Midway into January 2014, Impose's Week in Pop takes a look at the breakthroughs from various indie pop heroes with a quick look at the latest headlines. This week we heard Neil Young and Jack White collabo murmurs, Interpol break-up rumors, Karen O got nominated for an Oscar for her contribution to Spike Jonze's Her with “The Moon Song”, lots of buzz about a new Lykke Li album on the way this May, Drake making the Fallon and SNL rounds for Nothing Was the Same, we saw the beginning of net neutrality's end, but at least Cloud Nothings performed their new album last night at Brooklyn's Baby's All Right. So this week finds us looking ahead at 2014 with the perspective reflections and exclusives from DeRobert Adams, Kirt Debique from Mayors of Liberty, Mainland, Yumi Zouma, and more-in no particular order.
Having first caught our ears with the Beg Me 7″ EP, studio musician strong arms for Nashville, TN
imprint G.E.D. Soul Records banded together with the testimonial force of DeRobert Adams to make up the congregation of DeRobert & the Half Truths. This week finds the group celebrating the fresh release of their album I'm Trying for G.E.D. while cooking up a spirit like a baptismal funk revival tabernacle tent. In the time honored, tried, and tested; DeRobert and the Truths roll through the familiar hills and valleys like contemporaries Charles Bradley, or Sharon Jones and The Dap Tones, and raising a righteous, upbeat standard for the current and future generations.
I'm Tryin' is an album that will pick you out of any bummer and funk with life affirming attitudes and ground shaking jubilation. Take the acapela gospel grace of the hand clapping title track intro, then listen and learn as “My Momma Told Me” gets the wisdom train moving, while “Ooo Wee” brings a Detroit vintage to the Southern style flair. These are songs to get through life's current rough spots with royal revue radical get-ups like “The Dole Pt. 2”, earnest appeals to “Get On It”, with the populous conscious pulpit preach of “The Speech”. And the action keeps on coming, as “Goin' Places” brings confidence to situations of drama, the temper taming self-control of “I Don't Get Mad No More”, the joys of solitude spelled out on “Do It Alone”, the edifying “Please Shine On Me”, closing it out old school with the just to let you know, “Write A Letter”, and the title track “Outro”.
We had the honor and privilege to talk with DeRobert Adams about “connecting to the atmosphere” of everywhere from concert halls, to churches, his connection and pervasive love affair with classic modern musical forms, and more.
You mention in the intro the acoustic, acapela aspect of performing in church when you were younger by just clapping your hands and using whatever gifts the good Lord gave you (sans electricity). What are some of the testimonials as to how those Sunday's informed your talent's today?
I learned from church, how to be connected to the atmosphere and the room. Church was big on everyone being one mind, one body, connected oneness in the room. I think that has to do with having a good show, the band has to be connected to the audience. You've got to command an atmosphere. There can't be a disconnect between the band and audience.
Give us the full truth about when you broke out into the classic-steeped school of soul as a profession.
I sing soul music but that's not the only place I come from, it's not the only style that influences me. I'm influenced by gospel music greatly, pop music, modern r&b. But I realize that good soul music has played a part in creating all the music I love. I can't forget that soul is the staple and beginning of where today's music came from.
What inspired you to lead a band of believers, truth-seekers and visionaries?
I don't believe that everything that is good and godly has to come from the church. I believe that there are believers, truths seekers and visionaries in all walks of life. Folks just have to be a vessel for what people want and need to hear. People seek to feel good through music, and that's what we want to do. The music does the same thing for us, and it can help people get through.
You got lots of old school soul styles, what is it that draws you to that vintage paradigm as opposed to the more modern permutations, fusions, etc?
With this new album, we set out to record modern sounding vocals and lyrics over retro sounding beats. There are some throw back songs vocally, maybe like “The Speech” for example. But most of the songs have a more modern vocal approach, we did doubling and heavy harmonies.
Prayers and hopes for you, and the Half-Truths in 2014?
In 2014, I would really like to collaborate with some other singers I love. I would love to sing something with Kim Burrell or Sharon Jones or some others. We are recording my solo album right now as well, I hope to have that out this year. We'll also been taking the G.E.D. Soul Revue out on the road with The Grips, A.J. and the Jiggawatts and the Half-Truths, I hope folks can catch us out on the road all over the place.
I'm Tryin' is available now from G.E.D. Soul Records on CD and LP.
With a current Tuesday night residency in effect all throughout January at Brooklyn's Pianos, Mainland drops news of their upcoming Shiner EP coming February 25, and premieres their new track “Savant”. Lead by frontman Jordan Topf, he talked to us about how the band's struggles, ambitions and tour took them to Austin where they met Spoon's Jim Eno who invited them to record at his Public Hi-Fi studio. The result is their upcoming Shiner EP, where the band emerges from whatever wreckage and obstacles that are thrown at them, albeit with a few bruises and scrapes.
On the debut of “Savant”, Mainland shows off the freedom they have to burn that ropes together the pop punk styles indicative of their coast to coast connections, tied together in the heart of Texas. Busting up their chops, burning up the town and themselves in the process, they shine their image projections into the mirror in a self-conscious series of self-reflected lyrical quips. Jordan describes the roads travelled and time passage achieved in the opening lines like, “been a long time coming to be the man I want”. “Savant” gives various takes and allusions toward hindsight thought brought through in the imperfect tense toward the TX tuned guitars that recount the wrongs and rights from those tour road trials.
Mainland guitarist and lead singer Jordan Topf joins us the other day to talk about their January residency at Pianos, recording their upcoming Shiner EP, forthcoming recordings, “Savant” inspirations, tours in the works, and more.
How is the new year treating everyone?
So far so good, we've got our residency every Tuesday in January and the shows and turnouts have been great so far. Things have been moving quickly since we finished our EP in Austin, Texas. We're looking forward to a jam-packed year ahead!
Pumped on your Pianos residency, how are those Tuesday nights treating you all?
Everybody's been on their Friday night behavior. We selected some of our favorite local bands to play with us like, See Through, The Teen Age, Foley, Lewis Lazar, including a secret special guest on the last night of the residency all of which we're excited about.
How do you all feel working with Spoon's Jim Eno on the Shiner EP impacted the tightness of your sound and reinforced your shared visions?
It was an amazing experience, because Jim was always excited about the music. We have a lot of respect for him as a producer and musician, and we found it really easy to communicate our shared musical ideas.
“Savant” was the result of a 14-hour recording day fueled by many fresh pots of coffee, bourbon in the vocal booth, and a few runs to taco deli to keep up the energy in the studio. Jim fosters a great recording atmosphere.
(Mainland, photo courtesy of Mainland Photo Credit George Brooks)
“Savant” is a fun and poppy track, was it inspired by any real life idiot savants or are you all just enamored with the notion of folks that exceed wildly at a certain talent?
“Savant” is about seeing where you and your friends are in life, and recognizing your flaws and strengths. It's about recognizing something good in yourself and those around you.
What other recordings do you all have in the works for perhaps say an upcoming full length?
We'll be recording a single called “Las Vegas” along with a b-side this month in New York, we expect to be recording the full length by the end of summer.
I have always wondered what brought you all to the name, Mainland, versus something more coastal? So many folks are on that coast leaning name vibe.
Three out of four of us are from California, one of us is from upstate New York. New York City is a group of islands, but it's the Mainland for us. It feels detached from the rest of America, yet people from far and wide come here to make shit happen. That's our motive.
How else will you all be ringing in the release of the Shiner EP? Other projections for 2014?
We'll be launching two music videos prior to our release party in the Bowery. We'll be playing SXSW this year, and touring the states and potentially the U.K. this summer.
Also check out Mainland's promo trailer for their Shiner EP from Henri Groux-Holt, shot in Austin/Marfa, Texas.
What began as a Seattle trio sooned turned into an eight plus strong collective, dubbed Mayors of Liberty. Led by the visionary Americana singer-songwriter Kirt Debique, the group's foundation began with him, accompanied by Stephen Miller, and Tim Kennedy, before expanding into the mayorial ensemble of Claudio Rochat-Felix, Ian Sheridan, Alex Ho, Jenell Mullin, and Sherri Charleston. Their upcoming Brick Lane Records release, Dream On arrives February 11, and follows up Another Day In The Dream Factory with the band's fullest sound to date.
In our debut of “When You Were Part Of Me”, Kirt walks down the memory lanes of precious memories spiked with pain. Debique uses traditional folk story-telling to describe the act and art of, “letting go, the hardest part, lost in the divine”, where the once familiar now becomes alien. “Hard to believe this place is something I once knew”. The entire Mayors of Liberty ensemble strike their instruments in a musical representation of the frustration of trying to move ahead from the past on the chorus calls of, “damn my eyes”, “damn these tears”, “damn this heart”. Lyrically, Kirt and the Mayors present an understated dichotomy in their honest, seemingly simple but real depiction of the double edged risk that sight, emotion, and attachment can have. Stick around after the premiere, as Kirt himself joins us for a lively discussion.
Kirt Debique from Mayors of Liberty talked with us about the power of dreams, the expansion of the band, reflecting on and reconciling the past, and moving ahead through the power of song.
Dreams are a motif carried through from your first album, Another Day In The Dream Factory to the forthcoming album Dream On. What is the musical attribution of the way dreams may inform the more creative and songwriting sides to your music?
A major theme of both records is a reflection on human relationships and how we react to the reality of our experiences vs. our expectations. Dreams are both the source of those expectations, and a deeply personal way in which we reflect on our lives. It felt natural to have dreams be the overarching theme, and as a songwriter, many melodic and lyrical ideas come to me just as I come out of a dream state into wakefulness.
What brought you to take on the band title of Mayors of Liberty?
There’s a bar in Seattle’s Capitol Hill called Liberty Bar where Stephen Miller and I [Kirt] first met. They make amazing cocktails, have the best staff, and also serve great sushi. The name came out of a conversation with one of the sushi chefs, and is a not so subtle reference to the amount of time we spent (and still spend) there.
(Mayors of Liberty's Kirt Debique taking center stage, photos by Angela Nickerson)
If you could be the mayor, and the rest of the Liberty band could be your cabinet; which town would you want to take over, if you had to choose?
Being Mayors of Liberty is a full time occupation, so we’ll just stick to music!
Between Dream Factory, and Dream On; describe the events that brought the group's expansion to an octet (and/or more?).
We started composing the first album as an acoustic trio, but quickly determined that we wanted a fuller sound for the actual recording. The idea was to arrange and perform the songs in both acoustic and full form. We had a wonderful time bonding with the added musicians in the studio so we just stayed big! Recently though, we [Kirt, Stephen Miller, and Tim Kennedy] played an intimate holiday show as an acoustic trio, and getting back to those roots was pretty fun!
Was wondering what do all of your song writing sessions look like?
We have a staged approach to songwriting and arranging. Generally it starts with me composing the first version of the lyrics, melody, and chords on piano. After that, Stephen and I work on it for a while, record a pretty bare bones demo, usually vocals and guitar; sometimes a little piano, and take that to the rest of the band. Then the fun really begins – there’s lots of work on arrangement and overall feel through rehearsal jam sessions until it becomes a true Mayors of Liberty song.
Describe how you all took that stroll down memory lane on the self-reconciling mellow brewer, “When You Were Part of Me”.
The spark came as I [Kirt] was literally 'staring out the windowpane', reflecting on a past relationship. Living in a city and amongst things that were intimately associated with a past love is never easy, and there’s a struggle between sweetly tinged memory and painful loss. That tension is something we tried to convey in both the lyrical content and the instrumentation. Another key part of the song really came together while on a trip to NYC with fellow Brick Lane label mates Iska Dhaaf. At a party in Brooklyn, I sat at the piano with another friend, Jon Russell, and worked out the feel of the bridge. That repeated, almost ecstatic vocal refrain – 'part of me'- led by Sherri Charleston and Jenell Mullin serves as a great counterpoint to the haunting cello line delivered by Alex Ho. Enjoy the exclusive single premiere stream of “When You Were Part Of Me” at Impose Magazine, and pre-order Dream On from our site.
Dream On will be available February 11 from Brick Lane Records.
Word of mouth across the shores, seas and sands have whispered song about Yumi Zouma's debut EP available February 11 from Cascine. “The Brae” presents an inspirational waking from deep rest where the memory of a long held melody and old poetic passage from a diary becomes put to the meditative shores closest to the source of memory's delta of origins. The sound takes off on the wind propelled sails between Port Hills, St Germain or Greenpoint- and traverses to the band's childhood house of meeting on The Brae, in Christchurch on Mount Pleasant in New Zealand. A house allegedly crushed in one of the province's earthquakes, the 3 bring the youthful yesterdays back to breath and resurect thse times and places that used to be before life's shake ups altered the landscapes of yesterday's “same old habits”. One of the most gorgeous songs of 2014 to date, stay with us after “The Brae” for our conversation with Yumi Zouma.
Over trans-Atlantic capables, I was able to correspond with the elusive trinity of friends that comprise one of 2014 most exciting indie pop groups here in the following interview.
When did you all first realize your inner song, or realize your voice as a group?
It’s honestly something that I’m not entirely sure we have found yet nor are we in a huge hurry to. I like the happy accidents that come from making music somewhat blind. The songs that are ones that stick, I can’t tell you how we wrote, they sort of just appear while sketching and I really love that.
There is an immediate charm and impact between your delivery, and arrangement. How has New Zealand, and New York and Paris livelihoods informed your talents and enlightened your approach?
Thank you! Probably the biggest influence our different geographical placement has had is that we are constantly sending music back and forth and reviewing over and over. Maybe there is something to be said about how a song sounds different in the Port Hills, St Germain or Greenpoint, and how that helps us sculpt a song. I like to think that we get the best of the isolation one can feel in New Zealand, the constant drive to keep creating in New York and the romanticism and pop sensibility of Paris, weather that just looks good on paper I’m not too sure.
“The Brae” is one of the most gorgeous singles we have anticipated for 2014. What inspired the song?
The Brae is the street name of this huge house we used to hang out in Christchurch that looked over to an estuary. We would cook, drink wine and write music as teenagers there. Then it basically fell down because of the earthquakes that happened in Christchurch. So in a way the song is about loss and how the world stands still when everything crumbles around you. Musically it’s quite a classic pop structure with the way the chords move around which comes from our love for the gratification pop music gives us.
I love how your songwriting and delivery have this dream-waking-up-to-reality quality, like those amazing bars where you sing and then speak, “”so wake me up from my deep dream, I was somewhere with the small herd, -you threw me in, you screw me in, you fed me to the fishes, like we never were together, and I'm only just a vision”. How do you describe your own song writing process?
Writing songs is a really sporadic process for us. In the last year I think we've been in the same city for less than two weeks. We bounce back and forth between time zones and email chains. Checking your phone at three am to see a draft six or seven of a song as your half asleep is pretty common place as we work on songs. Sometimes I forget I’ve even been sent a new song but on the second listen I realized I was half asleep listening to a few nights ago.
Having recorded your self-titled EP, what can you divulge about the possible forthcoming of a Yumi Zouma LP?
You will have to keep your ears and eyes open!
Projections and meditations for 2014?
One love.
The Yumi Zouma EP will be available February 11 from Cascine on digital and limited edition 10″ vinyl.
Sardinian space sisters Lilies On Mars are taking off on a World Tour with Fanfarlo from February 8 through April 26, with their album Dot to Dot available February 11 from Saint Marie Records. Join the gals, surround yourself with portable keyboards and pedals and “Dream of Bees”. Read our interview with Lilies on Mars here.
Listen to the electronic safari of FaltyDL's track “King Brute” Featuring Shanghai Den that traverses across the sparse rhythm fields off the forthcoming single Danger available January 20 from Ninja Tune. Synth bells ring to their own note patterns as the rhythm abides by the earth trembling measure of it's own undercurrent waves.
Also from Ninja Tune, Illum Sphere is dropping Ghosts of Then and Now February 10 and we hve the listen to “Embryonic” Featuring Shadowbox. The genetic coding becomes an experience that moves throught out the tissue that runs from the synaptic nerves to move up and down the spinal column like elevators in an up and down motion.
Ahead of their three disc LP Guilt Mirrors coming at us February 18 from Stars & Letters, Nick Harte's Shocking Pinks “St Louis” Featuring Gemma Syme moves in ways like dreamy songs sung between places of rolling waters and sparse foot traffic. This is a song for those singular places where it has never felt greater, and it has never ever-ever felt worse to be alone.
Doomsquad are putting together their debut LP Kalaboogie for release February 25 for Hand Drawn Dracula, and present us with the welcomed disruption of “Disremember/Dismemberment”. Listen to the modulating rhythm of the electronics and rhythms here.
If you want to hear The New Royales taking on classic cuts from Depeche Mode, The Zombies, Jefferson Airplane, and more; than maybe their covers mixtape Freedom's For The Brave might be for you.
Gacha is preparing the upcoming When The Watchman Saw The Light EP for Apollo Records for release January 28, with a listen to the slow and soft song of, “Saysea” featuring Natalie Beridze Tba. Here Natalie's voice is cloaked in sparse electronic production notes and samples that wrap around echoing items that bounce of the halls as if in a arboretum sanctuary chamber of trees.
Tropic of Pisces bring us “More [And More]” with astrological, silk vibes from their upcoming Symmetry EP available February 25 from Ooh La La Records. Elliot Scheiner takes a moment's time out from his work with Oberhofer, Mon Khmer, Superhuman Happiness, and being a family man; he carves out something suite and fitted for both the lounge set and the dance floor fiends.
Raymond Weitekamp is an LA producer of interest and a CalTech PhD student of Organic Chemistry that operates under his ingMob brings with home-made, all home made instrumentation on, “Human Beans”, from his upcoming Marrow album available February 11 from Rawwerks imprint. Listen as Raymond's voice slips into the trip and flip, drum and bass oblivion as he keeps his self-made (literally) tupperware Monome controller melting your mind.
Matter Ov Fact and EP are The Doppelgangaz, and they coming from upstate New York to not just holla at you once, but “Holla x2” with their self made visuals ahead of their Peace Kehd album available February 18 from their Groggy Pack Entertainment label. Big up to our two heroes as they trade their dark cloaks for some San Jose Sharks hockey jerseys while skating on the ice in the arena with Big Josh helping out with the video.
“Trip Into the Light” with Jeremy and the Harlequins in the video from Ellen Frances, that rocks andr rolls on their own wild ones, rebels without a cause or care.
Hiting up NYC's Pianos January 18 and February 19, check out Twintapes hitting the “Fast Forward” button ahead of the single's release January 28. Pavel Rivera propels everything ahead forward into a future until worlds grow close, “and all feels right”.
Midlake are fresh from their ATO album, Antiphon, and we have the Texas group's video for “The Old and the Young” directed by Oliver Murrary out on the rural landscape of Buckinghamshire. Feel both young and old here.
Off their January 21 slated album Chiaroscuro from Bella Union / PIAS; check out the David Dean Burkhart video for “You Burn”. Watch the world turn through the glimpses of lost and found footage for synthesized atmospheres and ambient chambers. Catch IBH Thursday,January 23 in Londone, UK's Village Underground.
Take a look at the David Chambriard video for Astrobal's “Nostalghia / FM2030” fresh from the Record Me Machine EP from Plug Research. Let the synth pop blast you out into the alpha realms of laser scanned visions through a tron game displayed in b/w soundwave shaped landforms and landscapes.
Fresh from a digital release from DFA Records, say whattup to YACHT's new single “Plastic Soul” with the young, dumb and free feeling video from Clay Tatum and Whitmer Thomas. Sure to be the sound of festival circuit sound favorites to come for 2014-for sure.
Misun invites you to travel along, with a listen to their upcoming “Travel With Me” 7” single available February 18 from B3SCI Records. Consider this your New Years resolution, post-holiday treat yourself to Misun Wojcik's world of bright and snappy bubble bouncing brand of artistry.
Moderat sent us an autumn taste of subtle synth moods with the Pfadfinderei video for, “Last Time”, off their album, II from Mute and Monkeytown Records.
Elephant sings the sweet songs of their title track from their upcoming album debut, Elusive Youth, from Memphis Industries available January 28, find out what the talk of the town is all about here with the following girl group creations of shimmering splendor.
Tropic Harbour, aka Mark Berg is readying his Colour EP for February 4 from Zappruder Records, and we have the Spring time vibes from the title track in the following video. Watch and listen as Berg melts the cold of winter before your very ears and eyes.
Michelle & Melissa Macedo battle for your afffections as they band under their surname Macedo and vie for your attention on, “Like Me Most” from their forthcoming Paper Doll EP available February 4.
The Tower of Light shines a beam of dying light that slowly burns down to the last match on the single, “Carrier”. Listen as vocals travel down the cave channels, in search of light, singing for a glimpse and plunging into the thickest darkness that slows the response time and reconfigures perceptions of environment and ignites the many moods of imagination.
With 183rd production, get a listen to Smoke DZA's “Black Independence” featuring J Ivy, well ahead of DZA's new album Dream.ZONE.Achieve available April 1. 183rd pours on the horns and hand claps for Smoke and J to break some bread and break it down with some lyrics of autonomy.
Tweens bring your their first single “Be Mean”, that asks you to keep on your mean side with some of the poppiest garage gold around off their self-titled album available April 8 from Frenchkiss Records. Love the lyric that goes, “your sweetness is killing me”.
Off the Maui Tears release available January 28 from Dine Alone Records, let Sleepy Sun take you to the external place of the slow stepping, “Outside”.
Zara McFarlane gives us all an advance listen to her forthcoming album, If You Knew Her album, available January 20 from Gilles Peterson's imprint, Brownswood Recordings. Original compositions and organic arrangements await.
We got a cable that Prawn has been busy recording a new album with Moving Mountains' Greg Dunn, and a split with Joie De Vivre available February 11 from Count Your Lucky Stars and Topshelf Records. Catch them on Tour with You Blew It!(February 4-2) and Special Explosion(March 3-6). So get caught up, with Prawn's Short Stay, Long Road.
Ahead of his album Ancestor coming March 4 from Western Vinyl Records, get a look at Stone Jack Jones' video for “State I'm In” from Zack Spiger and Roger Moutenot. Let the slow stoned cold song take you into the b/w western worlds like a lonesome rambler give a self-assessment with honesty and heart.
Off the upcoming Kill Rock Stars album Violent Light, available February 25; go spelunking into the crevices of wonders on Milagres' “Jeweled Cave”. Listen as the arrangement sparkles and shines into your the canals and caves of your ears.
We also got the Lucas Mokrani & Viktor Poisson & Valentin Meaux video for ODESZA's “My Friends Never Die”, from the EP of the same name. With a big tour in the works spanning January 22 through April 12, be sure to check out their NO.SLEEP Mix.03 here. Meanwhile, check out their beautiful and immortal friends here.
Elizabeth & the Catapult asks you not to go remembering and to act, “Like It Never Happened” off her upcoming album of the same name available January 21 from Scratchback Records.
Listen to the title track here.
Your heart will break when she sincerely sings, “did you have to leave” on the song, “Longest Day of the Year Blues”, from Peggy Sue's album, Choir of Echoes from Yep Roc. The devastation in the aftermath of those unrequited everything breaks through in a song that anyone from any place and any era can relate to in one way or another. The moment following the fallout begins the longest days of the year, decade, century, and what the hell, we'll throw in millennium.
Way back in 2010, former Impose editor Jeremy Krinsley was asked the following big question in a Jewcy interview:
Care to share with us who’s going to be “big” in the next year?
We’re not into the business of 'calling it” too often. The bands that become truly commercially successful are usually a surprise to me….Total Slacker, I hope.
So here they are in 2014 prepping their big second record, Slip Away for release February 11 from Black Bell Records/ADA, our longtime buds at Total Slacker dropped their Nate Ford video for “Keep the Ships at Bay”. And the plot thickens, as a now infamous retweet from Paris Hilton and MTV status has us here responding with a collective, 'damn“. Also their Sometimes You Gotta Die cassingle is available now from Last Place Tapes.
Hitting up the Neon Gold Popshop February 6 in The Westway NYC, check out Wet's “No Lie” remix that features Spank Rock and production from Noah Breakfast. The re-kitted beat boutique features a mellow affair of break down of down low keyboard and chill button presses. Shout outs and big ups to Spank Rock's cameo.
Fresh off their 12″ release from Spare Thought, get into the new jazz of Adult Jazz's “Am Gone” that makes the most out of minimalist percussion, vocals, and synth/horns.
We have nothing but love for Lizzo's LIZZOBANGERS that dropped last year produced by Lazerbeak of Doomtree and dropped from Totally Gross National Product, and we got the vicarious dream destroying cut “Paris” for your pleasure.
With remixes on the way from Blood Diamonds and the like, Alison Valentine entertains your fascinations on “Curious”, produced by Chrome Canyon through her branding empire and imprint, 11 x 11. Dance your curiosity's away.
Ghost Beach brings the bright lights and big, over the top and over-produced pop bangers with the the video for “Been There Before” ahead of the release of Blonde March 4 from Nettwerk.
For a limited time, get a listen to Kye Kye's album Fantasize, available January 21. The synths and programmed drums break all around Olga Yagolnikov's voice, bring it outside and at other moments immersed within the mix.
With dates in Vienna, VA January 30, Philadelphia January 31 and in NYC on February 1, get a listen to the Gambles twitter dropped acoustic loosie, “Winter”. With the reiterations of “you'll know”, the gently strummed strings make the outside cold a bit more tolerable-somewhat.
Hollow & Akimbo saw their single, “Singularity” get the Com Truise remix and Ray Kurzweil treatment ahead of their self-titled album available available February 11 from Quite Scientific Records. Com Truise puts H&K's futuristic vision into a projectile capsule pod into other zapping worlds of electronic possibility.
Also get a listen to Com Truise's audio electronic decay and build up on, “Declination” featuring Joel Ford ahead of the upcoming Wave I EP available February 18 from Ghostly International.
Com Truise also just performed “Glawio” live at Check Yo Ponytail 2 via LA's Echoplex. Check it.
Linda Perhacs' The Soul Of All Natural Things will be available March 4 from Asthmatic Kitty, and we have your river raft ride down the winding, “River Of God” here.
If you haven't already, check out the La'Reda remix of Disclosure's “Latch” that realigns and rearranges the beat and vocal sample cut construction into even smoother digital waters.
NØMADS duo of powerhouses Nathan Lithgow and Garth Macaleavey chug and churn out the healing stitches on “In The Mend”. With their album Free My Animal available April 8 from Mecca Lecca, this nomadic tribe of two is a welcome addition to the Mecca Lecca Recording Co. imprint/collective that is the home of our heroes from Ajnabi to SWF, and so forth. Mend yourself now.
We are loving A Million Billion Dying Suns' Strawberry EP, so hear the latest single “True Reality Lies Beyond the Cosmic Horizon” that will keep you believing in an unknown, abstract truth that may or may not exist beyond the cosmos. Sail on now, all you dawn treading intergalactic warriors.
We got Drowner's “Luv, Hold Me Down” off their upcoming self-titled album debut available January 28 via Frenchkiss Records. Hating to leave the house and with his thoughts set on unbuttoning his beloved's blouse, get a listen and lick from Matt Hitt and the gang.
Get a taste of the jazzed up Golden Age, Nic Felder's upcoming album available January 21 from OKeh Records with “Ernest / Protector”. The music harkens back to his upbringing in a different type of NYC that was not exactly the safest but lent an understanding of where the many modern made styles of invention where all heading together.
Get ready for Noise Pop 22, hitting San Francisco between February 25 and March 2 that will bring you the likes of Com Truise, Mikal Cronin, Shabazz Palaces, Zach Rogue, El Ten Eleven, The Fresh & Onlys, The Donkeys, Dominant Legs, BROODS, Papercuts, Waters and more. Also after the festival, Noise Pop and graffEats will hit up SXSW for the dining series, Covers: A Culinary Tribute. Chef/Creator Blair Warsham of graffEats will be sorting out the foodies at East Austin's The Swoop House. Check out the Noise Pop site for further lineup details and ticket info.
