Apartment Story: We Are Augustines

The debut album from buzzworthy trio We Are Augustines, Rise Ye Sunken Ships, comes out today, and the band invited soldout to their Brooklyn studio on a recent hot summer afternoon for a performance of the first single, "Chapel Song." Weaving a common thread throughout the album as a whole are themes of insecurity, vulnerability and loss, and this leadoff track is no exception.

"This song is about lost love and witnessing an old love and bride-to-be walk down the aisle to be married," according to singer Billy McCarthy. "So often in life it is difficult for us to keep a good face on the outside while our insides are burning. Hollow handshakes and blank stares at a wedding sum up the sentiment here."

We Are Augustines will be on tour throughout September to promote the record; for dates and more information, visit www.weareaugustines.com.

Apartment Story: The Jezabels

We recently spent a Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn with Australian quartet The Jezabels, who treated us to a minimalist rendition of their gorgeous song "Sahara Mahala." This guitar-and-shaker take is a nice counterpart to the recorded version on the band's third and most recent EP, Dark Storm, which is buoyed by lush instrumentation and heavy percussion. The Jezabels plan to release their first full-length record later this year, and we're already saving a spot on our Best Of lists.

Apartment Story: David Berkeley

Singer/songwriter David Berkeley recently treated us to an afternoon performance in a Brooklyn apartment, in the midst of a series of shows along the East Coast. On January 25, Berkeley will release his fourth album, "Some Kind of Cure," along with a collection of 13 stories, "140 Goats and a Guitar," each of which explains the inspiration for one of the album's tracks. Most of the songs on the record were written while Berkeley and his family were living in a tiny village in the mountains of Corsica.

Here, Berkeley debuts the track "Homesick," and offers insight into the "140 Goats" reference in the book's title. It's clear that Berkeley has a knack for storytelling, whether or not his tales are accompanied by music.

David Berkeley Apartment Story from Soldout Music Dot Com on Vimeo.

Apartment Story: The Most Serene Republic

Soldout caught up with Canadian lovelies The Most Serene Republic last weekend, as they were wrapping up a headlining tour with shows in New York City and New Jersey.

After a rough night that included a performance at Brooklyn's Knitting Factory, the guys fueled up on a homemade brunch of scrambled eggs and coffee before gamely treating us to a rendition of "Pink Noise," off their recently-released EP, "Fantasick Impossibliss."

Apartment Story: Zeus

On a recent weekend afternoon, the five Canadians collectively known as Zeus crammed into the bathroom of a Brooklyn apartment and treated us to our first shower installment of our "Apartment Stories" series. Performing "Kindergarten," from their debut LP "Say Us," which was released in February, the Toronto residents proved that they don't need a large stage setting (though they did recently open a show for compatriots Broken Social Scene) to show off their musical chops.

Fun fact! The group got its start as the backing band for Arts & Crafts labelmate Jason Collett, but nowadays they appear to be comfortable having the spotlight to themselves. Even if, in this case, the spotlight is a showerhead.