Video Sunday vol. 18

04 Mar 2012 — Tonje Thilesen

After a brief hiatus last week, Video Sunday is back with an extra-large edition of the freshest videos by Shlohmo, CSLSX & I Break Horses, Blouse, Marijuana Deathsquads, Lenticular Clouds, iamamiwhoami, RxGibbs, and Oslo's own The Little Hands Of Asphalt. Enjoy, and have a great Sunday! Blouse - Ghost Dream (directed By Gusti Fink & Helmut Ash Kaway) Shlohmo - It Was Whatever (art direction by Monica Lek) CSLSX & I Break Horses - Violent Sea Marijuana Deathsquads - Crazy Master (directed by Isaac Gale) Lenticular Clouds - Supergravedad (by Layer One) iamamiwhoami - Drops RxGibbs - Silver (directed by Andrew de Freitas) The Little Hands Of Asphalt - Fitzcaraldo (by APPARATET) Read more → After a brief hiatus last week, Video Sunday is back with an extra-large edition of the freshest videos by Shlohmo, CSLSX & I Break Horses, Blouse, Marijuana Deathsquads, Lenticular Clouds, iamamiwhoami, RxGibbs, and Oslo's own The Little Hands Of Asphalt. Enjoy, and have a great Sunday! Blouse - Ghost Dream (directed By Gusti Fink & Helmut Ash Kaway) Shlohmo - It Was Whatever (art direction by Monica Lek) CSLSX & I Break Horses - Violent Sea Marijuana Deathsquads - Crazy Master (directed by Isaac Gale) Lenticular Clouds - Supergravedad (by Layer One) iamamiwhoami - Drops RxGibbs - Silver (directed by Andrew de Freitas) The Little Hands Of Asphalt - Fitzcaraldo (by APPARATET)

The Case for Ad Hoc.

02 Mar 2012 — Henning Lahmann

So, as you might already have noticed, the Kickstarter that was initiated a couple of weeks back to help finance Ad Hoc, that website/blog collective/quarterly zine that will launch soon and that we here at NFOP are more than happy to be a part of, is gonna be over in a few days, and at this point we obviously haven't collected enough money to make this thing successful. Now if you are one of the more than 600 backers that have given some money to support us, thank you so much; we really appreciate your help. If not, you might have already thought about it but eventually decided not to donate, which of course is totally legitimate. Still, allow us this one last time to try to get you on our side. Below, you can watch the editors Emilie Friedlander and Ric Leichtung explain once again their purposes and aims with Ad Hoc: In glancing at the Youtube comment board below the video, there was one comment that particularly struck me: "I'm still no closer to understanding why AdHoc is $33,000 more deserving than any other music blog ( - nominal print fees). I respect the passion behind the project but feel that asking for such an astronomical amount is arrogant and disrespectful to other music blogs. There are some brilliant blogs on the internet, specializing in all matter of subjects, that didn't require a $30k start-up fee, and just as importantly, didn't ask for it before launch (ie. before proof of quality of content)." First of all, good point. Of course, there already are brilliant blogs on the web. And they all come for free. So do you "need" some new site like Ad Hoc coming to you and asking for money all of a sudden, moreover, asking for quite a considerable amount of money? No. Still, is it "arrogant and disrespectful" of Ad Hoc to do so? I respectfully disagree. All the blogs I know (that includes NFOP) put an incredible amount of time and passion into their sites without ever getting anything financially out of it, which is fine because writing about music is what we love to do, and sharing our passion is why we've started in the first place. Still, I think it's not entirely fair if this is taken for granted, just as it's not fair to consider it somehow implicit that artists share their music for free, which is what they do via blogs and the internet in general. Bigger sites, on the other hand, more often than not have some kind of financially strong entity behind them, and still even those are not always able or willing to pay their writers and contributors. Altered Zones did, because the site's financier Pitchfork believes that even in the internet age, this is the way things should be when people work for you, and I agree. Ad Hoc wants to do things differently insofar as even without some solvent backup, the people who put their love and time into the site, in other words who work to provide you, the readers, with the stuff you want to read about and listen to and look at, should be paid. And in order to be able to do so, you're gonna need a considerable amount of money (apart from all the other costs of starting such a website, as explained in detail in the FAQ section of the Kickstarter site). As someone who gets one hundred percent of the information on the music I love from the internet, I do actually think this is worth supporting in itself, and that belief goes well beyond NFOP's involvement in this particular project. So is Ad Hoc $33,000 more deserving than any other music blog? Certainly not. But maybe you can see it as another approach in seeking a possibility to build something sustainable on the internet. Of course you could ask yourself, "why should I put money in something that I haven't even seen?" It's true, we haven't proven any quality of content yet, but we've told you what we've done before with other things (our blogs, Altered Zones, etc.), and we've told you what our plans are with Ad Hoc. And yes, we've even promised that it's gonna be awesome. Plus, it's not that we don't offer something in return beyond the project itself - just look at the amazing rewards like the compilation or the shirt (by the way that's the artwork for both above, made by the great Jeremy Earl of Woods and Woodsist), or all the other things that are up for grabs. Speaking of the compilation, Ric and Emilie have posted this wonderful mix on their Soundcloud, which not only includes the three tracks off the fundraiser compilation so far revealed, by How To Dress Well, Beach Fossils, and Grimes with Majical Cloudz, but also a bunch of other tracks that we here at NFOP totally dig, too, as you'll know if you're a reader of this publication: So in the end, I hope I've been able to convince some of you to help Ad Hoc become the amazing website and music resource we believe it's going to be. Thanks for your time. - Tonje, Jesse and Henning Read more → So, as you might already have noticed, the Kickstarter that was initiated a couple of weeks back to help finance Ad Hoc, that website/blog collective/quarterly zine that will launch soon and that we here at NFOP are more than happy to be a part of, is gonna be over in a few days, and at this point we obviously haven't collected enough money to make this thing successful. Now if you are one of the more than 600 backers that have given some money to support us, thank you so much; we really appreciate your help. If not, you might have already thought about it but eventually decided not to donate, which of course is totally legitimate. Still, allow us this one last time to try to get you on our side. Below, you can watch the editors Emilie Friedlander and Ric Leichtung explain once again their purposes and aims with Ad Hoc: In glancing at the Youtube comment board below the video, there was one comment that particularly struck me: "I'm still no closer to understanding why AdHoc is $33,000 more deserving than any other music blog ( - nominal print fees). I respect the passion behind the project but feel that asking for such an astronomical amount is arrogant and disrespectful to other music blogs. There are some brilliant blogs on the internet, specializing in all matter of subjects, that didn't require a $30k start-up fee, and just as importantly, didn't ask for it before launch (ie. before proof of quality of content)." First of all, good point. Of course, there already are brilliant blogs on the web. And they all come for free. So do you "need" some new site like Ad Hoc coming to you and asking for money all of a sudden, moreover, asking for quite a considerable amount of money? No. Still, is it "arrogant and disrespectful" of Ad Hoc to do so? I respectfully disagree. All the blogs I know (that includes NFOP) put an incredible amount of time and passion into their sites without ever getting anything financially out of it, which is fine because writing about music is what we love to do, and sharing our passion is why we've started in the first place. Still, I think it's not entirely fair if this is taken for granted, just as it's not fair to consider it somehow implicit that artists share their music for free, which is what they do via blogs and the internet in general. Bigger sites, on the other hand, more often than not have some kind of financially strong entity behind them, and still even those are not always able or willing to pay their writers and contributors. Altered Zones did, because the site's financier Pitchfork believes that even in the internet age, this is the way things should be when people work for you, and I agree. Ad Hoc wants to do things differently insofar as even without some solvent backup, the people who put their love and time into the site, in other words who work to provide you, the readers, with the stuff you want to read about and listen to and look at, should be paid. And in order to be able to do so, you're gonna need a considerable amount of money (apart from all the other costs of starting such a website, as explained in detail in the FAQ section of the Kickstarter site). As someone who gets one hundred percent of the information on the music I love from the internet, I do actually think this is worth supporting in itself, and that belief goes well beyond NFOP's involvement in this particular project. So is Ad Hoc $33,000 more deserving than any other music blog? Certainly not. But maybe you can see it as another approach in seeking a possibility to build something sustainable on the internet. Of course you could ask yourself, "why should I put money in something that I haven't even seen?" It's true, we haven't proven any quality of content yet, but we've told you what we've done before with other things (our blogs, Altered Zones, etc.), and we've told you what our plans are with Ad Hoc. And yes, we've even promised that it's gonna be awesome. Plus, it's not that we don't offer something in return beyond the project itself - just look at the amazing rewards like the compilation or the shirt (by the way that's the artwork for both above, made by the great Jeremy Earl of Woods and Woodsist), or all the other things that are up for grabs. Speaking of the compilation, Ric and Emilie have posted this wonderful mix on their Soundcloud, which not only includes the three tracks off the fundraiser compilation so far revealed, by How To Dress Well, Beach Fossils, and Grimes with Majical Cloudz, but also a bunch of other tracks that we here at NFOP totally dig, too, as you'll know if you're a reader of this publication: So in the end, I hope I've been able to convince some of you to help Ad Hoc become the amazing website and music resource we believe it's going to be. Thanks for your time. - Tonje, Jesse and Henning

Cursillistas: “Frontier Gothic”.

02 Mar 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Cursillistas used to be the principal project of Portland, Maine folk wizard Matthew Lajoie before his other critically acclaimed venture Herbcraft really took off. Though on indefinite hiatus now, Lajoie's own imprint has recently released Observe Ember Weeks, the project's "final studio album", gathering ten songs that were written, recorded, and mixed between 2007 and 2009. This is some superb music here, literally breathtaking free folk transmissions that are as psychedelic as they are noise- and drone-informed. The multi-layered improv-leaning monster "Frontier Gothic", which needs almost three minutes to fully kick off (just wait for it), is one of the most staggering instances of its genre that I've ever come across, effortlessly combining all elements that made the US free folk scene so exciting in the first place. This is heavy, dense, demanding, yet instantly accessible and thoroughly entrancing music, or in other words: truly sublime. Observe Ember Weeks is out now on L'animaux Tryst (Field) Recordings. Edition of 225, deluxe 150-gram virgin black vinyl held in a four-color, five-layer silkscreened art paper jacket. Get it here. Cursillistas - Frontier Gothic Read more → Cursillistas used to be the principal project of Portland, Maine folk wizard Matthew Lajoie before his other critically acclaimed venture Herbcraft really took off. Though on indefinite hiatus now, Lajoie's own imprint has recently released Observe Ember Weeks, the project's "final studio album", gathering ten songs that were written, recorded, and mixed between 2007 and 2009. This is some superb music here, literally breathtaking free folk transmissions that are as psychedelic as they are noise- and drone-informed. The multi-layered improv-leaning monster "Frontier Gothic", which needs almost three minutes to fully kick off (just wait for it), is one of the most staggering instances of its genre that I've ever come across, effortlessly combining all elements that made the US free folk scene so exciting in the first place. This is heavy, dense, demanding, yet instantly accessible and thoroughly entrancing music, or in other words: truly sublime. Observe Ember Weeks is out now on L'animaux Tryst (Field) Recordings. Edition of 225, deluxe 150-gram virgin black vinyl held in a four-color, five-layer silkscreened art paper jacket. Get it here. Cursillistas - Frontier Gothic

Maribel - “The Thief (Violet Dream remix)”.

02 Mar 2012 — Tonje Thilesen

As first introduced to you via Ja Ja Ja, the 16 year old producer and musician Violet Dream started crafting dreamy, shoegaze infused tunes in his Norwegian hometown Sandnes around a year ago (kids nowadays, eh), and has since then put out quite a few original tracks and remixes through his Soundcloud. Maribel, the Norwegian shoegaze four-piece that recently released their second full-length Reveries on Splendour, is probably Violet Dream's biggest remix job up to this date, giving the original track a touch of his ethernal, floaty sound. Bigger things are likely to happen around this kid, so memorize the name while you're at it. Have a first listen to the track below. EDIT: As confirmed by Sellout! records, Violet Dream will release a 6-track EP in a few months. We can't wait! Read more → As first introduced to you via Ja Ja Ja, the 16 year old producer and musician Violet Dream started crafting dreamy, shoegaze infused tunes in his Norwegian hometown Sandnes around a year ago (kids nowadays, eh), and has since then put out quite a few original tracks and remixes through his Soundcloud. Maribel, the Norwegian shoegaze four-piece that recently released their second full-length Reveries on Splendour, is probably Violet Dream's biggest remix job up to this date, giving the original track a touch of his ethernal, floaty sound. Bigger things are likely to happen around this kid, so memorize the name while you're at it. Have a first listen to the track below. EDIT: As confirmed by Sellout! records, Violet Dream will release a 6-track EP in a few months. We can't wait!

Kevin Greenspon: “Maroon Bells”.

02 Mar 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Californian multi-talent Kevin Greenspon can legitimately be called a regular on these pages, with his own output as well as with his wonderful label Bridgetown Records, but it's been a surprisingly long time since we've actually featured his music. Anyway, he has just released the tape Maroon Bells, a six-piece collection of, in his own words, "concise recollections of a very specific set of personal memories", including "those first times you had dreams of disappearing to somewhere new, seeing a city from the mountains, being dwarfed by the skeleton of a skyscraper, and the deafening railroad tracks that threaten that hope of sleeping to dream once again". Of the two samples that you may listen to below, it is the cassette's title track that struck me as one of the most intuitively yet subtly beautiful pieces I've heard so far from this artist. An enchanting melody slowly unfolds while "Maroon Bells" meanders along gently, building up a calming atmosphere that seems to last forever before it eventually fades abruptly by way of a sudden crumpling noise which surprisingly does not destroy the overall peaceful feeling that just set in. Marvelous. Maroon Bells is now out on CDr (edition of 100, stamped and in full-color printed jackets) or C20 cassette (edition of 100, dubbed in real-time on chrome tape, packaged with full-color doublesided inserts) via Bridgetown Records, also available as part of the label's Spring Batch 2012 special package deal. Kevin Greenspon - Maroon Bells Kevin Greenspon - Passing the Days Read more → Californian multi-talent Kevin Greenspon can legitimately be called a regular on these pages, with his own output as well as with his wonderful label Bridgetown Records, but it's been a surprisingly long time since we've actually featured his music. Anyway, he has just released the tape Maroon Bells, a six-piece collection of, in his own words, "concise recollections of a very specific set of personal memories", including "those first times you had dreams of disappearing to somewhere new, seeing a city from the mountains, being dwarfed by the skeleton of a skyscraper, and the deafening railroad tracks that threaten that hope of sleeping to dream once again". Of the two samples that you may listen to below, it is the cassette's title track that struck me as one of the most intuitively yet subtly beautiful pieces I've heard so far from this artist. An enchanting melody slowly unfolds while "Maroon Bells" meanders along gently, building up a calming atmosphere that seems to last forever before it eventually fades abruptly by way of a sudden crumpling noise which surprisingly does not destroy the overall peaceful feeling that just set in. Marvelous. Maroon Bells is now out on CDr (edition of 100, stamped and in full-color printed jackets) or C20 cassette (edition of 100, dubbed in real-time on chrome tape, packaged with full-color doublesided inserts) via Bridgetown Records, also available as part of the label's Spring Batch 2012 special package deal. Kevin Greenspon - Maroon Bells Kevin Greenspon - Passing the Days

Video: Grimes - “Oblivion”.

02 Mar 2012 — Jesse Thompson

Check out "Oblivion", the first video from the Montreal-based Grimes (aka Claire Boucher) staggering new LP, Visions, which will be released by 4AD and Arbutus, hitting the stores worldwide March 12. http://youtu.be/JtH68PJIQLE Read more → Check out "Oblivion", the first video from the Montreal-based Grimes (aka Claire Boucher) staggering new LP, Visions, which will be released by 4AD and Arbutus, hitting the stores worldwide March 12. http://youtu.be/JtH68PJIQLE

Featureless Ghost: “MindBody EP”.

02 Mar 2012 — Jesse Thompson

The Atlanta, Georgia dystopian synth-wave duo Featureless Ghost have yet another release available for your listening pleasure. Their seven song MindBody EP is a collection of reflective, shadowy dance floor electronic jams that will have your consciousness twisting and tilting with its multitude of compelling synthetic rhythms and alternating vocal lines. Like all of the group's previous work, these songs are both sonically and visually provocative, and the Fantastic Lands produced "Know-U" video available below embodies the bold aesthetic that Matt Weiner and Elise Tippins continue to build upon and refine. Their songs are both fresh and familiar at the same time and provide a valuable dose of uniqueness to the ever-expanding homemade digital music landscape. As of today, you can snag a cassette copy of this release with artwork by Shawn Reed via Night People Records. The label will also be offering up a vinyl LP release this summer. Read more → The Atlanta, Georgia dystopian synth-wave duo Featureless Ghost have yet another release available for your listening pleasure. Their seven song MindBody EP is a collection of reflective, shadowy dance floor electronic jams that will have your consciousness twisting and tilting with its multitude of compelling synthetic rhythms and alternating vocal lines. Like all of the group's previous work, these songs are both sonically and visually provocative, and the Fantastic Lands produced "Know-U" video available below embodies the bold aesthetic that Matt Weiner and Elise Tippins continue to build upon and refine. Their songs are both fresh and familiar at the same time and provide a valuable dose of uniqueness to the ever-expanding homemade digital music landscape. As of today, you can snag a cassette copy of this release with artwork by Shawn Reed via Night People Records. The label will also be offering up a vinyl LP release this summer.