Video: Baron - “New Follower”.

01 May 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Another new transmission by an exciting young band that calls both London and Brighton home, "New Follower" by four-piece Baron nonetheless is a wholly different affair, an opulent, opaque monster of a song, mysterious and dark, arcane and expansive, with an unashamedly baroque feel to it that indeed is remarkable to hear these days, yet at the same time something that neatly fits into the rich British tradition of folk-inspired, psych-infused art rock. The thoroughly disturbing video, made by director Ross Casswell, is a perfect match, featuring lost and distraught individuals in beautiful if frightening, pastoral English landscapes. Baron's New Follower/Comea 7 inch is out now. Get it here. Read more → Another new transmission by an exciting young band that calls both London and Brighton home, "New Follower" by four-piece Baron nonetheless is a wholly different affair, an opulent, opaque monster of a song, mysterious and dark, arcane and expansive, with an unashamedly baroque feel to it that indeed is remarkable to hear these days, yet at the same time something that neatly fits into the rich British tradition of folk-inspired, psych-infused art rock. The thoroughly disturbing video, made by director Ross Casswell, is a perfect match, featuring lost and distraught individuals in beautiful if frightening, pastoral English landscapes. Baron's New Follower/Comea 7 inch is out now. Get it here.

Fear Of Men: “Green Sea”.

01 May 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Just a few hours ago, GvB premiered the latest single by Brighton/London outfit Fear Of Men, and I guess this one will be everywhere very soon, or at least it should be: Where "Doldrums" left us devastated and awestruck, "Green Sea" sends signals of pure and unfiltered excitement through our limbic system, a track so fabulous and beautiful, at the same time both sophisticated and raw, that we want to throw the rest of our dreamy guitar pop stuff out of the window and cry. Well not really perhaps, but this is simply perfect melancholy, and we have to say we love this band. "Green Sea" will be out on June 18 via Sexbeat on white vinyl, limited to 300 copies. Pre-order now here. Read more → Just a few hours ago, GvB premiered the latest single by Brighton/London outfit Fear Of Men, and I guess this one will be everywhere very soon, or at least it should be: Where "Doldrums" left us devastated and awestruck, "Green Sea" sends signals of pure and unfiltered excitement through our limbic system, a track so fabulous and beautiful, at the same time both sophisticated and raw, that we want to throw the rest of our dreamy guitar pop stuff out of the window and cry. Well not really perhaps, but this is simply perfect melancholy, and we have to say we love this band. "Green Sea" will be out on June 18 via Sexbeat on white vinyl, limited to 300 copies. Pre-order now here.

Raw Thrills: “Top Gun Cruisin”/“Psychedelic Wave Music”.

30 Apr 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Don't know when or how he's doing it, but Zak Mering is keeping himself astonishingly prolific, dropping new projects and/or LPs and EPs every other day. This time it's not one but two brand new offerings made under his principal Raw Thrills moniker, Top Gun Cruisin and Psychedelic Wave Music. While the latter EP, well, amounts to psychedelic wave music, gathering eight relatively short synth instrumentals that develop a distinctly cinematic feel, a soundtrack to an imaginary 80s b-movie if you will, the former may legitimately be deemed another proper full-length. With a length of 51 minutes, Top Gun Cruisin has Mering turning his back on the late 60s psych re-interpretations/re-imaginations that were the main feature of his latest transmissions, and now (again) devoting himself to 80s-informed weirdo wave music that is actually not all that far from his efforts as part of Greatest Hits, even if less custom-made for the dancefloor. Get both excellent releases for free digitally, Top Gun Cruisin here (a cassette will follow via Sixteen Tambourines), and Psychedelic Wave Music here. If you haven't done so already, be sure to get your hands on Raw Thrills' latest killer LP Sick Steez as well, which is also now out on Sixteen Tambourines. Raw Thrills - Bears & Squares (from Top Gun Cruisin) Raw Thrills - Till I Die (from Psychedelic Wave Music) Read more → Don't know when or how he's doing it, but Zak Mering is keeping himself astonishingly prolific, dropping new projects and/or LPs and EPs every other day. This time it's not one but two brand new offerings made under his principal Raw Thrills moniker, Top Gun Cruisin and Psychedelic Wave Music. While the latter EP, well, amounts to psychedelic wave music, gathering eight relatively short synth instrumentals that develop a distinctly cinematic feel, a soundtrack to an imaginary 80s b-movie if you will, the former may legitimately be deemed another proper full-length. With a length of 51 minutes, Top Gun Cruisin has Mering turning his back on the late 60s psych re-interpretations/re-imaginations that were the main feature of his latest transmissions, and now (again) devoting himself to 80s-informed weirdo wave music that is actually not all that far from his efforts as part of Greatest Hits, even if less custom-made for the dancefloor. Get both excellent releases for free digitally, Top Gun Cruisin here (a cassette will follow via Sixteen Tambourines), and Psychedelic Wave Music here. If you haven't done so already, be sure to get your hands on Raw Thrills' latest killer LP Sick Steez as well, which is also now out on Sixteen Tambourines. Raw Thrills - Bears & Squares (from Top Gun Cruisin) Raw Thrills - Till I Die (from Psychedelic Wave Music)

Innergaze: “Mutual Dreaming”.

30 Apr 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Somehow unanticipated, stellar new LP by Innergaze aka Brooklyn duo Jason Letkiewicz and Aurora Halal. We already loved their dancefloor bangers for 100% SILK last year, but without doubt this may be considered another huge leap forward: Mutual Dreaming gathers some of the most killer coldwave tracks we've heard in a while, effortlessly merging the duo's disco leanings with early 80s minimal synth music, an excellent combination all along that somehow feels just right. Listen to the album's title track and the equally excellent "Is This Your Love" below. Mutual Dreaming is out now via Minimal Wave subdividion Cititrax. Get it here or (in Europe) here. Read more → Somehow unanticipated, stellar new LP by Innergaze aka Brooklyn duo Jason Letkiewicz and Aurora Halal. We already loved their dancefloor bangers for 100% SILK last year, but without doubt this may be considered another huge leap forward: Mutual Dreaming gathers some of the most killer coldwave tracks we've heard in a while, effortlessly merging the duo's disco leanings with early 80s minimal synth music, an excellent combination all along that somehow feels just right. Listen to the album's title track and the equally excellent "Is This Your Love" below. Mutual Dreaming is out now via Minimal Wave subdividion Cititrax. Get it here or (in Europe) here.

JRG: “Just Because”.

30 Apr 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Philadelphia bedroom artist JRG aka Julien Rossow-Greenberg makes some pretty honest pop music based on heavily reverberated, muffled vocals and gently meandering, fuzzed-out guitars over slow burning drum machine patterns so unashamedly dreamy and solipsistic it feels strangely fallen out of time in 2012, like music from a not so distant blogosphere heyday buzz past that would've made the folks over at Transparent happy and proud back in the day, basically music like a faint memory of a time when there still was dream pop to get all excited and transparent about. Which should not speak against the music itself, in no way whatsoever: After all, this is the stuff that made us start this thing named NFOP in the first place. So get lost, get lost reminiscing my friends. "Just Because" is part of JRG's The Dreamers' EP, out on Treetop Sorbet. Get it here. Read more → Philadelphia bedroom artist JRG aka Julien Rossow-Greenberg makes some pretty honest pop music based on heavily reverberated, muffled vocals and gently meandering, fuzzed-out guitars over slow burning drum machine patterns so unashamedly dreamy and solipsistic it feels strangely fallen out of time in 2012, like music from a not so distant blogosphere heyday buzz past that would've made the folks over at Transparent happy and proud back in the day, basically music like a faint memory of a time when there still was dream pop to get all excited and transparent about. Which should not speak against the music itself, in no way whatsoever: After all, this is the stuff that made us start this thing named NFOP in the first place. So get lost, get lost reminiscing my friends. "Just Because" is part of JRG's The Dreamers' EP, out on Treetop Sorbet. Get it here.

Clu: “Evening Ever”.

30 Apr 2012 — Tonje Thilesen

Very impressive new track of Dublin's electronic duo Clu, slightly in veins of the somewhat darker outfit The-Drum, but definitely leaning on a more glitchy, textureous sound. A new video accompanying the song is due to next week, but if you haven't already seen the stunning video piece for "What Can I Say?", then we'd urge you to do so below. Read more → Very impressive new track of Dublin's electronic duo Clu, slightly in veins of the somewhat darker outfit The-Drum, but definitely leaning on a more glitchy, textureous sound. A new video accompanying the song is due to next week, but if you haven't already seen the stunning video piece for "What Can I Say?", then we'd urge you to do so below.

Three Fields: “Slow”.

30 Apr 2012 — Tonje Thilesen

This beautifully crafted gem from Birmingham's Three Fields recently popped up in our inbox, and to my surprise sounded a lot more pop-y than the Boards of Canada esque track we posted back in October last year. I'm still surprised to see how little coverage this mysterious producer has gotten so far, being comparable to our Irish friends Solar Bears or even Epic45, star-gazing but intimate electronic ambient. The brand new track "Slow" is a b-side taken from his rather impressive debut album Cambridge Blue, available from today via Bandcamp. Three Fields - Slow Read more → This beautifully crafted gem from Birmingham's Three Fields recently popped up in our inbox, and to my surprise sounded a lot more pop-y than the Boards of Canada esque track we posted back in October last year. I'm still surprised to see how little coverage this mysterious producer has gotten so far, being comparable to our Irish friends Solar Bears or even Epic45, star-gazing but intimate electronic ambient. The brand new track "Slow" is a b-side taken from his rather impressive debut album Cambridge Blue, available from today via Bandcamp. Three Fields - Slow