If you weren’t familiar with Beth Israel’s music before, hearing new track “Love” all on its own might easily see you placing this band within the realm of some math-rockier 80s avant-garde synth-using stuff, but it just as easily feels like something that entirely (and almost gleefully) confuses genre labeling. The whole track is so washed out it actually does sound like you’re hearing it through tin, and the 80s comes in hard with the breakdown riff that starts the song and is dropped throughout it, chopping up the steady synthpop beat and the shoegaze drone that is laid over the track. It’s fucking fun shit, and it keeps up the tongue-in-cheek, “not doing it for the praise” attitude that the iconoclastic and semi-secretive Beth Israel has cultivated over the past few years.

“Love” is cut right out of Beth Israel’s recent The Loaner EP (which you can here in its weird-ass entirety here), and it’s one of like three parts of that 15~ minute record that could actually be called a traditional song. The rest is some strange, creative business, so if you’re into the weird factor of “Love” (or just weird abstract shit in general) you’ll find much to get into in The Loaner as well, because “Love” is probably the least weird part of the whole strange shebang (It literally starts with a minute+ of British imperial orchestra music, with no explanation. Our vote is that is pretty awesome, even if it doesn’t make for easy jamming.).

“Love” is below, The Loaner is here, and Beth Israel is all up in your brain with their whacked out post-punk.

The San Francisco based avant country rock band, Rin Tin Tiger is gearing up to release their third full length album entitled, Burial Grounds. There’s something very charming about the music Rin Tin Tiger makes. You don’t see and hear a lot of country music coming out of the Bay Area as of late, but RTT has a way of using light reverb, and alternative rock compositional styles that probably draws you in a bit more than a traditional country band's music would.  With that said, country is at the very forefront of their sound and it’s great that they’re not afraid of that. You can hear elements of Sonic Youth and meanderings of shoegaze and folk music in their songs as well.

We’re lucky to be able to premiere a fresh track from Rin Tin Tiger's upcoming album called Dandelion Dream. Not all music has to be thrashy or pop oriented. Dandelion Dream is a simple love song that shows no false pretenses of trying to be something it’s not. If you’re looking for a RTT track that is faster paced, check out their first single, Small Cuts that Bleed A Lot. Their music is confident, fun and a bit different. Make sure you pre-order Burial Grounds in CD or digital format via their bandcamp or Itunes.

Rin Tin Tiger will be performing live at their double album release show with Owl Paws plus Growwler at The Independent on July 10th.

A mountainous piece of shrill piano presses, thick string plucks, and violins that skitter only to soar... “Go” by Gracie and Rachel is simply beautiful. Apparently a song off a forthcoming album of the same name by the Berkeley-raised, Brooklyn-based duo, “Go” awes in its ability to make technical mastery into something moving and potentially transcendent. “It’s okay, it’s okay/To let your heart race, heart race,” goes a silky-voiced lyric, wondrous assurance sliding through. Gracie and Rachel will open for Porcelain Raft this Thursday (6.25) at TT The Bear’s Place Inc. in Cambridge, Massachussetts and will perform at Rockwood Music Hall on Monday, 6.29. In the meantime, listen to “Go,” and watch its ponderous black-and-white music video, below.

We added this song to The Deli's playlist of Best mellow songs by emerging NYC artists - check it out!

The Oakland based progressive, avant art rock band Makeunder has released a new single entitled, Great Headless Blank. This song is the title track of their brand new EP and is exciting, interesting and encompasses splashes of electronic (computer parody) sound installations that take you on a wild musical ride. Great Headless Blank is reminiscent of new wave music like DEVO and Talking Heads and could be a soundtrack to a David Lynch short film. The music is like an artsy ice bucket to the face, which can be refreshing and utterly intense. There is a bit of swagger to the music though. You can hear a soulful confidence in the songs that seperates it from being avant nerd rock or classical alt rock, which can be coy and standoffish.

"Makeunder is the solo project of bandleader Hamilton Ulmer, who crafted his first release using a violin, saxophone, fatigued vocals and a small hand drum. Since then, Ulmer has rounded out the band’s lineup with Van Jackson-Weaver (vocals, guitars), Samantha York (vocals), Mario Godoy (synths, saxophone), Carolyn Walter (saxophones, winds) and John Doing (percussion). In Great Headless Blank, Ulmer confronts personal tragedies sorting through the ashes with a juxtaposed, exuberant sound comparable to Passion Pit’s Gossamer."

Makeunder is a bold music project and we're into to this new track. Take a minute to check it out!

Letter Ghost, the latest release from Portland, ME’s Blood Warrior, is an eerily-beautiful record. The vocals on these tracks are some of the most honest and chilling I’ve heard in recent months. The lead vocals are dripping in sorrow and intense emotion--the singer’s voice rising, falling, even quivering on some notes. I guess the best way to put it might be that Letter Ghost sounds like a mournful musical eulogy.

My favorite track was "All Your Thoughts", with its poignant lyrics and ghostly backing vocals. This song is perhaps the best example of the dirge-esque qualities of Letter Ghost, evoking visions of a mournful procession slowly making its way to the burial grounds.

For more info about Blood Warrior (including upcoming shows), check out their website.

-Dan McMahon (@dmcmhn)