A couple of weeks back, we wrote about Young Echo member Sam Kidel aka El Kid's forthcoming Labyrinth tape on Bristol-based tape imprint No Corner. The stellar piece is finally available now, and it comes in a bundle together with a second tape attached, a fluorescent green cassette single featuring Vessel's 'Psychosis mix' of EP standout "We Need Mirrors". The rework of Labyrinth's most upbeat track is one of Seb Gainsborough's most accomplished works to date and surely is on a par with his brilliant Order of Noise LP, a brittle piece of withdrawn yet frantic percussion supplying the background for menacing shards of sonic attack. Take a listen below.
Get the Labyrinth EP over at Boomkat now. Highly recommended.
2012 has been a truly amazing year for PAN and their success has been widely documented. But if releases from Lee Gamble, Helm and co weren’t enough, PAN have gone and finished 2012 in real style. Surely, their final release of the year comes from a masterful remix or reconstruction of Heatsick’s Déviation through Mark Fell’s Sensate Focus. Played over two tracks of 35-minute length, the tracks are brimming with pockets of unadulterated pleasure whilst they twist and turn as Fell exquisitely relays and refracts the sounds of Déviation. Fell is on top form here, whilst also exhibiting his obvious admiration for Heatsick as this record plays as a true ode to the artist.
This 12" serves to highlight the depth and density of Heatsick’s Déviation whilst also reiterating the brilliance of Mark Fell. Bringing together two big players of 2012 to create a record that nicely concludes what has been a vintage year for PAN and all those involved.
Déviation Heat-Treated is out now. Get it over at Boomkat.
Beautiful, unusually low-key and slightly melancholic new jam by Berlin's finest post-folk/deranged electronica entrepreneur and fashionable hipster Ludwig Plath aka Touchy Mob, whose stellar remix of Tomas Barfod's "November Skies" we're still spinning each time our spirits fade. "Stones" is part of Touchy Mob's forthcoming split 12" together with Hamburg-based Tellavision, and in order to actually be able to put their intricate tonal outbursts on shiny vinyl, the two are currently trying to gather the required amount of money - after listening to the track, check out the seriously charming (and fantastically drawn) video below, and head over here to spend a little of your hard-earned silver coins to help them make their (modest) dream come true.
Watch the first-ever video for one of this site's long-standing favourite musical endeavour, Berlin via London via Toronto's Digits aka Alt Altman (full disclosure: who now writes about Canadian music for NFOP). The piece, which was directed by Seth Mendelson, follows an apparently recently landed alien (assumingly here to save us from the apocalypse, though we can't be sure) while she makes her first encounters with physically engaged humans, growing more and more confused. As for the song, few have mastered this sort of synth-laden, smart yet immensely catchy pop as thoroughly as Altman, so it seems easy to predict that his forthcoming EP Love Is Only Affection, out February 26, is gonna be yet another satisfying example of his nearly perfected craft.
So in case you're an artist and were wondering what might be a good strategy to make yourself heard when submitting music, here's a hint, listing Andy Stott, Vessel, Chopin, Jan Jelinek, and Tchaikovsky as inspirations is not the worst idea. In fact, we will always listen to something that refers to Chopin and/or Jan Jelinek. So in this sense, the hitherto completely unknown duo Mirror Image did everything right last night (there were a few more noteworthy references, but we'll leave it at that for now). But more importantly, what we have here goes beyond cheap name-dropping. The first two tracks that were put up on the duo's Soundcloud, "Unweighted Burden" and "Constraints", show more than just potential. It's not that the general formula doesn't sound familiar: dark and unsettling synth patterns that are fragmented by brittly structured, restrained beats, some ingredients borrowed from noise and a few disturbing vocal samples - but the results are nonetheless very intriguing. In particular "Constraints" is an excellent piece of wintry ambience that at times even hints at some Ben Frost influences, we'd like to say, and those transversal 'strings' and subtly interwoven guitar parts are superb. Not sure if we can pinpoint Tchaikovsky, but a good deal of Chopin-esque Polish Romanticism can definitely be identified, with whom Mirror Image share the place of birth. Not much else is known about the duo apart from the fact that they happen to be identical twins; hence the name, duh. Listen to both tracks below. Hope there's more to follow soon.
Lo-fi great Campfires (aka Portland via Chicago’s Jeff Walls) just released a summery new song, "Fortune Teller". The track is the first single off of Campfires’ upcoming LP, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, which will be released on Fire Talk this coming February. "Fortune Teller" is a lovely little jam, complete with jangly guitars and ‘60s beach-pop vibes. Campfires sound a little more cleaned up here than on their past output, but it’s just enough to let us better appreciate the simple pleasures of his pop intricacies while still retaining his characteristic haziness. A much needed burst of sunshine in the midst of cold winter months.
Pre-orders for a limited edition vinyl pressing of Tomorrow, Tomorrow (which comes with a hand screened jacket from Campfires himself) can be placed here.
Vacation Dad’s "Grande Gordo" is a luscious, borderline schizophrenic pop gem – full of tropical nuance and sundrenched ambiances. It’s a brilliant tune, brimming with fine details and what sounds like youthful exuberance – the fact that the single was taken from an EP titled L I V I N is not a coincidence. Kynan’s remix initially doesn’t stray too far away from the original in its dynamism - a marimba is sampled at the beginning to satisfy the tropical influence. The main difference, however, is the added weight and potency to the rhythm, with a heavier base and a distinct handclap. As the track progresses Kynan adds further fragments to the rhythm section while reducing the melody, until we are left with a full on club banger which seems to materialize from nowhere. Kynan’s has produced a textbook remix – the track has a completely new purpose and general sound but still corresponds with Vacation Dad’s original.
It has already been a year since Wintercoats' astral debut EP Sketches, a release that had us celebrate his timeless single "Working On A Dream" on our respective Best Of lists last year, bound to embrace the australian 'winters' with his glacial, ambient pop. Cascine, of course; which we even at the end of 2012 can proudly name out as one of the finest pop labels of this year, might take credit for much of Wintercoats' international success. Growing out from a creative community consisting of Guerre, The Townhouses and Rainbow Chan however, the real development has come from the wonderfully supportive and dedicated apparatus around him, and seemingly, it keeps on growing.
In January, Wintercoats will be supporting Beach House on their tour accross the Australian continent, which marks the perfect time to (finally!) provide us with some new music. "Halogen Moon" is the first effort we've been given off his upcoming Heartful EP, and is warmer than usual I'd say, but indeed a gorgeous jam to enjoy whilst watching the snow fall from the other side of your window. Meanwhile, the Australians are making snow angles in the sand and pretending that they've got a white christmas, too.
