Olin and the Moon

Music today often feels like it's all about image; the look of a band or how "professional" the album sounds have become dominating priorities when recording and marketing an artist. To hear someone like Olin and the Moon, whose music and lyrics are grounded in earnestly, is a stimulating change of sonic scenery...

Ultra Sonic Edukators

Album: Bad Blood EP

There aren't many bands that have the ability to make songs you instantly repeat after only one listen. In their debut EP Ultra Sonic Edukators are letting us all know they're one of those bands. Expansive sonic landscaping characterizes much of Bad Blood with instruments taking center stage for over half the play time of some songs...

Tycho

Album: Past Is Prologue

Don't you hate it when a band you like always gets compared to a more popular band and is never "as good as fill in the blank." So it is with Tycho, the moniker under which Scott Hansen creates gorgeous IDM/ambient music which is constantly being written off by Boards of Canada fans...

An Interview With Darcy

A few days ago I caught up with Dustin Aguilar, half of the new band Darcy. I've been keeping tabs on these guys for awhile so I thought what better way to introduce the band than with an interview. I asked them a few questions, let them speak for themselves, and let you decide if they really are SoundSuck material.

January In Review

Well it's February which means today SoundSuck celebrates its 1st month of existence. We've acquired a few new writers along the way, found some great artists, made a few new friends, and really appreciate the people that have been coming back to the site and who've helped us get this far. We'd also like to thank John Otjen for hosting us.

In celebration of this momentous occasion we're sharing the first SoundSuck Mixtape- a compilation of what we feel are the ten best tracks from the past month:

Download SoundSuck Mixtape 1/08 Now!

David Bazan Sings Hallelujah

Today I take a slight deviation from our usual featured artist style and instead focus on one song.

Last year while on tour David Bazan was closing his solo set with a cover of Leonard Cohen's famous "Hallelujah." The song is probably one of the most covered in modern history, but David Bazan's version is the absolute best...

The Soft Drugs

Album: In Moderation EP

Sounds Like: keeping a sense of humor even after you've messed up more times than you can count.

I've been a fan of Pedro The Lion for a few years now so of course when I heard the band was breaking up I was dismayed. I thought the breakup would mark the near total end of both David Bazan's and TW Walsh's musical careers. Thankfully it's done just the opposite, sparking new independent creativity in both men which has totally blown me away. While I feel that Bazan's EP shines a little brighter, The Soft Drugs produced an excellent EP which deserves all the more credit for being released independently. Walsh's voice is honest and clear, and the band has the ability to create some well-defined rhythm. Even though the album was released over a year ago I feel The Soft Drugs got it exactly right when deciding how to produce and publish their first EP; self-distribute and offer it for free.

[audio:The Pitch-Soft Drugs.mp3]
The Pitch.mp3 (right click to save)

Why They Don't Suck: If you were a fan of Pedro The Lion and haven't yet heard of this band you owe it to yourself to give In Moderation a listen, it's definitely a set of tracks that grows on you the more you listen. They'll be in the studio April so I'm treating this EP as a stopgap till both Walsh's and Bazan's full discs are released.

[audio:Dont Sweat It-Soft Drugs.mp3]
Don't Sweat It.mp3 (right click to save)

Visit thesoftdrugs.com to download the full EP for free.