Japanese composer Tomonari Nozaki, under the moniker UNKNOWNjp, recently put out the Angel EP, a 5-track journey of ambient soundscapes. Striking choral compositions are bathed in melancholy and hypnagogia and become even more emotional when light touches of orchestral strings enter as in album highlight "Saints Are Coming".
The entire release is available as a free download directly through Soun Recordings.
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Japanese composer Tomonari Nozaki, under the moniker UNKNOWNjp, recently put out the Angel EP, a 5-track journey of ambient soundscapes. Striking choral compositions are bathed in melancholy and hypnagogia and become even more emotional when light touches of orchestral strings enter as in album highlight "Saints Are Coming".
The entire release is available as a free download directly through Soun Recordings.
Been a while since we last heard new material of delicately fragile outré folk by St. Louis, Missouri's finest chanteuse Angel Olsen. "Creator, Destroyer" was one of the most devastating songs of 2010, and the quiet, careful, and slightly more country-indebted first track taken from her forthcoming LP Half Way Home, "Tiniest Seed", is a wonderful reminder of Angel's immense songwriting talents.
Half Way Home will be out September 4 on Bathetic Records.
Read more →
Been a while since we last heard new material of delicately fragile outré folk by St. Louis, Missouri's finest chanteuse Angel Olsen. "Creator, Destroyer" was one of the most devastating songs of 2010, and the quiet, careful, and slightly more country-indebted first track taken from her forthcoming LP Half Way Home, "Tiniest Seed", is a wonderful reminder of Angel's immense songwriting talents.
Half Way Home will be out September 4 on Bathetic Records.
By now we assume that quite a few of you following this blog (and others, in any case) have seen the word being spread about Berlin-via-Toronto dude Digits, of which recent EP Where Do You Belong? we featured briefly a month ago. With a little aid of Brothertiger's sleek and synth-infused production, Digits' title track gets a new, illumined glow. Listen below.
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By now we assume that quite a few of you following this blog (and others, in any case) have seen the word being spread about Berlin-via-Toronto dude Digits, of which recent EP Where Do You Belong? we featured briefly a month ago. With a little aid of Brothertiger's sleek and synth-infused production, Digits' title track gets a new, illumined glow. Listen below.
A few weeks ago, we posted the b-side of young Parisian psych god Holy Strays' stellar new 7 inch Christabell. Today, the a-side was unveiled - brewed with pretty much the same ingredients as "B" if closer to his earlier NNF material, the track is yet another highly enjoyable banger of this very amazing upcoming producer.
Christabell is out next Monday via the very notable newish boutique imprint Morning Ritual.
Read more →
A few weeks ago, we posted the b-side of young Parisian psych god Holy Strays' stellar new 7 inch Christabell. Today, the a-side was unveiled - brewed with pretty much the same ingredients as "B" if closer to his earlier NNF material, the track is yet another highly enjoyable banger of this very amazing upcoming producer.
Christabell is out next Monday via the very notable newish boutique imprint Morning Ritual.
With an intro that might as well have been a new Fever Ray track, the Montreal duo
Solar Year certainly did one thing right in order to spread their first single "Brotherhood" out to the midpoints of the internet: they invited their friend Grimes to guest vocals. Anything that has the name Grimes on it these days is doomed to be posted everywhere, as we also saw happen with our friend Kuhrye-oo only a few months ago. But in similarity to the undeservedly slow hype around Kuhrye-oo, despite his flawless productions and highly recommended live sets, people's interest is literally like a one-way street. Unless, of course, you're lucky to have the right people discover you. That does unfortunately not count for everyone.
It is still way too early to make any statements about the career of the duo that launched their debut album Waverly for a swimming audience, but as far as I have given the entire album a good spin, there is a lot more highly potential material than just 'that one song that has Grimes on it'. Let me try to put it in some meaningless gentrification: drone-suffused electronic psych pop from the Middle Age, located somewhere in between a post-modern bedroom and a chapel deep into the canadian woods. And then, of course, there's the underwater reference. Looking at the footage from their album release at Memorial Pool in Montreal (make sure to check out the video below), you can't help but wonder what Solar Year would've sounded like under the water surface. Would their eternal vocals disappear in deep waves of bass, or somehow work well with the underwater acoustics, evolving into an echoing orchestra of vocals? I'm rather curious.
There is no denial that influence from other productive Canadian heads shine through in their production, however. Grimes, check. Born Gold, Kuhrye-oo, Purity Ring, check again. But then on the other side, the water of Solar Year has a different colour, and if you take time to dip your head into their wide and unknown, liquified landscape, you might get pleasantly surprised.
Have a first listen to "Lines" below, taken from their debut album Waverly, that was launched just a few weeks ago. A music video is also in the making, directed by none other than Emily Kai Bock, the same director as in Grimes' "Oblivion".
Read more →
With an intro that might as well have been a new Fever Ray track, the Montreal duo
Solar Year certainly did one thing right in order to spread their first single "Brotherhood" out to the midpoints of the internet: they invited their friend Grimes to guest vocals. Anything that has the name Grimes on it these days is doomed to be posted everywhere, as we also saw happen with our friend Kuhrye-oo only a few months ago. But in similarity to the undeservedly slow hype around Kuhrye-oo, despite his flawless productions and highly recommended live sets, people's interest is literally like a one-way street. Unless, of course, you're lucky to have the right people discover you. That does unfortunately not count for everyone.
It is still way too early to make any statements about the career of the duo that launched their debut album Waverly for a swimming audience, but as far as I have given the entire album a good spin, there is a lot more highly potential material than just 'that one song that has Grimes on it'. Let me try to put it in some meaningless gentrification: drone-suffused electronic psych pop from the Middle Age, located somewhere in between a post-modern bedroom and a chapel deep into the canadian woods. And then, of course, there's the underwater reference. Looking at the footage from their album release at Memorial Pool in Montreal (make sure to check out the video below), you can't help but wonder what Solar Year would've sounded like under the water surface. Would their eternal vocals disappear in deep waves of bass, or somehow work well with the underwater acoustics, evolving into an echoing orchestra of vocals? I'm rather curious.
There is no denial that influence from other productive Canadian heads shine through in their production, however. Grimes, check. Born Gold, Kuhrye-oo, Purity Ring, check again. But then on the other side, the water of Solar Year has a different colour, and if you take time to dip your head into their wide and unknown, liquified landscape, you might get pleasantly surprised.
Have a first listen to "Lines" below, taken from their debut album Waverly, that was launched just a few weeks ago. A music video is also in the making, directed by none other than Emily Kai Bock, the same director as in Grimes' "Oblivion".
Dylan Travis aka Some Ember's Hotel Of Lost Light is one of Crash Symbols' many excellent cassette releases of 2012 thus far, and already three months after his debut release as Some Ember, Dylan is back with his second, soon-to-be confirmed tape release. "Flowers Open" is the first effort from Pleasure, an intriguing synthpop jam that differs quite a bit from the quirky, experimental production on Hotel Of Lost Light, completed with a cold, intelligent vibe.
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Dylan Travis aka Some Ember's Hotel Of Lost Light is one of Crash Symbols' many excellent cassette releases of 2012 thus far, and already three months after his debut release as Some Ember, Dylan is back with his second, soon-to-be confirmed tape release. "Flowers Open" is the first effort from Pleasure, an intriguing synthpop jam that differs quite a bit from the quirky, experimental production on Hotel Of Lost Light, completed with a cold, intelligent vibe.
Not every split LP in recent years made sense, and for a four-way instalment you would think there would need to be a real, pressing urgency, or at least a common, overarching theme. Now though we cannot be sure what the initial concept behind The Statement LP was or was supposed to be, we can confirm that by judging from the four tracks you may listen to below, it all sounds delightfully and indeed sufficiently coherent. That joint efforts by NFOP favorites Ela Orleans and Dirty Beaches add up just fine has been proven before, and the other two showcased here, lo-fi veterans US Girls and Slim Twig, who by the way also already went down split release avenue, neatly fall in line. This isn't necessarily all of one and the same genre here, be it garage or psych pop or whatever - and the piece by Dirty Beaches even expands into sonic territory that not only escapes the overall "pop" feel, but is moreover of an experimental playfulness long unheard of Montréal's finest. But after all it's the overall feel that lets The Statement LP become a brilliant, essential survey of contemporary leftfield underground pop, presented by four artists that have time and again proven their unrivalled shtick for sonic artistry beyond any shallow trends and hypes. And that is what we love them for.
The Statement LP is out August 10 on Clan Destine Records. Pre-order now over here. Limited edition of 500.
Read more →
Not every split LP in recent years made sense, and for a four-way instalment you would think there would need to be a real, pressing urgency, or at least a common, overarching theme. Now though we cannot be sure what the initial concept behind The Statement LP was or was supposed to be, we can confirm that by judging from the four tracks you may listen to below, it all sounds delightfully and indeed sufficiently coherent. That joint efforts by NFOP favorites Ela Orleans and Dirty Beaches add up just fine has been proven before, and the other two showcased here, lo-fi veterans US Girls and Slim Twig, who by the way also already went down split release avenue, neatly fall in line. This isn't necessarily all of one and the same genre here, be it garage or psych pop or whatever - and the piece by Dirty Beaches even expands into sonic territory that not only escapes the overall "pop" feel, but is moreover of an experimental playfulness long unheard of Montréal's finest. But after all it's the overall feel that lets The Statement LP become a brilliant, essential survey of contemporary leftfield underground pop, presented by four artists that have time and again proven their unrivalled shtick for sonic artistry beyond any shallow trends and hypes. And that is what we love them for.
The Statement LP is out August 10 on Clan Destine Records. Pre-order now over here. Limited edition of 500.
Early last month, we introduced you to the music of young, London via Italy producer Mind Enterprises, without being able to provide any further insight. Last Thursday, a second track popped up, together with the artist's real name - Andrea Tirone - and the information that cherished London-based imprint Double Denim Records will release Mind Enterprises' debut 7 inch Summer War next month. Listen to the a-side below and pre-order the vinyl now over here.
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Early last month, we introduced you to the music of young, London via Italy producer Mind Enterprises, without being able to provide any further insight. Last Thursday, a second track popped up, together with the artist's real name - Andrea Tirone - and the information that cherished London-based imprint Double Denim Records will release Mind Enterprises' debut 7 inch Summer War next month. Listen to the a-side below and pre-order the vinyl now over here.
Japanese composer Tomonari Nozaki, under the moniker 
Been a while since we last heard new material of delicately fragile outré folk by St. Louis, Missouri's finest chanteuse Angel Olsen. "Creator, Destroyer" was one of the most devastating songs of 2010, and the quiet, careful, and slightly more country-indebted first track taken from her forthcoming LP Half Way Home, "Tiniest Seed", is a wonderful reminder of Angel's immense songwriting talents.
Half Way Home will be out September 4 on Bathetic Records.
Read more →
By now we assume that quite a few of you following this blog (and others, in any case) have seen the word being spread about Berlin-via-Toronto dude Digits, of which recent EP Where Do You Belong? we featured briefly a 
With an intro that might as well have been a new Fever Ray track, the Montreal duo
