The Dude Rezzie hinted at something amazing in the "New Encounters" section of his last post on Weird Magic. Jssst is a minimal techno freaker from Amsterdam. His Soundcloud is full of (mostly) downloadable material. Jssst dives into the dark and brooding side of trance-inducing dance music, drugging the listener/dancer with deep mechanical bludgeonings on repeat. Hard to place exactly what my favorite jams are here, sort of like it's hard to choose a favorite Raga from Charanjit Singh's Ten Ragas To a Disco Beat -- Jssst's cuts are all so euphoric and uplifting it's hard to care about one stopping when there's another right behind it.
Ups to Vlek Records for the tip on some new Sagat works, one of which has been killing it all nite around FBUS HQ. Stream "Truz_Porscha" below then check his remixes I've posted in the past for Cupp Cave and Dynooo.
Beautiful Laurel Halo edit of something I know nothing about, "323" by Daniel Wohl. Apparently they performed together a bit ago, then she dropped this.
New Ssaliva record RZA drops January 16 on Vlek Records. The label is revealing the record track by track on Soundcloud. Vlek is also giving away a copy of the EP for "Liking" them on Facebook. The packaging looks beautiful, all hand-screenprinted and embossed by DimRun, Vlek's graphic designer.
yuk. upped a mixtape of remixes he did over the past year as well as some of his own work remixed by others. This gives us an excuse to once again shout out his remix of Mane Mane's "Skin Fox" (video below). Other highlights include remixes of Teebs and Ras G as well as Anenon's version of "Oh Shaman." Download the whole mixtape here. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Someone out there may remember a recent post around these parts regarding Hav Lyfe and how he or they is or are odd and rad in all the right ways. Today Hav Lyfe released a free split digital single with Wanda Group, the O/T EP. The two tracks are made available by some sort of digital label entity called Umbro G. Hav Lyfe's contribution, "Thowback," is a dusty new age pulser. Wanda Group gets weirder with "Outerr," clicking through ambient hum-fog and eventually unintelligible slowed vocal mouth-fog and then back into general click-fog.
Hav Lyfe also has some nice new tunes on his Soundcloud including a download of what I presume is a "remix" of Drake's "The Motto" but I could be very wrong.
Some of the most exciting ambient flutterings I've heard lately come from Chicago's Ben Billington a.k.a. Quicksails. I caught word of Ben through friends who were trying to land him a show in Western Massachusetts. They succeeded. His set at Flying Object was incredible and loud, blowing the lid off what I thought a Quicksails set might sound like. After learning that a Quicksails live set is much different from a Quicksails recording, Ben mentioned he had a cassette out on NNA Tapes that I didn't know about called A Fantasy in Seasons. You should buy one. No idea what Soundcloud tracks are from the tape (if any), but the homie Mary Katherine Youngblood posted "Walking Through Rain" for stream over at Visitation Rites.
Ups to Concepto Radio for the tip on Kentje, a Reggaeton Dutch with a stream-only Soundcloud who apparently killed it all year with instrumentals. His cuts are spacious and induce grinding even within the confines of one's seat, slapping machine gun rata-tat over futuristic Latin rhythms. Sounds like militant hard labor music, the soundtrack to repairing a rebel spaceship or waging war through a hologram keyboard.
Chushi was thrown into my field of vision thanks to a tweet from someone in my Twitter void. I have since forgotten who introduced me to this Russian, which is how the internet usually goes. Coincidentally, this is exactly how Chushi's tunes work -- in one ear and out the other. Sounds mish and mash, start and stop, play out for your ears and finish before you even knew you started. This is an exciting music to me.
Chushi strings together song bits in a quilted fashion, forever a disjointed affair reminding me that listening to sounds doesn't have anything to do with conclusions, but with how it feels at the time and nothing more. Other than that, I know nothing about Chushi and I'd rather keep it that way. Stream/download everything here. I recommend chushi and flakes428.
The homies at Perdizes Dream recently sent over Knights, a new EP from Babe, Terror. It's full of murky, head-bobbing times so check it out cos it's free to stream.
In daily romps through the internet I have been bombarded with year-end praise for Laurel Halo's six-track Hippos In Tanks release Hour Logic. It is fantastic.
Miko Revereza has been on a tear this year, still going strong as we enter December. For BUN/Fumitake Tamura's "Tit," Miko goes all geometric as he plays with rainbowed grids of quadrilaterals, lines and static on a used-to-be-black-but-is-now-more-grey backdrop. The whole thing reminds me of a fantastic and faded t-shirt from the thrift store, in a way still brilliant color-wise but with some well-worn miles on it. Matthewdavid calls the video Miko's "best work to date."
Oh, and about the music -- released on Ryuichi Sakamoto's commmons label which seems to be a very respectable outlet for musicians and artists. Their site is nearly all Japanese, but there are some English bits referring to commmons as a "New Music Community for Real Artists and Music Lovers" while prompting us to "think global, act local."
There's also this little video teaser that I didn't catch a week and a half ago when Miko upped it to his vimeo:
Pynk Voyd is the free-form synthesizer project of Gabriel Chicoine (a.k.a. Gnarfield a.k.a. the non-me half of the Boys Upstairs) and Alex Hornbeck, two current Western Massachusetts residents and good friends of mine letting themselves loose on some weirdo electronic scrapes and gurglings. The two also play in the prog-worshipping trio Dust Witch, who enjoyed covering horror film soundtracks last Halloween at one of our very first Boys Upstairs Presents shows with Matthewdavid. "2BUELLER BALLS" sounds to me like something I'd hear hiss out of an NNA Tape, celestial and raw and teeming with life. And shit, it's just their first demo. They will be playing their first show tonite at Flying Object in Hadley with Eola and Jerry Paper.
Recently came across Napolian, a spaced-out beat project from L.A.'s Ian Evans, due to his smoothed-out-then-hyped-up remix of "Up" from Oneohtrix Point Never's new record Replica.
Not necessarily sure why I hadn't heard of this dude before. He seems to be Software-related in general, has hundreds of Soundcloud plays and is followed by a bunch of like-mindedpeople.
Swirled up nite sounds from Hav Lyfe done showed up in my Twitter feed thanks to two reliablesources. No clue as to where it comes from but it sounds like Hype Williams and the first three Soundcloud followers were three fellows who have been sonically intertwined the past year or so: Arafat Group a.k.a. Dem Hunger, Ssaliva a.k.a. Cupp Cave and Dynooo. Wouldn't be surprised if this was a collaboration between at least two of those gents.
Last week a couple new Chief Trud tracks appeared in my inbox. Last I heard of Trud (a.k.a. Austin Caesar from San Fransisco) he had dropped the Cruise Forever EP in the Spring which I blabbed about. Spectral house wisps and pulses continue to dominate his sound, but the compact-by-his-standards "Cloud Hall" is his best work to date. Not that I don't enjoy a good stretched out house anthem, it's just nice to see dude try out something a bit more condensed.
Fantastic collaboration between slasher brothers Tonstartssbandht and analog video artist Miko Revereza. This might actually be the most serious visual representation of the band I've ever seen in music video form, a psychedelic freak-out with flying human forms and colors apparently inspired by the idea of early 70s Japanese noise rock and the long-haired youth movement associated with it. "Shot To La Parc" appeared on Tonstartssbandht's Arbutus Records full-length Now I Am Become. Buy your copy today.
New Argentinian label Pakapi Records sent over a little information on their first release, a split CDR from Ø+yn (Cordoba, Argentina) and GMC (La Plata, Argentina). The bits and pieces available for sample are dark and damp, mysterious transmissions from a country I know little-to-nothing about. If the sun isn't shining and you want it to stay that way, dive into "Cumbia Masonica" below, from the forthcoming CDR Popolus Ajeno.
Dude with a must-change-now name sent over a few tracks, one of which I've been super intrigued by. Joseph Stallion's "Rings" is screwed like spiked-up molasses. I do believe I would enjoy drowning in that.
Edwin White a.k.a. Eola will be rolling up to Western Massachusetts on December 1 to play a show at Flying Object with Jerry Paper (formerly Zonotope) and others to be announced. You ready?
Feel like such a dorkus for passing over these three recent Jesselisa Moretti clips for Leaving Records associates Julia Holter, Sumsun and Speculator. The three are all very different, Holter's teetering between chaos and zen, Sumsun's being a wild collaboration with Miko Revereza and Speculator's playing out like a goofy Saturday morning cartoon bump complete with what I believe to be cereal. For those keeping track, Speculator's Nice LP is out now on Underwater Peoples and Sumsun's Samo Milagro tape has been out on Leaving for a while. Holter's Tragedy is available on vinyl record from Leaving with sleeve designed by Moretti. The second pressing of 500 ships next week.
New Night People batch features some familiar sounds like those from Taterbug and Sore Eros but has also introduced me to some serious high quality jams from acts I'd heard much less from like Hot & Cold, German Army and The Garment District.
So far my favorite of the bunch is Melody Elder by The Garment District, a project of Pittsburgh-based Jennifer Baron who some might recognize as a founding member of The Ladybug Transistor. The whole tape takes its time, seems to draw its speed from the pace of an every day life viscous with obligations, exercise and rest. The highlight is the third track "Bird Or Bat," in which Baron tones things down even more while letting loose a stream of pierced harmonies. Sounds of a sorrow sort but, like I said, an everyday feeling persists throughout which at once quells any chance of bummer trauma while simultaneously bumming one out from all the bubble life sonic themes.
Ten-minute Sun Araw "At Delphi" official video immediately succeeds fifteen-minute "Impluvium" official video both directed by one Daniel Brantley, both making me scratch head and wonder how Sun Araw's music can hypnotize one into voluntarily staring dead into a computer screen for upwards of twenty-five total minutes.
Why is the above video so unbelievably psychedelic? It's just plants.
...Which brings me to my next argument: Why is THIS video so mundanely unpsychedelic? It's just body. And it goes on for so long, the viewer just waiting for something or some things to happen. And it does. And they do. Did you see that drugsniffer dog? It was there, I saw it. And those hikers? They were women. I saw them. So worth it. Ain't gona give away the big reveal though. I'm not some fucking fool over here. Sun Araw it for yourself.
P.S. How many dance moves do you think were birthed and named during this video shoot? Two dozen? Three dozen? I need an intern for this sort of research.
P.P.S. Sun Araw/Hype Williams collaborative cassette forthcoming.
I've been hopelessly obsessing over the new-ish Future Shuttle record Water's Edge, out now on Intercoastal Artists/Holy Mountain. The album is a serious space trip, with multiple sources likening it to Tangerine Dream. However, my favorite passages seem to cite Slowdive's more ambient groovers (the sound of a spaceship floating and rotating meaninglessly) while capturing an essence I refer to as "Peaking Lights sans air-of-hippie" which may as well be a whole genre itself dubbed "Space Hippie" where one can make music as a hippie but they're way out in space (also referred to as "Far Out") so no one can smell that burnt-ass reefer cos there's no fucking oxygen up there, homie.
Couple weeks ago Shea Rose Quartz introduced me to BNRY, some Joe Bush Londoner out of his mind off some space tube hums and ticks. RQ offered up "Oral B," which certainly opened my ears, but slightly newer jam "Gold Leaf" is currently blowing the ears right off my skull. Shea likened BNRY to something branded with the 100% Silk label but I find him way more futuristic, yesterday's club rumblings chopped and rendered into a more compact frame fit for traveling through wires. Check "Gold Leaf" and "Oral B" below then treat yourself to the Kelly Rowland remix cos for some reason she's heating up again.
Excited about new self-released tooth ache.bandcamp album Flash & Yearn, ten down-tempo almost dancey tracks along the same lines as some of her previous material but a but a lot more crisp. All ten tracks were produced by Burlington, VT weirdo staple Joey Pizza Slice, each one molding Alexandria Hall's now-you-see-me-now-you-don't vocals to fit its surroundings. Words never really escape the echo, but emotional flits rise to the top and more often than not we're tempted to skim them off and ignore occasional beat sloth. Check a download of the first track "Horizon" and a couple more of my favorites streaming below, then buy the whole thing digitally or as a CD when you catch an upcoming tooth ache. show.
As I sit here sipping Bud Lite Lime eating a small amount of fun sized candy contemplating the past weekend's unfortunate snow-and-car-related events, I can't imagine a more perfect soundtrack than the three songs that have been made available for public listening from Oneohtrix Point Never's new album Replica, out soon on Software. I dug the first drop, "Sleep Dealer," and am teetering on the edge of obsession with "Nassau," the newest Replica bite. A jerky affair, "Nassau" skates around the skipping sound of "Sleep Dealer" but sounds more like machines and weather and NFL football. Check out all the stuff below including the Hype Williams directed mini-video.
The fantastic Vlek Records has just announced the release of AMAI 3, the third in a series of four 7" split/compilation records following groupings of Dem Hunger + Cupp Cave and Squeaky Lobster + Lapti. This time around the 7" features three artists as opposed to the usual two: DZA (Russia), Herrmutt Lobby (Belgium) and Richard Colvaen (Belgium). I know next to nothing about any of these guys, but all three tracks are streaming from Soundcloud and each one is Autumn-crisp, futuristic and mighty severe.
Pre-orders ship October 31, official release two weeks later November 14. Oh, and the 7" sleeves are printed in either gold or glow-in-the-dark ink. Dope.
Also there's this video for the Richard Colvaen track that I don't care too much for.
Also I quickly checked out DZA's Soundcloud and this demo was sittin pretty right on top:
I've been sort of obsessed with the creepy new Angels In America album Narrow Road To The Interior, out now on Ehse Records. Inside we find AIA's female half Moppy Pont mumbling out spoken word terror over tense horror flick atmospheres, complete with dank, foggy drips and scratches from somewhere off in the distance. The entire record sounds pained, as if the spoken musings were squeezed up through Moppy's throat against her own will, like a near-empty tube of toothpaste gripped hard by a possessing force.
However, my favorite track is the least dark of the bunch. "Follow Me Out" actually sounds hopeful next to all the grey coffin sounds spread over the rest of the record, like dawn breaking on a mass grave where the falsely-presumed-dead are squirming their way out between the accurately-presumed-dead. Narrow Road To The Interior is available for free download and for purchase on vinyl LP and CD. A bunch more AIA material is available for free download from the Free Music Archive including a live WFMU set from last month.
Orange Milk Records messaged me yesterday about three new tapes that they just dropped, a Quilt/Developer split, Sundrips' One Hundred Hints and Omnicron Girls by Piper Spray. The sample from Quilt's side of the split, "Yes Collapse," is a serious celestial overload while "Omnicron Girls," the title track from the Piper Spray cassette, propels itself along completely submerged. Orange Milk also has releases on the way from Caboladies, Mark Dwinnel (Forma) and La Big Vic. Label heads Seth (Quilt) and Keith (Giant Claw) also have a new project called Cream Juice. They just finished their first record.
Five months ago I got an email about Wild West, a post-punk band active in the M Squared Studios scene in Sydney, Australia between 1980 and 1981. This past Spring they released the Selected Recordings compilation Scratch Another Day, which includes their Beat the Drought EP and live material from their first and last shows. I don't know a terrible amount about the changing post-punk landscape in Sydney in the early 1980s, but I do know that Wild West's brand could fuse funk with harsh synthesizer tones ("Red Sea," "We Can Do") then turn around and strum out a melodic downer ("Locking," "That's Set"). Throughout their entire range, the songs sound desperate and with purpose, the recording straight and raw. Scratch Another Day is available on CD from CD Baby and digitally on bandcamp. Check out a few of my favorites below then stream the whole thing.
p.s. apparently the pots & pans drum part at the end of "We Can Do" was inspired by "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" and that's rad
Didn't get a chance to check out the newer Hype Williams EP Kelly Price W8 Gain Vol. II until this week, prodded by a newer track surfacing under aliases Dean Blunt + Inga Copeland called "But Life Goes On Nahmean." I don't want to shit on the EP, but this new track simply blows its four tracks out of the water. W8 Gain is nice and all but it's bordering on par-for-the-course for Hype Williams. There's slightly-off drum sound rhythms ("Farthing Wood Dub"), spooky trash synthesizer noodling ("Boss Man"), the blunted ambient jam ("Rise Up") and the obligatory out-there spoken word musings over HW soundtrack ("Badmind").
"But Life Goes On Nahmean" breaks most Hype Williams molds, instead reaching some seriously fun pop-rock rollick. Inga Copeland croons in a language that is unintelligible and may or may not exist. Sounds like the melodies were lifted from some psychedelic Indonesian girl group band that some label that does things like that dug up and retro-branded. Also the song sort of proves that if they wanted to and/or had the means, Hype Williams could go for a seriously clean synthetic pop sound and succeed. With a bass sound so meaty it's hard to imagine them failing.
I was hit with a new Vinh Ngan track a couple weeks back. "Lo Por" is a "LoveRap" in Vinh's own words, a song about how one should love their significant other. Serious business. In other Vinh Ngan news, he provided something of a translation of the song "Sun Hing J" last month that I never got around to posting. The subject is gangs, in particular the New Cross Boyz (NXB for short) that Vinh apparently used to run with. I really don't want to delve too deeply into the politics of this gang or the politics of gangs in general, but the translation hints at violence and the satisfaction associated with carrying out violent acts for one's gang, whether they're for-real violence or simply violent intimidations. Check the new piece then the translation of "Sun Hing J."
New Cross Boyz worry fall u people fall we still worry, be fall
Swear
Triad God will look after us, will take care of us
We dont have to be scared we go chop if any think ah 1 leg in prision 1 leg in hell
Waj J im the biggests play it all New X boy top level club prostitute shop i look after it all is it the top level big for the past go chop people so knife shine verion let me? group show my talent my heart will grow
If I die I dont care put my blood in a ocean so it flow in the sea
New Oneohtrix Point Never material hit "The Web" a couple weeks ago in the form of "Sleep Dealer," the first track to emerge from OPN's new album Replica, out this November on Software. Really into the new piece, certainly unlike the many serene ambient passages and searing cuts of white noise found on Returnal. "Sleep Dealer" is pounding and jerky, occasionally pausing to reveal signature OPN synthesizer warmth.
If there's somethin on here you don't approve of me having here please let me know cos I don't wanna hurt nobody. Downloads are for sampling purposes and if there's anything afoot iprnelson@gmail.com is where complaints be filed.
