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A look back at some great music we posted in August!

Black Milk -Give the Drummer Sum – 2008’s Popular Demand proved to be one of the sleeper hip hop gems of the year, seeing the rising star collaborate with legends like Pharoah Monch and others.

The Darlings -Teenage Girl – It’s rare that a band manages to masterfully merge the catchy hooks of yore with that je ne se qua indie sensibility and a bit of proto-punk abrasiveness (remember The MC5?)– but it proves to be a conglomeration of endearing traits which have already helped NYC’s own Darlings garner notoriety outside the city that never sleeps.

Dada Life – Happy Hands and Happy Feet - Happy Hands and Happy Feet (the song and the album) is everything from underground trance, to punk, to the same bizarre artistic revolution that makes up their name.

Cougar – Stay Famous -  Where thick, distorted noise-driven guitar/bass meets electronica new and old, turning into a collective of the experimental and just plain mental.

The Rentals – Song of Remembering – Former Weezer bassist Matt Sharp reforms 90s’ hitmakers The Rentals with a vengeance, bent on taking modern rock radio back and injecting a withered pop music scene with some fresh blood.

Brian Glaze of Brian Jonestown Massacre - Bad News – On his second album, Green Living, Brian Jonestown Massacre drummer Brian Glaze cleverly mixes a bit of new wave — think Low and Scary Monsters-era David Bowie; a pinch of Lou Reed — with the poppy-yet-no frills rock of his mainstay outfit.

Bobby Evans and Freakazoid Robots – Them Jeans Remix – Freakazoid Robots simultaneously summons the precision of a contemporary expert DJ, while paying tribute to retro arcade oldies like Millipede, Galaga, and all the forgotten Ballys’ games of yesteryear.

Zaza – Sooner or Later -While associated with their peers in Brooklyn’s recent exploding indie-pop/shoegaze scene, Zaza sonically contrast from their guitar-pop brethren in favor of something darker, more mysterious driven by haunting, ethereal vocals and rolling, cavernous rhythms.

As Tall as Lions – Circles - With You Can’t Take It With You, the band; vocalist-guitarist Dan Nigro, guitarist Saen Fitzgerald, bassist Julio Tavarez and drummer Cliff Sarcona, has made its smartest and most impressive album to date.

Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights – Gypsy Woman – Jumping off the Southern leg of the Kid Rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd tour (and definitely influenced by the aforementioned), the band is ready to head into the studio in Nashville to lay down some new material which will be the follow-up project to their 2007 Hot Trottin’.

Photo by Zoetica Ebb

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