The Alternative Tone

Acoustic split between Old Gray frontman Cameron Boucher and ex Merchant Ships man, Nick Stutsman.  Download Here. If you ever read a post on The Alternative Tone you know that Old Gray = AWESOME and Merchant Ships = AWESOME and acoustic = AWESOME, therefore Nick Stutsman/ Cameron Boucher Acoustic Split = MIND BLOWN. This is just brilliant. Download it now. RIYL:  The Alternative Tone Highly Recommended. 

Ex- Merchant Ships/ Midwest Pen   Pals emo man gone acoustic.  Download Here. Basically what would happen if you put Merchant Ships into a Bright Eyes blender. Sweet, likable acoustic, showing that even (post) hardcore men can show their feelings. Lyrics are surprisingly excellent and both tracks are quite tender and heartbreakingly sad.  RIYL: Merchant Ships, Bright Eyes Highly Recommended. 

Even more emo from Philadelphia.    Download Here RIYL: A melodic Merchant Ships If you're only going to release one song, do it the way pennypack! has. Pretty much entirely gang vocals, loose, edgy instrumentation and one simple, but rallying verse, Golden Bear is probably one of my favourite songs so far this year. Can't wait for more.  Highly Recommended

Emo from Chicago. Download Here RIYL: Snowing, Prawn Yet another band from the current resurgence of awesome emo bands, Dowsing combine the typical 90's emo sound with more of a punkier,  melodic edge. Basically what you listen to if you want emo but the sun is shining. Amateur Cartography is a highlight of the record, with endearing vocals and upbeat but still edgy sounding guitars. Extremely promising debut, full of bounce and emotion. Highly recommended. 

Emo from Gainesville. Download Here RIYL: Prawn, Brave Bird, Dads

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. 

Emo from Philadelphia. Download Here RIYL: Snowing, Old Gray, Joie de Vivre

Twinkly emo from Philadelphia. Download Here RIYL: Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate), Snowing

Split from Sea Of Tranquility Records including Joie de Vivre, The Please And Thanks Yous and Emo Side Project.    Download Here RIYL: All of the emo, all of the time. 

Emo from Lawrence   Download Here RIYL: Empire! Empire! I Was A Lonely Estate, Dashboard Confessional

The rather awesome Empire! Empire! I Was A Lonely Estate have made the entirety of their back catalogue free on Bandcamp for one week only. Download ALL of it  here.  That was an order, not a suggestion.

Portland , OR ’s Young Turks have announced dates for their upcoming US tour. The band will be hitting the road beginning Oct 12 and will make their second appearance at The Fest in Gainesville , FL on 26-28 October. Dates: October 12 - Spokane , WA @ Carr's Corner 13 - Missoula , MT @ Ole Beck VFW Post 209 14 - Fargo , ND @ New Direction 15 - Des Moines , IA 16 - Madison , WI 17 - Chicago , IL @ Ultra Lounge 18 - Toledo , OH 19 - New York , NY 20 - New Britain , CT @ Horse's Mouth 21 - Philadelphia , PA @ Mount Thrashmore 22 - Baltimore , MD @ Charm City Art Space 23 - North Carolina 24 - Atlanta , GA 26-28 - Gainesville , FL @ FEST 11 30 - Pensacola , FL 31 - New Orleans , LA November 1 - Houston , TX @ Mango's 2 - Austin , TX @ Annex at 1808 3 - Ft Worth, TX @ 1919 Hemphill 5 - Albuquerque , NM @ Gasworks 6 - Denver , CO @ 7th Circle 7 - Salt Lake City , UT 8 - Boise , ID @ B7B Studio

Acoustic folk.    Download Here RIYL: Jakob Lewis, Caleb Engstrom, acoustic music.  Highly Recommended.  Also, the dude is trying to raise money to properly record an album, and as he has ridiculously insufficient funds, he's been sort of forced to share his demos. So, if while it is 'pay as want', any payment is going to what should be an awesome album. 

Indie rockers, Hidden Hospitals shall release their second EP, EP 002 on October 30.              Tracklisting: Featherweight The Absence of Emotion Picture Perfect Monsters Lullaby

Indie folk from Michigan.    Available for free on  Last Fm. RIYL: Andrew Bird, Conor Oberst

Indie folk from Detroit Download Here RIYL: Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird

Male/female folk from the UK. Download Here. RIYL: Laura Marling, sadness. Highly Recommended. 

Hello there, Apologies, I Have None!  Hello. Firstly, for the record, and for any unacquainted readers, who is Apologies, I Have None? And how did you come about?  We are four dudes from London who spend most of our time arguing amongst ourselves, and write songs with what time we have left. You released the excellent London earlier this year. How's life been for the band since?   It's been pretty busy. We did quite a bit of touring at the beginning of the year, then had a good run of shows in the summer, and now we're back off on tour again so I can't complain. It's good! According to your Tumblr, you're recording some demos at the moment. Care to share any details with us?  We've got a few songs that we're demoing right now. There’s not loads to say about them right now other than we think they are good. It’s probably the same with every band that you always think your newest stuff is your best, but we do think that these newest songs a...

I recently spoke to the guys from the excellent up and coming punk rockers Pulling Punches.  Hi there, Pulling Punches!  Who is Pulling Punches, and how did you get together?     Joe : Pulling Punches is a group of friends that explode whenever they get together and the result is pure, raw, energetic rock. Michael : We’re a band that grew up listening to a lot of punk and hardcore records. The band has gotten together entirely through Craigslist believe it or not. Each member was looking to be in a band and responded to an ad. We are a product of the internet in that way. Maybe that makes us huge geeks. Maybe we should be sponsored by Craigslist. We should really look into that. As far as band members go: Michael sings Rob and Sam play guitar Joe rocks the bass Mike plays drums. How has 2012 been for you guys?   Michael: Well, it doesn’t look like the zombie apocalypse is coming any time soon, and we’re thankful for that. ...

  Animal Style Records has launched pre-orders for the second press of Transit's 2008 debut full-length,  This Will Not Define Us .  Pre-orders for the vinyl release are now up at  http://animalstyle.limitedrun.com/products/504357-transit-this-will-not-define-us-lp   and are limited to 500 copies (150 white / 350 blue) slated for a release of November 4, 2012. 

Man Overboard have announced a bunch of different tour dates. They're probably playing somewhere near you. Unless you live in Antarctica. If so, better luck next time. With Major League Sept. 20th - Baltimore , MD @ Charm City Art Space Sept. 21st - Haddonfield , NJ @ Grace Church Performance Hall (HCSPA) Sept. 22nd - Lansdale , PA @ Lansdale VFW Sept. 23rd - Rockville Centre , NY @ Vibe Lounge Sept. 24th - Stanhope, NJ @ Stanhope House Oct. 11th - Cleveland , OH @ Now That's Class * Oct. 12th - Indianapolis , IN @ The Hoosier Dome * Oct. 13th - St. Louis , MO @ Fubar * * without Major League With Taking Back Sunday and Bayside Oct. 16th - Salt Lake CIty , UT @ In The Venue Oct. 18th - Seattle , WA @ Showbox At The Market Oct. 19th - Portland , OR @ Crystal Ballroom Oct. 20th - Santa Cruz , CA @ The Catalyst Oct. 21st - San Francisco , CA @ The Regency Ballroom Oct. 23rd - Los Angeles , CA @ Troubadour Oct. 24th - Pomona , CA @ The Fox Theatre Oct. 25th - Los Angeles , ...

For the record, who are A Place To Bury Strangers? And how did you guys get  together? A Place To Bury Strangers is a group of men who make rock and roll music. We got together by other people abandoning the idea that rock and roll was worth persuing further. We didn't believe that so we continued to work on what rock and roll is. We break stuff, we scream, we cry and then this is what we have. What is ABTBS up to at the moment? We are just about to start a tour in the UK. So I'm on some crappy computer because they haven't brought real internet to the UK.  How has 2012 been? I always have a blast no matter what I am doing but this year has been really great for us. Our new record  Worship  has really exceeded my expectations and turned out great. I don't know how we wrote such a good record honestly. What was the songwriting process for Worship? Do you write together or work separately and bring it all together? Or do you have certa...

For the record, who is Bear Arms and how did you get together? Bear Arms is Richard Wardrop (guitar/vocals), Keiran Hird (guitar/vocals), Lewis McGourty (bass) and Dean Louden (drums). Lewis and I (Richard) went to school together along with our original drummer, Ben Sneddon. We all moved to Glasgow together and started the band, we then began looking for a second guitarist and recruited Keiran into the band. Ben Moved away to Surrey to go to uni and we now have the talented Dean Louden playing drums for us now! How would you describe Bear Arms music for the unacquainted?  I usually describe our music as alt/post-hardcore. The best way I've ever heard it described though was 'a healthy mix of Thrice, The Xcerts and Fightstar'.  How has 2012 been for you?  2012 has been good for Bear Arms. We played our very first ever show at King Tuts, recorded and released our latest e.p New Skin, had both singles, 'Towers' and 'Cities' from the e.p pl...

I recently spoke to Matt Carroll of post-hardcore noise-mongers,  Make Do And Mend . Hello there, Make Do And Mend!                                                                                                                                                                                                          For the record, who is Make Do And Mend and how did you get together? Make Do And Mend is a group of best friends who like to play music together. We got together b...

Indie pop from the UK. Download Here RIYL: Englishness, Bombay Bicycle Club, Kate Nash

You can watch a half hour long set from indie band, Grizzly Bear  here.  The set features an interview between songs as well as well as four tracks from their new album Shields. Get in.

Post-hardcore from Boston. Download Here RIYL: Deafeater, Converge, ANGER!

Folk from Copenhagen. Download Here RIYL: Bon Iver minus the autotune. Highly Recommended. 

Male/female vocals folk from Texas. Download Here RIYL: A stripped back Mumford & Sons Highly Recommended 

I recently chatted to Calvin Lauber of  indie-punkers, Looking For Alaska.  Hi there, Looking For Alaska!  Hey Alternative Tone! Thanks for having us do this interview. Who is Looking For Alaska, and how did you get together?  Looking For Alaska is: (me) Calvin Lauber (vocals, guitar), Joshua Cannon (guitar, vocals), Garrett Galtelli (bass, vocals), and Chris Chamoun (drums). We all played in different local bands in the past, and basically through a lot of people quitting a joining a band Josh and I started, it eventually became what is now Looking For Alaska. How would you describe your music for the unacquainted?  Loud rock n roll, sometimes we're quiet though. We try to be kind of catchy but can be known to throw that out the window and just yell a lot.. How has 2012 been for you guys?  Pretty crazy, really. We had a pretty huge line up change with our old singer leaving. This left us writing all new material and in a way starting over as a...

Hi there, State Champs! Hi! For the record who is State Champs, and how did you get together? State Champs is a 5 piece pop punk band from based out of the Capital District of New York.  We got together when our bass player Bill approached Tyler at our local Planet Fitness and asked if he wanted to start a band. The rest is history! How would you describe your music for the unacquainted? Like dad unacquainted? - "it's like punk music with cleaner vocals." You've recently put together the Overslept EP . How was the  recording process for you? What steps did you take in putting together the release? The recording process was great. Our engineer, Jay Maas, did an awesome job at bringing out the best in us. Aside from writing and recording everything, we shot the album art with our dude and photographer Mason Garnot ( www.facebook.com/masongarnotphotography ) and our best friend and male model Mark Oliver (@markxoliver) in Jesse's (guitar) back...