So it has been a month since my last post, but Hamish and Lauren have kindly taken up the slack showing off some new acts. Either way, a month is a long time with blog music, leaving me with a whole stack of great music that you need to hear. Another mixtape then? yup. And it is full to the brim with fantastic new music.

Department of Eagles produce some laid back schizophrenic sounds that shouldn’t fit together at all, but somehow smoothed into a coherent foot tapping pop song under the production expertise of Jeff Saltzman.

Dear and the Headlights offer a up-tempo indie sound reminiscent of some parts of Animal Collective. It is elegantly assembled indie pop that you can’t help but sit up and take notice of.

Flashguns offer something that resembles a bit of garage rock and punk pop. Loose riffs and up-tempo drums will make you want to move your feet.

Soft Black here make some more traditional sounding acoustic/folk that sounds familiar enough that you will think you have known the song for years, but enough of a new twist and sing-along chorus that will make you notice the subtleties and wish you had known them for years.

4 or 5 Magicians create some great pop punk that sounds like the school pop bands would have sounded if they were actually good. The lyrics seem rather relevant for the current recession as well. Tesco value ’till I die and all that.

Love is All come from a increasing popular tradition of Swedish indie pop bands that are rough enough around the edges to enjoy their talent, but with that touch of bubbelgum that widens their appeal.

Ark People have obvious influences in the gloom-rock of Interpol/Editors/White Lies, but are able to shine in their own right when the lights go out.

Two Door Cinema manage to straddle a variety of genres with jerky beats and staccato guitar reminiscent of early Bloc Party, a keyboard melody that could almost be electric-shoegaze  and a harmonious vocal melody to bring it all together into an awesome indie pop track you want to dance to.

Meursault (helped along by our friend(s) at Song, By Toad Records) have put out one of the most interesting and elegant electric based albums of 2008. The synths and vocals have a rough nature to them, but the whole song is somehow reigned in with some pop beeps and squeals. Difficult to describe, yes, but magnificent.

The Hundred in the Hands add some electric growls and almost disco beats to and keyboard strings to make a song that excels as a pie3ce of indie pop punk.

Dead Pixels throw some industrial, distorted beats into what  could otherwise be described as almost garage rock/punk that makes you want to move. Fast.

Official Secrets Act have been sitting in my inbox for far too long for such a fantastic tune. Faced paced, post punk pop. Catchy as it could possibly be, with delightful and at times doom-rock vocals and harmonies combining with some synth/keyboards to make it almost euphoric. Beautiful.

The Lost Mixtape

01. Department Of Eagles  –  No One Does It
[Buy UK / Buy US] [Homepage] [MySpace]
02. Dear And The Headlights  –  I’m Not Crying, You’re Not Crying, Are You?
[Buy UK / Buy US] [Homepage] [MySpace]
03. Flashguns  –  Timehouse Blue
[Buy UK / Buy US] [Homepage] [MySpace]
04. Soft Black  –  Ashtray Christ
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]
05. 4 Or 5 Magicians  –  Forever On The Edge
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]
06. Love Is All  –  Rumours
[Buy UK / Buy US] [Homepage] [MySpace]
07. Ark People  –  When The Lights Go Out
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]
08. Two Door Cinema Club  –  Hands Off My Cash, Monty
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]
09. Meursault  –  A Few Kind Words
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]
10. The Hundred in the Hands  –  Dressed In Dresden
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]
11. Dead Pixels  –  So You Say
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]
12. Official Secrets Act  –  So Tomorrow
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]

You can also download the whole mixtape as a zip file:
The Lost Mixtape