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Cold War Kids

The hottest indie act around right now? Perhaps. Fullerton, California’s Cold War Kids not only have the slickest name going, but they have a batch of songs that are so good it’s frightening.

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Check out our sister site, My Secret Playlist, where our favorite musicians and DJs write about the music that's inspiring them right now.
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Golden Bear’s new EP, Everest

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The Dark Was The Night compilation

The crew at 4AD, watching over perhaps the hottest artist roster of any independent label in the world, have put their collective minds together and come up with an album that holds every potential of being the finest release of the year. The formula is simple: you grab a batch of the hottest bands and artists around at the moment (take your pick from Arcade Fire, Yeasayer [pictured above], Bon Iver, Beirut, Sufjan Stevens; the list continues without the slightest dip in quality), throw in David Byrne for a touch of that priceless musical wisdom, quickly hammer together a few inspired duos, like Gillian Welch and Conor Oberst, or The Books and Jose Gonzalez, name it after a seminal Blind Willie Johnson track, and then get the brains behind one of the great bands of the last few years, The National, to produce it. Finally — take a deep breath — all the proceeds go towards the fight against AIDS. Dark Was The Night isn’t released until February 16th, but the scent on the wind is good. David Byrne and the Dirty Projectors’ opening track (listen below) is brilliantly fresh, while Yeasayer have channelled their wild spirits into a song textured as intricately as a Peruvian silk skirt, with a rainstick for effect.

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The music behind the new Howling Bells album, Radio Wars

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Crimea X’s Secret Playlist

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Abandoned Swimming Pools

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Win a set of Sony personal audio prizes

Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more

YOU'RE SAYING (2)

Andy said | 5 June, 2007

An interesting anecdotal story from Triple J:

When Cold War Kids were in for Like A Version they borrowed a pot from the triple j kitchen to add some percussion.

And they told Robbie that’s something they often like to do.

“For the recording of the record we did a lot of things like having three drum sets play and recording in bathrooms and using broken fishing reels and stuff. It’s fun it’s like providing some sort of external restriction on the music by having to use something that only makes such and such a sound.”

Lena said | 8 June, 2007

I saw these guys open for Andrew Bird earlier in the year, and I’d never heard their music before, but they put on a really fun, energetic show! I had a blast seeing them play.

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