26 Sep 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Young Biella, northern Italy producer Nicolò Tescari aka Rainbow Lorikeet's experimental, noise-indebted techno wouldn't be out of place on any Opal Tapes release, though the climactic, turgescent arrangement on "Electrical Fauna", taken from the artist's brand new five-track EP Mind's Far Continents, hints at an indeterminate urgency that the acclaimed UK label's products sometimes lack – even if the five minute long piece does not find a resolution either, eventually deciding to collapse into oblivion. The accompanying video, made by Broken Machine Films and premiered here today, perfectly complements the music's uneasy dancefloor impressions. When all is said and done, the club is still a nightmare.
Mind's Far Continents is out on Seattle's Debacle Records. Get it over here.
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24 Sep 2013 — Henning Lahmann
You know what's good? This is. This and the fact that sincere and simple, heartfelt music will never die out. We used to call this "lo-fi" and were excited about this fact alone, but in 2013, all this finally doesn't matter anymore. Street Gnar is the project of some dudes somewhere in Kentucky, a place, so we'd like to believe, where you have all the time in the world to come up with the most delicious little pop gems. And as you see, it works: After a debut tape on cherished Night-People in 2011 and a few more releases here and there, Street Gnar join Atelier Ciseaux' famed roster to drop an EP full of slightly melancholic melodies that gently reflect the mild, refracted lights of a late summer's afternoon. This is all very low-key and lovely in the simplest of ways, which makes it all so damn irresistible. Sursum corda, summer will return.
The Shrine EP is out October 1 via Atelier Ciseaux. Pre-order the vinyl now over here and stream the whole thing below.
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24 Sep 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Last week, we featured a remix by Copenhagen-based, Sacramento-born native and Time No Place affiliate Steven Jess Borth II aka CHLLNGR, wondering about the direction the young producer might be headed after 2011's Haven and last year's compelling EP Datter. Quite surprisingly, the answer arrives in the form of a collaboration with fellow California native Doctor Echo, a 27-minute mini album of sorts named Hidden Tracks. The piece's mood is indicated by the claustrophobic, uncanny cover art: the ten seamlessly linked tracks unfold a nocturnal, urban nightmarish atmosphere, with dub-heavy textures held together by piercing, insistent rhythms, occasionally enriched by unexpected guitar patterns or synth effects. Hidden Tracks makes no effort to hide its sombre sentiment, which makes the album a perfect companion for the looming days of fall.
Hidden Tracks is out on Anicca Records. Stream it in full below.
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23 Sep 2013 — Henning Lahmann
We'd like to believe that in terms of music, we have seen more or less everything, but as far as surprises go, this one hit us completely unprepared: James Ginzburg, otherwise known as one half of Bristol-based noise luminaries Emptyset, entering almost unbelievably sincere, traditional folk territory as Faint Wild Light, out of the blue releasing a self-titled full-length that must be considered one of this year's most unabashedly beautiful albums. In fact, the whole piece feels almost too delicate, too fragile and genuinely personal – to avoid writing 'sacred' – to be thrown into today's seemingly inevitable circus of remixes and edits.
This is in any case what I would have argued before listening to the fabulous and convicning reinterpretation of LP opener "Debris" by Rio de Janeiro-born experimental musician and Digitalis affiliate Ricardo Donoso, whose latest album Assimilating the Shadow was one of last year's most undeservedly overlooked works of intricately textured minimal electronics. Donoso's approach to "Debris" is cautious enough to retain the original version's brittleness while at the same time sufficiently confident to turn it into a work of his own. The result is one of the best remixes of 2013, precisely due to the fact that it's not trying to do anything unnecessarily spectacular. Take a listen below.
Faint Wild Light is out on Digitalis and available via Boomkat. Highly recommended.
Watch the video for Ginzburg's original version below:
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23 Sep 2013 — Parker Bruce
Montréal's Antoine Lahaie aka Dresden Dresses has a new video out for his song "Basalt", which was on his ☹EP last year. François Pisapia did it, and its protaganist is someone named Genova Girl (which is Lahaie wearing a full body suit painted by Julien Ceccaldi]). We follow her as she goes to a dentist appointment, smokes a fuck ton of cigarettes, walks around Montréal, goes to the awesome chain store Jean Coutu, and finally checks into a motel where she plays dress up and has a party of one, all whilst taking a bunch of selfies on a video camera and iPad. Watch the quite remarkable piece below.
You can still download ☹EP on the artist's bandcamp. Also, Dresden Dresses will be performing a show with SSION during POP Montréal next week.
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20 Sep 2013 — Parker Bruce
Los Angeles' StaG have a really sweet origin story on their Facebook page: "We met when we were 5 years old in a Tee Ball league, and have gone to school together from first grade to college." The band's new track "I Think I'll Shout" is tropicalia meets the forest, equally showing the both their LA and Colorado sides. Their second album, Difference, will be out soon. StaG is also going to play CMJ in New York in October.
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20 Sep 2013 — Parker Bruce
Jensen Sportag's first album, Stealth of Days (that definitely beats Haim's "Days Are Gone") is coming closer. Single "Under the Rose" takes the stab out of every aspect of it. Instead of synths pummeling you in the face in a campy way, they get pressed and mushed into the ether. With this track, Jensen Sportag have made malleable solidity. The boys have really finagled the picture of stealth here. The album is out November 12 on the ever-reliable Cascine.
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20 Sep 2013 — Trey Reis
Beer on the Rug is one of the major tape labels championing that special blend of electronic music which pushes things forward by repurposing the artist’s scope of the past. It’s like an alternative timeline where the sound of hi-fi guitar shredding, mid-range drum hits, and soft synthesizer melodies never became cheesy. Take this new release from TORN HAWK for example, and try and really listen to it as if you never heard the music at JCPenney’s while shopping for your new dining set or a nice sweater. Doesn’t it include most of the dreamy elements trending in pop music? Maybe it’s hard to recognize under the outer layer of smooth distortion. But that’s kind of the point. Simultaneous defamiliarization and refamiliarization of the musical sounds we’ve been trained to ignore.
Fist from TORN HAWK is available digitally now, and will see its physical tape release sometime in the near future via Beer on the Rug.
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