"Turns Turns Turns" was one of our favourite tracks last week, and it seems that Majical Cloudz (aka Devon Welsh) have some more gems for us to share. Taken off his upcoming Turns Turns Turns EP due to December 3 via Merok/Arbutus Records, "What That Was" is another excellent piece of songwriting from our very talented Montreal-based friend; musically unveiling a truthfully different, but very interesting point of turn, clearly setting a stronger focus on his alluring vocals.
Detroit's cosmic house head Coyote Clean Up caught our attention at the beginning of November with his excellent new track "Rompy Exxxtreme", a deep and pioneering space jam that has been on constant spin in our respective Berlin "headquarter", giving us a smooth transition to the (soon-to-be) wintery landscape. Today finally marks the release of his suitably entitled full-lenght Magma Mondays on the stellar imprint Time No Place, and once again, we're very excited to give you all an exclusive pre-listen below.
In this week's Video Sunday, we bring you some stellar work featuring music by The Megaphonic Thrift, Wallpaper Lake, Iberia, Nosaj Thing, Ta-ku and Why?, as well as two brand new videos featuring Doldrums and Sebastien Schuller, in curtesy of Montréal director Emily Kai Bock. Enjoy your Sunday.
NFOP regular Ensemble Economique has kept blowing our minds these past years with his cosmic, darkened compositions, always touching the borderline of beautiful and unsettling each and every time new tunes are being created, and as ever, unfolding us to highly cinematic and psychedelic landscapes. Cinematic is indeed the keyword for the mind-blowing jam "Too COLD Too SOON", introduced to the world via Clan Destine Records briefly a month ago, taken off his LTD split tape with Dubai. In these 'brand new' found-footage visuals below, "Too COLD Too SOON" receives some rather agitated esthetics, likely to give you cold shivers down your spine.
Montreal-based producer Felix Green is no stranger to making experimental music, as shown in his project Holobody. Coming soon through Bad Panda Records is a new one from Holobody. "Ninnyhammer" is an off-kilter pop gem with swirling synths and innocent, Purity Ring-like vocals.
Watch the video below, and snag the track through Bad Panda Records.
Coming from the deep woods of Olympia, WA, the home of K Records, one wouldn't necessarily expect to hear cutting edge dance music. It is, however, a place where experimentation in art is not only common but necessary for life. That's where Sonny Thomas, a.k.a. Braxton/Palmer comes in.
Braxton/Palmer's music is hard to categorize; there are obvious influences from old-school house jams as well as contemporary electronic genres, but it's undeniably a sound of its own. In his latest track, "Creeper (Part 1)", Thomas lays down vocal samples from funk tunes over jungle beats and draws you in immediately. At other times he chooses a slower build-up, like in "What I Want", a 6-minute burner that exemplifies what he does best: a long, intense and growing introduction that later shifts the beat dramatically. This is contemporary dance music at its absolute best.
Check out "Creeper (Part 1)" below. Other Braxton/Palmer tracks can be heard and downloaded on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.
Editor's note (update): "Creeper (Part 1)" is no longer available, but other older tracks can still be found online.
As this website is planning to expand its activities a little, we're looking for talented and motivated writers to join the NFOP staff. If you are interested in new, challenging pop music that is slightly underground and left-field, familiar with the artists this website focuses on, and a native speaker, we'd love to have you! It would also be great if you were based in Berlin, the UK, or North America.
Writing opportunities will include everything ranging from track and album reviews to label/artist portraits and interviews. If that sounds interesting to you, please submit your application including a brief résumé, two or three samples of your writing, and a list of your top ten albums and/or EPs of 2012, to jobs@nofearofpop.net by December 7, 2012. If you have any questions, feel free to write an email to henning@nofearofpop.net or tonje@nofearofpop.net first.
