The Sifting Pan

Helping you find those Indie Gems!

Tag Archives: Alternative


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Song of the Day! Middle Class Rut – I Guess You Could Say

Middle Class Rut lead the Alt Rock Revival front from Sacramento, CA

If you have not been exposed to the alternative rock of Middle Class Rut yet then you’re in for a real treat. This unpredictable rock duo, comprised of Zack Lopez and Sean Stockham, capture so much more then your average band seems to in their anthemic rock songs. I Guess You Could Say is a prime example of the band’s ability to trek so much ground within one song. I’m just saying that the musical variety they employ is pretty damn awesome, especially with such piercing and memorable lyrics to top it off. Believe me when I say this sort of thing is a reoccurring theme on their album No Name No Color. I highly recommend listening to New Low* or Cornbread if you want to get a further idea of what the bands sound is like. Middle Class Rut is nice enough to offer No Name No Color in it’s whole glorious entirety streaming on Soundcloud.

*I highly recommend you atleast watch the video to this song. New Low, in my personal opinion, is one of the best tracks to come out of 2010.


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Song of the Day! Broken Bells – Meyrin Fields


Broken Bells originated in LA, California

In the year 2009 The Shins frontman James Mercer and super producer Danger Mouse came together to form a duo unlike all others called Broken Bells. An album bearing the same name was soon to follow as well their first great single The High Road.  Now we fast forward to 2011 and Broken Bells has just recently released their new 4 track EP Meyrin Fields:

  1. “Meyrin Fields”
  2. “Windows”
  3. “An Easy Life”
  4. “Heartless Empire”

The Meyrin Fields EP provides as much creative experimental indie rock as ever and highlights the duo’s ability to take musical concepts just that much farther then other groups would be willing to. The best part about the new EP is that is just that, an EP. The band has already made clear its intentions of putting out another proper album and that Meyrin Fields is here to hold us in the meantime. I’m rather excited for a true sophomore effort and have a feeling that the duo will finally of had time to fine tune their sound so hopefully we can expect to see an album from a mature and collected band.


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Song of the Day! Sleeper Agent – Get It Daddy


Sleeper Agent formed stateside in Bowling Green, KY

This song jumped out as something special to me at first listen. This is true rambunctious indie rock at its finest. I’m so on board for the anthematic loud singing style of Sleeper Agent’s gorgeous female vocalist Alex “Kidd” Kandel. It somewhat reminds me of the female loud and proud style of Ida Maria. I love that these guys (and gal) know how to shake things up and the music seemingly drops on a dime in what I would call a “Dead Weather Crescendo.” Refer to this video of Treat Me Like Your Mother if you do not already understand what I mean.

Overall the band Sleeper Agent has caused enough excitement in me to want more, but sadly they have not released a full album. According their Facebook page they will be releasing their debut album Celabrasion this coming August. Sleeper Agent have been touring with Manchester Orchestra and Cage the Elephant earlier this year and will continue on with more tour dates from 5/27 to 6/7. Now those dates may not seem important to you but they sure have meaning to me. I planned on attending the Manchester Orchestra and Cage the Elephant show on 5/25, two days prior to Sleeper Agent jumping back in. It’s too bad, these guys seem like they’d put on a hell of a show.


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Song of the Day! Miles Kane – Come Closer

Miles Kane stays solo from the great land of Britain

I had actually never heard of Miles Kane before this beautiful piece of work found its way into my Itunes. Apparently Miles Kane is a vital member of the indie rock duo The Last Shadow Puppets (the other member being Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys) and he recently disbanded his other band The Rascals in order to focus more on his solo career. Believe me when I say I’m glad this catchy little tune landed in my lap. This is just the kind of indie rock I’d expect to see coming from well adept British artist today. It echos the sounds of english rock styles from the past, yet it’s so clean and well polished that you know it’s a product of modern music production. Miles has announced that his debut album Colour Of  The Trap will be released May 9th but not much is known about it otherwise. If most of the tracks are as well put together as Come Closer then Miles Kane will be a name that everyone comes to learn real fast.


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Song of the Day! Bikinians – Rhinocirrhosis

Bikinians are up and coming from Belgium

So- so- soooo- addicting! Right from the bat that guitar riff hooks me and then it only gets better. Something about this song gets me pumped and forces me to sing along, even though I only understand about half the lyrics. I can only assume Rhinocirrhosis is pronounced like the animal rhinoceros, but who really cares anyways. Bikinians are an up and coming pop-rock band from Belgium. I remember hearing their amazing song How a few months ago and posting it for my friends. At that time Bikinians had under 1,000 listeners and now they are sitting just above 3,000. Hopefully with enough attention these guys will put out real album effort. Rumors have been going around of an album release at the end of the month but my research has shed no light on any such upcoming release. Until then we’ll have to settle for the short but sweet 4 track Rhinocirrhosis EP.