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The Vacant Lots Announce Free Digital Single Remix, Kingdom Come, To Be Released New Year's Eve

Burlington, Vermont's The Vacant Lots are offering a new unreleased track, Kingdom Come, as a free download on New Year's Eve. Remixed by Spectrum drummer Roger Brogan, who also provides drums, percussion, electronics and drone, Kingdom Come was written and produced by The Vacant Lots. Brian MacFadyen contributes organ and electronics to the track as one half of the band's permanent lineup, while Jared Artaud provides guitar, vocals and lyrics, as the groups frontman.

A steady gentle organ runs throughout the track, allowing Jared's vocals and spaciously executed guitar figures to float atop like waves on an ocean. The mix is carefully textured, with percussion provided more for emphasis, rather than any kind of steady beat keeping. That, combined with shifting tempos, creates a somewhat mystical listening experience.

On NYE these links will be activated :

Official Music Video
Free Download link of Kingdom Come on Bandcamp.

Citing influences such as the Mississippi delta blues sound of Bo Diddley, New York pioneers The Velvet Underground and Television, Detroit's The Stooges and The UK's Spacemen 3, the band has evolved all of this into their own sound, combining minimal drumming, hypnotic guitar riffs, electronic drone, poetry-driven lyrics, and live film projections. They are a band who not only embrace their influences - but are confident that the filter of their own sensibility will yield something uniquely their own.

Their debut single Confusion/ Cadillac was released earlier this year on Mexican Summer as the band embarked on east and west coast tours, while playing significant festivals inbetween. Their tours have included supporting Sonic Boom's Spectrum as well as apperances at SXSW, Austin Psych Fest 4, and a featured support slot for Dean & Britta's Galaxie 500 show in Brooklyn. This past September had them touring the west coast, followed by a mid-western stint during October. Currently in the process of recording new material, expect a second single out soon, to be followed by a first official album release.

--Dave Cromwell

Published on December 29, 2011
 
February 2012
Friendly People
Friendly People EP
mp3

Friendly People’s debut, self-titled 3-song EP gives a concise taste of a promising young Cambridge, MA-based band. Their jangly indie pop is peppered with hints of Americana, roots rock and folk with vocals that owe a debt to Neil Young. The EP’s clear highlight is its opening track—their namesake song—“Friendly People”. It’s a tremendous, positive track buoyed by a horn section in the bridge which lends a mariachi feel. “A Lot of Work To Do” brings out Harvest-era Neil Young, starting as a plaintive acoustic ditty which builds slowly into a passionate electric number. Closing track, “Branches”, follows the same acoustic-to-electric path. As the song builds, it introduces tribal rhythms that are reminiscent of 80s indie-punk legends, the Volcano Suns. Friendly People are scheduled to record their debut full-length in March. If the Friendly People EP is indicative of what we can expect from this young group’s next batch of tunes it will be a record to keep an eye on later in 2012.--George Dow