09 Oct 2010 — Henning Lahmann
Could there be anything worse than forgetting the birthday of a dear and admired friend? Of course not. Things get even more unforgivable if it's your friend's first. So I'm devastated that it took me all week till Friday night to finally notice that our very adorable French
Beko Digital Singles Label has rather silently celebrated twelve months, fifty-two weeks or no less than three hundred sixty-five days of existence this very Monday. Congratulations for one year of restlessly rummaging through the endless universe of exciting undiscovered music, thereby maintaining a level of quality we can only dream of.
And the best part of it: Instead just relaxing and waiting to receive bunches of well deserved presents, the folks instead made us a present with Beko's first-ever digital LP, the preposterously yet beautifully titled
The Salmon of Doubt by the wonderful Connecticut noise pop duo
Procedure Club. One track particularly grabbed my attention, the dreamy collaboration with Massachusetts'
Sore Eros, available below. But make sure you download the whole marvelous record over at
Beko DSL!
Procedure Club - Snowy (feat. Sore Eros)
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09 Oct 2010 — Henning Lahmann
Before Andrew Caddick aka our absolute favorite
Jeans Wilder is gonna turn this musically extraordinary year into an outstanding one with the release of his LP
Nice Trash via our French darlings over at
La Station Radar and
Atelier Ciseaux in November (I really don't intend to put up the pressure here, but seriously, check
this and
this in case you haven't - and look at the terrific back cover art below), he's about to make the wait a little easier by putting out the digital-only EP
Wish You Were Here very soon via his
bandcamp. The seven track piece will include all three songs from his
Don't Fly So Close to the Sun C18 tape which Andrew had released in June on
Trivial Pursuit, plus four previously unreleased tunes that were intended to become part of another split cassette with
Deep Sht which will never come into being for reasons that are unknown to the author of these lines (he probably could have asked though).
In any case, below you can already listen to one of those long buried gold nuggets, along with the title track of said Trivial Pursuit release. While
Don't Fly So Close to the Sun might be considered Andrew's most ambient side to date, a gently meandering and deeply contemplating synth instrumental,
The Shakes on the other hand is a "classic" Jeans Wilder lo-fi jam, a loose drum machine pattern carrying a heavily clipping guitar and Andrew's melancholically toned, equally distorted and echo-laden vocals, in essence exactly the style we've learned to adore this guy for in the first place.
Jeans Wilder - Don't Fly So Close to the SunJeans Wilder - The Shakes
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07 Oct 2010 — Henning Lahmann
"Okay, listen. I have this song I wrote, right? And I showed it to some of my friends and everyone says they like it. Do they "like" it or do they LIKE it? Since I have no idea who you are and I enjoy your blog/tastes I was thinking I could send it to you. For some unbiased feedback? If this is possible, I look forward to your reply. Thanks for your time!"Jeff, relax. Though I don't know who you are either and I don't have a clue if "
Summersault" is the name of your project or just of this pretty little song or whatever and where you come from and what you do for a living, you may believe your friends. I like this hazy little piece of summer, I really do like it a lot.
And thanks for the nice words, Jeff.
(
Photo)
Summersault - Summersault
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07 Oct 2010 — Henning Lahmann
When
we introduced you to the wonderful wavey synth sounds of Florida's Sean Earl Beard aka
Plastic Flowers back in early September, we already told you there would be a new single via our dearest friends over at
Beko DSL soon, and just as promised, this Monday we were blessed with the release of
We Just Had More Fun b/w
The Stone House. The a side is a real treat, a slow synthpop jam drenched in melancholic longing for past times when things seemed so much easier. Objects in the rear view mirror.
Plastic Flowers - We Just Had More Fun
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06 Oct 2010 — Henning Lahmann
I guess I must have been Facebook friends with Brent Mitzner for quite a while now though I don't remember when and why that happened (most likely rather randomly via
Bridgetown Records' Kevin Greenspon), but a couple of days ago it turned out once more that the dangerous monster that is this social networking site can actually be useful. Brent hit me up to finally "formally introduce" himself by sending over these two blissful tunes he recorded recently with his new project
Sweater Days, a trio together with Jillian Jesser and Isaac Robles that is very much into really Californian, hazy garage pop with just the right amount of lo-fi feel in it. They're about to finish a mini LP that's gonna be put out via our beloved and above mentioned
Bridgetown soon.
Sweater Days - Shut The DoorSweater Days - Baby In Time
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06 Oct 2010 — Henning Lahmann
Happy news to brighten up your grey Wednesday morning: Our sweetest
FMLY guy Noah Klein aka
Philip Seymour Hoffman finally has brought a new cassette tape into the realms of humanity,
Happiness Only Real When Shared serving as the fourth installment of the
Impose Cassette Series. The tape includes ten songs, some already well known gems like
Everything In My Cupboard Is Moldy and
Duckfangs Tickle My Ankles from his
Semi-Marxist Like Us 12 inch, but also some brand new tunes that have emerged straight out of Noah's dreamy wonderland of lo-fi sound and magic, being among the most beautiful stuff I've heard all year. Oh, how do we want to share our happiness with you, Noah.
Listen to two of my absolute favorites below:
Requiem for the Ghostbuster is almost ridiculously pretty, a sugary male/female duet subtly hidden behind a blurry curtain of flowery yet somehow twisted sunshine pop that tinkles along, instantly leaving the listener feel warm and secure.
To Evoke the Environment is slightly darker and more serious, carried by a reduced, plucked acoustic guitar and gently distorted vocals, evoking a certain feeling of loneliness that intensifies towards the song's ending when a slow guitar noise sets in.
The cassette tape is
available for pre-order now and will be out October 19.
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Requiem for the GhostbusterPhilip Seymour Hoffman - To Evoke the Environment
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