24 Mar 2014 — Henning Lahmann
Likening his music to "a slowly burgeoning bacterial culture feasting silently on nutrients under warm illumination", UK-based critic Adam Harper found rather appropriate words last year to describe the otherwise elusive sonic work by Eugene, Oregon beatsmith Karmelloz. After releases on Purr Tapes and Sewage, the adventurous producer returns with a new cassette on fabled Vancouver imprint 1080p. Source Localization is indeed sneakily yet irresistibly growing on your ears, relentlessly appropriating everything from slow-burning techno patterns to footwork-indebted frenzy and yes, styles others would describe by employing a set of vocabulary that comprises the words 'vapor' and 'wave' – though everything here is considerably more mud-drenched than your average glaring piece of commodified tech utopia bastardisation. Very contemporary, very 'post', and extremely aware of all things outré even among the cyber underground adepts (yes, I bet he even vapes), this is a release that you might have forgotten about in 2015, but it couldn't possibly be more 'now' right now, so inhale deeply before they take it all away from you again. Here's a breath of finest vaporised liquid solution exclusively for you, "Below Freezing" featuring C Plus Plus. If you live today (quod non), cop that:
Source Localization is out tomorrow, March 25. Get it here.
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23 Mar 2014 — Henning Lahmann
Listen to the latest edition of our weekly show on Berlin Community Radio, which airs every Friday at 4pm CET. An archive of all our previous shows can be found here.
Tracklist:
(1) Perfect Pussy - Interference Fits
(2) Pure X - Heaven
(3) LE1F - Hey
(4) Evian Christ - Waterfall
(5) FAY - C.A.Y.A
(6) Kloke - Deep City
(7) Millie & Andrea - Stay Ugly
(8) TRUST - Rescue, Mister (Avalon Emerson Cybernetic Edit)
(9) Voices From The Lake - Velo di Maya
(10) Holly Herndon - Chorus (Happa Mix)
(11) Ben Frost - Venter
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21 Mar 2014 — Parker Bruce
Love Thy Neighbour (straight out of Brighton) are putting out Hypnotized's (aka Robbie Wood, Robin White, Paul Whelan) first EP, Telesto, on March 24. Though it is very easy to bill them as "psychedelic," Telesto speaks to so much more than that. It is a rather genius move to start off the EP with a track called "Thawed" as it implies a sort of rebirth or change of season. And the track lives up to its title with the layers of voices melting off and everything humming with a studied freneticism. Though most of the songs here are covered in sonic vagueries, everything is melliflous. "Ghost Walk" is downcast, convulsing and flickering in slow motion, "Vanity of Names" has carefully edited "whooshes" like wind tunnel gusts from storms running through it while "Fun Wings" is like an unmoored R&B/hip-hop track with almost light, flicking cymbals that create a tingling, teetering uncertainty. It is a bulbous EP full of morphing whorls that shows Hypnotized know what they are doing.
Pre-order Telesto here.
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21 Mar 2014 — Richard Greenan
Italian synth artist Sebastian Palomar returns after last year's wonderfully perplexing The Physical and Emotional Benefits of Swimming – an aquatherapy doctrine with musical accompaniment, refracting Debussy and Hype Williams through a fishbowl of self-help hokum. "Laughing at Columbus" is the first glimpse of Seb's new EP, Invent Your Universe, which plays out like a machine-washed love letter to Carl Sagan – all saturated keys, hypnotically distorted new age samples and gently bubbling drum machines. Invent Your Universe is out very soon on Dramatic Records.
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21 Mar 2014 — Evelyn Malinowski
Lobster Theremin is an endearing start-up label based in the UK whose brief discography will likely demand more than a small amount of your time. With work like Steve Murphy's Relax EP and Route 8's particularly well-researched and grooved-out Dry Thoughts EP, you may end up either keeping their Bandcamp among your tabs for several March and April days to come, or spending a few pounds, converted respectively. With Route 8's first track "Pacific Paradise," we enter a consoling melodic zone with a rather catchy rhythm which may or may not match what we think of when we imagine Pacific coastal beaches. For me, it seems to compliment the distant memory of long, bright, warm days still so unreachable here in the biting, agitated mountain weather.
"I Can't" starts with whistling confusion before another ensaring beat provides the track's drive. Again, it's like the song of the season lamenting exhaustedly that it can't start up. Something about the airyness between the beat and the melodic workings reminds me of Swayzak's "Speedboat," some kind of nice feeling of calm realization that there's room to grow, and that things aren't always so chaotic; life can feel chill even during a long period of uncertainty. Route 8's video reflects both this interpretation as well as some visual representation of the funny whisp sounds that persist throughout the track. It's nice to see animation paired with good deep house like this, since the genre always seemed so cartoonish in the way that it's both dark and humorous.
Order the Dry Thoughts EP over here.
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20 Mar 2014 — Ashley Canino
It's the vernal equinox! Sunshine, flowers, and Record Store Day (April 19) are nearly upon us. To commemorate the upcoming music holiday occasion, Deerhoof and Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog are releasing a special split 7" featuring two tracks; "Who Sleeps, Only Dreams," and "Hide With Me." The first single is led by Deerhoof, a band who is used to creating elaborate noise pop soundscapes for featured artists. After touring with Ribot's Ceramic Dog project and producing one of their tracks, Deerhoof shared an instrumental of their song "Qui Dorm, Només Somia" with Ribot, who blessed it with the epic, emotive guitar playing he's known for. The song develops in sections, each with their own vibe, but amounting to one artful and cohesive piece that demands multiple listens. Play the track exclusively below.
The Deerhoof & Marc Ribot's Split 7" will be available in select stores on Record Store Day, April 19, from Northern Spy Records.
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19 Mar 2014 — Henning Lahmann
As most of you will know, a while ago No Fear Of Pop founded a humble subdivision to play out our nostalgic obsession with beautiful 7" vinyls: Stratosfear Recordings. Last week, we finally dropped our third release, an amazing pair of tunes by Dublin-based duo Ships aka Sorca McGrath and Simon Cullen (who's also known as Lasertom). We hope you excuse our rather shameless self-promotion, but we really think that both tracks, "Space Inside" and "None Of It Real", are insanely good, superb disco 'floor fillers with cowbells and handclaps and seriously everything you could possibly hope for to get you through a Saturday night. The a-side was premiered last week on The Line Of Best Fit, and we highly recommend you take a listen to it right now.
Space Inside b/w None Of It Real is out now. Get it in physical form over here or digitially right here.
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17 Mar 2014 — Henning Lahmann
Montréal noirish synth pop duo Gold Zebra have taken some more time than expected to finish their debut album, but now word is out that the anticipated full-length is finally scheduled to be released on April 22. Listening to "Apart Again", the first sign of life after last year's teaser single "Invisible Disorder", it becomes obvious why the LP took so long to get done. The song sounds very mature and elaborate, embracing just the right amount of Chromatics-esque retroism while convincingly focusing not on style and era but on those things that matter for a good pop song: arrangement and melody.
Aside from the tune itself, the accompanying video, directed by La Barbe Rousse and premiered below, is further proof for Gold Zebra's compelling professionalism that does not content itself with less than a truly strong result.
The self-titled LP will be out on Visage Musique. Pre-order now over here.
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