Black Carl is a band that has seen their stock in the local music scene rise significantly over the past year. It has become a normal occurrence to see this band opening for big acts that come through town, as well as headlining bills of local bands at venues all around town. This is mostly due to the versatile and strong lead vocals from Emma Pew, but Ian Woodward’s bass playing really does it for me as well. The band’s spin on modern funk and soul will leave few people standing still and you wont find another band like them anywhere in Phoenix. They’re destined to do big things with the talent involved in the band.

Yesterday the band announced that they would now be offering their LP, “Borrowed”, for free download. If you’ve somehow managed to go without hearing this band, you should download this LP immediately. This band was one of the best kept secrets in Phoenix, but the secret is out and word is quickly spreading outside of our borders. Offering up an LP that is this strong and well rounded for free is certain to attract even more new fans. Couple that with the high profile gigs the band continues to land and you may be looking at the next big export from our local scene. I’m willing to bet that they will be.

What Laura Says has become one of the most consistently great bands in town over the past few years. In fact, go see this band play a show at the Yucca Tap Room on a Saturday night and feel the energy thats produced from their set. That will give you a much more accurate representation of anything I can say about them. Good luck getting a drink with as packed as their shows normally are though! The band is releasing their sophomore LP “Bloom Check” on Terpsikhore Records in June. If you can’t wait until then to hear it, you can see them play some of the songs at a multitude of upcoming local shows, as well as check out this teaser video that the band just released.

When Animal Collective released their rarities collection Animal Crack Box earlier this year, the artwork was the thing that caught my eye above and beyond anything else. Jon Vermilyea’s incredible illustration for the collection is now available on a high quality 20 x 37″ print. It’s limited to 150 copies and each one is signed by the artist himself. Look at the detail of that print up close! Put this in a frame and you’ll make the AC fan in your life super happy this holiday season. Buy it from SEEN Studio. You can also hear the Grateful Dead-sampling track “What Would I Want? Sky” from their new EP below.

MP3: Animal Collective- What Would I Want? Sky

Explosions In The Sky announced via their email newsletter today that they are going to be taking a break from playing shows for awhile to focus on writing a new record. The email said that they wouldn’t be able to confidently give any sort of tentative release date and could only say that it’s probably going to be awhile. The fact that the band is even planning a new album is more than enough for me. They’re still in my top ten favorite bands of all time and I’ve never seen a more passionate live performance than the one these guys put on. They also announced that the limited remix album of tracks from All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone is now available on iTunes.

LCD Soundsystem recently announced via their Facebook page that they are in the process of recording a new album and that it will be seeing release in March of 2010. That’s a long time to wait, so the more impatient people amongst us will be happy to know that the band will also release a 12″ single on Vinyl Saturday on November 7th. The 12″ features the track “Bye Bye Bayou”, a cover of a track from Suicide leader Alan Vega’s self-titled 1980 debut album. It will only be available at independent record stores on that day.

So if the preview track I gave you yesterday wasn’t enough to make you check out The So So Glo’s album Tourism/Terrorism, then I’m really hoping this post will be. The 2008 release has been pretty much all I’ve been listening to since I saw them play on Saturday. Green Owl just let me know that they’re offering the LP for free download for a limited time. If you’re a fan of punk, surf, power pop, or just high intensity music in general, get this one ASAP.

Download Link

So, I was absolutely thrilled when I opened my inbox today and saw that Andrew had finished up his full length album of original material, Thanks But No Thanks.

Not only did he let me know he’d finished it, but he is also allowing me to offer it up to all my readers as a free download. Happy Friday everyone! Enjoy these deep beats and have a great weekend.

Download Phaseone- Thanks But No Thanks LP (Right Click, Save Link As)

Broken Social Scene hasn’t released a proper LP since 2005, mostly due to the members of the band taking the world by storm with solo projects. Well, the wait will finally be over soon as the band is holed up at Soma Electronic Music Studio in Chicago working on album number four right now.

John McEntire (Tortoise, Sea and the Cake) will be recording the album for the band. Can we get a tour date in Phoenix this summer? Please?