5 Years of NFOP

Come celebrate with us: Urban Spree, May 24, 4pm

Listen to the NFOP Radio Show on Berlin Community Radio

Every Friday at 4pm CET

Water’s Edge.

24 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Close your eyes and get ready for some interstellar vibes coming to you from a galaxy named Brooklyn, splendidly meandering, NASA approved spaced-out jams that instantly take you to places far far away from home. Future Shuttle is the joint endeavor of Jessa Farkas and Camilla Padgitt-Coles, and their synth-driven experimentalism is all colors of the universe condensed into sounds that spontaneously and randomly spread over canvas, apparently without any deeper concept yet still eventually adding up to breathtaking abstract art.

Though both Birth Of Europa and Fields Of Dreams have already been floating around in the world of fiber optic cables for a while, Future Shuttle have just now finally finished their debut EP Water's Edge on which both tunes will appear, only in slightly more professionally recorded versions. Produced by Sam Haar of the mighty Brooklynites Blondes, the record will contain six tracks that won't have ended before the minute hand has finished its course, which might be considered a little excessive for a piece designated as EP, but after all, what is one hour considering the age of the universe?

Water's Edge is planned to be dropped very soon on CDr via Tennessee's promising new label Intercoastal Artists, though there might be a release on vinyl as well. Until then, we recommend you head over to Future Shuttle's bandcamp to stream two more demos from Water's Edge.

Future Shuttle - Birth Of Europa

Future Shuttle - Fields Of Dreams

Read more →

Close your eyes and get ready for some interstellar vibes coming to you from a galaxy named Brooklyn, splendidly meandering, NASA approved spaced-out jams that instantly take you to places far far away from home. Future Shuttle is the joint endeavor of Jessa Farkas and Camilla Padgitt-Coles, and their synth-driven experimentalism is all colors of the universe condensed into sounds that spontaneously and randomly spread over canvas, apparently without any deeper concept yet still eventually adding up to breathtaking abstract art.

Though both Birth Of Europa and Fields Of Dreams have already been floating around in the world of fiber optic cables for a while, Future Shuttle have just now finally finished their debut EP Water's Edge on which both tunes will appear, only in slightly more professionally recorded versions. Produced by Sam Haar of the mighty Brooklynites Blondes, the record will contain six tracks that won't have ended before the minute hand has finished its course, which might be considered a little excessive for a piece designated as EP, but after all, what is one hour considering the age of the universe?

Water's Edge is planned to be dropped very soon on CDr via Tennessee's promising new label Intercoastal Artists, though there might be a release on vinyl as well. Until then, we recommend you head over to Future Shuttle's bandcamp to stream two more demos from Water's Edge.

Future Shuttle - Birth Of Europa

Future Shuttle - Fields Of Dreams

I saw the sign.

23 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Sometimes, the avant-garde may come in old rags. Or rather, in early to mid-nineties neon colored oversized sweaters and ridiculous Swatch watches. Yet indeed, does it? I don't know. Still, one of this year's most forward thinking imprints, Brooklyn's Olde English Spelling Bee, has repeatedly proven to be well ahead of the game, and now those impeccable guys are about to drop Greatest Hits' Danse Pop 7 inch on September 28 (available right now for free via the label's Soundcloud), and if this indicates anything for the coming months, I fear that by new year's eve we'll all be dancing to worn out nineties comps, thinking to ourselves how we could ever dismiss Ace Of Base in the first place. So seriously, this is strangely awesome and captivating stuff, but still, it's coming straight from the decade of pop culture that should have been buried at sea for good, and this is the point that kinda scares me. Just saying. Oh, and don't miss Make You Mine, it's one hell of a jam.




Greatest Hits - Make You Mine

Read more →

Sometimes, the avant-garde may come in old rags. Or rather, in early to mid-nineties neon colored oversized sweaters and ridiculous Swatch watches. Yet indeed, does it? I don't know. Still, one of this year's most forward thinking imprints, Brooklyn's Olde English Spelling Bee, has repeatedly proven to be well ahead of the game, and now those impeccable guys are about to drop Greatest Hits' Danse Pop 7 inch on September 28 (available right now for free via the label's Soundcloud), and if this indicates anything for the coming months, I fear that by new year's eve we'll all be dancing to worn out nineties comps, thinking to ourselves how we could ever dismiss Ace Of Base in the first place. So seriously, this is strangely awesome and captivating stuff, but still, it's coming straight from the decade of pop culture that should have been buried at sea for good, and this is the point that kinda scares me. Just saying. Oh, and don't miss Make You Mine, it's one hell of a jam.




Greatest Hits - Make You Mine

About chillwave and Naminé

23 Sep 2010 — Tonje Thilesen

So — how do you describe "chillwave" without using words such as blissed out, tropical, hazy, sweet or dreamy? It's not big news that when words like these are continuously being used to describe this very (steadily growing) genre, they finally become no less than dull and meaningless to our ears. And here I am, trying to describe the Australian one-piece Naminé without the use of these particular words — and I find myself completely stuck: warm beats, water-like, distant synths and shoegazy vocals. Bare feet, open fields, blue skies. Korallreven meeting Ghost Society. Descriptions you've all heard a handful of times before, and still, chillwave or not, Naminé simply has this sort of honest outer glow that I'm always looking for when listening to new music — available for free downloading over at blobcamp.

Naminé - Spacific Ocean

Read more →
So — how do you describe "chillwave" without using words such as blissed out, tropical, hazy, sweet or dreamy? It's not big news that when words like these are continuously being used to describe this very (steadily growing) genre, they finally become no less than dull and meaningless to our ears. And here I am, trying to describe the Australian one-piece Naminé without the use of these particular words — and I find myself completely stuck: warm beats, water-like, distant synths and shoegazy vocals. Bare feet, open fields, blue skies. Korallreven meeting Ghost Society. Descriptions you've all heard a handful of times before, and still, chillwave or not, Naminé simply has this sort of honest outer glow that I'm always looking for when listening to new music — available for free downloading over at blobcamp.

Naminé - Spacific Ocean

Wonder Wheel 23: Brave New World

23 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Paul Rosales aka Wonder Wheel is not only an amazingly talented man. Above all, he is unbelievably busy, having recorded no less than 36 albums between June 2003 and today. Thirty-six. And by that, we haven't even started listing all his incredible production efforts done for his SoCal pals.

In any case, this year things appear to become more serious for Paul, and eventually people start dragging this undeniable genius into the well-deserved spotlight. After dropping his first proper LP Wonder Wheel I under his own name via Care In The Community Recordings in late July, we're already blessed with his next release Wonder Wheel 23: Brave New World, available for pre-order right now on cassette via Tokyo's finest little label Sixteen Tambourines.

While Wonder Wheel I was merely a collection of songs from previous Wonder Wheel albums, some sort of summary of Paul's efforts since 2006 serving as a best-of compilation which in itself is quite remarkable considering the record being his debut output, Brave New World is lyrically and audibly coherent for the first time in the WW catalog, thus much more justifying the good old designation "album" than the LP. As usual recorded in his bedroom in Orange, California, the songs were produced between May and July 2010, inspired by what Paul himself calls "an emotionally charged time" that made him feel as if he had awoken "one morning to a bizarre parallel universe with no way of going back". And indeed, though "dark" would be an overstatement, there clearly is a certain amount of discomposure and worry perceptible in the songs' underlying tone. But most of all, the eleven tunes of Brave New World add up to an utterly amazing effort, once more procuring evidence that Paul Rosales is hands down one of the most breathtaking young talents we have at the moment.

Below, you can stream/download two album tracks and watch the very nice video for After Dark. And afterwards, be sure to head over to Sixteen Tambourines to support both the wonderful label and the artist.


[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlcdGiTuY2o?fs=1]

Wonder Wheel - IMHO

Wonder Wheel - Eyes

Read more →

Paul Rosales aka Wonder Wheel is not only an amazingly talented man. Above all, he is unbelievably busy, having recorded no less than 36 albums between June 2003 and today. Thirty-six. And by that, we haven't even started listing all his incredible production efforts done for his SoCal pals.

In any case, this year things appear to become more serious for Paul, and eventually people start dragging this undeniable genius into the well-deserved spotlight. After dropping his first proper LP Wonder Wheel I under his own name via Care In The Community Recordings in late July, we're already blessed with his next release Wonder Wheel 23: Brave New World, available for pre-order right now on cassette via Tokyo's finest little label Sixteen Tambourines.

While Wonder Wheel I was merely a collection of songs from previous Wonder Wheel albums, some sort of summary of Paul's efforts since 2006 serving as a best-of compilation which in itself is quite remarkable considering the record being his debut output, Brave New World is lyrically and audibly coherent for the first time in the WW catalog, thus much more justifying the good old designation "album" than the LP. As usual recorded in his bedroom in Orange, California, the songs were produced between May and July 2010, inspired by what Paul himself calls "an emotionally charged time" that made him feel as if he had awoken "one morning to a bizarre parallel universe with no way of going back". And indeed, though "dark" would be an overstatement, there clearly is a certain amount of discomposure and worry perceptible in the songs' underlying tone. But most of all, the eleven tunes of Brave New World add up to an utterly amazing effort, once more procuring evidence that Paul Rosales is hands down one of the most breathtaking young talents we have at the moment.

Below, you can stream/download two album tracks and watch the very nice video for After Dark. And afterwards, be sure to head over to Sixteen Tambourines to support both the wonderful label and the artist.


[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlcdGiTuY2o?fs=1]

Wonder Wheel - IMHO

Wonder Wheel - Eyes

Mississipi Flight School.

23 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

Mississipi's finest wizard of fuzz Flight will now get your tape decks movin' with his first ever cassette release, out now on our ever adored Bathetic. The C18 aptly named Mississipi Lean contains four screwed versions of tracks published before, and screwed they are, all harsh and nasty, absolutely brilliant noise pop gems immediately hacking into your cerebrum. See for yourself with the jam Cracker Jack Woman below and then make sure you order the tape right now.

Additionally, Flight is about to put out a record on more familiar territory as well: His Flight Lead Riders 12 inch will be released by San Diego's very own Zoo Music next Tuesday, September 28. The vinyl's teaser Turns to Blood is an extremely elaborate piece of purest fuzzed out goodness, and all that distortion and impulsive rhythm aside the tune simply features a fine pop melody, and after all that's all we need.

Flight - Cracker Jack Woman

Flight - Turns to Blood

Read more →

Mississipi's finest wizard of fuzz Flight will now get your tape decks movin' with his first ever cassette release, out now on our ever adored Bathetic. The C18 aptly named Mississipi Lean contains four screwed versions of tracks published before, and screwed they are, all harsh and nasty, absolutely brilliant noise pop gems immediately hacking into your cerebrum. See for yourself with the jam Cracker Jack Woman below and then make sure you order the tape right now.

Additionally, Flight is about to put out a record on more familiar territory as well: His Flight Lead Riders 12 inch will be released by San Diego's very own Zoo Music next Tuesday, September 28. The vinyl's teaser Turns to Blood is an extremely elaborate piece of purest fuzzed out goodness, and all that distortion and impulsive rhythm aside the tune simply features a fine pop melody, and after all that's all we need.

Flight - Cracker Jack Woman

Flight - Turns to Blood

Collaborations.

22 Sep 2010 — Tonje Thilesen

Yesterday we heard about the collaborations project presented to us by our friends in Dead As Digital, Stadium And Shrines and The Road Goes Ever On; featuring up-and-coming artists based all around the globe whom by sending each other tracks back and forth, has managed to create some truly stunning soundscapes together. The idea came to life when they noticed an steadily increasing number of collaborations going on between artists, and already with a few in mind for the project, they decided to capture the movement by asking a selection of these artists to do collabs for the cassette + digital release:

The task ranged in difficulty for each selected pair. For example, Edmonton, Canada’s Kumon Plaza and Los Angeles’ Rachel Levy, who had already collaborated on an albums worth of songs. For others it was a whole new enterprise. New York’s Holy Spirits and Massachusetts’ Gem Club had a mutual respect for each other, but had never collaborated on anything together, or even talked about it. But slowly the artists started pairing off. From Manchester, England to Texas (Star Slinger and Pandit), Sydney, Australia to South Carolina (Guerre and Top Girls) and Laguna Beach to the UK (Pepepiano and Warm Waves) they found each other. Musicians sent tracks via file sharing services and e-mailed in abundance, sharing ideas and building something out of nothing. Distances it would have taken months to travel just 100 years ago proved to be no barrier as the “send” button quelled the significant distance.

The result is a splendid, sweet mix of everything from instrumental hip-hop and dreamy lo-fi to electronic pop and fuzzy rock — all put into one melting pot. And still, the result is pure gold.

The digital release is due to October 1st for free downloading, but you can also order the tape from www.weget.by, with a digital download included already a full week before the release.


Holy Spirits and Gem Club - Fingertips
Read more →
Yesterday we heard about the collaborations project presented to us by our friends in Dead As Digital, Stadium And Shrines and The Road Goes Ever On; featuring up-and-coming artists based all around the globe whom by sending each other tracks back and forth, has managed to create some truly stunning soundscapes together. The idea came to life when they noticed an steadily increasing number of collaborations going on between artists, and already with a few in mind for the project, they decided to capture the movement by asking a selection of these artists to do collabs for the cassette + digital release:

The task ranged in difficulty for each selected pair. For example, Edmonton, Canada’s Kumon Plaza and Los Angeles’ Rachel Levy, who had already collaborated on an albums worth of songs. For others it was a whole new enterprise. New York’s Holy Spirits and Massachusetts’ Gem Club had a mutual respect for each other, but had never collaborated on anything together, or even talked about it. But slowly the artists started pairing off. From Manchester, England to Texas (Star Slinger and Pandit), Sydney, Australia to South Carolina (Guerre and Top Girls) and Laguna Beach to the UK (Pepepiano and Warm Waves) they found each other. Musicians sent tracks via file sharing services and e-mailed in abundance, sharing ideas and building something out of nothing. Distances it would have taken months to travel just 100 years ago proved to be no barrier as the “send” button quelled the significant distance.

The result is a splendid, sweet mix of everything from instrumental hip-hop and dreamy lo-fi to electronic pop and fuzzy rock — all put into one melting pot. And still, the result is pure gold.

The digital release is due to October 1st for free downloading, but you can also order the tape from www.weget.by, with a digital download included already a full week before the release.


Holy Spirits and Gem Club - Fingertips

Pandit does it again

22 Sep 2010 — Tonje Thilesen

The lovely Lance Smith of Pandit just sent us this sweet remix of FUR's Clear's Throat, with a sound a lot more disco inspired than his earlier, more ambient work. If you haven't already, remember to download his self-titled EP for free from last.fm, while we sit down and wait for his upcoming LP to be released via Lefse Records early next year. Beware of awesomeness to occur.

Pandit - Clears Throat Remix (FUR)
Read more →

The lovely Lance Smith of Pandit just sent us this sweet remix of FUR's Clear's Throat, with a sound a lot more disco inspired than his earlier, more ambient work. If you haven't already, remember to download his self-titled EP for free from last.fm, while we sit down and wait for his upcoming LP to be released via Lefse Records early next year. Beware of awesomeness to occur.

Pandit - Clears Throat Remix (FUR)

NFOP x The Technicolor Sleep: Norwegian Inquiries.

21 Sep 2010 — Henning Lahmann

As certainly most of you will be knowing by now, Tonje Thilesen, author of the wonderful blog The Technicolor Sleep, has been taking care of NFOP for twelve days while I was away on vacation. And because she covered some seriously amazing new music from her home Norway, I figured the best way to say thanks would be to compile a little résumé of the best tunes posted by her - so here it is, all neatly zipped up for you:

Norwegian Inquiries. (Artwork by Tonje)


Tracklisting:

1. Team Me - Weathervanes and Chemicals
2. We Are Mystery - Broken Hearts
3. Put Your Hands Up For Neo-Tokyo - The Rich, The Lepers and Die Mauern
4. Eirik Djuvsland - Katt Med Hatt
5. Proviant Audio - Would You Mind
6. The New Wine - Revolving Cylinder
7. Attention Now! - Soundwaves
8. Burning God Little - +++
9. SiN - Lost in a Span
10. Bellman - All that is beautiful (The atomic powered robot)
11. Einar Stray - Teppet Faller
12. Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson - I Think E.T. Is Involved In My Family
13. Therese Aune - The Lonely Ocean Roar
14. moddi - Littlejune


Moreover, this might be a good opportunity to tell the ones who don't know already that since last week, your favourite taste spoiler NFOP is a team endeavor.

And so you know what we're talking about here, I'd suggest you watch this utterly beautiful video Tonje has made for the gem How Real by Two Bicycles, also recently covered on these pages, featuring nothing but her homeland.

Enjoy.

Read more →

As certainly most of you will be knowing by now, Tonje Thilesen, author of the wonderful blog The Technicolor Sleep, has been taking care of NFOP for twelve days while I was away on vacation. And because she covered some seriously amazing new music from her home Norway, I figured the best way to say thanks would be to compile a little résumé of the best tunes posted by her - so here it is, all neatly zipped up for you:

Norwegian Inquiries. (Artwork by Tonje)


Tracklisting:

1. Team Me - Weathervanes and Chemicals
2. We Are Mystery - Broken Hearts
3. Put Your Hands Up For Neo-Tokyo - The Rich, The Lepers and Die Mauern
4. Eirik Djuvsland - Katt Med Hatt
5. Proviant Audio - Would You Mind
6. The New Wine - Revolving Cylinder
7. Attention Now! - Soundwaves
8. Burning God Little - +++
9. SiN - Lost in a Span
10. Bellman - All that is beautiful (The atomic powered robot)
11. Einar Stray - Teppet Faller
12. Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson - I Think E.T. Is Involved In My Family
13. Therese Aune - The Lonely Ocean Roar
14. moddi - Littlejune


Moreover, this might be a good opportunity to tell the ones who don't know already that since last week, your favourite taste spoiler NFOP is a team endeavor.

And so you know what we're talking about here, I'd suggest you watch this utterly beautiful video Tonje has made for the gem How Real by Two Bicycles, also recently covered on these pages, featuring nothing but her homeland.

Enjoy.

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