Blog: Music Fans Mic

I.M.M.T : Somewhere Having just this minute finished watching Lars Von Trier's ' Melancholia ' - a film which has an hour-long opening sequence of Kirsten Dunst slipping in and out of a depressive state, after marrying her Husband - my threshold for being exposed to art exploring the theme of "depression" is a little low. Perhaps tomorrow will be a good day for me to start getting into the thickets and branches of I.M.M.T's ' Heart Failure ' record. The album itself is tagged on bandcamp as [...]

Some Ember : Deep Ocean Dylan Travis tends to work within guitar-centered environments , forcing rousing pop songs through a lo-fidelity spectrum. But through his alias Some Ember , he flips his work onto its side, giving it a glossy new sheen. ' Deep Ocean ', unlike Travis' work as Man/Miracle , is electronic-based. Packed together with soaring synth lines and a breathtaking vocal performance; it's in the vein of M83, such is its unrelenting euphoria. <a href=" http://crashsymbols.bandcamp.c om/track/deep-ocean" _mce_href=" http://crashsymbols.bandcamp.c om/track/deep-ocean"> Deep Ocean by Some Ember</a> [...]

Ouisa Hound : Gloom Roaming My body feels as if it's caving in today. After months of working and never really putting anything on hold, I'm out of survival mode, diving head-first into the lurgy. A particularly grotty cold however can't prevent ' Gloom Roaming ', my first impression of Ohio's Ouisa Hound , from exposing itself as the startling work that it is. Sky-reaching vocal samples give it a euphoric pulse, but the bone structure holding it all up rests with the overlapping layers of guitar-work, colliding [...]

Sad Souls : Meandering T he word 'meandering' is something of an antonym if we're describing Sad Souls' music. Like similar sleepyheads - Grouper sticks out as a comparison - he likes to stay on the same path throughout each of his songs, rarely glimpsing away from sumptuous layers of glistening ambience. ' Meandering ' is yet another example of the Ann Arbor resident's dreamy work; a fine progression from one of the EPs of the year, in ' Apeiron '. Quite fittingly, [...]

Chelsea Burgin : Disposable Me Please excuse me as I post what will probably be the lowest sound quality of a song that I ever blog about, ever. A download of Chelsea Burgin's ' Disposable Me ' has a bit rate of 64kbps . So granted, it's not one for sophisticated speaker set-ups or a nightly DJ set. But any intelligent set of ears will identify that beneath the crackles and half-portions is a delightfully brittle song, with Burgin's voice somehow resonating above the speckled, almost-inaudible [...]

Shinies : Spent Youth Recipe for immediate buzz: 1xtbsp NSFW promo image 2xtbsp Ear-splitting guitars 1xtbsp Nonchalent vocals 1xtbsp Attention-grabbing chorus Manchester's Shinies have the above formula to a T. Last week a few of our favourite sites went nuts for ' Spent Youth ' and given a few days spent in alleyways drinking rum out of an abandoned pair of shoes, I feel just about ready to jump on board with this quite brilliantly rabid [...]

Mozart Parties : Where Has Everybody Gone ( Regal Safari Remix) Most write-ups on Mozart Parties comment on his sense of loss and yearning, his evident melancholy, all documented in self-sympathetic lyrics. But without words, he can also be a fascinating creature, or at least with the help of Regal Safari he can. The Brighton three-piece have already performed miracles on a bland Kai Fish track. Again here, they turn a song on its head, spin it around a few times before seeing what comes out. The [...]

MONAS : Shane Trembling sitar and prominent synths leak out of the stitched together patchwork of ' Shane '. As a result, what could be rendered as another example of well constructed but ultimately limited electronic music becomes an enlightening, polished work. A stream of absorbing world influences rush past in Sydney producer MONAS ' first work and it's nigh on impossible not to take notice. &a mp;lt;a href=" http://monasmonas.bandcamp.com /track/shane" _mce_href=" http://monasmonas.bandcamp.com /track/shane"&am p;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Shane by MONAS& amp;amp;lt;/a& amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

[via this week's New Noise Podcast ] Zack Christ : Hacho Steadybeat No.1 Rarely is a song so well-produced that you feel the urge to separate each millisecond of sound and examine every single one individually. Danish producer Zack Christ could be compared to the equally mindblowing Lapalux for encouraging such an impulsive reaction, but on the basis of ' Hacho Steadybeat No.1 ', he's less scatty, more tame with his application of samples. A stop-start technique that encourages your blood to circuit that [...]

via wedontseethingsastheyare : Peaking Lights : Hey Sparrow Perhaps it's worth me expanding on a couple of choices from yesterday's albums of the year post. Peaking Lights' ' 936 ' was a late minute inclusion of sorts; a dub-infused masterclass in repetition and subtlety that only really exposed itself to me in the past month. The melodies are immersive, hammered in to your skull through throbbing bass and gorgeous background atmospherics, with the exception of the above track, ' Hey Sparrow' , which [...]

ALBUMS/EPs Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact patten - GLAQJO XAACSSO Walls - Coracle The Field - Looping State of Mind The Weeknd - House of Balloons Peaking Lights - 936 Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will Braids - Native Speaker Sad Souls - Apeiron EP Doldrums - Empire Sound EP SONGS Spirit Sisters - He Jamie XX - Far Nearer Purity Ring - Ungirthed Azealia Banks - 212 Mode Moderne - Les Neuf Souers Friends - I'm His Girl Shells - Arctic Dauwd - What's There Grimes - [...]

Mountain Range : Evelyn(e) Leeds producer Stuart Thomas tags his music as "chillwave", only he puts a question mark immediately afterwards. It's not chillwave. Chillwave - or at least most of it - is fairly derivative, easy to produce and samey. Mountain Range's music ticks the instrumental box, but its construction of uplifting piano keys and strange, biting percussive experimentation is the work of someone genuinely talented. The making of ' Evelyn(e)' must have been extremely time-consuming and at the same time, totally rewarding. [...]

Bondax : You're So Plug in some headphones into whichever speaker system you happen to spend your time with, hit play on ' You're So ', but start at a relatively low volume. As it progresses from evolving atmospherics to something more piercing and instant, raise the dial gradually until you find your limit. Truthfully, there isn't a limit. You beg for Bondax's latest effort to be blasted into your ears even louder than is legally possible. A glossy backdrop, ice cold percussion and some sweet sampled [...]

Iberia : A Finale Anything visually citing Ken Loach's Kes is bound to catch my attention. But the song meeting the black-and-white imagery of young Billy is like nothing you'd expect. This Berlin-based sound comes across as if it's just fled from its Scandinavian home. A cold synth line is submerged alongside pointed female vocals and a stylish application of percussion. Pop covered in golden glitter - as first efforts go, Iberia's won't often get bettered.

via brainfoood of Montreal: Wintered Debts In the latest issue of DIY Magazine, I interviewed Kevin Barnes over a transatlantic phonecall. It was all rather nervous and quiet, with the exception of Kevin's occasional hints towards his band's next album, ' Paralytic Stalks ', being a very confessional, intentionally difficult record. The above track, ' Wintered Debts ', certainly seems to sum up what he said to me: " The album's definitely more in touch with my personal life [...]

Mirror Lady : Roman Candles ' Shapes (Spiderwoman )' seemed like a rush of blood on my part; an extreme case of over-excitement after thinking I'd stumbled on the next U.S-based blog darlings. But its charms were far from limited. The perfect next move for a band who win your heart with a fast-paced, jaunty number is to back it up with a discohall waltz of a second song. Stripped back it might be, but like ' Shapes ', ' Roman Candles ' relies on [...]

Night Manager : Ghost via Surfing on Steam Nothing but hazy, relentless grunge is on the menu for Night Manager , a Brooklyn group with serious potential. You can envisage this track being played at every showcase festival on the planet next year. Either that, or it's going to be soundtracking some violent bust-up between hairy bikers in a dingy bar out in the Mid-West. The point is, ' Ghost ' is fit for all occasions grubby and adrenaline-fuelled. [...]

Some Gorgeous Accident : Panorama Tumblr-veteran Pierreism points out that Some Gorgeous Accident , far from being another bunch of cultured so-and-sos from Brooklyn, are based in the Philippines. Perhaps being so detached from the shoegaze, guitar-pop American sound has contributed in part towards their truly unique, undeniably beautiful "dreamgaze" pop. And that name . It's the fitting companion to a song like ' Panorama ', lavished in gently evolving atmospherics and gorgeous guitar lines. The band have nearly one follower per song on their soundcloud account . Sort [...]

COLOURS : Drip Haze Great, big rushing waves of sweet guitars stream down your ears the first time you listen to COLOURS . Of a similar loud, euphoric quality to Crushed Beaks , this London group thrill on ' Drip Haze ', a positive statement made up of pulse-shifting drums and headrush guitar lines. The structure of it all is of immense quality, drifting perfectly between rough-edged blasts of noise and a lighter, more evolving refrain. The stimulant-enhanced cousin of ' Missing '; it's [...]

Outerwaves : Big Cats Every so often, you only set out in finding a certain kind of electronic music, namely one that's got a human, emotional outer layer, a kind that's accessible through its own, uniquely personal form. Outerwaves doesn't just achieve this through the vocal samples of an elated child being placed midway through ' Big Cats '. More, he manages to encircle a harmonious sound with an extraordinarily cultured array of instrumentation; something which Gold Panda most successfully pulled off, something [...]