Gorilla vs. Bear + Cascine will descend upon the City of Angels this fall to present an intimate evening with an amazing lineup of artists at Resident in Downtown LA, on Thursday, November 10th...
Computer Magic's "Dimensions", a track we were already very fond of, gets some magical, dream-like visuals from director Joseph Carlin, who brings the song's vibe of starry-eyed wonder to life in the middle of a dark forest. Danz tells us about the video:
We're psyched to premiere the promising debut tape release from young Grand Rapids duo Alyssa Midcalf + Marley Ferguson, aka PARTS. Their self-titled 3-song EP is an ethereal collection of diaphanous, dreamily melancholy synth-pop, highlighted by the swooning, achingly pretty opening track "Pieces" and its poignant refrain of "I don't love you but I need you to stay"...
Russian underground producer Yana Kedrina -- aka Kedr Livanskiy -- drops the gritty new visuals for "Keep Your Word" (the "stupidest song of the album"), taken from her brilliant debut EP January Sun. Directed by Yana with her friend Konstantin Bushmanov, it feels like something you might've stumbled upon watching some late-night Soviet public access version of Amp in the mid '90s:
Still riding the wave of acclaim and recognition from members Kyle Dixon + Michael Stein's instantly iconic Stranger Things score, Austin synth-wave group S U R V I V E are set to drop their majestically ominous and cinematic new LP RR7349 this Friday via Relapse Records, but you can stream the whole thing now, via exclaim. Listen below + cop the record on limited chrome cassette from Holodeck:
Nicolas Jaar's new full-length Sirens is out on Friday, but you can stream the whole thing today by tuning into channel 333 over on Jaar's THE NETWORK starting at 6 PM EST (update: it appears to be available on a loop now). In a packaging gimmick matched in coolness only by Jaar's aluminum prism, the deluxe vinyl edition of Sirens comes complete with sleeve art printed on scratch-off lottery ticket paper + a U.S. quarter for scratching. Pre-order here + check the full tracklist after the jump...
It's fun when a song that has been so incessantly hyped -- and was, by any measure, already a hit before it was even finished -- ends up being as good as you'd hoped...
Thanks to Adam for the heads up on Russian experimental pop luminary Kate Shilonosova, aka NV, and her entrancing and addictive new album Binasu...
We don't know much about the elusive and mysterious new artist BOYBOY -- who is probably Los Angeles-via-New Zealand artist Sam McCarthy -- other than the fact that he has quietly dropped two of the most effervescent and infectious jams of the year, and that people are sleeping...
We feel pretty confident proclaiming 2015 the best year for new music this decade, and we'd even go so far as to say it's been arguably our favorite year in the history of this site. So many stars seemed to serendipitously align this year — our 10th as a blog — for sounds that veered right into our own personal, sometimes insular little lane: the triumphant return of Grimes; the improbable meteoric rise of Leon Bridges from seemingly out of nowhere (i.e., right here in our own backyard); a sweet, thoroughly relatable, '90s-hip-hop-inspired record from Panda Bear (our favorite artist); two Beach House albums in the span of two months; D'Angelo with probably the best show we've seen since the last time he rolled through town 15 years ago; Grouper started a pop group; the summer of Jamie xx; and on and on. If 2015 had seen the release of Dear Tommy and new music from Shabazz Palaces or Burial (all still possible, I suppose), our blog might have imploded. With all of that said, I still feel like we went as deep as ever this year, and as always, there were some genuinely incredible hidden gems to uncover if you spent a little time digging. Let us know how your year went as you check the full list of our 50 favorite records of the year, and lose yourself in our nearly 3-hour-long spotify playlist:
Gorilla vs. Bear + Cascine will descend upon the City of Angels this fall to present an intimate evening with an amazing lineup of artists at Resident in Downtown LA, on Thursday, November 10th. Starring our longtime favorites/inspirations Kristin Kontrol, Nite Jewel, and Jerome LOL of DJDS, along with one of our new favorites, Barcelona's NOIA...
Computer Magic's "Dimensions", a track we were already very fond of, gets some magical, dream-like visuals from director Joseph Carlin, who brings the song's vibe of starry-eyed wonder to life in the middle of a dark forest. Danz tells us about the video:
Tel Aviv artist Totemo follows up one of the most heartbreakingly lovely songs and videos of the year with a glowing new re-imagination of her song "Dreamit", in which Zammuto (formerly of beloved electro-acoustic "collage music" duo The Books) deconstructs and reassembles the track into a playfully eerie, trance-inducing lucid dream...
We've teamed up with our friends at Margin Walker + the Granada Theater to present a very rare evening with the great Nicolas Jaar, live in Dallas on October 19th. We have three pairs of tickets to give away for this one; just tell us your favorite Nicolas Jaar song in the comments below or over on Facebook, and I'll pick the winners the week before the show...
That dreamy and hypnotic Mall Grab + Yaeji track we've been faithfully bumping late at night for a few months now finally gets an official (soundcloud) release:
"Time changes everything. Summer is Gone is a 10 track album I've created, my attempt at putting into musical form the aching feeling of memory. Of time bending in the best moments of our lives. Those fleeting moments of freedom you feel when you're surrounded by the ones you love to be of course followed by life's inevitable disappointments and failures...
We're psyched to premiere the promising debut tape release from young Grand Rapids duo Alyssa Midcalf + Marley Ferguson, aka PARTS. Their self-titled 3-song EP is an ethereal collection of diaphanous, dreamily melancholy synth-pop, highlighted by the swooning, achingly pretty opening track "Pieces" and its poignant refrain of "I don't love you but I need you to stay"...
Here's the new single from Olympia, WA duo Maryjane Dunphe (also of VEXX) + David Jaques, aka CC Dust. The romantic dancefloor anthem "New Ways" has a certain Maus-ian, driving post-punk vibe, with Dunphe's soaring, overpoweringly emotional vocals triggering a kind of raw visceral catharsis rarely attained through synth-pop these days...
CHROMATICS share a track from Johnny Jewel's soundtrack for the film Home, out October 14th on Italians Do It Better. Watch the video for "Magazine" below. Dear Tommy has been coming soon for years...