DMPulse Top 30 - Week of January 17, 2011

TW	LW	Artist	Title	Album	Plays
1	16	The Fresh & Onlys	Waterfall	Play It Strange	25
2	12	The Black Keys	Everlasting Light	Brothers	24
3	9	Freelance Whales	Generator ^ First Floor	Weathervanes	24
4	8	Maximum Balloon	Communion	Maximum Balloon	24
5	14	British Sea Power	Zeus	Zeus EP	24
6	13	The Naked & Famous	Young Blood	Passive Me, Aggressive You	24
7	15	Wintersleep	New Inheritors	New Inheritors	24
8	7	Arcade Fire	Modern Man	The Suburbs	23
9	2	Florence & the Machine	Kiss With a Fist	Lungs	23
10	17	The Malpractice	Boss Stallion	Boss Stallion Single	23
11	11	Interpol	Success	Interpol	22
12	10	Kids of 88	Everybody Knows	Sugarpills	22
13	6	Sonny & the Sunsets	Too Young To Burn	Tomorrow Is Alright	22
14	18	Crystal Castles	Not In Love	Not In Love	14
15	19	Alexander	Truth	Alexander	13
16	20	Eels	I Like the Way This Is Going	Tomorrow Morning	13
17	21	Florence & the Machine	Cosmic Love	Lungs	13
18	22	Freelance Whales	Location	Weathervanes	13
19	23	Mark Ronson & The Business Intl	Bang Bang Bang	Bang Bang Bang	13
20	24	Peter Wolf Crier	Hard As Nails	Inter-Be	13
21	---	POLLS	The Gate	EP	13
22	26	Portugal the Man	When The War Ends	American Ghetto	13
23	---	Winter Gloves	Plastic Slides	All Red	13
24	---	Adele	Rolling in the Deep	Twenty-One (21)	12
25	25	Arcade Fire	Rococo	The Suburbs	12
26	1	Chromeo	Hot Mess	Business Casual	12
27	---	Common Loon	Dinosaur vs. Early Man	The Long Dream of Birds	12
28	27	The Decemberists	Down By The Water	The King is Dead	12
29	5	Deerhunter	Helicopter	Halcyon Digest	12
30	---	Fitz & the Tantrums	MoneyGrabber	Pickin Up the Pieces	12

The Decemberists - The King is Dead Reviews

Album:  The King is Dead

Artists:  The Decemberists

Release Date: Jan. 18, 2011

-Pitchfork gives is a 7.2

-Four stars from Rolling Stone

-Four stars from Consequence of Sound

-7/10 from Spin

Listen to an interview with the Decemberists from NPR

CoS's Top 50 Most Important Albums of '11

As mentioned in this space, there are tons of great new albums coming in 2011.  Releases start coming fast in the early part of 2011, with The Decemberists, Cold War Kids, Cake, Iron & Wine, and Bright Eyes all having releases in the next four weeks.  Go out only a little further, and you add new music from R.E.M. The Strokes, Death Cab for Cutie and Fleet Foxes.  Other music titans Foo Fighters, Radiohead, U2, Coldplay and Beastie Boys are expected to deliver new material in 2011. 

Consequence of Sound has a fantastic rundown of what's expected with links to listen to tracks already shared online.  Check out their "50 Most Important Albums of 2011"

Black Keys and Vampire Weekend on Colbert

Members of Black Keys and Vampire Weekend battle for Stephen Colbert's Grammy vote. Start this clip around 3:40.  See the video!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
MeTunes - Grammy Vote - Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney & Ezra Koenig<a>
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> Video Archive

Album Art Look-Alikes

Excellent music site Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good have a great write-up on album covers that look strikingly similar. Check out the really uncanny albums on their site. Here's an example of what they put together!

Parlours - I Dream of Chicago

The Parlours EP Release Party is Friday night at Vaudeville Mews!  Enjoy their beautiful video for "I Dream of Chicago" - the release party is Friday, January 14, with doors open at 9:30pm.

Top Ten Songs - January 8, 2011

1. Chromeo - Hot Mess

2. Florence & The Machine - Kiss With A Fist

3. Wintersleep - Weighty Ghost

4. Best Coast - When I'm With You

5. Deerhunter - Helicopter

6. Sonny & the Sunsets - Too Young To Burn

7. Arcade Fire - Modern Man

8. Maximum Balloon - Communion

9. Freelance Whales - Generator ^ First Floor

10. Kids of 88 - Everybody Knows

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart tour dates

MFR has a list of tour dates for The Pains of Being Pure At Heart.  Close shows to Des Moines are Minneapolis and Chicago in late April.

Here's the complete list from MFR:

03.31 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church

04.01 - Washington, DC - Black Cat

04.02 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle

04.04 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club

04.05 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl

04.06 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree Cafe

04.07 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks

04.08 - Houston, TX - Fitzgerald’s

04.09 - Austin, TX - Emo’s

04.12 - Santa Fe, NM - VFW*

04.18 - Visalia, CA - The Cellar Door

04.19 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall

04.20 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge

04.22 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile

04.25 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club

04.26 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall

04.27 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall

04.28 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall

04.29 - Bloomington, IN - Rhino’s

04.30 - Columbus, OH - The Basement

05.02 - Milford, CT - Daniel Street

05.03 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club

05.06 - New York, NY - Webster Hall

NPR First Listen - Smith Westerns

Chicago's Smith Westerns really caught my ear when I heard "Weekend" for the first time.  Much to my surprise, DMPulse listeners didn't seem to care for that track.  Perhaps there's something else on their upcoming album, Dye It Blonde?  NPR music has the album as a "first listen", so check it out before it hits stores next Tuesday, January 18.

Link to listen to the album!

Late Night TV with Iron & Wine and The Walkmen

Pitchfork share performances by Iron & Wine from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and a song from The Walkmen on Letterman.

Parlours - EP Release Party

Celebrate and congratulate Parlours at their EP release party January 14th at Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines.  The fun starts at 9:30pm with other locals Cashes Rivers and The River Monks. $5, 21+.  For more on Parlours, check out a nice write-up here or follow them on facebook!

2011 looks to be a great year!

It is good to take a moment and look at the upcoming releases we are expecting this year.  2011 looks to be another awesome year!

New music is expected from:

Radiohead

My Morning Jacket

The Strokes

The Shins

Beck

Bon Iver

Explosions In The Sky

Fleet Foxes

M83

Noah & The Whale

Peter, Bjorn And John

And releases are already scheduled from:

The Decemberists – The King Is Dead (Jan. 18)

Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean (Jan. 25)

R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now (March 8)

Here's a nice list of upcoming releases for the new year!

Twin Shadow on Daytrotter

Twin Shadow has a new Daytrotter session up.  Go here to check it out!  Twin Shadow made quite a few 'best of' lists in 2010 and DMPulse listners will be familiar with "Yellow Balloon" and "Castles in the Snow" on the DMPulse playlist!

Top Ten Songs - January 1, 2011

1. Bombay Bicycle Club - Rinse Me Down
2. Wintersleep - New Inheritors
3. Maximum Balloon - Communion
4. Chromeo - Hot Mess
5. The Naked & Famous - Young Blood
6. Freelance Whales - Generator ^ First Floor
7. Best Coast - When I'm With You
8. Sonny & the Sunsets - Too Young To Burn
9. Interpol - Success
10. Kids of 88 - Everybody Knows

MGMT on Daytrotter

Quite a bit of buzz about MGMT's Daytrotter session from earlier this week.  Click here to check it out!

Red Sky Festival coming to Omaha

A new 6 day(!) music festival is coming to Omaha.  The Red Sky Music Festival was announced in December, and is slated to feature 50 bands over six days.  Dates announced were July 19-24.  Here's the original announcement.

The Red Sky Music Festival will be held at Omaha's new TD Ameritrade Park, and will have space for 20,000 fans a day. The headlining act each night will perform at the stadium. This has the potential to be a great addition to the summer festival line-up.  That part of Omaha has a great neighborhood vibe.  I was really impressed with the area when I saw a show at the Slowdown, which is near the stadium.  As of now, no bands have been announced and there isn't an official website, but stay tuned!

Top Ten Songs - December 28, 2010

1. Sonny and the Sunsets - Too Young To Burn
2. Black Mountain - The Hair Song
3. Alexander - Truth
4. Best Coast - When I'm With You
5. Kings Of Leon - Radioactive
6. Eels - I Like the Way This Is Going
7. Pete Yorn - Precious Stone
8. Broken Bells - The Mall and Misery
9. Bombay Bicycle Club - Rinse Me Down
10. Interpol - Success

Des Moines Music Coalition announces Gross Domestic Product date

The Des Moines Music Coalition recently announced the date for the sixth annual Gross Domestic Product.  This year's show will be held April 2 and continues to be at the Hotel Fort Des Moines.

No bands have been announced, and the DMMC is accepting band submissions through Jan. 18. Submissions can be emailed to info@desmoinesmc.com.

DMPulse Kickstarter update

Click here to go to our project!

 We are getting down the the final days of our Kickstarter project!  As of this writing, we need to raise $1,800 to reach our goal!  Please watch the video, and read through the project description and rewards through the link above. I hope you will considering supporting this project, and take advantage of the rewards we are offering our backers.

Please note, funding for Kickstarter projects is all-or-nothing. Backers credit cards are only charged if and when the $2,000 goal is reached.  Now is the time to stand up and say "I'm in if everyone else is too!" by backing the project.  Thank you for supporting the station, being such loyal listeners and helping us continue to discover great music together!

Let's get this party Kickstarted!

-Jay