I swear, there must be something in the water across “the pond” because these British producers are releasing hit-after-hit that stretch so widely across genres that it’s impossible to pigeonhole them. The latest (and possibly greatest) to grace my ears is Nottinghamshire born Star Slinger. Although I’ve seen his steady stream of Pitchfork featured tracks, I didn’t give a listen until Salad Fork posted a video of him transforming a bookstore into a the coolest dance hall on the planet via the track “Elizabeth Fraser” (check out the vid below). Upon further inspection/lisen, I decided to throw up the Jackson Five-esque track “Mornin’” — off his Volume I digital record — after I floated him the measly $5 for the album.
The past year or so, I’ve been wondering what LA surf-rock outfit Allah Las have been up to. Unfortunately, all the “new material” I could dig up was a pair of videos of them killing it live from this past May — making me even more antsy to hear some new stuff from these guys! Check out the videos below and download my personal favorite “Long Journey” below:
When it comes to album creativity, I think you’d be hard pressed to find any one more imaginative than RxRy — I can’t even fathom the amount of work this guy puts into each and every release. From conception to execution, the whole process is so thoroughly thought-out that everything from the music to the album cover to the videos to the track titles (and the all-too-appropriate ID3 genre tag of “Drownstep”) to even the promo e-mails fit so tight together that it’s difficult to think of one without the other. RxRy is truly redefining the album in a digital age saturated with individual mp3s and ADD attention spans of listeners.
Alpha, the upcoming release by RxRy and the successor to 2010′s Omega (the third of three LPs by him last year), is certainly a change in gears both stylistically and musically. A pentaptych (or possibly a tetraptych depending on how you look at it), the album is divided into five groups (each one taking a letter from A-L-P-H-A) with four “tracks” in each group. As one can guess, the song “A.3_Elusive” fits in as the third track to the first ‘A’ and is a heart-racing 105 seconds. Marked by a relentless, adrenaline-fueled pulsating percussive line, “A.3_Elusive” grips you from the get-go and won’t let go until the very last beat subsides. You can check out the track below and head over to Stadiums & Shrines to hear another cut from the record.
For some reason or another, it’s been ages since I checked out Volar Records’ website. You’d think that releasing one of my favorite 7”s of 2009 and repressing another 7” from a group I grew fond of last year would warrant a couple of revisits in the past months, but it just goes to show how crazy bogged down I’ve been.
Well for their upcoming first official LP release, Volar has nailed another homerun with A, Who Sings That Beat by the trio Ale Mania. Although more polished than normal scuzz garage rock, Ale Mania still hangs on to that DIY-vibe with dirty guitar licks while polishing it up with a crystal clear synth line — with the slightly-echoed vocals inhabiting the region in between. You can download the track “Robust Universe” below. Head over to the bandcamp to listen to a handful of more tracks and don’t forget to pre-order the album from Volar!
It’s hard to out-Book The Books, but there are parts of The Goat’s recently released Super Dreamer Infinite Being EP — offered via bandcamp — that mimics closely the sound collages the NYC duo of Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong are known for. Take for example the opener “Spiritual Phase///Walk on Water” which features snippets of spoken-word samples over a drone-y beat; if this couldn’t be a rough cut for something off of Thought for Food I don’t know what could.
Although the similarities between the two groups are certainly there, The Goat takes a different path midstream. Instead of filling the EP with track-after-track of tough-to-grasp songs and phrasings, he opts to switch gears delving into the more melodic (see: hypnotic arpeggios of “Super Dreamer”) and the more atmospheric (re: “Passing Through”). What you’re left with in Super Dreamer… is what you always want from a debut EP: a collection of interesting thoughts and ideas showcasing the potential of an artist.
Check out my favorite song from the recording below as well as a more uptempoed (and dare I say, fun?) version of Balam Acab’s “Dream Out” that The Goat knit together with samples from Katy Perry and Fleet Foxes:
Sorted through the inbox and found two tracks that I’d like to share. The first is courtesy of recently-covered Philly “smooth-fi/yacht-rock” group Work Drugs. If we were ascribing electronic music genre tags, “Rad Racer” would be post-chillwave indie-pop: focusing less on nostalgic glitz on more on melodic substance. Check out the tune below:
For those that judge a book by its cover, let’s get this straight; Brooklyn’s Quiet Lights are anything but quiet. Taking a densely layered-approach that is two part shoegaze, one part slow burner, “No More Canyons” is heavy sounding instrumentally but lofty in the lyrics, creating a track that simultaneously keeps you tethered to the ground and soaring to great heights.
Two Robyn-related tracks hit my inbox this past week. The first is a badass video for the badass song “Bad Gal” by Savage Skulls and Douster featuring the Swedish pop-queen:
The second is a chilled-out cover of “Hang With Me” by the Rochester group Joywave which features a 800% slowed down section of the original (love this slow-mo trend by the way). Probably one of my favorite Body Talk covers I’ve heard, and trust me, I’ve heard a lot. Joywave// Hang With Me (Robyn Cover)
