The Away Days’ ‘Less Is More’ is today’s free track at 20 Before 16

The indie-rock band The Away Days sound very much like the Foals and have been influenced by broody acts like The Cure and psychedelic rockers Tame Impala.

The group, from Istanbul, Turkey, took part in the Red Bull Warm-Up Campus concert in that city and have been impressing online music mags for a while now.

Their single “Less Is More” makes an impact through its catchy and bright guitar hooks, a lonesome bass line and building intensity. It’s also the first single off their upcoming full-length debut album.

Visit redbull.com to download the free track; as of 1 p.m. EST on Dec. 7, there were more than 800 downloads left.

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Your Friend’s full-length debut Jan. 29; hear first single “Heathering”

Your Friend, guitarist, singer and songwriter Taryn Blake Miller, has finally announced a full-length debut.

After her self-recorded debut EP Jekyll/Hyde in 2014, Miller toured for the first time (with Courtney Barnett) and performed at her first SXSW.

Her first full-length album, “Gumption,” will be out in January.

Miller started writing “Gumption” in her Kansas apartment in 2014. She used a field recorder while around her family’s farm in Dexter, Kansas, hoping to reclaim childhood memories and senses. Some of the sounds, like running water and engine noise, can be heard on the new album.

According to Miller:

“I paid attention to textures. I was trying to remove myself from an approach that I had followed before, but to be able to bring in that melodic element that is most inherent to me, and marry it with a more sonically meditative landscape.”

“I was sitting with myself so much, I got to know myself in ways I liked and ways I didn’t like,” Miller continued.

The first single off the album, “Heathering,” is a softly played and meandering indie dreampop that features gentle guitar hooks and Miller’s evenly parsed lyrics, as if there’s no better place to be than right now.

Your Friend; Credit Crystal Lee Farris

Listen to “Heathering” below:

Red Bull Music Academy’s free 20 Before 16 series is back

Red Bull has brought back its “20 Before 16.” This is the second year Red Bull Music Academy will present 20 tracks by emerging artists to help ring in the new year.

Last year there were definitely surprises, like D’Angelo’s first music in 14 years, and exclusive Earl Sweatshirt music.
The 20 songs are released over 20 days, and the tracks are available as free downloads, 1,000 copies only.

The latest single is Chilean quartet Astro’s “Le Golden Ballon,” recorded live at Red Bull’s LA studio. The song was originally on the band’s 2009 debut EP, “Le Disc De Astrou.”

Download “Le Golden Ballon” here; as of Dec. 6, there were 579 downloads left.

Each song begins streaming at noon EST each day at redbull.com. You can listen to previous 20 Before 16 tracks there as well.

 

Chelou covers Nirvana’s “Aneurysm,” and it’s awesome

Chelou: “The Quiet EP”

If you haven’t yet picked up singer-songwriter Chelou’s The Quiet EP, his reworking of Nirvana’s “Aneurysm” should be reason enough to listen to this emerging artist’s dreamy indie pop.

Chelou’s “Aneurysm” version cuts out Nirvana’s badass grunge guitar intro but you really don’t miss it here. His breathy, drawn-out vocals are mellow for the acoustic melody Chelou has crafted.

As of last week, Chelou’s “Quietus” Bandcamp page was active, but no longer. You can still listen to “The Quiet” on Soundcloud, though, and Chelou’s “Aneurysm” is a free download on Bandcamp.

Chelou will be heading out on a European tour with All We Are, as well as supporting ex-Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore on April 30 in Paris. Check out the video for “The Quiet,” which involves some notebook scribbles of strange little beings that come alive.

Chelou will be out supporting All We Are and Thurston Moore.