MAP has rolled out for the month of August! Listen to choice tunes picked by us, The Pop Cop, The Guardian UK and 31 other blogs around the globe.

Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a zip file of the whole 34-track compilation through Ge.tt here.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Liza Casullo – Rojo Lojojo
After alt-rock band Doris broke up in 2007, most of its members started their own musical projects (Onda Vaga and Valeu!, among others). Singer and guitarist Liza Casullo decided to go solo, but she took some time off to develop her acting career. A couple of months ago she released her first official album, Velvetbonzo. It’s a great record in which a minimalistic acoustic sound blends with psychedelia, garage and folk. Rojo Lojojo is our favorite song, which we also managed to capture on video during one of her shows.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Cogel – Felusine
It’s a guarantee that tidy string sections and pulsating drums will typically heighten melodramatic feelings of bad love and melancholy, but you can’t pass over this glorious track from Sydney’s Cogel. Those violins and cascading treble guitars which duck and weave out of the chorus provide a nice backdrop to the band’s quieter moments and slight Arcade Fire stylings that mesh together so well. If Felusine is a pitch into the musical void, someone needs to sign these guys real soon.

AUSTRIA: Walzerkönig
Plaided – Freaks And Geeks
“Would you run run run run run run run to my place and watch Freaks and Geeks all night long?” We totally would! Plaided is an acronym that was inspired by a Girls Rock Camp participant’s band and thus matches the feminist background of Veronika Eberhart and Julia Mitterbauer. The duo will go on a US tour with Grass Widow in September and also record a 7″ record there. Freaks And Geeks is taken from their debut album Playdate, recorded by Wolfgang Möstl (of previous MAP act Mile Me Deaf).

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Iconili – O Rei De Tupanga
The fusion of jazz, experimentalism and African beats is the guideline for Iconili, formed by eight young musicians from Minas Gerais. O Rei De Tupanga is their new single, taken from their forthcoming album.

CANADA: Quick Before It Melts
Expwy – Warm And Stricken By Lashes
With Little Hand Fighter, Expwy’s fifth album in two years, one-man band Matt LeGroulx sets his sights on the oft-neglected genre of bossa nova, imagining how it might have sounded if, instead of originating in the 50s and 60s, it was borne out of late century indie-rock sensibilities and lo-fi production values.

CHILE: Super 45
The Paintings – Sunrise
Eija-Lynn and Hieronymus are The Paintings. Besides being a couple in real life, the duo revisit the vigor of 70s garage, Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound and the apathetic rage of The Jesus And Mary Chain. The music speak for itself, though, and this song Sunrise is their newest single.

COLOMBIA: El Parlante Amarillo
Planes (Estudios Universales) – Lonelii
Within the new movement of pop/rock bands in Colombia, Planes (Estudios Universales) feels like a blast of fresh air. The quintet have no borders or limits in their search for folk and electronic sounds. As we wait for their first studio album, enjoy Lonelii.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
Alcoholic Faith Mission – Running With Insanity
Released in 2011 in Denmark, Alcoholic Faith Mission’s fourth full-length, Ask Me This, is now available worldwide and thus there are no good reasons not to check out the outfit’s alternative pop. Begin here with the excellent Running With Insanity.

ENGLAND: The Guardian Music Blog
Stealing Sheep – Shut Eye
This all-girl Liverpool trio’s debut album Into The Diamond Sun is more Staves/Warpaint than Atomic Kitten. The fact that one of the members (more…)

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‘Buffalo Grass’

Fans of Brisbane’s Oh Ye Denver Birds have been moping around for the last half a year. On the back of strong singles and a solid touring roster, everybody was left hanging for the glorious debut we’d been promised. The band completed Good Ivy in April, but the album was never given a proper release. They may have disappeared into for a little while, but we’ve always had faith! (thanks Matt). After recollecting some headspace and working on different solo projects, OYDB have returned and are throwing a party. The album (re)launch and ‘new’ single ‘Buffalo Grass’ on 7″ vinyl at Black Bear Lodge is happening on the 6th of September. Guarantees of special vinyls, old tracks + music from That Nice Place that all OYDB tunes seem to spring forth from. Thank you lord of layered percussion. Glad these guys are back.

Dom took some time out to give his spiel on things below.

WHERE DID YOU GUYS GO?

I think we all worked so hard trying to make this album the best it could be… by the time it was finished we all just wanted some time to ourselves.

How long did you spend working towards the album?

We were in the studio for a bit over two months. But including all the pre-production and demoing we did before hand, it probably would add up to 6-8 months or even longer. I’d like to try a slightly more spontaneous album next time I think.

Did the break have more to do with the recording process, or was it something that’d been on your minds for a while?

It was definitely due to the recording process. We were in a big studio, with time limits and we were pushing ourselves pretty hard to get the right tones and textures for the album. I think when it was finally complete, we all just wanted to do something different whether it be a separate project or just have some time to ourselves to work and be with loved ones etc.

In hindsight, would you have stretched out the recording process to try and get back momentum on the initial release?

No, I think it’s ok. The album was never actually released, apart from us it putting up on facebook etc. There has never been a push to release the album officially. This was partly due to not having the right people looking after the release which was unfortunate, it was also an interesting experiment (more…)

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