Things To Do Today

By Ali Nassiri

Kind of an odd day schedulewise for me, so I can't post much today. I hope people have checked out the video below. Please do leave comments (or shoot me an e-mail at quinns@mixtapemuse.com) to share what you've been spinning (aka listening to).

I'm about to hit the road, but I wanted to post a little something first. Two artists are releasing new material today that I think are worth your time.

The first is The Sparta Philharmonic, the brother duo out of Sparta, NJ that I had the pleasure of interviewing a few months back. You can read the first part of my interview with them here and the second part here. Today is the official release date of their second full-length entitled (trans)migratory birds. I put it as my fifth choice when we did our lists for the "Top 5 Albums of 2010 (So Far)" a few months ago, which you can check out here. You can pick up the album worldwide in record shops as well as on Amazon. It's fantastic and the guys poured a ton of emotion, time, effort, and money into the album. They have been doing things DIY (that includes booking tours) for a decade now and are just now receiving some support for this release from the kind folks at Riot Act Media and Atlas Records.

The second artist releasing new music today is Oh Land. She has already released her debut album, but it was only officially released in Europe. As a result, her new 4-song EP of all new material marks her first official release in the U.S. -- her official U.S. debut. Oh Land's U.S. debut LP will be out early next year, but for now, enjoy this introductory EP that features the hit "Son of a Gun." If you missed it, I shared another great track (not on the EP) called "Pefection" a number of weeks ago (hear it now). It's been one of the highest viewed posts in Mixtape Muse history -- and for good reason. If you're not familiar with Oh Land, you can check out my recent interview with her here. She's not only a genuinely nice person, she's also incredibly talented with a unique perspective on approaching songwriting; she's a musical interior decorator (to find out more about that, you'll just have to read the interview). You can pick up Oh Land's self-titled EP now on iTunes or Amazon MP3.

PICK THEM UP. GO GO GO.