Despite the confusion of our surrounding world, Impose’s Week in Pop delivers the following to help you cruise into summer mode. But first with some of this week’s top stories, Death Grips gave us the album, I’ve always been good at true love, from a shadow group known as I.L.Y.’s; Arca dropped “Vanity”, and subsequently got banned from Instagram for NSFW art; Kanye & Kim are expecting baby #2; Portland, Oregon’s PDX Pop Now! Festival shared their lineup announcement for July 24-26; Danny Brown, DOOM & Ghostface, Flying Lotus, Run the Jewels, Shabazz Palaces, Slayer and more to release singles via Adult Swim; experience Björk’s “Stonemilker” video in 360° virtual reality; Houseworld fundraiser involves getting DIIV to re-enact your dreams for $10k; Lil Wayne versus the ref at a St. Louis charity basketball game; Ryan Hemsworth dropped the bootleg bundle, RYANPACK VOL.2; The Jesus and Mary Chain announced their upcoming Barrowlands Live LP available July 31; Alanna McArdle is leaving Joanna Gruesome; on the heels of his new album, A.L.L.A., A$AP Rocky revealed that he is working on a posthumous A$AP Yams album; Mark E. Smith of the fall’s infamous enunciation got put under a legal microscope in a lawsuit case; Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Universal Pictures have been named defendants in lawsuit over Suge Knight’s fatal hit and run; Modular and founder Steve Pavlovic want their Tame Impala royalties; we send our best to St. Vincent’s Annie Clark after braving a fall from a speaker stack at the Tennesee Theater in Knoxville; and continue to keep Joni Mitchell in our dearest thoughts.
This week it is our pleasure and privilege to bring you exclusives from A Deer A Horse, BZRK, Friend Roulette, Kazimier x Prism House, Shark Week, Snasen, American Dream, Color Palette, Digisaurus, Edger, King Pizza Records, Mister Suit, Most People, Rudy De Anda, guest selections courtesy of Princess Chelsea, and more — in no particular order.
Friend Roulette
From the early days, we have chronicled the dawning of Friend Roulette, the multi-faceted, ambitious band collective of chums that forever follow their own instincts and ideas — continuing to compose their own brand and breed of musical forms. A group born out of an idea of friendship and unity since the beginning, their new album I See You. Your Eyes Are Red. for Goodnight Records, follows up 2013’s I’m Sorry You Hit Your Head that showcases the group’s assortment of songs that have been in the works for a while, brought to neo-baroque life through the group’s own creative whims. Once again we give you the audio worlds manifested by Matthew Meade, Julia Tepper, John Stanesco, Tlacael Esparza, Kyle Olson, Brighid Greene and Nate Allen as they venture through the looking glass of their own talents, narratives for what is their most grandiose work to date.
I See You. opens with “Strange Girl” that sounds like it could have served as the opening credit roll sequence for an alt. James Bond type of cinematic offering. Combining an arsenal of musical toys, the sweeping intro takes us to “Dutch Master”, where Friend Roulette’s ever experimental tendencies take over toward the high stakes drama and camp that sounds at home as an off-Broadway performance. “Stoned Alone” takes the trip toward the heavier places of introspection, addiction, and applies an intense angle toward an intoxicant addled type of isolation. Having debuted “You Drank All the Eggnog” back in the holiday season winter of 2013, the track ends up on first side of the new record to prove that a timeless yuletide tale can be enjoyed year round.
The second side begins with “Gardens Tidings” that provides a secret garden sort of sound where the group’s instrumental contributions of notes become as fascinating, and appealing like a floral collection springing forth from planter boxes, and clay pots. Friend Roulette’s choral stream of feeling and conscientious consciousness take a turn toward contemplations about food, and commitment all combined in an impressive suite carried by horns. Julia continues to keep the sentiment, and mental spaces slowly and softly rising toward cruising altitudes of attitude that contain unexpected turns into sections of song that surprise with the delight that only Friend Roulette know how to assemble and actualize. For the curtain closing, “Warm Year”, the whole group pitches in their vocals, instrumental parts and more to create another song that could be performed at your favorite dive, or featured in a film soundtrack. Right after the following exclusive stream of I See You. Your Eyes Are Red., read our interview with Matt Meade immediately after.
As a longtime fan and listener, one of the first things that struck me about the new album is how so many of the songs on here have been in the works for so long now (“You Drank All the Eggnog”, “Strange Girl”, etc). Looking back and reflecting, what was the process of making I See You. Your Eyes Are Red like, and how do you feel you all have grown as a collective?
Believe it or not, “Dutch Master” was written when I was 19. Possibly for a composition class in music conservatory. It’s had several lives but was put to rest for 7 years and revived in the studio at the last minute when I realized it would fit this crazy ensemble known as Friend Roulette. In a previous interview with you, following the release of I’m Sorry You Hit Your Head, I went into depth about the writing process, because there was a firm compositional concept and process. With I See You. Your Eyes Are Red, the compositions span so many years that there’s no way to pin down a consistent method. As a collective, we have grown, we’ve deteriorated, we’ve toured more and more, but at the end of the day, when we go to write and record the music, it’s the same as the very beginning, a high level of trust amongst us all is what makes this ensemble special. No one really tells anyone else what to do, and when occasionally it happens (on my part) I feel horrible about it.
There is no predictable algorithm for a Friend Roulette song. Like how “Up in the Air” is almost an orchestrated assemblage of happenstance; how do you all sketch out some of the more unusual, and always unpredictable chord changes and bridges in your music?
I would love to know the answer to that one too. “Up in the Air” was written in the same way that I wrote most of the stranger songs on I’m Sorry You Hit Your Head. It’s almost an exercise in creatively navigating to different sections of the song that don’t sound anything a like. You could listen to each individual section and they don’t sound cohesive in the slightest. Almost like they could all be different songs. So you take these sections and have to find a way to get from one to the next without sounding to abrupt.
Consumption, intoxication, hang overs, morning afters, and all kinds of reckoning in the middle of all that come into play on the motifs present on this album. Describe how hedonism and altered states informed the creative processes here.
The last album was about the relationship to hedonism and love. This album is more about the relationship to hedonism and death. Fear of death, acceptance of death, the inevitability of death and in the end, the very last song, “Warm Year” rounds everything off with contemplation of the continuation of life.
What’s the latest in Spritzer? That is such a fun project of yours.
Well it continues to be a fun, non-serious project which I felt like I needed. Friend Roulette, of course, is fun and continues to be my favorite project with my favorite people, but spritzer is just normal fucking pop rock songs with little variation. I can’t say much about it right now, but there might be a 7″ coming out at the end of the summer.
Every time we talk to you, you’re always championing the next bright talents in the NYC underground. What artist/group do you want to give a shout out to?
…REALLY BIG PINE CONE! This band is really the best I’ve heard in the past few months. The compositions are sophisticated yet playful. It’s comprised of Gregg Albert (Celestial Shore), Zannie Owens and some guy named Mikey that i don’t really know, but he must be a genius. Sam Yield has been really great lately too. He has an album coming out soon. He is the Bass player in Haybaby. Check out his song “Julie“.
Friend Roulette summer/fall preview?
I think we’re gonna take it easy and quit worrying about the music industry so much. I feel like the pressure of the industry has really been killing us. Time to just make music and make sure that were happy with it. We’ll always be playing shows and touring. I’m in the middle of lining up a tour that will only be at houses on the east coast. Oooh and our next album is so close to being done.
Friend Roulette’s I See You. Your Eyes Are Red is available now from Goodnight Records.
A Deer A Horse
Brooklyn’s A Deer A Horse have been seen amongst their local like-minded DIY luminaries (Howth, Mount Sharp, etc), and we present a premiere off their new upcoming 7″, “Gunpoint”, that breaks out of the trappings of everything from claustrophobic relationships, and idiotic nostalgia. Following up their recent single, “Fighter“, and their debut Patience EP; the principle duo of guitarist/vocalist Rebecca Satellite, and bassist/vocalist Angela Phillips sharpen their barbs, shred your delusions, flying their sound banner of changed times, accompanied by Sam Monaco’s dedicated swift percussion. A Deer A Horse tramples on the confounded ignorance of conformists that hold tight to failed institutions of intolerance, to breaking free from the imprisoned bondage of faded former connections by an illustration of audio tour de force.
Rebecca and Angela were both students of Sarah Lawrence College studying blues,and jazz, pursuing their own musical paths before establishing A Deer A Horse. Taking into consideration these shared educational experiences, to moving past those pedantic models from instruction, Satellite and Phillips re-write the conventions of verse, chord structure, and narrative form to provide an art that is conversational, shifting in points of reference, and meanings, to the expressive charge in the chords. “Gunpoint” illustrates all this in a fury that discards the causes for frustration from lovers who smother, to the cantankerous class set that live in the so-called ‘good ol’ days’ (that really were not all that great to begin with). ADAH shatters the prehistoric notions of living, demanding something present and conscious in the now, matching oppressive forces with their own force of stern guitars and rhythms to break down the walls of any and all obstacles in front of them. Immediately following the debut of “Gunpoint” check out our interview with Rebecca Satellite.
Tell us about how you two met at Sarah Lawrence College, and how the creative bond was struck up.
We were a year apart and met in a music theory class, but we were basically at different ends of the musical spectrum at that time, and honestly quite closed minded about what we thought was good music. Angela was militantly into punk rock, and while I’d always wanted a rock band, I was writing on acoustic guitar and everything was coming out in a very singer/songwriter sort of way. We didn’t really cross paths again until after college when we both ended up living in the same neighborhood. We found that after a few years of studying jazz/blues with the same teachers, we had a shared vocabulary, and no longer felt beholden to, or limited by, our influences in the way we once had.
What is behind the animal motifs of your name, A Deer A Horse?
The name references a Chinese idiom, ‘calling a deer a horse,’ which comes from a story involving Zhao Gao, an adviser for the Qin Dynasty, who tested the loyalty of court members by presenting them with a deer and calling it a horse to see who would challenge him. It’s actually a pretty sinister story — he then had everyone who disagreed with him executed.
What forceful events lent inspiration to the song, “Gunpoint”?
The song is really rooted in a general feeling of frustration, both in personal relationships and in the current political climate. The personal side of it relates to feeling trapped in a relationship, being on the precipice of breaking out and mustering the will to let go. But it’s also about the fact that everyone around our age is pretty sick of hearing that times have changed, that things are a mess, that it’ll never be like the ‘good old days.’ The song is sort of a ‘fuck you’ to that nostalgia. Like, can we actually confront the time that we live in now, rather than harping on a rose-tinted past.
[Rebecca Satellite of A Deer A Horse, photographed by Maryanne Ventrice at Glasslands.]
How do the two of you go about drafting up and sketching out your songs?
I tend to bring in the shells of songs — like basic verse/chorus/bridge ideas — in varying stages of completion. We’ll jam on the basic form, while writing new parts and workshopping [sic] it until we’ve solidified the final form.
From the Patience EP to the upcoming split, what have the two of you discovered about your own respective talents and synergy?
I used to come in with completely fleshed out material for the band to try. We would re-work the songs a little bit but it really wasn’t until we wrote “Terrible Two” that we truly attempted to collaborate on arrangements or writing riffs together. I think we compliment each other because Angela comes from an instrumental perspective, while I’m always thinking with a songwriter’s ear. We’ve been working together consistently for four years now and we like to joke that this is the longest relationship either of us have ever had. But it’s true that in order for there to be a safe and open space to create in, you have to love and trust the other person enough to be vulnerable. We’re also really lucky to have our new drummer, Dylan, on board. He brings something very grounding to the group that frees us up to push the songs into new places.
What artists and group are you both listening to a lot of right now?
Protomartyr, Queens of the Stone Age, St. Vincent, True Widow & Courtney Barnett are really killing it right now. But let’s be real—X is, has, and always will be killing it.
[Angela Phillips from A Deer A Horse, photographed by Maryanne Ventrice at Glasslands.]
Other recordings, collabs, releases in the works?
Other than our upcoming 7”, we’re currently writing new material that we hope will become a full length and be recorded by the end of the year. And we’re looking forward to a Northeast tour with Howth in September. Outside of A Deer A Horse, Angela plays bass for Vomitface and Rebecca just started playing guitar with a Silver Jews cover band called Sliver Juice! (Berman 4eva).
Thoughts on the future of the Brooklyn scene?
It’s hard to pinpoint a Brooklyn scene because it all seems pretty fractured to us. Because Brooklyn attracts a lot of creative people who aren’t always serious about music, it’s kind of hard to weed out the good stuff from the hyped. But we’re inspired by bands like Slothrust, Howth, Vomitface, and Wild Bore, who are working their asses off and pouring all of their limited time and resources into their bands. That’s the scene we want to see succeed: down and dirty, on their grind, brawlers.
Listen to more from A Deer A Horse via Bandcamp.
BZRK
Nashville collective BZRK follows up their Anesthetic Awareness mixtape with the world premiere of their video for, “Interpersonal EthicS”, lending a view into their local life in the 615 from their upcoming, Crop Circles tape. A boisterous bunch of friends from the Jeffrey Drag Records stable; Caveman, ThirdEye G, fubar, Mac Donald, Caustic, and BASEDGHOST bring the anarchic attitudes and verses of their labelmates with a production level that is firmly rooted in the subterranean layers, and lairs of underground Southern hip-hop production styles.
On “Interpersonal EthicS”, BZRK gives you a rare into their world from getting turnt up, passing out on the coach, rounds of head nodding boasts, lamenting the pressures of the world, cryptic and crass amorous invitations, with glances of Nashville at night. The production keeps on a smoky, paranormal level as you get to on a ride with BZRK, and kick it at a house party where the group and guests are packed like a collective of energetic sardines. The crew stays on their grind, gives you a glimpse at how they’re living, dropping further insights in our interview after the following music video debut of, “Interpersonal EthicS”.
Bring us up to date since we last talked circa Anesthetic Awareness?
Since anesthetic awareness, we’ve been focusing on our presence locally in Nashville, playing more shows and being more involved with the scene as far as creating a culture within the city. Also, always low key recording tons of music.
Give us the interpersonal breakdown of ethics, methods, morality codes, modes, and more that have informed “Interpersonal EthicS”.
Interpersonal ethic would be the breakthrough or ‘moment of clarity’ point of a whole story/concept that is Crop Circles. I want everyone to take what they get from it, so I’m always skeptical to say too much, but its really all about finding what you see as important and pursuing it. Not letting your past, present, or future situations make a victim out of you, and playing the cards you were dealt, shitty or not.
Ha, I also love the smoked up production on this track, where did the idea to sample a telephone walkie-talkie sound effect come from?
The album is covered in conversation, mainly through phone. Most of the rapping on the album is more of a dialogue than verse spitting. It will all make sense once the albums listened to beginning to end.
Cool seeing you all kicking it together in the “Interpersonal EthicS” video. What were some the favorite moments during the making of the visualization?
The super turnt scene was really cool. It wasn’t supposed to happen and some miscommunication ended up with a shit ton of extras coming to the house and now its probably my favorite scene. Also we got pulled over for Elias hanging out the window, and severely hurt fubar in the feelings to get him to act crazy for his scene. It was a good time
Latest state of things, and the underground movements these days in Nashville?
Locally, we’ve just started submerging ourselves in the scene. So far, there’s a couple people we fuck with, and so much potential to make Nashville’s scene not “underground.” People are always making moves to progress though, and we will for sure get there.
Producers, collectives, and artists that you all are excited about right now?
Collectively we’re fucking with the new Young Buck tapes, Lucki Eck$, Isaiah Rashad, Kevin Gates, Vince Staples, that Future/Mike Will tape is gonna be nuts, playboi Carti, everyone’s still waiting on Rodeo, Retro Su$hi, and locally, anything from Scotty Rockwell.
Next big moves for BZRK?
Were all taking the time to find our own sounds/niches within the collective. There will be plenty more solo and collaborative efforts from BZRK, as well as a tape ThirdEye and MacDon are producing for the homie Scotty Rockwell. There’s plenty of moves to be made.
BZRK’s Crop Circles will be available soon from Jeffrey Drag Records.
Kazimier
Kazimier is the nom de plume of Bill DeLelles, who you might know from touring with Chrome Sparks, and Schlohmo releases a split with Parks Burton (Secret Songs, Hush Hush Records, etc), with Gifts, available June 16 from Grind Select / Graveyard Orbit, and we have debut listen to the Prism House remix of Kazimier’s “Money”. It’s a modern day collision from the two forward thinking set of artists, where DeLelles discovers PH providing the Ceremony Recordings render and rasterization treatment where dissolved post-genre abstractions from the past and present become the understood new-new-sound sequence schemes and schools of tomorrow.
The original version of “Money” bounces off the deep bass backboard from Kazimier’s ? EP (released via Rioux’s Connect imprint), where the new Gifts presented is a more intricate drum set up where every single thing happening all at once is doing so for an intended reason. But before you get too attached, Brooklyn’s Prism House arrives to the occasion to introduce a whole new rhythm pattern, and a complete arrangement make-over. The stems from Kazimier’s cut are sent down new tunnels, finding new networks of passages, as the biggest gabber clubs obliterate beats like atom smashing machines. The team of Brian Wenner (who handles more of the music side of things) and Matt O’Hare (master of the visualization modes of their music) create the industrial, and abandoned decay-like decorum for Kazimier’s “Money” to abide in, where cash register samples, coin toss clanks, and more are fired through new accelerated, and audio edited rates. The monetary measurements and concepts deals in the currency of collective sound, where by fusing together a blend of organized noises, new syntheses can be realized. Experience the big beats, new placements, and new programmed narratives on the debut Kazimier’s “Money” remixed by Prism House, followed by our interview with Bill.
Keeping yourself busy with your work playing on tours with good folks like Chrome Sparks, Shlohmo…where do you find a time to either take aspects of their work as inspiration, or build your own inspirations for Kazimier?
I play malletKAT and keyboard with Chrome Sparks, and trapKAT and drums with Shlohmo…the different roles playing with both of them inspire me tremendously in different ways. The inspiration for Kazimier comes more from playing a large variety of music from a young age and wanting to combine those influences in one place.
Tell us about the monetary obsessed, every rhythmic item you can think of, get your hands on, and the kitchen sink approach that is at work here.
Having played percussion ensemble music most of my life, I grew to really like densely orchestrated and rhythmically intense music.
After I got that kind of vibe together with synths, guitar (shout out to Jesse Kranzler), and drums, I used samples from vintage cash registers, coins in vending machines, shaking change, and cash dispensing from an ATM, all as either percussive accents or background textures.
Stop me if I’m reading too much into this track, but is there some kind of statement at work here that you are making about dependance on the almighty dollar, and that kind of material obsessed trains, and trails of thought?
It’s more just a theme I decided to run with. The rest is up for interpretation.
How did the split with Parks Burton come about via Grind Select and Graveyard Orbit, and how were these cross imprint/artist coops formed?
The idea for the split came about through Grind Select, and I had previously worked with Graveyard Orbit for my ? EP. It just so happened that all of us were down to join forces for the split and make some new friends in the process.
Describe what is for you the ideal creative production setup, mode, and mood for you for your solo work as Kazimier.
I can’t be too picky about these things or I would never finish anything. So long as I have coffee and weed.
Can you share any humorous road stories from your times with Chrome Sparks, Shlohmo, etc?
Several days ago at Berlin Festival (w/ Shlohmo) our set was stopped because of a fire while we were playing “Emerge From Smoke.”
Tell us too about the component of the Kyle Stetz interactive site for the EP, involving animated GIFS, and more.
The vision for Grind Select involves releasing interactive experiences that complement the music. The Gifts website is a way for people to contribute to an evolving visualization while they listen to the album. You can make little animated GIFs, and see everyone else’s GIFs, and there’s just enough control that you can spell out dirty words.
Summer / fall schedule for Kazimier, and the man behind the stems and beats; Bill DeLelles?
Other than Australia & New Zealand with Shlohmo later this summer, I’ve just relocated to Los Angeles and will be working on new music.
What are your thoughts on how PH turned “Money” into a total UFO gabber track, and how it matches up to the original, and what do you particularly like s about how Prism House transformed it.
I’m super stoked to have PH involved. It’s really tight to hear your own material re-appropriated into a new form with a new vibe. It doesn’t match up with the original and I dig that.
Kazimier’s split with Parks Burton, Gifts, will be available June 16 from Grind Select / Graveyard Orbit.
Snasen
From Norway’s lands of experimental audio productions, we give you a debut advance listen to Snasen’s Forsvinningen available June 8 from Sellout! Music. The artist has recently soundtracked the documentary, Drone, released his Grok EP in 2014, that followed up his first EP, Failing Upwards, who moves to searching for constructive answers in the ether of the audio painted out from the strains of sorrow’s pull. Having suffered the loss of a daughter at birth, the throes of mental and physical anguish and confusion are conveyed in the catharsis that elicits thousands of atmospheric textures.
Snasen starts Forsvinningen with the slow, funereal wind drift progression that echoes condolences from the barren branches of bare trees abandoned by transitions from harvest season to winter. The pensive atmospheres that claw you out from the perilous abyss of endless seasons of snow and sorrow nearly bring on the tears with, “Ink Blot”, as “Motion Commotion” resounds like a modern day communion that asks some deity somewhere for redemption out of the cycles of life and death that are often more than a human can handle. The overloading intensity of ineffable emotions rise up in the forms of nerve pressing synths on, “The Message : Ride Home”, as “Oh The Things I’ve Seen” is the shattering feeling of moments where the impact of traumatic incidents flare up in ways that words fail to describe.
Fears, meditations, prayers, and more vaporize into the air from out of the basement trap doors, and into the heavens on, “Vaapen”, to the mortal grips of understanding and it’s limitations on the heartbreaking, “Langt Nede”, as the eclectic variety of percussion, and environmental ambience traverses the personal places of the psyche while appealing to the heart on, “Time A”. Tenebrous corners, and dark patches are ventured on, “The Hoplite” that opens wanton doors of a wardrobe’s worth of painful memories, aged and bottled reactions, all displayed in an industrial dirge that offers little reprieve, or escape from the clutches of it’s own exterminating angel from within the electronic machines. The breath of fresh air brought at the four minute finale title track, “Forsvinningen”, where the art of vaporizing audio like steaming drops of dew are sent up into the air of a flight that ventures forward, from this world perhaps in pursuit of perhaps another, better dimension. Right after the following album stream premiere, be sure to read our candid interview with Snasen himself.
How do the environments, weather, and surroundings of Norway continue to inform the very climate cadence nature at work in your sound.
It’s not a conscious inspiration but living in a place where nature is prevalent does something to you. If I lived somewhere warm my music would probably sound different. There is a sense of space in the music that might have been lost if it weren’t for mountains and fjords but then again I live in Oslo and it’s not that different from any other small European city. There is a woodiness in the sound that might stem from memories of my fathers woodshop but it might also be a total coincidence.
What are your own personal responses when you reflect on your recent work from the Grok EP, soundtracking the documentary, DRONE, and now with Forsvinningen.
The Grok EP was a reaction to Forsvinningen. I wanted to get away from the laborious process of making a whole album and just sit down and create something new so it was thrown together quite fast. It’s loose and I like that. The Drone tracks happened at the same time as I was mixing Forsvinningen, and a lot of the ambient stuff I was doing for the movie inspired some of the later production and “Sober Lunch” — the opening track — was originally a Drone track. There has been a long process with the album but since it was finished while working on Grok and Drone at the same time I feel that they are somehow connected.
Tell us about the incredibly moving, and painful process of channeling the feelings of confusion, physical strain, and sorrow of loss that found an outlet throughout the mood tapestries that are stringed throughout the album.
Sorrow is a weirdly physical feeling. This was a surprise to me. Someone has described sorrow as waves rolling in and out and I feel that is true and I think that electronic music is an ideal medium to describe these feelings. With electronic productions you have access to any kind of texture and frequency you can dream up and I think this gives us the possibility to make something more than a melancholy tune in minor. There is a sense of fatigue in my music that comes from this very physical feeling of loss where I bend sounds and destroy words to describe it.
How do you find that balance of peace from enduring the void of chaotic dialogues, and the weights of discontinuity, to coping with concepts of finality, metaphysical notions, and more?
The process of organizing sound is about balance in the way sounds relate to each other and what you do to them to make them work together. This gives me energy and it makes me relax at the same time. It gains access to something beyond my ego — not something outside myself, no God — but new rooms in my consciousness where everything is balanced. So although the context or end result is sad or melancholy the process is always peaceful.
The tracks all are moving to these higher grounds of consciousness and feeling. Can you describe the kind of transcendence, and views that the making of Forsvinningen has given you?
Forsvinningen means disappearance and I think the music is just that. It’s a getaway. The process in it’s self is a way out of the dreariness of routine or shitty thoughts. Anything can and will happen when you’re in sound.
Other international artists that you find are doing great things in the new realms of production, and more?
Listen to Peder Mannerfelt, Luke Abbott, Groj, Fnar, Upland & Steve Moore. It will make your life better in every way.
Snasen’s Forsvinningen will be available June 8 from Sellout! Music.
Shark Week
Washington, D.C.’s Shark Week just released their debut album, Beach Fuzz, from PaperCup Music, and we present the premiere of the Daisy Heroin animated video collage for, “Waste of Time”. The oblique ennui of occupied moments lost illustrated by the four piece Ryan, Danielle, Dan, and Alberto are adorned by the cosmic magazine cut-outs that are displayed in both forward, reverse, and inverted orders of presentation. Finishing a tour with Crocodiles now that commences June 7 in New York, Shark Week will be attending Brooklyn’s Northside Festival June 11-12, Baltimore June 18 and in Toronto, for NXNE on June 19. But now you are invited to lose yourself to the D.C. band’s time stopping single, and the rustic American primitive visuals that accompany the song’s high spirited resolve to life’s idle pleasures.
Shark Week’s sound bridges the native capital to the western shore waters, where Ryan Hunter Mitchell delivers an honest and uninhibited delivery, joined by Alberto Pacheco’s resounding registry of riffs, propelled by the rhythm section of Danielle Vu’s bass, and Dan Newhauser’s drums. “Waste of Time” visualized runs through a pastiche of doilies, stop watches, butterflies, optical illusions, eyeballs, mouths, statues, bricks, and forests that depict shark headed edits of the human anatomy springing out of the tube of vintage televisions.
The sequence of visuals, and patterns are presented in different orders, and arrangements on various tv screens, with new images of everything from fire, water, land, to hands with an eyeball in the palm. The video of animated collage work adds an aestheticized angle to the notions of time grabbed and gone forever, that is forever reaffirmed by the rhetorical questions in the chorus that politely inquires, “all this time we’ve been chasing, what’s life not for wasting?” While images of diamonds, angels, vintage film stars, and head twisting visual patterns run quick before your very eyes, the question of time’s genuine value ponders the relevance if time well spent is indeed time wasted at all. Ryan Hunter Mitchell described to us how they discovered Daisy Heroin to provide visuals for “Waste of Time”:
“We kept seeing this Instagram user DaisyHeroin and his video style was unreal. We asked him if he would like to animate a video for us and he fell for it. For us, with Beach Fuzz it’s easy to get used to seeing the album in a certain context that we’ve gotten used to, but with the video we didn’t want to meddle with the artistic process, we just wanted to see what Daisy Heroin got from the song and let him do his thing and it seemed to work out. Definitely check out www.daisyheroin.com“
Shark Week’s album, Beach Fuzz, is available now from PaperCup Music.
Most People
From Most People’s forthcoming Violet Spaces EP; we bring you the relayed game of expressions and earnest sharing of emotion and more on, “Telephone”. The synths loop around the drum machine brought hand claps as the passion and dedicated persistence of the duo makes an appeal to the amorous sports of chance that give meaning to the otherwise cold, long, and lonely evenings alone. Following the listen, we got to know Most People a bit better in our interview with Brandon Gibson-DeGroote.
How did Most People begin, and what attracted you two to the inclusive nature of your chosen moniker?
Most People began with two pals jamming in a parents’ basement in Burlington, ON saying “Hey, wouldn’t it be fun to try to play all the instruments of a five person band while looping and incorporating Ableton live?” Flash forward three years, two moves, two computers, 887 drum sticks and a thousand shows later and here we are. We like doing things this way, because we want to make music that sounds like our computer playlists: an eclectic stream of seeming random sounds and genres, but, in fact, tightly curated mirror into every movie and song we’ve ever heard.
Insights into the colors, places, and feelings that informed the making of your Violet Spaces EP.
A Violet Space is a colorful feeling or experience that can penetrate the monotony and ‘grey’ dullness of everyday life. It’s an influx of inspiration that seemingly comes from nowhere. The EP attempts to reflect our desire to capture the illumination; that moment when you’re swept away.
Violet Spaces has a a nostalgic, tounge-and-cheek vibe that is pretty standard for our band, but it’s darker and more intimate than our earlier albums. We wrote the lyrics together, as we always do.
Other independent and underground artists you all want to give a shout out to?
We heart Petra Glynt, Hush Pup, Zords, Triple Gangers and boyBITCH, just for starters.
American Dream
American Dream is back with the debut of their new single, “I Can’t Wait”, featuring Corinne Callen, Tommy Furar, David Dyas, and Jonathan Biggs. Taking their visions and talents to East Nashville, the quartet posted up at Cream Puff Studios to work with Brent Little to bring out the hospitality, and heartland essence that Nashville’s illusrious music community is synonymous with. The excitement over questions of longing, distances, and missed presences rings with the affinity of glockenspiels, and twanged out Tennessee power pop.
Locals to the music circuits of Music City, American Dream takes their vision of down home sentiments with Callen’s question of, “when you coming ’round again?” that continues to ask in circles as you loose yourself in the double threat of Dyas’s lap-steel notes, and Furar’s own rhythmic chord contributions. “I Can’t Wait” might be steeped in traditions of local lore and Southern pop canons, but more important is the element of barely containable anticipation and excitement that Corinne and company create, making the song prime for the eve of any of your favorite holidays/special days out of the year. Heaven help us if these American dreamers put out a proper holiday release, as all halls will be decked in the utmost of Nashville pop decorum. Corrine from American Dream provided us the latest Nashville music report, featuring reflections on recording at Cream Puff Studios in East Nashville with Brent Little, and more:
It has been two years since we’ve called East Nashville home. Leaving NYC wasn’t something I really planned on…We just went with the wind on a whim and well…we’re still here…and I have to say…much happier than when we first moved, with an amazing band that feels like family, music prospects in site including opening for Veruca Salt next month and a local label putting out records for us (Semi-Pro Records), and of course I have to mention my front porch with an herb garden!
Two years isn’t long enough to really be the voice of neighborhood, ha, but I can certainly comment on some pros and cons for me. Truthfully, I’ve been liking Nashville a little more lately since I’ve seen a few familiar types of places sprouting up right and left, but I can’t say all the locals are loving it. Places change and neighborhoods can get overrun I guess. I’ve heard some people who have lived here some 20 years before it was “hip” say they may move on now, which is sad to me. This happens in NYC neighborhoods all the time…We get it. They certainly created a very special community that made us all crazy enough to pack up and move here, but I’m not gonna lie that I for one and happy with transplants that remind me of my former home…NYC is a hard one to shake, but Nashville is on the cultural map and all in all, I’m glad I’m here now. I may or may not have complained about traffic in the hood the other day though, ha! Oh boy!
Nashville is Music City USA so there are many resources for musicians and now that everyone is really coming through here, it isn’t just for one genre anymore if ya know what I mean. Rock and Roll definitely has a voice here. There are worlds in this town that I may never know, but I have always been very specific about my music for better or for worse…Luckily, I think there is a scene here for us too.
Speaking about one of those locals who made this place cool, we were lucky to meet Brent Little and record our last single record with him at his home studio, Cream Puff Studios. It has a super warm vibe and great equipment. The whole session was effortless and it was a first for our current band as a whole. I sang, played guitar, keys and various other instruments I could get my hands on. Brent had a ton of Dan Electro and Silvertone guitars which I love. Tommy played bass and guitar, Jonathan Biggs was back on drums and David Dyas played lap steel, guitar and sang some back-up vocals. Brent has a killer record collection in his stone-walled basement. It feels like a speak-easy down there…a great place for a break between tracking. He gets our music. He thinks it’s hip and groovy, and we’re okay with that. The whole session just flew by! It was fun and we will be back!
Rudy De Anda
Rudy De Anda recently released his single, “Visions of Plumerias”, delivering the equivalent of flowering audio deciduous shrubs that come in time for your lazy-day sunny soundtracks, mixes, and the like. Known as the frontman for Long Beach’s Wild Pack of Canaries, Rudy is readying Ostranenie, a solo EP for Porch Party Records available this summer. Mixed, and mastered by Isaiah “Ikey” Owens; romantic psych loops are kept rolling steady by a vintage drum machine that mixes a strum of guitar and organ sprung notes that keeps the entire dream state of “Visions” wandering through a series of natural settings from mystical gardens, do deep green pastures full of overgrown flowers.
Rudy De Anda provided us with the following exclusive look at the making of his upcoming EP with Isaiah “Ikey” Owens:
We recorded the EP at Ikey Owens house in His living room. It was a very intimate yet effortless experience. We had such good recording chemistry, we hardly disagreed on matters. He had an old Roland 70’s drum machine that we tracked guitar parts over and once we were ready, we took it to the studio to add vocals and some stand up bass from his brother Brandon Owens who was recently featured on Kendrick Lamar’s new record. Ikey and I would walk home together after sessions there. It was very peaceful. It means so much that he believed in my song writing.
Wild pack of Canaries is an obvious influence since I helped write a majority of the songs, but as the years went by, my song writing approach changed and the songs were no longer suitable to bring to the wpoc cutting board. That’s when Ikey offered to record and produce an EP Ostranenie for me, it was perfect timing.
Finally, my influences for this recording go all the way back to the late 60’s referencing Argentinian band Almendra and more recently the likes of Little Joy and El Guincho.
Color Palette
From the DC act Color Palette fronted by Jay Nemeyer (who makes a sound as if he was the younger brother project to fellow DC pop denizens, Brett) dropped the single, “Seventeen”, that conjures up those awkward homecoming moments of missed affections, misunderstood feelings, and so forth. The close moments of mixed up and messed up infatuation are brought in big hooks that flip through a prom photo picture book where the gallery of schoolmates, classmates, and crushes remind the nostalgic senses of the time passed, and the precious memories kept in heard.
Tell us about the chromatic inspirations that prompted the beginning of your pop outfit, Color Palette.
In terms of inspiration — there are two things that I’ll touch on. Firstly, I find that certain musical notes, tones, vibes etc evoke certain feelings — which I then associate with particular colors. It has always been this way — it is a very emotional process. Secondly, I recorded the album in LA — many of the textures in Seventeen and other songs on the album (when it is eventually released) were heavily influenced by the city of LA (beautiful weather, gorgeous sunsets, hollywood hills, echo park, etc).
What was the story behind the making of the big bright pop coming of age anthem, “Seventeen”?
On the day that I wrote “Seventeen”, for whatever reason, I was feeling particularly nostalgic — and thinking about my first girlfriend, and the first time I fell in love. I tried to figure out chord phrasings and melodies that captured the full spectrum of emotions that one experiences while falling in love, and then parting ways for the first time.
What can you tell us about other recordings in the works?
I will be releasing a few more singles in the next couple of months, an EP in late July or August, and eventually a full 11-song album.
What are the last three things you heard that you found inspiring?
The three songs that Tame Impala have released in anticipation of their album are, in my opinion, amazing and groundbreaking: 1) “I’m a Man”, 2) “Eventually”, and 3) “Disciples”. Something about the production style, composition, and vocal melodies gets me hooked every time!
Digisaurus
Digisaurus just dropped their following featured single, “Without Me”, from their upcoming No More Room for Love EP. Paleolithic rock ethics here get hurdled into the digital post-millennial common era, where an exercise in self-effacing activities dish out everything from self doubt, to embracing the hesitant honesty of uncertainty. Concepts of togetherness, and untogetherness bend and break to the parade of synths, and well styled noise makers that allow the audience to ponder the high drama of the with and without conundrums. The trio described to us some hints and insights about their forthcoming EP with the following:
The EP we’re putting out in June, No More Room for Love/ is centered around the dismissal of love and it’s effect on the human psyche. I was thinking a lot of Freud’s psychic apparatus of the id, ego and super-ego when we were writing this song. “Without Me” is supposed to represent this penultimate battle between the id and the super-ego. Musically, the song is completely based around that opening guitar riff. My roommate at the time, Dennis Tanner, had come up with it and had been playing around with it for a couple days. He then handed it off to me as a sample and came back with this song based around it the next day. He loved it, so we went back in the studio and re-recorded with the rest of the group. I love how simply it started off, but it’s probably the most in-depth production I’ve ever been a part of in the studio.
Edger
Land Ski Records‘ own Drew Forsberg introduced us to Minneapolis’s Edger, who just released their debut EP Rudiments, provident rudimentary songs of hoppy angular guitar action that jangles to a sparse beat of their own joyful sound that inspires barely controllable inclinations toward disjointed jumping up and down in one place. “Noose” tightens the restrictions and constrictions from occurrences of major communication breakdowns that are told in heated deliveries, with empathetic riffs. Other tracks like “Holy Armour” bring some calculated math methods to the equation where armor and amour are blended together in one wonderful whatever wave of cool. Justin Lawson from Edger gave us some reflections on the making of Rudiments, thoughts, favorite moments, and more in the following:
The day before we were scheduled to record at Albatross studio with Mike Wisti he informed us that he had to send his 2″ tape machine away to be repaired so we could either reschedule or we could use his 1″ machine which would mean we only have 8 tracks instead of 24 to work with. We where pretty anxious to get started so we went ahead with the 1″ machine. It was actually really fun to work within the limits and make irreversible decisions when it came time to bounce tracks and make room for over dubs. We recorded the drums and vocals on the hot side and it has a really cool natural distortion happening when things get loud. The limitations and character of the machine really ended up shaping the sound and I think the recording sounds great in a really unique way.
Mister Suit
Chicago’s Mister Suit is back with the singles, “Easy To Do”, and “Heard It All Before”. The two new cuts find the artist sharpening sounds that are built with minimalist cores that bloom and plume into an array of unexpected amplified objects that present the raw and unkempt delivery of Garrett Jones providing a newer wave of decorative, and precise instrumentation garb to an essentially bare core-as heard here on “Easy To Do”. Mister Suit gave us the following insights into the new song with the following words:
This ones been sitting, like a lot of my other tunes, in a state of near completion for a long time. And, for a while I was using 909s for drums and synth bass exclusively on all my tracks. I tried re-doing the bass with analog bass, and it just didn’t groove the same way, so I left that in, but I swapped out the drums for some traditional drum sounds, and I think that combo really sounds great on this track.
“Heard It All Before” dials in the memory banks of learned experience of audio response that reach for something realer, something original, a line that hasn’t been used on some sucker before, all the while keeping the affair electric capturing a stroke of errant lightning within the firefly glow of amplifer tubes that burn and grind a bunch of bugs bouncing about in a jar (with ample provided ventilation). Mister Suits Garrett Jones reflected on the single for us with the following:
I think this is the favorite for me out of the two. I realized thru my older tracks that I really missed playing the bass, and I think this tune is really driven by the verse bass line. For a while I was really trying to imitate James Jameson on the bass — impossible to do, but this track is me trying to get a solid Jameson groove going. Didn’t come close, but it’s still funky, I think. I also like this tracks lyrics alright. Most of my lyrics are freestyles off of something I’ve written down a long time ago, and sometimes they work, but mostly they don’t; I think this one works pretty good.
King Pizza Records
This week, King Pizza Records went big and dropped the comp, Tales from Dumpster Beach, that features fun from The Rizzos (who have a tape coming out at the end of the month), Vamanos, The Mad Doctors and The Fucktons, featuring new cuts from King Pizza’s new signees, Thee Creeps, Psychiatric Metaphors, and much more. Thanks to jams like Thee Creeps’ “Personal Frankenstein”, The Rizzos’ bulb-blowout-burner, “Blackout”, to our friends Sun Voyager’s psych new world entrancing third eye opener, “Desert Dweller”; King Pizza proves once again that they are one of independent New York’s latest, and greatest underground appreciators, and ambassadors. Label co-founder Bettina Warshaw (also of The Rizzos) shared the following preface on the new comp:
There’s nothing like a gooey slice to satiate and if we’re talking music, which we are, this fuzzy, cheesy comp from all the little pepperonis over here at King Pizza Records shouldn’t disappoint. We’re super stoked to bring Tales From Dumpster Beach to the masses (or the internet ears, whoever it may be) just in time for Pizza Fest 2 (June 18-20). We hope you like it.
Adored by the likes of Joe Foster (who co-founded Creation Records with Alan McGee, and produced much of the iconic indie’s early output), Swervedriver, Slowdive, The Telescopes, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Swallow; hear Revolution – The Shoegaze Revival from Ear to Ear Records that presents the state of the inernational shoegaze communities, covering 16 different countries, and 30 some artists. Recognizing our friends Sounds of Sputnik and Ummagma; get ready to fall in love with those familiar sneaker savoring stares that will turn acts like Clustersun, Duelectrum, Rev Rev Rev, Sharesprings, Slow Motion Picture, Stella Diana, Thud, Trementina, Wozniak, and much more household names in your guarded heart.
Volar Records just announced the the third installment of their Strange Mutations 7″ series, offering new listens from The Hussy, Bobby Hussy’s Cave Curse, Growwing Pains from Detroit, and San Diego’s Keepers.The Hussy’s “Be My Girl” runs at you like ghosts of Goner Records’ past, while Bobby Hussy’s Cave Curse practices in the synth levitating pop arts on the catchy and cutty, “Stoned and Dethroned”.
Introduce yourself to Detroit Growwing Pains’ “I Always Know” 4-song 7″ EP, sharing “Talking To A Wall”, presenting anarchic art pop meant for the seediest dive bars of the apocalypse, and now. Growwing Pains will be touring the States from July 14 through August 4.
Also on the new Volar batch, check out the following demo, “No Rings” from San Diego’s “Keepers” that keeps the matter blaring with all the feedback, distortion, and crunchy effects that can be afforded through the modern marvels of amplified electric instruments, and consoles of audio capturing capabilities.
From the coasts of Monterey County, Jimmy Turturici shares some shore-side visuals of his departed dog Rocky, images of the moon above the Peninsula at night, featuring a redone version of his single, “Out To Sea”. A recently remixed, remastered, and re-envisioned off his forthcoming repressing of his album, Lost Encoded Memories, re-clocked at 45 RPM, and will be available this fall on 12″ transparent blue vinyl w/download card and the CD this summer via Natural Satellite.
The signs of sophisto-pop taking over the Stockton scenes were cast like dye in the sea around the end of 2014. Featuring house party happenings like “Lotion Boys: A Men’s Fashion Experience” showed off the styles from the local crew, with a mind for NYC-esque on a budget fashion week combined with the DIY vigor and collaborative spirit that binds together the friendships and talents from all the respective parties. Fresh from this rhythm, blues, beats, and rhymes incubators is the arrival of Kanko Fetti’s fresh flaunting single and video for, “Gettin It”, from the forthcoming Lotion Boys: The Experience release. What you get are low-lit at home hedonism that involves Satan Wriders and Baseball Gregg’s own Sam Regan dancing around the house in tune to brags talking game about that high life.
YAWN released the video for “Overflow”, featuring visuals captured by Oliver Brooks from a live rooftop performance on a Brooklyn rooftop during CMJ 2014. Found on their forthcoming Day Trip EP available August 21 from Feeltrip Records/Old Flame Records; relive a cherished, privy moment with the band, while you embrace the group’s knack for filling your ears and minds with an abundant, overflowing flood of warm, fuzzy feelings.
With Starfire available now on Ninja Tune, and a North American tour kicking off June 13; check out Jaga Jazzist busting out all the instruments and fancy lights for a performance of their single, “Oban”, for an in-studio synth spectacular Oslo sessio. The band brings their sound, and percussion layers in by the numbers with an audio-light show that runs nearly 13 minutes strong.
With a tour in the works that practically runs through Austin, TX’s Fun Fun Fun November 7-8; the west coast’s lovable beach goths continue to fill the world with their own litmus methods of determining the most steadfast of hearts in the Taylor Bonin video for, “Love Test”, found off Chinese Fountain. Brooks and the band get decked out to the nines and bemoan the state of searching for real love in LA with a little help from Bleu Archbold, Meghan Mooberry, Brad Coleman, and more for an exquisite, underground variety show.
Kevin Morby’s Still Life is available now from Woodsist Records, and we received news that the artist has signed to Dead Oceans, releasing the Elise Tyler, Lina Plioplyte, and Daniel Oglander video for “Parade”. Watch as a series of candid moments are compiled together to give an experience of the human condition where the day-to-day NYC hustle and bustle in the great human rat race is shown as a series of collected, and relatable events and observations that everyone has their own conotative relationship with. For those who remain to have a dry eye after the end of this five-and a half minute song, and video; you might have tougher skin than this writer. Catch the artist on an European tour that runs through September 14.
Pins are touring the States June 13 through July 2, releasing Wild Nights, June 9 on Bella Union, dropping the wild times, and cool cruising evenings, with the single, “Molly”. The Manchester four piece alludes to nefarious substances, sleepless nights, and more with the dangerous refrain of, “you look so good when you’re sad/bad”.
The Landing delivered their new single, “Everything; All the Time”, that describes the over-stimulated that states the mission, and motions of the human condition. Like the life reflecting mode from The Landing’s approach to shining outward the intimate, and assuaging feelings and thoughts from interior; “Everything” provides a moment’s pause of peace from the ever overload systems that surround our psyche and spirits in the day to day material realm.
Watch a series of flashy images from Fredrik Forell, that includes classic cuts from 90s Windows pre-packaged game “SkiFree” in the mix for Rööd’s title cut, “Segersånger”, from the just released EP of the same name from Tropeek.
Check out the video for Joe Bordenaro’s Canvasclub single, “Taller Man”, from Ryan Ohm & Jackson James of Weird Life Films, where they chronicle the events that span an afternoon and extend into the twilight, as darkness begins to fall all around to a pop tune that overflows with empowered feelings.
Touring from now through July 19, we bring you the chord grinding single, “Sheila”, from White Reaper from their upcoming debut album, White Reaper Does It Again, available July 17 from Polyvinyl. The rhythm riffs tumble, and rumble like dice on a wood framed casino green board while bets of love arte cast into a chorus that turns the whole song into a scuzz pit.
Keeping up with the Bay Area’s cousin duo Painted Palms, check out their new single “Gemini” that brings a heavy synth pop flare flavor of future sounds to arrive.
Brooklyn’s Junglepussy dished out the single for the summer with, “You Don’t Know”, produced by Shy Guy, that follows up her 2014 debut album, Satisfaction Guaranteed, blaring statements of the self, truths, and more. Blare this while rolling down your block, and feel the pure confidence rush that busts through your consciousness, and blood stream. Catch her performing tomorrow, June 6 at Brooklyn Museum.
Little Racer releases their Foreign Tongues EP June 26 from PaperCup Music, and we have the video for their single, “Montevideo” from Micah Weisberg & Bill Dvorak for Young Heart Productions that takes the mickey out of the “9-5” suit wearing class. Reaffirming their “we won’t stop for nothing,” chorus refrain; the trio is depicted here having the maximum amount of fun, scooting about, getting into scuffles, talking game with babes, and living up that fancy-free lifestyle.
Brian Bonz and Mike Rizzo, aka Bobo Touch sent the following public service message for the gentrifying denizens addicted to their phones, with the humorous video for “Texting and Walking”. Read Brian’s recent feature here.
Sizzy Rocket dropped the aerobic video aesthetic from Dorian Tocker for her wild at heart ultra bubbling/rumbling synth pop single, “Bestie”, that ponders what leotard clad fantasias may come when the temptation arises to schtupp your best friend.
Haring, a producer from Belgian dropped his track, “Time (ft. La Petite Rouge)”, from the forthcoming Late Night Dream EP, available June 16 from Venja Venja Records. Playing the following Belgian gigs tomorrow, June 6 at Out Loud Festival in Beursschouwburg and August 15 at Rooftop Alhambra in Mons, Belgium; “Time” presents a reshaping of sound, and sonics where chronological rate keeping and documentation through the medium of calendars is strewn into the wind that makes wind chimes notes amid an ambient fog roll of atmospheres.
More from our new friend Sam Friedman, aka Nerve Leak with his new single, “Alone”, that details in focus a closer reading to the lonelier lulls in life’s lowlands taken from his upcoming, Disconnected EP, available June 23. Read our interview and premiere feature here.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new album, Multi-Love is available now from Jagjaguwar, and we bring you a listen to the shoulder shaking party about shaking off the fear of missing out habits on, “Can’t Keep Checking My Phone”.
In more Jagjaguwar news, Black Mountain’s self-titled is getting the decade old, champagne cork popping, Anniversary Deluxe Edition, available June 23, and we have the following trailer for the legendary album’s repressing.
AM & Shawn Lee release their new album, Outlines, June 16 from AM Sounds, and we got their new single, “Cold Tears”, that sheds some emotion, bottled up water-works, and a timeless vibe that jumps out of a 70s cult film.
POP ETC just released the video for their single, “Bad Break” about an escape from NYC style plot caught on renegade home video cams that includes classic karaoke style lyrical subtitles to help you sing along with all the silliness.
Heed the heaviness, feel the iron weights and more of the celestial metallic crash and lang from, “Hævnen”, off MYRKUR’s new upcoming album, M, available August 21 from Relapse Records.
Lending a grunge-laden listen to their new cut, “Firehead”; Brooklyn, NY’s Infinity Girl recently signed on the dotted line with Topshelf Records for their second album, Harm, available August 28. The Boston by BK bunch follow up Stop Being On My Side with a sound that shreds up flannel, leather, metal, rayon, cashmere, and any other fabric/material you might have in mind for a well controlled, jarring-jam that wraps it’s chord ropes, and smooth riding talons around a see-sawing loop.
Watch Dream Koala’s world colliding FABULOUS (Adrien Peze and Albin Merle) created video for, “EARTH”, from the Earth. Home. Destroyed. EP to tide you over with breathtaking visuals of alpha and omega planetary cataclysms to hold you over until the next installment arrives later this year.
SPELLES returns with the new cut, “Rib Cage”, produced by Bill Lefler that musters up the courage to take on life’s titanic sized obstacles with a looping “I Love Rock & Roll”-esque riff that keeps demeanor, and things on the tough side of bravery.
From Shimmering Moods Records, hear Bengalfuel’s Rapalyea in a preview mix, ahead of the June 26 release. Ambient modes begin from the ephemeral, and air like before the intensity is gradually turned up toward a cosmic push that throws rhythms, samples, atmospheric drum loops at you without hesitance, or mercy.
From Weird World Record Co, don’t miss Jaakko Eino Kalevi’s “Hush Down” that keeps the moods rising high towards the ceiling while the vibe is on the hushed, sweet, and low down.
Catch the latest moods, and synth-stitched breezes from Keep Shelly in Athens with the night trekking-knighthood mode jam, “Benighted”.
If you need some glammy/trashy synth pop to play on repeat for the love of the hooks, the heart on the line lyrics (written with Kinetics); then listen to Room8’s ultra-pop, “No Hard Feelings” featuring King Deco, the title cut from the upcoming EP of the same name, available now.
Chicago by San Francisco’s own artist extraordinaire Ezra Furman readies his new album, Perpetual Motion People, available July 10 from Bella Union, and we have the sax new big-band steez of the connection/mis-connection mishaps and frustrations that ring loud and true on, “Lousy Connection”.
Lunar Twin’s Champagne (Remixes) EP is available now from Emerald & Doreen Recordings, and you can hear the bubbly cut re-worked from Grand Cru, Woolfy, Haioka, Ummagma, Romin, Statickman, Mushrooms Project, Go Satta, and Berlin that each introduce a new array of possibilities for the track’s original stems.
Princess Chelsea’s Week in Pop
Princess Chelsea’s anticipated concept album, The Great Cybernetic Depression is being released via Lil’ Chief Records, Flying Out!/Flying Nun Records, & Bandcamp, and it is our honor and privilege to bring you Auckland, New Zealand’s own royal DIY pop guardian Chelsea’s Nikkel’s following Week in Pop guest selections:
Theme: Music from New Zealand
Golden Axe, “Cat Master”
Golden Axe are my favourite band from New Zealand, and were one of the first bands I went to see live in the early-ish 00s.
Leno Lovecraft, “Starlight”
Leno Lovecraft is quite mysterious and seems like an outsider sometimes or perhaps that is just me. He is content doing his own thing and I think he is currently living on Waiheke Island in Auckland New Zealand making lots of music and animating his own videos — this one being a stellar example.
Voom, “We’re So Lost”
I covered this and it ended up on my new album — it’s a beautiful song. The original is from the album Hello Are You There on Auckland’s Lil Chief Records and the music video features some guinea pigs with terrified eyes.
Jonathan Bree, “Weird Hardcore”
Jonathan Bree is my producer and he has sort of given up on the indie rat race since his band, The Brunettes, have taken a hiatus, however he continues to casually make music that sounds like Scott Walker and Serge [Gainsbourg] if they were more into the Beatles than they needed to be.
Sharpie Crows, “Landlords”
Sharpie Crows are a New Zealand live favourite but they keep breaking up and getting back together. They are probably one of the best bands you’ll ever see on a good day and each member brings their own musical strengths to the stage in an important and rare mix of musical chemistry. They are industrial New Zealand pop music probably inspired by bands like The Skeptics on Flying Nun and I hazard to guess The Birthday Party / Ace of Base.
The Skeptics, “AFFCO”
This music video was very controversial when it first came out. The Skeptics were one of the great, most interesting 80s Flying Nun bands. They were based in dreary Palmerston North and I suppose they are industrial and post punk in sound — but more avant-garde than those labels would suggest. The Skeptics dissolved in 1990 after frontman David D’ath died of leukaemia. Their albums have recently been reissued on vinyl by Flying Nun and a documentary Sheen of Gold was released in 2013.
The Gladeyes, “Exploding”
The Gladeyes are Jade and Gwen, two artschool girls from Auckland who have been making music together for about 10 years I suppose. This is from their second album which was released before they parted ways and it reminds me a lot of 60s pop crossed with Galaxie 500 and is as good as that sounds.
Fazerdaze, “Jennifer”
Jennifer is taken from Fazerdaze’s debut EP — a young Auckland based musician who writes, records and produces her own material.
Follow Princess Chelsea via Twitter.
