Fol Chen - The Believers Video

California's Fol Chen recently signed to Asthmatic Kitty Records and will be debuting their full length release Part 1: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made on February 3, 2009. Based on the amazing video for their song "The Believers", we can expect great things!
Take a look! It's worth your time.

Arcade Fire - Miroir Noir Documentary

Arcade Fire have released the documentary film Miroir Noir online Tuesday, December 16.

The film follows Arcade Fire through the making and touring of their 2007 album Neon Bible, documenting the band at their Montreal studio, the making of promotional films and videos, along with live footage and a few short films made on the road.

Miroir Noir is directed by Arcade Fire friend and collaborator Vincent Morisset. Vincent was responsible for the interactive video for the song "Neon Bible" and for the Arcade Fire web design. The film was shot by Vincent Moon. The digital download and standard edition DVD feature the 70 minute film, Miroir Noir. The deluxe edition DVD contains bonus material including Arcade Fire’s live performances on Jonathon Ross, Saturday Night Live and at Maida Vale.

The 70 minute film is available for download here: MIRROR NOIR .

Merge will release the physical DVD in early 2009.

7 Silly Questions with Pale Young Gentlemen

Madison, WI. Beautiful town. Great college atmosphere. But, not necessarily the first place my mind goes when I think of indie rock. Fried cheese ends. Yes. Beer. Absolutely. Scalloped potatoes with ham. You bet. But I never really thought a band as great as Pale Young Gentlemen would make their home there.

In October 2008, Pale Young Gentlemen released the fantastic disc Black Forest (Tra la la). We caught up with brothers Mike & Matt Reisenauer and asked them some fairly obnoxious questions:


Viva: What's the most embarrassing band you loved as a kid?
Matt: Paula Abdul. I don't think she qualifies as a band, but I stole "Shut Up and Dance" from my good friend at the time. I later gave it back.
Mike: At my first grade birthday party I had two friends. Both of them gave me the same MC Hammer tape. I returned one of them for Vanilla Ice

Viva: Who looks the best in drag?
Matt: I do. As long as I avoid yellow. It doesn't mesh well with my skin-tone.
Mike: I have yet to see any of my bandmates in drag so have no idea. But I look the best with an eye patch on.

Viva: Who smells the worst on tour in the van?
Matt: Mike. Just his left pit though.
Mike: We all smell quite nice, no kidding.

Viva: A wise man told me never to print anything the drummer says. Is that true?
Matt: You're printing this.
Mike: Do wise men actually talk about drummers?

Viva: What's the funniest thing that happened to you on the road?
Matt: The van broke down immediately after Tom Petty's "Breakdown". That's true.
Mike: The random shit.

Viva: Who's in heavy rotation on your iPod?
Matt: Mike showed me MGMT, which I'm enjoying a lot.
Mike: Percy Thrills Thrillington "Thrillington"

Viva: Whats the worst fight over nothing that you got into with each other after being road weary and exhausted?
Matt: Brett and I once threw down over a fruit and yogurt parfait. He thought it was his and I wanted it.
Mike: How essential Viggo Mortensen's nudity is in "Eastern Promises".

Explore Pale Young Gentlemen when you get a few moments! You will love them.
Pale Young Gentlemen Myspace





Tags: Pale Young Gentlemen

Beach House - Used to Be Video

Back in October, Beach House released a fantastic 7" on Carpark records. The A Side song "Used to Be" has been turned into a phenomenal video. It's worth your time to watch! And if you are unfamiliar with Beach House, take a few minutes to explore their website!

BEACH HOUSE MYSPACE

Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything With You Video

New York pop band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are releasing their long awaited full length self titled CD in February of 2009 on the Slumberland label. We will do a full write up on the release when the time gets closer.

Fortunately, they have released a great video ahead of time for their song "Everything With You". Take a look! You will be hearing a lot more from this great band in the near future.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Myspace

VivaIndieRock Presents Nov 21st Live Show Wrap-up

We hosted our first live show back on November 21st at The Milestone in Charlotte NC and have been a bit slack in posting the pics and video! The show featured Charlotte's LA Tool & Die, Athen's Casper & the Cookies, the debut of Greensboro's Silver Hill Mine, and Justin Williams, also from Charlotte. Phil from the Milestone took some video of the performances and Dianna from www.shutter16.com got some great photos. Sorry about the sound quality in the videos. When we got too close to the speakers, the bass fuzzed the sound. It was our first show, so it's a learning process!

Thanks to all the people who came out and made the night really special. It was great to see so many new faces. We will definitely do another show in the Spring!

LA Tool & Die





on Vimeo.

LA TOOL AND DIE LIVE from Viva Indie on Vimeo.
Casper & The Cookies




Silver Hill Mine




Justin Williams

I'll Stay 'Til After Christmas - Various Artists

For several years Animal World Recordings founder Daniel Gill and his wife Reda Rountree have been meaning to make a Christmas compilation to give to their family and friends. It then occurred to them that they are pals with so many amazing musicians, why not make a compilation that can be enjoyed by everyone and give the proceeds to Amnesty International. The press release for this album explains the mood of this amazing album far better than I could, so I am going to steal a quote directly from it:

Wanting to avoid an overly cheery tone, and instead provide a more realistic, somewhat somber feel, I'll Stay 'Til After Christmas compiler Daniel Gill chose artists for this album who would paint an audio portrait not of present day Christmas celebrations, but rather hazy memories of childhood Christmas experiences and the often bittersweet emotions that accompany them.


All of the tracks on this are phenomenal, but my favorites thus far include Sally Shapiro's "Anorak Christmas" and Man of Arms "It's Christmastime and Everything is Wrong." If you have a few extra dollars to spend after doing your holiday shopping, hop onto your favorite digital music downloading site and get yourself a copy. It's worth every penny.



Full track list:
1. Au Revoir Simone - Christmastime is Here
2. Le Loup - Shenandoah
3. Figurine - The Holidays Behind Us
4. Sally Shapiro - Anorak Christmas (Piano Mix)
5. Arthur & Yu - My White Elephant
6. My Brightest Diamond - Nature Boy
7. Parenthetical Girls - Festive Friends (Forever)
8. No Kids - Another Winter In a Summer Town
9. Radar Bros. - Baby Jesus
10. Blitzen Trapper - Christmas Is Coming Soon
11. Man of Arms - It's Christmastime and Everything's Wrong
12. Au - I'll Be Home For Christmas
13. The Papercuts - Go Tell It On The Mountain
14. Bosque Brown - Silent Night
15. Turk Dietrich of Belong - Blue Christmas

10 Favorite Songs of 2008 (Thus Far)

Ok, I am doing my 10 favorite songs of 2008 because I have a hard time doing Top Albums of the Year for a lot of reasons. For starters, a lot of albums have one or two really great songs and a bunch of filler. If I had to give you a Top Album list it would probably include Parenthetical Girls Entanglements, Throw Me the Statue Moonbeams, and Sigur Ros Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust.

Favorite songs have an entirely different criteria for me. Do I listen to them over and over until I have all the lyrics memorized? Do I want to recommend them to my friends? How often do I include them on mix cds that I take along on long car rides? All of these things are factored into my list.

Mind you, I have an indie pop sensability, so if you are looking to indie rock your ass off, you might want to look at someone else's list!

So, here's my Favorite 10 Songs of 2008:

1) Sigur Ros Vid spilim endalaust Album: Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust.
2) Grand Archives Torn Blue Foam Couch Album: The Grand Archives
3) Parenthetical Girls Four Words Album: Entanglements
4) Fleet Foxes English House Album: Sun Giant EP
5) Los Campesinos Death to Los Campesinos Album: Hold On Now Youngster
6) Throw Me The Statue About to Walk Album: Moonbeams
7) Fredrik Black Fur Album: Na Na Ni
8) Bodies of Water Gold, Tan, Peach & Grey Album: A Certain Feeling
9) Earlimart Great Heron Gates Album: Hymn & Her
10) The Little Ones Boracay Album: Terry Tales & Fallen Gates



It was really difficult picking a favorite song from Sigur Ros, Parenthetical Girls, & Los Campesinos. So many of their songs could have made it. Other songs that came close to making the list were Times New Viking My Head (this was like 10A, so I threw it on the song player too), School of Language Rocklist Part 1, We Vs. The Shark I Am the Contempt Machine, Absentee Boy Did She Teach You Nothing, and LA Tool & Die's hilarious indie rock send up My Brother in Law Won't Go To Your Show.

2008 isn't quite over yet. Something may come out to blow us all away. I really was hoping for Blackout Beach's new record, but that has been pushed back into 2009.