Blogcritics Goodie Bag: Copeland, The Freedom Toast, Scanners, Cold War Kids, and Asylum Street Spankers

SPIN.com is currently featuring Copeland, with an exclusive interview and stream of their new record, Eat, Sleep, Repeat. This is the only place to catch a glimpse of this stunning third record from Copeland. Blogcritic Jon Sobel writes that lead singer and rhythm guitarist Aaron Marsh "has the look of a shoegazer but the voice of an angel. His soaring tenor, which frequently sails into an ethereal but assured falsetto, is the most remarkable thing about the band."

Tis the season (for political fun and games). We hope you get a kick out of The Freedom Toast, a new beltway-fueled ensemble. Check out their new single, "The Streets of Virginia," a biting send up of the Senator Allen/macaca affair.

Scanners' new release, Violence is Golden, is now available as a full album stream on Altsounds.fm. The London-based quartet's latest album was released in June 2006 on Dim Mak Records and features a mixture of new wave, punk, and proto-goth instrumentation layered beneath lead singer Sarah Daly's powerful vocals. The result is a collection of 11 tracks that have drawn comparisons to Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Pretenders, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Cold War Kids –- Matt Aveiro (drums) , Matt Maust (bass), Jonnie Russell (guitar), Nathan Willett (vocals/piano) –- began in the fall of '04 with jangly guitar, handclaps, and a Harmony amp in a storage room atop a restaurant in Fullerton, CA. Using songs of Dylan, Billie Holiday, and the Velvet Underground as a road map, they listened to their tiny inner voice to manipulate and structure their honest musical style. Robbers & Cowards, the first full length album from the Cold War Kids, was released by Downtown Records on October 10th. You can stream three tracks: "We Used to Vacation," "Hang Me Up to Dry," and "God, Make Up Your Mind."

The Asylum Street Spankers have a new video on YouTube. Check out "Stick a Ribbon on Your SUV":

Article Author: Anna Creech

Anna Creech is a librarian and blogger who dreams of a day when she can improve the ratio of read-to-unread books in her house.

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