I was literally quite blown away when I first heard the The Glass Canoe's Broka, the first track from their debut album Chimera released back in March for free to download on their bandcamp page. I guess psychedelic pop is the most accurate label to describe the sound of this San Diego based five-piece, all though they seem to be influenced by many kinds genres with their atmospheric compositions, layered vocals, sudden breaks of noise and sometimes even leaning on the more ambient, minimalistic sound. Honestly though, you got to listen for yourself.
Seriously gorgeous Scandinavian pop vibes here by Tape3000, the solo project of Dortmund, Germany-based producer/singer Nadine Platzek, and those of you familiar with Teutonic peculiarities will know that in so many ways this couldn't be farther away from Swedish realms. Anyway, as Platzek explained in a recent interview with Andi Wilson of Washington's KZUU 90.7 FM, in 2007 she actually spent one year up north, and in fact it was the already cliché remoteness of the Swedish landscape that got her into making music.
Jag Tror På Dig, apparently the first song actually written in Swedish, a cold and reduced yet absolutely danceable piece of finest pop that wouldn't be out of place on some Stockholm or Gothenburg hipster label's roster, will be part of Platzek's debut full-length TROR, set for release sometime by the end of June or early July. Till then, be sure to check out some other marvelous tunes on her Soundcloud.
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Here's a fresh cut from Moon Glyph's latest release, a set of stirring synth excursions that long-standing experimentalist Steve Moore originally had come up with seven years ago but that somehow had been buried somewhere deep until this very day. Aptly entitled Demo 2004, the six-track C40 features some thoroughly enchanting visionary synth works. Cop the brief yet wide-spanning, cinematic analogue dream High Fantasy below and then order the whole piece over here.
Steve Moore - High FantasyRead more →
Having their last EP Love Songs For When You Leave Me recorded together with none other than Chris Chu from The Morning Benders, California's dreamy pop trio So Many Wizards are about to release a limitid edition 7" Inner City / Best Friends on Seven Inch Project, due to June 28th – a perfect little gem for these lush days of June with summer in the air (and all that). Grab it below.
Here's a wonderfully woozy and completely devastating new tune by Alex Shields aka A Grave With No Name, something to wrap all your and the rest of the world's sadness around and then go mourning together. We actually think it might still be winter in Japan. Keep it up folks, please keep it going.
A Grave With No Name - Winter in JapanRead more →
At Barcelona's Primavera Sound, the Auditori is the only indoor venue, situated right next to the actual festival ground and meant to host the more quiet, intimate moments of the three-day craziness. Splendidly detached from the sonic overload that's happening between the seven outdoor stages, with separate lines and occasionally even reservation requirements, shows happening at the Auditori are nothing the casual Primavera attender will get in touch with.
In other words, the few hundred people that were gathering in front of Herzog & de Meuron's post-modernist architectural landmark at four p.m. on Saturday afternoon knew exactly what they were doing, a fact that can't be praised enough in light of the things that should follow in the next 45 minutes. Mike Hadreas aka Perfume Genius' performance became one of the few truly magical moments of the festival. Surrounded by a pitch-black stage, Hadreas and his excellent collaborator Alan Wyffels delivered an outstanding, magnificent set, during which the two did not confine themselves to playing songs from last year's debut Learning but also performed a couple of new songs, supposedly from Perfume Genius' forthcoming sophomore effort. One of those new tracks can be streamed below (as well as You Wont B Here from Learning), by way of variation with Hadreas playing acoustic guitar, and as expected it's another breathtaking beauty of painfully stripped intimacy, leaving us struck down and longing for more.
(Photo via Turnstile)
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It's been a while since we first introduced London fuzzed-out quintet The History Of Apple Pie to our readers, and it seems that quite a few things have been going on for this late eighties loving outfit recently: Not only has the great Paul Lester finally taken notice of this raw diamond right in front of his doorstep, but the wonderful exponents of lo-fi noise have also readied their debut 7 inch, out very soon via London's Roundtable Records. A-side You're So Cool is definitely nice and single-worthy, but I am particularly stoked by the rough, upbeat harshness of b-side Some Kind that, as Lester pointed out yesterday, owes a lot to Dinosaur Jr's Freak Scene. Right next to our darlings Yuck, The History Of Apple Pie is the most exciting act to build on 25 year-old noise rock at the moment, so you might wanna keep an eye on them from now on.
Pre-order the You're So Cool b/w Some Kind 7 inch over at Rough Trade.
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