5 Years of NFOP

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Dream Love: “Be My Man, Woman”.

27 Sep 2011 — Henning Lahmann
Though Tallahassee, Florida's Taylor Ross, the man behind Dream Love, appears to have obliterated just about every digital trace we knew of him since we posted his fun-time deranged italo-disco madness collaboration with Zak Mering in May, it turns out that the dude is still very much alive and kicking, as this heavily grooving, brand new off-kilter synth marvel ingeniously named "Be My Man, Woman" proves. The track will appear on his self-titled LP, out on October 25 via Two Syllable Records. You may pre-order your copy right now (which will include a remastered version of "Love Juice") over here. Dream Love - Be My Man, Woman Read more → Though Tallahassee, Florida's Taylor Ross, the man behind Dream Love, appears to have obliterated just about every digital trace we knew of him since we posted his fun-time deranged italo-disco madness collaboration with Zak Mering in May, it turns out that the dude is still very much alive and kicking, as this heavily grooving, brand new off-kilter synth marvel ingeniously named "Be My Man, Woman" proves. The track will appear on his self-titled LP, out on October 25 via Two Syllable Records. You may pre-order your copy right now (which will include a remastered version of "Love Juice") over here. Dream Love - Be My Man, Woman

Love Cult: “Place to Get Lost In”.

27 Sep 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Full Of Nothing, the rad cassette imprint based in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, has already been introduced on these pages twice after releasing tapes full of brilliant psychedelia-induced ambience by Wind in Willows and a split by Ous Mal and Bedroom Bear, yet we hadn't been aware that the label founders themselves are deeply involved, astonishing pursuers of musical experimentalism. Enter Love Cult, the project of Ivan Afanasyev and his wife Anya. Their latest tune "Place to Get Lost In" is a stunning excursion into slow-burning, immense drone that drowns in a sea of gentle noise, aptly and beautifully mis-en-scène by fellow Karelian video artist Nikita Hilko.Love Cult - Place to Get Lost In

Read more →

Full Of Nothing, the rad cassette imprint based in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, has already been introduced on these pages twice after releasing tapes full of brilliant psychedelia-induced ambience by Wind in Willows and a split by Ous Mal and Bedroom Bear, yet we hadn't been aware that the label founders themselves are deeply involved, astonishing pursuers of musical experimentalism. Enter Love Cult, the project of Ivan Afanasyev and his wife Anya. Their latest tune "Place to Get Lost In" is a stunning excursion into slow-burning, immense drone that drowns in a sea of gentle noise, aptly and beautifully mis-en-scène by fellow Karelian video artist Nikita Hilko.Love Cult - Place to Get Lost In

Gathered Ghosts: “Feels Like Nothing”.

26 Sep 2011 — Tonje Thilesen
Javier Suarez, the guitarist of our friends Craft Spells from Seattle recently introduced us to his bedroom project Gathered Ghosts, which is to be found over at bandcamp for free of charge. Suarez' quirky and sunny pop harmonies were recorded in his parents' basement in Pullman, WA in between touring with his band mates in Craft Spells, resulting in a warm and earthy sound which is oh so perfect for this September melancholy. Gathered Ghosts - Feels Like Nothing
Read more →
Javier Suarez, the guitarist of our friends Craft Spells from Seattle recently introduced us to his bedroom project Gathered Ghosts, which is to be found over at bandcamp for free of charge. Suarez' quirky and sunny pop harmonies were recorded in his parents' basement in Pullman, WA in between touring with his band mates in Craft Spells, resulting in a warm and earthy sound which is oh so perfect for this September melancholy. Gathered Ghosts - Feels Like Nothing

Premiere: Teaadora - “Wake Up Call”.

26 Sep 2011 — Henning Lahmann
Ever since we featured Teaadora's marvelous video for "Pre-Agriculatural Languageless Culture" back in the earliest days of 2011, we've been eagerly and impatiently waiting for Ms. Nikolova's proper album debut À Jamais Vierge / Virgin Forever to finally be released. In January, we wrote that it would happen "soon", but it turns out that we couldn't have been more mistaken. For reasons that lie well beyond our knowledge, it will have taken another full year before the record will have been dropped eventually. The word is now that Hot Releases will have the vinyl ready by January 2012. Be it as it may, till then let us reassure you that it will have been worth the wait. From its unsettling first track till its disturbing finish, À Jamais Vierge is a breathtaking effort, a demanding yet immensely rewarding listen that shows Teaadora at her finest, which means a young artist provided with presumably infinite talent for songwriting and composition. The songs are densely arranged pieces of haunted folk, eerie yet frail, seldom optimistic in tone or sentiment. "Wake Up Call" may exemplify the singer's approach, as its perfectly sweet melody, carried by a crystal-clear acoustic guitar, gets constantly compromised by dissonant sounds and Teaadora's pretty yet unearthly layered vocalization, thwarting what otherwise could've been an immaculate folk ballade. Beautiful it still is, but the music's twisted edges together with the lyrics evoke an uneasy feeling that won't leave any listener untouched, and this is exactly what constitutes the true magic in the artist's work. Teaadora - Wake Up Call Read more → Ever since we featured Teaadora's marvelous video for "Pre-Agriculatural Languageless Culture" back in the earliest days of 2011, we've been eagerly and impatiently waiting for Ms. Nikolova's proper album debut À Jamais Vierge / Virgin Forever to finally be released. In January, we wrote that it would happen "soon", but it turns out that we couldn't have been more mistaken. For reasons that lie well beyond our knowledge, it will have taken another full year before the record will have been dropped eventually. The word is now that Hot Releases will have the vinyl ready by January 2012. Be it as it may, till then let us reassure you that it will have been worth the wait. From its unsettling first track till its disturbing finish, À Jamais Vierge is a breathtaking effort, a demanding yet immensely rewarding listen that shows Teaadora at her finest, which means a young artist provided with presumably infinite talent for songwriting and composition. The songs are densely arranged pieces of haunted folk, eerie yet frail, seldom optimistic in tone or sentiment. "Wake Up Call" may exemplify the singer's approach, as its perfectly sweet melody, carried by a crystal-clear acoustic guitar, gets constantly compromised by dissonant sounds and Teaadora's pretty yet unearthly layered vocalization, thwarting what otherwise could've been an immaculate folk ballade. Beautiful it still is, but the music's twisted edges together with the lyrics evoke an uneasy feeling that won't leave any listener untouched, and this is exactly what constitutes the true magic in the artist's work. Teaadora - Wake Up Call

A Grave With No Name: “Crows”.

26 Sep 2011 — Henning Lahmann
"Crows" is another intimate and vulnerable, devastatingly beautiful song by Alex Shields aka A Grave With No Name, recorded at his parents' home and out on 7 inch via No Pain In Pop. You may pre-order the vinyl now over here. A Grave With No Name - Crows Read more → "Crows" is another intimate and vulnerable, devastatingly beautiful song by Alex Shields aka A Grave With No Name, recorded at his parents' home and out on 7 inch via No Pain In Pop. You may pre-order the vinyl now over here. A Grave With No Name - Crows

Waskerley Way: “True Damage”.

26 Sep 2011 — Henning Lahmann
Clearly his most ambitious work to date, Newcastle's Michael Bridgewater aka Waskerley Way's new EP La Magie Rouge is a lesson in world music afflatus gone fuzz pop, and this is not to be understood as a disparaging judgment. Bridgewater took "damaged and doctored sounds" from places as far-off as Senegal, Ghana, Ethiopia and, well, Belgium, subsequently working them into carefully arranged dream pop songs situated somewhere between original glo-fi and shoegaze. With the dazzling tune "True Damage" the method turns out most successful - that is, if you are able to overcome those unsettling yet of course unjustified "Desert Rose" associations that are induced by the clarinet-like (it's probably a different instrument) sample toward the song's end. La Magie Rouge is available on cassette via Ultra Friends and digitally for pay-what-you-want on bandcamp. Waskerley Way - True Damage Read more → Clearly his most ambitious work to date, Newcastle's Michael Bridgewater aka Waskerley Way's new EP La Magie Rouge is a lesson in world music afflatus gone fuzz pop, and this is not to be understood as a disparaging judgment. Bridgewater took "damaged and doctored sounds" from places as far-off as Senegal, Ghana, Ethiopia and, well, Belgium, subsequently working them into carefully arranged dream pop songs situated somewhere between original glo-fi and shoegaze. With the dazzling tune "True Damage" the method turns out most successful - that is, if you are able to overcome those unsettling yet of course unjustified "Desert Rose" associations that are induced by the clarinet-like (it's probably a different instrument) sample toward the song's end. La Magie Rouge is available on cassette via Ultra Friends and digitally for pay-what-you-want on bandcamp. Waskerley Way - True Damage

Games: “No Disguise”.

24 Sep 2011 — Henning Lahmann
Brand new jam by Ford & Lopatin's former project Games that we thought was now gone for good. Anyway, the moniker alteration in fact makes an awful lot of sense, as "No Disguise" is stylistically way closer to late 2010 That We Play material than to this year's Channel Pressure. Not sure if this is an old outtake or the first glimpse on a new proper Games release, but in any case it's pure MIDI splendor. Read more → Brand new jam by Ford & Lopatin's former project Games that we thought was now gone for good. Anyway, the moniker alteration in fact makes an awful lot of sense, as "No Disguise" is stylistically way closer to late 2010 That We Play material than to this year's Channel Pressure. Not sure if this is an old outtake or the first glimpse on a new proper Games release, but in any case it's pure MIDI splendor.

Cough Cool: “Run Slow”.

23 Sep 2011 — Henning Lahmann
Sometime this fall (which has technically started today), our dearest pals over at Bathetic are gonna drop Lately, the proper debut LP by Cough Cool aka Philadelphia's Dan Svizeny. The first 50 orders of the vinyl will go out along with an additional and strictly limited cassette named Basement. Below, you may take a first quick glimpse at the tape via its track "Run Slow", a mellow and distinctly lo-fi guitar instrumental that showcases a wonderfully smooth amount of forgotten summer haziness, a pure bliss we actually haven't encountered in quite a while. Also, check out the recently unveiled video for "Months", one of the tracks off Lately: Read more → Sometime this fall (which has technically started today), our dearest pals over at Bathetic are gonna drop Lately, the proper debut LP by Cough Cool aka Philadelphia's Dan Svizeny. The first 50 orders of the vinyl will go out along with an additional and strictly limited cassette named Basement. Below, you may take a first quick glimpse at the tape via its track "Run Slow", a mellow and distinctly lo-fi guitar instrumental that showcases a wonderfully smooth amount of forgotten summer haziness, a pure bliss we actually haven't encountered in quite a while. Also, check out the recently unveiled video for "Months", one of the tracks off Lately:
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