Not sure if you've heard the news already, but earlier this week, some of our longest-standing friends in the blogosphere, including Life Aquatic, East to West, Decoder, Verb/Re/Verb, Smoke Don't Smoke, Dead As Digital, and ten others (they're all great and truly unique), have launched the site of their new blog collective Portals, a very promising project that is devoted to "a new Do-It-Together movement, that networks in order to raise a cacophony of art and media - enriched by diversity and sustained by opportunities available to liberate ourselves from a passive cultural journey". Sure, we've all seen blog collectives collapse before, and not all of them could live up to their promises, but Portals looks actually amazing, and all involved folks are veterans in the business and without doubt know what they're up to, so let's drink a toast to them and ignore all the haters and skeptics: Welcome to the world, Portals!
As a proper welcome gift, the Portals community has compiled a beautiful mixtape, each blog contributing one track. Listen to Ra Calium's "I Long For You" below (selected by hidden gem connoisseur Tyler of Flashlight Tag) and get the whole thing over here.
Ra Calium - I Long For YouRead more →
Helsinki, Finland's Olli Aarni used to release music under the moniker Ous Mal until late last year, when a pretty exciting remix compilation heralded the project's termination in favor of Nuojuva. Next month, Australian imprint Preservation will release Nuojuva's initial full-length Valot Kaukaa, an album that was two years in the making according to the artist.
It's a depart from Aarni's previous work as Ous Mal, and it arguably may also be called an advancement in terms of arrangement complexity and musical skills, featuring a wider range of instrumentation - cello, piano, flute and violin - and sparse yet highly sophisticated textures. The voice now plays an important role, too, with Rachel Evans (MSOTT/Quiet Evenings) contributing vocals to several tracks. You may listen to the first track "Laakso" below, a marvelous, wintry meditation that slowly drifts into otherworldly spheres with the help of the sublime, restrained piano work of Sydney's Sophie Hutchings.
Valot Kaukaa is due sometime in February. Pre-order it now here.
Read more →
Brooklyn's Danielle Johnson aka Computer Magic has just uploaded a new track to her Soundcloud, the deliciously upbeat, comparatively heavy synth banger "Trinity". According to Johnson it's part of an upcoming EP, with no further details revealed. In any case, it should be sufficient to get your blood circulation going on this cloudy morning of Friday the 13th.
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Jesse from the always fabulous Weird Canada, that certain blog that keeps providing us with, well, superbly weird stuff from, well, Canada (sorta wish we had such an unambiguous name) pointed us to Toronto's latest sonic sensation Tenderness, an experimental pop project that we couldn't find out too much about at this point but that is just too exciting to not share it right away. Initiated by some Chrissy Reichert with the help of her peers of the Toronto experimental and improv scene to add some sax and electronics, the levitating, dazed and mysterious jams comprise some minimal R&B leanings and psychedelic touches at just the right amount to come up with a fresh and truly original sound.
Reichert has just released the Tenderness debut named The Axe Is Ready at the Tree. Listen to the closing track below and get the whole thing over here. Highly recommended.
Tenderness - We Lay Our Broken World in Sorrow at Your FeetRead more →
According to Last.fm, Sandra is "one of Germany’s most popular singers in modern times". That might actually be true, still I'm kinda glad that I missed that era - though admittedly, this one's just timeless. Anyway, San Francisco synth wizard Olin (about whose rad self-titled EP we'd featured last summer) has covered another Sandra gem, the mostly forgotten 1986 hit single "Mirror Of Love", and somehow he managed to turn it into an even sultrier, sexier late night piece of pure seduction that sounds more mid-eighties than the original. A pretty compelling result if you ask me.
Olin - Mirror Of LoveRead more →
Today, lovely London-based indie outfit Fanzine dropped the brand new tune "Dream of You", once again a mildly devastating fuzz-pop gem that puts the band still closer to their friends Yuck. Not sure if this one is related to any release, but the band's debut full-length is scheduled for release later this year. Till then, melt away.
Fanzine - Dream of YouRead more →
You might want to look out for North Carolina producer Holygrailers this year, having put out few, but indeed amazing beats up until now via his Soundcloud, as well as a 7 inch split via Denmark Records earlier last year. Now, Crash Symbols babies Pressed And and their Holy Other esque track 'Parties' has been under the hands of Holygrailers, adding a little of his mysterious signature to the original. And for our American readers, don't miss out on Pressed And's US tour which kicks off on the 16th; dates here.
Pressed And - Parties (Holygrailers remix)Read more →
Two new cassettes by Portugal's Pedro Rios aka Branches on two of my favorite tape imprints, good times! The first one is Primeira Vez, a surprisingly rather dark, gloomy and contemplative effort that's gonna be dropped next week via Triple You Tapes. Listen to "Pré-Natal" below, a slowly meandering meditation that feels like a lost track of mid-noughties free-folk improv.
Branches - Pré-Natal
The second Branches tape is named Ninguém É Como Tu and arrives via our beloved Chicago via Kansas boutique imprint Sold Melts. Sample track "Barco para Zamami" immediately feels like the rising sun if listened to after "Pré-Natal", a loop-based ambient incursion that is in no way less meditative but a lot brighter and (almost) blithe. Unfortunately hadn't have the chance to listen to the whole thing yet but if the cover art is any indication, I guess Ninguém É Como Tu is Pedro Rios in his light-hearted mode.
Read more →
Helsinki, Finland's Olli Aarni used to release music under the moniker Ous Mal until late last year, when a pretty exciting remix compilation heralded the project's termination in favor of Nuojuva. Next month, Australian imprint Preservation will release Nuojuva's initial full-length Valot Kaukaa, an album that was two years in the making according to the artist.
It's a depart from Aarni's previous work as Ous Mal, and it arguably may also be called an advancement in terms of arrangement complexity and musical skills, featuring a wider range of instrumentation - cello, piano, flute and violin - and sparse yet highly sophisticated textures. The voice now plays an important role, too, with Rachel Evans (MSOTT/Quiet Evenings) contributing vocals to several tracks. You may listen to the first track "Laakso" below, a marvelous, wintry meditation that slowly drifts into otherworldly spheres with the help of the sublime, restrained piano work of Sydney's Sophie Hutchings.
Valot Kaukaa is due sometime in February. Pre-order it now here.
Read more →
