What a warm week for partying with Pitchforkers, crashing the Con and attending the concurrent Impose Showcase, and sorting through press releases to determine this week's winners in the race to achieve pop mediocrity. We had Jay Z and Kanye keeping a good eye on their empire-building legacies this week while “Watch(ing) the Throne,” M83 not content in the least letting Ernest from Washed Out pull the chill rug from under him, dropping “Midnight City,” and some hack called Hoodie Allen crashing the scene with “Chase is One” to meet the demand for artist borrowing altered monikers of the uptight and famous. So while the media moguls continue the great international race to the bottom with pie on their face, we will let you peruse through the week's popular music movements, tracks and artists in no particular order.
The new big bad EP from Dom, Family of Love is heading our way August 9 on Astralwerks. While I may have been painting these lads as faddish MGMT trend hoppers, the latest leak from the forthcoming EP has the band sounding like a proper indie group that could lend more than electro odes to American living. Not that there is anything wrong with any of this, but we are distributing points and decimal points for variety here. In short, good job boys.
It is no secret that I am a big fan of Unknown Mortal Orchestra's track “How Can U Love Me” and before taking off on tour the band was kind enough to record a live video of that cut with the folks from Yourstru.ly. It is the kind of pop that you would have heard from Beck back sometime in '97, exploring the joys of the falsetto, far away guitar shreds left out in the sun and sparse yet always on the beat drum and bass. Check your local listings to find UMO on the road.
Kings Go Forth, the Milwaukee 10 piece soul phenomenon are continuing to make the national tour rounds before they take to the international stage toward year's end. Their album The Outsiders are Back on Luaka Bop packs plenty of style from the great American soul-sound book from the past fifty years with frontman Black Wolf navigating the group's expansive “soul-quest” vision for the past quarter century. Keep on the lookout, because these Kings might be playing near you soon.
Since Balam Acab first elluded us with the EP See Birds, word on the street has it that the long awaited debut WANDER / WONDER will be available on most imaginable mediums Sepember 6 courtesy of Tri Angle. This has all the glitched out beats, proper use of air and space on the recording (which seems to be the balance that many artists who dabble in these progressive beat genres are obsessed with as of late), with some hi-pitched samples amid morning mood bass lines and synthetic key washes ebbing and crashing on a rocky shore. Dig.
With the third record from Girls on the way this September 13 on True Panther, we finally have a legit leak from the third go-round of break up anthems and tear jerking tales of masturbatorial solitude. The track is called “Vomit,” balancing the “come back baby” moans with blaring big time production motions to drive home the immediacy and importance and desperation for which Christopher Owens might as well have a patent-pending. Hear his thoughts on the new track:
“I wrote vomit before Girls was even a band or an idea, this is one of the first songs I ever wrote along with 'Substance' and 'Headache' what you're hearing in “Vomit” is someone who is at life's lowest, seeing the light, and becoming a songwriter.”
Deep, man.
MP3: Girls, “Vomit”
The emergence of new girl groups, such as Bake Sale from Memphis, is an always weclomed occurrence. They've gained notoriety by playing a series of shows in their home state of Tennessee, befriending Magic Kids, and releasing their first 7-inch on Grand Palace Records; now they're taking on a tour of the East Coast. These gals make fun pop tracks that borrow from the Spector/Goffin/King pool of influence with a semi-scuzz gloss that makes their adorable brand a force to be both reckoned with and a reason to keep an eye on them in the months to come. If they are not household blog darlings by the end of 2k11, 2012 could be Bake Sale's year in the sun.
You can listen to their 7-inch featuring “As Predicted” and “Meanwhile” here:
The video for Pure X's “Easy” off of their album Pleasure has got everything you have been looking for in both song and video. Obligatory excess of spacey pop effects under blankets of lo-fidelity? Check. Arty red filter accompanied with film superimpositions? Done. Light s & m play between stoic shots of the band? Why not?
In keeping with our promise of keeping up with Austra's current residency at Room 205, we bring to you her performance of “Beat and Pulse” draped in digital grainy blue and red features. Have fun!
And because it had to be done, there is now a video to accompany Washed Out's “Eyes Be Closed.” Get your chill on folks.
And finally for the latest in J. Dilla sample revisionism, check out Ab providing a succint depiction of New Orleans' struggle through events both personal and historical following the second World War all over Dilla's beat from “Love it Here.”
