It's hard not to crush on the extensive, encircling sounds of Melbourne's Flyying Colors; reminding us how beautifully innocent, but vigorous the earlier records of M83 were, something they unfortunately lost with time. We got to admit that our musical focus on Australia has solely surrounded electronic music as of late, but this tune definitely turns everything upside-down. Listen to the gorgeous "Wavygravy" below.
A couple of weeks back, we announced the third installment of NYC label Styles Upon Styles' intriguing Bangers & Ash series, a 12" release concept that juxtaposes a quieter, roughly ambient/experimental pop a-side with a more straightforward, dancefloor-leaning b-side. Until now bringing together two different artists to play out their inspirations on each of the vinyl's sides, the third edition features only a single producer, who however has been given the opportunity to show both of his creative guises, thus neatly satisfying the Bangers & Ash idea: Brooklyn-based Zach Cooper aka kuxxan SUUM aka King Garbage, the latter being his glistening avant-soul project together with Austin singer Victor DiMotsis. After posting the non-EP 'bonus track' "Glory Box" back in February, no less a DJ than the great Mary Anne Hobbes premiered King Garbage tune "Telephone" on her BBC 6 morning show, and today, we're happy to exclusively offer a stream of the whole 12". Immaculate weekend vibes, take a listen below. Highly recommended.
BASH003 is out on Monday, April 29. Pre-order now over here. Edition of 200.
It couldn't have been a more appropiate timing for us to catch aus' Berlin debut alongside Cuushe, Masayoshi Fujita and The Mistys just a few days ago (at the end of his two-month long tour), which indeed proved to be quite interesting: transmitting his sounds via radio signal to six small-sized FM radios, amplifying the outcome and its natural noise to the audience; slowly building up an epic, ambient atmosphere of organic instruments (piano, plus strings in aid of Christoph Berg) alongside his signature of crunchy, amoebic MIDI beats.
In case you didn't know, aus is in fact Yasuhiko Fukuzono, also known as the brilliant mind behind the Tokyo-based imprint flau, which has been regularly featured here at NFOP throughout the past year. We're very excited to give you the first listen (and free download) of his Miou Miou remix "Summe Volume", taken off his new remix LP ReCollected; an 70-minute long spin featuring remixes of female Japanese artists such as Tujiko Noriko, Cokiyu and Matryoshka, amongst a whole lot others. Listen and download below.
We are no strangers to Braxton/Palmer's intoxicating house-inspired music, first taking notice last fall when the weather was cold and Sonny Thomas's songs perfectly captured that restless feeling. "Creeper (Pt. 2)" is a sultry late-night house jam, smooth and hitting all the right notes. We're quite stoked on this one, and very excited to hear what Braxton/Palmer does next.
Creeper is out May 14 via Ceremony. Listen to "Creeper (Pt. 2)" below.
Denmark's finest weirdo-pop artist Dinner (aka Anders Rhedin) is probably the closest we can come to a Scandinavian perception of the American west coast's underground cassette pop or, for any sake, french minimal wave — or even as NFOP's Henning said quite recently, "like the lost son of Ariel Pink and, say, Anne Grete". And yes, you also read quite correctly, we're officially making weirdo-pop an 'approved' genre now.
Straight out of Montreal's loft party milieu comes Zoë Kiefl, who adds her drowsy, dreamlike vocals over some ratherish familiar synth beats — whimsical in the most intelligent way, if I were to word it precisely. Below is a brand new video featuring her new single "NEEDS" directed by Stephanie Creaghan/Sara Graorac, and if you weren't already absorbed by spring aura, you're likely to be now.
The intstrumental hip-hop heads Psymun and Damacha, both known for their rich, analogue-sounding beats, are set to release a brand new collaboration/split LP via our buddies of the Minneapolis-based imprint MJ MJ Records. The record features guest appearances from seven different vocal contributors, amongst them R&B singer K. Raydio (in true Miss Dynamite-goes-Little Dragon fashion), who appears on a few of the tracks off Serious Sauce Vol. 3. Below is the first sample featuring K. Raydio, a voluptuously fine-spun jam that brings memories back to "old-school" Portishead and long lost relationships.
Last fall, Laurel Halo toured through Europe with a live techno set which mainly consisted of long jams both danceable and spherical. Exactly this sort of set-up provides the foundation of her upcoming EP Behind The Green Door, to be released May 20 on London’s Hyperdub. The EP’s four tracks would suit any hip techno party right now, sharing the prevalent aesthetic: The beats are very percussive, and compared to the playful album Quarantine, dominant and straight. New as well is the emphasis on deep bass lines, that may be registered as a reference to contemporary UK dance music. Melodies, on the other hand, are mostly missing on this record, just as Halo’s tremendous voice. The result is one of Laurel Halo’s most straightforward releases so far. And even though Behind The Green Door is ultimately less visionary then last year’s Quarantine, the EP still is very much up to date.
Get a first impression by streaming EP opener "Throw" below.
Laurel Halo will perform at Festsaal Kreuzberg this coming Sunday, April 28, sharing a bill with Holly Herndon, Gatekeeper, NHK’Koyxen, and PAN label head Bill Kouligas (no less). RSVP here.
