After one bummer-Summer headline after the next, we turned to the buzz-stream media to entertain away and numb our alarmed, and weary nervous systems. So we saw that the post-humous cult of personality lives on as word of the J Dilla Diamonds & Ice EP dropping August 27 as part of the unheard The Diary collection, Yeezus himself has soundtracked a trailer for an upcoming LiLo movie, Explosions in the Sky are to procure a sound score for a Pacino flick, Jack White's ex gets all restraining order on his ass in a nasty custody battle, Taylor Swift punching herself on stage, Russia is pissed at Lady Gaga for spreading 'gay propaganda', and our own pourings over July's list of headaches as well as various items of interest from the past month. But for now, brace yourself for the other happenings of the week, with new music, discussions, and responses from our mighty Week in Pop, in no particular order.
San Diego's Barbarian streams you their new album City of Women from MANIMAL VINYL/Loose Recordings, while frontman Andrew Mills hangs out with us again. The EP dives straight into the heart of the “California Nightmare”, jolting forward with the sharp slammed staccato that Andrew cloaks in “ooooo” streams of backup and whirling sandstorm that spins around the action of chords sun hugging keyboard sustains. “Night on Earth” is where Mills and the gang begin to kick into layering their haunted caves sound further into the song's focus. “Song of Love and Hate” brings the dynamic of songwriting and effective chord arrangements that stay in various half lives with the “grown to love to hate” lasting lyrical food for thought. Steering the song of the southwest deeper into the waters, guitars that grind the wild waves everywhere with a chorus that shouts, “I still have got my soul, you can have my skin and bones!” And some of those stripped down, hang-loose Americana twang strums you heard come out to play a bit here in the “la la la la” alliterated, “I Wanna Be Your T.V.”, where once again the applied guitar stylings steal the show. The final showdown brings those classic sparse guitar styles in a clear, stoned-eyed “let's get high and fall in love again” hello, and adieu on “Chromatose”.
Today we're happy to discuss the work of Barbarian in closer, uber-nosy detail as the good man Andrew Mills returns with us today to discuss the City of Women EP, Fellini, and whatever else was on our minds.
Reflections on making the EP City of Women?
It's great to finally give birth to this beast. I think it's our best and most comprehensive work to date. Then again our only other release is the 7 inch. We tracked the EP in two days at Electric Orange studios with our engineer and dear friend Jon Greene. He knows the sounds we're looking for and I know I can trust him with our sound and vision. We were well rehearsed for this session and so I feel the songs sound more confident and mature.
Fellini obsessions? Fellini film favorites apart from the EP moniker, or favorite scenes from City of Women?
I think Fellini said something like “all art is autobiographical. The pearl is the oysters autobiography.” I usually write the music before any titles appear [in a song or on the album]. I have to sit with the music, after it's been recorded, and reflect on the sounds and lyrics to find a meaning for myself. With City of Women, all the songs tend to gravitate around one main theme romance; my romances with women, geographical existence, death and an eternal struggle to find God. I love Satyricon and Juliet of the Spirits, but 8 1/2 is still probably my favorite film. It's shot beautifully and you get to see into the mind of a genius. He turned a mammoth case of writer's block into his most acclaimed work. I think Nick Cave some what did this on Push the Sky Away. He wrote a song called “Finishing Jubilee Street”, which references to arguably the best song on the album, “Jubilee Street”. Who can fucking do that and get away with it! Not many.
“Daze of Youth”, and heavy reflections; was this your own personal Dazed and Confused styled personal reflective, retrospective rock moment?
I think it's still a little early for retrospect and reflection, still looking ahead, but ask me again in 40 years! Living in Southern California is a Daze of Youth. Everybody's on the eternal search for the fountain of youth. Plastic surgery and partying is prevalent. I still prefer breasts to feel like ripened avocados, not unripened cantaloupes. It's not totally cut and dry. There's just an asinine amount of gorgeous women and it can be trouble, really fun trouble. You might say it's a, “California Nightmare” [cymbal crash sound]. These songs are my taxi cab confessions, I guess.
Catch Barbarian at the following gigs:
August
23 Columbus OH – Newport Music Hall
26 Madison WI – Majestic Theatre
28 Indianapolis IN – Deluxe at Old National Centre
30 New York NY – Webster Hall
31 Buffalo NY – Town Ballrooom
Also you can help out Barbarian on their upcoming East Coast tour stretch involving 7 dates with Bat for Lashes by helping Andrew and the dudes get a van situation all sorted out. Check out the details on their Kickstarter.
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Crying dropped “Bodega Run” their debut single off the forthcoming Get Olde release available soon from Double Double Whammy. Taking electronic, lesser used audio mediums and some of that garage pop know how; Elaiza Santos of Whatever, Dad sings along with Ryan Galloway guitar riffs that shred wild Game Boy audio system riffs with LVL UP's Nick Corbo kicking up the earth's dust on the drums. Crying together has figured something out in their own configuration between the past 90s mobile sound circuit for a kind of alchemistic approach to coming up with a technician's pop dream with a pedal to mother board metal algorithmic setup. Ryan bridges those cornerstones where understated pop-punk guitars meet up with the Nintendo-on- the-go processing speed that blows past the streets with Nick's quick paced percussion; panning past fast all the boring bands in a munchies run lead by Elaiza's insistences, musings and suggestions. It is not until “Bodega Run” outruns it's entire course and meets it's goal of passing around a bag of Andy Capp's Hot Fries while the 8-bit coin sample brings all the bling and snacks to the table. Mission accomplished, indeed. The other day Elaiza and Ryan took a few moments to talk about the beginnings of the band, beer choices, applying restraint amid a busy pop sound, and the structures and bridges between outdated video game hardware and rock.
Elaiza, tell us about the jump from your work in Whatever, Dad to vocal leadership in Crying.
Elaiza: Whatever, Dad is a collection of solo lo-fi tracks I've recorded since my Freshman year of college. Ryan found my music through the recommendation of our close friend and, after an exchange of e-mails and several months of figuring it all out, we've composed and recorded our first ep together! I've never been in a band before Crying; it feels real nice.
How in the hell was “Bodega Run” made?
Ryan: Elaiza and I were on the train to Nick's house to record the EP and I had this riff in my head and wanted to lay it all out on the Game Boy before I forgot, but also to get it out of my head. I worked out the rest of the GB and guitar while Nick recorded drums for the other songs.
E: Everyone went to Stop -n- Shop without me. While they were picking up treats, I had to stay in to write the lyrics for two of our newest songs and finish by the time they got back. In retrospect, it's hard to remember my thought process because I usually don't do well writing under pressure, but it seems to have worked out. Maybe it is easier to write about snacks than it is to write about heartache.
Ryan, how do you juggle guitar and Game Boy duties?
R: LSDJ, the Game Boy software I use, is very flexible. You can compose everything beforehand and just press play, write parts as a song is playing, or do a mix of both. We just press play and use it as a backing track. After that, I'm all guitar.
What is the key ingredient to syncing up video game midi samples with instrumentation of vocals, guitars, and drums?
R: Probably restraint. Our songs are already super busy for pop songs. Between the Game Boy's four tracks and the three of us, it's easy to over-indulge and have every component wildly solo-ing at once.
Do you all consider yourselves more from the Olde E. 800 school than say the ubiquitous, 'old school' spelled sans 'e'?
R: This is a tricky one! We're down with malt liquor, but I prefer Dog Bite and Nick likes Colt 45, especially when canned. As for “old school,” I guess it makes more sense since we're using outdated video game hardware.
What do we need to know about the upcoming Get Olde EP dropping later this summer that we don't know yet?
E: I swear a couple times; sorry, ma.
Welcome to the Dream Drunk party, Brooklyn's new ripped up and off sample synco-psych-sevants. The album We Own You is available now via Bandcamp. What grabbed us about the double D was the abstract overhaul of these samples for something that becomes a new reassembled beast. Sure “Party Party” still is not free of it's Miley ripped sample attachments, but functions in these lo-fi-low-hum hazes that actually has the audacity to attempt chorus and verse structures (if that's what you want to call it, but they are present somehow). That Eastern Chinatown opening psych-sweet prelude to “Sweet Jane” was not lost on this dreamer in “Sands”, then Elton gets hopped up to a new hair plug follicle hop on “Krokodil Rocks”, while you might ponder whether or not Nixon was the campaign slogan-proverbial 'one' with the head hurdling “Nixonian”. The lights burn bright like cassettes in the sky with “Aurora Borealis?”, bumble bee flights circle in a frenzy on “BEES!”, the noise experiments get a further work out on “BIRDS!/Hello, Nurse”, distortion instrumental dub (of sorts) on “Jahhorror”, ambient Japanese sword falling in the galaxy on “Seppuku in Space”, ambient cloud like samples float in the cut up work of “Jam”, “BingBong” is made to pierce into ice cream truck-wind up music box memories, and it's “Hegemony” or survival in the closing horror-show feature finale; “Hegemony”.
Now, get an inside look into the po-mo, post-apocalyptic landscapes of the lush, wonderful world of Dream Drunk.
Amid the sound collages and world of lysergic loops; just how did Dream Drunk come around?
DD: I'd say Dream Drunk as a project officially started in 2010 when I started making sound collages with an iPod and a Boss Loop station. I soon bought a synth and a sampler and it evolved from there. The Loop station, at least to me, makes it hard to catch an exact sample so the fun was pressing down the pedal and hearing how it matched up and how the loops sounded mixed together atop one another. “Regulate!” and “{~_~} That Witch Shall Not Be Name” are both recorded in a single take in this way.
Using an iPod and a loop station allowed for me to also catch certain seconds that I might not have found just scanning a song for the 'perfect sample'. 2:16 on “BEES! “is an example of this. That song was recorded about two years ago that way but then was cut-up and edited into the current version.
How did the name come up? Reminiscent of dream dunk, are you guys basketball fans or more on the Colt 45 fanatic trip?
I honestly don't remember. I had some songs I wanted to put out and had another name in mind but I discovered it was taken. I spent a week or two trying to think of something new and the phrase Dream Drunk crossed my mind. I liked the alliteration and I liked not only the meaning (that feeling) but those two words being together. I think it fits because my music can be fantastical and a bit head spinning. I've had friends say that the music sounds drunk…for better or worse.
I'm pretty obsessed with having intense dreams though so there might be a more psychological reason it appealed to me. I'd say dreaming is a hobby for me in the same way basketball or Colt 45 is a hobby for other people.
What was the story of gathering up these LP lifted audio samples and fragments for We Own You?
The real story is that I recorded an album called Grotesque that doesn't use any samples, specifically, no unauthorized samples. It's just keyboard, synth, guitar and drum pads. But I still had recorded quite a bit of songs that used samples so I wanted to put out an EP as a way to be “done with samples.” As I was working on it I felt like I wanted to use more and more of the samples I recorded. So I spent a few months cleaning them up and turning that EP in to the full We Own You album.
That future album Grotesque, the new album We Own You, and my previous release Fantasy, were all recorded more or less over the same two year period. It was just a matter of cleaning them up and turning them into the final versions I wanted to release.
Is the title a weird flip of intellectual property ownership ideas where the original authorial craft become re-appropriated under new ownership, like a land rights coup of tenant-becomes-the-new-
landlord kind of scenario?
I claim Miley Cyrus's land in the name of Dream Drunk!
That's actually pretty spot-on. The title is meant to be a comment on several aspects of that. It is certainly meant to suggest that I don't have the rights to these songs that are released by people held in strict contracts with corporations who own their property and control it (in some cases create it under their name). In a sense the internet allows that property to be more freely available for commentary and distortion by other artists. I also can't make any money on this or claim any rights to it since I don't own have permission allowing other artists to do the same with my own work.
To me, it plays into the fact that We Own You is meant to be a comment on this sense of freedom people feel with the internet. It's at a weird crossroads right now where websites that generate viral content take images random online users to get hits from listicles that are created and paid for by a company to promote their own produced entertainment. It's then commented on by users on social networking websites that are closely monitored by the government whose laws are often lobbied to protect major corporations, many of who are in the entertainment field. Although with advertising becoming so integrated into all levels of media any company with an advertising budget probably falls under that definition of 'entertainment'. More and more paid advertisements, in Facebook feeds or before YouTube videos, [they] distract us from the things our friends are actually trying to share with us.
We Own You also has to do the criss-cross of the internet connecting us but the widening gap of our societal divide. Social media allows people to share truth faster and further than ever before. However this technology has been made available at the same time as when it feels like there is a real global crumbling from the top-down by those in power clinging as hard as possible to that power from Syria to Egypt to certain situations here in the US. It feels like that's the message from the top; We Own You and in a lot of ways citizens are rethinking this role and responding back with the same message “No, We Own You”
In “Hegemony” I use a note on my synth that, to me, sounds like a police siren. It starts with one as an innocuous every day occurrence but it then loops over itself so the sound doesn't stop but continues to intensify. To me this has a visceral effect as it's a sound we're all used to but when it doesn't end you naturally feel more concerned and troubled. By the end when you hear hundreds of cops sirens with no end you feel as if something terrible might be happening. It crosses over from probably someone getting a speeding ticket to something much larger. The same defense used to protect us from riots, terrorist attacks and godzillas are now used to shut down protests or remove people from foreclosed houses. So do we hear protection in the sound of the sirens or do we fear them?
And, yes, I'm saying all this in the three words I wrote over an image in MS Paint that accompany 12 distorted pop songs.
Do you feel that this is an even scuzzier post-modern take over of the friendly pop enviros that Girl Talk made popular to rehash, reconstruct and reshape from the musical pop canons?
In short, yes. Although I hope the samples in the songs feel like something beyond a novelty appeal. I am inspired more by Dan Deacon, Hype Williams, Black Dice and Oneohtrix Point Never when it comes to how I like to manipulate the sounds of pop-culture. The samples are certainly more varied than you'd hear on a Girl Talk album, Velvet Underground, Nurse With Wound and Faust, a Nixon Campaign commercial, “Flight of the Bumblebee”, but I think the songs are one unto themselves. Most Girl Talk fans I'd fear, and I could be wrong, don't actually know the names of the songs or yell out requests using the titles he's given them. I would also imagine Oneohtrix Point Never doesn't get told “Sleep Dealer” sounds like 'a fun twist on an 80's soda commercial'.
While I do think these songs are certainly scuzzy post-modern takes on pop music, I genuinely enjoy the sounds I'm taking and want to expand on them to create something new. In many cases this is a complete distortion of the original tracks. Sometimes it is a take on the actual song, like making “Flight of the Bumblebee” more threatening, intense and noise-heavy or trying to give a piece of “Crocodile Rock” the type of distortion you hear on 60s Asian pop compilations.
I like The Resident's “Third Reich'n'Roll” a lot and I once read it was made out of their “love/hate relationship with pop music.” That resonates with me. But I don't want to do things the way the bands I like did them. I want to take things further. And do them like I do them.
Making waves in Canada and about to crack the States' indie fields, we are proud to present to you Terrace, who dropped with the first Stateside viewing of their video for “Kane Garden Bay” from their album, As Far As The Night Can See available now on Bandcamp. The beat comes in here first, as Simon Lock, with Jodi Kane Hoesing and Chris Brewer just kick it stoic styles on the couch. Sitting centered with eyes focus full of passions, Simon and his wing-men get courted by a plethora of pissed up revelers while the central focus is on this “waiting for you” anticipation to see another far away. Never minding any of the distractions, the women falling about them, the candle lit birthday cake presentation, the general behavioral shenanigans; their aim comes from a deep sprung well that is searching for that lost one that got away…somewhere presumably far, far away. And as the lovesick techno pop treads the engulfing passion pools of emotion unbound and unrestricted; no one else can stop this feeling as the eyes look off, shaking a tambourine or a portable Casio keyboard with a synth-penned valentine of unwavering devotion.
I spent the bulk of my week in discussions with frontman Simon Lock discussing how this was all going to work. And after much ado, a host of back and forth telegrams, cables, wires, and maybe a few other out dated communication instruments; we were able to catch up on all the fuss. The result as you are about to see turned into a midsummer night's farce not unlike the histrionics and conversational wit fit for Lady Windermere's Fan.
[sending telegrams through our respective handling depots] Would Simon care to share some thoughts?
(Simon's inner monologue)”Would I ever… let me just top up my Schnapps and fix my cravat”)
First up; Canada is on top of the booming, cutting edge, indie electro scene, what artists and collectives are you and Terrace particularly keen on in Vancouver?
First down, Canada has really put itself on the map with the music it's been putting out in the past few years, especially in this unique and often overlooked genre. As far as our home city of Vancouver is concerned it goes without saying that bands like Data Romance and Jay Tripwire's live project are pretty goddamn cool. But there are so many bands here that it can be hard to find the gems like Laurelle & Alexander. They are fresh on the scene and when we hear their stuff it makes us feel like we get to listen to something special. They are a mash up of many genres but impress us with their melding of r n' b grooves, spaced out atmospherics and an angelic voice. Another band we particularly love is The Broadway Bullies. They are the exact opposite of us. They are dick swinging rock n roll and really it's every boys dream to be in a band like that. I can't because my grandma would wash my mouth out with soap if I recorded music that contained that sort of content. It's the opposites attract thing. It takes balls to do what they do and we respect and love that. Vancouver is also known for it's devoutly loyal house music scene. We have Nordic Trax, a local house music label, that provides a solid outlet and brings in the best house DJ's. This, to me, is an inspiration because real house music is on the rise and before the masses start to jump on this wagon, it needs to be said that local Vancouver House legends like Luke Mckeehan and DJ Krown never stopped driving it.
What does Vancouver have that the rest of the 'States know nothing about?
Vancouver engages your imagination. Maybe it's the contrast of nature and metropolis. Maybe it's the hodgepodge of cultures. Maybe it's because we have a fella here that makes Japanese Influenced hot dogs on the street corner totally sends your taste buds for a loop and it takes ages to reset your pallet. I dunno, but when I moved here three years ago I felt it immediately. And it's been great for songwriting. Sure there is a piss load of rain but it gives music that darker and at times deeper edge. You can definitely tell what Terrace songs were written during the downpour seasons.
The song gets it's title I'm presuming from Cane Garden Bay, in Tortola, British Virgin Isles. What's the connection with that place and the song for you?
I've been going to Tortola since I was a small kid and still do. That place stands still in time. And the beach Cane Garden Bay never changes, Jimmy Buffet wrote “Cheeseburgers In Paradise” there, and, I fool you not, it looks the exact same as when he got there. The island itself doesn't have to let in modern concepts in order to survive. Much like our song, it was written during a live rehearsal in one rainy January afternoon, on the fly. The lyrical theme comes from a time in my life that remains untouched by my grown up self, it didn't need my older complicated brain to analyze how it was back then. I just let that dude in the summer of grade eleven, tell his side of the story and that is simply it. Untouched, uncomplicated and simple. And the title was easy, Jodi's middle name is Kane, and when he started riffing the bass lines it kind of snapped in my head. It sounded timeless, hot and chock full of history.
Also I hear you all fly planes and such, how long have you all been into that? How does that influence or affect song writing, projects and idea's for songs? What is the correlation between flying and electro pop engineering, anyway?
I have been doing that since I was 18. It was just something I always wanted to do, so I did it. What I appreciate about flying is the ability to see many different places and cool things, both on the ground and airborne. The ever changing surroundings of the destinations leads to some interesting song ideas. You get to step out of your home base and see places you normally wouldn't go and suck up some of that inspiration, whether it's walking along the beach in St Lucia or freezing your kiwis off in Thunder Bay, Ontario, you get to leave your home and change up the scenery. It's a good way to hear songs and sounds in a different light as well. A song you wrote when it's pissing rain in Vancouver may not make a lot of sense when you are at the Fish Fry in Barbados. So why not pinch a bit of that influence and throw it into the track? Make it more universal perhaps. Then the next day you'll be in Quebec City, where it's minus 32C (-22F for the USA people), and think “Are you kidding me? Fucking steel drums?!! I'm pouring gravy down my pants to stay warm and you are adding steel drums?!”. A healthy balance perhaps.
One similarity that flying and electro pop producing share is that in both applications, I touch a lot of knobs. I guess with that phrasing you could draw comparisons to a happy ending masseuse.
What upcoming projects, releases, other artists do we need to be in the know about?
Well well well, there are a few. As mentioned above keep an eye and ear out for Laurelle & Alexander from Vancouver, great sound, great people Their album is about to drop soon, very excited about that. Terrace and member Chris Brewer has just finished a solo EP as well. Very cool blend of electronic sounds with r n' b and hip hop influences, it will be released shortly on my label TechnoFunk, he's an amazing songwriter in his own right. And I'm also involved in a side project with a mate called Model Clocks. We finished our debut album and it's in the mixing/mastering stage. Very unlike Terrace, there aren't any vocals. Just sounds ranging from Ambient to Detroit Techno. Music for before and after the club, if you will. I also just finished a remix for Canadian House music legend Nick Holder's song “Time”. It's very 1992-ish in sound, which is my specialty, and for some reason house is making a come back (spoiler alert!.. It never left!) and it should be out on his label DNH Records very very soon.
How is that for shameless self promotion in one paragraph?!
RJD2 swung by with “Her Majesty's Socialist Request”, a chirped up head knocker through the handclaps from the forthcoming More Is Than Isn't available October 8 from D2's own Electrical Connections.
Julia Holter declares new North American Tour Dates listed here as she prepares to release her new album, Loud City Song, August 20 from Domino Records. Catch her performing “In The Green Wild” from her recent appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.
Montreal's Jef Barbara is preparing his album Soft to the Touch Ocotober 1 from Club Roll Music. But first up, catch the album cut of Barbara's “hello hello, I know, I know” pop body electric, “I Know I'm Late” followed up by remixes from Bertrand Burgalat, Cadence Weapon, Low Sea, The Victoria and Mushy.
Way to keep it out there, wild and wonderful, Toronto. Just when you were looking the other way, Some Minor Noise let's you know that, “you just can't win”, with the most devastating vocals and wild u-turn of synth saturation that you are going to hear all week, off the track “Understanding”. This track was sent from Canada to reduce you, first through vocal enticement, cradling synthesizers that only enrich, that is until the basement falls out from beneath and this mine cart ride to heaven travels somewhere stemming outwardly from the polarities you might think.
14KT dropped the cut “Crown (feat. Black Milk, MED)” off his upcoming disc, Nickel & Dimed, available September 3 from Mello Music Group. The gold crafting producer is met with fellow Michigan son, emcee Black Milk with MED kicking it out of Oxnard. Listen for further dope instrumentals and other appearances from Blu, Kokane, and more coming soon.
Moses Sumney dropped his one take video for “Replaceable” that has everybody talking. His style is built from these beautiful acapella loops, strong delivery built up by vocal instrumentation. Moses explores his voice and inner song to a rich effect unlike anything you may have heard before. Mr. Sumney is an artist to watch, and we hope to bring you more of his work in the days to come.
In their electric 80s underground best, Potty Mouth rocks like it was 1986 every day on, “Black and Studs”, taken from their upcoming album Hell Bent available September 17 from Old Flame Records. With commentary on styles and looking tough they exude a gallery of characters, suspect influences that attempted to take over the mainline romantic-new-wave-runoff market. Sure, the C86 cassette may have been a flash in the pan moment bit of NME pandering to the mid-80s anarchy (arguably to follow up the very excellent time capsule, C81 cassette, that gets little to no recognition for significance Stateside, but whatever, I'm tired, you do the homework). But you can just forget all of this, because that was then, and Potty Mouth is spitting some real talk, some real sounds, wants to know why you wear all that show-off shit, “just because”.
French electronic engineers Télépopmusik drop their tres dramatique Philipp Virus and Vanessa Mia Matic directed video for “Try Me Anyway” feat Betty Black off their Fever/Try Me Anyway EP. Their third full-length album is expected later this year.
Have you all heard this little jam “I Make Neon” from WRITER? Definitely makes the short list of catchy, persuasive tracks that I have heard as of late. Frontman James drives home the big time feeling with a host of distortion pedals that masquerade some dreamy vocals and light making lyrical underpinnings that will keep your entire being swaying in time to the guitar's pendulum motion amp storm. Look for the digital 7″ available August 6 with a limited clear lacquer 7″ available August 31 from your new friends at Nineteen 98.
Cables have come through the grapevine that The New Lines are dropping their second full length album, Fall In Line, August 20 from Moon Glyph and lend a sonic, heart racing reading of classic Japanese prose poetry with, “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”. The New Lines' levitating trance music sounds ripped from hypnotized, time-leaping, key bending, and instrument droning commune dwelling minstrels .
We got your third helping from Diarrhea Planet's August 20 dropping LP, I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams, from Nashville's Infinity Cat Recordings with “Babyhead”. The Southern kings of scuzz and toilet dumped gold nugs just continue to fascinate our need for a sound that doesn't need no stinking polish or spit sheen varnish application. It heralds from an ethic where you don't need slick, radio friendly sparkles but rather you let the guitars sing and shout for themselves. Check out Impose's debut of Diarrhea Planet's “Kids“.
Meet Bent Denim, and stop by for a game of bowling, or perhaps a swim, maybe a leisure filled day in the park, an afternoon with the family in the living room around the television, or any other life event assembled from vintage filmed memories featured in the Will Taylor video for “Living Room”. Coming at you from Nashville and New Orleans respectively, Ben Littlejohn and Dennis Sager bend back time's feeble hands and arms to previous eras, music that ruminates around those family trip memories, Betamax players, VCR rentals, trailing through the journal cassette highways of hushed Casio organ and tear dreamt whispers.
Forest Fire gives an even well worth of your patience with the single “Waiting In The Night” from the forthcoming album Screens available September 2 in the UK, September 10 Stateside from FatCat Records. Listen as the precious items of the evening become illuminated in gentle guitar strums and slow and sleepy key loops that unfold echoes of eternal, ethereal, elevations.
The Hongs dropped by all the cool stars you can squeeze into a “Magazine” in a track that features GDM, Lebos/Escanes combined with Didi on synths, Aaron “Abomb” Johnston of Brazilian Girls on percussion. The 80s neon-knight rider fantasia takes you in a weird time warp where the whir of every instrument and sound falls in and out of the haze. Get more of that special glow from The Hongs on their Pet Scans EP coming soon.
SwizZz dropped his self produced cut “Zoom In” with the George Orozco directed b/w video from his forthcoming Funk Volume album that is yet to be given a release date. So set yourself down and get a little closer to one of the lesser known members of the FV collective with some loud and proud spit that dwells in ominous beat atmospheres.
Stockholm six piece Humfree Bug Art flips the Humphrey Bogart moniker for the art of quiet buzzards with the towering garden plant life of “Flowers”. Dabbling in the sound and vision arts, the Swedish sextet breaks earth for the prettiest sounds to spring forth from the richest soils with the deepest aquafirs. Their recent extended players, Collema, and Charlene are available now from their imprint, Esplanaden Fonogram.
Future Loves Past new single “Pretty Things” took us “so far away”, as we found ourselves shaking a shoulder or two. Tempe, Arizona's Eric W. Palmer takes the conceits of life down the glittering rows of the most exciting broke ass dream boulevards that might have you coming back for another round of action to break life's spells and illusions. The new Future Loves Past album All the Luscious Plants will be available September 24 from Common Wall Media.
Things just got smashed up and messed up with Sydney's wild ones Billy Burke, David Cook and Anthony Boyer creepin' out the neighborhood in all the right ways with “Creepyman” from Yes, I’m Leaving’s new album, Mission Bulb from Tenzenmen Records. When you spend almost every formative moment of your life somewhere within the shadow of rock n' roll, it can be easy to over look great things done with a genre piece brought over from the previous century. But I would be damned to apply any of that smart ass attitude in the sheer onslaught and constant assaulting threat of “Creepyman”. Forget what the underground taught you, this is that fight or flight moment blasted forth through amp wattage that only Billy, David and Anthony seem to really get. There was supposed to be some flowery metaphoric poetics here but all I got is that this was possibly the scariest thing I have heard blaring through my metal boxed Realistic speakers all week, and I'm still afraid. So to Sydney's Yes, I'm Leaving, a big thank you very much; you fuggin' nailed it.
Windhand brings out the heavy hands and heavier guitar weights with vocal wind tunneling, “Woodbine” from their forthcoming Soma record September 17 from Relapse. This will bring back those late nights of driving reckless with the dudes along the back roads of rural, foothill counties where the car door-broken speaker blasting guitar blare awakes the local livestock and always seems to alert the local deputies of authority. P.S., this song dips it's punch of doom under 10 minutes. Yeah. Stay heavy.
Thank good ol' Ha Ha Tonka (named after the State Park) for dropping a song to scratch up those ancient scabs on your pride from those show-off goodie-two-shoes from growing up that still get you all fired up when recalling the (should be long forgotten already anyway, but whatever) aggravation and envy with their track “Colorful Kids”, off the forthcoming fourth album Lessons available September 24 from Bloodshot Records.
And then give it up Double Double Whammy's double, double with shredded cheese doves of love; LVL UP, as they dropped the Extra Worlds demos, upcoming dates and included their recent sounds shout inciting sounds from Brooklyn's Seaside Lounge.
Peep LVL UP's upcoming dates:
August
23 Brooklyn, NY – Union Pool with Ovlov, Two Inch Astronaut
31 Rochester, NY – Bug Jar with Diarrhea Planet
September
01 Brooklyn, NY – Shea Stadium
06 Purchase, NY – Whitsons with Pity Sex, Slow Warm Death, Ovlov
19 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands with Terry Malts, Kissing is a Crime
His Clancyness dropped the brilliant rock sparkle of “Zenith Diamond” off the upcoming album Vicious available October 8 from FatCat Records. Bologna, Canada's Jonathan Clancy brings a striking pepped up pop that sends energy out from the stages, studios, past the bars, over the heads of the barflies, through the hall, past the bathroom stalls, past security and out the doors into the great heavens and skies all around.
LA's Fol Chen drops their title track video for “The False Alarms” from the album of the same name from Asthmatic Kitty Records. Watch as a, “light as a feather, stiff as a board” levitation game transcends time and spans life from new altitudes to the electronic dream programming. Guaranteed to have you floating on air.
Today we send you home with Elephant Stone's Joseph Yarmusch & Jimmy Medellin psych-swirling video for the song, “Love The Sinner, Hate The Sin”, featuring those trippy projection visuals courtesy of Robert Mustachio. The Elephants are playing with Beck tomorrow, August 3 at the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival before hitting up the Eastern portion of their US tour before the take off on a European tour vacation with none other than The Black Angels. Get more jangly good time vibrations with Elephant Stone's self-titled album is available now via the band.
Then say hello to none other than our friend and yours from the Southern territories, Dent May, with his song, “Let Them Talk” that brings his brand of restrained and laid back “don't give a fuck” slice of lover's talk rock. Mark your calendars, cause you got a date with the one and only Dent and his hot new album, Warm Blanket, available August 27 on Paw Tracks.
Watch this stunning dance performance by Michaela DePrince in the Avant Garde Diaries produced video for Phoenix duo Full |REBEL| Jacket's “American Tragedy Nº 68”. G and Q unleash the power of the piano lead instrumentation here is evocative as the slow dance brings out both a flood of feeling while shining forth the continuum between live and presampled sounds within a lush presentations of strings and beats.
Celestial Shore shares warped and waterside video for lazy romantic song with the the funniest structural and chord change ups around with, “Valerie”. Find this and more off Celestial Shore's debut album 10x available September 3 from Hometapes and Local Singles Records.
Mary Lambert brings strings and orchestral things and a heart-lotta love with, “She Keeps Me Warm”. Mary brings a kind of 'love is blind' bit of medicine straight from the inner source, with lines like, “I named both of her eyes, 'forever' and 'please don't go”. Mary's sparse piano grows into the towering ceiling orchestrals that describe the many characteristics, continuous build upon bonds, connections of all sorts between people of all types, and the many faces of what love can be beyond definition.
The Blow dropped their ode to winging it in hot, sparse but romantic style on, “Make It Up”, off their October 1 slated self-titled from Kanine Records. This will be your new anthem to encourage you to get pro-active and do whatever you need to do, all by yourself, your own terms, when you want to, whenever you want to. Just make it up as you go along.
NYU rising singer songwriter student, Tor Miller dropped his piano beating bit of pop with, “Headlights”. Miller gives a bit of that personal angst held over from band classes and that competitive collegiate spirit one has between collaboration and the continued life lessons of constant learning. Tor hits up the UK at London's The Lock Taver on August 7, 21, and returns to NYC August 27 at the Rockwood Music Hall, and September 12 at The Bitter End.
Should you need some new mental dance cuts, might we recommend Chase & Status ballroom banger, “Count On Me (ft. Moko)” ahead of their new album album, Brand New Machine, dropping October 7 from UKF Music.
Everyone has played this for you but in case you missed it, get lazy on a Summer past-blowing breeze with none other than Ariel Pink and Jorge Elbrecht with their own fresh and only cut, “Hang On to Life”, available on 7″ from Mexican Summer. The future is rewriting the soft-rock of the past that never was, before today, ever thought possible.
Get dancing to these rhythms on the floor of any industrial factory, with Factory Floor, as they “Turn It Up” with some of that turn up, turn up house-gone-weird energy off their record of the same name, available September 10 from DFA Records.
Lil Silva keeps dropping the cuts this week as we keep our heads moving to “Salient Sarah (Feat. Sampha)” that blast Chicago style juke things through a variety of soul sides from the forthcoming Good Years release, Distance available August 5.
Hey San Francisco, Groove Merchant and PUMA are helping to make the bourgeois America's Cup a little less of a snooty nosed, suit and tie event for the landlord class. That's why tonight in SF at Pier 27, check out the Puma Yard where Lower Haight's wax master supreme rulers, Groove Merchant will feature their DJs Cool Chris, Vinnie Esparza, and B. Cause to give boat race watching a little more soul. Peep the above flyer, and go here for further details.
Castle Face Records is slaying it, as they released Vaguely Ethnic from Chicago's RUNNING that blasts things into the vague voids. For those numbed and ground into pulp from the worn and weighted throes of woes from the work week; get that cathartic want in the weekend you thought would never happen. Also, you probably already know this by now, but John Dwyer will release his classic Coachwhips album, Hands On The Controls this September 3 on his Castle Face Records imprint.
Richard X. Heyman will be releasing his tenth solo album, X. September on Turn-Up Records and has provided a link to his latest post-X offerings. Be one of the first lucky folks on your block to hear it first via Heyman's website.
Beat Radio's Brian Sendrowitz organized a benefit album for influential singer-songwriter, Will Stratton, entitled If You Wait Long Enough: Songs of Will Stratton. Talents feature the curators, Beat Radio, Alexandra Drewchin, Aaron Roche, Jesse Rifkin, NY Lights, Trevor Wilson, Thibault Rivrain, Zachary Cale, and the good man Stratton himself. The Will Stratton Benefit show will be held a few weeks down the road in NYC Friday August 23 at SPiN New York. Check the Facebook invite for further details.
