24 May 2013 — Henning Lahmann
Ever since Saa, the duo of London's Old Apparatus member A. Levitas and Norwegian singer Linn Carin Dirdal, took their first track down from Soundcloud after we had first introduced the duo back in February, we've been eagerly waiting for them to resurface. A return could of course only mean the project's signing to a proper label, and the simultaneous announcement of a debut release. Both things finally happened yesterday, and we couldn't be more excited to see that the two have joined the ranks of left_blank's esteemed roster. The London label will release Saa's eponymous EP on July 8, and you may now listen to the first track, "Your Sword Is Your Silence", below. The track is a proper introduction to the duo's work, a slowly meandering, aptly melancholic song that thoughtfully balances the two musicians' contributions while still leaving enough space for the topical silence to sink in.
The EP as a whole is a pleasant reminder of what can happen when a truly gifted producer and an adventurous, open-minded vocalist get together to actually create something: it all makes just so much sense. The debut sounds remarkably accomplished, like something that doesn't simply follow along the artists' musical instincts - though I'm sure those are involved as well. Quite the contrary, you immediately and subconsciously understand that it is built on an idea, or rather a concept on what is supposed to happen to make the end result credibly communicate that it's not merely a beatmaker who's got a singer now because, you know, vocals sell so much better - especially, as society the markets will tell you, when those vocals come out of a female mouth. With their debut, Dirdal and Levitas have managed to come up with a piece of music that is, in the truest sense of this rather hackneyed phrase, much more than simply the sum of its parts.
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24 May 2013 — Parker Bruce
Pure Bathing Culture's new tune "Pendulum" is all strum, full tilt strum, full-on strum with clipped drum machine claps. The duo made up of Sarah and Dan from Vetiver are coming out with their first album, Moon Tides, and it will be with us August 20. Listening to "Pendulum", you understand why the group did a cover of Fleetwood Mac late last year: reaching, reaching pinched guitar is the name of the game for the Bathing Culture. In a weird way, it makes you want to hula hoop all your problems away. Get your pre-order on here.
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24 May 2013 — Henning Lahmann
This morning, Pitchfork once again substantiated our suspicion that they simply don't get Hype Williams, neither their art in and of itself, nor the duo's approach to pop music and culture more general, though you probably can't really accuse them of not trying ever since the Londoners received too much recognition and acclaim for the top dog to justify ignoring them any longer. These days, everything Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland drop seems to be another Doldrums, too out there to absolve yet too ambitious and in-your-face artsy to just leave it alone at the end of the day. Let's keep waiting for the duo's Before Today moment to occur then.
Speaking of, there are signs that if any of the two, it's Inga Copeland who seems to be both competent and willing to deliver that moment. Ever since starting to put out solo material, her candid pop aspirations have been out in the open, and Copeland's latest collection of songs, the six-track mixtape Higher Powers, recorded last year and available now for free via Soundcloud, is yet another very compelling reminder of that. All tracks are further proof of the artist's ability to turn the messy and deranged Hype Williams raw material into humble gems of farouche and simple beauty, but "Obsession 2" develops into something especially spellbinding, an aloof, disconnected piece that's built around a curiously primitive, off-kilter synth line, something you'd come up with drunk at a stranger's house party on one of the host's keyboards standing around in the living room, before admitting to the other guests (who didn't ask, nor were about to) the obvious fact that you really don't play any instruments. Here however, in Copeland's hands, for some reason pure sublimity emerges. All alone.
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24 May 2013 — Trey Reis
After about a year of promoting weirdo synth and new-wave music all around the Atlanta area, DKA Records has finally released DKA001 – a split 7" between Night People Records alumni Dylan Ettinger and Goldendust.
This video for Ettinger’s contribution, “The Pale Mare” is appropriately dark, distorted, and full of brooding vampires. It’s a great visual companion to Ettinger’s dark-wave synths, tinged with hints of high-end chimes just rising out of the muck before decaying and descending right back into the darkness, like fireworks bursting behind the downtown skyline.
Check out the video below and buy the 7" over at DKA Records. The Goldendust B-side is described by DKA as 'one of the most effortlessly lush and dreamy synth pop songs we've ever heard,' so the whole experience should leave you feeling all balanced and centered between the light and the dark, which is a lot to say for a mere two-song split.
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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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