Blog: taking tiger mountain

This fantastic short explores the unique world of a sound artist who cannot hear. Todd Selby's film takes us into Christine Sun Kim's exploration of sound through her own physical translation. From Nowness.com: Deaf from birth, Kim turned to using sound as a medium during an artist residency in Berlin in 2008, and has since developed a practice of lo-fi experimentation that aims to re-appropriate sound by translating it into movement and vision. "It's a lot more interesting to explore a medium that I don't have direct access to and yet has the most direct connection [...]

Eric & Magill , creators of the previously loved "You Make It So Good" , have released their equally lush Two Travelers EP . Stream it below and download it for free from their bandcamp . Look for their full length Night Singers coming in late June of this year. Two Travelers by Eric & Magill

Dum Dum Girls have the destinction of making me tolerate a Smiths song. I had no idea that "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" was the work of Morrissey and with Dee Dee singing, I can actually stomach it. Anyway, their video for last year's slow motion stomp "Coming Down" pairs the mournful song with a stark black & white clip featuring an scissor wielding audience. Take a look at the video's direct influence: Yoko Ono's 1965 performance entitled Cut Piece : Please [...]

The lovely video from Tennis is a Lynch-ian, color soaked performance piece. I never know if I'm a full-on fan of Tennis, but this video is charming as hell, in a perfectly weird way. Bonus link: a live version of "My Better Self" shot at The Earth House Collective for the possibly defunct Laundro Matinee . The live version comes off less polished and the lack of reverb makes it sound a little less like Beach House.

I was ready to jump on the hype train about Chance The Rapper for his recently released mixtape Acid Rap , but this clip of him working on a track with Nosaj Thing is even better. I've always wanted to hear Nosaj produc for an MC and Chance seems like a solid pairing. You'll be able to download the full track May 7th from yourstru.ly Check out Acid Rap below:

• chancetherapper - Acid Rap

Hamihadarigeri is a bizarre blend of chopped Moondog samples, sing song half Japanese/half made up lyrics and an equally odd cloud of visual accompaniment. Probably one of the strangest things I've come across recently and a good way to clear the fog on a Monday morning.

As a tangential follow-up to the last post about a music video staring Ray Wise, here's my favorite recent discovery: Twin Peaks. They are a bunch of young guys making hazy rock like a humid blast of summer...something perfect for the dwindling days of winter. There are touches of Supergrass, Wavves and lot of noisy Chicago classics. "Stand In The Sand" definitely gives reason to keep an eye on these guys for more releases. Hell, they've already got an appearance under their belt on Chicago's venerable public access, indie kids dance party Chic-a-go-go. That's a [...]

Beach House's video for "Wishes" is my new favorite music video. Evidently all it takes to entertain me is Ray Wise, Eric Wareheim, slow motion & horsemasks.

Bonus points for the Breaking Bad sampling intro, otherwise a great pulsing mass of Space Trap, featuring Flosstradamus, Rustie, TNGHT and a bunch of other folks I don't know.

• YARIN LIDOR - İ ∆Ϻ †ḦЄ Đ∆ИԌЄṜ mixed by Yarin Lidor 19.8.12

If this were possible, I would say this could qualify as 4:35 seconds of an Off The Air episode on video games. A million unlicensed clips, so it'd be terrible for broadcast...but the video still blew my brains apart. Lots of datamoshing, iconic video game imagery & aggressive wildlife all add up to a charmingly delusional video. The clip has my attention and, though I've never heard of High Contrast or Hospitality Records before, the clip serves as an internet friendly talking point. 'Spectrum Analyzer' is an ok track; definitely in line with 8/16 bit soundtracks [...]

Music History In GIFS gives little bite sized loops of information about the last 30 odd years of pop events. Told in the style of Commodore-era games, the single serving tumblr offers a concise and retro-modern way to learn about recent music history.

Been waiting a long time for this...never has over 2 years felt so long. The new track carries a heavy vibe of The National & Grizzly Bear, while still sounding like an organic Local Natives track. Their sophomore album Hummingbird out January 28th on Infectious and January 29th on Frenchkiss.

In honor of the upcoming release of After Dark II, label head Johnny Jewel has offered up the incredible After Dark compilation up for free download. From the lead Chromatic himself: Over 5 years ago we released a slow-burning label sampler at midnight on my birthday. The original pressing was a demo CDR that Ida No colored with markers & glued cutouts of my hand spraypainting our names on the world. It was supposed to be a limited edition of 237 copies meant for the merch tables of Texas & California. It exploded overnight. 77 [...]

• JOHNNY JEWEL - AFTER DARK / REMASTERED

What doesn't kill you makes you dumber.

A great cut from a critically loved, but generally under-appreciated album, given life by the masterful Daniel Garcia . He previously was responsible for an old favorite gem of mine: the surrealist video accompaniment to J Dilla's 'Nothing Like This.' Killer Mike's hyper-aware, political wandering through the cultural fallout of Reagan is a fine alternative to the dog and pony of tonight's presidential debates. Both R.A.P Music and co-conspirator EL-P's Cancer For Cure easily stand tall together as easily the best this year has provided.

A new clip for "Requiem for the Static King Part One" from the band that pairs composer Dustin OʼHalloran with Stars of the Lid's Adam Wiltzie.

Currently in the running for album of the year.

Pure Bathing Culture - Ivory Coast from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo . Simple, hazy and beautiful. Get their debut EP here .

Download the exuberant lead single 'Lots' via the widget below.

Cinematography and direction by Peter Simonite, 2nd unit director for Terrence Malick’s Tree Of Life . From last year's Take Care, Take Care, Take Care , released on Temporary Residence.