Introducing: Boxed Wine

Boxed Wine makes perfectly portable pop music. Great for your jogging playlist and awesome at parties. These Jersey boys sound like a lot of bands that I really like mixed together: Foals, Two Door Cinema Club, Phoenix, Surfer Blood. It's a bit more obscure, but they also kind of sound like local boys The Pass and Wild Party (not so local).


I found these guys last summer when Speakers In Code posted "Feral" as their Jam of the Day and instantly downloaded their eponymous EP. With lyrics about werewolves and silver bullets, this song is a wild trip that reminds me of when I used to read Goosebumps on summer vacation. SO GREAT. ------------------------------------------------------------------------>

Anyways, Boxed Wine just released their debut LP Cheap, Fun on their bandcamp for FREE. It's amazing and summery and fully deserving of your attention. In fact, all of their stuff is free at the moment. You should give a thorough listen to these dudes. They deserve it.

Mixed Up: Backroads Detour

I made a mix filled with good driving music in the vein of alternative country, folk rock, and progressive bluegrass. It has some Dillon Hodges, some Punch Brothers, and tons of other goodness. Check it out below!

Backroads Detour from doperle on 8tracks Radio.

Introducing: Smallpools

This is unbelievable. I mean, really, unbelievable. I'm completely baffled when bands show up out of the blue and release an absolutely stellar single. Not that I'm surprised they're good, it's just surprising that they're already this good. With that said, let me introduce you to Smallpools and their debut single "Dreaming".



  I was sold immediately. Pretty much from the opening notes. Small Pools sounds like someone took Swiss Lips, Autostrada, The 1975, Fun., Foster The People, and Passion Pit and then put them in a blender set on puree. This will be one of the songs of my summer. I've also neglected to mention, it's a FREE DOWNLOAD RIGHT NOW. Download it now.

This song has huge radio potential. I think you'll be hearing this on the radio soon. Even though I've only heard one song...it's good enough that I would commit to buying an album right now. I need more. I need it now. Thank you, sincerely, Neon Gold, for bringing them to my attention.

I need you to holler.

Some pretty cool music comes out of Louisiana. Of course, you have your dixieland jazz, your blues, your zydeco, and everything else. Well, nowadays, there's some pretty awesome alternative music coming out of the Bayou State. Great bands like Givers, GASHCAT, and Royal Teeth, among several others. But today I'm talking about John Michael Rouchell. John Michael Rouchell crafts a unique blend of soul pop, full of singalong choruses and cool arrangements. He only has two songs up on his soundcloud for streaming, and a recently released five-song EP (The Separation). The lead single and my favorite song from that collection is "Holler".



I sincerely implore you to check out the rest of his EP. It's goddamn fantastic.

Introducing: Fast Screens

Fast Screens manufactures a specific brand of ridiculously summery music that's good all year round. I think it's best described as technicolor electropop. It's easy to see why Neon Gold, one of my personal favorite blogs, is in their corner.


"One Summer" is just one example of how these guys make some of the most driver friendly music around. The track is available on their bandcamp for a free download. I highly recommend downloading it. Their debut EP, however, is what hooked me. Particularly their song "Don't Stop".

That whole EP is well worth the $4 they're asking. It's a go-to jog EP, coming in at just over 15 minutes. These dudes have shared a bill or two with the first group I ever wrote about on here (Junior Prom) and I bet that show was the bomb.com.

In The Southern Soil

Dillon Hodges plays soulful folk music with bluegrass tinges around the edges. He's a master flat-picker, as you can hear in his old-timey tunes. He has a captivating twang to him. This is music you would expect to hear on the soundtrack to FX's Justified.


His style doesn't hold him back though. He's found a way to sound modern in the middle of all that old school awesome. Try out his cover of Gorillaz' "Feel Good, Inc."


His debut album, Rumspringa, is available on iTunes today. Personally, I'm planning on grabbing a copy at his show tonight at Natasha's Bistro in Lexington, KY. It's gonna be an awesome show.

Introducing: Bad Things

It seems odd that I made it through even five posts without naming a band from LA, but, apparently, Bad Things is the first one. These peeps came out of nowhere, like bands tend to do nowadays, with a fully developed single and a cool aesthetic. They sound like Local Natives with an electronic tinge to them. It's electro-powered rock, NOT electronic rock. It's harmonies, drums, and an epic chorus. Now another thing bands tend to do nowadays is release one ridiculously good single and then take the time to develop everything else while people fawn over that one song (e.g. The Neighbourhood). This is exactly what Bad Things is doing with "Caught Inside". I can't blame them. I'll take this one perfect song. I just hope there's more in the pipeline.



I'm sure this single is a sign of great things to come from Bad Things. I can't wait for more.