Two Door Cinema Club - Sleep Alone

I was turned onto Northern Ireland's Two Door Cinema Club this summer by my much younger (and she'd probably say much cooler) cousin. While I haven't picked up their latest record Beacon, I certainly will at some point as I kind of dig their indie dance rock sound. Here's the video for the first single off of Beacon.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Catatonic

Yikes. Talk about a bad Best of 2012 snub. I'm really regretting not picking up ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead's latest record -- Lost Songs. I finally heard a track from it (today's video) and was completely blown away. It's definitely a return to the Source Tags & Codes or Madonna days. Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to buy this record very soon.

Tegan and Sara - Closer

Tegan and Sara have a brand new record out today called Heartthrob (it's already in my Amazon Cloud and ready for me to check out later this afternoon). I just watched the video for the first single and I have to say that I was a little surprised. It's a bombastic Katy Perryish type song. Now mind you, I'm not saying that it's necessarily a bad thing (y'all know I loves me some Katy Perry), but it's just certainly a departure from older songs like Walking With Your Ghost or Back In Your Head. Regardless it's a fun pop song that I probably should have saved for a Wicked Guilty Pleasures post. Or not.

Hatebreed - Put It To The Torch

It seems like it's been forever since the last Hatebreed record. But it's only been a little more than three years. Not that long I suppose. Anyway, Hatebreed will unleash it's seventh album, The Divinity of Purpose, tomorrow and I for one will be ready to pick it up for old mosh-time's sake.

Dierks Bentley - Am I The Only One & Tip It On Back

Last night's Miranda Lambert concert was awesome. What a way to kick-off my birthday weekend. While I've been mostly talking about her these last few days, I was also psyched to see Dierks Bentley for the first time. The dude brought it. So much fun.

So let's get my birthday party started with a couple of videos from his latest record Home.



Here's his latest single. This was definitely one of the highlights last night.

Miranda Lambert - Fastest Girl in Town and Heart Like Mine

Tonight's the "Second Annual Miranda Lambert Concert for My Birthday." Well, at least that's how I see it (I'm not self-centered at all, am I?). So yeah, for the second year in a row I get the pleasure of seeing Miranda perform for my birthday (last year she played Baltimore the day after my birthday, this year it's the day before).

Needless to say, I'm excited. This will be the third time I've seen her in the past two years. Looking back, I've written quite a few posts about her. For example, she was my No. 1 artist of 2011. I also posted some Miranda videos here last year before the show. And I also posted this video at Wicked Guilty Pleasures on Election Day. Well, here's a couple more. The first is her most recent video from the Four the Record album.



And here's one of my favorite tunes off her Revolution record.

The Joy Formidable - This Ladder is Ours & Cholla

I think I've found my new favorite indie rock band. I really liked The Joy Formidable's 2011 debut The Big Roar, but after hearing a few songs off their latest record -- Wolf's Law (released yesterday) -- I'm freaking hooked. The guitars have that great crunchy sound and Ritzy Bryan may have one of the coolest voices in rock right now. You gotta check this band out.



Here's the video for Cholla. My gawd this band is awesome.