Just as I was leaving work tonight, this new single from Lower Dens popped up on my Twitter feed, and I am quite thankful I stuck around to listen to it. "Brains" comes from the Baltimore band's new album Nootropics and builds upon the atmospheric lo-fi style they defined on their first album, which I still listen to regularly. No release date has been cemented for the album yet, but it's said to arrive sometime this spring on Ribbon Music. Nootropics comes on the heels of new band member Carter Tanton's highly lauded solo album [...]
Porcelain Raft's debut album Strange Weekend arrives next week on Secretly Canadian, and the label offered up this new track a few days back as a precursor to the release. His label likens the album to M83 and Beach House, but there's certainly an experimental pop edge as well, which even draws comparisons to MGMT. After a few listens though, the Italian-born Mauro Remiddi's first full length really starts to break from those comparisons altogether and really takes on a life of its own. Be sure to look for Porcelain Raft touring with M83 and Youth Lagoon later this spring. [...]
After his last album There Is Love In You gained its rightful spot among most critics' year-end lists in 2010, Four Tet continued to make his presence felt throughout 2011 with a stellar mix for Fabriclive and collaborations with Thom Yorke and Burial and Caribou's new alter-ego Daphni. He also performed here in LA just a few months back at FYF Fest, but will make an exciting return next week with a club performance at legendary beat-tropolis Low End Theory. With two performances from Thom Yorke and James Blake already in the books, it's already [...]
After releasing two of the most uniquely impressive albums of 2011 in Tycho's Dive and Matthew Dear's Black City, Detroit-based label Ghostly will follow the latter with a new EP from Matthew Dear called Headcage , which is scheduled for January 27th release. The EP's title track was released just the other day, and after soaking in the tribal fury and wondrous looping synths of "Headcage" over the last couple days, I've posted the Soundcloud stream below, which also allows for a free download.
As I discussed in detail in my Pitchfork coverage for Passion of the Weiss, Gang Gang Dance not only released one of my favorite albums of the year with Eye Contact , but they also became one of my favorite live acts after witnessing their intense extended jams and reworkings of original tracks first hand in Chicago. Still one of my biggest regrets of the weekend was missing their after party with LA-based Nguzunguzu, who they also toured with throughout the summer. Nguzunguzu was also one of the first acts I covered on this blog, and [...]
photo by Timothy Saccenti This month has certainly been a big one for magnanimous MC/vocalist Gonjasufi, who recently released The Ninth Inning EP for free, and this week announced a new 11-track "mini-album" called MU.ZZ.LE. , which will see a release January 24th on Warp Records. The first single "Nikels and Dimes" surfaced earlier this week, and with Gonjasufi back producing his own beats, it seems he's almost taken a more concise and melodic approach to his new project. With Gonjasufi, his style is such that there really is [...]
As you've probably already heard, a surprise final installment in the Radiohead Remix series was released online yesterday and includes an amazing new remix from Jamie xx, which takes his original "Bloom" remix to entirely new heights. The final 3-track bundle, the only one not to see a physical release, also features remixes from Anstam and Nathan Fake, but after hearing Jamie xx's 8-minute dark-house opus, it might take you a few listens to get to the other tracks. On the third version of his "Bloom" remix, Jamie takes the blissful steel drum pattern of the original, [...]
After releasing his self-titled LP on Carpark Records earlier this year, Dylan Baldi aka Cloud Nothings is quickly following up the success of the album with another LP titled Attack On Memory , which is set to be released on January 24th. The first single "No Future No Past" was leaked on the internet a few days ago, and while Baldi's earlier work clearly shows a genuine pop-punk influence from bands like Jawbreaker, there's even more of an edge to "No Future No Past", which seems to be taking cues from more conceptual 90s indie rock bands like Slint. [...]
On the heels of ASAP Rocky's widely praised LIVELOVEASAP mixtape comes this new remix of "Been Around The World" from LA based producer Sweatson Klank, formerly known as Take. When I interviewed him last year for Passion of the Weiss, he mentioned gaining inspiration from touring and explained how he integrated it in to his own music during the recording process. That being the case, it's clear to see some of Sweatson Klank's recent European influences on this new remix and recent DJ set in Vancouver posted to his Soundcloud page. While his last album [...]
UK-based produced Floating Points aka Sam Shepard recently released this video for "Sais", off his upcoming Shadows EP, which is out November 21st. The features five tracks and will be released on Shepard's Eglo Records imprint. The new video for "Sais" is a recent collaboration with his friend Will Hurt, who created it by using his own patch that generates visuals from synthesizer and drum patterns. The result is an understated but colorful and exciting 3D project that goes along perfectly with the subtle feel of the track. Check out a link to Floating Point's recent set on Rinse.FM with [...]
In case you hadn't been paying close attention to the UK house scene recently, London-based producer Blawan has been stirring up quite a bit of noise in 2011, earlier on in the year with the retro-tinged hit "Getting Me Down" and more recently with "What You Do With What You Have", which quickly became a highlight among many DJ sets, including James Blake's popular BBC Essential Mix from last month. He also also recently released the Bohla EP on R&S Records, who enlisted him for this exclusive track for their new label compilation titled IOTDXI . [...]
ASAP Rocky's long-awaited debut LIVELOVEASAP was finally released for free download earlier this week, catching the ear of seemingly every blogger on the internet. The mixtape/album features production from Clams Casino on five tracks, including the recently leaked track "Bass", which is quickly coming one of my favorites of the year. The only other mixtape in recent memory I can compare LIVELOVEASAP to is Young Jeezy's classic, Trap Or Die , which ended up being the project that set off his career back in 2004. ASAP's collaborations with producer Clams Casino remind [...]
LA producer Teebs' brilliant debut album Ardour ranked among my favorite albums of last year, and though he's been busy in the lab finishing up his next official album, he's been nice enough to grace us with a new release titled Collections 01 in the mean time. The new release, which Teebs refers to as "mini collections of ideas", is set to drop November 7th on Brainfeeder, and yesterday he premiered this new version of "Cook, Clean, Pay The Rent" from Collections 01 over at Pitchfork. There's a noticeably glossy and [...]
Didn't think I'd be around to drop a pre-Halloween post? You were wrong! Along with A$AP Rocky's highly anticipated LIVELOVEA$AP , tomorrow will also see the release of SF-based experimental outfit The Soft Moon's new Total Decay EP, which you can preview in its entirety over at Spin. The band also released a video for the EP's title track on Friday, which does an excellent job of echoing the dank, industrial style of the song, a path which the band seems to be taking further and further to even more pleasurable results. The Soft Moon is in [...]
As a solo DJ/producer and one half of the duo Instra:mental, Boddika's series of hit singles this year arguably peaked with this Joy Orbison collaboration "Swims," which I've heard in practically every DJ set since June. Oddly, no release date has been announced for the single, but today Boddika finally uploaded a high quality version of "Swims" to his Soundcloud page, receiving an impressive 3,000 plays in its first 7 hours online. Another collaboration titled "Froth" from the two UK House kingpins was recently debuted on NTS Radio. You can check out a nice rip of the track in the [...]
The new collaborative effort from Detroit natives Danny Brown and Black Milk was uploaded to Soundcloud earlier for preview earlier today. The Black and Brown EP, out November 1st on Fat Beats, features a set of 10 gritty Dilla-inspired productions from Black Milk, peppered by Danny Brown's familiar Midwestern tone and manically deranged lyrics. With all the talent springing forth from Detroit recently, it's good to see top tier artists from the area finally collaborating and supporting each other, despite the city's history of competitive bickering. Black and Brown [...]
I first heard about Carter Tanton back in July while interviewing Adam Granduciel from The War On Drugs, who mentioned Tanton would be opening for him on his upcoming tour and that he was also a member of Lower Dens, a Baltimore indie band whose debut album I still find myself with an unhealthy attachment to over a year after its initial release. Formerly a member of the band Tulsa, Tanton broke off on his own a couple years back and has since been writing his own music, the vein of which ranges from reverb-heavy garage on "Horrorscope" to the [...]
Out of nowhere today came the announcement of two new EP's from James Blake and Zomby, only the latter of which providing any considerable details and an actual audio preview. "Labyrinth" is the first available track from Zomby's forthcoming 7-track EP titled Nothing , which is set for a release on November 28th. The track exhibits some heavy drum n bass and garage influences, recalling the style of his earlier work on Where Were You In 92? albeit with a bit more sophistication. As many have been quick to acknowledge, the style on "Labyrinth" is in [...]
Flying Lotus just posted this new Thundercat collaboration with Austin Perlata to his Soundcloud page earlier this morning. Austin Peralta, son of famous skateboarder Stacy Peralta, is an insanely talented classically-trained jazz pianist from LA, who recently started collaborating with Thundercat for his live shows supporting the release of The Golden Age of Apocalypse and also released his own album on the Brainfeeder imprint last year titled Endless Planets . In my interview with Thundercat from last week at Passion of the Weiss , he mentioned his intentions of going in to the [...]
After mulling over posting her exciting live performance from Jools Holland (which you can view above), this new Joy Orbison remix of "Video Games" was finally enough for me get a post up about LA-based songstress Lana Del Rey, who recently signed with Interscope Records. I've been adoring her single for the past few weeks and after hearing it on the radio last week while driving in the rain, the beauty of the song's delicate piano melody finally hit me with its full impact. Luckily, Joy Orbison has a knack for making pretty much anything funky, and that he certainly [...]
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![The Soft Moon - Total Decay [Official Video]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/GlTxrlkKzyI_130.jpg)
![Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/l2f6UbMnlq4_130.jpg)
Download: Lissy Trullie - "It's Only You, Isn't It"
Video: Now, Now - "Dead Oaks"
Karmin – “Broken Hearted” and “I Told You So” 2/11 SNL
