Surf Club “Until Then”

17 Jan 2014 — Andi Wilson

We are very pleased to share San Francisco based hazey-guitar pop, Surf Club's, latest single. "Until Then" sweeps you off your feet and has less of a punk vibe than past singles, "Swoon" and "Heaven". The synths soar throughout the track while vocalist Frankie Soto pulls us into a misty and entranced nature.

Produced by Craft Spells' Justin Vallesteros and Matt Bishop, this is a digital single release you can snatch from Beko Disques. I'll be daydreaming of sailing the oceanwide while listening, and I hope you do too. 

 

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Tape to Digital / Stream: Son of Dad “Side 1 & 2” (exclusive)

16 Jan 2014 — Andi Wilson

Meditation can be a very ambitious practice to fulfill, even with the most ambient of music. Son of Dad recently changed that obstacle into complete ease for me. I don't think this tape was necessarily made to meditate to, but with absolute freedom of the listener in mind. Jackson Pollis, who currently drums for lo-fi rock sweethearts, Real Estate, began his expedition to producing a release a few years ago. Meaning some of the material used for the tape spans from then into progressive new territory. Once intaking the nearly hour-long tape, it's clear that SOD is an outlet for his honest interests to expand past other roles as a musician. I admire art that is made with no intention or sense of self. Pollis stated in a recent email, "I wanted to think as little as possible about what I was doing and kind of let the songs choose themselves.  The projection of image is unhealthy and something we all fall prey to..."

This is Son of Dad's official debut release through New Camp Records. You can order a pro-dubbed and printed tape or download digitally through bandcamp. Expect more material to be released this year, but for now stream below. 

You can also hang with the New Camp Records gang and label-mates tonight at Sunny's in Brooklyn for Raajmahal tape release.

 

 

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Interact: Avalon Emerson “Quoi!”

16 Jan 2014 — Evelyn Malinowski

As if an effort greater than preceding ones to launch the ICEE HOT collective operating out of San Francisco into the global scene, Avalon Emerson, with her crunchy and optimistic style, has paid new and old dance fans a great service by marrying her instant classic "Quoi!," which earned a nine out of ten rating already in Mixmag, to its official interactive counterpart, a video by SF artist Cabbibo. 

The interactive video requires WebGL, best through Google Chrome. If you don't have Chrome and don't feel like installing yet want to hear the sounds and see the space, you can still watch a demo of the video and observe the moonscaped squares orbiting around some kind of fractal nucleus. And then the rave nostalgia kicks-in: Is anyone else reminded of Windows Media Player and iTunes 1.0 visuals? Does anyone see the re-emergence of warehouse parties in the Bay Area as history repeating itself, but hopefully with less E?

"Quoi!" displays fantastic restraint and knowledge of house archetypes. It starts off with a punch, then the sample, which sounds like something Fatboy Slim would've used, loops itself into a knot over the right amount of thumping bass, and builds long enough for us to think that the song is going to eventually explode into clubby loudness. Instead, we are mulled over by synth groove and a sharp but warm melodic centerpiece. There is more than a pinch of progressive house/techno nostalgia here, a reminiscence not altogether similar but corresponding somewhat with the latest from Fort Romeau. "Quoi!" differs in that it somehow manages both praise of the rave days and clean auspiciousness about new directions for dance music. Fort Romeau, on the other hand, while his sound is immaculate in several ways, sounds like he plans on staying in the past.

Just think, ravers and typical Ibiza-patrons in the mid-90s never saw this type of video work coming. All they cared about was getting Digweed to the warehouse to spin "Heaven Scent" over and over. 

Is that Avalon and ICEE HOT fifteen years ago?

But damn, it gives me chills, all of it. It gives me chills to indulge in that nostalgia, and it excites me to interact with this video, to puppet synaesthesia, and to think about how far we've come and more forward movement for dance, especially in the States.

You can preview "Pressure/Quoi!" here, or buy the record here.

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Stream: Low Tee “Tell The Homies” (Exclusive)

15 Jan 2014 — Ashley Canino

Low Tee is flipping his mantra on us with debut EP Tell The Homies. With six full tracks and an interlude, the EP is bursting with his signature R&B vaporwave stylings. From department store muzak to hidden new jack gems, Low Tee reconfigures the benign and forgotten into songs that are just catchy and smart. Though the EP's cover is pure internet, its seven tracks have more range than what other well-known online producers are releasing. "Luv in This" makes me nostalgic for a song I definitely haven't heard before. "Eye on the Diamond" appropriates hip hop in a way that is amusing, yet not derisive or satirical. In the middle of the spectrum, and the track list, lands "Thuggin Feels Good," Low Tee's most popular and accessible track to date. There isn't really a way around describing "Thuggin" as...sexy.

Stream Tell The Homies exclusively on No Fear of Pop until the end of the week. Pre-order the EP here.

 

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Yumi Zouma, “The Brae”

15 Jan 2014 — Parker Bruce

According to The Free Dictionary, New Zealand-originating band Yumi Zouma are singing about a Scottish word for 'a hillside' or 'a slope' in their song "The Brae", and based off what I've read in Chris Kraus books as of late, there are braes in New Zealand. Yumi Zouma make something you can wade and bob around in. The movement it inspires is flowing and loosey goosey with the song wafting around. Their EP, also called Yumi Zouma, will be brought to us by Cascine February 11. Based off "The Brae," it looks like it will be another banner year for the label. This is one highly recommended pre-order.  

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Watch: Gabriel Garzon-Montano “Everything is Everything”

14 Jan 2014 — Ashley Canino

Gabriel Garzón-Montano has released the first video from his debut solo EP, Bishouné: Alma del Huila. The video for "Everything is Everything," produced by Santiago Carrasquilla and Joe Hollier, gets its stuttering surreal vibe from a reproccessing of the shoot's still frames. The effect is a sweet and organic clip that complements and doesn't distract from a thoughtful and well produced track.

You may remember Garzón-Montano from other projects. He leads Mokaad – a 12-piece funk band with a tight sound, and a thrilling and infectious live show – and more recently joined the buzzworthy band Gospels. Bishouné: Alma del Huila sounds as if it emerged out of a dialectic between those two outfits. In this comparatively pared down environment, Garzón-Montano's expressive voice carries his vignette lyrics up out of the trappings of any sort of soul canon. Even though we are bound to pick up on some aesthetic influences (D'Angelo, Bilal) "Everything is Everything" and the rest of the tracks on Bishouné: Alma del Huila deliver a unique expression of a genre heavily co-opted in today's pop.

Bishouné: Alma del Huila is out February 11th on Styles Upon Styles. Pre-order the EP here.

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Tôg “Av Hengslene”

14 Jan 2014 — Tonje Thilesen

The Norwegian disco pop (one-man) outfit Tôg is back after the release of his excellent single "Maridalen" last year, a track that unfortunately most music sites decides to sleep on. Then again, it seems like "Av Hengslene" has that extra touch that "Maridalen" might have lacked in the first place, and I'm not just talking about the incredibly catchy synth line — it sounds 'Swedish', and that my friends, is a huge compliment to Norwegian pop music. Balearic disco references aside, this could totally be Norway's reply to The Tough Alliance or Delorean, if you ask me. 

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