For those of you that have been fans of the band Islands since they were called Unicorns, good for you you silly music snob you (but seriously Jellybones might be one of the coolest songs ever made).

As Islands, the guys, fronted by Nicholas Thorburn, are currently on their fourth album. My personal opinion is that their debut, Return to the Sea, was stunning, but slowly each subsequent album lost my interest.

But quick aside, if you haven’t listened to Return to the Sea, that might be pre-requisite listening to understand 2012′s A Sleep and A Forgetting. The album takes you on a journey to an island threatened by end-world situations and man, it is just so weird and quirky. It is hard to tell exactly what is going on in the story-heavy songs, but you just know it is exciting/frightening.

But I digress. A Sleep and A Forgetting is their best album. It isn’t really that weird (both in terms of instrumentation and lyrics). But it is just good.

Most of the songs come off sort of loungey, and all songs are lead with a strong acoustic piano. Many of the songs are slow as well, which makes you realize just how sweet Nicholas’ voice is. But I can’t really sell this one beyond having you listen to a couple tracks below. I just feel a lot of people probably skipped over this one, but Islands are back baby, they are back!

I’ve been a huge fan of Clock Opera since the first time I heard one of their songs (was it Belongings or Once and For All, I don’t remember). Slowly over the last two years they’ve been releasing single songs off what was to become their debut record, Ways to Forget. If I had to say something bad about the record, this is the only thing worth complaining about – if you’ve been following the band, you’ve heard quite a few of the best songs.

However, there isn’t a bad song on the album and there are a ton of new jams that will make you have to grab your friends for mutual appreciation (the ending for Fail Better is amazzzzing). And if you have never heard of Clock Opera before, godmanit, go buy this album right now, you won’t regret it.

In fact, I have been assuming for quite some time that when these guys finally released an album it would be making a big pull for the #1 spot on the end of the year list, and this album was exactly the album I was hoping for.

I do have to rant a bit about International music distribution though. Ya see, the guys in Clock Opera are from London and I’m stuck here in beautiful Los Angeles. Clock Opera gives you a ton of ways to buy the new album, except of course if you are American.

I’m a savvy Internet guy and we get a lot of freebies here at Audio Muffin, so I’m not often one to buy music unless it truly moves me. And I was fully prepared to pay top dollar for this album, but after trying every option on their website, I was continually told “No Yanks Allowed”. Even on iTunes I could browse the UK store, see the album, try to buy, and be swept away to the US store where the album wasn’t available. What is the difference iTunes? You are a multi-national company, why can’t I be multi-national too? I think the execs need to take a quick trip to Disneyland to re-learn the lessons of It’s a Small World.

So for us in the States, find the album however you can (the deluxe version is available very easily if you know what I mean). I’ll buy it when they release it here, but I can’t wait. And once you have fully digested the album, don’t forget Clock Opera makes remixes on the same caliber as RAC or any other top remixer these days. You can find their remixes along with remixes of their own songs on their Soundcloud page.

They are currently only touring in Europe (big surprise). But you bet your sweet ass I’ll be buying up a block of tickets once they come stateside.

If you didn’t see it I listed Yellow Ostrich’s The Mistress as my favorite album of 2011. We have barely had time to auto transport their tracks from our iPods to backups on our computers, and we’ve now learned that on March 3rd they will release their second album.

This first album from Yellow Ostrich was basically a solo album from the band’s lead singer Alex Schaaf. After a huge response from this album, Alex enlisted the help of a full band, including the drummer from We Are Scientists, Michael Tapper and Jon Natchez from Beirut.

We only have a taste of what the new sound will be with a full band with the inbetween albums song ‘Til I Disappear (it does not appear on the track listing for Strange Land). But if this is the new direction of the band I think we are in for some really promising stuff.

But even with the new backing band, Yellow Ostrich is still very much the heart and soul of Alex. And you can’t help but love this Eric Foreman-esque crooner who seems to spill his heart out in every song in an often silly, yet heartwarming way. Try not to coo over the following video.

Yellow Ostrich is very much a band with simplified orchestration led by the self-harmonizing vocal effects from Schaaf. I, for one, can’t wait for March.

P.S. Alex, if you’re reading this, Barbara is still looking to remix a song, shoot us an email!

Yellow Ostrich - ’Til I Disappear

Also, here is a little bonus from when Alex decided to cover an entire Radiohead album.

I wasn’t expecting my first favorite album of 2012 to be anything like Gotye’s Making Mirrors. I’ve been so enamored with synthesizers and people making music like nothing I’d ever heard before. And Gotye is none of those things.

Gotye doesn’t fall victim to the latest trendy trappings of what is “hot” in music these days. Instead, he relies on a wide range of musical styles that will remind you of Peter Gabriel at times (In Your Light) and Yeasayer (State of the Art) in others. But above all Gotye does what every important album does – he makes incredibly catchy and well crafted songs. Gotye has definitely captured that indescribable feeling of listening to an album that leaves you with the feeling that this is going to be one of the best albums of 2012.

And of course it doesn’t hurt that Gotye successfully crafted one of the best songs anyone has heard in the last few months (Somebody That I Used to Know). Making Mirrors comes out on January 31st.

Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know

Gotye – State of the Art

Usually when you think of steel drums you think of feet in the sand, heart in the islands, a cold sugary pink drink or some old rasta man trying to sell you some local ganja….

Let’s swap all that out for some neon wayfarers, dirty kicks and cigarette stained hands. Yep – I just want to point out the awesomeness of Steel Drums in some hipster indie tracks that I’ve serendipitously stumbled upon lately!

Jamie XX – Far Nearer
This hippy-hoppy beat makin bunny is still one of my top favs for audiophilic inspiration – I just love what he does with time signatures, and I love the other worldly style that he brings to everything he touches. The use of steel drums of this track complement the boingy

Jamie xx – Far Nearer (limited vinyl & download out now – http://farnearer.com) by Numbers

Hot Chip – I Feel Better (Live on KCRW)

The Knife – Pass This On
And then there is the Swedish duo brother/sister combo group….  The Knife.
The Knife – Pass this on by LaGorilla

Things seem to be happening all of a sudden for White Arrows, the up and coming Los Angeles band. Yup!

Why are you gonna love it? It’s infectious, try not to. Hand claps are and will always&forever be fun and if you know much about the authors of the muffin, you know we are likely to happily lose our minds in the swirly and synthy bounce of modern music. The sound that White Arrows has comfortably nailed with this latest release serves to further justify my love affair with a drum machine and the layery build of a good electronic pop. It moves between its driving beat variations with fun fills and is embellished with sounds that only the technology of today might allow for. Meanwhile, its reigned in – and just as you think it might begin to get indulgent the soft falsetto cooing of lead singer Mickey Schiff weaves its way into your ears and then pops you right back into the energetic chorus.

I won’t be able to catch White Arrows in the desert this weekend as they open up for Weezer, but I am very excited to know that they will be there. Also, they are soon to embark on tour with another Muffin fav, The Naked and Famous. But – if you are real trigger happy and in the LA area, you can catch them tomorrow night at one of LA’s coolest little venues, The Bootleg. As a result of all this great news – the folks over at Ink Tank sent us a stream of the latest release, Get Gone, and they let us know that the RAC produced 7inch will be released Sept 6, and it includes a dreamy cover of a Fleetwood Mac song. Check it out!

Stream White Arrows – Get Gone
White Arrows – Get Gone by WHITEARROWS

Here is another treat…. Mostly because I’m recently obsessed with this song – and that is due to the Avett Brothers cover that I saw out in the desert at the Pechanga Casino recently! It’s such an awesome song. Hear White Arrows take on the Boss’ I’m On Fire.

I’m On Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover) by WHITEARROWS

D Rock is an occasional writer for the Audio Muffin and also happens to be from Albuquerque, New Mexico.  You know what else is in Albuquerque?  Burglars.  Van burglars to be specific.  I know this because the two founders of MJMJ Records had their van robbed in MFing ‘Burque (that’s what the locals call it).  The van they were living in at the time (is the rumor).

And if your powers of perception are strong you have figured out that MJMJ isn’t one of the major labels, and apparently this theft was a pretty crushing blow.  Andy, from the label, also happens to be the drummer of Truman Peyote and the solo artist behind the electro-melodic-noise project known as Vacation Dad.  The burglars nabbed all of his music-making and label producing equipment (estimated value – $6,983), pretty lame right?  It gets worse.  They also stole the other half of MJMJ Records, Charlie’s, clothes!  They took all the dudes clothes (estimated value – $17)!

Being the musical entrepreneurs that they are, they came up with a plan.  A plan involving Kickstarter and the talents of their label acts and extended family of artists.  The result is a pretty cutting edge mixtape with a ton of great music that you can hold over your friends heads as that new new.

The mixtape comes in two flavors, side 1 is all rock and side 2 is all electro.  Maybe I lean too far to one side but the rock stuff didn’t really strike me as that interesting, but the electro stuff is very good.  I would say most of it is in the neighborhood of Animal Collective-style electro, but there are definitely some traditional jams for you folks that still go to clubs in Hollywood.

I’m not sure I’m completely sold on musical ventures being funded by Kickstarter donations, but in this case it seems like a no-brainer.  So go to their Kickstarter and donate!  And if you are new to the whole Kickstarter phenomenon, you get stuff from them based on your level of donation.  And with any Kickstarter campaign you always need to scroll to the bottom of the donation level list.  There is always the most ridiculous shit for the top level of donation and MJMJ do not disappoint.

Back to the mixtape, the best thing about this is that there are a few songs on there that I KNOW will blow up on the Hype Machine.  And I checked the Hype Machine and they aren’t even there yet.  So allow me to strike the match on a couple hot tracks.  One of the tracks is from Galapagos; you need to check them (him?) out, good stuff.

And finally, although I’m not adding a track here for Yalls, this appears to be the latest artist releasing an album through MJMJ and it is also worth checking out.

Galapagos – Do It

Lil’ Wayne – Stuntin’ Like My Daddy (FAMUEL Remix)

When Bon Iver‘s album leaked on the Internet a few weeks ago I stopped everything until I had it playing on my speakers.  I found it pleasant, good, mellow; any handful of adjectives that seemed to suggest I hadn’t really got it, I hadn’t really let it soak in.  Being a huge fan of music I had a stack of music on my plate and it was on to the next one.

However, I recently took a trip to Austin, TX and it was on the plane ride back to Los Angeles that I decided to give Bon Iver another chance.  The weather was exceptionally clear and I had nabbed a window seat on a packed Southwest flight.

With no distractions and headphones turned up just loud enough to miss the stewardess ask if I wanted anything to drink I fell for Bon Iver all over again.  I stared out the window at long stretches of uninhabited southwest US landscape, I wondered at the occasional outcrop of a tiny patch of homes packed together for some common purpose, I saw a mountain still speckled with snow that seemed to close to a plane flying at its top altitude.

My initial thought in putting on Bon Iver’s new self-titled album was as a sleep aide.  I won’t say I didn’t drift in and out of sleep, but that seemed to only increase the effect of the magic in my ears.

The album is different, very different from his first album.  And that is what I believe holds all of the trepidation in really letting yourself fall into the new one.  But trust me, it is well worth the leap.

There are definitely notable songs; Michicant (this song is so amazing), Holocene, and the Peter Gabriel-esque Beth / Rest.  And once again it is the stripped-down instrumentation that gives Justin Vernon the room to fill each song with layer upon layer of his own beautiful voice.  The lyrics are often hard to decipher, but somehow still the most emotionally driven words I’ve heard all year.

I can’t fully describe the feeling you get the moment the album grabs you.  But you’ll know you’ve been bitten after you’ve had the album on repeat for a few hours.

Bon Iver – Michicant

Bon Iver – Calgary

Namaste Muffins.

I’m back in the bakery with some more local soundwaves for your digital jukeboxes. Today’s purveyors of jam sandwiches are Brooklyn nu-wavester’s Swingset Committee, champions of sound that they so aptly describe themselves as “dance. dance. dance.” And dance you will my Muffin friends as Swingset’s synths and electro-energy bebop into your ear drum like nobody’s business. So while you’re lacing up your finest dancing shoes, let’s find out who we’re getting our groove on to…

Swingset Committe began as Andrew Belinsky and David Dahlquist, a pair of electro enthusiasts who first began collaborating in 2008. The collabos led to a journey to Seoul, South Korea which in turn birthed their debut EP, In Transit.  Toss in a few more roadtrips, gigs at SXSW with the likes of Bear in Heaven and Vivian Girls, the addition of drummer Tim Morrison and boom, it’s Swingset Time for reals. Their EP was released last year for free (grab it HERE) and if you haven’t picked up what I’m putting down yet, it’s overflowing with the kind of kinetic boogie down juice that’s perfect for the summer. The boys from Brooklyn just sent me their latest video for ‘Easy Way’ which feature traditional Korean characters tripping the light fantastic to Swingset’s special brand of spaced out sonic treats. Peep the vid below and also check out Swingset’s rad Sleigh Bells remix. See you guys on the dancefloor. Swingset Committee: Train Tested. Muffin Approved.

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Sleigh Bells – Run The Heart (Swingset Committee remix)

Swingset Committee – Easy Way

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Be sure to follow your boy Train on Twitter to keep up with the freshest news coming out of the Muffin bakery!

Namaste Muffins.

Brooklyn’s Ace Reporter is no stranger to the Bakery – last summer I did a series of photo-song mashups with him, and this year we covered the series of EPs Ace released from his herculean threesixfive project. The reason we’re here today talking Ace is because of a rad new video he released that I wanted to share with you all – read on…

Last Friday, a kickass video crew from Love Drunk Studios and HearNebraska.org rolled into Brooklyn as part of their 2011 tour, which finds them shooting live music videos of 15 different bands in 13 different cities in 15 days – I respect the dedication! I was lucky enough to involved with the Ace shoot (role: Clapper #1 or #6 depending on how you look at it, though I know I’m #1 in your hearts) and as the sun was setting the cameras started rolling to capture Ace’s ‘Untouched and Arrived’. Also in attendance were guitar maestro Chris Kuklis and drummer extraordinaire Aaron Steele. Appearing in an uncredited role was the PBR that I may or may not have shotgunned before filming commenced, but that’s not important right now. Check the video below, and head on over to Love Drunk’s site to check out their other vids from this tour and beyond.

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Ace Reporter: Untouched and Arrived from Love Drunk on Vimeo.

Ace Reporter – We Used to Wait (Arcade Fire cover)

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Be sure to follow your boy Train on Twitter to keep up with the freshest news coming out of the Muffin bakery!