While soaking up these alleged lazy days of summer, we cannot help but question the headlines and motives from the week's anouncements and newsmakers. I mean, who really wants a hackneyed 21 disc Blur box set? Or perhaps a washed up Boy George covering a propped up Lana Del Rey's “Video Games?” Did you also know that Drake is “the first person to successfully rap and sing?” Are you also aware that scientists believe that music is becoming “louder and blander?” We honestly could care less, so tune out the fuzz, turn up the scuzz as we investigate what we liked-in no particular order.
First off is the first single “The Way We Used To” from Chelsea Wolfe's Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs coming October 16 from Sargent House. Chelsea unplugged brings new kinds of atmospheres that request remixing like this one by Joe Mounsey. Listen to the original now.
Lymbyc Systym proclaimed the coming of their LP Symbolyst due this September 18 from Western Vinyl with a listen to the first single “Prairie School”. Get ready for the kind of electric buzz that is ampitheatre-ready and works best when played outside the confines of the walls of dives and clubs in order to let the electric good vibes breathe.
And check out the trailer for Symbolyst here.
The Orwells dropped their new single, “In My Bed” with the futile pinings of “I tried, I tried, she lied, she lied, it's too late, too late, goodbye, goodbye.” With a garage sound best referred in onomatopoeic terms like 'clang' and other 'c' words like clamor but even still does not account for some of the best r n' r you will have heard all week.Their album Remember When is due August 7 from Autumn Tone Records.
Check out Django Django's CGI-scaped video for “Hail Bop” directed by Daniel Swan. Their self-titled debut album comes out in the US on digital August 14 and on CD/LP September 25 from Ribbon Music with the Django Django album already available everywhere else now.
Mungolian Jetset is the duo of Pål “Strangefruit” Nyhus and Knut “Phardin” Sævik who are proud to bring you their new epic “Smells Like Gasoline” clocking in under 10 minutes and stays with you for 30 more.
IamSu!, in conjunction with Karmaloop, is excited to release the deluxe edition of his recent mixtape, KILT with all the extra trimmings and servings from Richmond, California's rising star. Download here.
Gatekeeper's new track “Tree Drum” got Harlem's baddest beat-basher Gobby for remixing duties. Listen to Gobby mess up the 'Keeper's mix following this blurb and listen to “Tree Drum (Total Freedom Debt Stalking Version)” here.
Purveyors of all things noise comes Michael Gira and The Swans with their upcoming album The Seer hovering over the August 28 horizon after some 30 years in the making. Here we bring you “The Apostate”, waking you out of your haze with an army of guitars, bells and 10 plus minutes of everything to make you come alive.
Blues Control brings you their Clémence Hébert directed video for “Walking Robin” off of their Drag City album Valley Tangents, out now. Here nature, water, earth, fire, night, flying birds and more all co-exist in a peaceful keyboard bliss ambience.
King Dude's released his excellent “You Can Break My Heart” from the 7″ single featuring “Devil’s Tail” on the b-side. Having already sold out it's batch of 300, the single comes after the Dude released his album debut Love while he continues to work toward his upcoming full-length Burning Daylight coming from Dais Records this October. If “You Can Break My Heart” is a heartaching and body-breaking plea not to break the rest of him, the Man in Black gets summoned with a Sam Elliott sarsaparilla vocal gravel that gives a story about what happens next after meeting the devil down at the crossroads. Download your copy of King Dude's 7″ here.
Ape School brings more carefree heaps of contraband to the situation with “Cocaine & Guns ASAP” from their upcoming album Junior Violence out August 7 from Hometapes.
The Mountain Goats bring us the latest single from their forthcoming album Transcendental Youth with the track “Cry for Judas.” John Darnielle comes at you with a horn section, religious imagery and a little bit of sympathy for the most misunderstood of the 12 disciples. Transcendental Youth comes out October 2 from Merge Records.
Our Australian friends Slug Guts released their new album Playin' in Time with the Deadbeat on Sacred Bones this week and celebrated with the video treatment for the shrieking bad lands of “Scum.” Here the band gathers in a crowded room with dim lights, red lights, lots of guitars, a sax and a whole lot of wonderful, terrible, incredible noise.
Has-Lo dropped the 45 “Stained Glass” this week, featuring production by Apollo Brown off of the MMG 7″ series. Apollo brings a row of horns to reinforce Lo's cool and confident delivery while the b-side “Make a Bet” features production from Illmind bringing the more piano-forward sample progressions while the narrative shifts into the mind of a gambler making a dice-y shot at the table of life in the middle of a rigged game. Get your limited edition 7″ here from the Mellow Music Group with only 300 pressed.
By now you have gotten the “Plague” from the new Crystal Castles single, but in case you missed it we got it streaming live for you to get your bubonic on.
Banned in the UK and adored in the US and everywhere are Agent Ribbons, who present their song “Family Haircut” from their forthcoming EP Let Them Talk coming September 11from Antenna Farm Records. Natalie and Laura Ribbons take the DIY haircut concept and turn into a song suite that not all the contemporary comparisons, nor genre reductionism could ever relay. Listen now, tell you friends and look out as Let Them Talk will be released as a digital five-track EP and as a very limited 7″ with bonus cuts not available digitally. Furthermore, the songs are also on classic tape via Portland's Cassingle And Loving It who are putting out the EP under the title Family Haircut in a small batch of 300 cassettes.
Homeboy Sandman dropped the track “Brown” with production from the one and only Jonti, who originally produced the track for Radiolab's Colors episode. What J does with wind chime bells never fails to amaze, while Sandman brings the lyrical “saddlebags and coffee grounds”.
Also check out Jonti's mixtape Radio Danimals episode 1. Get ready for 22 minutes of what Jonti 'the Freq Machine' himself describes: “This is a summer mix of songs I've been listening to the past few weeks. It's songs that make me wanna have fun with my friends and fall in love. Enjoy.”
Catherine Irwin from the group Freakwater released her first solo album since a decade with Little Heater out now from Thrill Jockey. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy provides some guest vocals on the cut “Mockingbird” which you can hear and strum along too now.
Mac DeMarco dropped a listen to “My Kind of Woman” from his debut album 2 droping October 16 from the one and only Captured Tracks. Mac, previously the front dude for Makeout Videotape recently turned 22 and debuted the Rock and Roll Night Club 12″ but a few months back and is coming at you with an even deeper felt sincerity heard on the featured track “Woman” that was hinted at before from his home spun-home run pop anthems like “Baby's Wearing Blue Jeans.”
Anthony Valadez dropped the video for “Just Visiting” directed by The Ports and edited by Peter Dean. LA's KCRW host joined forces with Sonnymoon's Anna Wise for the evening time track “Asleep.” Get your copy of the track via iTunes from the good folks at Plug Research.
Sophia Knapp released the Dave Bryant and Ryan Hennessee video for “The Right Place,” working with the fuzzy focuses after an eye surgery recovery inspired by plays on medium and plenty of black eyeliner. Sophia's album Into the Waves is out now from Drag City.
DJ Nu-Mark released the third 10″ from his Broken Sunlight Series with a re-edit of the multi-tracked 1972 original “Our Generation” coming at you in a whole new way. Get yours now.
Willits + Sakamoto revealed their second single from Ancient Future with the “Reticent Reminiscence” for your week's end meditative aural yoga needs. The duo releases Ancient Future July 31 from Ghostly International, pre-order here.
Get ready to do the money dance with Chippy Nonstop's new EP #MONEYDANCE101. Conceived after a show in Philadelphia, Chippy explains “I was with Two Stacks the day after the show and we decided to knock out a full EP.” Jump into the Oakland artist's satirical world of memes gone wild, East Bay style now.
OMBRE released the video for “Cara Falsa” from the album Believe You Me out now from Asthmatic Kitty. Hit play, get comfortable, and enjoy the band-made video of stereo fireworks in slow motion.
Weekend has remixed Cold Showers's “So I Can Grow” giving it the best kind of danced up scuzz this side from Scandinavia. Look out for the Showers' Decay 7″ available now from Art Fag.
With word of a recent name shortening to Jimmy MooN from Jimmy Moonboots, the Monterey artist has been taking his coastal productions to new analogue beach deck-tek densities while fostering the recent reactivation of the Peninsula's cult duo, The Slowest Ride. “Remember” is the first taste of his recent works, hinting at further foggy roads down Ocean Street and those dim lit Carmel-by-the-Sea beach bonfires that slowly burn after the tourists and locals have gone to bed.
The Kleenrz dropped “Altered States” featuring Subtitle, Alpha MC, Gajah, MURS & Volume 10 bringing you a sick cut for you and the crew to bring in the freaking weekend. Look for the Kleenerz self-titled EP July 31from Hellfyre Club.
We have your early listen to Tamaryn's lush, gauze-y, gaze-y “I'm Gone” from their upcoming album Tender New Signs coming October 16 from Mexican Summer. Get the mp3 here.
Streaming for a limited time, Parallel Thought's instrumental opus Art of Sound is out now and can be streamed here to give your a weekend a heartbeat, a pulse and a rhythm from the tales of tomorrow.
Dana Falconberry sings folk songs and is preparing her album Leelanau this October 9. We bring you Dana's ode from the land o' lakes with “Lake Charlevoix.” Enjoy dear friends.
We leave you with Bob Dylan’s upcoming song “Titanic” covered by the one and only Tim Heidecker. In his own words, “Recently, I read that Bob Dylan’s new album Tempest will feature a 14 minute song about the Titanic. So I wrote this song to see if I could beat the Master to it. I can’t wait to see how close I got to the real thing!”
