Month: December 2016

Teen Daze: Themes For Dying Earth

Leave a comment

teendazeTeen Daze‘s All of Us, Together has been a go to record for when I need to decompress. It has beautiful textures and layers that let you get lost.

I have enjoyed his records since and his latest effort, Themes For Dying Earth is due February 10th on FLORA, his new record label. Teen Daze uses a short doc to introduce the record. In it, Jamison Isaak reviews the stress and anxiety of recording and performing and the realization that nature around him allows him to find balance. With that comes the reality that climate change could take that away. Shot and recorded by Casey Kowalchuk, you get some tour footage and scenery from in and out of the studio, but it is all about that soundtrack that acts as a preview for the record. Take a gander and a listen.

Day For Night Preview: X Versus Y

Leave a comment

15156854_1835085233427368_2654722914580856930_oThe inevitable dilemma of the music festival, the Sophie’s Choice moments, what do you do, what do you do?

The full lineup has been out there for a hot minute, now we have the locations. You can download the festival map now. Biggest stage is Red, green a little smaller, blue goes indoors and yellow is outback, #thebackyard.

Saturday:

Chelsea Wolfe (Green – 4:10) Vs. Tobacco (Blue – 4:15) – Chelsea Wolfe wins for me on material. But Tobacco could be a multimedia dose of awesome. Hat on, head down, vocoder working overtime, Thomas Fec’s enigmatic stage presence is not the draw, but what will go along with that? Chelsea? I expect an overdose of fog. They are next to each other which will take the edge off my fest FOMO.

Tycho (Blue – 8:10) Vs. Daughters (Yellow – 8:20) – Look, that Daughters set could be a most nuts thing. This choice will likely depend on your intoxicant of choice.

The Run the Jewels incident – Look, RtJ is definitely a monster buzz draw at fests these days. If you are a super fan, this may end up being the smallest crowd they play in front of ever again. Why? Because they are up against Aphex Twin and John Carpenter. Yes, the movie director; he scored many of the movies he directed with synthy goodness and it is a pretty cool experience.

Sunday:

Blonde Redhead (Green – 6:10) Vs. Mykki Blanco (Blue – 6:00) – This is the old vs. new, indie vs. hip-hop’ish, nostalgia vs. witness scenario. There is a ton of buzz behind Mykki, rad minimalist electro beats, a back story of trans discovery. Seeing an artist grow and find themselves right in front of you is pretty cool. But “23” is an all-decade record. Deal with it.

Little Dragon (Red – 9:20) Vs. Butthole Surfers (Green – 9:40) – I’m having a great time listening to the first few from Little Dragon. Do I leave the known for the unknown? Do I leave to go see the Butthole Surfers? Can I recalibrate enough? I would have said no until a friend posted a video on bookface of the Surfers getting back up to speed, hard-edged and tight in a practice space by belting out “Who Was In My Room Last Night” and given the song’s flying intro, one would have to guess it will be the opener.

New Music from Mr. Elevator

Leave a comment

mrelevatorThe hits just keep coming, and I’m happy that this Mr. Elevator tune was saved for the end of 2016, leaving us with the promise of more enjoyment in the new year. There’s a nostalgic bend in the tunes, harkening back to the purity of the late 60s/early 70s when psychedelia started getting reintroduced to the mainstream. Still, the band add some modern twists such as the electronic element here and there to bring the sound into the future. The band releases When the Morning Greets You on February 10th via Rad Cat Records.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/277975564″ params=”color=00aabb&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

 

Your New Favorite Indiepop Band: Tinsel Heart

Leave a comment

tinselheartIt’s a good thing that the indiepop community is so small and involved, otherwise I might never have heard of Sweden’s Tinsel Heart. The group just released their Hey Boyfriend EP, filled with energetic fuzzy pop songs that you can play again and again. Just be sure you give the EP time, as there’s a soft gem of a tune waiting at the end with “Sunday Sunday Smile,” offering a little bit of respite from all the infectious joy in the EP’s opening tracks. Congratulations, your day just got a whole lot better!

Lo-Fi Rocker From Chemtrails

Leave a comment

chemtrails

London’s Chemtrails, if you haven’t already heard, are making waves with their debut EP which was just released last week. It’s an impressive first go, and it features the band’s high-energy lo-fi psych rock. The most recent single from that debut is “Golden Tombs,” the track below, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a track that packs more a punch in three minutes than it does. Immediately, you get these tightly wound guitars that blast their way into the track, and some gang vocals that are hazy and ferocious. Take a listen below, get pumped, and then go listen to the rest of Chemtrails’ EP over on their bandcamp page.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/296476240″ params=”color=00aabb&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Fresh Electro Pop from Red Sleeping Beauty

Leave a comment

redsleepingWell, once you’re back, you’re back, right? It looks to be the case with Red Sleeping Beauty, who haven’t slowed down once since they reconvened in 2015, including this year’s Kristina. They’ve got a brand new single coming out this week on Labrador Records, and if you don’t fall in love with this song after the first run through of the chorus, you need to see a doctor immediately. It has this careful tonal warp that softens the dance-able push from the electronic elements; I just want to play this song for everyone out there today. Have fun. Be safe. Love each other.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/296968404″ params=”color=00aabb&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Christmas Pop from Rat Fancy

Leave a comment

ratAfter leaving behind Sweater Girl, Diana Barraza began Rat Fancy, leaning towards creating a world where indiepop, shoegaze and emo all crash in a joyous bit of infectious pop music. The group are in the process of wrapping up their debut EP for HHBTM Records, so in the meantime, they’re giving out the free Christmas single you’ll find streaming below. You’ll hear hooks, jingle bells and attention to details that will leave you salivating for what the band have in store for us all in 2017. If you’re inclined, visit the band’s BANDCAMP to grab these single for free…then sneak them into your parent’s holiday playlist, so everyone else can enjoy your good tastes.

 


Dance Along With This New Video From Heat

Leave a comment

heatOk, I’ll admit it, I can’t really say no to dreamy pop/rock… it’s my musical weakness, so forgive me if you’ve seen this elsewhere on the internets. Heat, out of Montreal, call themselves post-punk, but from this music video, “Lush,” it’s hard to not pick up on the dreamy new wave vibes that the band are puttingout. The track is exactly as its title suggests– overflowing with instrumentation that compliments and builds on itself. The guitar parts are interlocking and seamless, the synths chime in and out with lightness, percussion holds the groove in place, all while the vocals are hazy over the top of everything. Take a listen and watch below so you can dance through your Tuesday.

“Lush” is taken from the band’s upcoming debut, Overnight,which is out January 20th viaTopshelf Records.

 

Day For Night Preview: Aphex Twin

Leave a comment

aphex-twin-logoEvery music festival will have its share of legacy acts that are there for the nostalgia factor. It seems strange to say that any of the artists at Day for Night are a “legacy” act. When you are years ahead of the industry, how do you ever have the throwback tag? Indulge me as I wax poetic about the future past. Let’s start with the 800 lb. headliner, Aphex Twin.

In my eyes and ears, Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is a mandatory record to have in your collection. Fact: Die Antwoord’s Ninja has the Aphex Twin logo tattooed on his arm and they have recently sampled songs from the Selected Ambient Works 85-92, good enough for me. Elegant and grating, challenging and soothing, all at once a collection that utilizes textures and samples to accent the underlying melodies. One recently poignant sample is Gene Wilder’s line from Wonka, “We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of the dream.” Later records saw an evolution to harder edges with foundations of drum and bass beats. “Come to Daddy” and “Windowlicker” both cemented the permission slip from me for any future evolution Richard David James wants to undergo.

But with all of that aside, some of my favorite works by Mr. James is under his Polygon Window moniker. There was a compilation in 1992 curated by Warp Records that started the disc with a track called “Polygon Window” by The Dice Man. I loved it, read the liner notes and made the connection to Aphex Twin, cuz, yeah. A year later, I found an import of Surfing as Sine Waves BY Polygon Window during a browsing binge of a tiny record that I doubt exists anymore, can’t recall the name, used stuff only, on Parmer, not Buybacks, somebody help me remember. Anyway, this was recorded shortly after Ambient Works landed and it features another fave track “Quoth”.

The aforementioned compilation is called Artificial Intelligence and was re-released in 2005 so that is floating around and features one of my favorite songs ever, “The Egg” by Autechre. You should own it, too.

Probably one of the coolest aspects to his being at Day for Night is that we really have no idea what is on the agenda. He released Sygo in 2014 and the Cheetah EP mid-year, but never really was out in support. Aphex Twin is showing up on several Euro summer festivals lineups, so it seems we get the scoop. As a teaser, this showed up on the intarwebs a few weeks ago.

New Tunes from Love Sport

Leave a comment

lovesportI feel like you deserve this Love Sport track today, that’s if you dig great guitar jams. I can hear the slightest hint of Guided by Voices in some of the vocal notes, though they bring in a bit more angst during the chorus. Still, the emotional bounce in the verses actually has a rather uplifting affect…it hits hard with just enough melody to make the world a brighter place. Indulge yourself in a band that aims to bring you Dull Tracks (they’re anything but) once the new year breaks via Soliti. It’s a steady dosage of feel good throughout, so why wait, indulge yourself now.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/295849862″ params=”color=00aabb&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

1 2 3 4 … 6
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com