Recommendation (August 19, 2012)

New Tales by Papermoons (2009)
Indie rock from Deep Elm Records. With New Tales, the duo that is Papermoons have created one of the hidden gems of the past few years. Each track could be on a soundtrack, with the album maintaining a rock vibe without losing it's chilled out air.

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Narrow Stairs by Death Cab For Cutie (2008)

One of the most underrated albums in the Death Cab For Cutie arsenal, Narrow Stairs moved Gibbard and his merry band of men into the world of narration and indie rock. Every song could be a mini-novel, and the album built on the sound touched by Death Of An Interior Designer from 2004's Transaltanticism. Gibbard's vocals are at their best and songs such as Cath and Long Division show why Death Cab are as big as they are.

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Early In The Morning by James Vincent McMorrow (2010) (Review)

I've decided to create a new genre. I call it “beardcore”. Scene heads generally make confessional folk music recorded alone in some isolated building (cabin, hut, beach house etc.) with only acoustic guitars, banjos and whatnot for company. Oh, and they have beards. Now you may think to yourself, ‘This will never take off! How silly of her!’ and, given most of my genre creating, you’d be right (Oberstcore never did take off…), but this scene is not just existing, but is currently thriving. The newest beardcore artist is James Vincent McMorrow’. Joining Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes in the genre, McMorrow hails from the not so green isle of Ireland and is making waves with his debut album Early In The Morning , eleven tracks of atmospheric indie-folk with intelligent musicianship, and more intelligent lyrics. The album starts off with “If I Had A Boat” an initially a capella, atmospheric grower. Starting off quietly, it eases the listener into the record with McMorrow...

Track-By-Track: Forest Life EP by McCafferty

McCafferty 's recent EP, Forest Life, is one of The Alternative Tone's favourite releases so far this year. I caught up with Nick to get a track-by-track on the EP, in order to give us more insight into McCafferty's fabulous imagery and lyrical themes. Jeff There was a girl I was friends with in high school named Becky and she was in a relationship with this guy from freshman year until last summer, when their relationship fell apart she told me it happened really fast, that's why the song is so short. I wanted to explore the aspect of a relationship with so much feeling that just ends abruptly and the emptiness that you feel after. I've had people message me and say they wish Jeff was longer, but that's the exact reason I made it so short. Snakes I wrote "Snakes" with the mindset of making a song that sort of pokes fun at all these dogs out there in the DIY scene about smoking and partying, it's really simplistic in the lyrics b...

Bravebird - Ready Or Not

Emo from Ann Arbor Download Here (Out of free bandcamp downloads, however the band have posted a mediafire link for it) RIYL: A really twinkly La Dispute, Old Gray Highly Recommended.

The Alternative Tone

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