Paris Film Festival.

12 Jun 2010 — NFOP

Mondrian are a Parisian duo consisting of Roman Oswald and Morning Crash (no, really) that's devoted to lush and exuberant pop tunes with an incredible amount of d.i.y. attitude, little beauties reduced to the essence of a song that only intends to make you happy. This mindset is best shown in their shameless use of the English language, their accent making the lyrics almost impossible to understand while adding a whole lot of unique charme and sweetness with that very feature - naive in the best possible meaning of the word.

Nonetheless, the songs appear not to be complete without the amazing videos, and that's exactly where the terminus of "do it yourself" and the lo-fi aspect of Mondrian's music is situated: The videos are worth being called veritable shorts, neat stories put into the length of a song. Perfectly staged and shot by Spanish director Jesus Hernandez (NYSUfilms), the first two videos have already earned well deserved critical acclaim, and Last breakfast on Planet Surf is only a few days old. You shouldn't miss a single one of them. Below the first one, you can also download the wonderful Love, a Collision.



Mondrian - Love, a Collision








Read more →
Mondrian are a Parisian duo consisting of Roman Oswald and Morning Crash (no, really) that's devoted to lush and exuberant pop tunes with an incredible amount of d.i.y. attitude, little beauties reduced to the essence of a song that only intends to make you happy. This mindset is best shown in their shameless use of the English language, their accent making the lyrics almost impossible to understand while adding a whole lot of unique charme and sweetness with that very feature - naive in the best possible meaning of the word.

Nonetheless, the songs appear not to be complete without the amazing videos, and that's exactly where the terminus of "do it yourself" and the lo-fi aspect of Mondrian's music is situated: The videos are worth being called veritable shorts, neat stories put into the length of a song. Perfectly staged and shot by Spanish director Jesus Hernandez (NYSUfilms), the first two videos have already earned well deserved critical acclaim, and Last breakfast on Planet Surf is only a few days old. You shouldn't miss a single one of them. Below the first one, you can also download the wonderful Love, a Collision.



Mondrian - Love, a Collision

Wired.

11 Jun 2010 — NFOP

Listen to this new incredible Animal Collective remix of Pantha Du Prince's splendid Welt Am Draht.

Pantha Du Prince - Welt Am Draht (Animal Collective Remix) Read more →
Listen to this new incredible Animal Collective remix of Pantha Du Prince's splendid Welt Am Draht.

Pantha Du Prince - Welt Am Draht (Animal Collective Remix)

Surfing the Irish Sea.

11 Jun 2010 — NFOP

Thanks to Frankie from Eden Is Neon, I've just been introduced to another promising Captured Tracks outfit: The duo Girls Names calls Belfast home, but their music sounds as if it came directly from some surfing spot in SoCal. Whatever, their self-titled debut EP is out already, and the song Don't Let Me In is a real lo-fi pop treat.


Girls Names - Don't Let Me In Read more →
Thanks to Frankie from Eden Is Neon, I've just been introduced to another promising Captured Tracks outfit: The duo Girls Names calls Belfast home, but their music sounds as if it came directly from some surfing spot in SoCal. Whatever, their self-titled debut EP is out already, and the song Don't Let Me In is a real lo-fi pop treat.


Girls Names - Don't Let Me In

Nothing left to say.

10 Jun 2010 — NFOP

This one by South Carolina's Coma Cinema is simply amazing. Thank you, Sahil.



Coma Cinema - Only Read more →
This one by South Carolina's Coma Cinema is simply amazing. Thank you, Sahil.



Coma Cinema - Only

Introducing: Hanoi Janes

10 Jun 2010 — NFOP

I'm a little embarrassed. How could this happen? The baroque royal residence of Dresden is a mere two hour drive south of Berlin, but it took the efforts of our relentlessly revered Brooklyn label Captured Tracks to sign him and thereafter a warm reception by the folks at Pitchfork to put that certain Dresden citizen named Oliver Scharf on my radar. Hm.

Anyway, as Hanoi Janes, Scharf creates unashamedly blissful and optimistic lo-fi tunes that'll make your day wherever you are, on the beach, in the park, or in the office, and you'll sure see me dancing and whistling to this all summer long. Scharf's one-man artistic endeavour was recorded on an 8-track machine, ending up with songs that rarely exceed the two minute mark while heavily leaning on Phil Spector-infused fuzzy jangle brilliance. Frankly, this is seriously perfect pop music. Infectious.


Below, listen to two of Year of Panic's tracks. Sag Sag Sag is the only one sung in German, I think, but it's more or less as audible as Dee Dee's murmuring in Dum Dum Girls' attempt Oh Mein M.

Hanoi Janes - Bad Attitude

Hanoi Janes - Sag Sag Sag

Read more →
I'm a little embarrassed. How could this happen? The baroque royal residence of Dresden is a mere two hour drive south of Berlin, but it took the efforts of our relentlessly revered Brooklyn label Captured Tracks to sign him and thereafter a warm reception by the folks at Pitchfork to put that certain Dresden citizen named Oliver Scharf on my radar. Hm.

Anyway, as Hanoi Janes, Scharf creates unashamedly blissful and optimistic lo-fi tunes that'll make your day wherever you are, on the beach, in the park, or in the office, and you'll sure see me dancing and whistling to this all summer long. Scharf's one-man artistic endeavour was recorded on an 8-track machine, ending up with songs that rarely exceed the two minute mark while heavily leaning on Phil Spector-infused fuzzy jangle brilliance. Frankly, this is seriously perfect pop music. Infectious.


Below, listen to two of Year of Panic's tracks. Sag Sag Sag is the only one sung in German, I think, but it's more or less as audible as Dee Dee's murmuring in Dum Dum Girls' attempt Oh Mein M.

Hanoi Janes - Bad Attitude

Hanoi Janes - Sag Sag Sag

Tide changes.

10 Jun 2010 — NFOP

Ross Edman is out of Dallas, Tx (not Austin as one might assume), and just like our beloved and right now much-hyped Stockholm fellow Christian Niva, he marks another example of an artist abandoning his former musical pastimes in favour of unwound and dreamy electronica. Edman used to perform as hip hop artist Objektiv One, but now he prefers the moniker Datahowler for his smooth and nice 80s synth-infused tunes that give us a welcome timeout from our daily schedule.

Datahowler's premiere single Estate b/w Black Swans has just been released. Listen to the beauties below.


Datahowler - Estate

Datahowler - Black Swans

Read more →
Ross Edman is out of Dallas, Tx (not Austin as one might assume), and just like our beloved and right now much-hyped Stockholm fellow Christian Niva, he marks another example of an artist abandoning his former musical pastimes in favour of unwound and dreamy electronica. Edman used to perform as hip hop artist Objektiv One, but now he prefers the moniker Datahowler for his smooth and nice 80s synth-infused tunes that give us a welcome timeout from our daily schedule.

Datahowler's premiere single Estate b/w Black Swans has just been released. Listen to the beauties below.


Datahowler - Estate

Datahowler - Black Swans

Songs of the Elephant Man.

10 Jun 2010 — NFOP

A deep blue ocean, long, white beaches encompassed by endless dunes, rolling hills covered with splendid vineyards, and an ever shining sun blessing the realms with never vanishing warmth. The three guys that form Alba Lua hail from the beautiful city of Bordeaux, and this fact gives us a hint to what their music sounds like: mellow and hazy dream pop with just the right amount of summery psychedelica, heavily relying on reverb and hushed vocals, and still, unless so many other bands right now, not keeping the tempi even, but rather showing a surprising deal of spontaneity in their songs. Inspired amongst others by Sergio Leone's 70s Spaghetti Western movies and equipped with a name that means "the moon of the dawn", Alba Lua are separating themselves from the bulk of emerging dream pop artists by means of creativity and imagination, thus in the best possible way.

Alba Lua's debut EP Ballad of Joseph Merrick, comprising three songs all equally worth adoring, will be released by Satellite of Love Records on June 28. A full length album is scheduled for early 2011.


Watch the psychedelic and wonderfully shot video for EP closer Valley of Abra, and download the song below:



Alba Lua - Valley of Abra Read more →
A deep blue ocean, long, white beaches encompassed by endless dunes, rolling hills covered with splendid vineyards, and an ever shining sun blessing the realms with never vanishing warmth. The three guys that form Alba Lua hail from the beautiful city of Bordeaux, and this fact gives us a hint to what their music sounds like: mellow and hazy dream pop with just the right amount of summery psychedelica, heavily relying on reverb and hushed vocals, and still, unless so many other bands right now, not keeping the tempi even, but rather showing a surprising deal of spontaneity in their songs. Inspired amongst others by Sergio Leone's 70s Spaghetti Western movies and equipped with a name that means "the moon of the dawn", Alba Lua are separating themselves from the bulk of emerging dream pop artists by means of creativity and imagination, thus in the best possible way.

Alba Lua's debut EP Ballad of Joseph Merrick, comprising three songs all equally worth adoring, will be released by Satellite of Love Records on June 28. A full length album is scheduled for early 2011.


Watch the psychedelic and wonderfully shot video for EP closer Valley of Abra, and download the song below:



Alba Lua - Valley of Abra