29 Aug 2013 — Andrew Wagner
DJ Rashad’s latest track, “I Don’t Give a Fuck”, sees the producer continuing to push the footwork genre forward. The song is built around a vocal sample saying “I don’t give a fuck” (occasionally adding “about you” or “about myself” to the end of the statement). Set against a sparse production of some percussion and intermittent beeping, “I Don’t Give a Fuck” is close to being the darkest Rashad has gone, while still keeping one foot squarely in the dance floor.
Listen to “I Don’t Give a Fuck” below. I Don’t Give a Fuck EP is available from Hyperdub.
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27 Aug 2013 — Tonje Thilesen
After wrapping up their first European tour this summer, the up-and-coming Montréal duo Gold Zebra are set to release their debut LP this fall — expectantly a luscious addition to the latest releases of fellow Canadian noir pop ensambles, Austra, Terror Bird and Sally Dige, to mention a few. "Love, French, Better" was originally released in 2011, however recently featured as movie soundtrack in The Canyons, giving it a prominent space on the upcoming full-lenght on Montréal label Visage Musique. Watch the visuals for "Love, French, Better" below, directed by Emilie Serri.
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22 Aug 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Launched only a few months ago, Vancouver-based cassette imprint 1080p has already made a significant impression on the underground on both sides of the Atlantic (and given the founder's origin we assume on both sides of the Pacific, too). After a string of releases soundly situated on the fringes of deranged electronics, the label is truly stepping up its game with the forthcoming tape by Pacific Northwest cloud rap entrepreneur Young Braised. The Vancouver-based artist – real name Jaymes Bowman – assumedly has his roots in Christian rap, which makes a slowly unfolding, uneasy and strangely menacing track like "Murakami" only more noteworthy. Bowman's style is, of course, almost offensively baked, the distorted beats rumble along irresolutely, and that dominating vocal sample is pushed to virtually pesky levels. Which is, don't get me wrong, all we'd ever asked for: clouds galore. Seriously digging this.
Watch the video for "Murakami" below, made by Strawberry Jacuzzi (nice) aka the rapper's brother.
The Japanese Tendencies tape is out September 3. Mastered by Tanner Matt of the Aquarian Foundation. Edition of 100, watch this space.
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13 Aug 2013 — Henning Lahmann
After a string of exuberant and lush singles and EPs, the official debut full-length by NFOP darling and Montréal's queer superstar Jef Barbara is finally upon us. The wonderfully weird Soft to the Touch is out October 1 via his hometown's Club Roll Music, but already now you may take a brief glimpse at the work by watching the expectably colourful and astonishing video for the single "I Know I'm Late" below. Hail to the freak:
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13 Aug 2013 — Henry Schiller
Suffolk trio The Soft weave their deceptively minimal electro-pop through a kaleidoscope of subterranean performances shows and fluid explosions in the video for “Prana.” William Glass’ high resolution version of an extremely friendly acid trip suits The Soft’s brand of mellow electronica well. Much like the music set to it, something a little dark and perhaps depraved lurks just below the surface. Something real and emotionally substantial swimming laps in the bliss of a neon atmosphere.
The Soft's debut EP, Uncanny Valley (a rather appropriate reference to an aesthetic hypothesis that usually relates to simulated people) , is out in September on Ceremony Recordings.
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12 Aug 2013 — Parker Bruce
I can't help but love The Garment District because it's the name of a thrift/costume store back in Massachusetts where I grew up. It's of course also the work of a woman named Jennifer Baron from Pittsburgh. The new video for the Sonic Boom remix of her song "Nature-Nurture", directed by Gordon Nelson, teeters on turning into an old horror movie. Baron says: "Filmmaker Gordon Nelson incorporated found and manipulated footage to create this visual journey of a young girl discovering some of the mysteries and beauty of insects, nature and science," much like in this Eckhaus Latta video by Alexa Karolinski where they "are without external simulta aside from a looping video of plants playing on various monitors around the home. The harsh juxtaposition of 'nature' with their fabricated surroundings further feeds their boredom, fixing them in an inescapable trance of disengagement." It perfectly fits the song and its theme, the nature teaching our heroine things nurture never could. Get the remix here (Baron's cousin Lucy Blehar sings on it) thanks to French imprint La Station Radar. The Garment District's next album will come out this fall thanks to Night-People.
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12 Aug 2013 — Andi Wilson
Julianna Barwick’s video for her latest single “One Half” is so aesthetically pleasing that it hurts. There is sense of hope with shots of sunlight, oozing fruit, and mesmeric forestry. The exhaustion and darkness are lifted with some complexion of mutual understanding by the end of the video, while simultaneously giving the viewer a daunting curiosity of what even happened to begin such tangled emotions. Compared to Barwick’s 2011 release The Magic Place, where her voice is layered upon layers, “One Half” reveals lyrics to treasure. "I guess I was asleep that night, was waiting for..." gives us a notion of what the anticipated third album, Nepenthe will bring.
Dead Oceans is to release Nepenthe on August 12. Watch the video for “One Half” directed by Zia Anger below.
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11 Aug 2013 — Kelsie Brown
Drag-inspired crooner Alexis Penney's voice will turn heads. Associated with similarly-minded artists Miracles Club and SSION, Penney takes a house influence a little less literally and adds a darker, more seductive note reminiscent of 80s synth. Like the rest of Window, Penney's debut full-length release, "Your Eyes" was co-written and produced by Jamie Crewe of Poisonous Relationship and Nick Weiss of Teengirl Fantasy. Weiss' production provides the perfect backdrop for Penney to unleash his soulful vocal delivery. It's a soundtrack to a night out, made more clear by the official video, full of alcohol and drag queens.
Window is out now on Ecstasy Records. Watch the video for "Your Eyes" below.
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