As a band, comprised of Jack Chapman (lead guitar), Keir Schwarze (bass), Alex Phillips (drums, vocals) and Bryan Diver (rhythm guitar, vocals and keys), they find ways to mix their unique brand of subtle indie pop rock with a nuanced bitter-sweetness, it stirs up the conventional milieu of songcraft and replaces it with surprise aplenty and benevolent lyricism.

On first listen the high-energy on display will draw you in and lead vocalist Byran Diver’s emotive tone seals the deal. And with the palpable and totally tectonic drum-work and enough bootylicious bass play to warrant an NG-17 rating this single will do things to you you’ll want to hear (and feel) again.

So, if your ears were converted by the Cuidadé EP (2011) and The 21st LP (2013) then with My Condition they’ll remain faithful followers of DWM well into 2014 and beyond. And yes, it’s a gift, i.e., FREE DOWNLOAD. Peace.

 

 
My Condition Lyrics:
 
Two highways one car
Two people, still one car
And there’s a stranger
Sitting next to me
I’m losing faith in security

Maybe I, Maybe I, Maybe I’m falling x2

Hey say, say, say, What’s it gonna say
Is it going to breath fire like a dragon or hiss like a snake?

I’m ill prepared
I’m sickly and scared
I’ve got no intentions of getting better

Maybe I, Maybe I, Maybe I’m falling
And maybe I, Maybe I, Maybe I’m falling

I’m reduced to a whisper
Like a shadow inside my head
Its pushing on the volume
I feared may wake the dead
My mother says take the meds
And I have no affliction
What goes on inside my head is my condition.
 
Written by Bryan Diver, Co-written by Alex Phillips

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This is moody music. Sounds steeped and finished within interrupted joy and extended longing. The Cuidadé EP is a rucksack sewn taught with strands of nighttime thread. Inside this satchel are three charms. The first song, “Cabin In The Snow,” glistens with a gaunt face hid in half-shadow, with tears of past remembrances spilling. And, for a short time an ink smeared sky clears bearing a full moon, its light offers solace briefly; only until the dark clouds close and surround again. The second talisman, “Call My Name” is a cold carved stone with the scaly vibrations of an unsure heart. It whispers caution on a raspy wind, and you turn twist in your bed, until an unresolved pain groans against the coming burden of morn. And third item, “Brother’s Blood” is a wretched phylactery. It weaves tendrils of sad emotion against stumbling heart. This last song smells of death and ash; of light chased from eyes and laughter plucked of mirth. But strangely, it is the strongest of the three, for the sour fruit of its lament bears the seeds of hope.

This is the Cuidadé EP, and it gives the songwriter and musicians who’ve conjured it reason and space enough to mourn and rage beneath an apathetic and heavenly scrim. And in the end, the music converses with a ghost, a ghost gone but not forgotten. This is painfully beautiful music. Peace.

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North Carolinians Lost In The Trees frontman Ari Picker has a wondrous voice suited best resting against those velvety moments when your heart is most vulnerable, whilst lost in love, or barely staying afloat chin-deep in heartache. There aren’t many artists who can do this so convincingly, perhaps Mike Hadreas of Perfume Genius, as well as, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes are most similar. A. Parker has the quality of voice stripped of everything but an all too convincing woe. A voice which exists as a naked reminder of our understated humanity and the dark impressions that can leave us helpless.

Listening to the song “Golden Eyelids” is like staring into a shroud of flame, hypnotically captivating. This is music by which to warm your unfettered need and compliment your loneliness. And if you want more, well then more can be had of the bands latest release A Church That Fits Our Needs out now via Anti-Records. The songs on this album will sit in your stomach like a seed. Sprouting, this seed entwines your vital life-sustaining organs; though it blooms with fragile petals in the chambers of your heart. LITT have delivered music with the aura of fire-breathing shadows and syrupy hiccups of past remembrances that shade your mood pale blue and rheumy red. These are deeply personal songs, not so much entertainment as they are catharsis for the wounded soul who penned them in the aftermath of personal tragedy. When you get the this album you’ll find your ears and heart spending an inordinate amount of time lost in its undeniable beauty. This one is without a doubt a strong contender for album of the year. Peace.

Their sophomore album A Church That Fits Our Needs is available now on iTunes. I would like to also recommend the band’s previous release, the above exceptional debut album All Alone In An Empty House (2010) iTunes and Amazon.

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Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, Adam Matta and multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins are the North Carolina–based Carolina Chocolate Drops and they are just as organic and original as they are talented and modest. The music they make is like hot buttered Cracklin’ Bread and red-eye gravy for your ears. And with their latest release Leaving Eden, follow-up to their critically lauded label debut—2010′s Grammy Award–winning Genuine Negro Jig, they’re in right fine form. The album is out now on Nonesuch Records, I highly recommend the vinyl format by the way. You can also cop their music HERE and on iTunes. Forgive me, I’m crushing so hard on their song, “Pretty Girl”. Peace.

“Country Girl” from Leaving Eden (2012)

(Via SlimsPresents)
 
“Hit ‘Em Up Style” from Genuine Negro Jig (2010)

(Via This End Up)

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