After regrouping post-Sandy and throwing our collective voting propaganda in the recycling bin, we take time to look at the little things that blew up our feeds/inboxes. The social media drama appears to have hit the fan, with Death Grips being sacked by Epic Records, Thom Yorke dropping tracks from his supergroup Atoms for Peace and possibly/maybe DJ'd Maroon 5 bros Halloween shindig in Daft Punk attire, and any text about #vampyweekend #killingitonkimmel. Enough, these months are rough, thank the heavens we have the following to enjoy in no particular order.
Flashlights shine beacons of electro-lights on the blue mountain rockies from their home in Denver, Colorado as they present their ski-centric music video for “Scarves”, directed by David Dean Burkhart. The hyper keys and Eastern VHS tape tape warp effects represent Ethan Converse's work with producer Alex Anderson while the duo rides high on their recent support of New Order at the 1st Bank Center 3 weeks back. The “Scarves” single is available now through HUG Records along with the Purr Tapes compilation Static Spectrum also out now. Listen to more from the Denver dreamworking denizens via their Bandcamp.
West Coast rap group Pac Div are prepping their second album G.M.B. for release November 27 from The Div Co./RBC Records and are offering scenes from their left coast tour, kicking it Seattle style. The two brothers Like and Mibbs are joined by their buddy BeYoung repping their Pacific Division clique (that used to be some 11 members strong back when Like and Mibbs were still in high school) while the new album boasts appearances from Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller, Scoop Deville, DJ Dahi, Swiff D and a few other guests. Catch the group making appearances in the great northwest and on onstage exploration of what is cool. Cool Whip? Kool A.D.? You decide. Listen to more Pac Div via their Soundcloud.
Introduce your beautiful selfs to Lost Animal, the name of Australian Jarrod Quarrell's project that will be brought to the states January 29 from Hardly Art. We have the Jason Heller for “Say No To Thugs” capturing Quarrell waking to bag and ditch his dead bassist in the woods who becomes zombified and revenge is delivered in an oceanic setting until the lost souls are again reunited somewhere in the post-life dimension.
COOLRUNNINGS covers the Humans League's “Seconds”, bringing increments of time measurement and new wave classics to Knoxville, TN. Here's to our southern friends Brandon Biondo and everyone at Dracula Horse who are bringing both 1983, and 2033 in 2013.
Antwon has been shaking up the Bay and the world with notoriety from his collaborations with everyone from Pictureplane, to Swiftumz and today get ready for a heavy dose of Oakland's Chippy Nonstop kicking with the rising San Jose based emcee accompanied by production from none other than the great Ryan Hemsworth on this loosie, “R U Down?” Chippy brings a seductive charm while Antwon makes me some “up and down” advances and keeps things 'natural', naturally.
Then for further Chippy & Antwon nonstop, we bring you “No Joke” with Himself the Majestic off of Hot Sugar's MIDIMURDER EP available for free from the music loving car company, SCION. Catch Chippy with Kreayshawn’s Group Hug Tour with Rye Rye and Honey Cocaine.
And one more Chippy Nonstop number for you with the Jon Smiff video for “Money Dance”, with shout outs to Lil Mouse inspirations, shout outs to friendzone, the crew in the video and a special shout out to the CEO of Wendy's for allegedly letting Chippy and crew take over their crib.
While having a stroll and a whistle, Bloomington, Indiana trio Sleeping Bag dropped the single “Walk Home” to power chord your way to the front doorstep. Dave Segedy gets the trifecta team of Lewis Rogers and David Woodruff singing and playing in clever, circular motion rounds with the key refrain of “Keeping all the jewels, running with the thieves, got to take advantage of someone so it seems, keepin' what you owe, people that you know, have to take advantage of something”, while the others harmonize, “when you walk home” in the same manner of cycle. You can find this and more on Sleeping Bag's upcoming album Women Of Your Life coming November 27 on Joyful Noise with pre-order available now for limited edition 'double mint' green vinyl.
Londoners Parakeet have declared that their Shonen Hearts EP will drop November 19 on gold cassette only from the indie stalwarts at Rough Trade. Listen to the group comprised of Yuck's Mariko Doi, The History of Apple Pie's James Thomas, and Jon Jackson who make the kind of scuzz for an international audience to sit, stand up, take notice and applaud.
Surf Club's new single “Revelrie” presents some steps into deeper sonic chambers and pastures that the Stockton group only hinted to us when we had the chance to kick it at Brain Wash in SF some months back. From effacing the indie cult of McCarthy one day to basking in the coming of age maturation of “Revelrie” that hints at exciting things to come from the 'Club. Catch Surf Club with The Buttercream Gang and Horrorscopes and Brick and Mortar Music Hall in SF on December 7.
The Pharmacy prescribes “Make Me Remember” for power pop rhinestones to be discovered from their sentimental wishing well. Like the great 70s established power pop tradition, Scottie, Brendhan and Stefan draw from that well spring after soaking up some Louisiana roots while bumming around New Orleans.Their new album Stoned and Alone comes out November 20 from Old Flame Records, pre-order your LP from Old Flame direct.
Georgia Anne Muldrow & DJ Romes are Blackhouse and they dropped the track “Somali” with Georgia chanting, “Somali pirates are the bomb” over images from an upcoming documentary on the rebels from the Africa's eastern horn. While watching the revolutionaries scope out sea faring freighters, Romes keeps the beat quick while Ms. Muldrow advises them to “keep trucking baby” as the musical action rises in intensity. The Blackhouse self-titled is out now in both digital and physical forms or just download the single for free from the Mello Music Group.
Tropic of Cancer gives solitude a new bold beauty in this black and white video catpure of “More Alone” from last month's MFNW presented by Room 205. Being alone never felt so good.
Maitland drops the laws of gravity with “Drop Down” off of their new album (from a cabin in the woods​)​ available now. The duo of Josh Hines and Jeff Mach titled the track from the Bear Run Hollow's alternate moniker 'The Cabin' where the aid of Alex Hines and Danny Rose audio engineering, mentoring provided by Bridget, with artistry from Cody Bluett they All tracks were written and recorded at Bear Run Hollow (a.k.a. The Cabin). Maitland's (from a cabin in the woods) is out now, get it here.
Chad Valley dropped the new single “I Want Your Love” where Hugo Manuel pulls out the stops as he celebrates the release his debut full length. Young Hunger is out now in the US on Cascine and November 19 in the UK/EU on Loose Lips.
Gobby released his Above Ground from your new friends over at Harlem's UNO NYC. We recommend this release for those who have yet to hear Gobby and the great sounds from UNO NYC and all that new game changing electronicdancenexgentransgendhiphoptrapnotropic or however you call beats without labels, borders and boundaries.
Ghostly International to reissue ADULT's proto-electro-clash masterpiece Resuscitation next month along with the 7″ covers single Shari Vari / 122 Hours of Fear dropping November 6. Order now from Ghostly.
Hans-Peter Lindstrøm will be releasing Smalhans, his second release this year November 6 from Smalltown Supersound and for a limited time we offer you the following stream from Norway with electrified love. Prepare yourself for Oslo's newest EDM progressions now and pre-order now.
sayknowledge dropped the cut “Art Goons” (featuring Cashius Green)” produced by Mars Today that is fresh from his yet-to-be titled full length. An artist to watch as our Bay Area steps up to create a winning attitude to tackling the concept of empire building in a posi mental stylee while our fledgling emcees/CEOs in training wonder, “Where the branches at?” We look forward to hearing more from sayknowledge and his building of departments and future subsidiaries.
Team Ghost has been blowing up the blogger boards with the remix of their “Dead Film Star” by TEPR. Look for Team Ghosts Dead Film Star EP December 4 from Wsphere.
Dark Dark Dark released the Isaac Gale directed video for “Tell Me” that turns their midwest habitat into something futuristic. Get their album Who Needs Who now from Melodic.
Sky Ferreira makes a declaraton against both bad dreams and the “Sad Dream” illusion of unmet embraces.Get lost in your room with Sky on her Ghost EP:and watch the Grant Singer.directed video here.
With the 12″ release from Shock, get ready for a jolt of “Heaven” with some celestial deep SF electro bass and a subsequent shower of celestial remixes from Beat Broker, Chautauqua, Hatchback, and Steve Moore. Get it now from Voltaire Records.
Mister Lies' new music video for “Dionysian” is more Lord of the Flies than Dionysus mythology. A Wild Animal production, the film plays like a VHS documentary directed Nolan Wilson Goff and soundtracked by Mister that looks like something leftover from Jonestown, Guyana if there was a youth uprise that overthrew Jim Jones. Mister Lies Dionysian 7″ is out now from Lefse.
Bam Spacey presents the circular pulsing visuals for “Dessa bränder” off Bam's Land EP available now from Ceremony. Look closely as the autotuned swedish vocals is given a face disguised beneath designs, much like the vocals lathered beneath the beat enhanced by creative Antares audio processing for emotive effect.
Now that you have enjoyed the video, here is Bam Spacey's “Dessa Bränder” remixed by CHLLNGR for added keys, suspense and all kinds of other chill percussive wonders.
Feeding People's “Island Universe” retooled and retweaked by Free The Robots featuring Phil Nisco off the 7″ out now while the new LP titled Island Universe drops February 5, 2013 on Innovative Leisure. Listen as the beats gets jazzed up around the 2.47 mark.
Emily Wells provides some cinematic atmospheres for the soundtrack to Chan-wook Park's Stoker with Clint Mansell, Philip Glass and we have a sample with the song, “Becomes the Color”. Park Chan-wook’s film Stoker comes out March 1, 2013.
Free Energy keeps on running free with their Brook Linder directed video for “Electric Fever” that is sure to take over radio channels during and post-holiday. The forthcoming Love Sign drops January 15.
From the WOOF production project team they dropped the cut “WOOLYBRAIN” featuring zombie Derek Taylor on drums with mix handled by Sean “Wolfman” Paulson. Listen for the horns, the beeps, the dazzled keys and what you should have played at your Halloween house party to have kept it from tanking.
Vex Ruffin blew up the circuit boards this week with the “Same Thing Tomorrow” single from the cassette tape only release of the same name. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I got a stupid short fuse, it's just what I do, sometimes, sometimes, same thing to day, same thing tomorrow, it's all the same, it's all the same.” Hear more of Ruffin's minimalist electric eccentricities captured to tape, culminated from 300 songs Vex sent to Stones Throw exec Peanut Butter Wolf over the past year. Get your copy of what everyone will is talking about now from Stones Throw Records.
Speaking of Stones Throw, they are teaming up with Leaving Records to give you the cassette compilation, Dual Form coming out on tape November 6 and on vinyl January 22, 2013 featuring works from Julia Holter, Dntel, Sun Araw, The Cyclis and more courtesy of Matthewdavid and Jesselisa Morettit. Both labels reside in Highland Park and share a passion for music without boundaries, need for genres, tags, hashtags or whatever extra baggage people like to hang on the music you, me and all of use love. Order yours now from Stones Throw/Leaving partnership, enjoy this visionary beat working of The Cyclist's “Visions”.
While still talking some Stones Throw shop, give your ears a treat to Matthewdavid's far out and ambitious remix of Chrome Canyon's “Memories of a Scientist” off Chrome's debut Elemental Themes, out now from Stones Throw Records.
Montag, aka Montreal’s Antoine Bédard released the stage of what he calls his Phases with “Memori” featuring vocals from Erika Spring. Carpark has been working with Bédard to drop a single a month in keeping with the vision of warm disco mood music for memories past and the many mental Polaroids soon to come.
New tracks from Touché, with first the Daedelus’ Pig Hearted remix of “Snow White” that has all those weird frayed and flashing jarring effects that throws your heart into your throat until those new age synths heal you.
Then there is the new Touché single “I'm a Man Not a Machine” that dropped today with a subsequent remix to follow.
Oh yeah, and finally the sped up, stomped up, hand clap and bass reworking of Touché's “I'm a Man Not a Machine” with the Lee Cooper remix. You're very welcome.
We caught a wire that Luca Dumbini and the Italo-LA duo Dumbo Gets Mad made the “Radical Leap” with free space floating organ electrics and wide eyed early morning guitar freakouts. Luca has been steering DGM's sound toward the combined memetic fabric of Italo pop music and cinema attitudes from the past 60 plust years. We look very much forward to hear where the second full length will take us this January, 2013 from Bad Panda Records. Chase the fire now, baby.
Philly rap duo Planetary and Crypt the Warchild are Outerspace and they deliver their first single “Manolo” which is either a gritty homage of the Spanish high end shoe designer or is perhaps a testament to machismo and spaced out hooks. Get this off their forthcoming Lost In Space album produced by Stu Bangas and mixed by Scott Stallone at Foundsound Studio.
The new EP Royal Oats from Emil & Friends is out now from Kitsuné and we have the title track remixed by Radial with more dance decorations and plenty keyboard base bounce for the bump.
While we all and the world have been losing our minds for Kendrick Lamar's new album good kid, m.A.A.d. city; Compton's and everybody's most wanted emcee puts the smack down on the haters with “The Jig Is Up (Dump'n)”. Featuring beats and production from J.Cole & Canei Finch, Lamar reasserts his realism.
Laetitia Sadier “Lightning Thunderbolt” off her album Silencio out now on Drag City. The video was made by both David Thayer and Sadier where her interpretive dance manuevers are overlapped with visuals of the sky passing by in many different colors of blues and reds. Look for Laetitia on tour in the UK/EU from November 5 onward.
Tamaryn's Tender New Signs is out now from Mexican Summer, and what better way to celebrate than with the Miko Revereza video for “The Garden”. Tam takes it back to that inbetween sound when the future 90s Brit-poppers were still wearing baggy shirts, proto-grunge hair, and guitars buzz sawing from the sleep lands of nod were the order of the day, and maybe even more so now. Catch Tamaryn on tour via the above dates, get Tender New Signs new via Mexican Summer.
Humans are the Vancouver based duo of Robbie Slade and Peter Ricq and they drop their track “Possessions” taken from the Traps EP that came out earlier this year from Hybridity. From infectious percussion arrangements and “ohhh” choruses and more addictive progressions, we listen for their debut full length expected to drop next year in 2013.
The European debut of Melody's Echo Chamber drops this coming Tuesday from Weird World and to get into the dream pop haze, with Matthew Saville's video for Melody's “You Won't Be Missing That Part Of Me” shot in Perth, Australia. Look for MEC self-titled stateside available now from Fat Possum.
Cajmere just brought that classic house sound back round with a listen to the Clubhouse remix of “Chit Chat,” available now off, Only 4 U: The Sound Of Cajmere And Cajual Records 1992 – 2012 from your dance conscious friends at Strut who bring you this on double CD, double LP, and digital so you can show your dubstepping bros what real dance tracks were and are all about.
By now you have heard Trent Reznor's latest project with wife Mariqueen Maandig along with Rob Sheridan and Atticus Ross, who together are How to Destroy Angels. Today we got the “Keep it Together (Factory Floor remix)” that turns the track into the perfect selection for that warehouse lock-in party where you too can keep it together while shaking it to the big time processed bass lines. Look for the HTDA An Omen EP coming November 13 from Columbia.
We invite you to listen to the new BEAK> single “Mono” ahead of the single's release on 7″ vinyl December 10 from Invada Records. With a sound of looping bass lines, choice picked singular note keyboard punches built out of improv inspired pop, Billy Fuller, Geoff Barrow, and Matthew Williams continue to share their sound with the UK this Fall/Winter with a promise to tour the US in early 2013. Watch this column for further info, get back to “Mono” now.
Before DaVinci drops The MOEna Lisa November 6 from SWTBRDS, the Fillmore ambassador drops the Keyes produced album cut “Cheeba” featuring smoked out flows from Ammbush, Main Attrakionz and The Jacka. Like the 'cloud body' emcee representation, Keyes keeps the loop on a wah-wah spin with jazz trio bass undertones and smokey vocal samples that stay high off the phasers that fire their echoes through the cumulus sound space.
Girl next door Beca drops her slow burning brand of blonde soul in the Aksel Stasny directed video for “Born to Fly” from her forthcoming EP of the same name out November 20 on This is Music Ltd. Catch Beca in NYC November 13 at Pianos.
Rone's new cut “Let´s Go” features Antipop Consortium's High Priest that explores the outer limits of future electro rap and rave. Take it there with this listen ahead of RONE´s Tohu Bohu album dropping this November 5 from InFiné Music.
Young Magic is proud to present their Sam Henry directed music video for “You With Air” presenting urban dance moves in black and white, while the youthful magic believers prepare to tour North American tour with Purity Ring through January. Get Young Magic's album Melt now from Carpark Records.
Lucius drop the epic closer of their self-titled EP “Genevieve” that presents the kind of chord progressions and arrangements that platinum pizzas are made from. Catch the NYC poppers touring the East Coast with Pearl and the Beard & You Won’t through December 8.
We have a behind the curtain look at Flying Lotus’s live visual experience Layer 3 brought to you by the Red Bull Music Academy that shows the complicated multi-faceted layers to bring the tour for Until The Quiet Comes come alive with the help from both Strangeloop and Timeboy. FlyLo's Until The Quiet Comes is out now from Brainfeeder.
We leave you with the single “Talk” featuring Giorgio Tuma from Australia's The Townhouses' new album Diaspora, slated for release November 20 from Yes Please. The album also showcases appearances from Wintercoats, Rainbow Chan and Felix Weatherbourne as Leigh Hannah contines to craft global musical fusions into what sounds like an international music box, Melbourne breeze.
