Our buddies of the Santa Cruz' two-piece Old Arc have kept quiet for a little while now — it's basically been a year since we've heard any original material coming from these sunny Cali beaches, songs that created a sweet blurb of buzz around the times when NFOP was just a little Blogspot baby. Even though this brand new jam seems to draw their soundscape more in the directions of the top charts of R&B pop music (I quote Austin Wood himself, "we're revamping old arc; spreading love to the world this summer"), the fresh experimentalism still remains, this being the first cut from their 6-track EP Melories coming out this summer. Seems like we can expect some playfully psychedelic, R&B-infused pop tunes from these boys, so watch out.
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Our buddies of the Santa Cruz' two-piece Old Arc have kept quiet for a little while now — it's basically been a year since we've heard any original material coming from these sunny Cali beaches, songs that created a sweet blurb of buzz around the times when NFOP was just a little Blogspot baby. Even though this brand new jam seems to draw their soundscape more in the directions of the top charts of R&B pop music (I quote Austin Wood himself, "we're revamping old arc; spreading love to the world this summer"), the fresh experimentalism still remains, this being the first cut from their 6-track EP Melories coming out this summer. Seems like we can expect some playfully psychedelic, R&B-infused pop tunes from these boys, so watch out.
Deep, immersive and menacing study in eerie drone and bleak sampling by Young Echo affiliate Sebastian Gainsborough aka Vessel, here operating as Killing Sound (actually not sure if that is him alone though, there's quite an impressive variety of monikers among the collective's members). Most likely just some late night exploration that's unrelated to any actual release, but definitely worth a thorough listen. While we're waiting for the young Bristol producer's proper debut via Tri Angle, scheduled for sometime later this year, be sure you don't miss out on his latest, stellar Standard EP, released by left_blank and available over here.
Read more →
Deep, immersive and menacing study in eerie drone and bleak sampling by Young Echo affiliate Sebastian Gainsborough aka Vessel, here operating as Killing Sound (actually not sure if that is him alone though, there's quite an impressive variety of monikers among the collective's members). Most likely just some late night exploration that's unrelated to any actual release, but definitely worth a thorough listen. While we're waiting for the young Bristol producer's proper debut via Tri Angle, scheduled for sometime later this year, be sure you don't miss out on his latest, stellar Standard EP, released by left_blank and available over here.
Yesterday our friends over at Rose Quartz pointed to two new works by San Francisco producer Magic Touch, namely his contributions to the latest split 12 inch with Ital, one being the excellent "Anywhere You Want Me", the other being the remix of Ital's own "From a Dream", which means that together with the latter's rework of Magic Touch's original track that we premiered a little while back, you can now stream three of the four tracks of the 100% SILK release. Needless to say, you should still own the whole thing on vinyl and thus get it here.
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Yesterday our friends over at Rose Quartz pointed to two new works by San Francisco producer Magic Touch, namely his contributions to the latest split 12 inch with Ital, one being the excellent "Anywhere You Want Me", the other being the remix of Ital's own "From a Dream", which means that together with the latter's rework of Magic Touch's original track that we premiered a little while back, you can now stream three of the four tracks of the 100% SILK release. Needless to say, you should still own the whole thing on vinyl and thus get it here.
Glass Eyes is a thus far enigmatic, up-and-coming bass-heavy electronic music project from Amsterdam, who has released a couple of EPs via Dutch label Zoology Records over the course of the past year. "Lavish" is a new track, and the accompanying video is based on a manipulated and alienated real estate advertisement clip, with pretty haunting results.
"Lavish" is part of a brand new cassette compilation by Zoology. Listen to all four tracks below, download the piece for free over at bandcamp, or order the cassette over here.
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Glass Eyes is a thus far enigmatic, up-and-coming bass-heavy electronic music project from Amsterdam, who has released a couple of EPs via Dutch label Zoology Records over the course of the past year. "Lavish" is a new track, and the accompanying video is based on a manipulated and alienated real estate advertisement clip, with pretty haunting results.
"Lavish" is part of a brand new cassette compilation by Zoology. Listen to all four tracks below, download the piece for free over at bandcamp, or order the cassette over here.
Only a couple of hours after posting the excellent House banger "Knots" by Texas artist FUR aka Bryce Isbell from his latest Cocoon EP on UNO, here's the track's brand new and appropriately kaleidoscopic visualisation.
Get Cocoonhere or here.
In addition to that, you can now also stream the EP's title track below:
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Only a couple of hours after posting the excellent House banger "Knots" by Texas artist FUR aka Bryce Isbell from his latest Cocoon EP on UNO, here's the track's brand new and appropriately kaleidoscopic visualisation.
Get Cocoonhere or here.
In addition to that, you can now also stream the EP's title track below:
I guess everyone who was present at Polymorphism's first installment at Kater Holzig last Friday will agree that the staged 100% SILK showcase can only be considered an overwhelming success. Only one week later, the CTM-initiated series continues, this time at Berghain, highlighting another US-based 'auteur' label that defined 2011, Hippos In Tanks, which will bring along a lineup that instantly made us cry here at NFOP as it is pretty much the essence of what is fresh and exciting and different in underground music right now: James Ferraro, Laurel Halo, and Nguzunguzu.
When Mr James Ferraro had finished performing at Berghain Kantine sometime in the middle of the night during this year's CTM Festival under his latest moniker Bodyguard ("#AVANT-GARDE-DONE-INCORRECTLY", Tiny Mix Tapes), he had left an audience in that indistinctly uncomfortable state between amusement, anger, frustration, and outright confusion, as he had not only managed to remain invisible for the majority of the crowd during his brief set (actually standing left of the stage in the middle of a constant, thick stream of artificial smoke, mostly doing nothing safe for occasionally manipulating his keyboard, with not much effect regarding the musical output), moreover his Silica Gel mixtape turned out to be even less varied when performed live than it had appeared coming straight from the hard drive, especially when combined with the very short, looping video sequence of Hummers and other regalia of late capitalism that dominated the stage where most would've expected the actual artist to appear. Considering the fact that his latest digital single Raiden is not much of a progress, let's remain favorably skeptical with regard to his next show on Friday.
A lot has been said about Laurel Halo's debut album Quarantine (I've recently reviewed it over at Electronic Beats), out now on Hyperdub and streamable in full below (courtesy of FACT), and as far as I know, the reactions have been unanimously euphoric, already putting the record in one of the top spots for 2012's album of the year. In addition to Quarantine, with her recent Spring EP as King Felix, and the material she has put out in the last two years, Laurel has already proven to be one of the most unique and truly original artists of the decade.
Nguzunguzu, the duo of LA residents Daniel Pineda and Asma Maroof, might be the least exposed of the three headliners, but this fact surely doesn't mean they're any less significant. To the contrary, the duo's blend of staggering tribal beats, House, hip-hop and outré R&B is among the most breathtaking music you'll come across this year, an assessment that will further be underlined after the release of Nguzunguzu's forthcoming five-track EP Warm Pulse, out July 3 (digitally)/August 14 (physically) via Hippos In Tanks, a simply staggering effort of bewildering and unexpected dance music that will convince the last skeptics, if there should be any left at this point.
The night will be completed by DJ sets by The Monokid as well as Leisure System's Puzzle and Opium Hum. Go here and here for further info. No advance sale of tickets, doors open at midnight. Needless to say, highly recommended.
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I guess everyone who was present at Polymorphism's first installment at Kater Holzig last Friday will agree that the staged 100% SILK showcase can only be considered an overwhelming success. Only one week later, the CTM-initiated series continues, this time at Berghain, highlighting another US-based 'auteur' label that defined 2011, Hippos In Tanks, which will bring along a lineup that instantly made us cry here at NFOP as it is pretty much the essence of what is fresh and exciting and different in underground music right now: James Ferraro, Laurel Halo, and Nguzunguzu.
When Mr James Ferraro had finished performing at Berghain Kantine sometime in the middle of the night during this year's CTM Festival under his latest moniker Bodyguard ("#AVANT-GARDE-DONE-INCORRECTLY", Tiny Mix Tapes), he had left an audience in that indistinctly uncomfortable state between amusement, anger, frustration, and outright confusion, as he had not only managed to remain invisible for the majority of the crowd during his brief set (actually standing left of the stage in the middle of a constant, thick stream of artificial smoke, mostly doing nothing safe for occasionally manipulating his keyboard, with not much effect regarding the musical output), moreover his Silica Gel mixtape turned out to be even less varied when performed live than it had appeared coming straight from the hard drive, especially when combined with the very short, looping video sequence of Hummers and other regalia of late capitalism that dominated the stage where most would've expected the actual artist to appear. Considering the fact that his latest digital single Raiden is not much of a progress, let's remain favorably skeptical with regard to his next show on Friday.
A lot has been said about Laurel Halo's debut album Quarantine (I've recently reviewed it over at Electronic Beats), out now on Hyperdub and streamable in full below (courtesy of FACT), and as far as I know, the reactions have been unanimously euphoric, already putting the record in one of the top spots for 2012's album of the year. In addition to Quarantine, with her recent Spring EP as King Felix, and the material she has put out in the last two years, Laurel has already proven to be one of the most unique and truly original artists of the decade.
Nguzunguzu, the duo of LA residents Daniel Pineda and Asma Maroof, might be the least exposed of the three headliners, but this fact surely doesn't mean they're any less significant. To the contrary, the duo's blend of staggering tribal beats, House, hip-hop and outré R&B is among the most breathtaking music you'll come across this year, an assessment that will further be underlined after the release of Nguzunguzu's forthcoming five-track EP Warm Pulse, out July 3 (digitally)/August 14 (physically) via Hippos In Tanks, a simply staggering effort of bewildering and unexpected dance music that will convince the last skeptics, if there should be any left at this point.
The night will be completed by DJ sets by The Monokid as well as Leisure System's Puzzle and Opium Hum. Go here and here for further info. No advance sale of tickets, doors open at midnight. Needless to say, highly recommended.
Bloksberg, the much-hyped Oslo locals (but currently Berlin-based) duo of Eivind Volum und Jens Ole that proved to be a real crowd-pleaser when performing their truly mind-boggling set at the NFOP x Nordic By Nature-curated Norwegian Wave Night back in April, finally seems to be preparing something amounting to an actual release. Before we can give you any further details (except for the fact that apparently it's gonna be a 12 inch), we suggest you just listen to the first (unmastered) track off that effort, the seven-minute piece "Goma" - another fantastic example of the project's very own interpretation of Tækno. Keep an eye on these guys.
Photo by Christian Belgaux.
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Bloksberg, the much-hyped Oslo locals (but currently Berlin-based) duo of Eivind Volum und Jens Ole that proved to be a real crowd-pleaser when performing their truly mind-boggling set at the NFOP x Nordic By Nature-curated Norwegian Wave Night back in April, finally seems to be preparing something amounting to an actual release. Before we can give you any further details (except for the fact that apparently it's gonna be a 12 inch), we suggest you just listen to the first (unmastered) track off that effort, the seven-minute piece "Goma" - another fantastic example of the project's very own interpretation of Tækno. Keep an eye on these guys.
Photo by Christian Belgaux.
Jason Grier of HEM Berlin fka Human Ear Music just brought my attention to this staggering work by Barcelonian artist and HEM affiliate Lucrecia Dalt, performing a live soundtrack for Werner Herzog's 1992 documentary Lektionen in Finsternis (Lessons of Darkness) at this year's MicroMUTEK.ES, the Barcelona-based offshoot of Montreal's Mutek Festival, which took place back in February. An epic piece created with stunningly sparse means, aptly described as "a sonic cathedral somewhere between melody and pure texture" by the HEM curators. The video produced and directed by Diego Delgado.
Photo by Catalina Pérez.
Lucrecia Dalt's sophomore record Commotus is out June 19 on HEM. Pre-order now over here and listen to album track "Escopolamina" below.
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Jason Grier of HEM Berlin fka Human Ear Music just brought my attention to this staggering work by Barcelonian artist and HEM affiliate Lucrecia Dalt, performing a live soundtrack for Werner Herzog's 1992 documentary Lektionen in Finsternis (Lessons of Darkness) at this year's MicroMUTEK.ES, the Barcelona-based offshoot of Montreal's Mutek Festival, which took place back in February. An epic piece created with stunningly sparse means, aptly described as "a sonic cathedral somewhere between melody and pure texture" by the HEM curators. The video produced and directed by Diego Delgado.
Photo by Catalina Pérez.
Lucrecia Dalt's sophomore record Commotus is out June 19 on HEM. Pre-order now over here and listen to album track "Escopolamina" below.
Our buddies of the Santa Cruz' two-piece 
Deep, immersive and menacing study in eerie drone and bleak sampling by Young Echo affiliate Sebastian Gainsborough aka Vessel, here operating as Killing Sound (actually not sure if that is him alone though, there's quite an impressive variety of monikers among the collective's members). Most likely just some late night exploration that's unrelated to any actual release, but definitely worth a thorough listen. While we're waiting for the young Bristol producer's proper debut via Tri Angle, scheduled for sometime later this year, be sure you don't miss out on his latest, stellar Standard EP, released by left_blank and available over here.
Read more →
