Antwon, who’s “Living Every Dream” was one of our favorite tracks of last year, links up with fellow Bay Area artists Friendzone (who have produced for A$AP Rocky & Main Attrakionz and others) for the excellent Sigur Ros(!)-sampling “Automatic”.
Antwon – Automatic (Prod. by Friendzone)Friendzone 
(Soundcloud)
Rating 8.2
“Kill Kill Kill” by Swedish trip-hop journeymen Club 8 is likely the most chill pro-vegetarianism paean you’ll ever hear. Club 8 is currently wrapping up their 8th studio album, which should see release by year’s end.
Club 8 – Kill Kill KillClub 8 
(Official)
Rating 8.1
Jake Bellows, frontman for Omaha band Neva Dinova, readies solo side project with release of lead track “Help”. The deserted prairies of the Midwest stylings of “Help” is just one of several generes tackled by Bellows on the upcoming (cassette only) full-length. Recorded with the backing of the Saddle Creek version of Led Zeppelin (incl. members of Rilo Kiley, The Faint, The Good Life and Bright Eyes’ band), the limited cassette LP contains a trove of new to tape Bellows back material.
Jake Bellows – HelpJake Bellows 
(Official)
Rating: 8.3
Team b3’s favorite crust merchants Dinosaur Jr. are hitting the road in the UK later this month. Along with the tour announcement, the band are releasing a further single from last year’s very nice I Bet on Sky LP, “Don’t Pretend You Didn’t Know”. The new single stays relatively tight to the typical D Jr. lane with maybe a bit more reliance on tighter song structures and syncopations.
Dinosaur Jr. UK Tour Dates: (If you’re not in Manchester or Leeds, sucks.)
Jan 30 Glasgow – Arches SOLD OUT
Jan 31 Leeds – Leeds University Stylus
Feb 1 Manchester – Ritz
Feb 2 Brighton – Concorde SOLD OUT
Feb 3 Bristol – Fiddlers Club SOLD OUT
Feb 4 London Electric Ballroom (NME Awards show) SOLD OUT
Dinosaur Jr. 
(Official)
Rating 8.104
The DJ’s responsibility is to get the crowd moving. Mike Simonetti takes this quite literally. His alias Billions & Billions (with vocalist Monty Luke) actually tells you to dance throughout “The Dance”. You can’t help but listen and enjoy his directions and rants alongside the uplifting beat. Don’t girls love a man that can get them to shake their bodies to music? You like how I wrote that, yeahhh.. By Teddy Pendergrass
Billions & Billions – The DanceBillions & Billions 
(Soundcloud)
Rating 8.3
Few shows have ever brought me to a venue like the magnificent Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. It was a chilly night this past Saturday that I got my chance as I caught Keane and Youngblood Hawke performed there, just down the street from the iconic Capitol Records building in Hollywood. The scene that night was nothing short of noteworthy. The show’s audience of all ages (literally toddlers to elderly) stood patiently to get in to the Pantages and find their seats as the usual Saturday bar and nightclub night crowd hustled by outside, looking on with interest at the crowd in front of the theater.
People settled into their seats, most of them die hard Keane fans from the early to mid 2000’s, seemingly unaware that they were about to witness the youthful vibes of some up-and-comers on the LA scene open the show. Youngblood Hawke delivered a shimmering set, filling the large auditorium with high energy electro-pop. The crowd joined in when the band played the hit single from their self-titled 2012 EP, We Come Running. The single, featured in Fifa 2013, American Idol promos, radio, etc. had the majority of the audience singing along. Another favorite from the set was “Stars (Hold On)” with its carefully layered vocals and uplifting chorus. The band’s tight set received a nice reaction from the hometown crowd. Youngblood Hawke had done their part and bowed gracefully into the evening.
Keane took control with their opening song, “You Are Young” the first track of their latest album Strangeland, and from there didn’t let up. For the hour and half or so set, they may have stopped only a couple of times to grab water, switch keyboards, guitars… or just to introduce another song. With the sold out Pantages Theater on their feet and hands up in the air, Keane mixed new releases with fan favorites like “Everybody’s Changing”, “Somewhere Only We Know” and closed with “Crystal Ball”. An impressive set to say the least, and it’s likely that singer Tom Chaplin didn’t miss a single note the whole night.
Review By Brian Litwin
Youngblood Hawke (Facebook)
Rating 8.3
Moodgadget labelmates Foxes in Fiction and Benoit Pioulard connect on the sweeping “Ground Glass”. The track, part of a limited 7″ being released by Wool Recordings, combines the two principal’s love for blending traditional pop song structures and field recorded sounds. The results of the collaboration, as evident here by the dreamy otherworldly warmth of “Ground Glass” are next level. “Ground Glass” is some of the most beautiful music we’ve heard thusfar this year.
Foxes in Fiction + Benoît Pioulard – Ground GlassFoxes In Fiction 
(Facebook)
Benoît Pioulard 
(Soundcloud)
Rating 8.4
The smokey slow burner “Knew You’d Never” is new from 21-year old Montreal songwriter Kandle Osborne. “Knew You’d Never”‘s hypnotic feel and repeated minor keyed guitar figures helps shroud the excellently written and constucted song in a powerfully withdrawn and remote atmosphere.
Kandle – Knew You’d NeverKandle (Facebook)
Rating 8.0
The collaboration between producer Dawaun Parker and LA-based R&B singer Phil Beaudreau yields another class track. Galvanized by an excellent lot of melodies and some next level production, “Anyway” is smooth and slow jammy without sounding hokey or derivative. We are into it.
Phil Beaudreau – Anyway [Interlude]Phil Beaudreau (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.2
“So Good At Being In Trouble”, from the band’s forthcoming II LP due in February, is a pleasant R&B-informed reminder of what made the b3 squad fall in love UMO in the first place. The song is pleasant, yeah, like you could probably put this track on for your daughter, your mom, and your grandmother but there’s both a visceral clarity and a bit of a melancholic quality that underlie it. That sort pleasant/somber juxtaposition certainly isn’t a new trick but on “So Good At Being In Trouble”, it feels so perfectly pulled off.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.5
Mancunian soulstress Josephine releases the title track and third single from her 2012 LP Portrait. Ms. Oniyama’s arrow is clearly pointing up as she’s recently completely tours with The Noisettes and Michael Kiwanuka and is fresh off an appearance on “Later” with Jools Holland. “Portrait” is part soul, part folk, part pop, sort of in the same lane as her tour-mate Kiwanuka, the track excels, however on its’ deeply affecting well constructed melodies. Give Josephine your attention below.
Josephine – PortraitJosephine 
(Facebook)
Rating 7.9
One the music blogosphere’s original blog rock darlings Southern California’s Cold War Kids return with a definite upside surprise in new track “Miracle Mile”. “MM” amounts to a bit of stylistic deviation for CWK with its four-on-the-floor beat and heavily harmonized chorus intervals; new ground for a band that has made some kind of formula out of singular beefy warbles on top of waves upon waves of syncopations.
Cold War Kids – Miracle MileCold War Kids (Official)
Rating 8.3
