12 Jul 2013 — Henry Schiller
Record labels Hands In The Dark and All Time Low’s collaborative Travel Expop compilation series is intended to expose ostensibly experimental and avant-pop music from around the globe. Part two of the series, focusing on music from Great Britain, is officially out on August 6 but a couple of the tracks are available for preview right now. Travel Expop Series #2: Great Britain starts off with two pieces by The Oscillation, who sound a little like an alt-rock band (think Radiohead, Death Cab, or Bloc Party) raised by post-modern wolves. Their music is visceral and patterned, and it sets the stage perfectly for the rest of Travel Expop #2, in that it is essentially a compilation of instrumental rock songs.
After the thrashing “Insect Attention” and the groove-sensible post-rock anthem “Kissing The Sun,” Listening Mirror chime in with “Molech.Astronaut”, a riff-filled, controlled catastrophe that owes quite a little debt to groups like Megadeath. When a song isn’t explicitly rocking out, like on Ben Nash’s “Mother Leda,” you still get the sense that you’re listening to a post-grunge rocker’s idea of experimental music. I’m a little disappointed but only because I was expecting something that had its roots more firmly set in pop or in music of the avant-garde. For lovers of post-rock anthems, this is a nice little compilation of acts who have a punk-rock Mogwai attitude. Just don’t get fooled by the compilation’s title.
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12 Jul 2013 — Selina Begum
"Lie Follows Lie" by Naked is a swooning melody of vocals, with hints of Japanese culture interspersed both within the track's vocals and video. The latter is a neon-light infused projection, simple in its layering amongst dark shadows, directly encapsulating the sombreness of the song. The words ' lie follows lie' are revealed in different languages, from Japanese to Norwegian, to Swedish and French, adding that unique touch to an already intense song. Bright things seem to lie ahead for Naked.
Watch the video below:
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11 Jul 2013 — Andrew Wagner
Released two weeks ago with barely a moment’s notice, Blondes new LP Swisher is turning out to be one of the summer’s pleasantest surprises. Today, Blondes dropped a video for album closer “Elise.” One of the breeziest jams on Swisher, “Elise” is a sort of respite from some of the denser techno compositions that precede it. The visuals, made by Greg Zifcak (who also made the visuals for the Swisher YouTube stream) are like an old TV set emitting Bauhaus-style animations, and I can’t think of anything more fitting for “Elise’s” stunningly beautiful melodies.
Swisher is available for digital download from RVNG Intl., and will be released physically on August 6th.
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11 Jul 2013 — Tonje Thilesen
Melbourne's Friendships emerged about a year ago with a handful of juke inspired, precise reworks of select hip-hop tracks (and this amazingly beautiful bootleg of Rachel Haircut, even), slowly taking a synthier approach that recently evolved to the self-acclaimed brand "syrup synth", and we very much agree. From then, Friendships has turned into an audio/visual duo, releasing the (geniusly titled) mixtape I'm an impressionist, you're dumb: a compilation of bass tracks in January this year, packed with syrupy, emotional aspects of bass music, described as "a light hearted reflection of the internet and internet culture". "SSLOWW", a bootleg of Kylie Minogue's "Slow", is another bonus track off the mixtape, once again displaying the very strenghts of Friendships' production qualities, portraying a sound that is just as much uncongealed as it is choppy, or just as simmering as it is energetic.
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10 Jul 2013 — Parker Bruce
Au Palais are back, and about damn time. Brother and sister, Elise and David Commathe released the wonderful Tender Mercy EP back in 2011, and we now finally have some new material to look forward to. The beginning of their new single "Thrones" is prickly and pointy at its beginning, building up to the point where the chorus breaks down and Elise sings, "all these thrones I took for you". It could be about giving someone everything, but now getting much in return (OK, I have been reading Marie Calloway and Tao Lin and also watched "The Woodmans" as of late -- each talking about "letting go" in some way and putting your everything into something or someone), just in the right veins of Glass Candy or Chromatics, creating a similar, 'noir' approach to their minimal wave inspired pop songs. And let's be real, I could listen to Elise sing "Ooooo" all day.
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09 Jul 2013 — Henry Schiller
“Hit City” is a new track from Jackanapes, the recording project of Long Island, New York’s Craig Heed. Each of the two songs Heed has posted to his Soundcloud page is a stunning reconciliation of mid-80s new wave slickness and Brooklyn-rooted lo fi. On "Hit City" fractures of crystalline guitar and effected keyboard chords are underlined by a smooth and almost samba-esque dance bassline, which shines magnificently on the song’s accelerated choruses. Between the bass and the electronic percussion, "Hit City" has a fantastic momentum, which is paired nicely with softly nocturnal, but startlingly clear vocals. There is also something reminiscent of Avey Tare’s recent output in the way Heed sings the chilling refrain of "I close my eyes and dream." The combination of cold new wave charm and a feisty post-prog attitude should put Jackanapes’s particular brand of darkened guitar-pop in good standing with the Brooklyn set.
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08 Jul 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Unexpected yet really rather worthwhile electronic sound introspections by young Dortmund, Germany-based producer Cyril Buchart aka Swimming Tv, who explores that attractive sonic territory roughly around the intersections of post-Dilla beat collage that occasionally touches base with contemporary adepts such as Baths or even Gold Panda, and more Kompakt-indebted rhythmic minimalism that defines so much of German electronic music. The result is a restrained, deliberately low-key effort that indeed comes as a pleasant surprise not least in view of the present stalemate that has infected large parts of the local scene. Check it out in full below.
3 is out via Dortmund/Cologne label and collective Big Rheeno both digitally as a pay-what-you-want version and soon (I guess) on CD with the aim of funding a future vinyl release.
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08 Jul 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Though you might think of it as a matter of course, pretty much implied in the very notion of the term 'remix', Copenhagen's Anders Dixen aka UNKWON in fact is part of that curiously rather rare breed of producers who actually manage to reappraise and recontextualise a song in a distinct and thoughtful way without feeling the need to shatter the original. Last time, we saw him adding his touches to CTM's fabulous "Elsa Palma", with a very convincing outcome. Today, we're pleased to premiere Dixon's version of "Somehow", the closing and title track of Berlin-based Danishman Frederik Sølberg aka Rough Days For Diamond Trade's remarkable debut EP from late last year. With its piercing melancholy, the song itself may very well be considered Sølberg's signature tune, so it's perhaps even more noteworthy that UNKWON turns it into something entirely his own while leaving the original's devastating immediacy completely intact.
The UNKWON rework is part of the Somehow Remixed EP, which will be out September 5 via Looking Forward.
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