Now that the holidays are in our face without recourse for escape, we start making our gift lists and are for damn sure checking them twice. How about Evil Knievel's crash helmet and jumpsuit for that special daredevil dad, or a She & Him yuletide log app, or maybe a helping of that Jack White / Lady Gaga beef for that special mainstreamer in your life. Then if all the fiscal cliff hype and geopolitical distress were not enough, we are still sorting out the news and rumors of Das Racist's alleged split, the potential probation violation of the Chief Keef gun-range-gate fiasco, Grizzly Bear got shut out of the Grammy buzz, but rest assured our boy Frank Ocean got 6 nominations. And as we continue our mourning of Dave Brubeck, Ewan Robertson, aka Offshore, and my grandfather Herman; we hold our heads up high to celebrate their lives and contributions while we look to today's torch bearers of burning hunger, independence, and ingenuity in no particular order.
bentcousin dropped their single about the endearment of picking sides when it comes to couples, “Think I Like Your Girlfriend More Than You”. London twins Amelia and Pat Innit present a big batch of what we love about their lyrical wit and referential irreverence. Be it little things like rhyming “rasta” with “skin like alabastar” and the never ending consistent conflicts of inconsistent compatibilities of, “when she's happy, you seem mad, when she's pretty, you're not glad, you didn't help her with her mood, you went drinking when she had the flu,” etc. Then as the song begins to sunset over Amelia's chorus refrain, Pat begins the “here she comes” VU cover of “Femme Fatale” lyrics and guitar progressions. bentcousin's debut album, Everybody's Got One will be available February 19, 2013 on Team Love Records.
LA's Foot Village are touting the coming of their future release, Make Memories with a drummed up trailer full of percussive, maximum rhythmic-anticipatory fan fare. Prepare for the sound that edifies percussion, aggression, semi-innocent exhibtionism, and raw emotion above all, along with those assualting vocals that makes your throat bleed from listening alone. While their forthcoming fourth album is slated for release in March from Northern Spy, pre-sale for Make Memories begin on the Mayan End of the World, December 12, 2012.
Tennessee's Nomadic Firs released their single, “Starfish Kids” that moves like analog tape recordings of the ebb and flow of tides through the sound chamber of a seashell. “In a silly way, it's really an adventure almost a game”, explains frontman Ryan Boos, “Starfish Kids' was a hyper sense of that, the liberty to express certain feelings, while trying to keep a pop lid on it all. The idea to 'take each other hands, and radio' is the equal to closing your eyes, let things sweep you away.” And it is here when the back pages of chronicled thoughts get jogged like the sound retro radios make when their dials get spun counter-clockwise.
“In this tune I used a couple of really old pieces of obscure vinyl to get those sounds, I was tired of using guitars, especially in conjunction with my voice, so I started with manipulating wax via a pioneer 500 effects mixer, this was the bulk of recording. I spent a few days fooling with deck speeds and effects, or moving the record with the turntable off, nothing groundbreaking, but experimentation like this keeps me interested in recording. It has to be fun, until it isn't. So that's the short version of this tunes fabric.”
“The 'Starfish Kids' title is about running around the beaches in Florida as a kid with my uncle. That's us in the picture, we were free to do whatever we wanted, and we did. Crashing hotel pools up and down the coast when you're a little dude, now that's living!” And like the scratch of the record that blends with the sampled percussion beats, the reminiscence is surrounded by the chimes that transport the the oldest of souls back to the carefree days of growing up. “The verse is remembering, everything else around is candy land”.
Download “Starfish Kids” from the Firs' Bandcamp and listen here.
Meet Edinburgh's Young Fathers, a trio consisting of childhood buddies Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole, Graham “G” Hastings, who dropped the visual today for their single “Sister”. In the minimalist blue light and industrial backdrop; the rhythm marches with Yoruba style female chorus chants and song, echoing their upbringing by Nigerian expats while the verse is a conscious plea to protect your sister amid myriad global adversities.
“living happy godless gimmick
power poison million dollar
ocean walking knowing hoping
freezing leaving greedy coward
brother mother mixer father
clapping other shifting colour
trailing fading looking making
combat warning picture witness
loser chooser giving testing
woman turning silent hustle
future level jacket ratchet
chemist scumbag cliche friendly
defect reflect process precious
answer statement simple aiming
target easy virus control
image changing wasting…”
Young Fathers' TAPE ONE comes out January 14 in the UK and January 22 on Anticon.
Helsinki's Kiki Pau lent a listen to “Tomte Mars” that rides on a horse trot bass rhythm into the sound of cinematic, arid, deserts. It's not until about 5 minutes and 50 seconds in when the “bubbles burst like fireworks” where the desperado twang and cool croons, “I want to lay in the grass all night, I want to stay here and stay at the skies…oh we're so wild.” Kiki Pau's forthcoming third album Pines will be available February February 5 on Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records.
Kyle Fields, aka Little Wings give us his new single “Sandy Babe” Fields channels his experience from days at K Records, or playing with Matt Ward before dude dropped the first name to an initial, and beyond his influencing of Feist, Phil Elvrum, etc; “Sandy” showcases roads stretching across the West Coast landscapes and the universal touring roads that bring him to the safe-at-home-sentiments of requited love that a troubadour spends an entire, exhausted existence looking for. LAST will be released February 5, 2013 through Kyle's label Rad, distributed by Marriage Records.
La Big Vic released the Trippy flanged out jazz undertones with that sultry vocals of “Ave B”. Like looking through picture books of out dated memories and love letters of meaning long lost; we await La Big Vic's album Cold War, available January 29 from Underwater Peoples.
From this year's REBEL EP, Full |Rebel| Jacket drops “G.R.I.T.S.” featuring a verse from Houston's Chalie Boy while G & Q rhyme and describe the girl rain ode to women in the South.
Woke up the other morning to discover the new Farewell Republic song “Lines” delivered to me in my inbox from frontman Sivan announcing the emergence of the second song from their upcoming second LP. Drums spring this track to life from the beginning, the guitars guides the bass like stitch work as Sivan's vocals move behind the lines with accompaniment from Echo Friendly's Shannon Esper. Brooklyn's Republic continues to push the art of feeling based dream workings in their music that reshapes their sound in manners of unpredictability that makes them one of our bands to continue to listen to and watch in the year(s) to come. Farewell Republic's debut LP, Burn The Boats, is available from Bandcamp while their their forthcoming full-length Young Effete Titans of Industry is coming in early 2013.
Edmonton Alberta's Renny Wilson kept things lit up from their echoing “By and By” wind tunnel draft-dance jam. Still keeping things Chill Mega Chill, Wilson employs liberal helpings of saxophone throughout the track with a keen eye to keep the bass line in toe with accompanying bells and random rhythmics in a self-assured formation Find “By and By” and more on the the forthcoming 2013 debut, Sugarglider slated for release on January 22, on Mint Records.
Peep Burywood's chill-fi-every-is-all-right video for “Latenight” that presents beautiful women in the great outdoors posing by statues, captured n Super 8 and edited by Philip Woodbury from Burywood's album Sum Kinda Golden Age, available on their Bandcamp.
Beach Fossils released the new single “Careless” that sound anything but the the implied title, while heralding the forthcoming of their new Captured Tracks album, Clash the Truth. The vinyl pre-order is available through InSound while the single is available via iTunes.
Autre Ne Veut drops the hospital room set video for “Counting” featuring Mykki Blanco. Veut's count down concerns of the mortal coil gets some “I need you right now” immediacies from Mykki who shares in the agony, pain while reaching out between the clinical into the cavernous voids of the other dimensions. Autre Ne Veut's forthcoming Anxiety is slated for February 26, 2013 from Software Recording Co. featuring guest stars from both Mykki and Oneohtrix Point Never.
Django Django drops the “Life's a Beach” video with trippy dance visuals from Isaac Eastgate.
Exile and the Dirty Science collective dropped their mixtape Cassette to give a little something, something back to the fans during this hard up holiday season. Here you can excavate Exile's archives between the years of 1996-2009 where you can hear demos from the album “4TRK MIND”, Blu & Exile rough tracks, Kankick's cut “Like That”, along with E's project with Aloe Blacc, Emanon. Prepare your ears for that 4-track, analogue sound now.
Download Exile's mixtape Cassette here.
And there is also Django Django's “Life's a Beach (The Very Best Remix)” to keep the beach vibes in gear.
We also have Child Bite's bright synthesized update of Yo La Tengo's “Sugarcube” that brings us into 2013's brand of indie dance with feeling, and plenty of emotional awareness.
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Mocky's shift from Berlin to Los Angeles presents a musical helping of pan-euro sensual grooves on the new single “Little Bird”. The warehouses beats of Berliner dance are met with the whisper-sung, “don't fly away” pinings that LA's indie dream scene is obsessed with these days. The Graveyard Novelas EP promises more autotuned vibraphones, a 30 strong choir, vocals from Hilary Gay, Pegasus Warning and production assists from Lucky Paul, available out February 25 through Heavy Sheet.
Get into the John Cale's latest sound vibes with “Hatred” a bonus cut from his latest album, Shifty Adventures in Nookie Land available only as a bonus 7″ that comes with the deluxe LP version available from Double Six. I think what I really took away from this were questions like is the great Mr. Cale hitting up the clubs these days? Was that really a “booya, booya” mens chorus section? What more do you need to know?
Seen on tour with John Cale, Cass McCombs delivers on his “Empty Promises” with some chill fullfillment of grooves that reminds of what subtle things can be done in the careful singe-songcraft schools of sparse but heady arrangements.
We got your listen to the first single from Ducktails album The Flower Lane' with “Letter of Intent”. Listen now to Jessa Farkas on vocals, Daniel Lopatin keeping the grooves spinning on the synth, with Joel Ford keeping the bass thumping. The Flower Lane deluxe edition boasts an old-fashioned letterpress sleeve made by hand along with 180 gram heavyweight vinyl with pressings limited to 300 copies. Pre-order of the LP, CD and cassette are available now from Domino.
So Hieroglyphics are getting into the time accessory game with help from Fl
