New Stellar OM Source: Energy.

12 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Christelle Gualdi aka Stellar OM Source just posted this terrific new track, to be released soon on 7 inch vinyl via Tokyo imprint Big Love. Following her recent upbeat wave path, Energy is another impulsive, even dancefloor-ready synth jam, as usual incredibly skillfully arranged. Read more → Christelle Gualdi aka Stellar OM Source just posted this terrific new track, to be released soon on 7 inch vinyl via Tokyo imprint Big Love. Following her recent upbeat wave path, Energy is another impulsive, even dancefloor-ready synth jam, as usual incredibly skillfully arranged.

Tallinn At Dawn.

11 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

After her brilliant 12 inch release Noble Savage via Amanda Brown's 100% Silk imprint, London via Tallinn diva Maria Juur aka Maria Minerva has now put out her debut cassette Tallinn At Dawn via the mighty mothership Not Not Fun. Unlike her dancefloor-focused vinyl (listen to a track here), which is in line with Amanda's shameless disco agenda, Tallinn At Dawn is more centered around eerie and ethereal, twisted bedroom pop, with quite a heavy amount of zeitgeist-laden lo-fi feel yet apart from that mostly concentrated on Maria's apparent enthusiasm for otherworldly beautiful, amorous late-night fairytales. Instantly mesmerizing and sure one of the essential cassettes to have been released so far in 2011. Listen to my two favorite tracks below, and then hurry and cop the whole tape that is limited to 150 copies here. If you're too slow, don't worry: Her Cabaret Cixous LP is planned to be dropped in summer, also on NNF. _____________________________________________ In related news, here's the video for Maria's song A Little Lonely from her 100% Silk single, a slightly creepy but aptly arranged VHS collage of dancing girls, supposedly sometime way back in the 80s. Get the 12 inch here. Read more → After her brilliant 12 inch release Noble Savage via Amanda Brown's 100% Silk imprint, London via Tallinn diva Maria Juur aka Maria Minerva has now put out her debut cassette Tallinn At Dawn via the mighty mothership Not Not Fun. Unlike her dancefloor-focused vinyl (listen to a track here), which is in line with Amanda's shameless disco agenda, Tallinn At Dawn is more centered around eerie and ethereal, twisted bedroom pop, with quite a heavy amount of zeitgeist-laden lo-fi feel yet apart from that mostly concentrated on Maria's apparent enthusiasm for otherworldly beautiful, amorous late-night fairytales. Instantly mesmerizing and sure one of the essential cassettes to have been released so far in 2011. Listen to my two favorite tracks below, and then hurry and cop the whole tape that is limited to 150 copies here. If you're too slow, don't worry: Her Cabaret Cixous LP is planned to be dropped in summer, also on NNF. _____________________________________________ In related news, here's the video for Maria's song A Little Lonely from her 100% Silk single, a slightly creepy but aptly arranged VHS collage of dancing girls, supposedly sometime way back in the 80s. Get the 12 inch here.

Tropical Depression.

11 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

San Diego's electro/fuzzy pop duo Tropical Depression sent over their latest single Departures b/w 40 Winters last night. A-side Departures is a deeply atmospheric, shoegaze-informed piece that relies on a straight-up beat and a rather simple drum machine pattern to leave room for the boys' hazily distorted sounds and the blurry vocalization. Get the b-side for free over at bandcamp. Tropical Depression - Departures Read more → San Diego's electro/fuzzy pop duo Tropical Depression sent over their latest single Departures b/w 40 Winters last night. A-side Departures is a deeply atmospheric, shoegaze-informed piece that relies on a straight-up beat and a rather simple drum machine pattern to leave room for the boys' hazily distorted sounds and the blurry vocalization. Get the b-side for free over at bandcamp. Tropical Depression - Departures

Video: School Night.

11 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Pitchfork TV has debuted the latest work by the ever-stunning visual wizard Jamie Harley, the video for the wonderful dream pop gem School Night by Warren Hildebrand aka Foxes In Fiction, our favorite track off the Alberto EP that was released on Hildebrand's own Orchid Tapes late last year. As expected, Harley has once again perfectly captured the song's spirit, beautifully converting its mildly melancholic mood into a collage of blurred childhood memories of untroubled and lighthearted late summer adventures. The video is part of the incredible "visual mixtape" Slow Motion that was revealed last night via our wonderful friends over at Stadiums & Shrines and Flashlight Tag. Make sure to enjoy all of the eleven works by some of our favorite contemporary visual artists, every one of them having a unique and original idea of transform pop music into pictures. Foxes In Fiction - School Night Read more → Pitchfork TV has debuted the latest work by the ever-stunning visual wizard Jamie Harley, the video for the wonderful dream pop gem School Night by Warren Hildebrand aka Foxes In Fiction, our favorite track off the Alberto EP that was released on Hildebrand's own Orchid Tapes late last year. As expected, Harley has once again perfectly captured the song's spirit, beautifully converting its mildly melancholic mood into a collage of blurred childhood memories of untroubled and lighthearted late summer adventures. The video is part of the incredible "visual mixtape" Slow Motion that was revealed last night via our wonderful friends over at Stadiums & Shrines and Flashlight Tag. Make sure to enjoy all of the eleven works by some of our favorite contemporary visual artists, every one of them having a unique and original idea of transform pop music into pictures. Foxes In Fiction - School Night

NFOP x The 405 Presents: Omstart.

10 Mar 2011 — Tonje Thilesen

During the past month, I've been working on a little mixtape project that saw the light of day by the nice folks over at The 405 earlier today. As I'm leaving for a three-month long trip in Asia in a couple of hours, this is therefore my last contribution to NFOP in quite a while, and with that in mind, Omstart was born. Omstart (in Norwegian meaning 'restart') is most of all a tribute to Norwegian music, consisting of everything from A-ha to Casiokids, remixed, chopped 'n' screwed by some of our favourite DIY producers and musicians around the world, opening up with the splendid In Lieu remix of Beach House's Norway, which is the only exception (geographically speaking) to what is entirely a line-up of original tracks by Norwegian bands and artists. Secondly, the mixtape is also a tribute to the electronic/ambient genre. For instance, the name Omstart is originally taken from a track with the same name by the Japanese experimental/ambient artist Cornelius, featuring Erlend Øye and Eirik Bøe of Kings Of Convenience on vocals; drifting away into unknown landscapes of Norwegian woods or the great mountains of Okayama. It is also a fine reminder that the borders between our continents are slowly being erased (musically speaking), with the otherwise 'unnoticeable' countries such as Norway or Denmark no longer being considered 'dry deserts' within the fast-growing music scene. Let's break the barriers, y'all. Giving the artists pretty much free guidelines (other than the obvious theme; the contribution needing to be a remix or a cover of something with relevance to Norway), Persona La Ave decided to put a personal touch on Einar Stray's amazingly beautiful Chiaroscuro, Australia's Guerre dove into the more unknown corners of Urørt and cooked up his own remix of P.E.R's Ensom Nebula, Pierre of Paris based electronic trio sayCeT contributed a dreamy ambient piece of Casiokids' Fot i Hose, Oslo resident Proviant Audio with a remix of Honeytraps, DannielRadall from Mexico with a glitchy electronic remix of A-ha's Blue Sky,  Macklin Underdown with a remix of Bendik's utterly beautiful Bare Du — while Yojimbo Billions on the other hand decided to take the challenge a bit further by sampling fragments of Ballad Of Revolt, a classical symphony written by the Norwegian composer Harald Sæverud (1897-1992). This has been an incredibly exciting year so far, and all though I'm taking a break from NFOP for a while to focus on traveling, don't you worry: I'll be back before you even know it. Also, a huge thanks to everyone who contributed! UPDATE: Please note that the In Lieu remix that you'll find in the .zip file linked below is unfortunately not the final version of the track. However, you can download the right version within the single tracks listed below (the first one, duh!). Sorry for the inconvenience. [DOWNLOAD] Tracklist: 01. Beach House - Norway (In Lieu Remix) 02. P.E.R - Ensom Nebula (Guerre Remix) 03. Casiokids - Fot i Hose (sayCeT Remix) 04. A-ha - Blue Sky (DannielRadall Remix) 05. Einar Stray - Chiaroscuro (Persona La Ave Remix) 06. Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit (Time Wharp Remix) 07. Honeytraps - Crepuscular Creatures (Proviant Audio Remix) 08. Bendik - Bare Du (Macklin Underdown Remix) 09. Yojimbo Billions - Fragments of Harald Sæverud's Ballad Of Revolt Photography/artwork: Tonje Thilesen Read more →

During the past month, I've been working on a little mixtape project that saw the light of day by the nice folks over at The 405 earlier today. As I'm leaving for a three-month long trip in Asia in a couple of hours, this is therefore my last contribution to NFOP in quite a while, and with that in mind, Omstart was born. Omstart (in Norwegian meaning 'restart') is most of all a tribute to Norwegian music, consisting of everything from A-ha to Casiokids, remixed, chopped 'n' screwed by some of our favourite DIY producers and musicians around the world, opening up with the splendid In Lieu remix of Beach House's Norway, which is the only exception (geographically speaking) to what is entirely a line-up of original tracks by Norwegian bands and artists. Secondly, the mixtape is also a tribute to the electronic/ambient genre. For instance, the name Omstart is originally taken from a track with the same name by the Japanese experimental/ambient artist Cornelius, featuring Erlend Øye and Eirik Bøe of Kings Of Convenience on vocals; drifting away into unknown landscapes of Norwegian woods or the great mountains of Okayama. It is also a fine reminder that the borders between our continents are slowly being erased (musically speaking), with the otherwise 'unnoticeable' countries such as Norway or Denmark no longer being considered 'dry deserts' within the fast-growing music scene. Let's break the barriers, y'all. Giving the artists pretty much free guidelines (other than the obvious theme; the contribution needing to be a remix or a cover of something with relevance to Norway), Persona La Ave decided to put a personal touch on Einar Stray's amazingly beautiful Chiaroscuro, Australia's Guerre dove into the more unknown corners of Urørt and cooked up his own remix of P.E.R's Ensom Nebula, Pierre of Paris based electronic trio sayCeT contributed a dreamy ambient piece of Casiokids' Fot i Hose, Oslo resident Proviant Audio with a remix of Honeytraps, DannielRadall from Mexico with a glitchy electronic remix of A-ha's Blue Sky,  Macklin Underdown with a remix of Bendik's utterly beautiful Bare Du — while Yojimbo Billions on the other hand decided to take the challenge a bit further by sampling fragments of Ballad Of Revolt, a classical symphony written by the Norwegian composer Harald Sæverud (1897-1992). This has been an incredibly exciting year so far, and all though I'm taking a break from NFOP for a while to focus on traveling, don't you worry: I'll be back before you even know it. Also, a huge thanks to everyone who contributed! UPDATE: Please note that the In Lieu remix that you'll find in the .zip file linked below is unfortunately not the final version of the track. However, you can download the right version within the single tracks listed below (the first one, duh!). Sorry for the inconvenience. [DOWNLOAD] Tracklist: 01. Beach House - Norway (In Lieu Remix) 02. P.E.R - Ensom Nebula (Guerre Remix) 03. Casiokids - Fot i Hose (sayCeT Remix) 04. A-ha - Blue Sky (DannielRadall Remix) 05. Einar Stray - Chiaroscuro (Persona La Ave Remix) 06. Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit (Time Wharp Remix) 07. Honeytraps - Crepuscular Creatures (Proviant Audio Remix) 08. Bendik - Bare Du (Macklin Underdown Remix) 09. Yojimbo Billions - Fragments of Harald Sæverud's Ballad Of Revolt Photography/artwork: Tonje Thilesen

Blackeye.

10 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Really into this innocent little pop gem by Austin, Texas outfit Love Inks - Blackeye is the first single from the band's upcoming debut full-length, due in May via Hell, Yes and City Slang. This thing has been all over the net in the last couple of days, but hell there's compelling reason for it: light-hearted and joyful yet with some subtle hints of a darker, almost twisted side, frankly more we'd ever expect from a piece of purest pop that moreover ends before even reaching the two minute mark. Love Inks - Blackeye Read more → Really into this innocent little pop gem by Austin, Texas outfit Love Inks - Blackeye is the first single from the band's upcoming debut full-length, due in May via Hell, Yes and City Slang. This thing has been all over the net in the last couple of days, but hell there's compelling reason for it: light-hearted and joyful yet with some subtle hints of a darker, almost twisted side, frankly more we'd ever expect from a piece of purest pop that moreover ends before even reaching the two minute mark. Love Inks - Blackeye

Soul Handsome.

09 Mar 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Gobble Gobble's Calvin McElroy aka Kuhrye-oo sent over this brand new track this morning, and Soul Handsome is yet another sample-heavy, both upbeat and smooth floor filler that once again proves that this whole Edmonton, Alberta bunch effortlessly turns everything into electronic gold at the moment (you know, see here). Kuhrye-oo - Soul Handsome Read more → Gobble Gobble's Calvin McElroy aka Kuhrye-oo sent over this brand new track this morning, and Soul Handsome is yet another sample-heavy, both upbeat and smooth floor filler that once again proves that this whole Edmonton, Alberta bunch effortlessly turns everything into electronic gold at the moment (you know, see here). Kuhrye-oo - Soul Handsome