Alasdair MacLean of The Clientele has a new project, Amor de Dí­as and boy is it good! Like his other band, this one borders on bossa nova. But rather than pop, MacLean instead flirts with folk. “Wild Winter Trees” is soft and beautiful with a lightly strummed guitar and calming vocals. Similarly, the video is simple, showing grainy footage a family playing in the fields.

My buddy Jon wrote in an email to me yesterday: “Hey Andy, did you see this yet? That’s your ride too, right?” Sure enough, he linked to this great article from Michael Lerner on Aquarium Drunkard talking about his 1976 BMW 2002. Part of AD’s Diversions column in which artists talk about a passion outside of music, I simply felt compelled to leave a comment.

For those of you familiar with Dan Bejar and his work in both Destroyer and The New Pornographers, this song may come as a bit of a shock. It’s damn near electronic! This isn’t the Dan Bejar we know and love… or is it? Leave it to JC/DC to spend a solid year-and-a-half production time reinventing Bejar as an off-beat, near contemporary artist. Bejar has never been one to create normality, but “Chinatown” is about as strange as it gets because it lacks consistency with the …

There is a time and place for a band like the pop frenzied Shout Out Louds. And that time is obviously now. Their latest single “Walls” is a verbal demonstration and display of affection toward the ever-changing times being seen throughout the world. There is an independent spirit raging in the youth of now. Kids want action! They want hot-sauced moodiness and a deranged sense of anti-socialism. That’s just the way it is. And this band is the Swedish ambassadors to the new …

God Save The Clientele (2007) cemented The Clientele as strong facet in the roots of orchestrated indie pop. They’d been heading in that direction with 2005′s Strange Geometry, but hadn’t fully realized their potential. So, listening to “Harvest Time” off their upcoming fifth full-length LP, one might become confused — this sound strays a bit from the direction in which they’ve been heading.

If Children, Wye Oak‘s debut LP, found a balance between loud and soft, often one or the other and rarely hitting that middle ground. “Take It In”, off Andy and Jenn’s follow-up, The Knot, continues this trend but finds the band a bit more comfortable in their skin. The juxtaposition of the louds and the softs give “Take It In” an epic feel; you can just hear Andy’s vocal peeking from behind Jenn’s, and when Jenn’s guitar reaches those anthemic heights it becomes downright awe-inspiring.