Never mind the political bollocks and lame-stream hype, as Impose’s Week in Pop presents a real cabinet-collection of heroes to root for. First, we see that Rihanna lent intimations that her new album is finished, then finally dropped ANTI this past week; Kanye West released the track list for Swish, which will also debut in theaters worldwide February 11, including Madison Square Garden, then later changed the album name Swish to Waves, and updated the track list, followed by a ridiculous (but temporary, involving a slew of deleted tweets) twitter beef with Wiz Khalifa, plus Amber Rose’s now infamous response; Savannah Stopover fest lineup buzz; Earl Sweatshirt dropped the new track “Wind in My Sails” and more; Dum Dum Girls’ Dee Dee, aka Kristin Welchez, announced her new solo endeavor, Kristin Kontrol, with word of an upcoming album this spring from Sub Pop; Animal Collective dropped an app that features the unreleased track “Lying in the Grass”; Unknown Mortal Orchestra announced massive tour, and “Can’t Keep Checking My Phone” SILICON remix; stream the new DIIV album Is the Is Are; Massive Attack dropped the Ritual Spirit EP, along with the video for “Take It There” ft. Tricky; John Congleton announced solo album Until the Horror Goes available April 1 from Fat Possum; B.o.B. versus Neil DeGrasse Tyson regarding the shape of planet earth, and it only gets weirder from there; Pearl Jam helping the Flint, Michigan water crisis matter by donating a sweet $300,000; Charli XCX is finishing up recording her follow-up to Sucker; Islands announced two new albums Taste, and Should I Remain Here at Sea? available May 13 from PledgeMusic; Diplo purchased a stake, along with TMWRK Management, at Phoenix’s Arizona United Soccer Club; The Soft Moon & Sextile are touring the West Coast now through February 5; Brian Wilson announced a world tour that will include his last live rendering of Pet Sounds; hackers versus Bob Mould, Death Cab for Cutie, Best Coast, the New Pornographers, the Postal Service, etc; Rostam Batmanglij left Vampire Weekend, but will continue to collaborate with Ezra Koenig; Martin “Pharma Bro” Shkreli versus Ghostface Killah; Future lost one of his bodyguards Michael Tanner Phillips; and we mourn the loss of Abe Vigoda, and the passing of Jefferson Airplane/Starship’s Paul Kantner.
It is now our pleasure and privilege to present exclusives and interviews from Dear Tracks, diNMachine, Jagged Leaves, New Madrid, Brothers in Law, Dia, Dizzy Wright, Dr Fadeaway, Good Morning, Howth, Lifer, featuring guest selections by Frankie Cosmos, and more—in no particular order.
Dear Tracks
When the world feels weird, cold, and uncertain we look to the dream-makers and music-makers for an aesthetic that exists as much outside of ourselves that speaks to the arts of heart that are an intrinsic part of our being. When it feels as if the despots of industry and political gatekeepers have the game rigged and the scales tipped against us; it is only natural to seek out the fellow minded vision-crafters that seek that similar sort of sacred and almost ineffable center of the mind, spirit, body, and being that we spend the bulk of our lives chasing. Repulsion from the states of our unions, the humdrum hierarchies that quantify everything like some sordid DFS obsessed set of stats & drafts have the wide-eyed & lionhearted seeking that sanctuary of freedom and elation and that sometimes exists only in the generosity shown in the inspirations of dreams themselves.
Few understand how to convey all this and more than Grand Rapids, Michigan’s Dear Tracks who continue to paint these feelings and inspirations through palettes and canvases and sound that are extracted and conveyed through the r.e.m. picture show cycles found from the arms of the soundest sleep. Following up our recent discussion on their single “All the Outs Are Free”; we have the honor and privilege of presenting the world debut of Dear Tracks’ title track “Soft Dreams” ahead of the EP’s February 26 release from Furious Hooves & Track and Field Records. Matt Messore, Victoria Ovenden, Jacob Juodawlkis, and Alex Militello deliver some of the most sincerest, honest, and endearing silks of sound stemmed from the most precious corners from the heart of the Midwest that the dream-poppers from both the east and west coast should be paying close attention to right now.
While “Soft Dreams” is stitched and inspired from Dear Tracks’ own collective experiences and feelings; the cadences from the independent imprint catalogs of yesterday and today (Sarah Records, Flying Nun, One Little Indian, mid-to-late 80s Creation, Heavenly, Slumberland, et al.) shine forth through the audio textures. The burdens and weights of surround societies become as soft as lace with the young & restless at heart-headed mentality steers focuses and desires toward celestial heights. From the vocal delivery and overall arrangement of “Soft Dreams”; every uttered note, chord, key, tone, and percussive point is sewn neatly and beautifully in place that conveys a gestalt of nearly inexplicable euphoria that will leave the listeners reaching for flowery language that only attempts to approximate the lush beauty that abounds here. To learn more about the behind the scenes processes, we caught up again with Matt Messore to further understand the Dear Tracks aesthetic and recordings ethics—featured immediately after the following debut of “Soft Dreams”.
Tell us more about that careful approaches of naturally developing parts and instrumentation into what you’ve described to us before about carrying “the melody in unison.”
Writing the songs for Soft Dreams was pieced together in segments. Each song roughly taking a few months to fully develop. Before recording for the EP, we had gotten comfortable with the songs from playing live and previously recording / demoing out. I guess every melody was layered by specific notes that we thought flowed together as one.
What is the key to allowing these kind of unified bodies of collective sound to come together naturally? Dear Tracks seems to make the process feel and sound so effortlessly.
I think it’s just trying to make it sound full by being as minimal as we can. I suppose with this method, it seems to balance out with the ideas and flows of our ideas and writing abilities.
I’m interested in hearing more about the concepts you have described to us before about embracing “peace into your life, dreams & reality” that exist behind these euphoric collages of melodies.
I try to write as sincere, honest, & accurate as I possibly can with what is on my mind or what’s is going to set me free from fact and fiction, and appreciating life for what it is. When crafting a song, I try to get lost into the melodies and follow up with a deep soundtrack to its elements.
Can you share any of the events from the past year or visions that have further contributed to the dream-like feels of Soft Dreams?
Through the summer up until early December of 2015, Alex & I pieced together a music video for “Soft Dreams”. A lot of the video features VHS footage from my childhood during 1993. We filmed the rest of the music video through a camcorder made in 1989, to keep the glitch-y VHS trails constant. I envisioned “Soft Dreams” as a personal approach to existing in a humble daydream.
What sorts of dreams in particular informed the title track, and how did that beautiful song become the centerpiece of the album?
When writing the song—”Soft Dreams”—I was reflecting a lot on my childhood. The bliss of being young and innocent, daydreaming without pain or loss. Just playing outside on a sunny day & being pure at heart. I felt the title Soft Dreams portrayed the best fitting name that was strong enough to represent the whole record.
You mentioned something about a coffee shop in Grand Rapid called Happy Cat Cafe where you can enjoy a caffeinated beverage with loving cats by your side. Has this cafe finally opened, and how has it affected your local communities?
We thought this Cat Cafe would have opened up by now but it seems that the organization hasn’t found a place to lease yet. This may just be an idea for Grand Rapids right now, but hoping one day this cafe idea actually comes together .
What has everyone been listening to, reading, watching, etc right now?
The Field Mice, Seinfeld, Twilight Zone.
Winter survival tips for all of us stuck in blizzards & related storms?
Stay indoors, wear a cozy sweater, snuggle with a kitty, & listen to some smooth tunes.
Dear Tracks’ new album Soft Dreams will be available February 26 on vinyl and cassette from Track and Field Records & Furious Hooves on multi-colored vinyl.
Jagged Leaves
Fairfax County, VA by D.C. by NYC artist Dan Penta is Jagged Leaves, who readies album Nightmare Afternoon available February 5 from Yellow K Records, and delivers the world premiere of “Low & Wet” with us today. A song about scrapping, surviving, and rising above meager means and not-exactly-always-escaping the downpour of the elements; Penta finally finds a home with Yellow K for his songs that for years were sequestered to CDRs shared among friends, family, and fellow luminaries. Among these colleagues and fans are folks like Diane Cluck, Moldy Peaches, Jeff Lewis, Langhorne Slim, and Regina Spektor who recalls the artist’s entrance into the NYC anti-folk-folds from back in 1999:
I remember hearing Dan play when I began going to the Sidewalk Cafe open mic. He had interesting lyrics and passionate delivery and always stood out as one of the unique voices in that scene.
Adam Green also described Dan’s humble beginnings from the Sidewalk Cafe days, and the honesty of his music:
Affecting poetic songs about frustration and depression, with a voice that shreds beautifully. It always feels genuine.
But it was a chance meeting with New God’s Kenny Tompkins that would get the Yellow K ball rolling, and began a tale of timeless friendship that would lead to Dan recording his Jagged Leaves album with Vincent Cacchione somewhere near Woodstock in a wintry cabin. As a result, the natural essence of the Jagged Leaves sound was born like a reborn Greenwich Village nu-folk decade that seeks for something greater beyond the stool pigeon bowler derby-wearing sets of trust fund strapped so-called vagabonds. Dan delivers without affectation or posturing, delivering honest songs ripped from the heart and soul of the human struggle for survival with arrangements fit to be pressed on vintage Vanguard wax.
“Low & Wet” begins at first simply with guitar strums, right before Dan shines the Jagged Leaves vision along with a full arrangement of organs, drums, strings, and epic accompaniment. In a masterful presentation of the two and a half-minute pop song format, the Jagged Leaves sound spells out a vibe and feeling that fits into the scene of a vibrant independent cafe or an anarchic DIY space or dive. Penta drives home the working class troubadour sentiment with vocals untreated but backed up with warm accompaniment and an arrangement that provides a kind of kindred companionship for all listening lonely hearts. With an earnest attitude and a memorable voice that rings with resolve; we had a chance to learn more about the histories of Jagged Leaves in our following interview with Dan Penta featured after the following debut of “Low & Wet”.
We’re big fans of Kenny Tompkins and his rad band New God with his brother Curt, tell us about that fateful meeting in Athens, Georgia at the Flicker Theater to your latest correspondences, conversations of interest, and interactions.
The first time I met the Tompkins brothers, they were opening for Circa Survive at Bowery Ballroom. As much a I’d love to, I’ve never played a show in Athens. The gentleman whom Kenny and Curt heard playing my song at Flicker Theater was Colby Carter, who has a band down there called Mouser. I’ve never met Colby, but we have a mutual friend named James Colvin, who plays bass currently in a band called Blankus Larry. I believe it was James who put Colby on to my music, and Colby contacted me some time back, and we exchanged some CDRs and letters and such.
Kenny and Curt are amazingly supportive. They make fantastic music. And they’re two of the sweetest sweethearts you could ever hope to meet. They’ve been nice enough to get us on some out of town bills with New God. And they’ve come up to the city a couple times to play with us. Once at Sidewalk and once at Bowery Electric. Curt’s actually coming up to play drums in Jagged Leaved at Palisades on February 5th, because Patrick Curry is touring with Air Waves right now.
One of my funnest memories is reciting a cappella Wu-Tang raps with Kenny late one night after a show in Frostburg, where Yellow K is based, and then passing around a guitar for a Hank Williams sing-a-long!
How did the jump from DC to NYC impact you creatively, and how do you describe your own type of songwriting process that you employ sometimes/always/or on occasion?
I’m not exactly from DC. I spent my teenage years in Fairfax County, VA. I drifted around there for a while after high school. It was a cultural wasteland, at least for me at the time. If you were all about hardcore punk then there was definitely something happening, something to be a part of. That was never really my thing, not in any major way. So when I came to NYC and found all these like-minded freaks, it was a revelation. I’m talking about the Moldy Peaches and Jeff Lewis and Regina Spektor and Diane Cluck and Langhorne Slim, and a couple dozen others that most people have never heard of. It changed my trajectory and my concept of what is possible.
As far as my writing process, I don’t imagine that it’s incredibly unique or exceptional. Like many writers, I feel like an intermediary, between ‘the form and the flame’, as it’s been said. Not that the songs aren’t informed by my experiences and impressions. But as far as how it actually goes down, I just strum some chords and vocalize a melody, until the mumbles become words.
Describe how Vincent Cacchione’s production assist impacted the album, along with being up in the mountains that tower over Woodstock.
I have a mass of recordings that have never really seen the light of day, and a lot of them are crap, probably because Vin didn’t produce them. He gets the music intuitively, and he has the skills and vision to make it blossom. He uses good mics, and he knows how to use them. I can get controlling and nit-picky about mixes, but I was able to just step out of that, and let Vin work his magic without my interference. Vin is also the only one besides myself who plays on every song on Nightmare Afternoon.
The Jagged Leaves album Nightmare Afternoon will be available February 5 from Yellow K Records.
Dr. Fadeaway
Alathea Reese fronts the new LA project Dr Fadeaway who just released her debut self-titled EP that shimmers like the twinkling stars that emerge above the Southern Californian skies at dusk. With a release show happening tomorrow, January 30 at the Lost Knight in LA; listen to the EP recorded with Scott Barber in Echo Park at The Barber Shop where Alathea’s previous recorded demos are materialized and realized as songs of pure passion and power.
The scene is set with the introductory ballad “Felix” that sings of a mysterious offstage figure in a bright melancholy melange of anticipated words and actions that hang on every melodic breath. The feelings reel with further vindication and strong sentiments on “Reeling” that feels ripped from the climactic apex of synth-soundtracked 80s film. The conversations continue through the curtains and veils of night on the exchanges of “Serious”, that lead to the outlaying desert brush of spikes and succulents spread about an arid landscape on the closing cut “Cactus Forest” that takes the listener deeper into the Dr Fadeaway dream world fleeting love and the promises of presence and permanence are forever at odds with each other. Under Alathea’s directions and visions, the self-titled Dr Fadeaway EP illustrates a sample of further heart-penned pop songs to hopefully soon follow.
I started making shitty songs by myself on a digital four track a couple of years ago. That eventually led me to a computer as the backbone for playing the better of some of those songs live, but I still used a drum machine, old sampler and live instruments to make demos. We recorded the EP here in Echo Park with our friend Scott Barber (The Barber Shop recording studio) which was such a great experience.
During recording we re-tracked all the beats from the drum machine with more recording friendly software but kept some of the original samples and bass lines. We added guitar parts during the process which I think really brought new life to the songs, especially since I’d been sitting with them for a while.
There is so much I want to explore in terms of soundscapes, songwriting, and playing…this is really just the beginning.
The self-titled Dr Fadeaway is available now from Bandcamp & Spotify.
Catch Dr Fadeaway playing January 30 at LA’s Lost Knight.
diNMachine
We caught up with NYC’s diNMachine after the release of Dance to Reason, and today we catch up again with the esteemed Michael J. Schumacher about the band’s new LP The Opposites of Unity from Greedy Dilettante Records, featuring the world premiere of their video for “eW.A.F.T.” made by both Schumacher and the band’s own Nisi Jacobs.
Return to the ecstatic and eclectic wold of diNMachine with Miachel & Nisi’s visuals that take you on a trip through Sunset Park in Brooklyn, the New York harbor, the Verrazano-Narrows bridge, a train ride through New Jersey, and more. As “eW.A.F.T.” as a song is centered on ideas of motion and momentum, gaze into the mandala design by Camille Laoang, witness the whirling dog Jimmy, birds in flight, to the shaky clusters of leaves gathered by a chain linked fence. The visuals further illustrate all the grooves involved on the track being sprung to life and applied to the animated and alive world around us that we all inhabit.
Michael Schumacher discussed the video with us with the following insights:
This is Nisi and my first video together. I’m the director and she’s everything else: editor, colorist, FX coordinator…
Most of the footage was captured on my iPhone. There’s a train ride through New Jersey, images of Sunset Park Brooklyn, New York Harbor and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The “mandala” image is by artist Camille Laoang. That’s Jimmy the dog spinning in circles.
The themes originate in the song: twitchy grooves, sunshine, the clackety rhythm of trains, the whorl of space, a bird in flight. Mostly I was trying to capture the sense of movement and momentum the song gives to me.
The pop music envelopes continue to be pushed by diNMachine on The Opposites of Unity where composition minded creations roll forth into new forms and self-styled structures that defy convention and pigeon holing. The opening track experienced in the previous video debut of “eW.A.F.T.” illustrates this in a rhythmic wind-tunnel runnel that re-definies the soundtrack to your morning commute spent with ear-buds plugged in on public transit. Nu-New York styles of jazz and rhyme rolls forward on “Jabbr Wawky” that exhibits sounds heard about Sunset Park in Brooklyn and features bars and verses from Black Saturn that keeps the cosmic collage firmly grounded together. “Brisé” rides through a variety of understated frequencies made for choreographer Liz Gerring that is the sound of an early morning evolving into day, with “Dbl Trbl” sounding like a funky & fresh take on a Carnival street fair celebration. The everything and the kitchen sink approach continues on a masterful course on the “Give and Go” where the collective chaos always remains in control, while the 15 minute closing stunner “Fawcett” is the kind of rhythmic, atmospheric roller-coaster music majors could write a thousand theses on.
Michael Schumacher provided the following introductory preface on the new record The Opposites of Unity with the following insights:
“Rock and…”
Rock is our starting point and we go anywhere from there. Drones, EDM, Prog, Latin, Funk. Even Baroque counterpoint. Rock musicians have traditionally been multitaskers. John Lennon was a poet and an artist. Miles Davis, who made his share of rock music, was a boxer. David Byrne is a photographer, a writer, a sound artist, and is now composing broadway musicals. Thurston Moore is a book collector. Jim O’Rourke does pretty much everything.
So why not embrace the other part of that sentence, the “…”?
With thirty plus years of making music behind me I want to make rock music that embraces the varied experiences of life, that isn’t just designed to accompany or enhance a specific range of emotions. As people get older, don’t their musical horizons expand, don’t their tastes shift? The music industry wants to grab their attention early and hold on to it through nostalgia. I say that musicians can grow and expand as well, that a middle-aged rock band doesn’t have to make the same music they were making when they were twenty-five.
When I compose, I’m looking for a catalyst, for a germ, an idea, that’s going to kick off the song. With this record, mostly it came from synth lines. As often as not that initial impetus will end up pretty buried under the things it inspired. So for example in “eWAFT”, the first thing was a bass synth track that kind of pulses along underneath. Eventually I pitched it to go with the string pad. In “Jabbr Wawky” the original riff was the talking bass line that comes in at 0:33. The riff suggests a tempo, a tonality, a groove and a vibe. It’s like the first four notes of the famous Fifth Symphony. The rest of the movement all derives from that first cell.
Neo-PrAgUe-PhUNK is what I’m calling our “genre”. Neo is the character from the Matrix who’s new. Prague is Europe but it’s also progressive. PhUNK is funk and punk.
“Jabbr Wawky” is my favorite track, merging non-linear form, grooves, low-end, evocative melodies, field recordings and a great rap. It’s like a Bach fugue, there’s a part where five melodies are playing at the same time but you barely notice because it’s so easy to listen to.
Sound sources from “Jabbr Wawky”: an air-horn signalling the start of a swim meet in the ocean near San Francisco; a street musician playing flute in Mexico City; someone whistling; an auctioneer selling off stuff in a foreclosed restaurant in New York City; a ping pong game in the student center where I teach; shooting pool in a Brooklyn bar…
Black Saturn’s rap tied the whole thing together, delineating the sections perfectly. Somehow he intuited the core and made it clearer. It makes the song feel shorter, too, which is a good thing.
“Fawcett” uses recordings of water pipes for the drones. In New York, the pipes can make terrific noises, I guess maybe air gets into them and they start to resonate. I tuned the recordings to make chords.
I used to compose a lot of drones, often using a prepared electric guitar. My second solo release was called “Fidicin Drones”, which I recorded in Berlin, on the Fidicin St., using a Hohner guitar with E-bow, files, saw blades, pieces of rubber and the horse hair from a bass bow. I have a Soundcloud playlist with some of my drone compositions:
The “Freddie the Freeloader” quote in “Fawcett” is intentional.
Greedy Dilettante (Garrett Frierson and Chris Butler) added some crucial input towards the end of the mixing process. The songs are dense and they encouraged Marcelo and I to open things up where we could. Going forward (we’ve got another release planned for “asap”) they’ll be co-producing our next record, helping with a “diNBox” which is a piece of hardware that plays random sounds and considering a physical release (LP?) of The Opposites of Unity.
I have to thank Joshua Fried for introducing us to Marcelo Añez, who mixed the record. I love his approach. He’s Venezuelan and spent a lot of time in Miami working with Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. He’s got a Latin Grammy. He’s also experienced in theater, film and live sound, so he’s bringing this huge range of aural knowledge to the table.
I compose using chance operations, like John Cage did. I ask questions: when should this change happen; what order should these notes be in; what synthesizer patch should I use? It’s also a very useful technique for modulating effects; I’d rather set up a Max patch and let it do its thing than play the knobs. It makes the process interactive, you respond to the randomized signal rather than “feeling” it.
When I was 16, I told my piano teacher Seymour Bernstein that I wanted to write music that combined my love of both rock, R&B and classical, but I got sidetracked with a long (and ongoing) detour into sound art.
diNMachine’s The Opposites of Unity is available now from Greedy Dilettante Records / Bandcamp.
New Madrid
Athens, Georgia’s New Madrid have been prepping for upcoming appearance at Savannah Stopover, SxSW, the April release of their third album magnetkingmagnetqueen (via Normaltown Records), and today present the world premiere of their VHS shot video for “Don’t Hold Me Now” from Triathalon’s Adam Intrator. The quartet of guitarists / vocalists Phil McGill, Graham Powers, bassist Ben Hackett, with percussionist Alex Woolley weave together sounds that are ripped from shared consciousness considerations where the lyrics are woven together like the sailing wind that inspires the strings of an aeolian harp.
New Madrid’s video for “Don’t Hold Me Now” from Adam Intrator & Chad Chilton captured the band in their element through the analog VHS format where kaleidoscopic and hallucinatory effects compliment the band’s motorik-psych sensibilities. From here the band trips through the windows and passages of new frontiers that look and feel like an alternate version of a forgotten lysergic yesteryear. New Madrid dusts off the VCR head-readers and programs the dials for the feel of a future fast-forward adventure where the video camera becomes something of a time machine with one foot indebted to the influences and advancements of the past, and the other seeking a style and sound that has yet to have it’s parameters defined and extolled to the masses. The New Madrid gang here becomes altered by the vintage veering effects that finds them bathed in bright 80s neon-rays of color, and abstract designs that feel at times ripped from a 90s MTV video, or a psyched-out 60s tour video found in the deep recesses of YouTube’s infinite archive arsenal of collective media. For those late to the New Madrid party, there is no better time than now to take the ticket to a sound that surrounds you with the synergy of a four-piece in sync together on something of a psychic level. Phil McGill took the time to tell us all about it in the following interview featured right after the debut of “Don’t Hold Me Now”.
Describe the regal fascinations that informed the album magnetkingmagnetqueen.
Contradictions, always privy to meditation. Kings and queens and however those traditional power structures manifest themselves today. Patience or the lack thereof. It’s focused on rhythm, it doesn’t take too many breaths. Powerlessness. fixation. A lot of the lyrics were written after the music, so that had an equal amount of influence on the content of the record. The songs are from all over the place, some were written on the road, others at home. One of the songs I heard for the first time in a dream. Dead batteries. entertainment. Quicker bursts.
What is the story behind the song of denied embraces, “Don’t Hold Me Now”?
I had been listening to the Modern Lovers a good bit, cause the CD was stuck in my CD player, just over and over. And “Astral Plane” was where I traced some of the initial lyrics that just came out while playing the song but the chords and the words came out almost simultaneously with this one, I’m still learning its story.
The song can about the frustration you feel when someone wakes you up from a really great dream, or on the flip side of how good it feels, even if momentary, when someone wakes you up from a nightmare. A lot of times it’s nobody else at all and it’s you that wakes yourself up from that dream. That can be a real bummer.
Tell us about adapting it into the tripped-out video.
The video was a collaboration with some of our friends in another band from Savannah, GA called Triathalon. We had wanted to make a music video together for sometime, but it hadn’t made sense. We went down to Savannah when we were nearing completion of the record, sort of a natural breather, drive to the beach in Georgia. We didn’t eat anything but low country boil the whole couple of days. They have a good VHS collection so we watched some Gummo, Blank Check, and Blair Witch Project. We played the song a total of 63 times, we we’re delirious by the two days end.
Some of Adam Intrator from Triathalon’s thoughts:
You know when we were in film school we had access to all these beautiful cameras and anytime we had the chance to use them there was too much focus on the camera and not enough focus on the experience and the interaction between the characters and their surroundings. That’s why Chad and I love the VHS camera. It’s not intimating what so ever. People tend to get camera shy due to the excessive amount of people on a set just all looking at you. With the VHS there’s no pressure. It’s basically a toy. I also just love the aesthetic it creates. When playing it back on a tape you already fall into the moments you’ve captured rather than these planned out crazy fucking shots that a team of people have spent weeks on. See, the VHS Just feels like a natural form of communication between how the people behind and the people in front of the camera truly act. It’s fun and silly and I’m glad you can still find them on eBay.
What’s next for New Madrid?
We are putting out a new record in late April. ‘Till then we’ll be working and playing in Athens, some maybe some other places we find ourselves. We are playing some festivals in March, Savannah Stopover, SXSW and other shows to be announced soon. Our live set will start resembling its old self more and more as winter turns to spring. We’ll still craiglisting, hustling, grinding building up our attic studio as well.
New Madrid’s third album magnetkingmagnetqueen will be available in April from New West Records’ imprint, Normaltown Records.
Howth
Howth’s creative powerhouse Carl Creighton at Shea Stadium, photographed by Christie McMenamin.
With an upcoming Shea Stadium residency in the month of February, and word of an upcoming album titled Heimlich coming soon; Howth presents a first look at the video for “Building a Machine” taken off the Trashy Milky Nothing Town album, accompanied by insights from frontman/video maker Carl Creighton himself. Never an artist to sit still for what seems like a time longer than a five minute stretch, the upcoming Howth residency finds them playing February 9 with Miniboone (one of their last shows), Thee Creeps February 22, Lost Gloves February 1, A Deer A Horse February 15; Carl’s video for “Building a Machine” focuses on the lesser known lives of action figures presented in all of its stop-action glory. “Building a Machine” depicts the robotic androids battling a malleable machine made out of green and purple clay where the clash is depicted in time and tune to the methodical art garage sound of Howth as we are privy to the creative struggle of the miniature toy robots.
Carl lent the following thoughts on making the video:
I started making a music video for a song from Heimlich but we’re not ready to release the song. So why not make a music video for “Building A Machine”!
The first idea was to get a Donatello action figure since the song’s about him. But they all sucked. So I bought some green and purple Play-Doh. And stikbots! I love stikbots now!! I want to have kids just so we can play with stikbots. Not that you have to be a kid to play with stikbots. Clearly.
I’ve never made a stop motion video before (unless you count this as stop motion though that’s kinda pushing it) but it was pretty easy!! Everybody should do it! Right now!
I’d also like to thank Stanley Kubrick (RIP), Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino for inspiring some of my artistic decisions! You guys rock!
It would be amazing if this got to Tarantino somehow. I think he’d think it was funny! I was watching an interview of him for Hateful Eight and it seems like we had similar processes. I wrote mine without a plan too.
We also give you Howth performing “Building a Machine” live at Le Poisson Rouge that features Carl lamenting the loss of David Bowie, and Joe talking about the stars on Carl’s shirt.
On the heels of your TMNT album and a plethora of side solo releases and gigs; give us the premise and road that has taken you to Heimlich.
There was an interview of Henry Heimlich on Radiolab that was really fascinating. He saved so many lives with his maneuver, but also performed studies testing malaria on people with last stage AIDS. It’s like he was more interested in innovating than serving humanity.
I’ve been learning about Gore Vidal’s historical fiction lately and I think it’s the same deal with my music. Like the ninja turtle album (TMNT), it’s taking an existing story and making a new allegory out of it. Like a Buzzfeed article, only an album. Satire but full of emotion through the music.
The Heimlich maneuver has significance in my life because my dad saved me from choking on an ice cube once with it too! Thanks Dad (RIP)! Thanks Heimlich!
What are you the most excited about with your forthcoming residency at Shea Stadium?
All the bands!! The ethereal Oracle Room is headlining the first one on February 1 with lively Lost Gloves opening. Then Miniboone (who only have a few shows left) and Robot Princess on February 9. Sea Ghost (from Georgia!) and A Deer A Horse on February 15. Finally Thee Creeps (NJ) and Cult Vacation on February 22.
What else have you already started working on?
The songs for Heimlich are all written, we just have to finish recording and all that. Now I’m writing songs about Jeffrey Dahmer and Winnie the Pooh for separate albums. Trying to get a good record label to support us.
Other things in 2016 that you are really excited about?
Bernie Sanders becoming president. Trying that new ice cream.
For more info on Howth’s upcoming She Stadium residency check out all the details via Facebook, and the following flier:
Good Morning
As Melbourne, Australia continues its prolific dominance, we present you with the new Solitaire Recordings EP Glory from Good Morning that follows their Shawcross EP with lazy hymns to alleviate your snowed-in winter depression. Comprised of Liam Parsons and Stefan Blair, the pair take on the every day feelings that surround the day to day world that seek out that moment of pause and breathe through the lo-fi lens of warmth and heart.
The opener “Overslept” rises out of the half-awake haze with a refrain of “what in the world should I say” that initiates the waking-up world of Good Morning’s Glory. “Cab Deg” has that warped and warbled soundtrack to play while making your morning pour-over coffee, right before dipping into the home demo designed luster of “To Be Won” that basks in the primitive pulse of chord-to-key relations. “Give Me Something To Do” delivers an eclectic moment that provides a musical view into the genuine eclectic nature of the duo that sounds like a lost-Captured Tracks single, continuing the day commencing motif on “The Great Start” that provides a score to accompany your breakfast/brunch break, leading you right on your way with “In The Way” that carries on the musings of the day through the barely conscious course of rhythmic strums that is all explanations and apologies. If these past few EPs are any indication, Good Morning are poised to drop a head turning full-length at some point that could have the whole music world talking.
One of the lead song writers/singers/guitarists from Good Morning Stefan Blair shared the following preface/intro/prologue/prelude on Glory:
Glory was recorded in Lorne, Victoria over a five day period in June of 2015. The whole EP was recorded to be continuous from start to finish. Lyrically, it delves into the glorious lives of Parsons and Blair, from morning glory, to afternoon successes. We hope you can enjoy some good morning glory too.
Good Morning’s Glory is available now via Solitaire Recordings / Bandcamp.
Lifer
Meet Brooklyn’s Lifer that delivers thoughts and sentiments ripped from days spent traversing about the city, and translated by way of home recorded expressions. Singles like “Detergent” seeks to “feel like I should” based upon the recommendation of others where observations accumulate in a minimalist electric new romantic approach. Through scopes of scuzz and emotive chords & keys, inner feelings spill forth on singles like “Hair” and “Killing Time” that haunt on account of their own relatable reaches from lyrics and progressions made to strike the heart’s most earnest core. In the artist’s own words:
I moved to New York a little over two years ago and quickly felt like I might have missed the best period to be here. The tracks are primarily about making it work here and the realization that this lifestyle might be draining whatever it is was that made me want to make music in the first place. They are also about using whatever people, chemicals etc I can find to not let that feeling completely fade. I never knew why people always made worse music as they got older but I think I’m starting to get it.
Dia
We introduced you to Dia (oka Danielle Birrittella) with the debut of “Covered in Light”, and we are honored and privileged to present the evocative and gorgeous title track “Tiny Ocean” that collides like bodies of water splashing waves on the sands of land. From the EP of the same name available February 5 from Heliophila, the continued sea-sung sentiments from Danielle rekindle the mind’s most sacred and guarded memories saturated in sepia-toned scenes like film reel collections of vintage photographic stills in zoetrope-like succession.
“Tiny Ocean” combines the choral and the electro elements together to encompass the feelings, affections, and inner-thoughts that are conveyed like the ocean songs of present and past sung through the chambers of a spiraling seashell. The New England by LA artist bridges the restrained electronic retaining wall of ebbing ambience that meets the sweet strings, and accompaniment from Joey Waronker, Tim Carr, and Frankie Siragusa that creates a sea of sound and feelings unto itself. Notions of love shared from the past arrive into present and future perspectives where Danielle allows the song to cycle on accord of the ripples and swells that stir together a paradox of both sadness and a serenity that words alone cannot express.
Danielle shared some reflections on her oceanic attachments, obsessions, and what the title track “Tiny Ocean” continues to mean to her:
I am oceanically attached. I moved across the country, from one ocean to the other, to be closer to light. When I started writing songs, shortly thereafter, everything became about water. I was heartbroken and I wanted to find a way to express the massiveness of what I felt. I wanted to take the experience outside of myself to show what I was willing to surrender for it—a tiny microcosm of something vast, gravitational, planetary, etc.
There is the space of the ocean, its endless movement, its heaviness and pulse, its light and flashes, touched by the sun to recede again into darkness. Oh, and then, there is its crashing, smacking violence! And these two manifestations, of the same thing, are the parts of the song, and the memory of the experience.
The ocean is still all of this…and I am literally learning to surf now. Ha. Maybe that will change things but, in some ways, I hope not too much.
Catch Danielle on the following February tour dates:
February
02 Hotel Utah S.F.
03 Alberta Street (TBD) – Portland
04 Railway Club – Vancouver
05 Cafe Racer – Seattle
06 Public House – Ashland
07 Night Light – Oakland
19 Ace Hotel – P.S.
Dizzy Wright
Dizzy Wright returns with the video for “Plotting” off his February 5 slated album Wisdom and Good Vibes that marks his first release since his splint from the Funk Volume imprint. Also the nephew of Layzie Bone, the Las Vegas emcee (who even cultivates his own brand of strain called Dizzy OG) here reflects on the tribulations and life transitions presented here in the neighborhood crusing b/w visuals from Jakob Owens. Wright introduces the new chapter and cycle post-Funk Volume implosion with the following words:
This is my most musical album, meaning we brought live instrumentation into the studio, despite everything that’s going on, I’m in a really good space right now and this project reflects that. This past year I’ve dedicated time to learning more about life and the business and everything around me. I’ve surrounded myself with good, smart people and we’re learning from each other. And I’m always about keeping it positive so that’s why I called this project Wisdom and Good Vibes.
Brothers In Law
Brothers in Law lend a listen to their new album Raise available today from We Were Never Being Boring. The Pesaro band of brothers follows up Hard Times for Dreamers with the sound and glimmer of hope of pure garage pop bliss. Real life brothers-in-law Giacomo Stolzini, Nicola Lampredi (who you might recall from fellow WWNBB band Be Forest), Andrea Guagneli, & Lorenzo Musto follow-up the bleakness of their previous album Hard Times For Dreamers with an actualized vindication and realized vision for dreamers at heart.
And from the get-go, Brothers In Law bring out the big sound of the sweetest visions yet with the devastatingly beautiful kick-off “Oh, Sweet Song”, shedding the burdens and b.s. on the illustrious shine of “All The Weight”. Keeping the yin and yang balance considerations intact, “Life Burns” provides the counter weight to the previous cut, before bringing in the big bright expanses of audio landscapes on “Middle Of Nowhere”, right as you are brought into what feels like almost another dimension in the looking glass on “Through the Mirror”. Balancing the ecstasy with the human experience of agony, “No More Tears” dries all forlorn eyes in a nearly five minute epic, continuing along a midday path on the composition “Compose (Leaves I)”, that gently careens into the album’s grand finale that once again provides the counter weight to the former with “Tear Apart (Leaves II)” that meticulously balances out the entire album in a state of natural zen that one must hear and experience to truly believe.
We Were Never Being Boring operator Samuele Palazzi was kind enough to personally translate the following interview with Brothers In Law originally featured in the Italian fanzine Rockit music:
Almost three years have passed since the release of Hard Times for Dreamers. What happened in the meanwhile?
Yes it’s already been three long years since Hard Times For Dreamers, three years in which each of us has grown and evolved. Many things have changed in our lives and it occurred naturally to look for something more, seeking answers inside each one of us wondering what were we looking for. All of that reflected in our music; we began by adding a full drum-set and a bass guitar (Lorenzo Musto) to cover all frequencies to get to the sound we had in mind, and as a consequence we opened new writing opportunities and a different approach to the live show.
Raise sounds like a very positive title, especially compared to its predecessor: it makes me think of that inner power each one of us has to push through hard times and create new horizons.
You already answered the question in part. We needed a title that could briefly summarize the idea behind this album and all the potential we were aspiring to. We are more positive and far from the desolate attitude of our first album, and we wanted to leave space for a more open attitude: “Life burns fast, don’t forget it.” The songs on this album don’t have a common trait and talk about different things: the search of ourselves and the things that make us feel good, making decisions, moving on, facing day to day life…we get to talk about our mortality.
It seems like in “Raise” you maintained your characterizing sound, but opening the door to dream-pop horizons. How did you deal with the search for this sound?
Our references were different this time and we weren’t just influenced directly by a specific band or record. It would be difficult to make a list, but we probably borrowed something from all the music we love. What is important to us is the way we tried to give it back.
Hard Times for Dreamers was extremely well received and you toured quite a bit with it, arriving as well to perform at SxSW. What do you expect from this new album?
We hope people will like our new direction and the work we put into this album, and most of all we hope everyone will enjoy our shows! The expectations are simple but important, probably common to everyone who plays: getting our music to the people and playing as much as possible playing great shows. At this point in our career thinking about a destination is a bit too early…perhaps one day we could become a reference for someone…
Brothers In Law’s Raise is available now from We Were Never Being Boring.
Montreal’s Mind Bath presents the CSCN single “Bad Timing” along with the “Bedroom Dub” made with collaborator Project Pablo. The result is a stewing brew of percussive and atmospheric elements that work together with the emotive inflected delivery that creates a kind of boudoir chamber cadence that imagines the most modern chic and palatial expanses of intimate spaces and exotic places. Mind Bath has an EP in the works, along with a forthcoming follow-up to the Paradise EP from his other project Cafe Lanai.
Golden Void present the video for “Dervishing” off their Thrill Jockey album Berkana. Drawing from footage of the 1970 short film Knot Without Hope that was shot by Golden Void bassist Aaron Morgan’s dad David R. Morgan. Golden Void’s chorus of chords, and triumphant melodies are here accompanied by vocals of a beatnik-looking protagonist who finds himself somewhat alienated and isolated at the lapping waves of a desolate shore.
Like a gathering of your favorite DIY denizens, check out the following comp PIZZAHUG: A Split Compilation of shared love between Denver imprint Grouphug and Brooklyn’s King Pizza Records. Here a handful of independently willed & minded obscurities from Panther Martin with “Suitcases”, Marti & the Dads’ “Two Way Traffic”, the dawn breaking “Gone Before Morning” from Family Hahas, Civil Engineer’s sound settlement of “Settle”, the lo-fi fuzz & skronk of Heavy Flow’s “Hangin’ Round”, surf-sideshow surrealness on The Fucktons’ “Speed Dial”, the premiere of the wind-tunnel scuzz of Ultragross’s “Mom Jeans”, to the homecoming belle of the ball slacker style of The Rizzos’ “Prom Mom”, and still so much more. This is the collaborative comp that you don’t want to miss.
Experience for yourself Craft Spells’ Midnight Render Nausea rebuild of “Changing Faces” (Aimai Remix) that discovers new beat deluxe expansions and freshly discovered audio outlets that shine like futuristic metropolises at night. Hear Justin’s vocals become engulfed in the mix’s dance debonair style of sophistication that simulates and recreates the feel of rolling about the streets of your favorite city after dark.
Say hello to felte‘s new signing, Ashley Shadow, aka Vancouver’s Amber Webber of whom you already might know from Lightning Dust, bassist for The Organ, with featured vocal spots heard on The Cave Singers’ Welcome Joy, Pink Mountaintop’s Outside Love, Bonnie Prince Billy’s Lie Down In The Light, and probably a few others that we’re forgetting. With the self-titled Ashley Shadow album available April 15, hear the entrancing call of evening events and intimate expressions heard through strums and light fuzzy treatments that have all the intonations of late night expressions.
Check out SATE’s wild video for “What Did I Do” featuring Cree Summer from Cazhmere where the question is taken beyond the rhetorical inquiries into a super visceral experience captured in all it’s ultra-intense glory.
Helsinki’s Feels follow-up their recent single “If You’d Meet Me Tonight” with the gravity defying sentiments and synth-tinged sequences of “Weightless”. The weightlessness feeling are here expressed by Sofi Meronen, keyboardist Mikael Myrskog, along with Jooel Jons’ production sensibilities that synthesize together a sound that seeks to simulate sensations of feelings and stimulates the nervous system network of sensory triggers.
Jenny Gillespie presents a listen to her album Cure for Dreaming available today from Narooma Records. Listen as a rich and wondrous backing from musicians like Paul Bryan, Jay Bellerose, Chris Bruce, Gerry Leonard, Greg Leisz, and more further elevate Gillespie’s vocals that reverberate through the soul & consciousness.
From the Lyon, France based AB Records family, hear the compilation Go Goal 1 that features artists like Satellite Jockey performing DIY numbers like “Modernity”, Hawaii Werewolf’s garage pop thrasher “Heavy Drinking Soda”, The Scarlateens taking on The Pastels’ classic “Nothing To Be Done”, and more insta-classics. Sierra Manhattan sends along some super-sleepy-sunny day vibes with “Tuesday”, the shamble-core shine on Collection’s “Ghosts”, the spiritual psych-world on Swan Morgan’s “मृत”, Syd Barrett styling/trap tribute “Bossa Nova” from Astronomy Domine, the perception-perfection on KCIDY’s “Can’t See”, to the haunted electro-realm on Vince Dolphin’s cover of Joe Dassin’s “L’été indien”, right before leaving you with the snazzy electrics on Regis Turner’s “Multiples Femmes”.
NYC’s D.I.T.C. dropped the new track track “Diggin Number” featuring AG, OC, Fat Joe, & production from J Clyde off their upcoming D.I.T.C. Studios compilation available later this spring. Tune in now to some of the latest NYC grooves and vibes where Clyde keeps that brass resonate beneath the rhymes and rhythms.
Featured in Singles Club Issue 008; we bring you the duo of Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa who deliver their groundbreaking single “Payapaya” that works in ways that genre and stylistic adjectives alone cannot contain. Wong’s renounced guitar work goes in every which direction that ignites all corners of the mind’s ears, as Takako’s vocals run amok about the maximalist (yet strikingly minimalist) mix recorded at home in Tokyo in what were are told from the duo was created in four hours time. Not to be missed.
Check out IX’s new single “Love You Simple” from Marnix Dorrestein’s that delivers some melodic pop romantic fare. Marnix described the new single to us with the following words:
As the title suggests it’s a simple love song but production wise it’s a build up from a stripped down synth in the first verse to Beach Boys style harmony vocals in the chorus leading to an African inspired groove at the end. A song to sing to your new lover, long-time partner or love lost.
TW Walsh shares a listen from the forthcoming Graveface album Fruitless Research available February 12, and we tune you into the single “Public Radio” that emits a plethora of haunted-fi frequencies. Working in swashes and templates that recall fellow GR staples like Black Moth Super Rainbow/TOBACCO etc; “Public Radio” provides that surprise home-crafted bouquet of pop pleasantries that burrow into your brain just like any good ear-worm does.
Check out a viewing of the Flying Lotus soundtracked short film FUCKKKYOUUU from Eddie Alcazar, currently playing now at Sundance. Listen as the Brainfeeder master and ambient wizard delivers the latest atmospheres that boil from the subterranean spheres and upward toward the earth’s outer crust surface.
Put a dash of spring and summer buzz into your wintertime humdrum bummer mode with Memoir’s sun-kissed single and testament to being awake and alive in the world on “Glad To Be Alive”.
Hear an advance to Linden’s upcoming single “Bones” available along with the other featured a-side “Broken Glass” available February 5 from AED / Slumberland Records. From Joe McAlinden’s (Superstar, BMX Bandits) Rest And Be Thanksful album, the o.g. DIY power pop artist continues to pen songs that stream sentiments straight from the heart and to the ears of the people.
Watch the Tash Tung & Xiao Wei Lu video for Avante Black’s “Imaginary Love” single delivers macabre convenience store scenes sensationalized to the midnight vocal pop moods. Catch the group’s Ottilia & Emil (from Sweden), bassist Gabs (from Italy), & percussionist Dean (from the UK) performing their debut headline show February 9 at London’s The Waiting Room.
Warsaw cassette label Pawlacz Perski just dropped release number 35 with the compilation Doubts featuring words from FOQL and RNA2, Mirt, Meeting By Chance, Rhythm Baboon, Michal Wolski, and more ambient artists and sweets to further illuminate your night and day.
In case you missed it, indulge yourself with the cool single from Matthew E. White via “Cool Out” featuring Natalie Prass that will provide some chic duet-electro action to help defrost your surrounding snowed-in weather conditions.
Flowers this week delivered us a sweet, spoon-full of perfect scuzz-pop sugar to help the medicine go down with the excellent single “Bitter Pill” taken from their forthcoming Everybody’s Dying To Meet You available February 12 from Fortuna POP!/Kanine.
Check out Virgin Kids’ video for “My Alone” off the forthcoming Greasewheel album debut album March 14 from Burger Records / Fluffer Records where the London loves provide a pastiche of self-made visuals to further capture the excitement and energy of their sound and live performances.
Big Black Delta (who you know as Mellowdrone and M83’s Jonathan Bates’s solo offshoot) dropped the 8-bit meets the big pop/big time with “Kid Icarus” found off the forthcoming album Trágame Tierra.
And just for fun, we bring you a really chilled-out and laid-back cover of Kanye’s “Paranoid” from The Landing that turns the song into the sound of a vacation resort get away sort of escapism. While covers can be dodgy, this is dare we say something impressive. Yeezy himself might even approve. Maybe.
Introducing the rising London artist TĀLĀ who dropped her low-lit evening atmospheric electro-vibes on the video for her single “Wolfpack” ft. BANKS found off her lauded Malika EP. Keep an ear out for further futuristic rhythm & blues workings from TĀLĀ.
Autolux dropped the Thomas McMahan animated video for “Change My Head”, the a-side from the forthcoming single available April 1 via Danger Mouse’s 30th Century Records. Autolux’s epic-piano lead motions here are provided with a treat that involves a strange brew of computer rendered and analog animated bedfellows of the abstract and impressionistic at heart.
Behold the video from Charles-André Coderre for Suuns’ electric-psych bathed single of twisted tongues & minds, “Translate” (that also comes replete with the Dark Sky “Psych” remix), off Hold/Still available April 15 from Secretly Canadian.
Groove along with Bibio’s own self-made video for the lo-fi AM radio funk-trunk sensations of “Feeling” off the forthcoming album A Mineral Love available April 1 from Warp Records. We invite you to immerse yourself in the following audio/visual time warp now.
Hear the latest reflective strums and thought streams from Nap Eyes with “Lion in Chains” off the forthcoming album Thought Rock Fish ScaleParadise of Bachelors. This is that rustic folk-ish sound for those that don’t care for folk or trad styles typically.
Adult Books presents the Thomas Kanschat video for “Suburban Girlfriend” from the upcoming album Running from the Blows available March 4 from Lolipop Records. While living it up around the neighborhood, Adult Books sing of local desires of finding that special someone to enjoy a sweet, suburban lifestyle with.
Dead Stars’ second album Bright Colors will be available March 4 through their Weird Tree Records imprint and we got their power garage popping single “In My Mind” that exhibits thoughts shared among a plethora of crunchy guitar hooks.
Young & Sick re-worked Bent Denim’s “City of Gardens” with the Dad-Dance Remix, with their album debut Romances You available on wax from Anette Records. The bucolic-metropolis visions here are tricked-out with a new dance move kind-of-groove that you can play for your mom, dad, and the whole family.
Béatrice Martin, aka Coeur de Pirate, dropped the Martin C Pariseau video for “I Don’t Want to Break Your Heart” that features vocals and a verse from Allan Kingdom while currently touring through March 24.
The good folks at Matador have launched the interactive “This Day in Matador” site, sharing the classic 1997 “What’s Up Matador” show that features Liz Phair, Ira Kaplan, Bill Boggs, & more.
La Sera dropped the Jason Lester video for “High Notes” that heralds back to vintage “Hee Haw” musical charm off her forthcoming Music For Listening to Music available March 4 from Polyvinyl. It starts like any classic old-timey country musical variety show that goes way way out of hand.
Detroit’s Finale presents the video for “Spike The Punch” directed by Gustav featuring locales from Paris from a recent tour found from his album Odds & Ends (that features production from the DMV’s own Oddisee) available now from Mello Music Group. Meditations, reflections, and prayers blend together in a delivery that embraces life indulgences with thoughts on celebrating the sweetness of the world with an honest mind on mortality.
Your Brooklyn faves The So So Glos return with word of their new upcoming album Kamikaze available later this year from Votiv, and today we are here to push you off the deep end diving board of “A.D.D. Life” that drops a little bit of something that many of us can totally relate to. The band runs through the mental motions experiences of what happens when plagued by myriad impulses and urges that cause for constant fascination, and yet delay a variety of other pertinent tasks and more. In the band’s own words on their forthcoming record:
[Kamikaze is] an angrier and more direct record than anything we’ve put forward before. We’ve turned up the contrast, making the darks darker, the lights lighter, the loud louder, and the quiet quieter.
We invite you to dive into the electro-matrix of intrigue, fascination and digital dangers that lurk at every turn on Kowton’s “Shots Fired” found off Utility available April 15 from Livity Sound.
Watch the video for MuteMath’s “Monument” that focuses on Charles “LaLa” Evans from Starkville, Mississippi whose home pays tribute to his dearly departed childhood sweetheart and wife of nearly 60 years, Louise. Find this and more off the band’s album Vitals.
Operators lead by Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs/Divine Fits/etc’s Dan Boeckner drop the album Blue Wave April 1 from Last Gang Records, and we bring you a listen to the single “Cold Light” that delivers the sounds of pop that follows up EP1. Wish shades of the electro side of the Furs and more, Boeckner brings the passion of the winter cold with bursts of light that signal the wonders of a beautiful spring.
Peep Gang of Youths’ new b/w video for “Magnolia” from Josh Harris & Thomas Smeets that centers on frontman David Le’aupepe’s super slick dance moves that are choreographed in time to their epic sound.
Watch Adam Lempel’s video for “Berlin” featuring Amanda Glasser that showcases sentiments sent forth from German excursions involving nights and days spent living it up, catching good sounds, and a plethora of decadent performance arts unveiled before all of your senses. Find this on Adam’s forthcoming Still Life available in February from Friends Records.
Watch the Joe Martinez video of ocean-washed sentiments to help you keep that serene calm on “Yonder Blue”, featuring Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley from Tortoise’s new album The Catastrophist available now from Thrill Jockey.
London’s Jelani Blackman returns with “Submarine” (featuring co-production from FRED) that takes you on a sub-aquatic adventure that Steve Zissou and the gang might approve of off his upcoming 1-4 EP available February 19 from Quality Time Recordings.
Peep the self-made video for “Yucca Street”, the title track off Alexei Shishkin’s second album available February 19 from Forged Artifacts. Shishkin’s song of street strolling sentiments is illustrated from city strolls, to the sectors of subterranean transit systems.
Some gals & guys have all the luck, and that’s why we give you the super sweet single “Lucky Penny” from Luke Top’s debut solo album Suspect Highs available March 4 from Grand Gallop and Org Music. The sound of a night spent at the local county or state fair comes to full fun and fruition here with a blend of nostalgic sounds and future anticipation.
Journey out into the great wonders of the Joshua Tree desert with Korey Dane as he provides a prologue and a acoustic performance of the firm hearted/warm blooded cut “The Lion & The Keeper” at Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, found off Korey’s album Youngblood.
Through the Sparks deliver the motor-way rocking single “The Driveway” that delivers dive bar thrills and road trip ready feels off the upcoming album Transindifference available March 18 from the gracious folks at Communicating Vessels.
Sound of Ceres’s (Candy Claws’ Karen & Ryan Hover with member from Apples in Stereo & The Drums) album Nostalgia for Infinity will be available March 4 from Joyful Noise, and we bring you a taste of the Colorado group’s epic single “Hand of Winter” to keep you warm while the snow keeps on falling.
Check out Conway’s “Sudden Dawn” single that brings some electrified pop to enjoy the sun rise to off her self-titled EP.
L.A. Girlfriend’s Sydney Banta dropped her self-directed video for “Little Do I Know” off her upcoming album Neon Grey available February 3, playing February 19 at LA’s Resident. The b/w video involves scan-lined screens, eastern heralding masks that resembles a kind of goth-y rendering of what could pass as the opening sequence for an alt-Bond film with a feminist twist.
Introduce yourself to Summer Flake, aka Australia’s Stephanie Craise, who presents the DIY psych-lifted sentiments of “Shoot and Score” taken off her second album Hello Friends available in April from Rice Is Nice. Having released the EP Time Rolls By last fall, Stephanie along with contemporaries like Courtney Barnett and all the upstarts from the Melbourne (although technically Craise claims Adelaide, AU turf) scene continue to craft songs that keep us believing through even the harshest of winters.
Taking you deep into the looking glass, travel blindly and wildly with Mirror Travel on “Yesca” that presents psychotropic visions from the proverbial other-side. Traverse further through the strange, beautiful, and terrifying halls of mirrors on the forthcoming Cruise Deal available March 11 from Modern Outsider.
In some of the week’s biggest news, Frankie Cosmos’ new album Next Thing will be available April 1 via Bayonet Records, and we present the first single “Sinister” that is guaranteed to rival your favorite Belle & Sebastian moments from If You’re Feeling Sinister. Enjoy, and brace yourself for Greta Kline’s total Week in Pop takeover featured after the jump.
Frankie Cosmos’ Week in Pop
Frankie Cosmos, aka Greta Kline just announced her upcoming album Next Thing available April 1 from Bayonet Records, and we are absolutely chuffed & thrilled to present Greta’s following exclusive Week in Pop guest selections:
I was talking to my friend Maryn about getting really into certain songs while on the road, and feeling strongly that they are about being on tour. Here are three songs that I feel that way about (the second one is Maryn’s band, and the third one was recommended to me by Maryn during that conversation):
Simon & Garfunkel, “Keep The Customer Satisfied”
All Dogs, “That Kind Of Girl”
Joni Mitchell, “Blonde In The Bleachers”
Here are two songs that I had stuck in my head for multiple days at a time recently. Both have so many catchy sections, that I could endlessly cycle through having parts of the song stuck in my head. They’re also both just perfect songs in my opinion.
Arthur Russell, “Your Motion Says”
Joanna Newsom, “Good Intentions Paving Company”
Lastly, two amazing songs that were on TV shows I like:
When Emily and Richard Gilmore renew their vows on Gilmore Girls, they play this song. It’s beautiful.
The 5th Dimension, “Wedding Bell Blues”
The Buffy Musical episode is a work of genius. I’m usually turned off by musicals, because watching them makes me feel like a huge dork. But fuck it. I love this episode so much, and all the songs are brilliant.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer, “Walk Through The Fire”
Follow Frankie Cosmos on Twitter.
