I’d been hearing a lot of hype lately about Twitter, so in the interest of cultural research I decided to sign up. Two weeks later and I’m 100% addicted.  Not addicted like ‘check out Twitter if I have a second here or there’, but addicted like ‘stare at the screen while furiously refreshing to see what the latest tweet is’ addicted. I have come to find that in amongst the ‘OMG it’s freezing outside!!’ and ‘I had a turkey sandwich for lunch’ blurbs exists a wealth of streaming information on every conceivable topic known to man.  It is through this virtual verbal vomit that I caught some music recommendations and found my (and soon to be your) new favorite band, Bishop Allen.

Justin Rice and Christian Rudder front Bishop Allen, and they reside in the indie-music utopia known as Brooklyn, NY.  These Harvard educated folksters create an infectious brand of indie pop that brings a smile to my face upon every listen.  As the temps plummet here in NYC, their music reminds me of a lazy June Saturday afternoon – a quality that simultaneously endears and angers me (see:‘OMG it’s freezing outside!!’).  Bishop Allen released their first album, Charm School, in 2003 and followed it up in 2006 with a highly ambitious EP project. In fact I don’t think ‘highly ambitious’ begins to capture the monumental effort it took to release an EP every month for a single year, though given my sloth-like tendencies releasing an EP once every 6 years would qualify as ‘highly ambitious.’

The Brooklyn boys are set to release their new album, Grrr… on March 10 via Dead Oceans, home to other Muffin favorites The Explorers Club.  As Rice explains, “we set out to make something fun, something winking, something mischievous.  We called the record Penny Dreadful but it wasn’t a match.  It sounds serious. Something animal related? Grrr…it is.”  Included below are two tracks from the upcoming release and an outrageously catchy gem from Charm School.  And you can bet your last dollar that I’m going to tweeting about this ASA-humanly-P (feel free to hit me up @ramiam). Check it:

Bishop Allen - Dimmer

Bishop Allen - The Ancient Commonsense of Things

Bishop Allen - Click, Click, Click, Click