The Sad Song.

29 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Originally formed as a duo in New Zealand, Helga Fassonaki and Andrew Scott aka Metal Rouge have moved across the Pacific to relocate in Los Angeles and have since been joined by Caitlin Mitchell on drums. The Sad Song (666) is a terrific quarter hour masterpiece, by all means a challenging yet absolutely rewarding listen. The instrumental rises slowly and quietly into an outright thunderstorm of psychedelic noise, exploring the deep realms of sound while shattering the incidental listener's expectations more than once, though never leaving the path of a mathematically exact pattern to structure the band's experimental aspirations. I highly recommend you give it a try.

Metal Rouge - The Sad Song (666)

Read more →
Originally formed as a duo in New Zealand, Helga Fassonaki and Andrew Scott aka Metal Rouge have moved across the Pacific to relocate in Los Angeles and have since been joined by Caitlin Mitchell on drums. The Sad Song (666) is a terrific quarter hour masterpiece, by all means a challenging yet absolutely rewarding listen. The instrumental rises slowly and quietly into an outright thunderstorm of psychedelic noise, exploring the deep realms of sound while shattering the incidental listener's expectations more than once, though never leaving the path of a mathematically exact pattern to structure the band's experimental aspirations. I highly recommend you give it a try.

Metal Rouge - The Sad Song (666)

Video: Shimmering Stars - Sun’s Going Down

28 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

(Shimmering Stars myspace)



via the ever-shimmering star that is DS.

Shimmering Stars - Sun's Going Down

Read more →
(Shimmering Stars myspace)



via the ever-shimmering star that is DS.

Shimmering Stars - Sun's Going Down

Coming Out.

28 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

It's a shame that Tomas aka Mon Insomnie had to leave Berlin recently, but on the other hand, being back in the remote areas of the Czech Republic apparently gives him enough space and time to live out his creative impulses again. Coming Out, a brand new song recorded last night, is nothing but Tomas and his acoustic guitar, an unbelievably beautiful piece that once more leaves us alone with the awareness of the fragility and transience of happiness.

Mon Insomnie - Coming Out

Read more → It's a shame that Tomas aka Mon Insomnie had to leave Berlin recently, but on the other hand, being back in the remote areas of the Czech Republic apparently gives him enough space and time to live out his creative impulses again. Coming Out, a brand new song recorded last night, is nothing but Tomas and his acoustic guitar, an unbelievably beautiful piece that once more leaves us alone with the awareness of the fragility and transience of happiness.

Mon Insomnie - Coming Out

Nice and easy.

28 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Today marks the day that our dearest San Francisco dreamkid Nicolas Ng aka Fiveng returns with yet another blissed-out wavey jam. Easy features Fiveng's pretty unique signature that made us fall for Give Me a Taste and Jonah earlier this year, AC-reminiscent experimentalism combined with lush instrumentation and an overall summery feel to it. Nicolas Ng is clearly one of most talented artists around to embrace last year's relevant musical developments.

Easy b/w Skin has been put out by the wonderful little Beachtapes label and is available via Fiveng's bandcamp now. I suggest you head over there and then just drift away from that rainy world outside.

Fiveng - Easy

Read more →
Today marks the day that our dearest San Francisco dreamkid Nicolas Ng aka Fiveng returns with yet another blissed-out wavey jam. Easy features Fiveng's pretty unique signature that made us fall for Give Me a Taste and Jonah earlier this year, AC-reminiscent experimentalism combined with lush instrumentation and an overall summery feel to it. Nicolas Ng is clearly one of most talented artists around to embrace last year's relevant musical developments.

Easy b/w Skin has been put out by the wonderful little Beachtapes label and is available via Fiveng's bandcamp now. I suggest you head over there and then just drift away from that rainy world outside.

Fiveng - Easy

Can’t Stand the Love.

28 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

You and Your Pointy Ears is the musical brainchild of Cambridge, Massachusetts resident Spenser Gralla (who has some other bands as well) and some unmentioned pals, and his new Black Magic b/w Can't Stand the Love is some brilliant garage pop - especially the "b side" is a tune full of wonderful hazy, 60s induced melodies, some of the best distinctly lo-fi stuff I've heard all year.

You and Your Pointy Ears - Can't Stand the Love

You and Your Pointy Ears - Black Magic

Read more →
You and Your Pointy Ears is the musical brainchild of Cambridge, Massachusetts resident Spenser Gralla (who has some other bands as well) and some unmentioned pals, and his new Black Magic b/w Can't Stand the Love is some brilliant garage pop - especially the "b side" is a tune full of wonderful hazy, 60s induced melodies, some of the best distinctly lo-fi stuff I've heard all year.

You and Your Pointy Ears - Can't Stand the Love

You and Your Pointy Ears - Black Magic

The Werewolf EP.

27 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Kudos to Fabien from Delicious Scopitone for yesterday's heads up to the solo work of Pensacola, Florida's Jeremy Mullins, who is one half of our madly adored Kiss Kiss Fantastic. Optimist Park is almost classic shoegazey dream pop, echo laden layers of guitars and beautifully distracting melodies drowning in reverb to take you to the warm and sunny place inside yourself. This is pure magic.

Optimist Park's new The Werewolf EP is now available for free via his bandcamp.

Optimist Park - The Kill

Optimist Park - The Static Light

Read more →
Kudos to Fabien from Delicious Scopitone for yesterday's heads up to the solo work of Pensacola, Florida's Jeremy Mullins, who is one half of our madly adored Kiss Kiss Fantastic. Optimist Park is almost classic shoegazey dream pop, echo laden layers of guitars and beautifully distracting melodies drowning in reverb to take you to the warm and sunny place inside yourself. This is pure magic.

Optimist Park's new The Werewolf EP is now available for free via his bandcamp.

Optimist Park - The Kill

Optimist Park - The Static Light

The History Of Apple Pie / Sweater Girls

26 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Now that fall 2010 has introduced itself with a weekend of constant raining, I figure it's about time for some painfully sweet indie pop to put a little smile on your face while you're having your Sunday afternoon tea, melancholically gazing out of the window into the blurry grey something that used to be the sundrenched world you've spent your summer in. London's The History Of Apple Pie (recently introduced by Yuck's blog) and LA quintet Sweater Girls both are as twee as it gets, so it makes an awful lot of sense that the fresh and tiny London based tape label Cool In A Crisis is gonna put out a split cassette featuring the two bands very soon.

Listen to three of their charming tunes below, all being full of wonderful pop melodies complete with cute girls' voices, jangling and fuzzed guitars and glockenspiel, in other words every ingredient we'll never get tired of hearing since 1986. Seriously, this has made my day.

The History Of Apple Pie - Mallory

Sweater Girls - Pretty When You Smile

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F2440226&show_comments=false&auto_play=false&color=ff7700 Out Of View by The History Of Apple Pie Read more →
Now that fall 2010 has introduced itself with a weekend of constant raining, I figure it's about time for some painfully sweet indie pop to put a little smile on your face while you're having your Sunday afternoon tea, melancholically gazing out of the window into the blurry grey something that used to be the sundrenched world you've spent your summer in. London's The History Of Apple Pie (recently introduced by Yuck's blog) and LA quintet Sweater Girls both are as twee as it gets, so it makes an awful lot of sense that the fresh and tiny London based tape label Cool In A Crisis is gonna put out a split cassette featuring the two bands very soon.

Listen to three of their charming tunes below, all being full of wonderful pop melodies complete with cute girls' voices, jangling and fuzzed guitars and glockenspiel, in other words every ingredient we'll never get tired of hearing since 1986. Seriously, this has made my day.

The History Of Apple Pie - Mallory

Sweater Girls - Pretty When You Smile

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F2440226&show_comments=false&auto_play=false&color=ff7700 Out Of View by The History Of Apple Pie