24 Feb 2012 — Henning Lahmann
It's been a while since we last heard a fresh transmission by London beat enigma
AyGeeTee, so it's a pleasure to see him return with "September in Summertime" today, a seven and a half minute killer track that seems to mark a substantial shift in sound and that is surely among the producer's most compelling efforts yet. Listen to the densely layered and richly detailed arrangement that is both slow-burning and subtly menacing below.
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23 Feb 2012 — NFOP
Two years ago, this little blog was spontaneously (really) founded in some Berlin Mitte bedroom, and since then
No Fear Of Pop (yes, we've just linked to ourselves) has been growing steadily, received an incredible and quite surprising amount of love, won a lot of friends on- and offline, got a
second editor, a
new writer, and even
a columnist from the other side of this planet. For the future, we'll all do our best to keep the site as diverse and interesting and nice as it hopefully has been so far. Thanks for reading, it means the world to us.
To appropriately celebrate the occasion (apart from champagne), our oldest, best and truest blog friend Oskar of the wonderful
No Modest Bear, who has done everything to support us in the last two years, especially in NFOP's rough and dilettante beginnings, has made a rad and smooth birthday mix for us and you to dance and be happy.
Stay with us.
01 It's A Small World Disco - Vibes
02 Jensen Sportag - Diskoteq (Jensen Sportag endless reverb mix)
03 Luminodisco - Dinossa
04 The Project Club - Field of dreams (D-Pulse remix)
05 Roxy Music - Love is the drug (Todd Terje disco dub)
06 Slow Hands - Kreuzberg blues
07 Hal Incandenza - Fractal God mirage
08 George Benson - What's on your mind (soho808 something's going on edit)
09 Perseus - Running back to you
10 L'Equipe du Son - Lesson 1 (The Legendary 1979 Orchestra remix)
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23 Feb 2012 — Henning Lahmann
Manchester-based dark experimental duo
Demdike Stare have dropped another stellar effort of menacing techno, drone and ambient transmissions called
Elemental via their own label
Modern Love. The beautiful, strictly limited colored vinyl version is already sold out, but the album's CD version is out now, featuring 18 tracks that comprise alternate versions and additional material not which was not included on the four LPs. Stream the whole record below and get it via
Boomkat now.
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22 Feb 2012 — Henning Lahmann
Eliza and Parry is the moniker of Cammisa F. Buerhaus's solo recording project, which "has foundations in phenomenology, and explores disassociation
vis-à-vis the loss of language". The weird and atonal but strangely mesmerizing "Requiem for Regina", a piece that follows a strict, robotic rhythm pattern that lays the ground for occasional noise disruptions and the artist's distant yet haunting and imperious alien vocalization, is part of Eliza and Parry's latest release, a self-titled cassette that comprises more delicately lo-fi, minimal electronic incursions and that is out via
Fag Tapes. Sold out at the source already, but there are some copies left over at
Fusetron.
Eliza and Parry - Requiem for Regina
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22 Feb 2012 — Jesse Thompson
The second single from the collaborative
MR & RT EP by
Monster Rally and
RUMTUM sounds like it could have been a
Voodoo-era D'Angelo backing track composed late one evening while unwinding with a spliff in a bubble bath. With a
Feel Like Makin' Love kind of groove driven by finger snaps and water taps that hit hard enough to get the bubbles dancing but soft enough to keep the water in the tub, this track is pure ease and pleasure. Occasional flute sounds have the track floating a little; I can't decide if it's at a distance, above a lush river bank or nearby, above a steamy sauna's cool-down water basin, but in either case, it's a happy place. At times chopped and other times chanted, ethereal vocals accent the various samples and rhythms creating a hushed, somewhat exotic vibe that I can't help but want to coin as something like
hot tub pop…or maybe
bathtub r&b. All fun name-gaming aside, this track is great, and the duo's knack for innovative beat making definitely shines.
The seven-song EP drops March 13 on
Waaga Records. Pre-order
here.
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21 Feb 2012 — Henning Lahmann
Had meant to write about this thing for a while but got held back for reasons that became obvious today, as the track's premiere was supposed to be part of
Grimes' very cool
GvB takeover a couple of hours ago. Anyway, now we know that Claire Boucher and I have at least one thing in common, and don't you say that this is totally insignificant, which is the fact that the wonderfully sultry late night seduction "Double Vision" is our favorite track from
TOPS' overall incredible debut tape
Tender Opposites, which is out now via
Arbutus in North America and
Atelier Ciseaux in Europe. If you've been an avid reader
of this publication in the
past months, then you already know that this band is rather exciting.
In related news, Claire also
just posted a new track of hers together with the great
Majical Cloudz, called "Song for Ric", that is gonna be part of the
Kickstarter compilation for
Ad Hoc, the amazing site/magazine/project that you can (and should, pretty please) still support
over here.
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21 Feb 2012 — Tonje Thilesen
Via the new Manchester based label
Everybody's Stalking, the debut EP of Liverpool experimental/electronic trio
Sun Drums was first made available digitally last fall, however officially released earlier this month as well as on 12 inch LTD vinyl. The first track from their self-titled release, "Each Little Piece", stands slightly out from the rest of the EP with its floaty textures and dark-scented sound, a splendid little synth pop gem that you all should seriously have a listen to.
Download or order the
Sun Drums vinyl via
Bandcamp.
Sun Drums - Each Little Piece
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21 Feb 2012 — Henning Lahmann
This is basically the raddest release of 2012 so far,
Emeralds guitar eminence Mark McGuire and original hypnagogia superstar and
Skaters legend Spencer Clark aka Fourth World Magazine aka
Monopoly Child Star Searchers aka whatever, here operating under his newish moniker Charles Berlitz (who "
writes for Fourth World Magazine"), with a 45-minute exercise of laid-back, fuzzed-out surf pop that arrives "just in time for the Aussie Summer" and that's "devoted to sick beaches like Mermaids and Swami's or Sunset Cliffs and Bondi".
Inner Tube is built around Clark's slacker rhythms and sees him employing a nice blend of keyboards, drums, vocals and samples all delightfully muffled, while the real focal point of course has to be McGuire's contemplative, yearning guitar play, a stupendous combination that results in the most incredible dreamlike melancholia musings this side of paradise.
Listen to album track "MR" below, a mournful longing for
Mark Richards, who today lives in semi-retirement in Newcastle, New South Wales, "with his wife, Jenny, and three children, Kyle, Nathan and Grace", where "he runs the Mark Richards Surf Shop in Hunter St, the same shop started by his parents". Sigh.
Inner Tube is out now. Get it at
Experimedia (US),
Volcanic Tongue (UK and Europe), or directly via
Pacific City Sound Visions.
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