Australian’s like The Canyons have been putting out some great disco as of late, really good rhythm and guitar additions, really gives the songs this authentic non digital feel.
One of my favorite Lusine songs has to be Rushhour, its one of those songs that pays off if you listen to it from start to finish, no patience with the beginning will get you nowhere. Once you get to the 4 min mark you’ll know i’m talking about but the only way to truly enjoy it is listening to the detail in the build up to it, it literally sounds like the a thousand knifes being sharped by your ears while you try to run away from the highest quality low end that monsoons over your precious town.
Eliot Lipp and Leo123 collab again since their original material debut on Ghostly Swim and leak a cutup west coast indie club bomb for their North American tour, real solid work by the two.
Mountains sway the Thrill Jockey catalog up another step on the quality end by unleashing an absolutely phenomenal droned out LP, the real pleasure hear is having the whole LP and playing it start to finish, highly recommend atleast having the song Telescope.
I was going to save this Juno song for the perfect ending for a mix because I think it blows a lot of similar bands like Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky, etc out of the water if you compared best song to best song. The recording of the vocal could be one of my favorites, the builds are not too drastic but still have these epic parts to them. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
How did I miss The Autumns? probably because i’m not a fan of the guys vocal but lyrically and sonically they’re outstanding, what do you think? I can’t imagine how they sound now though.
Tom Croose’s partner as Worst Friends goes under the name Slow Hands, he’s a classically trained guitarist that makes slow house/disco that pretty much sound like it’s inspired by Sade which might be the best direction for the future of slow disco and comes so natural to Ryan’s style of making music.
This Herrmann & Kleine song could calm anyone with its digital fake waves in the distance, child toy melodies, and dreamy keys, all that comes to mind is taking a calm nap in a foreign city.
Juno – The Great Salt Lake / Into the Lavender Crevices of Evening the Otters Have Been Pushed
You may know Tim Saccenti for his unreal spacey Battles video or his wild Animal Collective videos or press photos for Flying Lotus and Jimmy Edgar but his live visuals this weekend for School of Seven Bells were jaw dropping, not only did School of Seven Bells play a gorgeous live show but Tim Saccenti nailed the visuals and captured the sound perfectly, I almost felt like I was experiencing something that was on some other level. Below is a great review of the night:
Digital Transcendentalism
Timothy Saccenti’s Visuals andthe School of Seven Bells
The question that immediately comes to mind as one looks into the silky black voids of photographer/director Timothy Saccenti’s mind, manifested wonderfully in images of black expanses occupied ironically by an artist or an object beyond one’s capacity for reaction, is this: What possible world am I occupying and how am I existing in this space and time? With the School of Seven Bell’s visuals, Saccenti (in conjuction with Flame artist Alvin Cruz) achieves, brilliantly and originally, the apex of what all artists can hope to achieve; as the mirrored yet chaotic colors begin to rise up on the screen, the viewer relinquishes control of his or her consciousness of the moment and enters the beautiful, black, colorful, numbing minds of Saccenti and Cruz.
So what makes these images so otherworldly yet familiar enough that one can fall into them so whole-heartedly? The peice mixes familiar epiphenomenal stimuli (shapes and images) with powerful digital distortion, creating a space that is paradoxically common and foreign. The experience places the viewer at the precipice of human comprehension and tethers them to the rock of humanity with fibers so inconspicuous that it is hard to know when one might fall into the black abyss. It is exhilarating. Paired with the ambient, submissive music of The School of Seven Bells, an audience is treated to complete perceptual experience involving the lyrical mastery of the band and their interstellar sound.
There is a diamond shape that occupies the screen for much of the piece. Besides being a spatial image that one can clearly identify, it suggests another, semi-erotic, human form that boldly stares back at a transfixed audience. It is difficult not to see a vaginal, pink shape in the diamond. It is natural and digital, surrounded by a hazy distortion and heavy digital sounds that are reminiscent of television snow. Watching the two female singers, it is hard not to feel lulled by a kind of siren song.
One of the more powerful images, a white face with dark eyes, exists as a kind of character throughout the piece. It comes and goes as the viewer’s ability to make it out is realized and lost. The face is mirrored on both sides of the screen as one’s own face so commonly is. The face swings back and forth with an organic fluidity that is imperfectly natural and correct. Amongst the computerized movement of box shapes and spheres, this face stands out with its organic movement that, at the apex of its swing, faces the audience and becomes black (with white eyes). It is an eerie and fantastic moment as the echoing voices of The School of Seven Bells rise and fall to the metronome of the huge face.
The image that most dramatically drives the feeling of nature is the wilderness at sunrise; however, in digitally transcendental fashion, the piece juxtaposes the desert grasses with outstanding digital effects. The sunrise image sits inside a sphere that seems to rotate as the image remains still. The sphere fits inside the skeleton of a neon cube in an eclectic picture that moves with a more perfect, digital, fluidity. The circle is also seen in another major part of the piece. Inside of a large, white circle are numbers that follow around the circle’s circumference, similarly to that of an ancient calendar. Here, Saccenti seems to be exploring the most seamless connections between man and nature. Time is a human invention developed to understand the most fundamental engine of nature. It is a similar idea that drives the image of the Hindu deity, Ganesh. Here, the audience explores the human invention of religion as a tool for understanding the impossibilities of nature. A statue of the deity rotates slowly, giving a reverend importance to his presence.
The pairing of these two artists could not have been more perfect. The School of Seven Bells creates an original sound using a similar juxtaposition. Soft voices and flowing guitar riffs round out the heavy digital sound that backs up each song. These two elements collide to produce a sound that is otherworldly.
Throughout the piece, we see the majesty of nature and the boundless imagination of humanity. Represented beautifully by digital displays, the viewer enters a possible world that can only exist with the imagination of this brilliant collaboration, through the conduit that is their talent.
I remember the first time hearing Piano Magic right before Greg Davis went on at the Magic Stick in Detroit, the song that was being played was called Halloween Boat, I was going to post that but its a 10USD MP3 everywhere but well worth the 18+ minute bliss. Well I dug deeper and asked a few friends on what albums I should hear and Snowfall Soon was a definite surprise, just some beautiful fuzzy guitar and strong lyrics from the post shoegaze era.
I remember there was a time when a ton of netlabels popped up and every releases was given out for free by all these labels but it also kind of hurt the industry in my opinion because full albums were going up with no one filtering them. A few stuck around and never updated their site(ugh I hate when that happens) and most of them just folded because it was a college students hobby to release friends music. One track that I remember during this time was this song by Digitalverein, I just love how the song jumps in at the beginning, so dark and angular, like some stiff and nerdy digital IDM/Dubstep without the low end and abit too much static.
Shuttle358 i’m pretty sure has a small following but the people that do follow him are always in for a treat. Its very minimal work but there are always hidden melodies and I feel like its more rewarding then most 12k releases that thrive on a sound like this.
Oh Black Moth Super Rainbow, can your crackles be more hash and lovely? can your synths be more piercing, upfront and heavy? oh god the nostalgia just oozes all over my memories of old store signs and sun splattered visions of car rides to school in the winter.
As you can tell i’m a huge fan of Bibio and his new direction isn’t too surprising but definitely a noticeable difference, it’s less lo-fi and sounds like he added some dubstep kicks to makes the whole overall sound more round. A 7 inch vinyl single will be coming out on Warp on June 8th with this song will drop before the LP, I look forward to hearing the B side and all the other songs, should be a great surprise.
Type Records grabbed up the distant serenading City Center and this new LP is full of echoed vocals and gentle guitar strumming, such good atmosphere and timing in all his music, it really helps me to relax.
Deastro is giving away a free EP called Grower, its all instrumental and almost sounds like he woke up in the middle of the night and had an amazing brainstorm for an EP and knocked it out in hours by finessing very similar sounds. Its an epic masterpiece at times and its super kind of him to just give it away for free like that.
Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas are back at it again, first off they make me feel like I should never touch a synthesizer because really they make it sound soo easy. This track takes me on this journey like i’m riding into space on an all silk loosely put together yacht and I have an epic plan and a long to do list of how to save the universe but i’ll doing it at 15 MPH and not worrying about how and when I do it though. Within a minute of just listening you might end up starring at your computer and just thinking who are these guys and how do we make sure they never stop making new music.
Today’s 4 picks might be my favorite in a while, all 4 tracks contain what I’d like to hear all summer while canoeing with friends, a road trip on a breezy tornado weather afternoon or maybe some pick up wiffle ball at McCarren Park.
Tom Croose set the pace on this edit he did of Beirut and with just a few additions the track becomes abit more head noddy. If you’re listening Zach Condon I truely think you should press this on a nice heavy weight 7 inch, with a spine sleeve, on a waxy satin stock and maybe some clear/slate grey marble vinyl, just a thought but i’m sure it’ll sell if you do it, count me in for 2 copies.
The small amount of City Center i’ve heard i’ve fallen in love with, he might instantly have noticeable hints of Animal Collective but without that need making it crazier than it needs to be. Fred Thomas pushes thru Bleed Blood giving us what exactly we want to hear for 6 and half minutes which are the underlaying field recording style vocals and distant surf guitar, echoed woodblocks, a woodsy atmosphere that sounds like its sucking itself inside itself and his entrancing serenade.
Read this in 2 years and i’m going to still have to say I really enjoy this song and i’m sticking to it by “Indietastic” Passion Pit. It has a familiar M83 elements to it but clearer and without the need of the synth taking over but pure good song writing for what it is which is an EPIC indie-electronic pop song.
Are you ready for this Nacho Patrol song? Legowelt aka Nacho Patrol just nailed a genre no one is covering which is the sound of 60’s Johnny Quest meets grainy psychedelic snake charming disco off the coast of an unknown island in South America. I mean come on! when I heard this on Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space Radio I would of put money down that i’d never find this record because in my mind it was just some hard to find dirty 45 that was found magically at a Florida garage sale under a table sitting on the astroturf and nearly melted in the sun and reeking of some old women’s sun tan lotion.
When I saw Deerhunter live I remember asking myself I hope the guitarist on the right of the stage puts out a record, seems like he was doing most of the melody guitar and effected parts in the songs like some mini Johnny Greenwood. Well that happened and Lotus Plaza did a killer job on the record but I especially love this A Threaded Needle song, it has so many catchy elements of lo-fi post rock. Everything sits in the mix perfectly as well, never asking for your attention just gentle guitar screeches and a vocal that sits in the backseat, couldn’t be happier with the result of this project.
Recently we posted nostalgia filled Adelaide videos on the blog but I can’t just leave you with those, here’s the song Games Without End off their self released EP, this has hints of Sea and Cake and Mercury Program all over the EP but they take it a step closer to what I want to hear which is film soundtrack music that is equal to a Cinnabun in the cinnamon roll world, just an overwhelming ooze of frosting and warmth. If you like this check out other projects from the band like Small Sails or Ethan Rose.
A pretty low key one from Mogwai, definitely nice to lose yourself in this one and think your somewhere else.
This Explosions In The Sky song might be the rowdiest Monday song ever posted just epic the factor alone makes it feel like you won Tour de France and the World Cup at the same time, don’t use it as a exercise song either, you break something important.
Lotus Plaza – A Threaded Needle
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Adelaide – Games Without End
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Mogwai – The Sun Smells Too Loud
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Explosions In The Sky – With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept
Went to my first Dub Wars a few weeks ago which is a monthly in New York that usually is mostly Dubstep, since then i’ve been hooked on the really low end heavy tracks like Lukid’s Slow Hand Slap, its hard to listen to if you don’t have good speakers because a lot of fun in listening to the songs is the ultra clean warmth the kick has.
Recently we hosted a mix that featured this Viul song Wound Cotton Wound which is out this week and includes a Benoit Pioulard remix. Viul is an ex-band member of Esmae which Benoit was the drummer and Viul played guitar. I love the control on the range in the static sound Viul makes, its more inviting to new listeners and half way thru he lightly eases in acoustic guitar and pulls back on the noise, a perfect song to listen to all the way thru for friends that haven’t heard of Fennesz.
I haven’t heard from Deadbeat in ages but he was one of the first consistent Minimal Dub producers around and released on the great ~scape label out of Germany. Organ In The Attic Sings The Blues cuts out the MCing and generic raggae sound and plays around in the more interesting yet always enjoyable experimentation of new sounds in a genre thats been around for ages.
Norway is pumpin’ out the slow disco producers left n’ right and they all have been pretty impressive especially Blackbelt Andersen who has a new record out that is self titled. Reminds me a little of what I loved about Swayzak’s Snowboarding In Argentina which i’ll post later this week.
On a side note I never get to thank you all enough for checking out the blog and the music daily that we get to share with you. It really means a lot to me when I find out any of you go out and support the musicians hard work by just buying a $.99 song or when you just find a new song here that you want to listen to over and over by just streaming it, all of you are a pretty amazing in my book.
