23 May 2013 — Parker Bruce
Zoos of Berlin will release a new album with the wonderfully dramatic title, Lucifer in the Rain, on July 15 on the always great Time No Place. The Detroit band is something a little different for the label from LA (home to new NFOP fave Yola Fatoush, as well as Coyote Clean Up, Nguzunguzu, and Rainbow Arabia). "Open the Wine" is the perfect way to say hello to Zoos of Berlin. The opening a bottle of wine is the beginning of something: a revealing conversation or a heart-to-heart, opening the wine on a new album. The lead singer talks about a girl whose 'arms are long,' and he is jauntily accompanied by a metronome-esque backing and little fits of drums and swathes of harp strums saying 'Try another light, this won't turn on'. The musicians say the song is 'slow dancing reflected in an old saloon mirror, or a train leaving the station in reverse, clouds of steam pulled into the chimney'. And indeed, listening to the track, it's kind of all those things.
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20 May 2013 — Andrew Wagner
SFV Acid’s forthcoming record, The Dwell, was recorded entirely on analog in a Starbucks. If that might sound like a bit of a gimmick, the music proves otherwise. The new singe “PT Sex” is short-and-sweet, coupling a laid-back synth line with bits of squelching bass. With its tinny drum machine beat, the track feels slightly tongue-in-cheek, not too far off from James Ferraro’s 2012 house music outing, Sushi. The real joys of the track may be in all of its ornamentation, in which SFV Acid mixes in samples of laughing and occasional waves of repeating, unidentifiable noise, which come together to give the house track a mysterious vibe.
The Dwell is available May 28th on UNO NYC.
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20 May 2013 — Ashley Canino
Nikki Nevver is the cornerstone of Canadian, synth pop project Terror Bird. Nikki, the only originating and perennial member, wrote and recorded the outfit's upcoming, third LP while at home recovering from emotional upheaval. The product, All This Time, is a playful approach to boredom and vacancy. Nikki channeled the lows of returning to Vancouver from a whirlwind of experiences abroad -- including ending her relationship with her husband -- into a tragic, glam symphony. The album makes heartbreak and ennui palatable, even intoxicating. Danceable percussion and pop energy in first single "The Wrong Way" are shadowed by the words "I cannot bring myself / to walk in the park without you." The melodic passivity of the vocals on tracks like "Try To Break Me," and "Elliot" lets you slip away from the intensity of the lyrics at points. From a listener's perspective, the time and emotional energy put into the record were well spent in capturing the dynamic emotions that come when one experiences great changes and time just keeps moving on.
Terror Bird is currently on tour in Europe. All This Time is out May 27th on Night School Records and is available for pre-order today.
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18 May 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Vanessa Upson aka Violetness' long-anticipated 12" Last Night in My Dreams, I Was Talking to You has finally arrived, and the all-too brief yet utterly wonderful work has just received another accompanying video, this time for sweeping, defiant and exalted outré pop anthem "The Mighty Moss". The video, directed by Rodrigo Melendez with a stunning performance by Silvia Kaehler, is as unsettling as it is bold and apposite, and we're happy to premiere it here today.
Last Night In My Dreams, I Was Talking To You is out on LebensStrasse Records.
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17 May 2013 — Lukas Dubro
There are different kinds of drone music. Some sound warm and pleasant, others nostalgic and deeply melancholic. Chicago-based trio Kwaidan again plays drone music that will make you feel uncomfortable and paranoid. Their Sunn O)))-inspired and noise driven sound would be perfect to soundtrack any The X-Files episode or horror movie. Those amongst you having a weak stomach probably shouldn't listen to this, especially not when you walk home all alone in the dark. Everybody else though may enjoy technically well-produced drone with a deep and dense atmosphere. Big respect to Zelienople's Mike Weis, who is doing a great job behind the drums. In particular his way of using cymbals contributes a lot to the dark and heavy vibe of the music.
Kwaidan's debut Make All The Hell Of Dark Metal Bright will drop on ambient expert label Bathetic Records on June 4. If you don't want to wait till then, you may already download the "Gateless Gate" right here.
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17 May 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Early on it became obvious that the folks who founded London imprint Public Information in 2011 had not come to run yet another underground label to exploit the latest fad that the Empire's capital's seemingly inexhaustible electronic music well has happened to spit out of late. Instead, the express mission statement is to dig a little deeper than others, with 'deeper' meaning both with more focus on leftfield's edges and further into the forgotten shades of their Island's musical past. Early last year, the latter operation brought to light the work of Frederick Charles Judd, an underappreciated electronic music pioneer, whose wide-ranging oeuvre of library-leaning synth explorations was distilled into the superb 35-track retrospective Electronics Without Tears.
This year, the whole project has been taken one step further, and the result is Public Information's boldest and most compelling statement yet. Interpretations on F.C. Judd gathers twelve electronic music luminaries from both sides of the Atlantic who share a vision of fierce and intrepid experimentalism. The LP is not a compilation of remixes in the strict sense. Rather, all artists were given the permission to delve deep into Judd's sonic library. The outcome is a collection of mostly surprisingly faithful and deferential reinterpretations that nonetheless manage to exhibit the individual musicians' styles and approaches. This highly adventurous and wholly intriguing piece of music is without doubt one of this year's highlights so far, and surely a release you shouldn't dare to miss. Listen to snippets of all contributions below.
Interpretations on F.C. Judd is out now. Get it on vinyl via Boomkat.
Tracklist:
(1) Ian Helliwell "Solid States"
(2) Perc "Woodford"
(3) Chris Carter "Flip-Flop"
(4) Holly Herndon "Control Sample"
(5) Mordant Music "Hoarded House (reMMix Fredit)"
(6) The Boats "Space Judder"
(7) Pye Corner Audio "Splice Block"
(8) Leyland Kirby "Slim Jim Wimshurst Mechanicals"
(9) Karen Gwyer "Judd Drums"
(10) Peter Rehberg "FJUDDmix 032013"
(11) Bandshell "Concrete Teeth"
(12) Ekoplekz "Fredwrek"
You may also stream Chris Carter's contribution in full:
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17 May 2013 — Tonje Thilesen
With his spaced-out, disillusional beats, Dutch producer Glass Eyes is back on the timeline of the fine imprint Zoology Records, more maliciously sounding than previously noted, but with a clear influence of Tangerine Dream intact. In similarity to The-Drum, Glass Eyes plays with tingeling aesthics in a dissolving, grimy landscape, allowing small details so shine through the otherwise shattered ambience. Below is the first outtake from his new EP due to next month on Zoology Records.
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14 May 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Datalog is the solo project of Brooklyn resident Conor Heffernan, who full-on turned his hand to the machines in 2010 after five years in the indie rock business as a keyboardist. Though we have no clue of how his former ventures sounded like, listening to his forthcoming Haarp EP, we assume it's safe to say that it was the right decision. Landing somewhere between techno-leaning dance beats, more explorative, abstract electronic soundscapes, and even a little dash of forward-looking jazz elements here and there, the EP's seven tracks make for a compelling listen. The subdued, acidic "Sumingashi II" - rather fittingly, each track is named after Japanese paper crafting - is a clear standout, evoking impressions of opaque, watery sceneries somewhere far east. The accompanying video, premiered below, perfectly translates this imagination into restrained images of a night ride's disconnected, surreal city lights. Watch it below.
The Haarp EP is out May 28.
While you're at it, also check out this previously unpublished footwork remix of "Sumingashi II" by Brooklyn-based producer KRTS:
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