This was one of those weeks with activity overload. Animal Collective revealed 2 new tracks with “Honeycomb” and “Gotham” from an upcoming June 26 slated 7″, Cool Nutz 'album The Cook Up , the new CocoRosie single “I'm on Fire” and Ariel Pink and his Haunted Graffiti are hard at work on an album to be released this Fall. More things in store as we take a look and listen at this week's shakers in no particular order.
First up we check in with the good people at Service where we explore new tracks from Ikons. Taking everything you love about generation e with samples attesting to “not only are you hearing the music, you are feeling the music;” Ikon's new single “Free Spirit” you on a prog house safari that can tap a toe in the chill out lounge without feeling apology.
Then indulge the twee-gazer side of the group with the sky diving nuns in the video for “Sister.”
Dark Materials keep it paranormal in San Francisco, California. From what we understand they are 'one part hardcore, one part dance, one part trip-hop' with a name taken from Phillip Pullman's literary trilogy of status quo dissent amid other rebelllious incitements. Comprised of Future Twin's and Makeing Tents' Jean Yaste on vocals and field recordings with Death Cheetah's Kevin Earl Taylor (also a visual artist), the two take the Pullmanian challenge to the streets and to tape as dissidents of sound and visuals. Preparing to release their first recordings, Dark Materials will have a limited run of Dark Materials Release #1 available for sell featuring the artwork of Kevin Earl Taylor at their show Public Works Monday May 14 with Light Asylum. Listen to the rehearsal recordings of “CaressIt,” “F*^% Apathy” and “Faceless Drawing” via Bandcamp and below.
In Future Twin news, the SF band will release their Resist 7″ and Future Twin Deluxe July 31. The band is having a pool party May 20 at the Phoenix Hotel in SF before playing a series of Brooklyn shows with June 1 at the Knitting Factory, Jun 3 at Big Snow Buffalo Lodge before June 24 homecoming gig at the Hemlock Tavern. Catch our debut of Future Twin's video for “Landslide” here.
Curren$y released the video for his new track “Fast Cars, Faster Women” featuring Daz. Reflections of blessings getting doubled from the two MCs really hit home when C gives a shout out to life's finer things like DirecTV's Sunday Ticket.
Also catch a clip of Curren$y performing “Twistin Skank” in Tempe Arizona from his Jet Life tour vlog. Look for his upcoming release The Stoned Immaculate coming June 5 from Warner Bros.
Craft Spells new EP Gallery is available for a limited time preview. Listen to their bright brand of indie synth melancholia that somehow leaves you feeling upward than otherwise. Gallery drops May 15 on Captured Tracks.
Jeans Wilder is preparing to release his next album Totally June 26 on Everloving Records but took the time to share his new track “Limeade” to commence summer and to quench the thirst of the musically parched. Real name: Andrew Caddick, formerly of Fantastic Magic; he keeps the vibe mellow like he was manning a lemonade/limeade stand on a sunny San Diego day, reflecting on life's focuses and just plain strumming his guitar to a loafer shuffle rhythm.
White Arrows shared their new song “Roll Forever” which has the never-gonna-come-down attitude with Mickey Church singing “you know, I know, it's something good” while the rest of the mix echoes like light thin clouds. Look for the big debut album from White Arrows titled Dry Land is Not a Myth dropping this June 19 on Votiv.
Tomas Barfod released the electro chiller “November Skies” featuring vocals from Nina Kinert. The end of the year sky watching event is brought in by the Swedish chanteuse while the WhoMadeWho drummer keeps the sequence programming steady, pensive and dare we say thought provoking.
Also enjoy Barford' super chic video for “Broken Glass” directed by Martin Garde Bildgaard. This song too will be featured on the forthcoming Salton Sea LP coming May 22 from Friends of Friends.
We introduce you to the skyward sound of Onuinu, the alias of Portland, Oregonian Dorian Duvall. Last seen in his Andrew Sloan directed video for “Ice Palace” with an appearance on an Apes Tapes compilation, and today you can hear Duvall's current sound directions on “Happy Home” that takes the pinings of “I hope you'll be around, it's been a long time” to great positive-mental-attitude heights with help from the Jeremy Sherrer production. Onuinu's much anticipated album Mirror Gazer comes out August 21 from Bladen County and can be found touring North America with YACHT through June 15.
Akron/Family percussionist Dana Buoy has been crafting together an opus that began with a laptop and an MPC1000 in a Thai lagoon, completed in Brooklyn and dropped a listen with the track “Satellite Ozone.” After an album recording process that involved surving earthquakes and hurricanes; Dana Janssen has crafted what he calls 'tropicore' which sounds like the hallucinatory mirage pop one might imagine hearing while waiting for rescue on a deserted isle with great hopes. Dana Buoy's debut Summer Bodies slated for release May 8 on Lefse.
We also invite you to watch Dent May's video for “Best Friend” directed by drummer James Alexander Warren. May keeps the good friends feeling going while taking on the role of his own bandmates and road trip buddies. He's contented, we believe, to be his own 'BFF' while stirring up some of that indie-lounge-casio-funk that we adore. Dent May's new album Do Things is out now on Paw Tracks.
Keeping up with Bam Spacey, we give you the Land EP opener and crowd favorite track “Taigan.” Spacey works within the naturist approach with keyboards like windchimes, woodpecker rhythms, a slow burn of contemporary keys with authentic Swedish vocals treated with the right amount of tuning effects. Bam Spacey's Land EP drops May 22 from Ceremony.
Get a glimpse of Zulu Winter's Alex Turvey directed video for “Silver Tongue.” Lots of blue lit noir with contrasting red satin and Look for their debut album Language out June 19 on Arts & Crafts.
From The Intelligence is the track “They Found Me in the Back of the Galaxy” featuring Kelley Stoltz. Having returned to Chris Woodhouse at the Hangar for their new album Everybody’s Got It Easy But Me, Lars Finberg carries learned traits from the A-Frames, and current work from Thee Oh Sees and Wounded Lion. On “Back of the Galaxy”, these talents for keeping one foot in the Jonathan Richmond modern world with the other foot firmly placed in the garage of today are exhibited and further enriched by fellow craftsman Kelley Stoltz's presence. The Intelligence release Everyone's Got it Easy But Me June 19 on In the Red Records.
Vancouver producer Sean Orr's solo project Tassels is dropping a new full length May 29 called Pressure Mounts on Pour Le Corps Records. Catch the single “Shake Them Shackles” here that turns childish talk of dreaming you can do anything into drum and bass realities.
Yohuna gave us a musical present with dreamy enchantment number “It's All Yours.” She is the latest addition to the Art Fag family who is releasing her 7″ Revery this April. She heralds from Eau Claire, WI and makes sunflower sparked dream pop for day time travels and sunlight drenched distractions as evident on the single “It's All Yours.”
Get into your 80s throwback mode of leisure as Ice Choir brings you the time machine teleporting track, “Teletrips.” Look for their album debut Afar on July 31from Underwater Peoples.
This week we caught a listen to Junk Culture's new track “Oregon.” Deepak Mantena presents an album born out of reflecting on age, loss, changes and new beginnings like the lead off song that reflects on decisions of moving for the sake of nostalgia, love, nostalgic love and the tape chic power keys hiss and soar. Junk Culture's Wild Quiet out July 31 on Illegal Art.
Get a listen to Big Science's “Blind Our Eyes” who will rock with you before blinding you with crazy dance beats around the 1:15 mark. Following up both The Coast of Nowhere and 2009’s Skyscraper Sound EP, the band sounds relient after being tried and trued traveling the troubadour road and completing the album even after their van got stolen. Look for Big Science's album Difficulty May 29 on both digital as well as special edition multi-colored vinyl with pre-orders are available now from their Bandcamp.
New York's MS MR just released the single “Hurricane” and are going on tour with Marina & The Diamonds in July/August in North America. Get into their New York groove and catch MS MR June 1 at Glasslands.
If Claude Violante's buzz from the music papers and zines missed you then take this oppurtunity to check out her single “For You”. From Paris with only a love for you; Ms. Violante is half of the duo Haussmann and has her debut self-titled EP out now on the French indie Tsunami-Addiction home of Duet, dDamage, Hypo, The Konki, Milkymee, La Chatte, et al.
photograph of NIHITI by David Little
NIHITI's new album For Ostland comes out May 27 on lo bit landscapes with a NYC record release show May 31 at 285 Kent. Get a listen to “Ghosts and Lovers” and “My Fantasy” streaming below and the new single “Sun Shatterer” here.
Former frontman of Lovvers Shaun Hechner has started his new group, Virals, who shared with us the two singles “Gloria” and EP title track “Coming Up With the Sun.” “Gloria” keeps the guitars greased, harshed and grunge while “Coming Up” brings the indie power pop sound bottled from 1990 with the intentions to be enjoyed at maximum volume now in 2012. Virals' Coming Up With The Sun sees release May 21 on Tough Love Records.
Our friends Casy & Brian released the video for their single “Side Walk Ends” that blends found VHS footage from old tapes to make what could be the perfect installation piece. Their self-titled EP works a on a theme of borrowed words from Shel Silverstein to Karl Sagan in “Pale Blue Dot.” Also get a listen to “Now You're Dancing” in all of it's analogue cassette glory and dance floor confidence. Look for Casy & Brian's full length LP & this August and download their EP here.
In further electronic music chronicles from all the Highway 1-wave camps, ambient loop droner “L 4” surfaced while Jimmy Moonboots put the finishing touches on his new track “From Dinoasaurs to Atom Bombs” that closes his upcoming EP Long After I'm Gone.
Then we have the video for Phèdre's mythic “Aphrodite” shot by Calvin Thomas and directed by the band. You get a mahjong dance party that gets real when a formidable oponent claims a posse after turning the tables over at this out of hand living room soirée. Phèdre's self-titled is out now as they gear up to headline the Daps Records showcase at Toronto's NXNE Music Festival June 15 at Sneaky Dee's.
Mister Lies signed to Lefse this week with an abundance of new music to share with everybody. First up is the slowed down tunnel dream pusher “Cleam” from his debut LP slated for release later this Fall. Following up the new single is Mister's collaborative Mass EP with Chicago producer Different Sleep that takes the duo on a meditative journey they call “Ambient Gospel” available here courtesy of Absent Fever.
Bishop Morocco released their EP Old Boys a few months back on Arts & Crafts along with their debut appearance at SXSW. James Sayce of Deadly Snakes and Tangiers with Jake Fairley of Kompakt comprises the Toronto duo that began their collaboration 4 years back in Groningen, NL. James brings his pop sense and tastes from previous bands while Jake provides a rhythm and sonic mind to Bishop stemming from his work in the Berlin DJ scene. Look for the Bishop Morocco full length album later this year with a few US tour dates TBA this summer. Enjoy the title track “Old Boys” that other critics akin to certain Mancunian 80s movements and artists, but we compare it to the feeling you get from looking at future vintage photos of yourself, family and friends from 3 years back or sooner where those gentle guitar strums of nostalgia begin.
Fergus & Geronimo, otherwise known as Andrew Savage and Jason Kelly, have plans to release Funky Was the State of Affairs August 7 on Hardly Art. The Texan duo shows of their punky sentimental side with the word play ridden “Roman Tick” which gets the romantic feelings flowing.
Also coming soon from Hardly Art is Broken Water's new album Tempest coming May 29. We heard their track “Drown” recently and are pleased to anounce that their the angsty skronk continues on with “Underground.”
Led Er Est's album The Diver is out now on Sacred Bones and the band has given the greenlight for their single “Bladiator” to be free for consumption for all curious and daring enought to take the trip into the weird, wild and wonderful world of Shawn O'Sullivan and Sam De La Rosa. A place consisting of strange lo-tech electronic gear, strange samples, industrial sound captures, foreign tongues and plenty more.
d'Eon dropped his track “Al-Qiyamah” today, providing some club beats before full aural serotonin saturation commences. Look for d'Eon's LP coming June 5 from Hippos In Tanks.
You have probably heard this one but get a listen to The Hundred In The Hands' single “Keep It Low” that presents the beautiful vocals of Eleanore Everdell pitted against Jason Friedman's guitars that lend to an exciting outing that exists outside the court rings designated on the gymnasium's polished wooden floor and beyond the wallflower corners of ballrooms everywhere. THITH's album RED NIGHTcomes out June 12 on Warp Records with a 12” single out May 28 with the b-side, “Mountains” along with remixes from Andy Stott, Optimo's JD Twitch and Pattern.
More from 2:54 with “The March,” the b-side compansion to their single “Creeping.” Keeping he vibrations heavy and lurking, the track has that ominous uneasiness of minor guitar key fuzz with woeful siren songs of warning.
Recorded in the basement of the Fiction Records offices, Colette and Hannah Thurlow bring you a live video of “Easy Undercover.” Enjoy and look for the 2:54 self-titled album May 28 on Fiction.
