When not playing guitar in Teen Daze or making music under his moniker Bank Heist, Matthew Joel hailing from the fraser valley of British Colombia spends his time making beautiful, atmospheric under his self-titled solo project. In his very newest The Rocky Mountains EP (which you can download for free via bandcamp), Joel moves from cold and calming ambient tunes to the wondrous post-rock, sometimes with hints of electronic, giving many the six different tracks on the EP names of valleys, mountains and lakes within the postcard landscapes of the US west coast. However, just as the driest deserts of Death Valley can bloom with wildflowers in all the colors of the rainbow after some rare periods of rain; so can the music of Matthew Joel — leaving you with the everlasting feeling that beauty never is far away.
Fresh and still burning hot out of the oven, two new cassette releases on Minnesota's Moon Glyph, very amazing productions that both deserve a few lines of introduction.
Only a little while after dropping I on Moon Glyph, the Minneapolis psych outfit Food Pyramid is already back with their aptly titled follow-up II, roughly 45 minutes of densely orchestrated soundscapes, instantly captivating noise produced by all kinds of electronic devices that evoke memories of 70s glory day psychedelic music. The tracks are playful with an almost improvised feel yet always remain stringent and never lose traction: Music is math, and this is math in its highest form.
Food Pyramid - Cloudscape
Equally noisy in its approach but still very different is Camden's Living Image, a considerably dark output of Daughters of the Sun (who will have a Not Not Fun release soon) member Cole Weiland. Over bubbling synth patterns, Living Image is focused on Weiland's heavily distorted (or otherwise manipulated) and haunting vocals, all together producing deliberately harsh noises that result in an astonishing output of sheer musical massiveness, as unforeseen as truly amazing.
Camden - Bloodloss
Both tapes are already available, order them here.
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After first attracting our surprised attention back in June with their beautiful song Grandpa with Organ Deuce which appeared on Fort Collins, Colorado imprint Patient Sounds' essential first sampler, Seattle's Martha! Mother have finally released their debut cassette on another adorable Colorado label, Denver's still pretty new Silent Farm Recordings, home to beautiful bands such as Memory Screen, Pasture, or Cradling.
Charles comprises twelve fragile pop songs halfway between folk and more experimentalist sounds. The music is masterfully crafted, quite a considerable amount of time and effort must have been spent on sequencing the impressing variety of employed instruments. It's a rather slow and quiet album, music for winter daydreaming (without ever relying on means we usually associate with "dream pop") that is still truly exciting from the first to the last note. Posada is particularly breathtaking and Charles' standout song, a short, almost casually hushed duet over subtle organ chords and a crescendo guitar/string part that ultimately gives way to a truly enchanting acoustic finale. Watch the brand new, fittingly Christmas themed, nostalgic and melancholic video for Posada below, wonderfully edited by Joseph Yonker.
Stream the whole album on Silent Farm's bandcamp and purchase the C32 tape or download Charlesover here.
Martha! Mother - PosadaMartha! Mother - Don't Call Me Unce AnymoreRead more →
Mikey of Blackbird Blackbird just put this brand new single up for free download via Soundcloud, taken from his second upcoming full-lenght. This time, Mikey's beautiful vocals are more focused and not so much hidden behind dreamy layers and blissed-out filters (not necessarily saying that's a bad thing, however), but the outcome is a far more poppy sound, all though still hailing towards the tropical, warm winds of Hawaii. Remember to check out newest music video for Purehere.
I don't know if they're molesting them little girls or wherever their name might come from, but I have to say it's fine with me considering The Meanest Boys' purest aural splendor. Actually, The Meanest Boys is the solo project of Hollywood, California's William Alexander Marquis IV, and after having dropped a cassette on Mirror Universe and before releasing a full length on Cosmos Recordings in the UK next year, this is what he has done in between: recording a wonderful EP full of lush and optimistically toned yet melancholically spirited little pop gems. And you know what, we couldn't possibly ask for more. Stream the whole piece over at William's bandcamp.
The Meanest Boys - Lost in the FireThe Meanest Boys - Big MistakesRead more →
If you've been keeping an eye on other music blogs during the last couple of days, you might've already gotten your hands on the lovely, new Beach Dreams EP by our tune-maker favorite Teen Daze, with a sound hailing a bit more in the direction of guitar based lo-fi than ever. Go name a price over at bandcamp.
Teen Daze - Let's Fall Asleep TogetherRead more →
We're pretty sure that this information isn't exactly new for you, but just in case, once again: December is here, the snow as well, and, above all, Darren Williams is about to come. No Fear Of Pop is incommensurately proud and ridiculously excited to stage its first-ever show in Berlin, Darren's Star Slinger playing an exclusive showcase at Friedrichshain's RAW-Tempel, next Friday, December 10. To make his first-ever appearance outside the United Kingdom possible, we've joined forces with the wonderful Sydney based blog Life: Aquatic and antistars booking. Istanbul native and Berlin resident Hemi Behmoaras will support with a DJ set.
If you need further arguments for showing up, or any at all besides the prospect of earning our eternal love, take a listen to Star Slinger's latest single Remedy below. The tune is one of Darren's finest tunes so far, perfectly twisted beat and sampling works masterfully arranged in his signature style, once more creating something very distinct and unique. The track will appear on Double Denim's latest 7 inch, a split with one of the other exciting new beatsmiths of 2010, South Carolina's Hard Mix. The single is available for pre-order over here, edition of 150 on colored vinyl. Highly recommended.
See you next week.
Poster design by Nathaniel Whitcomb // Think or Smile.
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Our man Dylan from the supposedly rather quiet town of Florence, South Carolina (just guessing, I could be wrong here), who makes ridiculously amazing music under the moniker Persona La Ave and who has already blessed us with quite a few jaw-dropping tunes this year has finally got his stuff together and made the long-overdue step of putting out his debuting physical release. Brothers Was Taken collects some of Dylan's finest gems and sums up every feature that made us fall in love with this lad's easy-on experimentalism back when the season of joy was just about to start, and guess what, it still works on a way too cold and freezing late November night. Preserve that feeling right now via the magic of magnetism on Triple U Tapes for a very reasonable amount of money.
Persona La Ave - BackroadsPersona La Ave - DiveRead more →
Fresh and still burning hot out of the oven, two new cassette releases on Minnesota's Moon Glyph, very amazing productions that both deserve a few lines of introduction.
Only a little while after dropping I on Moon Glyph, the Minneapolis psych outfit Food Pyramid is already back with their aptly titled follow-up II, roughly 45 minutes of densely orchestrated soundscapes, instantly captivating noise produced by all kinds of electronic devices that evoke memories of 70s glory day psychedelic music. The tracks are playful with an almost improvised feel yet always remain stringent and never lose traction: Music is math, and this is math in its highest form.
Food Pyramid - Cloudscape
Equally noisy in its approach but still very different is Camden's Living Image, a considerably dark output of Daughters of the Sun (who will have a Not Not Fun release soon) member Cole Weiland. Over bubbling synth patterns, Living Image is focused on Weiland's heavily distorted (or otherwise manipulated) and haunting vocals, all together producing deliberately harsh noises that result in an astonishing output of sheer musical massiveness, as unforeseen as truly amazing.
Camden - Bloodloss
Both tapes are already available, order them here.
Read more →
Mikey of 
