New album from The Radio Dept. called Clinging To A Scheme drops in March, the band has leaked one track, sounds really promising.
Yesterday Flying Lotus twittered that he loved the new Jaga Jazzist and also Psych-Electronic musician Calmer told me he’s beening listening to them a ton so I went out and bought their new album to find a stand out track to share with you and Book of Glass was a nice stand out track for me because of the drive and Stereolab like synth.
I recently did a Pop Ambient playlist on the blog of some of my favorite songs from each year of the 10 year old compilation and never really shared more about the compilation besides the other new song on Playlist #7 which was Brock Van Wey/BVDUB – Lest You Forget. I also have to share this track The Orb did which you may remember them from the Little Fluffy Clouds VW Beetle commercial.
My Polish countrymen Jacaszek definitely should have more songs on the blog then just this one, on this song Zal he does a magnificent and subtle job of cutting up piano parts and makes the piece a very interesting listen.
The new Four Tet LP came out today, its a pretty massive album to come out for a January release which is usually a slow month to put out albums. I tried to describe the opening song to the album as its like an organic cover by The Field of Sally Shapiro if she was fronting a Dream Pop group instead of doing Disco.
Here’s a preview/leaked single of the upcoming Caribou LP that’s coming out in March, Dan Snaith is sounding like Erlend Oye here in sections, really nice and upbeat but has a lo-fi touch to it, I wonder what this will do for Caribou live?
Joy Orbison may only have his second EP out and seeing how much talk there was about him in 2009 he will definitely make an impact on 2010 if and when he drops his LP for everyone. Its a nice take on Dubby Techno with small reference’s of Burial meets Pepe Bradock.
Now we completely change gears with a Southwestern feeling song by Taken By Trees, I know its maybe filed under indie rock but I can see slow disco heads playing the the crap out of this song.
It was my birthday this weekend and I went out on a limb earlier in the week for a last minute HUGE favor from some close musician friends to do covers of some of my favorite songs or songs I thought the musician would do a cover of really well and surprisingly they agreed….20 of them! So here are the first 5:
Benoit Pioulard covers Hum: This is absolutely stunning, Benoit has a voice that i’d want to have if I could sing. I heard once that Benoit liked Hum so I asked him to cover a song by them and everyone should be more glad with this outcome.
Corbu covers Colder: This one was a touchy song since its probably one of my favorite songs of all time but I didn’t want an all electronic or post rock group to cover it so I asked Brooklyn’s experimental guitar duo to do it right and they did by taking it to a very unique and detailed level that i’m sure you’ll enjoy.
Alex Cornell covers Empire Of The Sun: You know him from his phenomenal work and posts on the blog and if you haven’t already seen him on youtube then here’s a very fine example of what he’s capable of creating musically.
A Setting Sun covers Tracy Chapman: A Setting Sun probably had the most challenging and off the radar cover to do but I thought a brighter doom metal approach might the only thing that would make this matchless pair up work and he killed it, especially check out how he gets to the end which is surprising after you hear the first few seconds.
Shigeto covers Boards Of Canada: This one is out there, as some of you may know Shigeto is a drummer that makes beats similar to Dabrye meets Caribou or something of that nature but loves to experiment so I thought why not see what he could do with a Boards Of Canada song since I know he’ll try to get crazy with it and not steer towards the guitar angle which I had to hear.
The pleasing Danish popstars Efterklang have stepped it up with a new LP entitled Magic Chairs, the song I grabbed has a Coldplay feel maybe to some people but Efterklang puts more personality into the sound by not taking it to uncomfortably perfect epic studio music. The band still holds their glimmer in my eyes by keeping their lively instrumentals which include trumpets, tubas and shakers.
I recently went to see The Drums play in New York and surprisingly Surfer Blood was on the bill as well. Their singles Take It Easy and Swim really stand out, those songs were something that sounded so easy to like. I hope this makes it in the mainstream but I know most people won’t “get it” but what is there to get? its serenading updated 50’s feeling pop completely transformed into an easy to swallow pill called indie rock.
The new Hot Chip LP is out and they made a great song for all the girls with cats which is pretty much every girl if i’m not mistaken.
If Surfer Blood had a bad boy cousin that did speed and listened too much older Animal Collective and he made music in the basement this Surf City band would be that cousin and I kind of want to hang out with him on weekend nights.
If you haven’t already been on Hype Machine then today might be a good day to jump on and check it out. It’s a stream of select blogs and the music that is being posted on them. The ISO50 blog stream is located here and today we have one of the popular song (Matthew Dear’s remix of The xx) on the charts. The standings only last 14 more hours so click here on the heart and help us vote it up if you’re a member. Also be sure to check out all the other blogs on there, always a lot of great music coming up on there.
I have a couple of staple electronic acts to share with you today. Apparat’s collaboration with Ellen Allien which during its release was the pinnacle of that epic synth techno trying to be pop which others like Josh Holden, Superpitcher, and Nathan Fake also made a name for themselves.
Morgan Geist who you might know from working with Junior Boys and Metro Area puts together dreamy synth melody that I want to hear Erlend Oye sing over.
You probably remember this Luke Vibert project called Wagon Christ, it was the most catchy thing you’ll hear from Luke Vibert that was accepted by the mainstream, I remember going to lounges and hearing it everywhere I went.
NEW BONOBO! just came out in December, I thought this track was a real stand out on his new EP Blur, it has this Four Tet meets Zero 7 feel, he is really sticking to his guns on his sound, I admire that.
My dreams have been answered, the good people at OfficePod are keeping the hopes alive for prefab dreamers by making more Prefab shelters. For a measly 15,000£ you can have this beautiful office space, seriously I want this, maybe they have layaway? or need someone to display it in Brooklyn? count me in.
I’ve been listening to Matthew Dear since 2001 he has come along way with remixes for Hot Chip, David Bowie, Postal Service etc. but this remix of The xx is one that kind of really resonates as something that sounds like Matthew to me personality, i’m expecting more punctual avant pop from him this year from his LP which i’m geeking over to hear.
A pretty sweet go to song for a dance floor, can’t go wrong with Thom Yorke even though I haven’t put on his CD since the day I bought it, not because i didn’t like it but I have to be in the mood and this version is more of what I want to hear.
One of my favorite labels has to be Smallville out of Hamburg which is run by some great guys one of them being Peter Kersten aka Lawrence, if I ever release/make music it would have to come out on Smallville or i’ll just give it away for free. The patient and passionate ones will probably get the most out of this song by Julius Steinhoff , dreamy 4/4 deep dub.
