WFMU Live Recordings from Primavera Sound.

29 Jun 2011 — Henning Lahmann

It's already been a month since our hearts and minds rested down by the Mediterranean Sea at Barcelona's Parc del Fòrum for this year's edition of the mighty Primavera Sound, but for all those who still haven't found a way back into their everyday lives, the beautiful folks over at Jersey's WFMU have set up a section at their famous Free Music Archive for all their live recordings they've done during the three days in their capacity as the festival's official radio station. Below, we've selected four pieces of concerts we've enjoyed in particular. Head over here to find plenty more, including complete sets by Ducktails (as previously reported, featuring Big Troubles as backing band) and Moon Duo. Oneohtrix Point Never - Live at Primavera Sound 2011 (Excerpt) The Fresh & Onlys - Waterfall (Live at Primavera Sound 2011) The Soft Moon - Tiny Spiders (Live at Primavera Sound 2011) Prince Rama - Summer of Love (Live at Primavera Sound 2011) All photos © 2011 Henning Lahmann. Read more → It's already been a month since our hearts and minds rested down by the Mediterranean Sea at Barcelona's Parc del Fòrum for this year's edition of the mighty Primavera Sound, but for all those who still haven't found a way back into their everyday lives, the beautiful folks over at Jersey's WFMU have set up a section at their famous Free Music Archive for all their live recordings they've done during the three days in their capacity as the festival's official radio station. Below, we've selected four pieces of concerts we've enjoyed in particular. Head over here to find plenty more, including complete sets by Ducktails (as previously reported, featuring Big Troubles as backing band) and Moon Duo. Oneohtrix Point Never - Live at Primavera Sound 2011 (Excerpt) The Fresh & Onlys - Waterfall (Live at Primavera Sound 2011) The Soft Moon - Tiny Spiders (Live at Primavera Sound 2011) Prince Rama - Summer of Love (Live at Primavera Sound 2011) All photos © 2011 Henning Lahmann.

Gem Club: “Breakers”.

29 Jun 2011 — Tonje Thilesen

I'm quite sure we haven't been the only ones waiting impatiently for a new gem by, well, Gem Club to drop in our hands ever since the release of Christopher Barnes and his collaborators splendid six-track EP Acid and Everything last year, and there is all reason to be excited. Recently signed to Hardly Art, Gem Club have an exciting year ahead of themselves, with the debut album Breakers already set to hit the shelves on September 27th. Let the magic of the first official single Breakers fill your ears with beauty (and sadness) below, which is per usual free to snatch over at Bandcamp. Gem Club - Breakers Read more → I'm quite sure we haven't been the only ones waiting impatiently for a new gem by, well, Gem Club to drop in our hands ever since the release of Christopher Barnes and his collaborators splendid six-track EP Acid and Everything last year, and there is all reason to be excited. Recently signed to Hardly Art, Gem Club have an exciting year ahead of themselves, with the debut album Breakers already set to hit the shelves on September 27th. Let the magic of the first official single Breakers fill your ears with beauty (and sadness) below, which is per usual free to snatch over at Bandcamp. Gem Club - Breakers

Video Premiere: Modern Witch - “Desire”.

28 Jun 2011 — Henning Lahmann

We won't use its name - you'll know anyway - so suffice it to say that Denver, Colorado duo Modern Witch has always been one of the more interesting, radical and innovative exponents of that certain short-lived microgenre that had something to do with the dark side and a contemporary definition of goth (go here to find out what that means in particular). The Sterling Crispin-produced video for Modern Witch's brand new tune Desire perfectly sums up what this music is all about, with its baffling mélange of occultist symbolism and post-modern, internet age-informed digital collage experimentation that constantly hovers between ironic amusement and unsettling disturbance. It is in fact exactly this obvious sense for subtle, almost romantic irony and the blatant rejection to take themselves too seriously that sets the contemporary darkness-worshipping crowd apart from their hilarious predecessors that we used to despise so relentlessly back in our high school days. This here, in fact, is pretty cool. Berkeley, California imprint Tundra Dubs has united Modern Witch with Austin-based project Os Ovni for their rad Love/Desire split 7 inch which is out today. Order now right here. _____________________________________________ Check out Os Ovni's side of the split as well: Read more → We won't use its name - you'll know anyway - so suffice it to say that Denver, Colorado duo Modern Witch has always been one of the more interesting, radical and innovative exponents of that certain short-lived microgenre that had something to do with the dark side and a contemporary definition of goth (go here to find out what that means in particular). The Sterling Crispin-produced video for Modern Witch's brand new tune Desire perfectly sums up what this music is all about, with its baffling mélange of occultist symbolism and post-modern, internet age-informed digital collage experimentation that constantly hovers between ironic amusement and unsettling disturbance. It is in fact exactly this obvious sense for subtle, almost romantic irony and the blatant rejection to take themselves too seriously that sets the contemporary darkness-worshipping crowd apart from their hilarious predecessors that we used to despise so relentlessly back in our high school days. This here, in fact, is pretty cool. Berkeley, California imprint Tundra Dubs has united Modern Witch with Austin-based project Os Ovni for their rad Love/Desire split 7 inch which is out today. Order now right here. _____________________________________________ Check out Os Ovni's side of the split as well:

Vehicle Blues: “Koz Park”.

28 Jun 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Here's the a-side and title track of Vehicle Blues' new cassingle Koz Park that's part of Bridgetown Records' immense summer batch. Jangly, noisy and reverb-heavy as ever, Gabe Holcombe's purest guitar-wash glory is clear-cut "bedroom shoegaze" (Kevin Greenspon) for those who do know both the downsides of dull happiness and the upsides of splendid melancholia. Order the cassette over here. Vehicle Blues - Koz Park Read more → Here's the a-side and title track of Vehicle Blues' new cassingle Koz Park that's part of Bridgetown Records' immense summer batch. Jangly, noisy and reverb-heavy as ever, Gabe Holcombe's purest guitar-wash glory is clear-cut "bedroom shoegaze" (Kevin Greenspon) for those who do know both the downsides of dull happiness and the upsides of splendid melancholia. Order the cassette over here. Vehicle Blues - Koz Park

Brandon Biondo: “Sleeve”.

28 Jun 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Completely unanticipated mellow vibes coming straight outta Knoxville, Tennessee. Coolrunnings' mastermind and Dracula Horse CEO Brandon Ian Biondo is up for some seriously melancholic shit here with his brand new tune Sleeve, a shamelessly beautiful dream pop effort featuring all the echo you could ask for, Brandon's sweeter than ever voice and even some sampled flutes to make up for your favorite lost childhood lullaby. Enchanted we are. Brandon Biondo - Sleeve Read more → Completely unanticipated mellow vibes coming straight outta Knoxville, Tennessee. Coolrunnings' mastermind and Dracula Horse CEO Brandon Ian Biondo is up for some seriously melancholic shit here with his brand new tune Sleeve, a shamelessly beautiful dream pop effort featuring all the echo you could ask for, Brandon's sweeter than ever voice and even some sampled flutes to make up for your favorite lost childhood lullaby. Enchanted we are. Brandon Biondo - Sleeve

Baby Lips: “No Blood”.

27 Jun 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Charleston, South Carolina's Mirror Universe gained some decent interweb fame when the widely buzzed-about so-called "cassette revival" seriously took off sometime between the summer of 2009 and this, mainly due to the coincident hype around chillwave/glo-fi that initially happened to involve quite a few South Carolina artists, most significantly Toro Y Moi and Washed Out who both had their first releases on Mirror Universe in July and September 09, respectively. Both tapes are of course long sold out now, and since the buzz around that certain microgenre has started to fade it has gotten rather quiet around the small imprint, which of course doesn't imply that they've stopped dropping gems on magnetic material. To the contrary, without a big fuss the dudes have kept on doing what they do best, unearthing the most incredible new leftfield pop stuff both homegrown and from across the States or even the world (most notably releases by His Clancyness and the heart-melting Weakend by Yu(c)k/Oupa), and they've hardly ever failed. Baby Lips belong in the "homegrown" category. Charleston-based Joel T. Hamilton (who also has a solo project) and his girlfriend have just dropped their debut C26 Nineteen Ninety Ching via MU, and it's just another proof of the imprint's impeccable sense for rad fresh voices. Sporting rather peculiar outfits on stage, the duo has created five baroque pop tunes that despite their obviously lo-fi production means feature an almost pompous demeanor, constantly leaning towards the dark side with opaque organ melodies and eerie, at times deliberately clownesque vocals. A very worthwhile debut altogether, and another pleasant surprise hailing from the Old South. The tape is available for pre-order over here. You may also stream/purchase it digitally via Baby Lips' bandcamp. Baby Lips - No Blood Read more → Charleston, South Carolina's Mirror Universe gained some decent interweb fame when the widely buzzed-about so-called "cassette revival" seriously took off sometime between the summer of 2009 and this, mainly due to the coincident hype around chillwave/glo-fi that initially happened to involve quite a few South Carolina artists, most significantly Toro Y Moi and Washed Out who both had their first releases on Mirror Universe in July and September 09, respectively. Both tapes are of course long sold out now, and since the buzz around that certain microgenre has started to fade it has gotten rather quiet around the small imprint, which of course doesn't imply that they've stopped dropping gems on magnetic material. To the contrary, without a big fuss the dudes have kept on doing what they do best, unearthing the most incredible new leftfield pop stuff both homegrown and from across the States or even the world (most notably releases by His Clancyness and the heart-melting Weakend by Yu(c)k/Oupa), and they've hardly ever failed. Baby Lips belong in the "homegrown" category. Charleston-based Joel T. Hamilton (who also has a solo project) and his girlfriend have just dropped their debut C26 Nineteen Ninety Ching via MU, and it's just another proof of the imprint's impeccable sense for rad fresh voices. Sporting rather peculiar outfits on stage, the duo has created five baroque pop tunes that despite their obviously lo-fi production means feature an almost pompous demeanor, constantly leaning towards the dark side with opaque organ melodies and eerie, at times deliberately clownesque vocals. A very worthwhile debut altogether, and another pleasant surprise hailing from the Old South. The tape is available for pre-order over here. You may also stream/purchase it digitally via Baby Lips' bandcamp. Baby Lips - No Blood

Yung Life: “I Be Scared”.

27 Jun 2011 — Henning Lahmann

It's been almost a year since we last heard news from thriving Knoxville, Tennessee duo Yung Life, but here they are finally returning with yet another lush and dense shoegaze-informed new wave anthem that immediately sticks on your eardrums with its upbeat drum machine pattern and very 80s-leaning washes of distorted and heavily reverberated synth layers. Expect more to come soon. Yung Life - I Be Scared Read more → It's been almost a year since we last heard news from thriving Knoxville, Tennessee duo Yung Life, but here they are finally returning with yet another lush and dense shoegaze-informed new wave anthem that immediately sticks on your eardrums with its upbeat drum machine pattern and very 80s-leaning washes of distorted and heavily reverberated synth layers. Expect more to come soon. Yung Life - I Be Scared