Planetary Radio

Critics swoon over PS I Love You’s Death Dreams

At its breathtaking peaks, Death Dreams is the Indie-Rock Record of the Year… -Paste

Death Dreams is a record of great power: power themes, power chords, power everything. – Pop Matters

….the pair have accumulated enough momentum that they sound ready to bust out of Saulnier’s self- conscious mind and take the rest of the world on, one graceful guitar burst at a time. –AV Club

This is one of the best Canadian alt-rock albums of 2012. -Postmedia

At heart, Death Dreams is simply a titanic guitar record, one that draws equally on the proud history of guitar records past from both the indie and classic-rock disciplines. –Toronto Star

Death Dreams is one of this year’s best indie rock albums. -Prefix

… the perfect example of a “same but better” second outing giving fans more of what they love while presenting something new to consider for those who weren’t sucked in the first time around. –Exclaim!

Yes, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Dinosaur Jr loom large in Death Dreams, but so do Cheap Trick, which is exactly why PS I Love You are far more sincere than the average hipster rock band. -NOW

…it might just be the best Canadian album to come out in 2012. –FFWD

…a triumph that proves PS I Love You’s expansive talents know no bounds. –The Grid

mewithoutYou’s Ten Stories: The Year’s Best Circus-Train Concept Album

It’s a truly great album — the kind only a group like mewithoutYou could make, and only at this point in their career (or whatever you want to call it). Call it maturity, if you want to, I prefer to think of it as artistic growth: an accomplished, beautiful record from an equally accomplished (if not severely overlooked) band.

Click through to read the whole review via MTV.

Alberta Cross Announce Sophomore Album & Tour Dates

Heavy-hitting New York rockers Alberta Cross have announced the release of the follow-up to their 2009 full-length debut Broken Side of Time. The new album, titled Songs of Patience in reference to the grueling process of fleshing out the songs that would be included on the new album, will be released on June 17 by ATO Records.

For more album info and a complete touring schedule, visit the band’s website here.

Stereogum: Guided By Voices – “Class Clown Spots A UFO”

“Class Clown Spots A UFO” is the title track from Guided By Voices’ forthcoming LP, though it’s been knocking around under different titles, and via different recording sessions, for a very long time. (Rolling Stone pegs the first iteration as an ’80s-era Pollard composition titled “Crocker’s Favorite Song,” which is a very long time ago!) This “(New Version)” is a free download here, opening with a daydreaming melody that would sound great in the hands of a sunglassed horn section, or in the hands of a bunch of iconic drunks.

Single adds 5/29, full-length coming at you in June!

Paste Reviews Carina Round’s Tigermending (7.4)

It’s little wonder Round’s been so frequently compared to PJ Harvey, another Englishwoman with a dynamic voice and an unflinching way with words. But Round’s a bit of a vocal chameleon, adopting different styles as they suit her songs. “Mother’s Pride” suggests, alternately, Nicole Atkins and Grace Slick. Elsewhere she evokes shades of Fiona Apple and Nick Cave, and on “The Secret of Drowning,” co-written with Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, one can’t help but detect a tinge of Annie Lennox’s deep, cool vocal.

Click through to read the entire review.

Rolling Stone: Cold Specks, ‘Winter Solstice’ Video

Click through to watch.

Pitchfork: The Intelligence - “(They Found Me in the Back of) the Galaxy”

On June 19, San Francisco garage-rock troublestarters the Intelligence follow up 2010’s solid Males with a new LP, Everybody’s Got It Easy But Me, via In the Red. “(They Found Me in the Back of) the Galaxy” appears not only on that record, but also on a forthcoming split 7” with fellow Bay Area jangler Kelley Stoltz.

Click to hear the track and drool.