Yesterday, our beloved friends over at Dummy premiered the video for "Magic Idea", the b-side of the debut 7" of our very own Montréal duo Solar Year. The Jamie Harley-created visuals not only nicely capture the track's mildly tainted afterhour ease, but manage to unveil hitherto hidden layers of interpretation with his magnificently processed images of overly euphoric spectators who somehow blend into a music that presumably would be completely alien to them, just as if that had been their sole purpose all along.
Solar Year's Night & Day b/w Magic Idea 7" is available via our own imprint Stratosfear. Remember that the guys just embarked on a brief European tour that will bring them to Berlin, Paris, Prague, Oslo, and a few other destinations hopefully near you. Get all the details over here.
Cold Mailman's excellent 2010 LP Relax; The Mountain Will Come To You, was one of my very favourite Norwegian records of its decade, and it still is: as soon as dead leaves cover the streets of Kreuzberg and the seemingly never-ending Berlin greyness has approached, Relax is still on repeat. Now, I am well aware that the record itself isn't exactly considered to be "perfect" of its kind: it isn't Merriweather, it does not make history in pop music, and the band did certainely not introduce an uncommon sound to Norway's audial consumers — with vocals being a bit too cutesy and so heavily branded with the genre tag "indie" that it almost (but just almost) leaves a sticky backwash behind. But on the other side of Cold Mailman, and in particular Relax; The Mountain Will Come To You, we're also looking at an extremely poignant piece of art, approached in a rare, intelligent way, purely in no other intention than a will of absolving emotions in form of sounds; careless whether there is is an audience out there that will appreciate it or not. To make the story short: few records (with exceptions of [insert 90's emo band here] and a personal weakness for ambient post-rock) have felt so appealing to my emotional hunger for music as Relax, and perhaps is it the Scandinavian in me, but I do in all honesty believe that Cold Mailman are one of the best Norwegian guitar pop bands out there, especially in the emotional genre.
Below is the video for their brand new single "My Recurring Dream", which features some of the most exceptional art direction and cinematography -- both technically and composition-wise — that I have experienced so far in 2013. Honestly, it might even be one of my favourite music videos this year. Then again, 2010 was undoubtfully the most golden moment of their career so far, and is unfortunately a direction they seem to be trying to grow out of.
On this first February edition of Video Sunday, we've selected visuals with music in aid of The KVB, Tame Impala, Shugo Tokumaru, KAMP and Clinic, as well as another stunning piece by our California-based friend Tyler T Williams, this time for the LA-based solo project Maston.
Maston - Messages (by Tyler T Williams)
The KVB - Shadows
Tame Impala - Mind Mischief (by David Wilson)
Shugo Tokumaru - Katachi (by Kijek/Adamski)
KAMP - Melt (directed by Tomek Goldbaum-Wlazinski)
A long, long time ago, Dirty Beaches and Rene Hell both released tapes on subterranean royalty label, Night People. It was a fitting start for both artists who tend to rework traditional music genres from a place below, underneath, as if the foundation looks fine but you can definitely feel something below your feet. While Rene Hell tended to favor the destruction and rebirth of classical compositions, Dirty Beaches tended to dwell in that golden age of rock n’ roll -- dust, rust, and all.
This time around, Dirty Beaches seems to be taking a page from that Rene Hell book, with this new track “Love is the Devil” from his upcoming double album on Zoo Music. It’s empty and symphonic and on the verge of total collapse. On his twitter, Dirty Beaches’ Zhang Hungtai, commented on the release of this single track: “I’m leaking once track from "Love Is the Devil". I’ve never been good at business. But this is my heart and soul. I need to get this off my chest. This title track has blood and tears all over it and is the sound of my empty self. I need to share this before it becomes something else. We always hurt the ones we love the most. I’m a rotten piece of shit. blast it LOUD if your heart's broken.” Two records, 16 songs, 75 minutes of music, and that description from the artist himself in mind, I can’t imagine how this won’t be the best Dirty Beaches material to date.
Drifters/Love is the Devil is out May 21 on Zoo Music.
So well, we're closing up to the finest line-up of CTM this weekend, except for yesterday's excellent showcase curated by PAN Records, and obviously tonight, with our San Francisco-based crush Holly Herndon, playing Berghain Panorama Bar alongside Kuedo, d'Eon and Forest Swords. Tomorrow stands yet another impeccable line-up before our eyes and ears, and we're personally starting the night over at the Musicmakers Showcase at Berghain Kantine, curated by Berlin locals Peter Kirn of Create Digital Media and Cassette BLN, and led by Travis Stweart, better known as Machinedrum.
We're obviously very excited to have our own Montreal duo Solar Year on the roster too, who recently released a 7" on our new imprint Stratosfear. A handful very exciting names will also join the full line-up, amogst them the genius Tim Exile, audiovisual composer Tarik Barri and Science Fiction Children, as well as live music sessions with Laurel Halo, Sam Barker, Easton West and more. Machinedrum, XI, Kode9 and Lando Kal will make sure to keep the beat going after 02:30, just in case you feel like having a break from the intense dancefloor at Berghain Panorama Bar nextdoor.
We're also very excited to announce the first European tour with Solar Year, dates below.
01.02 Berlin, Germany - Berghain Kantine 07.02 Paris, France - L'Espace B 08.02 Lille, France - Le Rouge 15.02 Oslo, Norway - Skuret 16.02 Berlin, Germany - Urban Spree 22.02 Prague, Czech Republic - Final 23.02 Leipzig, Germany - Null Unendlich
All though we have a hard time seeing the references that are being made to Vessel or Andy Stott when discussing the sonic, electronic spasms of Norwegian producer Snasen, there is however somewhat potent and imploring about his distinctive style of beatmaking. Evolving out from the Norwegian hardcore scene, the contrasts between his sounds shows particularly well in his soundscapes, enforcing the listener to stay open-minded and focused.
Failing Upwards is out on February 15th via the excellent Oslo-based imprint Sellout, have a listen to the title track below.
Yesterday saw Le1f drop his much-anticipated follow up to 2012’s Dark York mixtape, Fly Zone. This time around, things are a little more manageable: as compared to Dark York’s 21 songs, Fly Zone is a neater 13-song mixtape that clocks in at 40 minutes. The production, too, is slightly more refined, as Le1f’s vocals sit more confidently in front of his characteristic manic beats. But Le1f isn’t cleaning himself up for mainstream audiences; if anything, his rapping on Fly Zone is far more in-your-face and intense than that on Dark York. On "Airbending", Le1f directly confronts the 'queer rap' narrative that motivated think piece after think piece in 2012, and which many of his fans may associate him with: 'Stop worrying about how gay I am / or how gay I’m not,' he raps. Further, Fly Zone seems to lack any sort of party-ready, dance-happy, pop breakout that "Wut" was. However, everything on Fly Zone is still beyond dance-worthy, and the increased aggressiveness and intensity is a welcome move.
Sadly, Le1f didn’t produce any tracks this time around, but the producers he did enlist (from LOLGurlz to Matrixxman) are more than capable of capturing that whole Le1f ethos, and Fly Zone is full of the hyper, occasionally bizarre beats that made Dark York so enjoyable. And Le1f’s incredible abilities as a lyricist are still up to snuff: 'I’m a black belt with that twerk kwon do,' he raps on "Pocahantas". Rounded out by guest spots from Spank Rock, Haleek Maul, Don Jones, and the ever-blogable Kitty Pryde, Fly Zone is exactly the sort of mixtape I’m craving right now.
Fly Zone can be streamed below or downloaded here.
So new Dean Blunt tracks are being premiered on Pitchfork these days. Anyone else thinks that's remarkable? On the other hand, written by Ms Saxelby, so everything makes sense again. But more than that, with "Papi", Blunt continues to provide evidence that he in fact is one of the most gifted contemporary pop producers (I believe I've mentioned that before), something the very first Hype Williams material back in 2009 at most hinted at, to put it this way. Here, the delicate Pink Floyd sample is employed in a faithful manner probably last encountered in some late nineties trip hop lullaby, but before you get all too comfortable, the song (and a proper song it could well have become) gets deconstructed by way of a slightly eerie and disturbing countdown that leaves you warily wondering what could happen next. Sure, this has very much become Blunt's shtick by now, but I assume it speaks for his craft that it still gets me every time.
"Papi" is the first track taken from Blunt's upcoming The Redeemer, out May 1 via Hippos In Tanks and World Music.
