselves even more frustrated by various bastards, Winsome William and the ones you love (their words, not mine).

The band dabbles in the music providing the soundtrack to that jangle house party found in the block between Echo and the Bunnymen and Vampire Weekend. Definitely a good time… and all the more reason to doubt these people are able to enjoy themselves. Check out the new record on their bandcamp, and be sure and make it to the end. Because the closing track, “Devil in the Old Folks Home,” is such a good time you’ll want to play the whole thing again. Check out the band at Glasslands Gallery on November 27th with Tony Castles and Kissing Is A Crime– Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

"Less is more" – they say – and Brooklyn’s Graph Rabbit have definitely learned that lesson. The band’s dream folk is so ethereal and sparse it can almost be mistaken for the random sounds of nature – should we call it ambient-folk then? This is music with supernatural powers: lull yourself to a deep and satisfying sleep with "Only Fields" (streaming below) or stare at your best friend right in the eyes until you can read his/her mind, with "Make it Stop" (video here). Stressed out New Yorkers should go see Graph Rabbits live at The Mercury Lounge on November 25 at 6.30 pm.

Congrats to Dynasty Electric – who headlined our Electronic CMJ Stage 2012 this past October – for landing a song placement for "Just Like That" (streaming below) on an upcoming Victoria’s Secret commercial. Of all the things your band’s music can be used as a soundtrack for, I think (sexy) women’s underwear is probably on the top 3 of my personal list (I’m a dude of course). Let’s just say top of the list. 

Over a year’s passed since their debut album, and already The Babies are way past the sticky status of ‘side project’ – so as we welcome this new full-length, here’s to meeting up with a band on the rise, a fair few hundred miles on the counter, hungry for seconds. But no more sunbaked lethargy, merely a touch of nonchalance; no more Mr. Lo-Fi, yet still textures in plenty. Where they would have been smothered, the vocals throughout the entire record come out clear as ever. Is it bye bye to the Babies we knew? Definitely not. They’re simply opening up to a new facet of their sound, one they’d merely approached on the last album, and are finally pushing forward. What happens when The Babies leave the warm, fuzzy, crackling comfort of the womb? ‘Our House On The Hill’.

By far more ‘polished’ than the past releases (tighter too), the band’s sophomore album takes us to a space filled with nostalgia, where we meet the best of two worlds coming together. The stripped down sounds of a lulling folk song – that’s "That Boy" for you, or unexpectedly sparse "Mean." Looking for that narcoticly catchy steady-beat? Check out "Moonlight Mile" (streaming) and "Slow Walkin." And oin these twelve tracks, there’s still plenty of time for both these extremes to meet in the middle and rejoice in some raw sounding garage pop songs like "Mess Me Around." So, sure, those who swear only by colliding parts and the aesthetics of confusion might prefer the ‘oldies‘; but for the rest of us, it was sure worth the wait. – TM

Trends come and go, but some styles seem to always stay relevant. It’s true with Spirit Family Reunion, from whom you can expect a classic kind of Americana performed by musicians who know how to pluck a banjo the right way. But what really makes this band stand out is that they don’t sound like they’re re-inventing anything. When you see them live, the sound is all their own, and the soulful yelps and gospel harmonies in jams like ‘I am Following the Sound’ and ‘On That Day’ should convince you of what you’ve been missing. After a sold out show at Mercury Lounge last Friday (probably also caused by recent coverage on Rolling Stone), the band will be soon leaving for a 2 week East coast tour. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

I don’t see how anybody could posibly try to describe Von Haze‘s music without using the word "trip" somewhere in the sentence. In their new video for the single "Mother Mountain," band members Travis Caine and Katherine Kin’s voices sound high as kites, to the point of challenging his highness Tricky’s levels of stonedness. Now back in NYC after on year spent in London, Von Haze plays minimalistic electro-trip-goth that carries a bagagge of dark, decadent influences ranging from Suicide to Joy Division, from Velvet Underground to Dead Can Dance. The Lynchean video looks like a hopeless and bleak celebration of irrationality shot in the middle of nowhere in the US (also referred to by us as "Tea Party-land"), but the band’s other material can be more uptempo and slightly less depressing (see "His Love is Fine, streaming below). Von Haze will celebrate the vynil release of their album ‘Kar Dee Akk Ake’ at Glasslands on 11.19 (tonight). 

For ‘New Jersey Hardcore’, their first full-length album ( which they released early October), The Everymen took a good handful of new steps, from production, an obvious first, to the choices made throughout the record. For a couple of songs, we get to hear Catherine Herrick (the only lady in the band) sing; amidst punk jams, there’s also more of the slower, softer side we’d heard on their last EP’s closing track ‘A Girl Named Lou’, with songs like ‘Annie’ or ‘Yellow Sunday Side’ […] This evening (11.16), The Everymen will be playing a benefit alongside The Brooklyn What, The Great American Novel & more at St Vitus in Brooklyn (you can find all the info here). Stream their new video for Coney Island High here & read TM’s Q&A with Mike V here.

Recorded earlier this year, and due out on January 8, 2013, “Here Come the Girls” by The London Souls is not just a sophomore album for the band but a representation of miraculous second chances. Soon after recording the material for the release, lead singer/guitarist Tash Neal was in a nearly fatal hit and run accident, after which he underwent emergency brain surgery, a medically induced coma, and several other surgeries, putting the record’s release on hold. His recovery and survival are extremely fortunate, and he is back rehearsing and preparing to share The London Souls’ new material in 2013. Recently, Guitar World featured track, “City of Light” on their website, offering a taste of the upcoming record’s homage to driving 60s rock ‘n roll energy, bluesy riffs, and gritty call and response vocals. Mind-blowing live shows and solid rock tunes make The London Souls a New York City Alt Rock gem, and their tour in the New Year and album in full are highly anticipated. Check out an old track below. – Meijin Bruttomesso

Los Encantados most likely write their music by forcefully giving each other high fives until the music spontaneously happens. This is just an uninformed guess of course, but with the band’s name loosely translating to ‘The Enchanted,’ it wouldn’t surprise me. The septet deals with the same chapters in life shared by most of us, city dwellers. Only when they do it… it’s actually uplifting! Listen to their new track ‘ZZZZ’ below and read Mike Levine’s interview with the band here.

NYC indie/folk songstress, Talia Billig, played the Living Room last night, November 16th, along with Daniel Ellis Ferris on back-up vocals and Nick Jozwiack on the stand-up bass and voice. The trio came together through The Orchard Sessions Volume 4, a platform created by Billig where she improvises new music with guest artists and posts the sessions online. The zany but endearing singer brought out her tiny pink piano for the song “You and I,” (featured in the official video) and the threesome harmonized flawlessly. The group played a few songs off of Bilig’s recently released debut album, The Ripple Effect, but the curly-haired singer’s talent manifested itself best when her counterparts left the stage. Singing solo and playing piano on a song the singer declared flippantly “comes from a really deep place of love in my heart that I can’t really find anymore,” she kept the room entranced with the emotionally charged and heartbreaking ballad. Check out Talia’s music on her website, or catch her at Rockwood on December 14th!

Talented New York indie pop quartet Mainland has been on the blogosphere’s radar for a couple of years now (some of you may remember them under their previous moniker, Mainland Fever) but they started recording their full length debut just earlier this year. The single they are previewing from the upcoming album, "Wasted" (streaming below) is playful, full of plucky riffs, and grounded by rock n’ roll crooning of vocalist Jordan Topf. If “Wasted” signifies what’s to come, we can expect just the right amount of retrospective melancholy embedded in a web of pop warmth. If you want to hear more by this band, they have another new song streaming here. – We added "Wasted" to our SoundCloud playlist of the best songs by emerging NYC artists here. – Corinne Bagish

Casually flirting with the edges of psychedelic heritage and other glimpses of 70s memory, The Barrens abide, in a self-titled first album, by no rules but their own. Released a year ago, the record remains their latest to date, a timeless, yet cohesive effort  built upon a constant back and forth between revivalism & reinterpretation. The result: as varied an output as you could hope for, with its warm waves of tingling reverb-soaked psychedelia ("Claw Remains"), hand-clapping, glowing indie ("Bottom Of Well" – streaming below), good ol’ riff-based solo-fused hard rock-based jams ("Felt").. Best thing is, these are only the first three tracks, singled out of a seamless ride along the edges of indie rock. Check it out on their Bandcamp, and see them live at Arlene’s Grocery on 11.21 with ZZZ’s and/or at Bowery Electric on 11.30 with Generator Ohm.