Archive for September, 2010

Efterklang // One-Sided LP

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

The good folks over at Slowtrain just keep on surprising me with the random stuff they have in stock! It seems like every time I go into their shop, I wind up copping a handful of incredibly hard-to-find vinyls from some of my favorite artists. Case in point, this one-sided LP from my beloved Danish band Efterklang, released by Burnt Vinyl Records in late 2006. I remember seeing the record listed on their wikipedia discography a while back when I lived in Denmark, but I’ve never caught sight of a copy in either physical or digital format (even Hype Machine is of no help).

With only a trio of tracks on this single-sided vinyl (one of which coming in at just over a minute in length), there’s not much to this “LP”. However the album, released two years after Tripper and a year prior to the much heralded Parades, acts as an excellent career midpoint by highlighting the band’s growth in sound and simultaneously foreshadowing the great things to come. With a smörgåsbord of instruments (strings, keys, and percussion) — a calling card of sorts for the band — the album is musically intricate and dense, making me wish that my record player had an audio-out port so I could plug in some headphones and really soak in the sound.

Like I said before, I couldn’t get any mp3s of the tracks from this release. However, to give you a taste of the brilliance of this group of Danes, below are two of my favorite tracks of theirs. Also, if you’re in the Salt Lake City area, Efterklang is coming into town the 14th of September, so be sure to check them out!

Efterklang // Himmelbjerget

Efterklang // Modern Drift

Salad Fork // A Compilation for World Hunger

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

About a million posts ago, Lou over at Salad Fork was putting together a kick ass cassette compilation whose proceeds were going towards the relief effort in Haiti. Now, Mr. Altruism is back with another made-with-love CD-R comp., this time benefiting Action Against Hunger whose ambitious, yet hopefully achievable, aim is to end world hunger. Unfortunately, while this post sat dormant in the queue, the physical release — featuring handmade covers depicting an attendee from the Last Supper (seen above) — has been sold out, however, you can still download the digital versions of the compilation from Salad Fork, and, last time I checked, Action Against Hunger still accepts online donations (hint, hint).

The project is broken down into two sets: Disk I is composed of Salad Fork exclusive tracks sent in from the artists themselves while Disk II is some of Lou’s favorite tracks from the past couple of months. No doubt, the former CD-R intrigued me the most (I’ve covered some of the tracks from Disk II already, and have heard most), and I can safely say that it does not disappoint!

The two songs that hit me the most from the “exclusives” disk were Omnivore’s “Take It All” and “Running Man” by Fossil Cities. Omnivore is the synth-heavy project of Glenna Van Nostrand and “Company” (one of which is Paul Morse from PPALMM). The electronic elements of Glenna’s music are entrancing to say the least — hypnotizing you with every pulsating cresendoed phrase — while her harmonizing, possibly pitch-shifted, vocals are reminiscent of what Karin Dreijer Andersson does. I fell in love with this track instantly, and liked it so much that I included it in my latest mix. With nothing more than simple guitar strumming and constant percussion crackles on “Running Man”, Fossil Cities relies heavily on songwriting and the casual, yet powerful, vocals of their lead singer. An arrangement that very easily could go sour fast, the group exploits the simplicity well, making a solid track that I’m sure to come back to time-and-time again.

You can listen to the two songs below and, for a full download of both disks, head on over to Salad Fork. Also, Lou still has a handful of Mixtapes for Haiti for sale, which you can purchase from his blog store here. Remember, with these compilations everything is going towards a good cause!

Omnivore // Take It All

Fossil Cities // Running Man

PT Music Mixxx // New Beginnings

Saturday, September 4th, 2010

For those who follow me on twitter, you are probably already aware that I’ve relocated from Portland to Utah this past month. To commemorate this move to a new environment, I’ve made a one-hour mix composed of mainly new groups from the past year-or-so (with the most notable exceptions being DOOM and Big K.R.I.T. — those songs were just too tight to leave out). All these artists have, at some point in time, been on constant repeat while I’ve packed/moved/unpacked my stuff from point A to B this past month. Much love to Delicious Scopitone, YVYNYL, Get Off the Coast, Salad Fork, Beko-DSL, Widows/Watch, and of course all the stellar bands who’ve submitted mp3s to me which have shown up on this mix. Track list and download link is below. Hope you dig “New Beginnings”!

Track List:

Download (109Mb):
MediaFire or Direct Link (if MF is down)

My Life at the Moment…

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

jj // My Life, My Swag

Minks // Ophelia 7”

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Probably the most pleasant surprise from this mid-summer Captured Tracks 7” release extravaganza was getting to hear a trio of tracks from Brooklyn’s hazy indie-rock group Minks. Other than playing an mp3 of “Funeral Song” a while back, I hadn’t had a chance to get my feet wet with their tunes; but after a couple of spins of their latest 7”, I think it’s safe to say that I’m an auto-fan now.

Opening with the reverb-laden “Ophelia” on the A-side, Minks don’t get too lost in the mist of echo-y vocals and fuzzed out background guitar. At the one minute forty-five second mark, a crisp, and catchy, lead guitar line not only holds your attention but forces you to tap your foot to the groove. The reprieve from the fuzz is slight, as you get tossed back into the sea foam of the singer’s vocals and drift away for the remaining fifty seconds. On the B-side, Minks open with a dreamy, synth-heavy head-bobbin’ track in “Our Ritual” followed by a fucking-around instrumental, entitled “Believer Dog”, filled with noisy dissonance and groan-like sounds. Maybe it’s my being inundated with out-there instrumental music lately, but this third track is my favorite in the bunch.

You can check out an mp3 for “Ophelia” below as well as a tight video for their prior track “Funeral Song”. Also, head over to Delicious Scopitone to read a bilingual interview with the band. Oh yeah, and don’t forget to cop their 7”(s) from the Captured Tracks store.

Minks // Ophelia

Cloud Nothings // You Are Opening

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Leave it to Delicious Scopitone to scoop me on even content that my friends put together! Here is a sweet psychedelic, archival footage-heavy video posted by NervousRoomService (which is either partly or entirely composed of Old Bowl singer/guitarist Eric Braden) for the Cloud Nothings track “You Are Opening”:

The team also has another Cloud Nothings fan-generated vid, this time for “Water Turns Back”, which is definitely worth checking out:

Cosmetics // Sleepwalking 7”

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Got my mid-summer batch of 7”s from Captured Tracks earlier this week and, surprise surprise, they are all pretty damn AMAZING. Starting off the four-pack was the new 7” from Vancouver BC minimalist electro-pop group Cosmetics. With “Sleepwalking”, the A-side to this two-track vinyl, the synth/vocal duo of Aja Emma and Nic M produces a more upbeat track than what we’re used to, with the slightly spaced-out, woozy synth line reminding me more of drunken afternoons in the park than back alley solicitations. The B-side “The Cries” is a bit of a return-to-form for the pair, with driving bass pulses and near-monotonic, ritualistically chants of “I got the cries” pushing the track deeper into darkness.

You can check out the A-side and GvB approved “Sleepwalking” below before inevitably deciding to snag the 7” for a measly $5.50 (I seriously don’t know how they make money at C/T). An added bonus is that the vinyl is on clear wax (pictured above) which makes the physical release so much more aesthetically pleasing than an intangible mp3 file.

Cosmetics // Sleepwalking