Yesterday, our beloved friends over at Dummy premiered the video for "Magic Idea", the b-side of the debut 7" of our very own Montréal duo Solar Year. The Jamie Harley-created visuals not only nicely capture the track's mildly tainted afterhour ease, but manage to unveil hitherto hidden layers of interpretation with his magnificently processed images of overly euphoric spectators who somehow blend into a music that presumably would be completely alien to them, just as if that had been their sole purpose all along.
Solar Year's Night & Day b/w Magic Idea 7" is available via our own imprint Stratosfear. Remember that the guys just embarked on a brief European tour that will bring them to Berlin, Paris, Prague, Oslo, and a few other destinations hopefully near you. Get all the details over here.
Cold Mailman's excellent 2010 LP Relax; The Mountain Will Come To You, was one of my very favourite Norwegian records of its decade, and it still is: as soon as dead leaves cover the streets of Kreuzberg and the seemingly never-ending Berlin greyness has approached, Relax is still on repeat. Now, I am well aware that the record itself isn't exactly considered to be "perfect" of its kind: it isn't Merriweather, it does not make history in pop music, and the band did certainely not introduce an uncommon sound to Norway's audial consumers — with vocals being a bit too cutesy and so heavily branded with the genre tag "indie" that it almost (but just almost) leaves a sticky backwash behind. But on the other side of Cold Mailman, and in particular Relax; The Mountain Will Come To You, we're also looking at an extremely poignant piece of art, approached in a rare, intelligent way, purely in no other intention than a will of absolving emotions in form of sounds; careless whether there is is an audience out there that will appreciate it or not. To make the story short: few records (with exceptions of [insert 90's emo band here] and a personal weakness for ambient post-rock) have felt so appealing to my emotional hunger for music as Relax, and perhaps is it the Scandinavian in me, but I do in all honesty believe that Cold Mailman are one of the best Norwegian guitar pop bands out there, especially in the emotional genre.
Below is the video for their brand new single "My Recurring Dream", which features some of the most exceptional art direction and cinematography -- both technically and composition-wise — that I have experienced so far in 2013. Honestly, it might even be one of my favourite music videos this year. Then again, 2010 was undoubtfully the most golden moment of their career so far, and is unfortunately a direction they seem to be trying to grow out of.
First single "Save Me" off UK-producer Hervé's The Art of Disappearing will make you even chillier than January got you already. Spooky pain pop featuring the always-piercing vocals of Austra's Katie Stelmanis and unsettling, noise-swept video footage that feels like watching private VHS tapes, not all of which you were supposed to see. The music video is directed by Tim Kelly and makes a snug fit with the track. Known for his rave productions & DJ sets, Hervé converts his sound with these down-tempo, witchy beats. We like it a lot so far and look forward to hear the rest of it when the album drops on March 4 via Cheap Thrills.
Not sure how many ways there might exist to visualize Umberto's Carpenter-infused, cinematic synth nightmares, but taking the classic horror movie/Lynch approach is certainly the first possibility that comes to mind. But no need for accusations here: The video for "Night Fantasy" just damn well transfers the Kansas City dark prince's eerie vision.
"Night Fantasy" appears on Umberto's forthcoming full-length Confrontations, out soon via Not Not Fun. Pre-order now over here. Umberto will perform in Berlin on February 27.
Welcome to the first regular edition of Video Sunday in 2013. Because of our brief hiatus, we've missed quite a bit, so this is an extra-large yet still by no means exhaustive selection for you to spend your Sunday night with, including rad and fresh contributions by Lee Gamble, Factory Floor, Woods, Alex Calder, SFV Acid, and Death and Vanilla. So much outstanding material, like seriously.
We're tremendously pleased to premiere the video for a brief excerpt of "Something to Find" by all-time NFOP favourite Rachel Evans aka Motion Sickness Of Time Travel, taken from her recent split cassette with Imperial Topaz on Tranquility Tapes. On "Something to Find", Evans moves on to explore the infinite facets of her blend of quiet, minimal synth melodies and spaced-out drones that have so much become her very own over the past few years. The interspersed, distant vocals emphasize the overall dreamlike state that the music puts you in immediately, and the abstract, unobtrusive yet colourful visuals, which could actually be depicting very much real-world objects that however gently stay out of focus, complete the genuinely entrancing experience.
Sadly, the tape appears to be sold out already, but you should check the label's distro links in order to snatch one of those precious pieces of music.
Butterclock is ready to start releasing again after a year of touring with oOoOO, with whom she also collaborated on last year's Our Love Is Hurting Us EP. We're looking forward to see the full picture of where that brought her musically and await more of that haunted art pop. Below is "Don't", the first snip of upcoming EP First Prom. Frenchborn Laura Clock lived in the outer reaches of Berlin last year and the industrial German grittiness really seeps through in this 90's inspired universe.
The ever-original Public Information has begun 2013 with a release from Chicago two-piece Acteurs. "Cloud Generating" slips perfectly into the labels aesthetic, the modulated electronics are raw, punitive and pronounced. With motorik precision from the pounding bass bounce, the track hurries along at a raging pace as further primitive electronic details are added. The sound quality is refreshingly clean, even with the cacophonous industrial sounds that are played intermittently. Throughout the track, the vocals act as a seamless contrast - light, airy and almost keyless, they lack the précising of the electronics but are able to find their own domain, as well as keeping up with the relentless noise. A tantalizing start that will result in a 6-track mini album released via Public Information on February 11th.
