About a month ago, we announced the beginning of an exciting new journey for NFOP, and in case you missed it; a brand new 7" label entitled Stratosfear, curated by ourselves and Oslo/Berlin based imprint Splendour. Yesterday, the A-side of our debut release with the Montreal-associated duo Solar Year premiered via our friends over at The Fader, a sincere but mysterious pop gem that we're extremely proud to announce as our first release.
Pre-order your copy of Night & Day (LTD 300) here, or purchase the singles digitally here. Solar Year's debut album Waverly will be released on Ceremony (US/CA) and Splendour (EU) in spring 2013.
This Saturday, together with our friends at Noisekölln, we proudly present the Berlin edition of Jef Barbara and Femminielli's Eurotour 2012, as part of a night full of madness at +-0, an abandoned train house adjacent to Postbahnhof in Friedrichshain. On the two other floors of the old industrial landmark, Sameheads and OCVLTO are going to stage their own pre-Christmas nightmare, all melting together into one of this year's finest nights of deranged music and related lunacy. As we believe that both artists are well known amongst the readership of these pages, no further introduction appears to be necessary, so just watch those two gems of Franco-Canadian synth extravaganza below, and be sure to be there on Saturday.
For more information on the whole night and RSVP head over here.
Chicago via Canada twisted loner Ellis Swan is back with a new EP featuring five doomed songs of desolate neo-noir folk, Buffalo Mask. Standout track "Black Perfumes" is as subtly fuzzed out as ever, with the artist sporting an appropriately muted croon over staccato percussion and restrained instrumentation, as if he knew that whatever our plans could have been for next year, it's probably already too late for anything anyway.
Back in June, original #seapunk entrepreneur Sean Bowie aka Teams delivered a sick live set at Berghain together with Mr James Ferraro, when the two presented Ferraro's vaporwave-induced project Bodyguard. Now, Bowie returns to his brother in spirit's scheme with this ultra-smooth rework of "SO N2U" off Ferraro's latest LP Sushi, adding some extra-sleazy twisted R&B layers of late-night crooning and drug-infused seduction. Just perfect.
For years The Miracles Club have been part of the house music revival in Portland, Oregon. Their newest tracks stay true to this vision, making anxiety-ridden (as house music often is) dance music. The U&ME EP contains two outstanding original tracks, as well as a couple of remixes of the title track. It's out now via Cut Copy's imprint, Cutters Records. Stream side A below, and listen to the rest through Soundcloud.
2012 has been very much the year of Laurel Halo, so it seems indeed quite fitting that she would not let this year pass without adding just another layer to her already impressive oeuvre, that is by bringing together some aspects of her academic, sophisticated work of late. On "Sunlight On The Faded", the a-side of her latest single, Laurel's distinct vocals feature as prominently as on her groundbreaking LP Quarantine, still almost unprocessed and again unrestrainedly pushed to the foreground, yet at the same time the track is rhythmically a bit more straightforward than much of the abstract synth ambient that characterized the full-length, and thus also more accessible at first listen. The instrumental tracks even subtly hint at some of Laurel's early, dreamier stuff of 2010's King Felix EP, without however suggesting creative stagnation in any way. So if "Sunlight On The Faded" is to be considered some sort of consolidation after an immensely successful and in every sense remarkable year for Laurel Halo, this single leaves us only more excited to see what might come next.
Melbourne, Australia's The Townhouses creates smooth, blissful pop with a backbone of electronic ambiance. Created as the solo project of Leigh Hannah, Diaspora is a low-tempo, chilled out journey through contemporary dream pop sounds. Tracks like "Tokyo" highlight The Townhouses' ability to write jaw-dropping, emotional songs. Other songs include collaborations with artists like Guerre and Rainbow Chan.
Child Actor, the New England-based duo made up of singer Sedgie Ogilvy and producer/instrumentalist Max Heath, who released their compelling debut full-length Victory in mid-October, unleash surprise single "Sugarcube", a dazzling, aptly sugary cover of the Yo La Tengo classic, inspired by the indeed pleasant news that the Hoboken veterans' 13th studio album Fade, which is due January 14. Celebrate together with Child Actor by taking a listen below.
