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.

Surprisingly, the other half of this duo is also a known figure. At least, if you’re a die-hard indie pop fan. Lupe Núñez-Fernández of Pipas is the other half. Pipas, if you’re not familiar, has seen several releases on Matinee Records, home of greats like The Lucksmiths, Math & Physics Club, and Tender Trap.

“Wild Winter Trees” is off Amor de Dí­as’ debut LP, Street of the Love, which, like The Clientele’s recent releases, will come to us via Merge Records. Fans of both artists prior work should be able to appreciate this sound, though this particular song hints a bit more of The Clientele than of Pipas.

Download: “Bunhill Fields” by Amor de Dí­as

Amor de Dí­as – Wild Winter Trees from Merge Records on Vimeo.

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.

We’ve been hearing more about Lerner’s new record under Telekinesis; it’s the follow up to his self-titled debut and word on the street is that it’s pretty solid. After giving “Car Crash” a few listens, I’d have to agree. The song grows on you much like “Tokyo” and “Coast Of Carolina” did off Telekinesis. The new album is called 12 Desperate Straight Lines and it too can be found on Merge Records.

Do yourself a favor and pick it up on vinyl. Help Michael keep his 2002 on the road. After all, I one day hope to share a drive through the Skagit countryside with him. And I may just have to hit up his sister, whom I’ve met a few times, to make sure that happens.

Download: “Car Crash” by Telekinesis

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 man’s prior work.

Even his voice sounds leveled out and smooth. I mean, just listen to that saxophone! It’s flat out of a late 80s/early 90s cool jazz mix. But you know, I kinda like it. The key word in the above paragraph is cool, and that’s where you’ll find the consistency — Bejar always has been, and always will be, cool. And there’s all kinds of cool up in “Chinatown”.

Look forward to Destroyer’s new album, out in late January 2011 on Merge. It’s called Kaputt, and if you spring for it on vinyl (as I most certainly will), you’ll be treated with a 20-minute vinyl only bonus track called “The Laziest River”.

Download: “Chinatown” by Destroyer

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 Greenwich or Ashbury crowds of yester-years.

The black and white visual demonstration of Shout Out Louds’ artistic/hipster integrity was shot in the great city of Seattle (probably have to say that, right?) and it fits their style very well. Hailing from Stockholm, the Pacific Northwest might be their best bet for artistic freedom. Follow SOL through the vinyl lined walls of Seatown’s studio apartments. As well as trendy beige-colored apartments with graphic art displayed everywhere. Even a big fat cat. Follow along as the ambassadors stroll through the streets of their own hearts and minds. “Walls” is another wonderful indie rock amusement ride you get off of with glee, and it’ll turn your skinny jeans wearing ass right back around for another go. This is the new rock and roll. And that’s just fine.

“Walls” can be found on Shout Out Louds upcoming release Work, available February 23, 2010.

Shout Out Louds: Walls [mp3]

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.

It’s true, it can be likened more to, say, 2004′s Ariadne EP, whose soundscapes were mystical as the lands of Oz and Middle Earth, and as laid back as a beatnik poem. At least in regards to the latter, not much has changed from their recent work.

But to discredit this new old sound would be sheer ignorance. In “Harvest Time”, The Clientele have achieved what they set out to in those early records. They’ve combined that earlier sound with that of pop greatness. They’ve married psychedelic pop with orchestrated pop. And while it’s no “Bookshop Cassanova” or “Since K Got Over Me”, there’s still plenty of greatness packed into this softly subtle tune.

Bonfires On The Heath is available for preorder now from Merge Records.

The Clientele: Harvest Time [mp3]

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.

The Knot is out now on Merge Records. Above photo by Fense at SXSW 2008.

Wye Oak: Take It In [mp3]