Wow, can’t believe I missed this one! My favorite Norwegian band, Casiokids, is releasing a follow-up LP a year after their stellar debut Topp stemning på lokal bar hit the shelves stateside. Consequence of Sound is streaming the whole album, verbosely (and Norwegian-ly) entitled Aabenbaringen over aaskammen, right here. Go ahead and download the darker, synth heavy single “Det haster!” below:
Awesome gifs from an awesome band. [via]
While you’re at it, check out an old Mika Miko daytrotter session that was recorded back in 2009 but only posted after it was rediscovered this past week.
When I first popped open the e-mail sent by the enigmatic artist known as Slow Magic, I didn’t know what to expect. With an album title like ▲, one can’t help but think this is another B-rated witch house album that the internet seems to churn out on an hourly basis. However, the multilingual description (ranging from Icelandic to Japanese) of:
Slow magic is the sound made by an unknown imaginary friend.
遅い魔法は未知の想像上の友人が作った音です。
Slow galdur er hljóðið gert með því að óþekkt ímyndaða vini.
La magie lente est le bruit fait par un ami inconnu imaginaire.
made me think that this was some sort of an offshoot of a Sincerely Yours artist. However, all is settled when you finally get around to pressing play and slipping into that chillwave-tinged dream-pop trance.
With the likes of acts such as Weeknd and Cults seemingly coming out of nowhere to land on the big stage in a matter of nanoseconds, it’s becoming less and less surprising to be hit with an out-of-left-field e-mail from someone who has producing a high quality, exceptional album. Certainly Slow Magic falls in this category, and the three track geometric-titled EP is ready-made to be slapped on some wax tomorrow and sold through a worldwide distro by Tuesday.
The opener, and arguably the best of the trio of tracks, “Corvette Cassette” makes good use of the light, off-beat arpeggios to lift you up off the couch and float you in the clouds. The distorted vocal sample — which I can’t quite make out the language/lyrics — does a good job of keeping you suspended while the dueling keyboard lines at the two-minute mark push you past the atmosphere and into interstellar space. It’s pretty much everything you could ask for from a quote-unquote chillwave track: breezy, delicate, and surprisingly complex yet easy to listen to. Check out the song below:
I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for hazy superimposed images where I have no idea what is going on in them (however, I think I can vaguely discern a giant Curious George head in the foreground). The picture above is taken from the myspace page of one Tyler Bates, otherwise known as The Letter Box Project, whose music just so happens to parallel the foggy nature of the photo.
About a month back, Bates sent along a digital excerpt of his latest creation, the aptly titled Memory Static, which is a collection of fluidly moving songs that are sure to garner a handful of listens from Toro y Moi and Julian Lynch fans. Out of the eight tracks included in the abridged .zip, the two that stood out in my mind were the spaced-out “Flashback” and the bass thumping “Epilogue (Funeral Pyre)”.
With “Flashback”, Bates channels his inner Lindstrøm and weaves together an astronomical work filled with sci-fi bloops & bleeps and undulating synth swells — using a series of crescendo/decrescendos about as effective as his Norwegian predecessor. On the other hand, “Epilogue (Funeral Pyre)” is a slow moving head banger that’s more industrial than interstellar. With a blaring bass beat that could provide plenty of flash for a creeping rap-free ’67 Chevy Impala (if there is such a thing!), the track evolves imperceptibly by slowly layering whole-note synth lines on top of each other before stripping them off one-by-one abruptly towards the end of the track.
Fortunately, almost all of Mr. Bates’s work is downloadable from his Sound Cloud page which houses the demo version of Memory Static, his last EP entitled Oceans, and other miscellaneous tracks. However, if you just want a sample, check out the two tracks below as well as his trippy video to the Arthur Miller-approved “Death of a Salesman”:
Ready for another round-up of some of my favorite music-related finds of the past week? Well, here goes:
Starting off is a grainy video that I included more because of the music and the musicians than the image quality. On a summer European tour date in Göteborg, Sweden, Massachusetts chanteuse Marissa Nadler teamed up with local Sarah Assbring (better known as El Perro del Mar) for a beautiful rendition of the Don Gibson classic “Oh Lonesome Me”:
One of my favorite concerts in recent memory was the Best Coast show I caught about a week and half ago. Well the videographers at the San Fran based site Truly Yours brilliantly captured Bethany Constantino and Bobb Bruno’s performance of “Crazy”, along with some back story showing how cool Bruno is (which I can confirm):
The next video is from one of my most anticipated SXSW bands, The Good The Bad. This midly NSFW vid for their simply titled “026″ captures the sex, drugs, and rock & roll this Danish band is known for:
Although the next one is just an audio rip of Gnonnas Pedro et ses Dadjes excellent track “Dadje Von O Von Non” (and a poor one at that, with the final 90-or-so seconds completely silent), ever since Chocolate Bobka featured it on his Sunday morning radio show, I’ve dusted off my copy of Legends of Benin and have been playing it a lot this week:
The guys over at IGIF labeled this video as of their favorites they’ve seen in a while. I tend to agree with them. Here is Fang Island‘s “Daisy”:
This final video is meant to get you pumped for the upcoming SXSW festival in Austin (only one more month!) Sit back, relax, and soak in the genius of Daniel Johnston as he performs “True Love Will Find You in the End”:
It always seems like there is about ten times as much music out there than what you are able to listen to. Case in point, I stumbled across these two cover songs that were both released early last year and subsequently got lost in my mammoth music library. The first track is nice version of Wavves‘ classic teenage anthem “So Bored” by Ottawa/Bologna artist His Clancyness. I found out about the cover after listening to Mr. Clancy’s heart wrenching ballad “Mistify the Ocean” and decided to delve deeper into his music.
The second song I’m embarrassed I didn’t get around to listening to in ’09 is from the critically acclaimed singer/actress Marianne Faithfull and is a cover of Neko Case‘s “Hold On, Hold On”. Sung in a more sultry voice than Case, Faithfull dirties up the track giving it darker overtones than the original transforming the song into something you expect to be played in a hole-in-the-wall bar rather than world famous concert halls.
Check out both of the covers below paired with their originals:
His Clancyness // So Bored (Wavves Cover)
Wavves // So Bored (Live in NYC)
The newest installment in a series highlighting albums of 2009 that I unfortunately didn’t get around to listening to until just now.
Not listening more closely to Nosaj Thing‘s Drift is probably the greatest tragedy of all the left behind albums of 2009. No doubt this would have been high up on my Top Albums of 2009 list if I paid a little more attention to it rather than skirting it off to the side after a superficial listen. Apparently others didn’t make the same mistake as me, but fortunately I came around to it.
Times like these when trying to describe electronic music albums I realize how inadequate my vocabulary of musical terms is. Most of the time I end up comparing elements of the group with other sounds that you might be more familiar with and no doubt Drift has a lot of parts where the “I think I heard this from somewhere” light flickers on. Taking cues from hipster favorites Ratatat and Daft Punk as well as from Billboard Top 40 artists Beastie Boys and Linkin Park (gag), there are ample comparisons to made. Instead of publishing a long-winded article using adjectives that, let’s me honest, still fail at appropriately describing the music, I’ve decided to just write-up my notes on a track-by-track basis when I attentively listened through the album:
Here are a couple of tracks from the album as well as a sweet remix he did of The xx’s “Islands”:
It took another similarly titled article to remind me that, other than a brief live show review, I never got around to talking much about Dawes‘s awesome debut album North Hills. Garnering some attention from some pretty established sites as well as fellow tour-mates, these L.A. alt-country rockers have been slowly building a solid fan base from their killer shows. I was fortunate enough to catch their act in both Lubbock, Texas and Montreal, Quebec (cultural antipodes, I know), and each time I felt that they outshined the headliner Deer Tick. Although their album falls a bit short of capturing the energy of their live set, North Hills still makes for a great listen.
In a year when country was lacking in my opinion, North Hills stands out not because of its inventiveness but because of its return-to-the-roots feel — something that you can’t get from a Wilco album nowadays. Out of the eleven tracks on the LP, you would be hard pressed to find one song that warrants the skip button to be hit, and, if listened to continuously, the album makes for a perfect Sunday afternoon pick-me-up (not unlike Timothy Cushing’s album). Not to imply that easy-listening equates to boring — there are plenty of tracks like “When You Call My Name” and “My Girl to Me” that feature romping melodies — but the LP never begs to be shut-off and, just like Pringles, once you listen to a single song you can’t stop.
No doubt the album highlight is the much revered track “When My Time Comes”. Anchored by repetitive guitar & bass triplets that are sure to make you do some foot tapping, the song is instantly catchy. No doubt helping the track’s popularity is that sing-along appeal which singer/guitarist Taylor Goldsmith nails when the first “Whennnnn My Time Comes…” bubbles up to the surface. Trust me, it’s impossible to not belt out that line with Goldsmith in successive choruses.
If Dawes fell in the one-hit wonder category, no doubt all other tracks would pale in comparison. Fortunately (for us as well as for them), they surround their hit with equally stellar songs. The lead in to “When My Time Comes”, “Give Me Time” is a pleasant listen full of harmonizing vocals and delicate guitar strums, guaranteeing it airtime at a lot of proms in the Southern states, while the follower “God Rest My Soul” is arguably just as catchy as its predecessor.
I could go on and on about the album — like how “That Western Skyline” is an amazing acoustic track or “Peace in the Valley” is a perfect closer — but for the sake of brevity, I’ll just leave you with these two songs to try to convert you:
Dawes // When My Time Comes (Daytrotter Session)
For the critics, listening to CDs and mp3s is a year round job, so they’re able to keep up with the massive amounts of monthly releases without even batting an eye. However, for us casual fans it’s more difficult to keep tabs of the daily happenings of the music industry, and some great albums are bound to go undetected. This is the second installment of a reoccurring feature highlighting those albums that may have slipped through the cracks when initially released but have since been resurrected from the dead.
(Courtesy: ubiquity_zh)
As attested by the map detailing where the musicians of my favorite albums of 2009 are from, I love Swedish artists more than any other country not named The United States. There must be something in the water over there in Scandinavia (or most likely the lack thereof since it’s probably glacial H2O), because, for a population of just over nine million, they certainly churn out a disproportionate amount of great musicians. Just to name a few off the top of my head: José González, El Perro del Mar, Jens Lekman, Studio, Air France, and The Tough Alliance — and that’s just from Göteborg (pop: 500,000)! So when I saw on iTunes a compilation album released this past summer put out by Labrador Records featuring some of the freshest talent this country has to offer, I knew I had to get it!
Featuring only a handful of tracks from well-known artists Stateside (Sambassadeur, The Mary Onettes, and The Legends are the only three I recognize), part of the appeal of the album is that you’re given a chance to discover some music few people in the US are aware of (call it the “hipster draw”). Also, the potential for exposure affects the artists as they are more inclined to put out some of their better tunes to take full advantage of this opportunity to reach a worldwide audience. Although I usually only listen to compilations once just to get a feel of the type of music a particular label puts out, Swedes Do It Better is so chalk-full of great indie-pop that it’s tough for it to not seep into my regular rotation.
The 20-track double LP features sixteen artists, each with their own endearing style; however, in the interest of not writing a review that could rival most dissertations in length, I’ll just cut to some of my favorites. Although Suburban Kids With Biblical Names take there name from a Silver Jews lyric, after hearing their track Phoenix-ly titled “1999″, I think it’s safe to say that’s the only thing they share in common with David Berman & Co. With brightly played keyboard and a voice sounding like a less draggy/more upbeat Jens Lekman, SKWBN is probably the best music to play to keep your case of the Mondays at bay.
I have to say, my expectations were high after I dug up this gem-of-an-album-cover researching Stockholm’s Acid House Kings. Fortunately, I was not disappointed with their song “This Heart is a Stone” which is sugary enough to give you multiple cavities. Fluffed up by incessant jingle bells, vocalist Julia Lannerheim — with her candy-coated sound — has a hard time convincing us the calloused nature of the song’s protagonist as revealed by the track’s title. Regardless, the Acid House Kings pull out one of sweetest sounding “love is tough” diddies since The Pipettes “It Hurts to See You Dance So Well”.
However out of all the songs, the one I get most giddy about is [ingenting]‘s “Halleluja!” (yes, with brackets). One of the few sung in Swedish, [ingenting] certainly have that Dungen allure to them. With a wall of sound that would make Spector’s hair stand on end and a one-word sing-along chorus (hmm, I wonder which word…), I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a stadium anthem in their home country. Wait, let me check youtube — well close enough.
I don’t know, maybe it’s because I spent over a year in Copenhagen and traveled extensively throughout the Nordic region, but I think there is something to be said — something great — about Scandinavian music. Maybe it’s their more carefree lifestyle or their prevailing sense of happiness, but whatever it is, the whole world has them to thank for their extraordinary musical exports.
To give you taste, here are two label-released mp3s mentioned in this article:
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names // 1999
Also, you can download another Labrador sampler featuring most of the artists in this compilation for free from the pirate bay (don’t worry it’s legal). [via: It's A Trap]
This is the first installment of a reoccurring feature highlighting albums that have slipped through the cracks when initially released but have since been resurrected from the dead.
I must admit that I was unaware that Mount Eerie existed as a band before a week ago, so I regret to inform you that there will be no comparisons or allusions to the group’s prolific past with this piece. Thankfully, Wind’s Poem, the latest LP from founder/band-leader Phil Elverum, is a brilliant enough composition that one doesn’t need background information just to fill an editor’s word count. Already cropping up on a number of Best of ’09 lists (most notably former Sleater-Kinney guitarist turned NPR blogger Carrie Brownstein’s single album year-end census), this 55 minute epic masterfully strikes a balance between the noisy and the serene and skillfully uses audio to paint a naturalistic scene Robert Frost would be proud of.
You don’t have to be Robert Langdon to realize how meteorological events play a huge role in anchoring the album (track titles named “The Mouth of Sky”, “Wind’s Dark Poem”, and “Wind Speaks” only require eyes and half a brain to figure this out), but Elverum takes this motif past superficial nomenclature and reinforces it with his music. If one were to glance at my notes, words like “deluge”, “thunderous”, “atmospheric” instantly pop out of the page and are present on almost every track. Take the opener “Wind’s Dark Poem” for example: opens with earthquake guitar rumblings / torrents of fuzz drown out the delicate vocals / briefly subsides just enough to provide a clearing for lyrics.
If you didn’t know better, it’s easy for one to interpret the above as a Sunn O))) analysis (which at times, Mount Eerie does have the bass to match), however, instead of bombarding you with harsh song after harsh song, Elverum understands the importance of resolution. Seldom is there a sonically whirlwind track that isn’t immediately followed by a melodically calm song. After “Wind’s Dark Poem”, the clouds break with “Through the Trees” and, as the lyrics suggest, “you can see the light of dawn / through the trees”. But this serenity is more equatable to what is experienced in the eye of a hurricane: just when you think you are in the clear, you are thrown into the backside of the storm. It’s not long (only two songs in fact, with “The Hidden Stone”) before you are whip lashed around with dischordant noise again.
This rough/soft duality is expressed countless times throughout the album, and not just from song order. Although “The Hidden Stone” is a stormy Black Mountain-like song with guitar crashing from all sides, Elverum pairs it with delicate vocals reminiscent of Horse Feathers Justin Ringle’s voice. This is part of the appeal of the band — Elverum’s singing is like a life preserver on top of choppy waters. In fact, the only time Elverum belts out some truly terrifying lyrics is during “Lost Wisdom Pt. II” when he exclaims “I think the screaming wind said my name” which is sung during a lull in Raveonettes-esque (a la Lust Lust Lust) chaotic distortion.
And just like all nightmarish thunderstorms which are destined to slowly fade into just a sprinkle, Wind’s Poem last track “Stone’s Ode” is a fitting conclusion to this mentally taxing album. A brightly composed indie-rock song, “Stone’s Ode” would be viewed as just another above average track that would be forgettable within a week in any other setting. However, after the tumult that is Wind’s Poem, it provides a nice transition to whatever you have next alphabetically on your iTunes.
Here are some tracks from Wind’s Poem that you can check out:
