Going deep.

29 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Halls is the pretty new recording project of south London, England resident Samuel Howard. And yes, you can stick to all those associations that pop up in your head when someone names that particular location. Howard's sounds are not dubstep, yet they do have a certain similarity concerning the use of deep and dark synth patterns and deranged, distant vocal samples. This is finest loop-based electronica, very urban indeed, lonesome, wintry, and captivating. And, by the way, it feels good to finally have some talented Englishman up here again. Halls - Kaleidoscope Halls - Cave Days Read more →

Lizard kisses.

26 Dec 2010 — Tonje Thilesen

It's often hard to keep up with all the music that drops into our inboxes, which also means that I sometimes unfortunately miss a music submission or two on the way. As I recently started digging through my inbox again, I happened to stumble across an e-mail dated almost a month ago, of which I somehow had overseen. Based out in 'guess-what-city' of NY, the two-piece Lizard Kisses spent a month in a house in West Wardsboro, Vermont, where they recorded the lovely EP Sleeping In, filled with nine dreamy lo-fi tracks you definitely shouldn't miss. Get it for free via their bandcamp or order a physical copy here. Lizard Kisses - Sleep Talkin' Lizard Kisses - Sender Read more →

Myrrh & Myth.

25 Dec 2010 — Tonje Thilesen

I guess it's almost impossible not to post anything related to this very season; so here are some relaxing Christmas tunes that might be a little different than usual. The fairly mysterious (and so far anonymous) Golau Glau released their Christmas EP Myrrh & Myth earlier this month, which you can download for free from their bandcamp site. Golau Glau - Yew Golau Glau - Oak Moon Read more →

For You, Sleepsleeper.

24 Dec 2010 — Tonje Thilesen

As many of you probably have noticed already, I always get extra excited when I discovering 'new' music from Norway, yet to be picked up by the mass. Maybe it's because the lack of interest in music in this cold country (compared to our Swedish neighbours), or maybe because I'm a sucker to anything atmospheric — I don't know. Benjamin Finger, whom is already signed to the lovely Oslo-based How Is Annie Records, recently released his debut album entitled "For You, Sleepsleeper" — containing 11 beautifully composed tracks which leaves me with the feeling of diving into a ocean of unpredicted, echo-like sounds. Benjamin Finger's soundscape is unexpected and wide, also in the Kim Hiorthøy kind of way; intense and weird but the same time cinematically beautiful; almost like watching the starry night sky on the influence of acid (not talking by experience). His music falls into the experimental genre, I guess, at the same time as containing elements from both ambient-acoustic and electronic; at times almost like a more ambient version of the Japanese mastermind Cornelius. Don't forget to take a look at the many beautiful visuals for the album here, created by Benjamin himself. Benjamin Finger - Drowned In Elbows Benjamin Finger - Chunks Of Plaster Read more →

2010: Some remarkable videos.

23 Dec 2010 — NFOP

Though MTV has absolutely nothing to do with it anymore, 2010 was the year the music video came back. Primarily thanks to Vimeo's amazing features and capacities, in the twelve months that lie behind us now we were confronted more or less each single day with a stockpile of videos flooding our inbox. The most significant phenomenon about the emergence of this Vimeo culture is how it has changed the face of the music video itself. Today, it's next to never about showcasing artists, jumping around and singing in artificial surroundings, nor is it principally about telling a story, with a few remarkable exceptions regarding the latter point. Principally, it's all about capturing the music's atmosphere, more than ever before. Considering the means to achieve this, archive.org proved to be an inexhaustible source of material for video collages, to an extent that my friend Oskar of No Modest Bear coined the phrase that "archive.org killed the video star", and there's a lot of truth in this blunt statement. Another blogger even suggested the need for a new category for this kind of work, as "music video" could not serve as an accurate term for it. The videos we've decided to highlight below generally do not belong to the "archive.org" kind, yet they are trying to (literally) picture the songs' spirit, sometimes also their deeper, implicit meaning, every single one of them employing amazing techniques, driven by the director's imagination and outstanding talent. These videos are, and this is the most exciting aspect of the new generation, interpretations of the music in the true sense of the term. So please enjoy our selection, in no intended order: Kendal Johansson - Blue Moon (Video by Christian Kian Zubicky & Philippe Tempelman) Gem Club - Spine (Video by Brianna Olson) Coma Cinema - Only (Video by Tyler T. Williams) Wonder Wheel - Purple (Pradada Remix) (Video by Frank Ouelette/Moduli TV) Autre Ne Veut - Emotional (Video by The Olde English Spelling Bee) d'Eon - Keep the Faith (Video by Megazord) Casiokids - En Vill Hest (Video by Fantefilm) How To Dress Well - Date of Birth (Video by Ezra Ewen) Papercutz - Lylac (Helios Remix) (Video by Keith Kenniff) Holy Spirits & Gem Club - Fingertips (Video by Nathaniel Whitcomb) Read more →

Temple Songs.

22 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann

I have no clue who might be behind this pretty shoegazey pop project named Temple Songs, as the mail I'd received the other day was painfully short and meaningless. One of their bandcamp tags suggests the band is hailing from Paris, which could be true of course, but it could just as well be wrong. So anyway, what I can say is that this is some very fine pop music, nice melodies and layers of distorted guitars and a lot of reverb, and the whole thing sounds as if someone had accidentally thrown the master tape into the family pool, it's so heavily drowned in lo-fi noise and hiss that the vocals are more or less indecipherable. But it's not French I think. Temple Songs - I'll Be Fine Temple Songs - Let's Go Outside Read more →

Alberto EP.

21 Dec 2010 — Tonje Thilesen

Ever since the release of his latest EP Three Songs For Ryan back in August, we've been longing to hear more of the ambient pop mastermind Warren Hildebrand aka Foxes in Fiction. On his newest EP Alberto he once again blesses us with a bunch of wondrously crafted tunes that will make your mind float away for 26.7 minutes (and probably a lot more); something I guess we all need these days. Grab your free copy here — released yesterday via Warren's own Orchid Tapes.

Fifteen Ativan (Alternate Version)

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