SEVEN NOISES

FOOD PYRAMID

2011-06-02T21:02:00.005+01:00

Food Pyramid, a trio with guests from Minneapolis, have produced a trilogy of tapes called I, II and III that Moon Glyph has proudly made available mainly through their website. If you didn't get I and II yet it's already too late as they are sold out but you still have the chance of graping the third volume with your dirty hands. Food Pyramid's music is retro-futuristic, they can sometimes sound close to Kraftwerk and other closer to Neu! but they always put emphasis in rhythm, science fiction sounds, space and experimentation. The three tapes, although produced in only a year they sound more varied than what you can expect from the beginning, some songs containing more dance elements than others, some others even flirting with some free jazz elements. A compilation on vinyl with some of the best songs from the tapes would be more than welcome. Dixit.

FOOD PYRAMID - E HARMONY

GRIMES / D'EON - DARKBLOOM

2011-05-27T10:26:00.003+01:00

On these days when everything seems to be done, invented and everything that appears in our lives seems an upgrade or a v0.2 of something done before is not strange that the mix-match of genres you could never think working together was an option, they suddenly appear to melt in a more than convincing way. Both Grimes and D'Eon explore and flirt with genres commonly attached to the mainstream, things like 80s RnB or proto-house but never seeing them as fixed unmovable styles and stranging them as brecht used to strange his characters (distorting the initial image in order to get a different product that may work both as a tribute and a parody of the imitated thing). While Grimes approach the dance and electronic elements icing them with a voice that sounds mysterious and helium treated, dark and warm and too high pitch for general taste, D'Eon sounds more soulful and when they doesn't hide the songs behind a cascade of uncontroled beats or interference noises they are able to create songs (transparency) that could have surfaced the mainstream 25 years ago.

Although the results of this long split EP is different and both sides are defined by a certain sound, the approach of both bands is a similar construction / decunstruction that works very well together and brings them closer than they have ever been before. It's obvious to see that, although the EP was performed individually it was concived together.
Out now on Hippos In Tanks

D'EON - TRANSPARENCY

GRIMES - VANESSA

HOLY OTHER - WITH U

2011-05-22T18:34:00.001+01:00

Sometimes, the combination of a concrete kind of sounds can, surprisingly, result into something you didn't expect. Holy Other sounds warmer than what you could think, not only because of its name or the record covers, but also because mixing dark ambient, cold beats and haunted voices should always result into something dark and spooky but Holy Other is more the light at the end of the tunnel.

Don't misunderstand me: the record mixes strangeness and sadness, darkness and obscurity but also a seductive and sensual warmness which makes the whole think very enjoyable in any situation. Although it's mainly electronic and it has beats all around is more floaty and enjoyable in the intimacy of a room than expected to be danced or listened to in bigger spaces. It's music to move slowly to, music to listen with all your body rather than with just one sense. It's inspiring and it definitely doesn't come from a dark place but from its exit. And, of course, it's out on Tri Angle Records

HOLY OTHER - TOUCH

BOY FRIEND - LOVEDROPPER / D'ARREST

2011-05-20T09:52:00.003+01:00

I introduced you to Boy Friend some months ago, just after some weeks of formation when they released a digital download only 4 track EP you can still get in here. From the ashes of the former Sleep Over as a trio (now is just one of the original members with some outside help) Christa and Sarah left to form Boy Friend a similar sounding project that, although it's just months in the working, they already released their first physical single this week, the haunting and delicate Lovedropper on Hell, Yes!, accompanied on the B side by a re-working of the first EP song D'Arrest. For the A side of the single they've prepared a day-glo video that is meant to be seen vertical. I mean, instead of the normal horizontal landscape view, Boy Friend asked Amanda Joy to make a video and they decided vertical was the way to go, taking into consideration the video would only be seen on-line, where anything is possible as TV screens are no longer the place to watch music videos anymore and the web is a more free way of exploring new possibilities and formats for what is already a quite old form of art.

BOY FRIEND - Lovedropper (Official Video) from HELL, YES! on Vimeo.

AUSTRA - LOSE IT

2011-05-06T10:33:00.004+01:00

And as I mentioned Austra on my previous post and they're putting a new single out next week, I think it's fair to refer to it as well. Katie's newest project is getting more popular after the media attention her previous single, Beat and the Pulse, got on-line and the fact she's releasing through Domino could have helped as well. But she kept the most dance-oriented and killer track from the album to be the second single, the one coming immediately (one week) before the long debut release. If this song doesn't get played all around we'll just get another proof the world is unfair, as it's destined for mass transmission.

The video, a massive work of surrealism and symbolism, mixes playing cards, fights and fake tan in a way Katie uses to (check her other videos). It probably won't be shown much on MTV but, anyway, MTV doesn't play videos anymore.

AUSTRA - LOSE IT

TERROR BIRD - OUTSIDE / WHEN I WOKE UP

2011-05-05T16:39:00.003+01:00

Well, that's the second try I do resuscitating the blog after a very busy period of time, holidays and other stuff that, taking into account this is a one person job and I have to do it during my every time less and less free time, I cannot promise it's going to be more regular from now on or, if I find impossible to carry it on, it may disappear between all the blogs that passed away during our modern and disposable times.

Terror Bird was a Vancouver trio according to their last Fm profile but, when I saw them live a couple or so months ago they were already a duo and that's what they've been when releasing their first proper LP Human Culture, out two months ago on vinyl only thanks to Night People. And is through another Night label, this time Night School which I happened to mention on my last post two months ago thanks to the fact they were the people putting out the Golden Grrrls single, that they release their latest single Outside / When I Woke Up. These two songs are on the key of what we've heard before, dark synth based pop with beautiful and haunting vocals that may remind you another Canadian band, Austra, and hope it makes you go to listen to their album if you haven't yet.

TERROR BIRD - WHEN I WOKE UP

GOLDEN GRRRLS - BEACHES / DATE IT

2011-03-27T10:47:00.004+01:00

Although Golden Grrrls have existed for a while it's not been until this month they actually published their first non-tape and non- extremely lo-fi release. In the form of a beautifully presented 7 inch single, Beaches / Date It clarifies what was quite obvious in their previous recordings but was mainly hidden under a mountain of fuzz and reverb: they have good songs and good melodies for the lovers of C-86 bands and its current revival. They put them in a bunch of new bands from Glasgow, a city that has always been very musical but has not had many new bands breaking through since the beginning of the noughties, together with Divorce, Plaaydoh or We Are Wolves. You can get their first release from the new label Night School directly here. It's a limited to 300 Silk Screened record and they are starting to have a consistent group of followers so you better hurry up before is too late.

Beaches by Golden Grrrls

PINK PLAYGROUND - SUNNY SKIES

2011-03-27T10:11:00.003+01:00

Sometimes a band influences are so obvious it is impossible to read a review without some names popping out at some point. Also sometimes those influences are more than obvious and can even make you think that you are actually listening to a song of the band they are inspired by in that song. And when the influence is just a single band and, not only they copy the sound step by step and detail by detail but also the image, the covers, the videos and everything that made that band special, it can actually made you blush of shame. Pink Playground is one of those and, although many people have copied before the sound of My Bloody Valentine before (probably the band that has been more plagiarized lately together with Joy Division) I don't think that anyone has gone that far without any shame. Pink Playground is to MBV what Bjorn Again is to Abba. Pink Playground could pass for a tribute band to someone (if there's anyone there) who hasn't heard MBV songs a thousand times and is able to recognize Soon from Only Shallow. The cover of their tape Pink Dream is more than a rendition to the one from Feed Me with your Kiss.
The question is: Are Pink Playground any good though? Yes, they are. Their first physical single Sunny Skies is a proof of this. Both songs could actually be part of the MBV back catalog if better recorded.
Are they worth a listen? Yes they are if you can separate yourself from the fact you are listening to some songs without trying to contextualize them.
Can we try to make the exercise of enjoying their songs after having been 20 years looking forward listening to some new MBV tracks and never having been able? Yes, we can
Is it easy though? No, it's not. It's hardly impossible.

Pink Playground: Shame on you but thank you very much.

01 sunny skies (cs version) by pink playground

MUTUAL BENEFIT - I SAW THE SEA

2011-03-26T19:51:00.003Z

In the era of Bandcamp, Garageband and Myspace there's not only many possibilities of showing your music to the world but also of creating music without any music skills. Sometimes, and punk said it load and clear, music skills are not necessary at all but we shouldn't confuse music skills with music talent, aptitude or something to say with originality. In the modern era when everybody can pretend to be a musician or an artist and show it immediately to the world is also very difficult to be able to find something worth online while just browsing with no help from a trustful source. Many of these bedroom projects shouldn't cross the bedroom frontiers but, from time to time, there's one that takes advantage of the new technologies to create something special that is worth to be listened to and should be more spread out. Mutual Benefit is one of these projects and, although his previous EPs like Drifting were already good enough to separate him from the rest, his last EP posted online this month, I Saw The Sea, should definitely put him in the map of artists to pay attention to. The attention to detail, the melodies and the recording exceeds even his previous compositions getting a distinctive sound that is not easy to point out with comparisons.

You can download it here

Mutual Benefit - Birdwatcher

POWERDOVE

2011-03-17T09:37:00.005Z

Powerdove is the project of Annie Lewandowski although she frequently performs with Jason Hoopes and Alex Vittum according to her label's website. Although originally from the U.S they are now settled in the UK and I happened to see them live last week without knowing anything about them. In that occasion, they were just two on stage: She was playing a small guitar while the other guy, who I think it was Alex, was making background noises, ambient sounds and beautifully crafted percussions with a strange tool connected to a laptop. Although it was the first band out of three (everybody was there to see Former Ghosts) and we know the attention that guest bands receive in general, the audience remained quiet for the whole set, hypnotized by the haunting voice and the delicate melodies coming out from the stage. Then, after the show I found out they already have a self-titled EP and their first album, recorded by Deerhoof's John Dieterich, has just been released on the same label, the Portland based Circle Into Square. Both records are a delicate collection of folk-pop songs, most of the times as slow as Low's first records used to be, and as delicate as Picastro or Piano Magic's ballads. But,although the recording is really good, I really recommend to see them live to get the whole idea of their current sound as the recording of the album is a year old and more organic and I think that, thanks to that weird machine that captivated me, they're slightly evolving and mutating the songs with loops and other electronic details not as evident in the album as they are live, or that's just maybe because as they just were two, they tried to fill the songs with what had available. We'll have to wait to anther recording to find out.

POWERDOVE - I DON'T MIND

JOHN MAUS - QUANTUM LEAP

2011-03-14T09:44:00.003Z

John Maus, who you might know for his own work or his collaborations with Ariel Pink or Panda Bear at some point, is finally dropping out some new material after a silence period. Next Summer will see the release of his new album We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves on always interesting Upset the Rhythm (in the UK) but we can already enjoy the lead single Quantum Leap which has been offered as a free download in some blogs but will sadly probably not see a physical release. The bass and synth based song is loyal to his sound but is probably his most catchy tune yet. The rhythm is contagious and would probably be a favorite tune for fans of Gary War (whose sound is pretty close but his vocals more conventional) or Blank Dogs.

John Maus - Quantum Leap

THE WAKE - ON OUR HONEYMOON / CRUSH THE FLOWERS // GRUESOME FLOWERS (A TRIBUTE TO THE WAKE)

2011-03-04T09:34:00.005Z

And yes we are already reviewing the first of the coming releases prepared for Record Store Day 2011, and even that it's become one of the most important days of the year (music related speaking) in just three editions (this year's, on April 16th, will be the forth). And the first release I'll talk about is actually a reissue of one of the most stupidly forgotten and overlooked bands that really should need more recognition. The Scottish band The Wake who started by the edge of post-punk meets new pop could be put under the same entourage as The Associates, Orange Juice or Josef K and other Postcard bands (or later The Pastels) because of sharing, not only a Geographic but also a sound in common (if we obvious the highly Joy Division influenced first Factory LP), but also commonly compared to New Order through their mid 80s records. And Captured Tracks are proud to announced they will re-release their first single (and only pre-Factory release) and their last 80's single (and also their first post-Factory record, which was actually released on the also mythical Sarah Records label and helped to design and define what would be the very recognizable sound of the label.

But that's not the only good news coming from Captured Tracks regarding their Record Store Day releases. To celebrate these two records, they'll also put out a single with two of their most emblematic bands, Wild Nothing and Beach Fossils, covering two tracks from The Wake, called Gruesome Flowers (as they will cover Plastic Flowers and Gruesome Castle, both from the 1987 Something That No One Else Could Bring EP).

I can't be more excited about these news.

THE WAKE - CRUSH THE FLOWERS

COMPUTER MAGIC - 12"

2011-03-02T10:57:00.002Z

Last year I posted about Computer's Magic first digital single, the melancholic and beautiful On VHS. Since then, she's released three free to download EPS (still available for download on her website) I couldn't recommend enough. So it was just a question of time a recognized label, this time White Iris (formerly known as Black Iris and guilty of putting out Best Coast's When I'm with You 7 inch), paid attention to her music and gave her the opportunity of having a proper physical release. The tracks on this first 12' are selected songs that previously formed part of those homemade EPs that have been re-recorded more professionally for the occasion. The 12" record has been announced for the 15th of March and no final tracklist has been named yet. If I had to choose between all the tracks I would like to be there, the list would be so long it had to be an LP.

Here you have the final version of Found Out, which originally appeared on her first EP Hiding From Our Time, and will close the 12'.

Computer Magic - Found Out

SLEEP ∞ OVER - CASUAL DIAMOND

2011-03-02T10:20:00.004Z

A couple of months ago, with the release of Boy Friend's first EP containing two members out of the three from Sleep ∞ Over, we thought that meant the end of the band. We just were slightly sad as there were not many differences in sound between the original project and it's son and, actually, the four songs in that E.P were amongst its best. This week though, our suspects were dis-confirmed as a new release from the now one girl band, the remaining original founding member Stefanie Franciotti, has been announced for next month Hippos in Tanks followed by the release of a whole album on the same label in Summer with the help from Christine Aprile among others. Meanwhile we can enjoy the A side of the single, Casual Diamond, that will have a remix of the same track by Laurel Halo as the B side. The funny thing of the whole story is that, while Boy Friend, the two thirds that left the band, followed from close the same sound of the band they quited, the remaining member has slightly mutated Sleep ∞ Over into something that, although as mysterious as before, is less atmospheric and full of light.

Sometimes, if the results of a split can divide talents into two having then double good results, we welcome the splits with joy.

SLEEP ∞ OVER - CASUAL DIAMOND

WIDOWSPEAK - HARSH REALM

2011-02-28T15:11:00.002Z

It's been a while now since i last talked about a Captured Tracks release taking into consideration I do it really often as the amount of records they put out and the quality of those is both really high. One of the last things they've released (actually I think that if not Today it was last week) it's the debut single (after a 6 tracks tape) of Brooklyn's Widowspeak, a band which has accumulated many good reviews and plenty of comparisons with Mazzy Star thanks to the blissed sounds, slow melodies and a voice with certain resemblance to that of Hope Sandoval. For this first and beautiful single they recover two tracks from their first tape, Harsh Realm and Burnout in new and improved re-recorded versions. You can also listen to some other tracks (including the B side Burnout) on their Facebook profile.

Widowspeak - Harsh Realm

TONETTA

2011-02-25T12:12:00.003Z

I hate those internet You Tube sensations everybody talks about and later on appear on Weezer videos; guys blowing things or getting harmed Jackass style, pathetic people with no life performing songs in the campiest way for their 5 minutes of fame no matter what and so on. Said that, I'll have to say that although Tonetta can be regarded as another pathetic attempt for internet glory as he's making a fool of himself dressed in lo-fi budget drag and make up performing in front of a curtain in what it looks like the basement of his house in Canada, at least, he's performing his own songs and, I have to say, they are kind of good. Forget the story behind suitable for X Factor (abandoned by his wife and kids 1983, living as a recluse at his home since then with hardly any contact with the outside world) and even don't pay much attention to the videos themselves as they can easily put you off the music itself (although i understand some people may consider they actually work well together) or the fact he looks more fit than Schwarzenegger having a similar age. the thing is that these songs he's been recording for 30 years with old guitars and an old drum machine with just one rhythm are actually quite good and, in a sense, he could be compared to a marginal Bob Dylan, a less poetic Leonard Cohen, a transatlantic Ian Dury or even Ariel Pink, everything through an obvious Glam-Rock filter and punk attitude evident in the lyrics as much as in the performance.

And a guy who saw that talent behind organised some of this tracks into two compilations that came out last year called 777 and 777 Vol. 2 on Black Tent Press. Check out one of the tracks here and multiple videos on Youtube

EMA - THE GREY SHIP

2011-02-24T11:13:00.003Z

EMA, formerly of noise band Gowns, has gone solo after a getting a bit bored of excesses and is trying to go pop on her first release as a solo artist. And I say trying because, although she calls it pop, I'm not sure if releasing a single of a 7 minutes song with a b side of a 17 minutes track is what the general public can understand of pop. Anyway, is the most pop you've heard of her and both tracks here are huge no matter what genre you tried to put them under. The Grey Ship starts like a ghostly and mysterious song and suddenly, in the middle of the song, there's a change of rhythm and melody and a feedback comes through. Erika describes it as "I imagined it being like when Dorothy opens the door to Oz and the whole world turns from black and white to technicolour”. For the b side she attempted covering Kind Hearted Woman, a Robert Johnson blues staple that she transforms into a symphony and its recording nearly ends with her patience, spending months perfecting the track and adding lots of layers until she got what she had in her mind from the beginning.

Although I've heard that it was meant to appear as a 7 inch (I don't really know it that would be possible taking into consideration the length of the tracks) it has only appeared as a download only single by now that you can get here and the album has already been announced for April. Can't wait to hear what it's going to be like.

RYAN TROTT - SPIRIT HOME

2011-02-18T07:58:00.004Z

If the name Ryan Trott doesn't ring any bell maybe you will be more familiar with it if I tell you that he normally records as part of Family Trees, the band that put out the beautiful single Dream Talking on Father Daughter Records last year. Now, he just give us as his first solo EP Spirit Home as a free download. The obvious difference between this EP and the stuff he's put out with his band is the method of recording and final sound, being this a more bedroom lo-fi recording and with a more live sound. As he puts it himself these songs are “8 songs of lo-res hi-fi bedroom dream psych garage folk”.

Listen to one of the tracks here:

Or download the whole thing here

MODE MODERNE

2011-02-15T13:31:00.002Z

Vancouver's Mode Moderne have been working as a band for a while now but mainly inside the Vancouver scene and not getting much international attention. I imagine that if instead of being from Vancouver and having auto-release their first LP they would have been from Brooklyn and had published their record on Captured Tracks, things would be a bit different nowadays.

Maybe, if you were born in the 80s or afterwards you might be a bit bored by now of all this post punk / synth wave revival we are living these days with bands like Cold Cave, Cosmetics, Blank Dogs and co. but if like me you happened to listen to this kind of music when you were younger is kind of refreshing to listen to new bands and new songs in the key of something so familiar to you but at the same time new and exciting.

Mode Moderne's music could have been put out at any point between 1978 and 1983 or, by defect, between 2008 and 2011. Not many possibilities you could hear something like this in between these two slots as the music with these influences that was out in, let's say randomly, 2004, at least had a slightly contemporaneousness that could let you make difference between the old and the new. However, sometimes this new bunch of bands influenced by old British and German bands from the late 70s / 80s don't have this characteristic and could make you confuse them for an unknown old band. There's nothing wrong with that; music shouldn't be judged by its release date anyway and let's face there's not many things nowadays we could say they sound so 2011! And when your songs are as good as Mode Moderne's they could eclipse some of the names they could be compared to.

Mode Moderne - Les Neuf Soeurs

DIRTY BEACHES / CONOR PRENDERGAST split 7'

2011-02-15T13:02:00.004Z

Soft Power is a Scottish record shop famously known for the fact they only sell vinyl (as all the record shops should be) that last year also turned into record label with the release of their first reference, an LP by Theoretical Girls. The second reference was finally announced last month and it's going to be a split single by personal favourite Dirty Beaches and Brave Radar's Conor Prendergast. The split single will contain at least three tracks. Dirty Beaches's side will have a Johnny Cash cover of the singer more in the key of Nick Cave's version (well, actually is exactly as Nick Cave's version but as lo-fi as you can expect is going to be a Dirty Beaches track) and also an instrumental track called Gone to Hell Come Friday dedicated to the memory of Broadcast's Trish Keenan.

You can listen / download Dirty Beaches The Singer and Conor's Great To Be Here here:

Dirty Beaches - the Singer

Dirty Beaches 'The Singer' by Soft Power

Conor Prendergast - Great to Be Here

Conor Prendergast Great To Be Here by Soft Power

DEATH KIT - DEVADASI

2011-02-14T11:38:00.006Z

Fort Lowell Records' latest release, already their 5th, is the first physical single from Death Kit, a LA band that includes members of previous FLR collaborators Wet & Reckless. It's also their most dance oriented and upbeat release to date and it also has for the first time a remix as one of the tracks on the record, Death Kit first single I Can Make You Love Me as interpreted by ...music video?.

This single makes me think of FLR as a big family as it not only contains members of a band they released before but also the remix is made by the group they released as a second single and the vinyl comes with two exclusive download only tracks, one being an acoustic cover of the single's second track by Tracy Shedd, who happened to share the split single with Wet & Reckless and the other a cover of the original song Tracy released for them, this time performed by Death Kit.

The single also comes with a two sided leaflet explaining the 9 facts you always wanted to know about Seagulls, a common bird in Tucson with a footnote from The Birdman, a non-lucrative association that provides care and homing for birds and on the other side you can find information about the Tucson Community Darkroom a project carried by Julia DeConcini, who also created the beautiful artwork, and Jasper Ludwig who provide traditional photographic education and darkroom rentals for the Tucson Community.

You can get the 500 limited record here.

In other news, Fort Lowell Records will contribute with a single to Record Store Day 2011 with no other than Howe Gelb with two different projects: Sno Angel on Side-A and Melted Wires on Side-B. "Spiral" will be the 'Sno Angel song, which is a live version with the Voices Of Praise Gospel Choir. "Cordoba in Slow Motion" will be the Melted Wires song, which is a collaboration between Giant Sand and Calexico, and has not been release yet. Congratulations!!

Death Kit - Devadasi

FACTORY FLOOR - R E A L L O V E

2011-02-13T11:03:00.003Z

Factory Floor have never been in a hurry to conquer the world. Their release periodicity of one single / EP per year (if we don't count the remix series 12s they put out last year after the unnamed EP) hasn't been altered since 2008's Bipolar 7' and this year's fascicle has already been named. In April and via Optimo (Espacio)'s imprint we'll receive R E A L L O V E, a one new track + Optimo remix 12" which will help us through the year while we wait for new stuff and put our hopes up is not for a whole new year again. I haven't heard the original yet (which is produced by Joy Division / New Order's Stephen Morris) but the remix it's an hypnotic song in the key of Lying but with the natural Optimo feeling all over the place.

Factory Floor are also scheduled to perform on one of the two All Tomorrow Parties's Portishead events this Summer at Alexandra Palace.

Factory Floor - R E A L L O V E Optimo (Espacio) remix

COLD CAVE - THE GREAT PAN IS DEAD

2011-02-07T16:32:00.002Z

Although is not the first official single of the sen Cold Cave album and it's not planned for it to have a physical format, The Great Pan is Dead has been chosen by Wesley Eisold himself to be the presentation of his sophomore record and opening track as it also was the first song he composed for the album. If you happened just listen the split EP with Prurient, the Cremations compilation or you saw them live during the last leg of the tour, maybe it will not surprise you as much as if you just heard Love Comes Close. To star with, Wesley's voice has won a lot of confidence and is not afraid anymore of shouting whatever he wants to say. The fact that the band has been playing together for a while has also helped to get a more filling sound, less bedroom produced and more studio full band played. And, as he comments in some interviews this is the sound he was looking for after finishing the stuff that ended up on Cremations but, something closer to pop but still with an experimentation and punk attitude. The record ended up being much more pop than what he was expecting and the beginning so he tried it again for this record that is suppose to follow the pattern of this first song, a breathtaking song about magic, preservation, youth and movement.

LOWER DENS - BATMAN

2011-01-30T10:44:00.003Z

While Jana Hunter has put on quarantine her solo efforts after some remarkable releases, she joined a band last year called Lower Dens that put out an album, Twin Hand Movement, and a single, I Get Nervous, that, at least, are comparable with her previous stuff if not even better. They started the new year putting out a new release: the single Batman / Dear Betty Mayo out on Gnomonsong as usual with two brand new songs; the jolly and upbeat Batman and the more dense and introspective B side, a Mayo Thompson cover. Both songs blend together perfectly thanks to Jana's haunting voice although they are quite different.

Check as well this promo video for the single that, strangely, doesn't have the song on it but a weird cooking lesson:

SEA PINKS - PERIPHERAL VISION EP

2011-01-27T12:22:00.004Z

Sea Pinks is the alias of Girls Names' drummer solo project. With his main band they achieved an international status of recognition thanks to their two EPs, one for Captured Tracks and one for Tough Love, and a split single with Brilliant Colors that are between my last year's personal favourites and they'll soon will release their first album on Slumberland which I can't wait to listen to.
And on his free time he had time to put out a tape that's already some months old but it's still available for you to get here as a download only as the tape is already sold out. On that tape he managed to simplify even more the sound of his main band and give it a more 60s shinny pop sound that sometimes reminds me a lo-fi version of some Kindercore bands like The Masters of the Hemisphere.

You can download for free one of the tracks here.

And now he re-recorded some of the songs of that tape with a full band and released a 4 track 12" white label on the same label that is selling out really quickly. Here you can see the video of the re-recording of the main track, Peripheral Vision

Peripheral Vision from Sea Pinks on Vimeo.

LEVEK - LEVEK 7"

2011-01-25T11:52:00.002Z

Levek introduces himself like this on his Myspace: I'm a bus driver that makes music. After a long day of elementary schoolers putting gum on my lovely pleather bus seats I enjoy a good space jam while sorting through the Disney VHS collection. .. Just after reading this description you know you have to like his music for the sake of it, only because he deserves it. And then you listen to his music and you realise there's a lot to enjoy to his music. This is his first official release although he previously put up a demo mini-album on his Bandcamp full of big little songs that pay a lot of attention to the arrangements and take a lot of inspiration from classic Disney movies soundtracks like Dumbo or Fantasia. Online, he's even been compared to Sufjan Stevens for the way he arranges the songs, like if they were little orchestrated masterpieces. Although his approach and his compositions are quite different I can understand these comparisons and I can imagine what he could do with more budget. And anyway, the A side of this single sounds like at least he had the opportunity to record in a proper studio and the results are splendid. Look on the Bright Side is a beautifully recorded song that also opens new doors for him, looking for more soulful sounds, taking inspiration from Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield. The most amazing thing of all is that everything comes from the mind of just one person, David Levesque, who should be given the opportunity of recording a whole album with a bit of budget and I'm sure he would get the acknowledgment he deserves.
You can get the 7 inch on Father / Daughter records, a small label which only has three references so far (I've covered the three of them in here) but every single one they put out is a must have.

Levek - Look on the Bright Side

CHRISTIAN AIDS

2011-01-24T14:01:00.005Z

Lately, good dance music has been flirting with some 90s and 00s stereotypes of popular dance music, giving them a new and more valuable interpretation. From the diva voice sample to the acceleration of beats or the overload garage bass , projects like Kingdom or Teengirl Fantasy give a new vocabulary to these old and overused cliches. Christian Aids (not sure where the name inspiration came from) are a band / project from Manchester with no information at all on their Myspace: just a couple of killer tunes that use those cliches as well but the final result is something as modern and current as Mount Kimbie or James Blake, to name the evident and current glory names of the genre.
Fever starts as an atmospheric and dark beatless tune to explode into a colourful and crazy fast dance song proper of post rave years, everything in less than 3.30 minutes. The song is still a demo so it may change once is out.

Christian Aids - Fever (demo)

AUSTRA - BEAT & THE PULSE

2011-01-19T11:10:00.003Z

Austra is the new creature out from the many talents of Katie Stelmanies, a Toronto singer who's been in many projects and released some stuff under her name as well, like the amazing single Believe Me / Crying I reviewed in here a couple of years ago. This week, her new combo, a more electronic and beat oriented version of her solo stuff but still with the spirituality and drama of her previous releases, came to London to perform some shows and present their first release, a 12 inch with three songs that was previously released on Fucked Up's label One Big Science and now is out through Domino in the UK. You can here the three songs on the Domino Soundcloud space in here or get in in one of the many shops Domino gets to.

Austra - Beat & The Pulse by DominoRecordCo

TRISH KEENAN

2011-01-14T18:45:00.006Z

I've never made a post about a musician passing away before. This blog's purpose is another but Today was a very sad, sad day. Broadcast was one of my favourite bands ever and when I received the news I felt like a friend died. I've heard her voice so many times it became so close to me. It is music I always revisit and go back to. I never get bored to listen to again and again. It was a very sad, sad day.

TRISH KEENAN R.I.P.

UPDATE: A friend of Trish uploaded a mistape online she made him before Broadcast's last tour in Australia. It's really interesting. Here's a note from him:

"Before she went to Australia Trish sent me a mix CD of bonkers pop music she compiled, I never thanked her. It's called Mind-Bending Motorway Mix and I want to share it with you, please pass the link on, share it far and wide, it's a little tribute to a (as a friend referred to her today) exhilarating woman, we're all thinking about you, James.

"Sorry I don't have a tracklist and to be honest I like it that way. I think it's less about who you're listening to on... that compilation and more about the fact you are listening to something that Trish took time to select and compile for me and in turn yourselves. Sorry but please just enjoy the music."
You can get the mixtape here

THE LOUCHE F.C. - BACK BEDROOM CASUALTY / ONLY IN A DREAM

2011-01-14T09:03:00.002Z

Manchester was the centre of the universe back in the late 70s with bands like Joy Division, The Fall or The Buzzcocks and then again in the 80s with The Smiths, Stone Roses or Happy Mondays. Everything got a bit quieter afterwards (with exception of Oasis) and nowadays while the city has risen from the post-industrial decadence to a more modern cosmopolitan city its musical influence over the world has been fading to nearly disappeared. If you walk around the city, its record shops and bars, you can see a general nostalgia for those glory days that now look more like a tourist attraction / theme park. But we still have, from time to time, a new band that appears from the small live circuit of bars as it's the case of The Louche F.C.
After growing up from gig to gig / mouth to mouth they will release their first single next month on Sways Records, the double A side Back Bedroom Casualty / Only in a Dream. They define their sound as 60s post-punk / Orbison shoegaze which is obvious on Only in a Dream.
You can pre-order it here .

The Louche F.C. - Only in a Dream

The Louche FC - Only in a Dream by sways

ANIKA

2011-01-14T07:53:00.003Z

Anika, a 24 year old German girl settled in the UK and Berlin, released an album at the end of last year that's been massively overlooked (probably because when it appeared all the lists were pre-designed) although it had all the elements to be a candidate to be on the end of the year lists: produced by Geoff Barrow from Portishead and Beak>, mixing experimentalism with a post-punk attitude that makes the whole thing retro, current and timeless and approaching the cover (Bob Dylan's Masters of War, Yoko Ono's Yang Yang or Julie London's popularised End of the World) as a weapon reminding The Flying Lizards crazy covers of the late 70s.
It's impossible to read a review of the record without seeing the name Nico all around, clearly an influence but also the consequence of making the obvious association of German female vocal artist with strong accent singing in English with a love for dark and mysterious melodies, all very European sounding. Anyway, there's more to the record than that as it filters dub "a la Metal Box way", Krautrock, 60s pop or synthwave.
You can catch her live at London's Lexington on the 26th this month or later in France, Belgium, Spain or at the Portishead's All Tomorrow's Parties events next Summer.

Anika - Masters of War

ZOO KID - OUT GETTING RIBS

2011-01-13T20:58:00.004Z

Zoo Kid makes us think, we that are far away from our youthful years, that we through away the best years of our lives. How can a 16 year old make songs like this? Has he been making music since he was 2 to get to this level of composition abstraction and sophistication and make it sound natural and innate? (The credits praise written, performed and produced by Archy Marshall)
His song Out Getting Ribs has already been praised around but the B side to the single, Has This Hit, out on House Anxiety Records and probably soon to be sold out (so you better run) is as big as the A side. He sounds as he's been listening to lots of music (he can sound like Ian Curtis without wanting to sound like him in a time everybody wants to sound like him but fail trying) and filtered everything in a way it only ends up sounding as himself. It's definitely a one to follow from really close in the British scene in a time there's not much interesting going on here.

BEKO LSR

2011-01-13T20:34:00.003Z

I haven't mentioned Beko for a while now. It's hardly impossible to get track of all what they put up as every Monday you have a new (virtual)free single, compilation, boxset, etc.. and if you get distracted for a while, you've missed some weeks and have lots to catch up. This last Monday though, is obvious that I would mention, taking into account the previous post, the free 11 track compilation they put together on collaboration with La Station Radar. 11 artist that have previously released something for this label hands out a new / unreleased track for our enjoyment, including some personal favourites like Ela Orleans, Dirty Beaches, Jeans Wilder or Archers by the Sea. You can download the whole thing (and many more free great music) here

Ela Orleans - Black and White Flight

JEANS WILDER - SIMPLER TIMES

2011-01-13T20:14:00.003Z

This 7 inch has already a couple of months but the hibernation of the blog + how long it takes the postage from France to the UK during the Christmas season have delayed the whole thing. Probably you've heard something about Jeans Wilder before, maybe one of his numerous tapes or maybe the split single he put out with Best Coast, as well as this for La Station Radar, one label that has increasingly become more and more indispensable. This single contains three songs of noise surf that work as a perfect companion for his first proper vinyl LP, Nice Trash, out at the same time as a collaboration between this label and Atelier Ciseaux which is more sampled and melody based and explores other quieter territories.
You can get both things here

Jeans Wilder - Simpler Times

LA SERA - DEVILS HEARTS GROW GOLD

2011-01-12T19:25:00.005Z

Next Monday, the never ever resting Katy Goodman of Vivian Girls fame will release her second single with her solo project La Sera after the dream pop beauty of Never Come Around. This second single called Devils Heart Grow Gold will also feature in her first album out on February 15th that will be simply called La Sera and will be another reference on the newly imprint Sub Pop branch label Hardly Art. The B side Dedicated to the One I Love, which will not appear on the album, sounds like is a cover of the classic song many times covered and popularised by Mama Cass between others.
In other news she will be touring Europe once again next month including White Heat in London. See you there.

La Sera - Devils Hearts Grow Gold

BOY FRIEND - BOY FRIEND

2011-01-12T18:27:00.007Z

Last year we saw a couple of releases from a band called Sleep ∞ Over who investigated into the atmospheric parameters of bands like Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil and other 4AD bands from the 80s. After some months of silence, a new project from two of its members called Boy Friend appeared yesterday at BandCamp. Not sure if this means that Sleep ∞ Over are not more but seems logic as their first EP called simply Boy Friend follows what their single for Forest Family Records started and if these songs where not signed under this new name it would be impossible to guess it's a new project without knowing it in advance.
It was up for download for free yesterday. From today you'll have to pay $4 USD for the whole thing (4 tracks) or $1 for individual tracks, but it's worth the money as it is even better than what they've done before.

Get it here

Boy Friend - The False Cross

POST- HIBERNATION

2011-01-12T18:15:00.002Z

Hello everybody. It's been a while since my last post, nearly a couple of months. The reasons for this hibernation are many: time, technical difficulties and some other reasons I'm not going to name.
The fact is I'll try it again. Some things have changes meanwhile like the way you can stream / download songs. My upload provider stopped accepting more uploads and I've struggle to find a new one that offered the same conditions. Anyway, here we are again. Hope you enjoy it.

MEMORYHOUSE - CAREGIVER / HEIRLOOM

2010-11-23T17:15:00.004Z

Memoryhouse have proofed to create some of the most beautiful songs we've heard this year, from first single To the Lighthouse and second Lately (both songs also included in the free to download The Years EP) to the other songs they've been putting out in compilations or that tour only CDR full of instrumentals. When i saw them live though it was slightly disappointing as the addition of a guitar that sometimes rocked too hard for their songs destroyed the atmosphere of these songs mostly based in quiet and delicate ballads that didn't need those guitar riffs at all. Anyway, the new single out on Suicide Squeeze Records doesn't take an approach to their live sound, but more to their previous recordings, although the presence of the guitar is more prominent than on those first tracks, but always as a companion to the songs without overtaking all the power of the songs.
Get the record before is sold out here. It's limited to 750 copies but it's nearly sold out.

Memoryhouse - "Caregiver" from The Tearist on Vimeo.

MOGWAI - RANO PANO

2010-11-23T16:01:00.003Z

I was a huge Mogwai fan, back on the days of the first singles, Young Team, Come On Die Young and Rock Action, and those perfect EPs they put out on between. I saw them like 10 times live during those years and it was always a mind blowing experience.
Everything began to change with the release of Happy Songs for Happy People: From the title to the cover everything looked bad from the beginning. Maybe I'm not a happy person but I found the record quite bland and nothing to do with Mogwai at all. The records that came afterwards were not any better in general: Mr Beast was a try to go back to basics, the quiet-noise-quiet pattern they followed in their first releases but although the ingredients were there the final result was far from the anthemic songs the got famous for. Zidane, the OST was better, some beautiful passages that put a bit of hope for further releases but then, The Hawk is Howling proofed us wrong, developing some songs closer to hard rock mannerisms than anything else.
Some months ago, the news that the were going to release their next album for Sub Pop in America put them again on the map. Not sure if the signing for a label can actually affect the final result for an album, even less a label like Sub Pop that doesn't put any pressure in the artistic part of the making of a record but, anyway, it could only be regarded us encouraging news. And now, the first single is available as a free download before the actual physical release that will be in January and will include a non-album B side and a classic Sub Pop singles club style cover. I approached to it with mixed expectations but, after listening to it, I have to say that it's probably the best song they've done in years. Rano Pano, an advance from Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will it's as far from their first songs as it is close: The melody is there, the noise is there but processed in a different way but, what's more important is that the song is good and escapes from the self-plagiarism of the last records, looking for new sounds and ways of expression but being loyal to their name.
I cannot help it but to have hope again and look forward the new album, to be out next February, but I'm also afraid of another deception, even more taking into account the name of the record. Cross your fingers.

Mogwai - Rano Pano.mp3

DEAD WESTERN PLAINS - ALTA

2010-11-23T07:39:00.003Z

This is the forth single from Fort Lowell Records, and last for this year, a label from Tucson AZ that specializes in releasing singles from local bands. If you still don't know it, they've put out records by Young Mothers, ...Music Video?, Wet & Reckless / Tracy Shedd and now Dead Western Plains, all of them still available on their website.
This is the Dead Western Plains debut and it sounds really elaborated for a first record. The production is rich on details and you can get the sensation that many hours have been invested in getting the final result. With complex melody lines and, although they don't have an obvious chorus, both songs have the common element that, with quite an abstract structure they manage to have a catchy organ arrangement that works as glue for all the different parts of the songs.
The songs sound big, hymn-like and kaleidoscopic, mixing psychedelia, electronic sounds and pop. They mention Arcade Fire, Animal Collective or Caribou as references, and I can definitely see those in these songs, although not individually, but very well mixed and assumed.

Dead Western Plains - Alta.mp3

SEAPONY - DREAMING

2010-11-19T10:12:00.000Z

Seapony's first ever physical release is just been put out by Double Denim Records, a UK label that also released Blackbird Blackbird's Pure. Seapony are from Seattle but far from getting inspiration to that city's music background they get closer to the British sound of 80s bands like The Pastels, Heavenly or The Vaselines, although I've also read comparisons with Best Coast around the blogs. Actually, the first time you hear Dreaming, one of the three songs on the single, it sounds so familiar you may think you've heard it before. The guitar riff and the melody are so simple it looks impossible nobody has already done it.
You can also visit their bandcamp and download their first virtual EP for free here.

Seapony - Dreaming.mp3

GR†LL GR†LL

2010-11-17T13:27:00.002Z

Lately there's been a huge amount of low profile bands whose names consist on symbols or a combination of symbols and letters. Most of them they share a love for dark sounds, scary synths and heavily processed vocals and they are influenced by dark dubstep and hip hop as much as they are by gothic and post punk sounds. After the rise of Salem, Burial or even Fever Ray in the last years the door's been open for this type of effects and many projects are flirting with a kind of music would perfectly suit the goriest and darker of the films and scare the bravest of the mums.
GR†LL GR†LL is yet another band who's just released a CDR on Disaro, a record label whose bands include another hieroglyphical bands such as , ✝ NO VIRGIN ✝ or †‡† and which logo may you think it's more a cult than a record label. Pretty scary everything. GR†LL GR†LL's music is not for everybody's ears but you'll probably find it interesting at least if you've been loving Salem's LP. The artifact even contains a Nirvana cover more suitable for Doom lovers than grunge fans.

Grll Grll - sl0wdancing.mp3

GAMES - THAT WE CAN PLAY EP

2010-11-14T22:07:00.003Z

I talked about Games a while ago when they released their 7' Everything is Working. I also mentioned that they were preparing a new EP to come out soon and that EP was already out this last week and it's slightly surprising if the only material you ever heard from them is that single. The 6 track EP from this Oneohtrix Point Never affiliate still shares the sample copy / paste methodology of those two songs but escapes from the bedroom ambient electronica into Italo influenced songs, most of them with vocals and closer to conventional (although not foreseeable) electronic pop songs. The general sound is quite retro, taking you back to those 80s Summer nights in beach town discos but the final result and production (those cuts and fast changes and the omnipresent treatment of samples) makes this EP more current and a product of its time (let's not forget that most of the electronica is hardly Italodisco influenced lately) that just a nostalgic revivalism. And at the end what really counts are the songs, and they are good.

Get the record from Hippos in Tanks, the same people who put out the single.

Games - Strawberry Skies.mp3

TWIN SHADOW / VIOLENS split

2010-11-14T11:05:00.004Z

Many things have been said about Twin Shadow in the last couple of months, most of them good, since the release of his first album Forget. Bringing 80s glamour back to music via Morrissey or New Order, his music is full of great timeless that stands out beyond revival or even genres. As the production of the album is carried out by Grizzly's Chris Taylor and the record co-released between Terrible and 4AD, he probably had thought it would be fair to give a song for the second instalment of the single split series of the label with one of the songs that didn't make it to the album. Savannah Howl, that could had easily make the cut and be on the album, is 100% what you can expect after hearing all his other songs.
On their side, Violens offer a new remix of one of the songs from their record Amoral. Acid Reign (in the trees remix) is more a reworking that a remix as the new mix is made by themselves. The song slightly remind me another side of the 80s, the one of the first Spandau Ballet, ABC and new pop.
The record art follows the same pattern as its first release and the website: simple and straight forward, two coloured and saying more from the label that from the bands themselves.

Twin Shadow - Savannah Howl.mp3

THE SANDWITCHES - SUMMER OF LOVE

2010-11-12T08:01:00.005Z

The Sandwitches have been massively supported by some blogs (GvsB) or mainly ignored by some others (Pitchfork). After releasing an LP, two singles and an EP in the last 12 months of so, they come back with another 7'. Both songs would sit down well with the stuff on their LP, more upbeat and 60s influenced than the songs on Duck Duck Goose! but anyway, as beautiful as anything they put out before. The single, out on 1-2-3-4 Go! Records on November 30th, is already available for pre-order in a limited edition of 100 green vinyl or 400 black vinyl.

NICO - FROZEN WARNINGS / NO ONE IS THERE

2010-11-04T08:27:00.003Z

As part of the Elektra 60th anniversary celebrations, the label that started as an independent folk vehicle and move to massive success at the end of the 60s and early 70s (no doubt it was its commercial and artistic peak) is re-releasing a series of classic albums and singles, some of them deleted for over 40 years. The singles they're re-releasing are Love's 7 and 7 is / No Fourteen, Tim Buckley's Aren't You The Girl / Strange Street Affair Under Blue and Nico's Frozen Warnings / No One Is There.
After the Velvet Underground, Nico's career was slightly eclipsed by Lou Reed's and John Cale's but albums like Chelsea Girl, The Marble Index (from where the two songs on the single are) or Desertshore should be considered as important as Transformer, Berlin or Paris 1919. The mixture of pop and experimentation on her albums, specially on the ones I mentioned, was a perfect starting point for some other artists that came afterwards and took inspiration to do the same.

These singles are limited to 750 copies and they will probably never be released again so it's a great opportunity to get them and enjoy them as if they were new again.

Nico - No One is There.mp3

LA SERA - NEVER COME AROUND

2010-11-01T11:13:00.003Z

It is a normal thing for band members to start having parallel projects once a band has released some records and has got some audience recognition. That's always something good meaning the band members want to try other ways and genres to fulfill their musical aspirations but it can also mean the beginning of a disintegration process of the main band if that exploration of new possibilities results in a more successful project either meaning they get more public interest or artistic enjoyment.
Vivian Girls have not been around for a long time but we have already seen many projects coming from the main band, either from active members of the band or members who've left the mother band forever to join other projects: Crystal Stills, Best Coast, The Babies, Dum Dum Girls, All Saints Day and Frankie Rose & the Outs are just some of those projects that have share a member with the Vivian Girls at some point of their short career and now we can announced a new project, this time from Katy Goodman whose also been part of some of the other projects mentioned before, and although the project mentions two other members on Myspace, it's meant to be her solo project.
La Sera's first single, Never Come Around, will be out in November 16 on Hardly Art, home of releases from Fergus & Geronimo, Golden Triangle or Arthur & Yu and it's going to be followed by a whole LP next year. Check the song and the spooky and funny video.

La Sera - Never Come Around.mp3

DEAD GAZE - TAKE ME HOME OR DIE ALONE

2010-10-26T15:53:00.004+01:00

Firetalk, a quite small new label that's got attention thanks to be the one who released one of the most admired singles of the year, Tennis' South Carolina (long sold out but available again for a very limited time), has been since then releasing lots of records as if it tried to catch up with other non-stop labels like Captured Tracks or Transparent. One of their coming singles is Dead Gaze's Take me Home or Die Alone / Emanuel Can't Come Close Enough. If you are familiar with Dead Gaze through his tape on Mirror Universe Tapes or his split single with Gray Things you'd already be familiar with his sound. His voice sounds like if it was recorded on the telephone, always using an effect to make it sound distorted and distant, and the music sometimes sound as if you were listening to something after having taking too many drugs (try listening to Back and Forth, for instance). On this single though, although the same voice effect is used on both tracks, and the drums on the A side sound pretty distorted, he sounds slightly less kaleidoscopic, even more on the B side, an acoustic ballad that even sounds tender.
The single will be out on November 23.

Dead Gaze - Emanuel Cant Come Close Enough.mp3

EXPENSIVE LOOKS - DRESS TO IMPRESS

2010-10-23T10:58:00.004+01:00

It looks like after some years were everything was a bout the words Crystal and Girls in name bands, now everything is about fashion. From How to Dress Well to Expensive Looks who even named their first physical release according to dressing up standards. This man from NYC has offered us some free to download tracks before, like the single on Beko some time ago, but now he has scheduled his first tape to come out at some point on Mirror Tapes, probably the most cool and famous tape label at the moment with previous releases by Washed Out, Toro y Moi, Active Child or His Clancyness. There's no tracklist announced yet but this song, that has been online for a while, would probably be on it. His previous material has been expansive and ambient tunes, mostly electronic psychedelia both for the bedroom and the dancefloor. This track is his less expansive and more disco-house influenced track to date with a slow start until a beat and a Screamadelica era feeling takes over the song halfway through, although the treatment of the vocals makes it a bit more mysterious that funky. We'll have to hear the rest of the tape to know what direction he is taking and hope for more tracks as good as this.

Expensive Looks - Vanishers.mp3

CHAD VALLEY - CHAD VALLEY EP

2010-10-23T09:07:00.004+01:00

I talked about Chad Valley back in Summer in a post here before he had any planned release but now he finally has his first EP scheduled for November 16. The untitled EP has not been announced on his website or on Cascine, the label is going to come out on. So no information on number or name of the tracks yet. Anyway, one of the songs that is going to form part of the selection is already up on some blogs online. Ensoniq Funk is Balearic Pop on the key of Junior Boys, Studio, Toro y Moi or Washed Out. Warm sounds for the still to be long and cold winter.

Chad Valley - Ensoniq Funk.mp3

A CLASSIC EDUCATION - HEY THERE STRANGER

2010-10-11T14:20:00.003+01:00

Johnathan from His Clancyness fame band project, A Classic Education, has a new EP out on Lefse Records, home of the critically acclaimed How To Dress Well album. It looks like he's now concentrating his time for a while on this project, that anyway, it's been on for a while as their first EP was out 3 years ago, both on vinyl and download versions, and a 7 out on April last year. This time, the EP contains 6 new songs including Gone To Sea which video has been posted around. The sound is not far from His Clancyness but has a more full classic band approach. You can get the EP here which has a beautifully designed artwork on vinyl and catch them live around in one of the many dates they are playing in New York.

A Classic Education - Gone to Sea.mp3

BRAIDS

2010-10-11T13:34:00.005+01:00

Braids is a band from Montreal that have been together for a while. They self released a couple of download only EPs and their Myspace informs they've been signed up to Kanine Records (home of Surfer Blood, Eternal Summers and Young Prisms), although not mentioned yet on their website, so wait for a proper release anytime soon. Meanwhile you can hear an old song here called Lemonade that sounds like a mix of anything out for the last 5 years, from Animal Collective to High Places but with a personal twist, and it's been probably the most known track they have so far, being post in many blogs around for the last year.

Braids - Lemonade.mp3

MIKA VAINIO - IT'S A MUTHANG

2010-10-06T20:25:00.004+01:00

Mika Vainio, also known for being one half of Pan Sonic, has been making music on his own for ages, always quite minimal electronics, sometimes closer to a combination of abstract noises, but always interesting.
His last single on 7' vinyl contains a killer upbeat song, dark as the night but more song based that what you can expect from him. It's a Muthang is a 3.13 song you can actually dance to but don't expect to hear it in any hip club unless you are on Finland (I can actually imagine Finnish people dancing to this on the snow).
Midnight Mutant, on the B side, works in perfect harmony with its reverse; a quieter but not less intriguing tune that sounds like intergalactic jazz.
The record was out two weeks ago on a limited one time pressing 500 edition on Comfortzone that is mostly sold out everywhere but you can still get a copy from here.

Mika Vainio - It's a muthang by comfortzone

oOoOO - oOoOO EP

2010-10-05T08:00:00.003+01:00

It's approaching the end of 2010 and popular music is been on for ages which mean that most of the good names have been taken. Not only this but the last couple of years have seen an increase of cryptic and hieroglyphic names for bands and projects. From Gooble Gooble and RxRy to Sleep ∞ Over or CFCF, strange names formed by acronyms or signs help to define a sound, usually quite dark and reverberated. Another thing is the increase of impossible names for hard to define new genres. Lately we've heard of Hypnagogic pop, Witch house, Neo Wave or shitgaze as new genres to define the music made by bands like Pocahaunted, Salem or How to Dress Well, music that tries to open new paths of experimentation and it's probably too different to any stuff made before to try to classify it under an old tag.
Anyway, oOoOO's music is interesting enough to turn a blind eye to all this questionable paraphernalia and just focus on the product. And to name two bands I mentioned on this post before, this music sounds like an impossible collaboration between Salem and How to Dress Well, containing the dark beats and synths of the first and the RnB sensibility of the second. Tracks like Burnout Eyess are a perfect example of his sound, dark and accessible at the same time.
The EP is out on vinyl on Tri Angle, home of Balam Acab's first EP.

oOoOO - Burnout Eyess.mp3

DUCKTAILS - MIRROR IMAGE /HAMILTON ROAD

2010-10-04T14:18:00.004+01:00

Ducktails (or as his mum knows him, Matthew Mondanile) has recently released many stuff and it's planning a new record any time soon. These last months we've seen coming out to the market a 12" split with Dracula Lewis and these two singles. Mirror Image, on SHDWPLY Records, consists on two instrumental tracks, Apple Walk and Mirror Image Index, that carry out expansive tropical psyche-symphonies that gave him a name on their first album.

On the other hand, Hamilton Road (out on Olde English Spelling Bee) has two more standard songs, this time with vocals, and closer to the stuff he's put out before with his other band Real Estate (in fact these songs were played by his main band on their last tour). Those song will form part of his forthcoming record Ducktails III in re-recorded versions if what I've read on line is true, but meanwhile you can enjoy them on 45 rpm.

Ducktails - Hamilton Road.mp3

AMEN DUNES - MUDER DULL MIND

2010-10-04T10:18:00.002+01:00

This EP was released in Summer but never had time to review it so i though I should recommend it to you before it sells out. Amen Dunes is Damon McMahon and the EP, out on Sacred Bones, was recorded on its entirely on China while he lived there on a period of two years before moving back to Brooklyn. All the songs here except the title track and Diane are one take improvisations, that's why some lyrics are nothing else than sounds after sounds without having any meaning in any language. Although improvisations, some of these songs have a structure and a close folk element as his previous songs have but its the main track, Murder Dull Mind, the one that catches the attention faster as it has valuable melodic structure you'll love if you enjoyed Kurt Vile's last EP. Anyway, the whole EP is very recommendable.

Amen Dunes - Murder Dull Mind.mp3

MARRIED IN BERDICHEV - READYING

2010-09-30T22:44:00.003+01:00

There are EPs that call for a proper release apart from the download thing and the CDR. Married in Berdichev's Readying is one of those. Brittany Gould is a visual artist and a member of Denver's Caldera Lakes and Married in Berdichev is her solo project. On her last EP that you can download here she creates ambient layers of different noises, cold and atmospheric sounds close to nature (wind, water,...)as a rhythmless High Places and Visions of Trees or a looped based Cranes, and sets the time of preparation for the Winter to come. Wait is the opening track, not the best not the worst, but I truly recommend to hear the EP as a whole as there's nothing you can miss, from Wait to Light in a Dark Place. She also has planned a whole LP on Fire Talk sometime soon.

Married in Berdichev - Wait.mp3

BEACH FOSSILS - FACE IT

2010-09-30T07:45:00.003+01:00

Beach Fossils' first album came out on Captured Tracks at the same time as Wild Nothing's fact that made eclipse a bit its impact as all the media and people attention focused on the beauty of Gemini (anyway, much deserved) but massively ignored the great melodies that also existed along that record. Some months later, Beach Fossils are back with a new single that, definitely, are not extra tracks from the album's sessions, but two new songs recorded later as the sound differs, being more crystalline and clean. The two songs, Face It and Distance are among their best tracks yet and, ironically, the closest they've been to Wild Nothing's sound (for a moment I thought I was hearing one of his songs) but still with their own personality.
The single will come out next month on Captured Tracks.
and they'll soon on tour around Europe.

Beach Fossils - Face It.mp3

WARPAINT - ASHES TO ASHES / SISTER CRAYON - THE BEWLAY BROTHERS split

2010-09-28T22:36:00.002+01:00

Warpaint have been in raising fame since the release of their first EP Exquisite Corpse, even more since it was re-released by Manimal Vinyl. Then it was announced their first record, The Fool, will be released by Rough Trade and even more buzz was created. This is going to happen in a month an meanwhile you can already download its first single Undertow in many websites like here. But now we are focusing in this split 7' that is an advance of what looks like it's going to be an amazing David Bowie tribute album called Repetition out as a download compilation and soon available physically on Manimal as well (the same people who brought us the The Cure tribute last year). The record will include renditions from the likes of Vivian Girls, MGMT, Lewis & Clarke or even Duran Duran and Carla Bruni apart from the two songs on this single. All the money is going to be for War Child so yet another excuse to get it. Meanwhile you can enjoy these two covers already out as a 7".

Warpaint - Ashes To Ashes.mp3

MUSEUM OF BELLAS ARTES - WATCH THE GLOW / WHO DO YOU LOVE

2010-09-28T07:11:00.005+01:00

The B side of this single, or the AA side, it's already been online for a year without ever been released in any physical format. It had to be Transparent then who decided releasing this song that got much attention for this band when Force Majeure put up this song available for download although, as it took a year to do it so, the song ended up letting have Watch the Glow, their new song, a main role. For those who didn't hear the song at the time, it's a tropical balearic Sweddish dance pop cover of The Sapphires, and it's been the only song available for listening at their Myspace for ages until this new single was announced. Now, we can also enjoy Watch the Glow, their first original song that proves that they cannot only perform but also compose as it's as catchy or even more as their previous attempt.
We can see them live in a couple of months in London at White Heat.

Museum of Bellas Artes - Watch the Glow.mp3

GAMES - EVERYTHING IS WORKING

2010-09-21T23:19:00.002+01:00

Games are a parallel project of Joel Ford and Dan Lopatin out of Oneohtrix Point Never, quite famous since releasing the Returnal single with the Antony and Fennesz collaborations. Games, as a main difference between OPN, are less ethereal and more upbeat, building their songs out of pieces of samples matched together and voice loops deconstructed and constructed again until they get a new structure. Both tracks of this single, that got physical release this month although the two songs have been online since before Summer (I actually had it back in March), don't offer anything new or a break through, but are simple and short at the same time they are elaborated and fresh. The collage could have been extended with repetition of some the parts but they chose to express their ideas in less than 3 minutes per track, exposing everything they wanted to say in these chill and soulful miniatures as if less was more.
Get the single here, where you can also pre-order their new 12" That We Can Play that they have planned to release in November.

Everything Is Working by Games

SUMMER CAMP - ROUND THE MOON

2010-09-18T10:04:00.003+01:00

Between my busy schedule and the fact that my upload management website stopped working until further notice and I've tried to find a new one to use meanwhile without succeeding I'm not been posting as frequently as I normally do. Let's hope things go back to how the use to and I can continue annoying you with my recommendations.
Anyway, this is a post to celebrate the second single from London's duo Summer Camp, Round the Moon, this time mainly sung by the masculine half. This is also the second single to come out from the recently published Young EP, a collection of 6 songs that also includes their best known track Ghost Train, although the B side, It's Summer, as the first single B side Montgomery Avenue 1984, would remain exclusive to this single, so no excuse for not getting it.

Round the Moon, as much of the songs of the EP, has an 80s feeling of bands such as The Cars, fact that may surprise whoever has only heard Ghost Train. Both the single and the EP are out on Moshi Moshi

In other news, the band are playing some UK gigs next month which is probably their first ever tour.

Summer Camp - Round The Moon.mp3

ACTION BIKER - HESPERIAN PUISTO

2010-09-14T11:50:00.016+01:00

Action Biker is the one-woman band project of Swedish Sarah Nyberg who released her last record called as this single and of course also including this song back in 2008. Last month she released the main track of the album as a single including the new song Tears With You Tears Without as its B side. The songs apply a minimalistic use of electronics and are as close as the Swedish Pop way of perpetuating music as it is to acts like Stereolab or Broadcast, always taking into account it's the music made and performed by only one person. All together a delicate and elegant production with a sweet voice it's hard not to enjoy. The single is out on Destination Pop, a new German label that will be totally dedicated to vinyl and which second release, a single by Billy MacKenzie is also out at the time you are reading this.

Action Biker - Hesperian Puisto.mp3

Action Biker - Hesperian Puisto.mp3

Wet & Reckless and Tucson's Tracy Shedd. It's also the first time they put out a band that's not from Tucson and it's their most feminine single to date.
On the A side, Wet & Reckless sing about a New Guy while the music has a retro Beach Boys feeling on the edge of many girls bands nowadays but with their own personality.
Tracy Shedd's Tear it Up is a more melancholic and slow number, sweet with the mandolin arrangements.
This single is presented as if it was an imaginary study of the myriad approaches to singing about boys, as it is mentioned on the press sheet, and is a good introduction to the sound of both bands. The two tracks on the record have been mastered by legendary producer Kramer (Low, Galaxy 500).
It's also my favourite Fort Lowell Records release to date and it will be out in October 5. Pre-order it here.

Wet & Reckless - New Guy.mp3

PAINTED FACE

2010-09-07T12:09:00.003+01:00

Painted Face is the alter ego of Allie Alvarado, a D.C. based singer and songwriter who has roots in the Brooklyn art rock scene. Formerly a member of the bands Telepathe and Blood Lines, Allie’s solo project is a collaboration with dance music producer Alvin Risk. Although not too far from the style of Telepathe she's now slightly closer to an upbeat dance version of Bat For Lashes, sharing the same kind of mysterious voice and atmosphere but much more dance floor oriented. Not date announced for any release yet (although she mentions the possibility of an EP in the next couple of months on her Facebook page), but her song Undreamt is shouting for a single release as it has all the ingredients of one of this underground songs that surpasses the frontiers to become a minor hit.

You can also check another song on her Myspace and Bandcamp pages.

Undreamt - Painted Face.mp3

THE ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP

2010-09-07T08:11:00.001+01:00

The English Premiership is the project of Mike Contast-Isaac from London/Peterborough, Ontario Canada. He's released his second album called Affects back in June full of guitar ambient experimental tunes inspired by the likes of Belong, Fennesz, Tim Hecker or Ben Frost and is a beautiful and highly recommendable collection of dreamy tracks to listen on your headphones on a cold night on the way home.
You can listen to the whole album on his bandcamp here or if you'd like a physical copy you can ask for one here.
Listen to the first track of the album, A Special Kind, down here.

The English Premiership - A Special Kind.mp3

ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER + ANTONY + FENNESZ: RETURNAL / ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS - THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE

2010-08-29T18:15:00.005+01:00

This post comes too late to be news but my busy schedule lately has impeded me from working on the blog as much as I would like. Anyway, Antony is back and we couldn't be more happy as it looks is going to be a busy time for him now that we are approaching the last quarter of the year. Apart from a new album coming next month he has a new EP out tomorrow and a beautiful collaboration that was out on a 7" single last Monday. The song with Oneohtrix Point Never was granted as a best new track on Pitchfork a couple of weeks ago which means that everybody must have heard it by now. This song, together with a Fennesz remix on the other side, is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard lately, with Antony reaching the performing status and expressionism that only people like Nina Simone or Billie Holiday had reached before, and has put again the eyes on Mego, a label everybody seemed to have forgot about after getting a lot of attention at the beginning of the noughties.

The other release we mentioned is the pre-album EP with the Johnsons Thank You For Your Love where Antony seems he's finally seen the light and is oozing optimism through every pore. From the opening track to the John Lennon cover Antony seems he's found love and happiness; Thank You For Your Love sounds like a Broadway opening number or one of those songs they prepare specially for a rendition tribute in Las Vegas to greet the public. You Are The Treasure seems like another gratitude song, like the answer to his Hope There's Someone once he's found this someone. And the closing track, John Lennon's Imagine, it's probably the worst choice for a cover version ever, as it's a song that has got old horribly bad, it's been over-played over the years and I don't think there's anyone there that wants to hear it again but, of course, Antony, makes us change our mind re-interpreting the song until making it his own song, making you forget the original for a moment.
Antony did it again and I can't wait for the new album.

Antony and the Johnsons - Thank you for your Love.mp3

TRUMAN PEYOTE (FEAT EMILY REO) / ATTACHED HANDS split

2010-08-29T11:06:00.005+01:00

My friend Emily Reo sent me last week her collaboration with Truman Peyote to be released as a split single together with Attached Hands soon on Post Records. After her holiday / tour in Europe with Philip Seymour Hoffman (the music project of Noah, not the actor) she's back 100% into music as this is not the only release / collaboration she has planned. There's another surprising upbeat retro-techno pop collaboration with Craft Spells (who has two 7" singles and a LP planned on Captured Tracks later this year) on a Salad Fork compilation you can download for free here. Both songs are quite far stylistically of what she's done by herself but this is what a collaboration is about, exploding new territories and finding new ways of expression and when they are as contagiously good as these two, they are more than welcome. More news to come soon.

Truman Peyote - Turn Into Feathers (feat. Emily Reo).mp3

Craft Spells & Emily Reo - Love Well Spent.mp3

HOLY OTHER - WE OVER / YR LOVE

2010-08-18T07:14:00.005+01:00

I read some comparisons with Burial when trying to find out more information about Holy Other. Not quite sure about that although some of the samples used can remind the type of dark and manipulated voices he uses. Holy Other's music is a bit more spacey and less beat base, quite more atmospheric and closer to ambient, and it can also be more shinny and slightly positive for some moments. It always seems is about to explode in an orgy of multiple beats but it mainly stays self-restrained, something like the Mogwai of Come On Die Young but after listening to dubstep and Salem for some fortnights.

From Berlin, this is their first proper single and it will be out on Transparent in some weeks.

Holy Other - We Over.mp3

WE ARE TREES - BOYFRIEND

2010-08-17T10:55:00.004+01:00

We Are Trees is the music project of James Nee from Virginia Beach. He just put out a free to download EP on his bandcamp that, at first listen, it will remind you quite a lot of Depatment of Eagles and Grizzly Bear, mainly because of his voice is quite close to Daniel Rossen's register. Once you get over this fact you'll see that, apart from the obvious comparisons, the songs on this EP are powerful and bright on their own, exceeding any links beyond compare. There's a lot of work on these songs, beautiful and thoughtful arrangements and a good sound quality far from most of the stuff you can normally find on Bandcamp.
You can also hear a beautiful cover of Best Coast anthem When I'm With You on his Myspace which is sadly not available for download.
We Are Trees will find it hard to overcome those Grizzly Bear / Department of Eagles comparisons but one he does it I'm sure people will realise there's an artist on his own with lots of things to say.

We Are Tress - Sunrise Sunset.mp3

JON LEMMON - KINDLING

2010-08-17T09:51:00.002+01:00

Jon Lemmon is a guy from Los Angeles who moved to New Zealand for good some time ago and it's recording music since then on his free time. There's soon going to be a free EP called Kindling on his Bandcamp page for free download. It was first scheduled for July but now it's moved to some point in August. Meanwhile, we can enjoy two of the tracks of the final 5 the EP is going to contain and also some songs not included there.
His music is mainly electronic based but with a warmth that make the final result sound quite organic and sometimes adding guitars to the final mix. Here you can enjoy one of the songs that will not be part of this EP, the ethereal Home and check in some days for the whole new EP here.

Jon Lemmon - Home.mp3

FOREST SWORDS - RATTLING CAGE

2010-08-16T12:55:00.004+01:00

After a very interesting 12" debut EP on Olde English Spelling Bee, Forest Swords come back with two new songs in the same key. Some of the adjectives I've read about trying to define the sound of this band from Liverpool are goth-dub, real instruments dubstep or stuff like this. The fact is that they've even been compared to Salem, another band quite difficult to define for their originality and mixture of clashing sounds. Rattling Cage is a mysterious ballad that mixes sounds and vocals from beyond the grave with dub and electronic sounds and it works even better than on their first EP being their best song yet. On the B side, Hjurt, they even experiment with something similar to an auto-tune and southern guitars that gives the song a strange western feeling without betraying their sound.

It's out this week on No Pain In Pop.

Forest Swords - Rattling Cage.mp3

HOW TO DRESS WELL - ECSTASY WITH JOJO / TAKE IT ON

2010-08-13T19:06:00.005+01:00

I suppose that by now you are familiar with mega-interesting and highly commented Tom Krell's project How To Dress Well. Not long ago I commented on his first official release, the amazing single Ready For The World, after many free-to-download EPs that he's been posting online on his website. So here we have another one, this time on Transparent, coming in the form of a double A side single with two great new songs. On one hand we have the groovy and funky disco of Ecstasy with Jojo with a Michael Jackson sample from beyound the grave. It's HTDW on his most danceable and less spooky side, although his trademark filtered voices from the underground are still there.
The other track, Take it On, is like a slow rnb ballad possessed by evil forces trying to destroy it but failing and making it better, taking the falsetto to new dimensions.
He already has the release for his first LP, Love Remains, scheduled for September 21, which will not include these two tracks but will have re-recorded versions of some of the songs that appeared on those EPs.

How To Dress Well - Ecstasy With Jojo.mp3

MERIDIAN SIGNALS - MERCATOR SONGS / JAMES FRILEY - SOLO PIANO IMPROVISATIONS

2010-08-12T22:49:00.006+01:00

Itslips is the Tape label of James Friley, mostly known for being the man behind the Idiot Glee name who released a 7 inch earlier this year and was reviewed on this blog at the time. Now he's putting out two different tapes on his label, one from a friend band from Lexington called Meridian Signals and another one by himself but, this time, taking his own name and doing something nobody who's heard his Idiot Glee stuff would have never expected: Long instrumental pieces in the key of contemporary classical stuff like Phillip Glass.
As for Meridian Signals they perform classic indie noise pop that could have been released on 1991 or 2011, not being this a bad thing.
Both tapes come out on the 17th this month but you can already pre-order them here.

James Friley is coming to London next month to make some dates supporting Women as Idiot Glee and also doing some dates on his own.

Meridian Signals - Nearly Nautical.mp3

ETERNAL SUMMERS - POGO

2010-08-09T23:21:00.003+01:00

Eternal Summers surprised us with a magnificent 10" EP and a 7 inch single earlier this year with a bunch of fresh pop songs and now they already have a LP ready that will come out ironically at the end of Summer on Kanine. But to make the wait a bit less harsh they will put out a new 7" with one of the songs of the album on the A side called Pogo that will be on the shops from August 31, just ready for the last summer parties and to say goodbye to these warmish days we'll soon miss when we listen to the whole shinny LP in cool October.

Anyway, as Eternal Summers try to infect us with their sunny melodies it will always seem it's warm outside when we play the record at home with the heater on.

Eternal Summers - Pogo.mp3

SEEFEEL - FAULTS

2010-08-09T16:09:00.003+01:00

Seefeel is one of the most emblematic British bands of the beginning of the 90s. They formed the chore of the first round of what was later called (British) post rock together with bands like Bark Psychosis or Disco Inferno, performing a sound that came straight from shoegaze influences with layers of evocative distortioned guitar sounds with elegant electronics that moved into different territories through their initial EPs to achieve a completely new sound many tried to imitate once they published their first LP Quique, probably their most emblematic work. After moving from Too Pure to Warp, their sound also moved slightly even more to minimal electronics abandoning the guitar layers and vocals nearly completely and achieving its extreme with their last work called (CH-VOX).
14 years later Seefeel have planned a come back, both on record and live, making their second coming with Warp, as if nothing happened during all this time. This come back 10" EP is called Faults and it will contain 4 new tracks including the title track that you can already enjoy on their Myspace. This new track includes once again vocals and doesn't live from nostalgia as they continue to explore new territories without moving completely from their chore sound. You can also see them play live for the first time in more that a decade on their come back show in London at the ICA on September 16 together with Still Corners. I'll be there.

Faults by Seefeel

TEEJ - I GOT ELECTROCUTED

2010-08-07T08:26:00.004+01:00

The title of this EP and title track from Teej, a guy named Tom from Brighton, has a real story behind. Once assembling his equipment he got so badly electrocuted he even had to go to hospital for a check and when he went back home that night he composed this 1:55 minute song expressing how he felt when he got stuck to the electricity. This is just an example of how the 5 songs on this debut EP out next month on the always exciting label Make Mine (they've released singles you should have from The Books, FrYars, Spirit Spine, Dent May or Gold Panda) have different stories behind, although they are instrumental. Teej's music goes from electric passages to psychedelia and you will enjoy his music if you like Holy Fuck, Fuck Buttons and other non-Fuck related artists like Battles. And everything is so new and exciting for Teej he still has to play live. You can also check other download free stuff on his Myspace and check in here for a soon to appear pre-order of the record.

Teej - I Got Electrocuted.mp3

DISCLOSURE - OFFLINE DEXTERITY

2010-08-03T06:48:00.006+01:00

Whenever you hear about a band / artist who is stupidly talented and find out they are, for example, two brothers aged 19 and 16 that have been creating and recording music for quite a long time in a studio in Croydon, South London, you just feel tiny and as if you just lost your teen years wondering around losing your time. Disclosure are Guy and Howard Lawrence who come from a musical family and have been growing up surrounded by the sounds of the local electronic music of Skream and Benga, for example, and in general, dubstep, two-step or garage but their music goes further as they introduce any gender possible such as Jazz or IDM with a definite pop and melodic structure.
Their first release, a 7" single to come on the 6th September, is out on Moshi Moshi singles club and includes the songs Offline Dexterity and Streetlight Chronicle, two killer tracks that will definitely have them getting lots of attention surpassing the dance scene into the global media as only artist like Burial, Aphex Twin or Autechre have done before. If not, wait and see.

The single is not yet announced on the label website so keep on checking to order it

Disclosure - StreetLight Chronicle.mp3

THE BITTERS - HAVE A NAP HOTEL

2010-08-02T08:20:00.005+01:00

The Bitters whose excellent first album released earlier this year has been a bit over viewed, have plenty of new releases coming up according to their Myspace, the first one being a new 12" out on Sacred Bones, with 5 new cave-pop songs style of the house. No surprises, the same energetic fury punk-rock from Fucked Up's Ben Cook side project that every time more and more is less a side project but more a main one, and Aerin Fogel, whose voice is recognisable from the very first note. They even manage to get the most tender they've sound to date on Master of Sleep, the closest they've been to making a ballad.
Get it from the Sacred Bones website here still on pre-order, or at your regular independent record shop in a few days.

The Bitters - His Room.mp3

SANDWITCHES - DUCK DUCK GOOSE

2010-07-31T07:35:00.004+01:00

Sandwitches' Back To the Sea was one of my favourite tunes of last year. Their first album was also a great compendium of great tracks with some of the most beautiful vocals you were able to hear at the time.
Now they came back with a new EP, a one side 12" with six new tracks including a Tim Cohen's cover of Rock of Gibraltar (it's actually Wymond Miles, another Fresh & Onlys member, who produced these songs) and a pretty rendition of one of the finest and most heartbreaking moments of Disney's films, Baby Mine from Dumbo.
The 12 out on Secret Seven Records is limited to 500 copies and you can get it from here .

The Sandwitches - Babymine.mp3

COSMETICS - SLEEPWALKING

2010-07-31T06:43:00.003+01:00

Cosmetics duo from Vancouver surprised us some months ago with a techno-goth ballad called Soft Skin, the A side of their first 7". Now they came back with another killer tune, more upbeat and less dark than their first single, but sharing the same sexy whispering vocals from Aja. The single comes with a new B side called You can get the single from this week straight from the web of Captured Tracks, just by itself or as part of one of these deals they frequently do when putting out some releases at the same time, this time together with the new singles from Minks, The Soft Moon and Hanoi Janes.
They already recorded their first LP that will come out after Summer as well on Captured Tracks and they also uploaded a video for Soft Skin, as glamorous as it is kitsch and slightly creepy, that you can watch over here.

Cosmetics - Sleepwalking.mp3

MINKS - OPHELIA

2010-07-26T11:57:00.005+01:00

Minks , the 80s pop goth inspired band from Brooklyn, are back with their second single, as well on Captured Tracks as it was Funeral Song. Ophelia is slightly more acoustic and less Joy Division / New Order / The Cure influenced than their previous single and yes, as inspired as that song was.

They are currently recording their first album to be out at some point this year on Captured Tracks too but meanwhile we can enjoy this new song, that will make it to the album or not, and the B side Our Ritual, both out on the 7" out this week. Keep checking this space for more Captured Tracks releases to be out soon.

Minks - Ophelia.mp3

TENNIS - BALTIMORE

2010-07-26T10:48:00.007+01:00

As I mentioned not long ago this current month, duo Tennis, were about to release something on Underwater Peoples Records, and here we have it, a limited 7 inch single with 3 more tracks from this band with a love for 60s melodies, slightly filtered vocals, mono sound and POP in capital letters.

Taking into account their growing popularity this could be sold out at the time you are reading this review so, if I were you, I would run to the website to get my copy on pre-sale until the 31st of July or, if it's already sold out from the label, I would try to get a copy at that record shop you know you can get it from.

Tennis - Baltimore.mp3

STILL CORNERS - DON'T FALL IN LOVE

2010-07-26T09:28:00.004+01:00

Still Corners is a London band I sadly missed when they were playing the Shoreditch 1,2,3,4 Festival last Saturday as they were the first band who opened the New Bands stage. Anyway, I'll definitely go to check them out for the single launch party next August 20th to celebrate the release of their first single, the incredibly beautiful Don't Fall in Love, that will be out on The Great Pop Supplement, the 7 inch specialist label that puts a lot of effort releasing great singles on beautifully designed artwork.
The songs of Still Corners drink from shoegaze, dream pop and silky vocals. Don't Fall in Love and its B side Wish are already between my favourite songs of the season and they can work as a British less synth based answer to Memoryhouse. Go to hear them on their Myspace. While we wait for this release, next week Fierce Panda puts out a compilation called Gruff Trade that includes one of their songs, Endless Summer, that has that beautiful drum intro we've heard thousands of times in songs like The Ronettes' Be My Baby, JAMC's Just Like Honey, Bat For Lashes' What's a Girl to Do and so on and, although it's been used on many occasions, I could never be tired of hearing it.

Still Corners - Endless Summer.mp3

DEERHUNTER - REVIVAL

2010-07-26T08:04:00.003+01:00

Deerhunter are back with a new single and also a new album in a couple of months. After the well commented leak online of their previous album Microcastle this time they opted to make it themselves and give for free the first single out from Halcyon Digest, Revival (not sure if it also will have a physical release although it even has cover artwork) including a non-album B side, Primitive 3D. The way they've done it is through their website but, initially, you could only access to the free download if you were one of the fans who contributed on printing and hanging out posters publicising their new album. Those fans received a code (that was spread online quickly) and were able to download the two tracks from the single and a couple of demos as well.
The two songs on the single are quite close to what we heard on Microcastle or even more pop and accessible. Can't wait for the new album.

Deerhunter - Revival.mp3

GLASS VAULTS - GLASS EP

2010-07-23T17:31:00.004+01:00

Glass Vaults are a band from Wellington, New Zealand, that have just put out their first free download only EP. Glass is a five songs EP of ambient pop songs that starts with the chilly and floaty intro They Will Go, mutates into the epic (but not grandiloquent) ballad Set Sail, changes the tempo for the dance oriented New Space, goes back to chilly synths for Worrier and ends with the perfect pop track Forget Me Not.
The whole EP sounds like if it's been conceived to be played in the order they placed the songs, as a kind of an evocative trip through their sound, fact that is admirable on the era of the shuffle and the playlists. Anyway, the songs also work well on isolation and, although the synths sometimes sound as chilly as ice cubes, the warmth of the vocals and their ability to get melodies soften down the whole thing.

Download it for free here

Glass Vaults - Forget Me Not.mp3

BETTY AND THE WEREWOLVES - PAPER THIN

2010-07-22T14:15:00.003+01:00

Tags. Bands normally hate to be tagged but consumers always like them in order to know if those seconds they can be checking a band on-line are worth to be spent or they would rather check for porn meanwhile. It's a good way of presentation of a band, the same with comparisons, and the key for us to decide before listening to the band if we can actually like them or not. I would never lose my time if I see a band review saying they play Heavy Metal, AOR, Ska or Ethiopian Reaggeton, let's say.
The problem starts when a tag actually says little about how a band can sound. This happens with Indie or Electronica, for example, that are too general to preconceive an idea of how a band will sound. As well, when a tag becomes as popular as, let's say, Chillwave, and many artist with nothing in common are put in the same sack, that tag loses its meaning and its no longer a reference.
Something like this happen with Twee-Pop many years ago when bands like Beat Happening and all the Sarah Records catalogue were categorized under that quite annoying name and it was difficult to separate the gold from the tin. Betty and the Werewolves' reviews are commonly put under this tag and, all right, they can sound a bit twee but they also have some moments of fury. What they have for sure is good pop songs that are timeless and universal like their last single, Paper Thin, a song you'll love if you were into Heavenly, that's been put out quite at the same time as their first album Teatime Favourite that juxtaposes candid pop moments with more punkish songs. The single, out on Damaged Goods, comes with two live tracks.

Betty and the Werewolves - Paper Thin.mp3

HOW TO DRESS WELL - READY FOR THE WORLD

2010-07-21T07:38:00.004+01:00

You'd have probably heard of this release so far as I'm a bit late to talk about it and it's been all over the place (It's been mentioned in most of the A-list blogs and featured on the Rising artist section of Pitchfork). Anyway, Yesterday saw the release of this beautiful and mysterious single by one-man-band How To Dress Well that, if my information is right, is the first one to appear on vinyl format after 7 virtual EPs online available here and as interesting and transcendental as this single itself. The single was out on Lefse Records and you can get it here. As many articles describe his music so far, HTDW is a (im)possible mixture of Bon Iver, Burial, Justin Timberlake and Washed Out, as strange and this can sound,and if you pay attention you can actually find elements of these bands and many more styles and influences blend together until he reaches a personal and imaginative discourse. Ready For the World has already been mixed by many people (Twins, Bandjo) and on the B side of this single We can find one of these, the Twin Sister floaty and playful interpretation of the A side.
In other news, he's soon releasing another single for, of course, Transparent that I'll review as soon as We have more information.

How To Dress Well - Ready for the World.mp3

FAMILY TREES - DREAM TALKIN'

2010-07-20T14:34:00.003+01:00

It's incredible how we can get influenced by the seasons in our daily lifes, from our outdoor activities, the clothes and colours we use or even the music we listen to. When Summer arrives we always tend to listen to warmer sounds while in winter we go back to darker stuff, or at least, and this year even more, this is what happens to me and to proof it you just have to check my last posts. So well, here we have another example.
Family Trees is a Brooklyn trio formed by Ryan, Joe and Amanda who perform warm Summery 60s pop songs with emphasis in the vocal harmonies. They are the first of Father/Daughter Records, label that I mentioned in a previous post when talking about their 2nd release to come out in August, by Toothache.
The three songs on the single are timeless songs with a love for the Beach Boys or other current bands like Eternal Summers or Reading Rainbow, who they are actually going to tour with in August.
They also have a video for one of the B sides, No One Will Ever Know, that you can watch here.

Family Trees - Dream Talkin.mp3

THE YOUNG SINCLAIRS - WE SPOKE OUR MINDS

2010-07-20T11:49:00.001+01:00

The people from Planting Seeds Records have kindly sent me a copy of the new Young Sinclairs EP, released just Today. I found out about them through Eternal Summers (they share a member) and realised just after, that actually, they have already existed for 5 years, having released some CDRs, EPs and cassettes. But this Summer looks like it's already the time for The Young Sinclairs to make it bigger as, apart from this 7", they are putting out a new album called Chimeys, re-releasing O Bummer on tape and a compilation of old songs for Kindercore Records called simply Songs Of The Young Sinclairs.
This limited single contains two songs per side (We Spoke Our Minds, You Can Have Her, Girl I'm For Real and Have A Home), but you can also get the digital version with two extra tracks. As they describe on the release page, the Young Sinclairs are "heavily influenced by the sonic landscape of the 60s with shimmering guitars, sweepingly melodic vocals, and slices of timeless pop-nuggets". You'll love them if you like The Birds, The Zombies or just happen to be enjoying the Summer in a warm area.
You can get it here

The Young Sinclairs - Girl Im For Real.mp3

PANDA BEAR - TOMBOY / SLOW MOTION

2010-07-16T12:32:00.004+01:00

No matter what Panda Bear was meant to release as the following of Person Pitch it was driven to be a deception for most people who admired that record that, for sure, was one of the best records of the past decade. If he had tried to make a Person Pitch 2, it would have been criticised for that and anyway, it would have been unnecessary and would have probably failed trying it. If he had moved in a complete different direction, let's say, closer to the sound of Young Prayer, many people who found out about him with Person Pitch would have been extremely disappointed and, anyway, Noah and co. hardly look back.
So we finally are able to listen an advance recording of what the follow-up to that album will sound like in the form of the first of a series of limited 7' singles he will release before the album itself. The sound of these two songs (not sure if the B side will make it to the album, though) is not at all opposite to what we heard on his previous record, but more simple, less sample based and a bit darker. Anyway, it's fully recognisable and it couldn't be confused for anything else released nowadays, not even with the multiple bands inspired or copycats that have appeared lately.
My advise is not to compare it with that album. Follow ups to perfect records are always difficult to process without the immediate comparison but, so far, I don't think that Tomboy is going to be a disapointment as both songs are great enough by itself and much more original that many of the stuff released these days. As always, Noah shows that he is a part of this small group that anything that releases is 100% original, personal and new.

Slow Motion

TENNIS - SOUTH CAROLINA

2010-07-08T19:43:00.003+01:00

Tennis is a Denver husband and wife duo with a love for 60s pop Summertime melodies. To prove it, they will release their first single, South Carolina, on Fire Talk. The bad news is that is already sold out from the label, so if you want it, that I'm sure you do, you should check on your favourite record shop for one of the 300 copies they will release. They will also release something, not sure yet what is going to be, on Underwater Peoples, so keep on checking to know what is going to be.
They have plenty of good tunes already that you can find on some blogs so sure it's going to be interesting enough to get it.

Tennis - South Carolina.mp3

DENT MAY - THAT FEELING

2010-07-08T12:39:00.004+01:00

Dent May has a new single coming up on Forest Family Records, the every time more essential label from the Gorilla vs Bear / Weekly Tape Deck blogs association.
And for this single, Dent has dropped the "...and his Magnificent Ukelele" tag. Maybe it's just because it was too long or maybe there's a stronger reason behind as the A side, the only track I've heard so far, although is quite recognisable of his own style, has no more an ukelele as the centre of the song. The arrangements of the A side, That Feeling, embrace his vocals, slightly orchestral but discreat and on the background. The song is a pop summer anthem the way he knows how to do it and the B side is said to be a 70s discofunk jam which sounds quite promising. Both songs are also meant to appear on his second LP for Paw Tracks and the single will be out soon.

Dent May - That Feeling.mp3

ROMANTIC STATES

2010-07-08T11:30:00.002+01:00

Romantic States is Jim from Baltimore. You probably heard from him before if you check the Beko singles website regularly as he had a single there some months ago. Now, next Monday, he's putting out a limited to 50 copies tape on his label Tater Junction, home of other stuff from Videohippos or Ilena Madelaire. This tape is a compendium of Lo-FI dissonant sounds, occasional vocals, distortion and special effects.
One Way is Right, the track that also appeared on the Beko single, is probably the most accessible and one of his best, close to the ways of an early Atlas Sound.

Romantic States - One Way Is Right.mp3

HAPPY CORNERS

2010-07-07T14:39:00.002+01:00

Happy Corners is a band from Venezuela / Argentina that started this year when Maria met Victor, while she was visiting Venezuela.
As they live in different countries, their work process is "postal service like", they send each other pieces of songs for the other person to complete them. That's why the process is a bit slow by now but anyway, they have big plans for the future. While we wait for their first EP, we can meanwhile enjoy one of their songs (and another one on their Myspace).
Between their influences they mention bands like Zola Jesus, Former Ghost, Tearist, Tamaryn, Dan Friel or Misiiko & Kuhmoo. I will add that their compositions are mysterious and quite minimal and have quite a personal sound although you can see the influence of some of those bands on their music.

Happy Corners - Salt & Pepper.mp3

THE BAND IN HEAVEN

2010-07-07T13:06:00.002+01:00

The Band In Heaven are a 5-piece from Florida, but their music is far from being sunny and tropical. They are more into fuzz shoegaze guitars and spacey and dark sounds. They still don't have a physical release, although if we check their bandcamp page, they say they have a cassettesingle from last year, although not sure if it ever was released like that. Now, they uploaded a bunch of demos compiled in a free-to-download EP that you can get here. They say they are demos, but the sound is much better that many releases out these days. The 6 songs here, including a dirty cover of Cranberries's Dreams, are made to be put beside your records of Spacemen 3, Loop, JAMC and so on, and the quality of the songs tells me it won't be long until we see a record of them somewhere.

The Band in Heaven - Tunnel into Your Dreams (demo).mp3

BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD

2010-07-03T08:46:00.004+01:00

Blackbird Blackbird is another one-person project of electronic bedroom dream pop. Within the amount of projects like this is starting to be difficult to keep up-to-date or make a difference between them, separating what is transcendent and personal from generic and insubstancial. The amount of stuff that people with personal projects put out for free up on the web (call it bandcamp, blogs or filesharing websites), makes even more difficult to put attention or discover genuine talent, although it sometimes is a great way of self-promotion as well. Blackbird Blackbird's music is interesting enough to put it on the side of "give it a try" with beautiful dream songs such as Hawaii or Summer Heart.

Mikey S. has been putting up some free songs and EPs on his Bandcamp for the last months and they've been highly commented on many blogs. Now he's compiled most of the tracks of those EPs on his first proper LP, called Summer Heart and available from yesterday as a download album but officially released on vinyl in September on Arcade Sound Limited.

Blackbird Blackbird - Hawaii.mp3

LA VAMPIRES / ZOLA JESUS

2010-07-01T09:53:00.003+01:00

Zola Jesus doesn't sleep. We all imagine her as a vampire creature and taking into consideration the amount of work she puts out (apart from the very talked about Stridilum EP she's doing a degree, collaborates in projects such as Former Ghosts or Nika and Rory and is about to put out Stridilum II and the Night single in some weeks) she probably is.
And her release of the week is a collaborative EP with L.A. Vampires, another project from Pocahaunted's Amanda. The 7 tracks EP came out this week on a limited edition of 600 on Not Not Fun. The stuff here is spooky and weird, closer to Zola's first stuff or Pocahaunted's experimental approach to music. I would recommend to check it out before getting it if you just discovered Zola thanks to Night as you could have a surprise. But I don't want to scare you; although it's ethereal and more Lo-FI than her latest stuff, it's another interesting bunch of sounds and songs you should give a try too and discover how they get close to dub and blues in some amazing tracks such as Searching or Vous.

LA Vampires and Zola Jesus - Eulogy.mp3

WILD NOTHING - EVERTIDE

2010-07-01T09:15:00.004+01:00

Wild Nothing is currently all over the place thanks to delivering one of the best LPs of this year and my personal favourite so far. Gemini has most of the songs we previously heard from him nearly one year in advance plus some others that are up to the expectations of those first little classics; there's a great feeling of deja vu taking you back to the late 80s and first 90s records. If that record had come out back then it would be up with classics such as the first Stone Roses album or The Cure's Disintegration. No exageration here. It is as good as this.

Anyway, I'm here to talk about his new EP, out in a new label run by people from Rough Trade and Make Mine and called Warmest Chord. For this first release you can get the EP as a digital only EP or, at the moment of writing this review, on an already sold out Screenprint + download code + mixtape edition of 75. the EP includes three previously unavailable tracks that would have matched perfectly inside Gemini and that work great as a bonus. You can get them for just £1,00 here.

<a href="http://warmestchord.bandcamp.com/album/evertide">Your Rabbit Feet by Warmest Chord</a>