Right now the Australian band The Middle East are touring the United States for the very first time, hitching a ride with headliners Laura Marling (through May 11th) and Mumford and Sons (through June 10), ending with a spot at Bonnaroo.

The band back their ethereal, dreamy vocals with a myriad of instruments — from the folk guitar picking in their song “The Darkest Side” to cheery Sufjan Stevens-style trumpeting in “Blood”.

WATCH “Blood” by The Middle East:

If that charming little song didn’t spur you to learn more about them, perhaps this will. Their drummer Mike Haydon has been keeping a tour blog about their first time touring America and this little bit made me chuckle:

this was a taco bell attached to a kfc. UNEXPLAINED. i mean, why would you combine the two? this was disturbing. like it really got to me. a CHICKEN store…and a TACO store. why were they not just single stores?

As most Americans probably know, KFC and Taco Bell are owned by the same company (Yum Brands) and they often share a space. I LOVE that these Aussies are totally perplexed by the fact that tacos and fried chicken should co-exist. THIS IS ONE OF THE MANY BEAUTIFUL THINGS AMERICA HAS TO OFFER.

Now for sweet free MP3s:

DOWNLOAD: “Lonely” by The Middle East
DOWNLOAD: “Darkest Side” by The Middle East
DOWNLOAd: Blood” by The Middle East

Remaining tour dates:

5/5–Horseshoe–Toronto, ON
5/6–The Ladies Literary Club at Calvin College–Grand Rapids, MI (w/ Laura Marling)%
5/7–Magic Stick–Detroit, MI (w/ Laura Marling)%
5/8–Andy Warhol Museum–Pittsburgh, PA (w/ Laura Marling)%
5/9–Big Orbit’s Soundlab–Buffalo, NY (w/ Laura Marling)%
5/11–Space–Portland, ME (w/ Laura Marling)%
5/13–Cabaret du Musee Juste Pour Rire–Montreal, QC (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
5/14–The Middle East Downstairs–Cambridge, MA (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
5/16–The Fillmore at TLA–Philadelphia, PA (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
5/17–Music Hall of Williamsburg–Brooklyn, NY (w/ Mumford & Sons)
**SOLD OUT** ^
5/18–Webster Hall–New York, NY (w/ Mumford & Sons)
**SOLD OUT** ^
5/19–Mercury Lounge–New York, NY ^
5/20–930 Club–Washington, DC (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
5/21–Beachland Ballroom–Cleveland, OH (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
5/22–Wexner Center–Columbus, OH (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
5/24–Lincoln Hall–Chicago, IL (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
5/25–Varsity Theater–Minneapolis, MN (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
5/29–Sasquatch Music Festival–Quincy, WA
5/30–560 Club–Vancouver, BC (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
5/31–Aladdin Theater–Portland, OR (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
6/2–Slim’s–San Francisco, CA (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
6/4–The Music Box–Los Angeles, CA (w/ Mumford & Sons)
**SOLD OUT** ^
6/6–Belly Up Tavern–Solana Beach, CA (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
6/7–Rhythm Room–Phoenix, AZ (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
6/9–Antone’s–Austin, TX (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
6/10–House Of Blues Cambridge Room–Dallas, TX (w/ Mumford & Sons) ^
6/12–Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival–Manchester, TN

%Dates with Laura Marling
^Dates with Mumford and Sons

NAME: Young and Restless
HOMETOWN: Melbourne/Canberra, Australia
WEBSITE: http://www.youngandrestless.org/

HOW I HEARD ABOUT THEM: I was checking out Dan Boud’s Flickr page and saw photos of them. (Impressed by their stylish look, which was very reminiscent of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (dark haired lead singer Karina Utomo was wearing silver leggings and a black unitard) I had to hear what they sounded like. This is the kind of music your parents would call “racket” and ask you to turn down. A&R men will love them because the look good and sound good. Surprised they haven’t already been snapped up by some hip label here in the States.
LATEST RELEASE: Young and Restless on Dot Dash Recordings
SONG LISTENED TO: “Police Police” [MP3], “Kapow”
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: Yeah Yeah Yeahs meets At the Drive-In meets “ARRRUUUUGHHHH!!!!!!!!!” Loud, fast, rock ‘n’ roll that you can groove/body slam to. Starting off with a ridiculously catchy guitar riff, adding sexy vocals–and a whole lot of screaming–”Police Police” seems to have been written for the soul purpose of making hipsters LOSE THEIR MINDS whilst dancing in local nightclubs around the globe.
1 to 5 RATING: 4
OTHER BLOGS THAT HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM: Open Your Eyes, Off the Record
LISTEN TO MORE: “I Pointed At You And You Burst Into Flames”, “Satan” on the Myspace

Check out the spooky video for “Police Police.” Think The Horrors‘ “Sheena Is A Parasite” meets…uh…Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller”:

NAME: Office
HOMETOWN: Chicago, Illinois
WEBSITE: http://www.reachoffice.net/

Photo by Aaron O/ Courtesy of Big Hassle

HOW I HEARD ABOUT THEM: The Backseat Blogger beat me into submission by constantly playing their self-released demo album Q&A on repeat for the whole month of April.
LATEST RELEASE: Their first “official” release will be coming out on Scratchie/New Line on September 25, 2007.
SONG LISTENED TO: Um…all of them.
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: The most amazing power pop band I’ve heard this year. Think Ok Go meets The Shins…yet they don’t really sound like either of those bands. It’s sophisticated, un-annoyingly hip, unpretentious pop music. They are playing a show at Mercury Lounge tonight (8/18).
1 to 5 RATING: 5
OTHER BLOGS THAT HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM: Inflight at Night, See You in the Pit
LISTEN TO MORE: “The Ritz” on the Myspace

NAME: Die Romantik
HOMETOWN: New York City
WEBSITE: http://www.dieromantikmusic.com/

HOW I HEARD ABOUT THEM: My friend Audrey is their manager.
LATEST RELEASE: Narcissist’s Waltz drops next Tuesday, June 5 2007
SONG LISTENED TO: “Narcissist’s Waltz” [MP3]
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: Slightly folky, dreamy, twinkly (I’m not sure if that’s the appropriate adjective, but that’s the one that comes to mind) sound. Like listening to beautiful lullabies written for sophisticated grownups. Slightly reminds me of Muse–if Matt Bellamy mellowed out and was slightly less obsessed with Radiohead.
1 to 5 RATING: 4
OTHER BLOGS THAT HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM: Crackers United
LISTEN TO MORE: “Another Round” on the Myspace. Also, don’t miss the CD Release show at The Mercury Lounge on Saturday June 2nd! Die Romantik will be joined by friends Mancino, La Laque and The Big Sleep. Die Romantik go on at 10:30.

NAME: Coconut Records
HOMETOWN: US
WEBSITE: www.youngbabyrecords.com/

HOW I HEARD ABOUT THEM: I was checking out ONTD, and saw a picture post where there were photos of Jason Schwartzman in the “recording studio” with his ex-girlfriend Zooey Deschanel and his super-hot younger brother Robert Carmine (of Rooney fame). There was no information as to where the photos came from, so I instantly flew into a fit of rage, trying to figure out why I hadn’t heard about Jason Schwartzman and/or Rooney recording recently.

I guess I should state that in the early 2000s, I was really into Phantom Planet–not as much as my crazy friend Alyse–but I liked them quite a bit. So I Googled around and finally found a line in Jason’s Wikipedia entry that mentioned that he had recently recorded songs with Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger and the results could be found on the Coconut Records Myspace page.
LATEST RELEASE: TBD, April 2007 on iTunes, in stores Summer 2007
SONG LISTENED TO: “Nighttiming”
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: Kinda Ima Robot meets Ben Kweller meets “Nightclubbing” by Iggy Pop. It’s actually really good! Very disco-y in that sort of ironic kinda of way. Groovy beats start the song, but the tune overlays pretty strings and geeky synth sounds to even out the hokey 70s blips. Jason’s vocals sound vulnerable–and at one point his voice breaks a little and it just makes my heart go “awwwww!” But another song, “West Coast”, reveals some Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young influence by featuring simplistic yet melodious harmonies.
1 to 5 RATING: 4. I can’t believe how much I like it.
OTHER BLOGS THAT HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM: Baby Heisman
LISTEN TO MORE: Catch Zooey Deschanel guesting on the leisurely banjo-based duet “This Old Machine” on the Myspace

NAME: Scatteredtrees
HOMETOWN: Chicago, IL
WEBSITE: www.scatteredtrees.com

HOW I HEARD ABOUT THEM: I got a CD in the mail called Off the Clock: Up and Coming Artists from Starbucks. “From Starbucks???? Waaahh?” I remembered hearing last year that Starbucks was going to take big initiatives to promote more music, after their stellar success with selling CDs for well-known artists like Ray Charles and Bob Dylan. Curious to see what type of “up and coming artists” such a huge corporation would pick, I popped the CD into my player. The first track off the compilation was one by Scatteredtrees. The Backseat Blogger instantly asked, “who is this?” “I dunno, some band called Scatteredtrees,” I replied. “They’re great!,” said the Backseat Blogger, “Where are they from?” I looked at the back of the CD, “Um.. Chicago, Illinois.” Then I took a look at the press release, reading the first paragraph: “…15 original tracks by Starbucks employees…the result of a company-wide contest that invited Starbucks partners (employees) to submit original solo or band recordings. “Woah!” I exclaimed, “that’s pretty cool!” A whole CD devoted to the music of baristas, assistant managers, and shift supervisors around the country.
LATEST RELEASE: Soon to release an unnamed album on 4AM Records
SONG LISTENED TO: “Sparrow”
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: Bright Eyes, but not as whiny. Sweet, sensitive guitar-based pretty melodies.
1 to 5 RATING: 3
OTHER BLOGS THAT HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM: No one…yet
LISTEN TO MORE: on the Myspace

NAME: Ida Maria
HOMETOWN: Stockholm, Sweden via Nesna, Norway
WEBSITE: http://www11.nrk.no/urort/user/?id=3009

Photo by Knut Aserud

HOW I HEARD ABOUT THEM: I was reading Sondre Lerche’s blog, and he mentioned that they were finalists in the Urørt contest for unsigned bands (he was on the jury committee to pick the winner).
LATEST RELEASE: Almost everything I’ve “read” about her is in Norwegian, so I can’t really tell if she has released anything.
SONG LISTENED TO: “Oh My God” [MP3]
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: Take the raspy yet primal voice qualities of Bjork, mix that with a bit of infectiously catchy melody a la Shout Out Louds, and drop in the casual cool of Chrissie Hynde, and you’re almost there. I can’t believe how good that song is!!! There’s this one moment about 1 minute, 30 seconds into the song where Ida growls/cries “OH MY GOOOOOD!” that just KILLS me. She screams like she’s on the verge of losing her mind–it’s thrilling yet completely terrifying sound. It’s the type of sound that reminds you that you’re alive. She doesn’t have a record label, so get on the horn Mister Man.
1 to 5 RATING: 5
OTHER BLOGS THAT HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM: Stuck with Free Music,
LISTEN TO MORE: “Queen of the World” [MP3] and more on the Myspace

Video of Sebastian Fors & Ida Maria sing a song to Javi:

NAME: Au Revoir Simone
HOMETOWN: Brooklyn, NYC
WEBSITE: http://www.aurevoirsimone.com

I love this cover!

HOW I HEARD ABOUT THEM: I’ve known Annie and Erika since the DoP dayz back in the early 2000s.
LATEST RELEASE: The Bird of Music [Release date: Self-release on Feb 26, 2007 on their Our Secret Record Company label--BUY]
SONG LISTENED TO: “Fallen Snow”
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: Whimsical, light, airy, and definitely girly. If they every toured with Joanna Newsom, indie boys around the world would have exploding eargasms, and their little hearts would burst out of their sweater vests onto the floor, causing them all to fall dead immediately. The pretty ladies start a MASSIVE international tour starting Feb 13th and don’t come home until June 15th at Webster Hall.
1 to 5 RATING: 4
OTHER BLOGS THAT HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM: Gorilla vs. Bear (with a link to the “Teenagers” remix of “Fallen Snow”), Music for Kids Who Can’t Read Good
LISTEN TO MORE: “Sad Song” on the Myspace

Video for “Fallen Snow”:

Video of Au Revoir Simone playing while David Lynch reads. Taken at the “Upstairs at the Square” series at the Union Square B&N:

NAME: Milkymee
HOMETOWN: Paris, France via Stockholm, Sweden
WEBSITE: http://www.tsunami-addiction.com/milkymee.htm

HOW I HEARD ABOUT THEM: I saw her listed on this weird music MP3 site I found, 80.253.114.225
LATEST RELEASE: Songs For Herr Nicke [BUY]
SONG LISTENED TO: “No End In Sight” [MP3]
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: Singer Emilie Hanak reminds me of Tori Amos, but instead of a piano she’s armed with an acoustic guitar. Whisper-like singing, extremely poetic lyrics. Good for cold, rainy Sunday mornings as you sit by the window pane watching raindrops stream down the glass outside.
1 to 5 RATING: 3
OTHER BLOGS THAT HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM: Getecho, Swedes Please
LISTEN TO MORE: “Sleazy Bar” and “The Spider Monkey Song” (which is actually like 10x better than the track I initially listened to. It’s a haunting etheral duet with Swede Eric Ramsey backed by electric keyboards that’s definitely worth listening to–I’d rate that song a “4″ [MP3 via Blog Up Musique]) on the Myspace

Watch “Sleazy Bar” video:

NAME: Fionn Regan
HOMETOWN: Dublin, Ireland
WEBSITE: http://www.fionnregan.com/

HOW I HEARD ABOUT THEM: Listed as performing at North Cote Social Club when I looked at the site.
LATEST RELEASE: The End Of History
SONG LISTENED TO: “Be Good or Be Gone” [LISTEN]
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: If you like Damien Rice or Donovan…quiet, acoustic, sweet.
1 to 5 RATING: 3
OTHER BLOGS THAT HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM: Said the Gramophone
LISTEN TO MORE: “Put a Penny In the Slot” on the Myspace