07 Mar 2014 — Evelyn Malinowski
You guys, this EP is amazing. Just sit, start with the second track "Better," and look at the artwork. Doesn't that fill your heart with joy? Slava's quite impressive handle on Chicago clubby breaks mixes delightfully well with the kink-awareness overtone of Comma Sutra. I wonder whether the chapter from the Kama Sutra about using "the accessory" to sodomize the male after his selfish climax to re-arouse him so she can get hers plays into this concept at all. No matter the case, Slava's new work is danceable, edible, and maybe fuckable.
Read more →
07 Mar 2014 — Henry Schiller
On Litanic Mask’s “u release me” the Portland band initially seem to be gesturing at a chopped-to-bits trap synth reinterpretation of the surf rock classic “Misirlou.” Ultimately, each jolt of the fractured opening riff kaleidoscopes off into shimmering, honeyed wallpapers of sound, patterend with sub rosa nods to more experimental fare. The dissonant bending of synth chords in the song's chorus reminds me of a similar technique employed on Beach House’s Teen Dream, but Litanic Mask aim less for the elusive emotional pangs of digital folk and far more comfortable in the blissful honeymoon era of a marriage between post-dub wetwork and early-90s OMD.
Kenna Jean inflicts palpable ounces of mythology and personal turmoil onto Mark Burden and Andrea Kulish’s landscape of synthesized percussion and piano work. The trio manipulates traditional synth-pop machinery into a swampy digital ruin of hip-hop, sending out interstellar winks to northern English pop. "u release me" is taken from Litanic Mask's upcoming Vampire LP, for which Jean has drawn on iconic vampire myths (probably more Vlad the Impaler than Anne Rice) in crafting her lyrics. Vampire is out April 8 on Audraglint.
Read more →
07 Mar 2014 — Trey Reis
Music defined by its mood and compositions for film soundtracks have always gone hand-in-hand. The hum of music can play just as much of a role in shaping the mood of a scene as the choice of lighting, the acting, or the cinematography. I have this habit of creating visuals for the music I listen to. My mind has always listened cinematically. It’s a habit I’d like to be able to shut off, to experience a piece of music unfiltered and unconsidered. Just heard. Although, the creation of visual cues for much of the new music I hear, spread like branches across the horizon of the Internet, certainly helps with these write-ups.
This new Imperial Topaz album, Full of Grace, certainly has a cinematic nature to it, insofar as each of the album’s eight tracks are dripping with moody synthesizer melodies, echoing alone underneath the haunting thump of drum machines, and vocalist Caroline Teagle’s will-o’-the-wisp vocals glowing in the distance as they fade down the foggy path. It’s the general formula for the album, yet the vocals don’t appear in the mix until nearly five minutes into the album. It's the slow-burn of an empty, isolated introduction scene, and like any good introduction, it sets the stage for everything to come.
As the album progresses, the qualities which bind each song in the consistency of the mood, are delicately placed and withdrawn, the whole sound often devolving into its most skeletal forms, before the fog settles in again. It’s a practice in transparency, as the knob on the mix moves between the extremes of opaque concealment and clarity in vision spreading for miles in every direction, your feet sinking into the coolness of the “Wet Sand” as waves crash down and recede according to the universal settings of tempo, obscured and set by the essence of the length of scenes, the thumping pace in the mood, and the frame as a definition of sound space.
Listen to album closer, “Wet Sand” below, and buy the entirety of Full of Grace on limited edition vinyl over at Tranquility Tapes.
Read more →
06 Mar 2014 — Ashley Canino
Life Size Maps rises above the fuzz with new single "This Same House," an energetic expression of restlessness. The lyrics tell the tale of anything, really, that you find yourself orbiting despite all efforts to move on. The uncomplicated, but canny lines stand out against a glittering, 8-bit background and poppy guitar. "This Same House" will be featured on a full length the Brooklyn-based band has recorded, but is still without a title or release date. A new version of "Abstract Speed" will also appear on the album.
Life Size Maps will be playing Pianos in New York City every Wednesday in March.
Read more →
06 Mar 2014 — Henning Lahmann
So how meta do you want to have it? A few days ago, Berlin duo Millenium (aka Norman Palm and Ville Haimala) apparently deleted all their social media profiles before posting their latest track "Unfollow". It's their prettiest, most refined, and elaborate pop song yet, but that can hardly be the point here. The real point is this: kudos for the marketing stunt gentlemen, but what are you gonna do without social media profiles now?
Quote:
Why Is This Relevant To Me?
It is relevant to you because you own a brand. It doesn’t matter if you are a part-time blogger, a small business, or a huge corporation – you have a brand. And if you have any interest in furthering your brand, you cannot ignore social media.
Unquote.
So who's laughing now?
Discuss. But first, listen:
Read more →
05 Mar 2014 — Henning Lahmann
Even if you're only a casual observer of the blogosphere, to the degree that such a thing still exists in 2014, as in it probably doesn't, which means that you might be observing nothing but an empty space in the debths of the world wide web, an interesting idea if you think about it really, because it makes you wonder where said void might be located exactly, with the most plausible answer being a disconnected server somewhere in the middle of Kasakhstan, but anyway I'm getting off the subject here – if you still follow online music coverage, you might have noticed that Brooklyn via Toronto label Orchid Tapes is truly on fire as of late, dropping not only one of our favourite releases of 2014 so far but also arrange's compelling new record only yesterday, plus that incredible compilation which is upcoming soon.
Next in line however is the new full-length by Toronto's Thomas Mazurkiewicz, who records under the name Home Alone, and we're happy to present the first single from There's a Light Coming Through. Built around wistfully weeping guitar chords that we'd have to call 'jangly' if they didn't sound so damn sad, "Interstates and Stuff" quickly develops into a classic lonesome slacker anthem. In this universe of solitary human beings, the days are long and filled with pain, but not without hope, perhaps: as long as we're able to sing "Come back to me", it's still worth waiting for the next sunrise to arrive.
There's a Light Coming Through is out March 15 via Orchid Tapes.
Read more →
05 Mar 2014 — Ashley Canino
To anyone who follows Son Lux, it's no secret that Lorde has had a preoccupation with front man Ryan Lott's tunes, sometimes performing covers at her shows. Yesterday they dropped an official collaboration, "Easy (Switch Screens)," a re-imagining of "Easy" from his Lanterns album. The single is among four total tracks on the Alternate Worlds EP, all reworkings of Lanterns originals.
"Easy (Switch Screens)" features a more aggressive drum line than the original and some new lyrics from Lorde. Maintained from "Easy" are the horns and vocal doubles that added dimension to the comparatively minimal source material. The cinematic break three-quarters through the song demonstrates Son Lux's ability to mesh sounds rather than genres to create unique and stunning music.
The Alternate Worlds EP is available for digital download today, and is available on limited edition 12" vinyl for pre-order at Bandcamp from Joyful Noise.
Read more →
05 Mar 2014 — Henning Lahmann
Under Tears is the new solo project of Dublin native Julie Fogarty aka Julie Chance of Berlin duo Kool Thing. Currently residing down under, her first single "Indian Moon Ballad" is a departure from her former work in that the song is an even darker affair than Kool Thing's already not quite sun-kissed art. The accompanying video, directed by Robin Plessy, emphasises the track's encompassing hopelessness, and this, we shall not leave you without warning, in a rather macabre and slightly disturbing way. Appropiately set on a bleak Berlin winter day, it tells the story of a love affair terribly gone wrong, with all sorts repercussions imaginable.
Get the single digitally for free over here and watch the video exclusively below.
Read more →
