Communist Daughter and The Shacks on The Moon

The good old USA has come up Trumps this week as thanks to The A.V. Club we have two bands new to The Moon. First up is Communist Daughter from Saint Paul, Minnesota who are named after a song by Neutral Milk Hotel. The A.V. Club describe their sound as "Like a more expansive Grandaddy, only fused to the melodies of Yo La Tengo and armed with a rootsy Americana vibe".

The opening track of their new LP does live up to this description, but tracks like the sublime Keep Moving are remarkably reminiscent of early Lanterns on the Lake from the north east of The North in Brexity Blighty. It also ends on a high with the acoustic string-laden Sunday Morning.

The new album is embedded below via Soundcloud where you can also stream their debut LP and an EP. All 3 are also streamable/syncable etc from the usual places.

The Shacks

This is the first time I have embedded a single EP on The Moon, but this is no ordinary EP, as it is seven songs with two "bonus tracks" from their debut single, which was originally released as a collaboration with the El Michels Affair - the musical incarnation of Leon Michels, the producer and co-founder of Big Crown Records, which is The Shacks label . The Shacks are Shannon Wise and Max Shrager from New York. They were just 16 and 18 respectively when the single was recorded and have since made this EP and an LP to follow.

All nine tracks are great to brilliant, which does bode well for the LP. Their sound is described as hazy, cinematic soul and 60s pop. It does remind me of the recent cinematic soul from Unloved, but with more emphasis on 60s pop in a similar style to Isobel Campbell's contributions in Belle and Sebastian and her solo material. Check it out below.