CMJ 2010 // NEW SHAPES 2.0

It's that time again, as we make our way towards mid-October and the collective gaze of the music industry falls upon CMJ and all the beautiful chaos that comes with it. Last year we brought you the first annual New Shapes party, which saw everyone from Theophilus London and Darwin Deez to Chief and Local Natives grace the stage at Santos Party House. This year we're going even bigger with it,

THIS IS GOING TO BE BIG.

Correction: this is going to be bigger than big. We've teamed up with Chess Club and GreenShoelace.com to put on what we hope to be one of the biggest parties of CMJ next week when we take over Santo's Party House (our favorite NYC venue) from 3pm-10pm Friday the 23rd. Two stages, 11 bands, drink specials galore, fresh DJ's, there's quite literally nothing more you could really ask for. Be there.

GOLD 008: LITTLE RED

With our Gotye 7" now in the shops and awaiting your purchase, it's time to look ahead to our next release. We're staying in Australia for this one, this time to bring the debut international single from Melbourne's Little Red into the world for all to cherish. Without a doubt the hottest new band in Oz, Little Red self-released their debut LP Listen To Little Red to rapturous critical acclaim

COME ON DO IT AGAIN.

Our latest single on Neon Gold comes courtesy of Australia's favourite son Gotye and hits shops this week, and to celebrate the occasion we're here to drop the hotly anticipated Passion Pit remix of the stellar A-side, "Learnalilgivinanlovin". Keeping the throwback guitar and drums of the original intact, Passion Pit take the blueprint laid down by Gotye and dress it up in all manner of synth

ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES.

The Sound of Arrows are a new breed of pop superstars. With a 100% D.I.Y. aesthetic to their craft, they write and produce their own tracks, handle all of their own design work and even craft their own music videos, and they do all of it pretty fucking masterfully. Popjustice put it rather well in describing the Swedish duo as "one of those bands who'd surprise precisely nobody by coming out with

GOLD 007: GOTYE

As previously professed, Gotye is one of our favorite artists of all time and one of the reasons we're even messing about in this whole music biz thing in the first place. Thus, we're deeply honored to be releasing a very special, very limited edition 7" run of his smash hit "Learnalilgivinanlovin" that will step out as his first ever physical release in the US. The track's already been released

GOLD 006: YOUR TWENTIES

We first championed Your Twenties back in January in our hot tips for 2009 feature and now six months on we're thrilled to be bringing their sophomore single into the world on Neon Gold. Having cut his teeth in the London indie scene as the bassist and keyboardist in Metronomy, frontman Gabriel Stebbing has recently left to focus on the Twenties full time, and the results have been nothing short

GOLD 005: WOLF GANG

And so the relentless onslaught of summer releases continues. Not unlike previous Neon Gold all-stars Passion Pit and Yes Giantess, the story of Wolf Gang began with Max McElligott penning massive pop anthems in the solitary confines of his bedroom. Having since formed a band around him, he's now set to take his craft to the world stage, and "Pieces of You" is the debut single before they no

GOLD 004: MARINA & THE DIAMONDS

We're a bit late on announcing this due to finals/moving/The Great Escape, but we're over the moon to be announcing our next release with Marina & The Diamonds. The Crown Jewels EP is perhaps our most exciting release yet, three more tracks of spine-tingling beauty from the UK's new queen of pop, and it kicks off a summer full of hot new releases from the Neon Gold ranks. Fan favorite "I Am Not A

NEON GOLD TAKEOVER AT THE GREAT ESCAPE.

Lock up your daughters and put the drinks on ice, Neon Gold is coming to the UK. Next week sees us shipping off to London for the summer where we'll be keeping it real DJing club nights, throwing parties and continuing to release records by some of our favorite new bands. We're really stepping up our game in the months to come with just under ten releases lined up between now and autumn and a

DREAMT IT DRY.

To be perfectly honest, we don't love "The Reeling", the lead single off of Passion Pit's forthcoming Manners, but that's really only because we've been spoiled by the rest of the tracks compiled on their amazing debut full length. The recently unveiled video, on the other hand, is most definitely something to write home about. Perhaps the finest music video we've seen all year, the clip was

THIS ALREADY HAPPENED. SORRY.

So our second Neon Gold party went down at The Delancey on Friday and we kind of forgot to tell you about it. We had an absurdly busy week hence the epic fail in the promotion department, but the place was filled to max capacity and both performers killed it so it was a moot point really. Apologies to any NYC-based readers who would have been down to attend though, we won't let you down again.

REASONS NOT TO END IT ALL IN 2009 PT. I

We've been talking up our hot tips for '09 for a minute now, but we decided it was high time we took action and threw together a proper list. Here are some bands you're going to give a fuck about over the next 12 months.You can't stop Giantess, you can only hope to contain them. Say what you will about them being an electro boy band or "a less fit version of MGMT", but these dudes can fucking

GOLD002: MARINA & THE DIAMONDS

We revealed last month our imminent collaboration with the amazing Marina & The Diamonds, and while some unforeseen delays have forced us to push back the release until the new year, we're thrilled to announce that Marina's debut single will at long last find it's way into the hands of the masses via Neon Gold this coming Valentine's Day. To make the wait more bearable, we've got the wonderful

THAT RULED.

Thanks to everyone who came out Thursday for our first Neon Gold party, we all had an amazing time. It was only Giantess' second gig ever and they totally rocked shit, and Theophilus was absolutely jaw dropping. Body Language and Etan kept bodies moving all night and the Delancey provided the perfect backdrop for all the madness - that jungle on the roof deck rules. To celebrate, here are a few

NEON DIAMONDS.

She is Marina. You are the Diamonds. "We've Got Obsessions" comes on one side and "Mowgli's Road" the other. Together these elements make up the principle ingredients of Neon Gold's second record, currently being readied in a North London studio for release in mid-December. We've been championing Marina to anyone who'll listen all year long, so we're understandably thrilled to have the honor of

NEON GOLD PRESENTS: NEON GOLDEN 001.

We're throwing a fucking party. Theophilus London is the future of rap (seriously). Giantess are like Chromeo only sexier. They both know how to show you a good time and they're both playing our first Neon Gold party Thursday November 13th at the Delancey. $8 at the door or $5 if you RSVP to neongoldmusic@gmail.com (put 'RSVP' in the subject line). Cheap drinks and DJ sets from Etan (Ninjatune/

BURNING SOLID BURNING THIN.

Back in the city and ready for CMJ 2008, the hiatus is over. In our absence we missed the opportunity to break the oven fresh video for “Sleepyhead”, created on a criminally small budget by the stupidly talented folks over at the Wilderness Inc. Practically shot and painstakingly put together with photographs and real objects (read: not on a computer), we think it’s one of the best videos of

WAKE UP.

Passion Pit's debut EP, Chunk of Change, is released today through Frenchkiss and even though it's not us who's putting it out we couldn't be more pumped about it. It's easily the finest debut we've heard this year, six tracks of unrelenting euphoria and one of the best extended players we've ever heard. Buy it here for the unbeatable price of $7 if you've got any sense in you.To celebrate, we've

GOLD001: PASSION PIT

Welcome. We are a boutique record label in New York City and we release 7” vinyl singles by bands we think need to be heard. Beyond that we promote club nights, DJ parties, scout for record labels, rock college radio and I guess we blog too. Here we'll keep you posted on all things Neon Gold, as well as do our best to bring your attention to other people - some friends, some not - making music