The Girl from the Earth.

05 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Thanks to Rachel Evans aka Motion Sickness of Time Travel for turning me towards the works of St. Petersburg, Russian Federation based songstress Galja Chikiss. I honestly admit that when writing about music like this, it appears all too easy to drift into lame and outworn clichés about the "Russian soul" (душа), if only because I have no clue what Chikiss is singing about, but all in all this feels like a melody emerging from the sheer endlessness of the Russian taiga, and the song smells and tastes like a long and dark winter, with its slow, spellbinding build-up of tension and the pervasive melancholy, enriched with a vast mysticism evoked by Chikiss' eerie voice. This is a scarily beautiful song. Take a listen to the whole Медленно / Slowly EP from 2010 over at Soundcloud. Out of mutual respect and admiration, Rachel Evans and Galja Chikiss are planning on a split cassette tape between MSOTT and Galja's solo ambient works, and perhaps even an actual collaboration sometime soon. We'll keep you informed. Till then, get lost with The Girl from the Earth. Read more → Thanks to Rachel Evans aka Motion Sickness of Time Travel for turning me towards the works of St. Petersburg, Russian Federation based songstress Galja Chikiss. I honestly admit that when writing about music like this, it appears all too easy to drift into lame and outworn clichés about the "Russian soul" (душа), if only because I have no clue what Chikiss is singing about, but all in all this feels like a melody emerging from the sheer endlessness of the Russian taiga, and the song smells and tastes like a long and dark winter, with its slow, spellbinding build-up of tension and the pervasive melancholy, enriched with a vast mysticism evoked by Chikiss' eerie voice. This is a scarily beautiful song. Take a listen to the whole Медленно / Slowly EP from 2010 over at Soundcloud. Out of mutual respect and admiration, Rachel Evans and Galja Chikiss are planning on a split cassette tape between MSOTT and Galja's solo ambient works, and perhaps even an actual collaboration sometime soon. We'll keep you informed. Till then, get lost with The Girl from the Earth.

Karaoke.

05 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Knoxville, Tennessee's Brandon Ian Biondo of Coolrunnings and the Dracula Horse collective has dropped a new EP this week under his solo recording moniker Walsh, and just as expected it is another chance to enjoy Biondo's seemingly ceaseless musical creativity: Karaoke collects five pieces of the artist's explorations into the realms of pure, generally 80s-infused and more specifically Italo Disco-informed synth music, definitely not made for laid-back Sunday couch listening but rather finest Saturday night dancefloor banging. See for yourself with Dark Future below, and then take this shit to your trustworthy neighborhood DJ tonight. Cop Karaoke for pay-what-you-want over here. Walsh - Dark Future Read more → Knoxville, Tennessee's Brandon Ian Biondo of Coolrunnings and the Dracula Horse collective has dropped a new EP this week under his solo recording moniker Walsh, and just as expected it is another chance to enjoy Biondo's seemingly ceaseless musical creativity: Karaoke collects five pieces of the artist's explorations into the realms of pure, generally 80s-infused and more specifically Italo Disco-informed synth music, definitely not made for laid-back Sunday couch listening but rather finest Saturday night dancefloor banging. See for yourself with Dark Future below, and then take this shit to your trustworthy neighborhood DJ tonight. Cop Karaoke for pay-what-you-want over here. Walsh - Dark Future

Dance With Me.

05 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Man The Hunter is Evan Doering from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and right at this moment I'm really enjoying his effortless take on fuzzed-out slacker pop that has some seriously awesome AM vibes going on. His brand new Less For You b/w Dance With Me double a-side 7 inch is now out on Ann Arbor's Ginkgo Records, and I strongly recommend this exquisite piece of lo-fi guitar goodness if you're looking for something to keep your spirits up on a freezing Friday night. Irresistible. Man The Hunter - Dance With Me Read more → Man The Hunter is Evan Doering from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and right at this moment I'm really enjoying his effortless take on fuzzed-out slacker pop that has some seriously awesome AM vibes going on. His brand new Less For You b/w Dance With Me double a-side 7 inch is now out on Ann Arbor's Ginkgo Records, and I strongly recommend this exquisite piece of lo-fi guitar goodness if you're looking for something to keep your spirits up on a freezing Friday night. Irresistible. Man The Hunter - Dance With Me

In the Blink of an Eye.

04 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

The fine folks at Minneapolis, Minnesota imprint De Stijl Records have a new 7 inch in the pipeline, In the Blink of an Eye b/w Condo Stress by Taipei-born, Brooklyn via Cincinnati, Ohio-based musician C S(pencer) Yeh, who according to the label has already made "seemingly hundreds of recordings", but none of them so far involved actual songwriting. Until now that is, as the two songs on the single and in particular In the Blink of an Eye may serve as proof that Yeh is also ready to join the ever-growing crowd of lo-fi infused pop exponents. The record is out March 15. C S Yeh - In the Blink of an Eye Read more → The fine folks at Minneapolis, Minnesota imprint De Stijl Records have a new 7 inch in the pipeline, In the Blink of an Eye b/w Condo Stress by Taipei-born, Brooklyn via Cincinnati, Ohio-based musician C S(pencer) Yeh, who according to the label has already made "seemingly hundreds of recordings", but none of them so far involved actual songwriting. Until now that is, as the two songs on the single and in particular In the Blink of an Eye may serve as proof that Yeh is also ready to join the ever-growing crowd of lo-fi infused pop exponents. The record is out March 15. C S Yeh - In the Blink of an Eye

Birkwin Jersey.

04 Mar 2011 — Tonje Thilesen

I recently stumbled across an e-mail from Gramae Coop, an UK based musician producing some quirky, experimental sounds under the moniker Birkwin Jersey, seemingly using samples and anything he finds lying around to create his gentle tunes. I can't help but drawing parallells to the Oslo based solo project of Benjamin Finger, whom put out the rather fantastic record For You, Sleepsleeper last year. Birkwin Jersey's most recent album Sleep somehow approaches the music with quite the similar method, picking up inspiration from Japanese ambient and folk music along the way, chops it up and spice it with vocal samples and weird structures, until the final result is shown below. Download Sleep for free here, or his earlier noises Songs Of Winter here. Birkwin Jersey - We Can Be New Too Birkwin Jersey - Highhorses Birkwin Jersey - Asleep At The Seaside Read more → I recently stumbled across an e-mail from Gramae Coop, an UK based musician producing some quirky, experimental sounds under the moniker Birkwin Jersey, seemingly using samples and anything he finds lying around to create his gentle tunes. I can't help but drawing parallells to the Oslo based solo project of Benjamin Finger, whom put out the rather fantastic record For You, Sleepsleeper last year. Birkwin Jersey's most recent album Sleep somehow approaches the music with quite the similar method, picking up inspiration from Japanese ambient and folk music along the way, chops it up and spice it with vocal samples and weird structures, until the final result is shown below. Download Sleep for free here, or his earlier noises Songs Of Winter here. Birkwin Jersey - We Can Be New Too Birkwin Jersey - Highhorses Birkwin Jersey - Asleep At The Seaside

Premiere: Sacred Animals x Kohwi.

04 Mar 2011 — Tonje Thilesen

Last week we were blessed with Keep Shelly in Athens take on the Ireland based pop wonder Sacred Animals' incredibly wonderful Chosen Seed for his upcoming Welcome Home (Remixes) EP, also featuring Strands, The Holy Roman Army and in this case, NFOP favourite Kohwi aka Cory Levinson hailing from Southport, Connecticut, whom has made his own, crunchy take on the superb pop tune Wired, Islands. The EP will be released next Friday, limited to 100 physical handmade copies which you can pre-order here or download for free from Sacred Animals' bandcamp site. Also, if you happen to be in Dublin tomorrow night, don't forget to drop by the Sacred Animals Takeover night, with support from both Kohwi himself and mysterious psychedelic/shoegaze duo Low Sea. Sacred Animals - Wired, Islands (Kohwi remix) Sacred Animals - Chosen Seed (Keep Shelly In Athens remix) Sacred Animals - Still Removed (The Holy Roman Army remix) Read more →

Last week we were blessed with Keep Shelly in Athens take on the Ireland based pop wonder Sacred Animals' incredibly wonderful Chosen Seed for his upcoming Welcome Home (Remixes) EP, also featuring Strands, The Holy Roman Army and in this case, NFOP favourite Kohwi aka Cory Levinson hailing from Southport, Connecticut, whom has made his own, crunchy take on the superb pop tune Wired, Islands. The EP will be released next Friday, limited to 100 physical handmade copies which you can pre-order here or download for free from Sacred Animals' bandcamp site. Also, if you happen to be in Dublin tomorrow night, don't forget to drop by the Sacred Animals Takeover night, with support from both Kohwi himself and mysterious psychedelic/shoegaze duo Low Sea. Sacred Animals - Wired, Islands (Kohwi remix) Sacred Animals - Chosen Seed (Keep Shelly In Athens remix) Sacred Animals - Still Removed (The Holy Roman Army remix)

Peace Forest.

03 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Mind-altering drone and psychedelic noise journeys here by Brisbane, Queensland native D. Black aka Secret Birds, currently residing in Tokyo, who returns with his sophomore full-length Peace Forest later this month. The four-track cassette is a breathless exploration into meandering soundscapes made up of distorted guitar drones, heavy layers of synth and restless, tropical drum machine trances, somewhere between Sun Araw, High Wolf and Ducktails, according to the artist "inspired by night rides around Shibuya". Hot and sultry these nights were, we assume. The tape is absolutely mesmerizing stuff from start to finish. Highly recommended. Peace Forest is out March 15 in the US and March 25 everywhere else via Brisbane's terrific new cassette imprint Bon Voyage. Pre-order should start tomorrow over here. Read more → Mind-altering drone and psychedelic noise journeys here by Brisbane, Queensland native D. Black aka Secret Birds, currently residing in Tokyo, who returns with his sophomore full-length Peace Forest later this month. The four-track cassette is a breathless exploration into meandering soundscapes made up of distorted guitar drones, heavy layers of synth and restless, tropical drum machine trances, somewhere between Sun Araw, High Wolf and Ducktails, according to the artist "inspired by night rides around Shibuya". Hot and sultry these nights were, we assume. The tape is absolutely mesmerizing stuff from start to finish. Highly recommended. Peace Forest is out March 15 in the US and March 25 everywhere else via Brisbane's terrific new cassette imprint Bon Voyage. Pre-order should start tomorrow over here.