old one...

2011-09-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Geiom - Reminissin' Remixes

2009-03-07T12:07:00.000-08:00

1.Reminissin' Feat: Marita (Skream's 'time traveller' Refix)
2.Reminissin' Feat: Marita (Shackleton Refix)

One of the the most talked about and eagerly anticipated releases has landed. Part. 1 features two great remixes from Skream who beefs up the original and gives it a deep old skool vibe whilst Shackleton on the flip takes it down a notch with some thundering Basic Channel style sub bass and adds a touch of darkness to Marita's vocal. Wicked!...www.soundsoftheuniverse.com

T++ - Audio 1995#8

2009-03-07T12:02:00.000-08:00

01. Audio 1995#8
02. Audio 1995#8_2

Here T++ delivers pioneering techno and dubstep beats on Appleblim’s impressively forward thinking label Apple Pips, which has already set a new bench mark for creative electronic music after a mere four releases. ‘#8’ is a scratchy techno thriller that offers dark warbling low end and a protruding snare while ‘#8_2’ takes the theme in an altogether more funky direction with bomb jiggy beats breaking up fly sounds and glitchy back chatter. For anyone interested in the future sounds of dubstep and techno, this is a bold offering..www.beatportal.com

Pete Doherty - Last of the English Roses EP

2009-03-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

01 Last of the English Roses
02 Broken Love Story
03 Lady Don't Fall Backwards

The better half of Amy Winehouse, announces his new album entitled Grace / Wastelands already pre-sold in some site. Anticipating the boy throws the single Last Of The English Rose gives you here.

Jap Jap - A Resonant Discovery EP

2009-03-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

01. Winds Of Change
02. Reunited Spirits (Interlude)
03. Morning Light Dream
04. Coloured Cubes
05. Surrounded By Magic
06. The Long Walk Home
07. Coloured Cubes (Morgenfish Remix)

Monotonik is delighted to present a free, full six-track EP from Holland’s Jasper Boer, aka Jap Jap, in the form of ‘A Resonant Discovery’, including a remix by Dutch artist Morganfish.

The EP consists of varied types of beautifully smooth idm pieces coupled with evolving melodic motifs, which go through different moods: from chillout ambient to more uptempo material.

This showcases Jap Jap’s signature style of solidly produced minimal yet melodic style of dance, which draws inspiration from dreampop, synthpop, postrock and electronica chill out genre artists Ulrich Schnauss and Manual.

Ramadanman - Carla

2009-03-06T03:54:00.000-08:00

1. Carla
2. Offal
3. Kablammo Eleven

This 12” features 3 exclusive new killer tracks by Ramadanman, one of the shining lights in the new generation of Dubstep artists who has releases on Soul Jazz Records (featured on Box of Dub), Bare Dubs, 2nd Drop Records and his own Hessle Audio. Ramadanman has performed alongside Digital Mystikz, Skream, Benga,, Kode9, Rusko, Plastician and this track is being played by everyone from Skream, Kode9, Benga, Mary Anne Hobbs, Gilles Peterson, Rob Da Bank, Distance, Ikonika and more...www.soundsoftheuniverse.com

Jesse Rose - What Do You Do If You Don't

2009-03-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

1. Forget My Name (feat. Hot Chip)
2. Well Now
3. Pop Yer Porn
4. Miss Taker (feat. David E. Sugar)
5. Wine Gum
6. Asided
7. Night At The Dogs
8. Day Is Done (feat. Hot Chip)
9. Heavy Still (feat. Afra & The Incredible Beatbox Band)
10. You’re All Over My Head
11. Touch My Horn
12. Never Ending

With over a decade of remixing under his drive belts, production credits for the likes of MIA and the careers of Hervé and Sinden owed in part to his label boss persona, Jesse Rose has impeccable credentials. This ‘fidget house’ (his flippant definition) classic has got the best appropriation of a track by a blind, homeless street musician that dressed like Thor since Mr Scruff (‘Night At The Dogs’ ravages Moondog’s ‘Lament’). Where Jesse has certainly not forgotten his club roots, he’s also shown his skills as a producer of songs with ‘Miss Taker’ featuring rising star David E Sugar. And if that isn’t enough Hot Chip are back on their best “C-A-S-I-O P-O-K-E” form, this time spelling out “R-O-S-E” over and over on dub funk single ‘Forget My Name’, making two appearances overall for that all-important celeb endorsement..www.lafriendly.com

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

2009-03-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

01. French Navy
02. The Sweetest Thing
03. You Told a Lie
04. Away With Murder
05. Swans
06. James
07. Careless Love
08. My Maudlin Career
09. Forest and Sands
10. Other Towns and Cities
11. Honey in the Sun

Persistent despair is charming and cute again! Camera Obscura is back with My Maudlin Career, the follow-up to 2006's Let's Get Out of This Country. Title track "My Maudlin Career" signals that the album's tone tends towards the fuzzy, dream-y twee that made up its predecessor. Most of the time it's difficult to make out what singer Tracyanne Campbell is saying amidst all the reverb and spaced-out guitars, but she still manages to make sadness sound sweet and romantic in a way that most of her contemporaries can't match. My Maudlin Career is out April 20 on 4AD...www.prefixmag.com

Actress - Hazyville

2009-03-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

1 Again the Addiction
2 Hazylude
3 Doggin'
4 Ivy May Gilpin
5 I Can't Forgive You
6 Crushed
7 Redit 124
8 Againlude
9 Hazyville
10 Mincin
11 Green Gal

The turn-of-the-century London-based Werk label first busted out of the LP ghetto in late 2005, and has since pumped an increasing amount of wherewithal into its compact disc division. It turned out to be a smart move. There’s no arguing with a purist that the sound of a vinyl record will clobber that of an equivalent CD any day of the week, but not everyone owns a phonograph, and digital music-on-the-go is an understandable priority for our generation of go-go-goers. Werk’s recent stable of high quality CD releases put the imprint on the electronica map, first with the warped ragga of Disrupt’s Foundation Bit, then with the wonky dubstep of Zomby’s Where Were U in ‘92?, and finally with Lukid’s Foma, an instrumental hip-hop dream that imagined what would happen if Flying Lotus drank Koushik’s psilocybin Kool-Aid at the pool party by mistake. As dubstep and this stripe of J Dilla-influenced downtempo resurged simultaneously in 2008, Werk became a bellwether almost overnight, its preferred musical trends and preferred medium of distribution the secret recipe for its success.

Hardly an “it” in reality, Werk is the duo of DJ/producers Gavin Weale and Darren J. Cunningham, the latter of whom is also known as Actress. Cunningham had been threatening to release a full-length album of Actress songs after his No Tricks EP in 2004 put a spell on the small clutch of people who heard it and they clamored for more, but notwithstanding some scattered remix work for Alex Smoke and Various Production, it’s only now that fans’ patience has paid off. Cunningham seems to have begun conceptualizing and constructing these songs ever since he closed the lid on No Tricks, which would go to some length to explain why Hazyville isn’t the lazy victory lap Cunningham now deserves to take. Assiduous, adequately deranged, and nicely realized, Hazyvillecarries the weight of a singular record years in the making.

Following in the tradition of Werk albums before it, Hazyville attempts to tackle another genre currently enjoying a renaissance: deep house. The supple, narcotic groove inside tracks like “Doggin’” and “Mincin” reference the sound of a soulful Detroit propagated by Kenny Dixon, Jr. and Theo Parrish, whose back catalogues were exhumed not long ago. As it turns out, though, Actress’s version of deep house isn’t very deep at all. Portishead figured out on Third that, in certain cases, punching up the treble and the compression could invoke feelings of dread and paranoia more effectively than the classic bassy undercurrents employed by groups like Drexciya. Hazyville is a far cry from a horror soundtrack, but its brittle and uncommonly rubbery textures can leave us feeling out of sorts, bewitched and bewildered. It’s a testament to the music that despite the cloud of hype hanging over the record and the hallowed place it holds in the Werk catalogue, it still has a peculiar out-of-nowhere aura about it, the tendency—with its eerie black-and-white cover art as a visual reference—to provoke a reaction of “what is this thing?” in us.

I’m reminded of Boards of Canada’s weird and wonderful Music Has the Right to Children, wherein the melodies lulled us into a daze while the drum programming demanded that we wake the hell up. Hazyville works on two very similar levels. Globs of soothing, static-flecked drone pulsate and worm their way through the bottom of the tracks, and they might have worked as straight ambient were it not for the computer burps and vocal fragments popping sporadically out of the fray like whack-a-moles and the harsh rhythmic cracks that recall a teacher smacking her pointer against the desk. At high volumes, Hazyville becomes downright disciplinary, its stentorian impulses tempered only by the half-lush melodies chilling underneath, and the effect is oddly exhilarating. Not since Third has an electronica record turned punishment into such an appealing—even sexually titillating—sensation through the nature of its sound alone.

It’s of some note that the nature of Hazyville‘s sound doesn’t really change over the course of its 11 (reasonably short) tracks, and after so many repeated listens the experience can move from galvanizing to wearying. Imagine how you’d feel just after being shocked with 200 volts for the tenth time and you’ll get the idea. The song structures also tend to stagnate, with Cunningham repeating bar after bar of music until he decides to stop tape. And it doesn’t take a synaesthete to see thatHazyville lacks color, its tonal palette largely consisting of varying shades of gray. But within this limited framework Actress works magic, andHazyville‘s drawbacks are, if anything, symptomatic only of his considerable focus and how much time and effort we as listeners decide to devote to it. There’s no denying that Cunningham discovered a fascinating texture and a grip of idiosyncratic sonic flourishes and ran with them as far as they could go. “I Can’t Forgive You” sports a rare rhythmic pattern that can only be described as a slurp. The sensual, crackling melody that bulges within “Redit 124” provides a subtle counterpoint to the frequent synth punches as explicit as pelvic thrusts. “Mincin” puts it all together, the drum programming and tuneful elements coalescing into a propulsive and icy-hot groove that Cunningham could have kept playing until kingdom come.

And that’s pretty much all there is to it. Hazyville—less than 45 minutes in length—sticks around just long enough to make its point and bail. It’s a tempting proposition to return to it again and again in order to see through it, understand it more clearly and catch its charms. Therein lies the trap. Hazyville is obfuscated by design—heck, Cunningham gives this away in the album title—and as much as we may believe we can see beyond the triangle on the cover (and hear beyond the music’s surface features), we’re not gonna. So the amount of enjoyment we garner from it could depend as much on how we choose to treat it as it does on the music itself. Taken on its own, however, Hazyville is a clear winner and a fitting analogue for a label that’s always been short on quantity but long on quality...www.popmatters.com

Max Cavalerra - the Bigger, the Better EP

2009-03-03T20:42:00.000-08:00

1. Impact

2. Function

3. In Memory of Violett

4. 1000ccm

5. What the Bell!?

Higher, further, faster – this is the approach of Max Cavalerra who significantly influenced the sound of Broque.de. His latest EP doesn’t hesitate at all but makes its points straight away. The Munich based DJ - also well-known for his releases on Karmarouge - launches a firework of sudorific bass whirls, groovy percussions and culminating breaks. But he never forgets about emotions and melodies. Max wants to see the people dancing and we believe we have to support him on his way by releasing this great EP.

Dubstep Allstar vol.6 by Appleblim

2009-03-03T20:32:00.000-08:00

1 Peverelist - Gather

2 Peverelist & Appleblim - Circling

3 Pinch feat. Yolanda - Get Up

4 2562 - Moog Dub

5 Martyn - Suburbia

6 Jus Wan - Action Potential

7 2562 - Morvern

8 TRG & Selector Dub U - Harajuku

9 Peverelist - Infinity Is Now

10 Skream - Percression

11 RSD - Pretty Bright Lights

12 Mungo`s Hi Fi - Babylon

13 Komonazmuk - Bad Apple

14 Komonazmuk & Gatekeeper - Cheeky Herbert

15 TRG - Decisions

16 TRG - Back Like That [Ramadanman Refix]

17 TRG - Broken Heart [Martyn`s DCM RMX]

18 Geiom feat. Marita - Reminissin` [Dubplate Version]

Dubstep Allstars series; vol.6. Mixed by Appleblim (who co-founded Skull Disco with Shackelton). Martin Clark – Mr. Blackdown himself – explains:“Sometime in 2007 a subsection of dubstep broke cover and headed off in a new direction. Starting in Bristol, it shot over the Channel and headed for the middle ground between itself and Berlin, to unite in a shared love of Jamaican bass, delay and space with a little Detroit groove. Dubstep Allstars vol.6 is perhaps the definite and most coherent document of this outbreak.”...www.soundscaping.net

The Avalanches - After the Goldrush

2009-03-03T19:35:00.001-08:00

1 Bob Dylan - Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do?
2 Beach Boys - Matchpoint Of Our Love
3 Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar
4 KLF - 3 Am Eternal
5 Basement Jaxx - Light Your Lighter
6 Artist Unknown - Shady
7 Q Tip - Breathe And Stop
8 Aldo Bender- Acid Enlightenment
9 Thomas Bangalter - Turbo
10 Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better (Todd Edwards "Dub Better" remix)
11 Mr Oizo - M Seq
12 Felix Da Housecat - Strobe
13 DJ Funk - Booty Perc-U-Later
14 BS 2000 - Nobody Beats BS 2000
15 DJ Funk - Every Freakin Day
16 Aphex Twin - Afx237 v7
17 Shimon & Andy C - Bodyrock
18 Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
19 Bubba Sparxx - Ugly
20 Bobby Digital - Must Be Bobby
21 DJ Zinc - 138 Trek
22 Dr Dre - Forgot About Dre
23 Chemical Brothers - It Began In Africa
24 Underworld - Rez /Cowgirl
25 Guns N Roses - Welcome To The Jungle
26 Thomas Bangalter - Colossus
27 Mc5 - Tonite
28 Missy Elliot - Get Yr Freak On
29 George Michael - Faith
30 Destiny's Child - Jumpin Jumpin
31 Foundation Players - Fireball
32 Eminem - The Real Slim Shady
33 Xpress 2 - Smoke Machine
34 Missy Elliot - One Minute Man
35 J Walk - Soul Vibration
36 Princess Superstar - Wet Wet Wet
37 Queen - I Want To Break Free
38 Detroit Grand Pubahs - Sandwiches
39 Daft Punk - Oh Yeah
40 Hall And Oates - I Cant Go For That (No Can Do)
41 Aphex Twin - Windowlicker
42 Beach Boys - Johnny Carson

In 2008, a mix CD appeared by The Avalanches titled "After the Goldrush". The album is a mashup of 42 songs in different styles and from different eras. The inside cover includes a mini-history of the band and announces that this album "fills the gap for all of The Avalanches junkies out there, a mad mix of eclectic musical inspirations pieced together in a totally unique and off the wall way, it shouldn't work, but it does in a bizarre way that only these antipodean mavericks know how... And remember, The Avalanches wouldn't give a 'castlemaine for X' for anything else." There is a small picture of the band that sits behind the CD. There is no booklet and no credits for the songs or the band aside from the notes in the inside cover...www.answers.com

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

2009-03-03T19:14:00.000-08:00

01 Southern Point
02 Two Weeks
03 All We Ask
04 Fine for Now
05 Cheerleader
06 Dory
07 Ready, Able
08 About Face
09 Hold Still
10 While You Wait for the Others
11 I Live With You
12 Foreground

So after finding out what the-album-that-somehow-comes-up-in-every-comment-thread was called, the only outstanding issue was: how exactly do you visually conceptualize aVeckatimest? I figure either you incorporate imagery of the namesake uninhabited isle, or create sort of a hand-drawn collage of various geometric shapes rendered in pastels and earth tones to capture the breadth of emotion and mood-spanning mystery conjured by the title's syllabic string. Oh I guess the latter...www.stereogum.com

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Thee Early Worm - Early Worm

2009-03-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

1. Joint Effort

2. Firesong
3. Mourning To The Dusk
4. Waltz Of The Newt
5. Prelude
6. Clockword Cloud
7. Rather Hard To Libel
8. A Very Short Middle
9. Balloon
10.Lament

Early Worm is a transfixingly lo-fi recording of the first to tape experiments by Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV figurehead Genesis P-Orridge. Recorded in his parents attic in 1968 in suburban England, P-Orridge and his group of local teenage freaks, weaned on a steady diet of Burroughs/Gysin cut ups, ESP records and emerging psychedelia, married their absurdity and dada to whatever they could find. The results interestingly enough are far more acoustic-based than one would imagine from a founding father of industrial music. Often times the melodies and detuned melodies are reminiscent of Jandek but tweaked using homemade solutions like paperclips and tape feedback. The general feel is akin to far outside loners and goes beyond the feel of what would come later but shows the personality of a individual. One gets the feel of being a fly on the wall to these live, one take experiments. Originally pressed as a single copy acetate back in the day, the original master reels were found by Dias label founder Ryan Gelik and is presented here on LP to the curious public for the first time. Most interestingly bizarre is P-Orridge’s father’s harmonica performance on the track “Lament”. Seems as though askew ran in the blood. While certainly not the most coherent statement Early Worm is an interesting recording of bizarre tribal home-made weirdness despite whoever is involved.

Ilar & Hedvall - Melt

2009-03-01T23:56:00.000-08:00

01 First Avowal
02 Slip'N'Slide
03 Toybox
04 Lava
05 Moist
06 Fool
07 Second Avowal
08 Icetoys
09 Lava (Arctic Hospital Remix)
10 Lava (Dark Recovery Remix)

Swedish producer Anders Ilar has been on a home run streak lately, what with this album, a top-shelf podcast for Resident Advisor, and a solo full-length entitled Sworn all under his belt in recent months. This particular collaboration with kindred spirit and fellow Swede Fredrik Hedvall explores the darker corners of the dancefloor. Minor chords and the disembodied blurts of a Speak & Spell set the mood on “Slip’ N Slide,” the disc’s second track. “Lava” is a vaporous take on the Basic Channel aesthetic, while the beats of “Fool” tumble out of the speakers in three-dimensional form. The pinnacle of the disc is “Avowal,” though–a nine-minute exercise fraught with tension and dark as bruise blood...www.xlr8r.com

Moon Harbour Inhouse Vol. 3 by Martinez

2009-03-01T23:33:00.003-08:00

01. Luna City Express - Swing City

02. Martinez - Blue Lagoon

03. Boris Werner - Feel Good

04. Mathias Kaden - Musica

05. Vera - Hooked Up With Da Drums

06. Dot - Kinda Strange

07. Matthias Tanzmann - Left Behind

08. Dan Drastic & Chris Lattner - Two In One

The Inhouse compilations are special moments for Moon Harbour. Being more than just simply packed with new and exclusive tracks from Moon Harbour artists and friends, they are also landmarks which connect a contemporary sound with a look to the future by giving a mouth-watering taster of upcoming releases. Two eventful years have passed since the last Inhouse-compilation: almost a dozen new EPs have been released and played relentlessly in clubs worldwide - releases by Moon Harbour residents Matthias Tanzmann, Marlow, Luna City Express and Dan Drastic, but also by Simon Flower, Miguel Toro, Gregor Tresher, Seuil and last but not least Martinez, who is set to influence the labels' profile more in the future. Moon Harbour has now become fully international, with it’s artists receiving global acclaim and booking for gigs far and wide...www.moonharbour.com

Gas - Nah Und Fern

2009-03-01T23:04:00.000-08:00

1. Nah Und Fern
2. Zauberberg
3. Königsforst
4. Pop

In 2000, the final album from German producer Wolfgang Voigt's Gas project, Pop, finished in the #12 position in Pitchfork's Top 20 albums of the year. Suffice to say that this website was a much smaller operation then, and there were far fewer writers; collectively, we also only had time for so much experimental electronic music. "IDM" as an idea still had plenty of currency, but many of the records falling under that banner were specialty items, something one would put on in a very specific time and place. And there were lots of them. In this landscape, when experimental electronic music was going in a hundred different directions at once-- considering only Gas' label, the Frankfurt imprint Mille Plateaux, you had the jagged sound of disrupted technology in Oval, the boldly politicized field recordings of Ultra Red, the filmic breakcore of Alec Empire, along with a smattering of post-rock and industrial-- Gas was something we could all agree on.

Wide appeal-- even amongst upstart music critics-- isn't something one would expect from this project. When working as Gas in the second half of the 1990s, Voigt's tracks usually featured an unflinching kick-drum pulsing at a mid-tempo BPM-- sometimes ping-ponging across the soundfield or encrusted with burrs of syncopation-- and they typically featured samples of stern and ominous Western classical music. The string and horn drones were sourced from vinyl and proud of it, with the corresponding pops and crackles figuring prominently in the mix. The Gas sound, so distinctive as to be instantly recognizable, seemed somewhat monochrome and tightly focused at the time. It was easy to come away with the idea that the project was an exercise in Fall-like consistency-- "Always different, always the same," as John Peel said about the latter. But it's clear now that each record was its own discrete chamber in Voigt's overall construction. The evidence is here, on this 4xCD box set, which collects the albums proper-- 1996's self-titled record, 1997's Zauberberg, 1999's Königsforst, and 2000'sPop (missing is the 1995 Modern EP as well as a couple of stray tracks)-- into a single set. These records have been out of print for years-- I saw a copy of Zauberberg going for $270 on Amazon not long ago-- but those refusing to pay outlandish prices have been handsomely rewarded. Gas in many ways sounds even more wondrous now, and certainly more wide-ranging.

The self-titled debut, originally released in 1996, is perhaps the most beautiful entry in the catalog. The rich, shimmery drones seem less earth-bound and heavy relative to what would come later; rather than evoking a dense, mossy arboreal feel-- Voigt has frequently acknowledged the sights and sounds of Germany's Black Forest as an inspiration-- Gas brings to mind images of a clear night sky, as pin-pricks of twinkling guitar samples, trails of distortion that swirl like a starry cloud dispersing into the void, and the bassy string tones all meet in a vast open space designed for contemplation. Though Gas is in some ways the most conventional of the project's records, with moments easily relatable to trends in post-acid house ambient, it also marks Voigt as a producer with a rare ear for texture.

The following year's Zauberberg was the solidification of quintessential Gas aesthetic. While overall the darkest and bleakest of these offerings, Zauberberg opens and closes with the deeply spiritual and uplifting organ drones one can imagine leaking from the cracked stained glass windows of a massive cathedral somewhere in the Bavarian Alps. Sandwiched between these drifting moments of blissful surrender are grim meditations on the physicality of tension. The bass drum throbs between the speakers, less a heartbeat than the icy, unremitting march of time, while Voigt's most dissonant string samples tug everything down into the black soil. It's a shopworn observation among Gas observers to say that the music on the individual albums closely mirrors the images record covers, but Zauberberg is as dark and menacing as the noir picture of red branches in darkness featured on its front.

Beginning precisely where Zauberberg leaves off, with rumbling strings and an unblinking kick, Königsforst eventually takes things to a far more complicated place. Where Gas had previously been defined by the sense of endlessness-- insistent repetition, lengthy tracks that could conceivably go on forever, a consistent mood--Königsforst experiments with development, moving through timbres and emotional sensations with a definable dramatic arc. The album looks back and forward simultaneously as Voigt seems to be probing the limits of what the project could be. The same starry backward guitar bit that first appeared on the third track of the debut returns on the fourth track here, now yoked to a subtle double-time kick-drum that gives a sense of blood-rushing excitement. Then the album culminates in the 15-minute fifth track, an Escher-like climb through samples of orchestral horns that change almost imperceptibly with each passing bar, moving from a firm, almost militaristic growl to welcoming, optimistic swoon by the track's end. The beatless drone that closes is another masterpiece, one that hints at massive left-turn to come on 2000's Pop; Königsforst on its own is essentially perfect.

Pop is the best known and most admired of these discs, and it provides an obvious entry point. Which is somewhat ironic, since it's also the most divergent by a huge margin. Had it come out under another name, it would have been difficult to know that this was a Gas record at all. The first three tracks offer three subtly different views of the same sound-field, a warm, wet place populated with bubbles, fizz, and hisses, along with keyboard drones and the sort of basslines Angelo Badalamenti used in "Twin Peaks" to suggest a rural idyll whose dark secrets were yet to be revealed. Had the record continued to explore this one direction, it might have been understood as a contemporary variation on the new age meditation record, something listeners would return to in order to chill out and "center" and so on. But Voigt had something else in mind. By the fourth track he's returned the steady kick to the mix, and braided the percussion with a clanging repetitive bell that one imagines the Field's Axel Willner found inspiring. As the beats disappear for two tracks the album inflates with anxiety and dread until, with the return for the 15-minute closer, we're immersed in one of the most nervous-- bordering on malicious-- Gas tracks of all.

By this point, it seems, Voigt had said what he wanted to say with Gas and was ready to move onto something else, like helping to turn the Kompakt label he runs with Michael Mayer and Jürgen Paape into one of electronic music's premier imprints. Four Gas albums in five years turned out to be quite a lot to chew on; this phase of his career is comparable to Brian Eno's instrumental music between, say, his 1973 collaboration with Robert Fripp, No Pussyfooting, and 1978's Music for Airports. More than anyone since Eno with the exception of Aphex Twin, Wolfgang Voigt was able to reimagine how ambient music could transform space. But he did so in a grounded, accessible manner. There's something primal and intuitive about this stuff; as heady electronic music goes, it's like a loaf of hearty dark bread, an easy-to-grasp but deceptively intricate musical world with a strong sense of-- to stretch the metaphor-- nourishment. Wolfgang Voigt's musical interests have led him to create stark dancefloor minimalism, playful house, and trance-inducing dub-techno; but Gas was the name he gave to music that was foremost about immersive space. This is music you can lose yourself in; see you in four or five hours...www.pitchforkmedia.com

Wixel - Clouds

2009-03-01T22:30:00.000-08:00

1. Cloud Formation

2. Rising Clouds

3. Cloud Fields

4. In Clouds

5. Fog Rainbow

This is the second edition - February - of my awesome and/or stupid 2009 project. For those unaware of the project: It’s a challenge in which I force myself to record and release a record within each month of the year 2009.

Unlike the January edition called “Winter” there were no constraints for this record, but I quickly felt like I wanted to continue with an idea for music I already touched in “The Aesthetics of Clouds” which you can find on “Winter”. Dense yet soft sounds, slowly moving and progressing, a bit like ... clouds. Most of the songs rely heavily on a sort of tape delay plugin I have, which I fed any sound I felt was appropriate for coloring the cloud. Some compositions are more electronic, others more acoustic, but always cloudy. As you guessed by know, the record is titled “Clouds”. Comparing it to other artists is not so easy, but I would guess a mellow Tim Hecker drone might come close, or maybe you can sense a little bit of similarity to a Stars of the Lid or Mountains composition. I tried to make it drone out, lots of fuzzy/blurry sounds with an undercurrent of melancholic melodies. You should probably listen if this sounds a bit vague..www.2009.bandcamp.com

Wixel - Winter

2009-03-01T22:20:00.000-08:00

01. Acoustic Hum
02. The Bergeron Process
03. Winter Waltz #1
04. Dawn Chorus
05. Aesthetics Of Clouds
06. January 4th
07. Stumbling Music #2
08. Melsbroek
09. Winter Waltz #2
10. Vaarwel
11. Stumbling Music #1
12. Aerosan
13. Stumbling Music #3
14. Winter Sun
15. Reading Music

Welcome to the first edition - January - of my awesome and/or stupid 2009 project. It’s a project in which I force myself to record and release a record within each month of the year 2009. There are certain rules and guidelines which I must obey. You can find those at the wixel website. Due to the limited time of recording, and the constant output, this thing will feel very much feel like a personal journal. I have no clue whether it’s going to be interesting or not. It will just exist, I guess. Some months will be more interesting/better sounding than others. I’ll always explain in these liner notes what’s going on each month.

For the first record my setup included nothing but an acoustic guitar, a microphone and the ableton live software used as a traditional multitrack recorder. No fancy effects, nor fancy plugins. Just the basic controls of recording, cutting, pasting and adjusting the volume. I thought a constraint in options would result in getting more out of less, and at some points I did come across some marvelous sounds. ‘Melsbroek’ for example is nothing but a few hundred recordings of various singles notes, with the volume turned down at each beginning, then slowly turned up while all notes are placed in a way so the guitar starts to sound like an organ. I quite like the effect.

The record is titled “Winter” because I feel it could be a nice compagnon for the “Herfst” ep I did with Wixel a few years back. The pictures included were all taken during the month of January. It rarely snows this much in Belgium. I like winter...www.2009.bandcamp.com

Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels

2009-03-01T16:49:00.000-08:00

1. Palmistry
2. Everything Is Moving So Fast
3. Pulling On A Line
4. Concrete Heart
5. She Comes To Me In Dreams
6. The Chorus In The Underground
7. Singer Castle Bells
8. Stealing Tomorrow
9. Still
10. New Light
11. Rivers Edge
12. Unison Falling Into Harmony

Heeding the invitation of historian/photographer/mondo Great Lake Swimmers fan Ian Coristine, Tony Dekker and his folksy crew took a field trip upstream to the Thousand Islands region of Ontario last year. There they recorded in churches, community centers and even a castle, basking in the picturesque environs and getting artistically inspired in general. Those recordings make up the bulk of Lost Channels, the group's fourth album. Lead single "Pulling On A Line" reveals how the group spent its
river vacation: chiming mandolins, subtle harmonies and an easygoing beat combine to make the ultimate sonic postcard. Wish we were there, indeed...www.prefixmag.com

Lady Sovereign - Jigsaw

2009-03-01T10:57:00.009-08:00

01. Let’s Be Mates
02. So Human
03. Jigsaw
04. Bang Bang
05. I Got You Dancing
06. Pennies
07. Guitar
08. Student Union
09. Food Play
10. I Got The Goods

Dozens of musical genres have come to favor and disappeared since Lady Sovereign's debut Public Warning hit in 2006, and now she's back, trying yet again to launch grime into the American mainstream with her new album, Jigsaw. The album's first single, "I Got You Dancing" sounds like M.I.A. filtered through Dizzee Rascal, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it remains to be seen if it can breakthrough further than her hit single, "Love Me Or Hate Me." The album is thefirst for Sovereign's Midget record label...www.prefixmag.com

Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen

2009-03-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

01. In the Now
02. From the Hips
03. I Couldn't Love You
04. Donkeys
05. Caveman
06. We're Going to Hell
07. Mama, I'm Satan
08. Let Me Up
09. Mama, I'm Swollen
10. What Have I Done?

The band notes that due to the extremely short turnaround between today and the release, vinyl will not be ready for a simultaneous release on March 10th. The band is promising "180 gram vinyl and cool deluxe packaging." The album was also described like this:

Mama, I'm Swollen finds Kasher at his literate, lyrical best, where references to both Poe (“Going To Hell”) and Pinocchio (“Donkeys”) are intertwined seamlessly within his own tales of characters grappling with the moral quandary of being human, adult, and playing a role in ‘civilized’ society. Musically, Cursive is as smart and sophisticated as ever, the songs’ rousing, cerebral content complemented by moments alternately hushed and exhilarating (the cathartic “From The Hips,” the noisily melodic romp “I Couldn’t Love You”), eerily moody and jaunty (the almost prayer-like “Let Me Up,” “Mama, I’m Swollen”) – moments that often occur within the very same song.

From the charging bass lines of album opener “In The Now” to the quiet first chords of confessional closer “What Have I Done?”, Mama, I'm Swollen is a natural progression that remains distinctively Cursive: a fluid amalgamation of the band’s sound past, present, and future – a band that both your punk kid sister and English lit grad student best friend can call their own.

Tim Exile - Listening Tree

2009-02-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

01. Don't Think We're One
02. Family Galaxy
03. Fortress
04. There's Nothing Left Of Me But Her And This
05. Pay Tomorrow
06. Bad Dust
07. Carouselle
08. When Every Day's A Number
09. Listening Tree
10. I Saw The Weak Hand Fall

Tim Exile is set to release his second album, Listening Tree, through Planet Mu and Warp later in the year.

Exile began his musical career in 2000, releasing drum & bass on labels such as Beta and Moving Shadow, but as the years progressed, his sound started to become more complicated and abstract. This was mostly due to his obsession with the Reaktor software, which enabled him to spend much of his time creating new and interesting sounds from scratch. His debut full-length, 2006's Pro Agonist, saw him add elements of breakcore to his constantly mutating hyper-breakbeats, but that gradual change in style is nothing compared to the total departure that he's taken onListening Tree.

Long-term fans may be shocked to know that Listening Tree is peppered with Exile's own vocal tracks, as he tackles issues such as Britain's buy-now-pay-later culture, and even the dynamic nature of the universe on "Family Galaxy," the first single. "'Family Galaxy' is about the constant process of change that underpins everything," explains Exile. "It's a tale from a thingless world where nothing stays the same. As 'now' shines its shifting shades on 'then,' so our ideas of what we have done and will do continually morph."

The result is an eccentric electro-pop album that is just as likely to appeal to fans ofHot Chip as it is Otto Von Schirach...www.residentadvisor.net

Tokyo Black Star - Black Ships

2009-02-28T10:16:00.000-08:00

01. Powder Dreams

02. Caballero
03. Violent Rush
04. Black Star feat. Rich Medina
05. Reincarnation
06. Still Sequence
07. Deep Sea
08. Kagura
09. Game Over
10. Midnight Emperor
11. Intermission
12. AES-S3
13. Sepiaphone
14. Blade Dancer Beatless

Innervisions has announced that they will release the debut full-length of home-listening act Tokyo Black Star in March.

For listeners familiar with the lead single from the album, "Game Over," Black Shipsshould come as little surprise. The focus here is on worlds of sound that employ analogue synthesizers and warm, rounded drums. It's not exactly chill-out, as there are beats to be had throughout, but it isn't exactly peak-time fodder either. (Although "Caballero" comes close by its end.) The press release puts it thusly: "At once a nonfiction travel diary, and at the same time a supreme fiction of traveling through the world of imagination, Black Ships comes just in time to transport you beyond our fragile planet."...www.residentadvisor.net

Emeralds - What Happened

2009-02-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

1. Alive In The Sea Of Information
2. Damaged Kids
3. Up In The Air
4. Living Room
5. Disappearing Ink

I expected something different from Emeralds. The name suggests a music at once multi-faceted, brightly shimmering and hard to the core. But the image, of three neo-grunge dudes slumped anonymously over samplers and synths suggests something altogether sleazier; low-rent. Maybe a poor man’s Wolf Eyes. Or, dare we utter it, a bit like Sightings circa 2004?

Thankfully, the latter is not the case. Nor the former, though Wolf Eyes themselves are a fine combo. The album is split into five slices, two brief (in other words, under ten minutes) and three temporally solid entries. ‘Alive in the Sea of Information’ – a snip at eight minutes – opens What Happened in quite pleasant style. Jetson-futurist sparkles dance across the stereo image over black synth gurgle, while super-slow pitch-bend recalls the Plaid-in-molasses of ‘Kid A’. Then a beast of a note invades the serenity, consuming all in its path. An uneasy equilibrium is reached, where neither side truly wins. It is at this point that a stretched-out human note joins the fray. The disembodied voice of God, taking no sides in this eternal struggle between light and shade.

This theme of ugly clashing with beautiful recurs throughout What Happened. ‘Damaged Kids’ spends an eternity bound in a chrysalis composed of oscillation and delay. Once it breaks through, it takes flight into the night on silken wings of effected guitar strings in a Beautiful Place out in the Country. But beyond the Boards it treads, strumming, thrumming guitars bring the dread, turning out the stars like lights as their clattering volume increases.

After the brevity of ‘Up in the Air’, we get an electro take on Boris’ Flood, in the disarmingly named ‘Living Room’. Steady drip-drip guitar-picking slowly pools on the sonic floor as a fat synth-bass note lurks in the shadows. This fuzz tone builds and shapes, steadily, into an electronic scythe. The scythe then slices clean through the skull of the mix. Pink flowers nervously blossom on the brain stem, their radiance refracting shards of light on the murky underworld of Kevin Drumm’s fantastic Imperial Distortion. The flowers flourish and tangle with the handle of the scythe, both competing and complementing in the kinetic melee. Then it ends, abruptly.

Final track ‘Disappearing Ink’ is a victory in motionless dynamics. Those pink flowers reverse-engineer into trees, while bees attempt to go about their nectar harvesting business even as amber hardens around their feet. This is music of paradox: slow waves of melody and texture swarm upward in spirals. Ghosts of song haunt, but are confined to one space, doomed to eternally repeat their one pattern. This is a restless catatonia, where it all happens while time stands still...www.factmagazine.co.uk

The Qemists - Join The Q

2009-02-28T09:16:00.000-08:00

01. Stompbox
02. Lost Weekend (Feat. Mike Patton)
03. On The Run (Feat. Jenna G)
04. Dem Na Like Me (Feat. Wiley)
05. S.W.A.G. (Intro)
06. S.W.A.G. (Feat. Devlin Love)
07. Drop Audio (Feat. MC ID)
08. When Ur Lonely
09. Soundface (Feat. Beardyman)
10. Got One Life (Feat. MC Navigator)
11. The Perfect High

JOIN The Q, the debut album by The Qemists, meshes the high energy of drum’n‘bass and rock with a wide-ranging set of sounds that betray the fact that the mysterious trio were a band before they took to the decks.

We’re talking dancehall, metal, electro, grime and hip hop with a smattering of respected guest vocalists.

But while they’re certainly at the top end of the drum ‘n’ bass revival (easily surpassing the likes of Pendulum and even some of The Prodigy’s more recent material), it does threaten to outstay its welcome on occasion.

Album opener Stompbox, for example, is an unrelenting distortion of drum ‘n’ bass sound that could just as easily leave you reaching to turn it off.

Even Lost Weekend flirts with being too one-note and is saved only by an emphatic rock vocal from Faith No More’s Mike Patton, which give it extra bite.

Hats off to The Qemists, then, for at least trying to mix things up at regular points and keeping things interesting and of wider appeal than the early tracks suggest.

Dem Na Like Me, for instance, finds Wiley adding some grime and Brit-pop to the mix for an invigorating workout that deservedly became a recent single, while Alabama 3’s Zoe Devlin Love adds some sultry soul to S.W.A.G, which unfolds over the course of two tracks and surely represents the album at its most sonically ambitious.

There’s a distinctly Nine Inch Nails feel to the industrial rock and drum ‘n’ bass mix that is the pumped up Drop Audio, featuring MC ID, and they even draw on house and pop for Got One Life, which namechecks south London and features another useful guest vocal from MC Navigator – not to mention a famous classical sample weaving its way in and out to appealing effect.

They end with a flourish, too… The Perfect High referencing the voiceover on Michael Jackson’s Thriller for opening effect, before dropping an utterly pulsating collision of orchestra, electronica and drum ‘n’ bass beats to, quite literally, finish things off in breathless, sweaty style.

It’s just a shame that Join The Q can’t quite maintain the high standards of its best tracks. If drum ‘n’ bass is your main music scene, you’ll be riveted. But for an album that threatened so much crossover appeal, it’s not nearly as accessible (or enjoyable) as it might have been.

Cougar - Patriot

2009-02-28T08:47:00.000-08:00

01 Stay Famous
02 Florida Logic
03 Rhinelander
04 Pelourinho
05 Thundersnow
06 Heavy Into Jeff
07 Endings
08 This Is An Affidavit
09 Appomattox
10 Daunte v. Armada
11 Absaroka

Cougar finally have someone to release their second album. London-based independent labelNinja Tune, home to an eclectic roster of hip-hop and electronic artists such as Kid Koalaand Daedelus, is slated to release the Madison-formed band's new full-length, Patriot, later this year. The fit is appropriate: Cougar's 2006 album Law is a great instrumental-rock record, but Patriot, recorded with band members spread out around the country, deliberately sounds like less of a "band" record and ventures further into the creatively booming territories of instrumental electronica and left-field hip-hop—though without losing sight of Law's graceful, powerful foundation.

Pascal - Galgberget

2009-02-28T08:36:00.000-08:00

01 Stort Och Vackert

02 Langtar Efter Dig
03 Jag Vill Ha Allt
04 Cadillac
05 Oslo
06 Alska Mig/Skjut Mig
07 Kom Ner
08 Rodlatta Man
09 Okenryttaren
10 Smartstillande
11 Min Enda Van
12 Galgberget

Pascal are back with their sophomore album called Galgberget and what a follow up it is. They have fine tuned their cave rock and are both heavier and noisier than ever. More anger and bitterness. More hate, longing and much much more love. Just as Pascal likes it.

It's still as raw and unpolished as before but with an added heaviness which gives them much more punch. Their talent for melodies and hooks that stick like gum are still intact. The first single & L'ngtar efter dig' (Longing for you) breaths much of the late eighties. And sure, much of their influences come from that era and the post punk scene but Elvis, Bruce Springsteen and Judas Priest. This is also what makes them truly unique, all their wide ranging personal influences mixed down to become Pascal.

Moderat - Moderat

2009-02-28T07:57:00.000-08:00

01. A New Error
02. Rusty Nails
03. Seamonkey
04. Slow Match (feat. Paul St. Hilaire)
05. 3 Minutes Of
06. Nasty Silence
07. Sick With It (feat. Dellé aka Eased from Seeed)
08. Porc # 1
09. Porc # 2
10. No. 22
11. Out Of Sight

In recording Moderat’s self-titled album, the three men began by renting studio space at the legendary Berlin Hansa Studios in order to record the album in analog with the help of the studio’s vintage tube technology and an old EMI console from 1972, restored especially for Moderat. American software designer, Joshua Kit Clayton, was hired to program a superb reverb algorithm specifically for the recording process of this album. This exquisite sound design is one of the reasons why the promotional copies can be listened to only in mono. Finished copies will, of course, be in full stereo.

Additionally, during the first phases of recording the Moderat , Szary and Bronsert bought an EMT Model 140 Plate Reverb on an Internet auction and had to travel to Los Angeles to pick it up. While there, they met the Californian rapper Busdriver and the groundwork for “BeatsWaySick” was laid. Moderat continued to work on this with Busdriver from their respective continents. Unfortunately due to legal issues at the time of manufacturing, this track will be released as an exclusive download in the near future.

Back in the studio, the Berlin vocalist Delle (aka Eased) from leading German act Seeed found himself in Moderat’s studio room while on a quest to find a bottle opener. There on the spot, the three gents of Moderat finally waved good-bye to the concept of a mere instrumental album and said hello to vocal recordings and the song “Sick With It”. Coincidentally, they found older vocal recordings of Paul St. Hilaire that had been recorded by Szary and Bronsert way back on low-noise 1/4″ analog tape. Those recordings are what led to “Slow Match”. All this encouraged Szary and Bronsert to convince Ring it was time for him to contribute vocals, which can be heard on “Rusty Nails” and “Out Of Sight”. “Rusty Nails” is the first single, which will feature remixes by Shackleton and Booka Shade.

Maria Taylor - Ladyluck

2009-02-28T02:26:00.000-08:00

1. LadyLuck
2. Time Lapse Lifeline
3. It's Time
4. My Favorite Love
5. 100,000 Times
6. Green Butterflies
7. Broad Daylight
8. A Chance
9. Orchids
10. Cartoons and Forever Plans

Maria Taylor is set to release her third solo album titled Ladyluck on April 7. Teaming up with producer friends Andy LeMaster (Bright Eyes, Azure Ray and a host of Saddle Creek label mates), Mike Mogis and Lukas Burton and featuring collaborations with Michael Stipe, Nate Walcott of Bright Eyes and Mckenzie Smith of Midlake, LadyLuck showcases Taylor's ability to pull at your heart strings while proving she's not a woman down on her luck.

Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day

2009-02-28T02:04:00.000-08:00

01. Life Of Dreams
02. Spill Yer Lungs
03. Lovers Of The World
04. Tailor
05. Heavy Snow
06. Nice To Come Home
07. Consolation Prize
08. Je Le Savais
09. When Brakes Get Wet
10. Borrowed Minivans
11. Blue
12. Glad To Be Alive

Over the last few years, it’s become increasingly easy to picture Julie Doiron writing songs from the comfort of her Sackville kitchen. Her sonic preferences have evolved from sludge and lo-fi melodies to tender tracks that expose hints of sadness delivered by a subdued voice and her emotions are spiked with the drama of a slowed down life filled with memories and dreams instead of the insecurities of youth. And while there’s no doubt that Doiron is incredibly successful writing in this style (Woke Myself Up earned a Polaris short-list nomination), for me it’s hard not to pine for the noise and energy that she and the other Tripper’s created in the 90’s. It’s obvious, even after working with her former band mates on Woke Myself Up, that Doiron is never going to fully return to that style, but I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day blends her past and present nicely...www.herohill.com

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Beware

2009-02-28T01:42:00.000-08:00

01 Beware Your Only Friend

02 You Can't Hurt Me Now

03 My Life's Work

04 Death Final

05 Heart's Arms

06 You Don't Love Me

07 You Are Lost

08 I Won't Ask Again

09 I Don't Belong to Anyone

10 There Is Something I Have to Say

11 I Am Goodbye

12 Without Work, You Have Nothing

13 Afraid Ain't Me

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy will release his “biggest and most ambitious album,” Beware on March 16th via Domino Records. “Though Beware shares spit with its immediate predecessor released this past summer, Lie Down in the Light, it’s reach is longer and stronger, more grandiose. Where fiddle and steel contribute their rustic timbre alongside guitars and voices, a thickening thud of low tone rolls beneath, giving the record a bottom that’s fun to watch bounce in new clothes”...www.muzzleofbees.com

O! The Joy - Zen Mode

2009-02-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

1. Conceivable Test Tube Baby
2. There Is No Such Thing As "Organized Crime"
3. This Fault Is Not Mine
4. Under The Radar
5. 22435
6. The Man And The Secrets
7. We Write The Next Chapter
8. I Just Didn' t Tell You
9. Guiding Role
10. Zen Mode

"If Built to Spill and The Mars Volta spawned a child, it might sound something along the lines of Sacramento's O! The Joy, but never long enough to get too caught up in the aforementioned names. Then again, there is ample evidence O! The Joy have explored the kosmische scene as well on their new record Zen Mob, here & there philosophically echoing Faust's manner of carrying rare tangents to fruition. Having said that, maybe I'm just high, but my favorite tune on the record, "Under The Radar," really reminds me of Joe Jackson, especially on the expansive slow punch of the chorus. Zen Mode shows a seamless weaving of genres, transferring from melodically intense passages to drugged out guitar mania splattering color."

Diplo & Blaqstarr - Get Off

2009-02-24T12:18:00.000-08:00

01. Get Off

02. Get Off (DJ Rob 3 Remix)

03. Get Off (Bonus Beats)

Diplo hooks up with his dancing buddy Blaqstarr for the latest Mad Decent outing with a wickedly cool nasty-house cut backed with a Rob 3 remix on pink vinyl and loaded with an exclusive side for use by the Serato heads. The pair's original version of 'Get Off' is a sexy neon flavoured hip-houser with serious early 90's attitude kinda similar to Radioslave's Cabana trax series but more poppy. Rob 3 revises the cut for the Bmore crowd with the standard breaks splattered with Bassline style warps and rave stabs for the party. We've only got a limited number of these bad boys and you know they're gonna fly...www.boomkat.com

dBridge - The Gemini Principle

2009-02-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

01. Seven Year Glitch

02. Blush Response (Feat. Instra:mental)

03. A Lost Cause

04. Ponderosa (Feat. Calibre)

05. Creatures Of Habit

06. Mr. Malcontent

07. The Question

08. Desire Line (Interlude)

09. Pure Elegance

10. Cast A Cold Eye

11. The Yearning

12. Mourning Dawn

13. Mana's Lamen (Outro)

What's going on? Two utterly sick D'nB releases in one week! With the sort of credentials some producers would kill for including releases for everyone from Trouble on Vinyl to Soul:r, the man like D-Bridge counts none other than Burial amongst his biggest fans and it's clear to see why when you've listened to this album. Initiating itself as the best D'n'B album since Breakage's 'This too shall pass', 'The Gemini principle' comes laden with eight cuts and not a duffer in sight, certainly a hell of a lot more than we could say for a recent comeback album from a certain celebrity jungle producer. The mood is brilliantly uncompromised by any commercial factors here, instead just cutting straight to the chase with a selection of certified dancefloor heaters sounding like the best of a massive range of our favourite hardcore/jungle/D'n'B heads from Paradox and Dillinja, to Breakage or Foul Play, but never once slipping into feeble imitation or homage and instead forging a headstrong and highly effective sound. Fans of any of the aforementioned producers must check this out, it's proper corker. Essential Purchase...www.boomkat.com

Hatakeyama Chihei - Dedication

2009-02-22T22:46:00.000-08:00

1. white mountain

2 .bird above the ocean

3. chair and acoustic guitar

4. light of the sun

5. illusion of memory I

6. illusion of memory II

7. illusion of memory III

8. quiet morning

9. dedication

Continuing his tradition for his second album, Chihei Hatakeyama does not use any synthesizers in making his music. All tracks were created by real musical instruments. In addition to using a guitar, accordion, calimba, violin, Shamisen, and vibraphone, he also used abstract noises such as the sound of air filling a bicycle tire. This album flows at the pace of a glacier and is mean to relax and weave your soul through the fabrics of nature and beauty. Dedication is the perfect album for deep thought, meditation or atmospheric music for a new age location.

Native Korean Rock & The Fishnets - Native Korean Rock & The Fishnets

2009-02-22T18:35:00.000-08:00

01. OOO
02. Visits
03. Rapt
04. Sunset Sun
05. Day Go By (live)
06. Indian Summer
07. Indian Summer (live)

Native Of korean Of rock of & The Of fishnets - the project of Karen (Karen O) - [vokalistki] of the group Of yeah Of yeah Of yeahs. On the newly-made command (first concert it was played this summer) of information from nose, it is known only that its participants - New York friends of Karen and that fulfills it, on its own words, “amorous songs, written in last two years”. With the production of valuable plate or at least EP, the discussion thus far does not deal; everything that there are in the presence - several studio Low- Faye of tracks, and also audio and video recording from the concert, played on July 21 this year in the Brooklyn club “Of union Of pool”. The taken place performance can be there described as “sincere in the whimsical decorations”: on the scene fake boat with the Korean flag, musicians in the suit of seamen and Karen o- improbably pacified, dear and serene. Well matched with the new means and the usable by it songs: simply comfortable, upright and touching in their simplicity sketchings, by tenderness and by bright melancholy. Such sensation, that it fell in love itself: perhaps, into the man, and can, the object of its feelings - the entire world. In of concert, besides the songs of its own composition, counts sincere - version of the song Of the Of doors - “Indian Of summer”, whose original sounding is augmented by the party of violin. P.S. in the network the Internet arose small confusion with the name of the group: on the page Of mySpace it is registered as Native Of korean Of rock, in a number of other sources, including official YYY, figures version with the addition of the word “Of the Of fishnets”. How is explained this difference, it is authentically unknown, it is possible only to assume that in the composition Of the Of fishnets - additional sessional musicians. P.P.S. the lined archive, besides the audio- records, includes the second part of the concert in Brooklyn with duration about 10 minutes (by video from YouTube and converted from the size of flv into avi). The first part can be looked according to this reference.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz

2009-02-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

1. Zero
2. Heads Will Roll
3. Soft Shock
4. Skeletons
5. Dull Life
6. Shame and Fortune
7. Runaway
8. Dragon Queen
9. Hysteric
10. Little Shadow

One of New York’s finest rock trios, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, are returning in April with a new album called It’s Blitz — and Rolling Stone has the scoop with an in the studio story in the next issue (on newsstands this week!). “We’re always going to have Yeah Yeah Yeahs hooks and energy,” Karen O tells us. “But we came up with something new that we’ve never heard before from ourselves. Less angst and more positivity, man!”

It’s Blitz, the follow-up to 2006’s Show Your Bones, was produced by Nick Launay (who oversaw the band’s 2007 EP Is Is) and TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek. Recording went down in the band’s native Brooklyn and in Texas where — no joke — the crew lived on a pecan orchard. It was certainly a far cry from the sessions that produced the trio’s raw 2003 debut Fever to Tell.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are already booked for two of the year’s biggest festivals, Coachella and Bonnaroo, where they’ll certainly be road-testing their newest tunes. The last time the Yeahs rocked New York City (an August ‘07 gig at Webster Hall) they tested out a new song and brought one of their sweatiest, passionate performances yet. Before the set ended with “Maps,” Karen O gave fans a little preview of this newfound positivity: “This brings us to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs love song,” she wailed as her parents looked on. “Love is real and this is for each and every one of you!”...www.rollingstone.com

The Boy Least Likely To - The Law of the Playground

2009-02-22T17:29:00.000-08:00

1. Saddle Up
2. A Balloon On A Broken String
3. When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade
4. I Box Up All The Butterflies
5. The Boy With Two Hearts
6. Stringing Up Conkers
7. The Boy Least LIkely To Is A Machine
8. Whiskers
9. Every Goliath Has Its David
10. The Nature Of The Boy Least Likely To
11. I Keep Myself To Myself
12. The Worm Forgives The Plough
13. A Fairy Tale Ending

"This record should have been released sooner," admits a press release for the Boy Least Likely To's forthcoming sophomore album, The Law of the Playground. Unfortunately, the album got tangled up in label drama, but it will finally see release March 3 via the English duo's own Too Young to Die label in the UK and in North America via +1.

Contrary to a previous report, the follow-up to 2005's The Best Party Ever will not include recently Forkcasted holiday single "The First Snowflake". It will, however, include not-so-recently Forkcasted ditties "I Box Up All the Butterflies" and"Balloon on a Broken String"."The First Snowflake" will be released as a download-only single on December 15, and that will be the only way to get it until the Boy Least Likely To release a greatest hits/B-sides and rarities/holiday album, of course.The Boy Least Likely To's only show scheduled right now is an appearance at a Christmas party at London's Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen on December 15, the same day as the single's release...www.pitchforkmedia.com

Martyn - Great Lengths

2009-02-21T01:06:00.000-08:00

1. The Only Choice

2. Kdrl-t-grv

3. Right Star!

4. Seventy Four

5. Little Things

6. Vancouver

7. These Words feat. dBridge

8. Bridge

9. Elden St

10.Far Away

11.Hear Me

12.Is This Insanity? feat. Spaceape

13.Briliant Orange

14.Natural Selection

Martijn Deykers been making waves in both the techno and dubstep communities with his previous releases as Martyn, impressing Francois K so much, for instance, that he was invited to take over his Deep Space party in New York for the entire night. However you might classify the music that he produces, Martijn is keen to avoid pigeonholing his own material. "I think what makes music interesting is when an artist incorporates his/her influences and translates it into a unique sounding style," he explains. "Although it might sound a tad arrogant, I'd like to think of my music as 'Martyn music.' I try not to think of it as dubstep or techno, or house or drum & bass—it's not about genres, it's about music. This way I feel more freedom to make the music I want to make."

Indeed, the hallmarks that made his previous records stand out so much are all present here: the floating Detroit-esque pads, stuttering broken beats and dubwise basslines—but there are a few surprises. "Little Things" chugs along at a casual 117 BPM, whilst Martijn indulges himself with an epic beatless synth workout on "Brilliant Orange." There's even a solo piano piece breaking up the album, as well as two vocal contributions from dBridge and Kode9's right hand man, Spaceape.

As with all of the previous releases on his 3024 label, the artwork has been done by Martijn's old friend from Eindhoven, Erosie. Martijn is keen to emphasise their co-ownership of the work, explaining that "because it's an album, people will focus on the music, but the artwork means just as much as the music does. Erosie's unique graphic style is 3024, and the music is 3024: Great Lengths represents music for the ears as well as for the eyes."...www.residentadvisor.net

Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies

2009-02-20T01:51:00.000-08:00

1. Midnight at the Movies

2. What I Mean to You

3. They Killed John Henry

4. Mama's Eyes

5. Dirty Rag

6. Can't Hardly Wait

7. Black Eyed Suzy

8. Poor Fool

9. Halfway to Jackson

10. Someday I'll Be Forgiven for This

11. Walk Out

12. Here We Go Again

If being the son of one of America’s greatest songwriters isn’t a hard enough burden to carry on your shoulders, how about sharing the name with one of American’s forgotten legends. Justin Townes Earle, son of Steve Earle and name adoptee of the late Townes Van Zandt has not only been busy at work carving his own niche in the Americana world, but stepping outside of the shadow that people like Jakob Dylan could never have achieved. After honing his chops in the Nashville area, The Good Life was his humble introduction to the world at large. Midnight at the Movies is a record that tests the endurance of a rising star in the south, and carries the potential to shoot him out of the bar and into the Ryman Auditorium

Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds And A Sound

2009-02-20T00:25:00.000-08:00

1. Oviedo
2. The Story I Heard
3. Paint or Pollen
4. Poor Boy
5. One Red Thread
6. Go On, Say It
7. Two Towns from Me
8. I Buried a Bone
9. Things I Cannot Recall
10. The Bitter End
11. 3 Rounds and a Sound

Frontman Israel Nebeker sings of loss and wonder with a voice smooth enough for anyone to enjoy, and every single song on this album is wonderful. Possibly more energetic than fellow Portland-ites Horse Feathers, 3 Rounds and A Sound is also quite relaxing. Songs like “The Story I Heard”, “Poor Boy”, and “3 Rounds and A Sound”, are all beautifully sang and appropriately subdued with instrumentation ranging from subtle horn lines to marimba. The smoothness of this album is incredible!

That being said, this reviewer would enjoy a little more in the way of dynamics, 3 Rounds can be listened straight through without anything really sticking out other than the fluidity of the melodies coming from Nebeker’s voice.

Another aspect I find particularly interesting about Blind Pilot is their love of the bike tour. The band’s website makes this abundantly clear, and I find it only so appropriate that a band that feels so much like the Pacific Northwest should make this a conscious effort in their music.

Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski prove in 3 Rounds and A Sound that they can produce an album that will turn no one away and provides a message about being who you really are, unabashedly true to yourself...www.myspace.com

Cantaloup - On A Hill Not Far Away

2009-02-20T00:03:00.000-08:00

01. Wake Up Call

02. Fireworks
03. When My Girl Walks Through This Garden
04. Last Song
05. Day By Day
06. My Discurse With Mr. Lloyd
07. Wake Up Call (Hoodwink remix)
08. Crooked Rain (feat. Hoodwink)

Thomas Peter’s brainchild Cantaloup offers a vibrant and enduring stimulus with the distinctive release, On A Hill Not Far Away; it is a record engorged with antiquity, and sounding like voices in the background of a beautiful European mountain. For anyone under the impression that Germany only breeds strange techno/metal artists, you are in for a rude awakening with this one.“Fireworks” is a well oriented distribution of kindness and despair. While “Last Song” serves up a delicious plate of instrumentals with a hint of ambiance. But the brightest star on the hill would have to be the almost frightening melody in “Day By Day”. With echoing vocals, and transparent piano keys, this definitely is a worthwhile six and a half minutes.It’s not that easy to completely comprehend what exactly Peters is getting at with Cantaloup. But, it is obvious that he is riding a musical boxcar all his own. The artistic ingenuity of this album is almost un-comparable to anything created in the experimental...

War Child presents Heroes

2009-02-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

1. Beck - Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (Bob Dylan cover)

2. The Kooks - Victoria (The Kinks cover)
3. The Hold Steady - Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen cover)

4. Hot Chip - Transmission (Joy Division cover)

5. Lily Allen feat. Mick Jones - Straight To Hell (The Clash cover)
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (The Ramones cover)
7. Franz Ferdinand - Call Me (Blondie cover)
8. Duffy - Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney cover)
9. Estelle - Superstition (Stevie Wonder cover)
10. Rufus Wainwright - Wonderful & Song For Children (Brian Wilson cover)
11. Scissor Sisters - Do The Strand (Roxy Music cover)
12. Peaches - Search And Destroy (Iggy Pop cover)
13. Adam Cohen- Take This Waltz (Leonard Cohen cover)
14. Elbow - Running To Stand Still (U2 cover)
15. The Like - You Belong To Me (Elvis Costello cover)
16. TV On The Radio - Heroes (David Bowie cover)

So, The War Child International charity asked Bruce Springsteen to pick any song of his and then pick the artist to cover it. Who wants to hear The Hold Steady do “Atlantic City?”I do. The album is called Heroes, it comes out February 24, and has some other things you might wanna hear; Duffy doing “Live and Let Die,” Estelle doing “Superstition,” Hot Chip doing “Transmission,” and TV on the Radio doing Bowie’s “Hereos” to give it the title track...www.mypoprocks.com

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

2009-02-18T06:25:00.000-08:00

01. This Tornado Loves You

02. The Next Time You Say Forever

03. People Got A Lotta Nerve

04. Polar Nettles

05. Vengeance Is Sleeping

06. Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth

07. Middle Cyclone

08. Fever

09. Magpie To The Morning

10. I'm An Animal

11. Prison Girls

12. Don't Forget Me

13. The Pharaohs

14. Red Tide

15. Marais La Nuit

On March 3, 2009, Anti- Records will release the eagerly awaited new Neko Case album Middle Cyclone. The fifteen-track collection is Case's first release since 2006's Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, the best-reviewed and best-selling album of her career.Middle Cyclone was produced by Case with Darryl Neudorf and recorded in Tucson, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Vermont. It features Case backed by her core band - guitarist Paul Rigby, bassist Tom V. Ray, backing vocalist Kelly Hogan, multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse, and drummer Barry Mirochnick - along with numerous guests including M. Ward, Garth Hudson, Sarah Harmer, and members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, Visqueen, The Lilys, and Giant Sand, among others. In addition to twelve new songs written by Case, Middle Cyclone includes covers of 'Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth' by Sparks, and "Don't Forget Me" by Harry Nilsson. In 2006, SPIN Magazine called Case "one of pop music's best" voices, and Interview Magazine hailed her album Fox Confessor Brings The Flood as "one of the most original, beguiling, honest records of the year." The album also earned Case Female Artist of the Year honors from the PLUG Independent Music Awards, and a Top 10 placement in the Village Voice's annual Pazz and Jop Critics Poll of the year's best releases. Fox Confessor was Case's first album to debut in the Billboard Top 100, and has sold nearly 200,000 copies in the U.S. alone...www.anti.com

Dan Deacon - Bromst

2009-02-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

1. Build Voice
2. Red F
3. Paddling Ghost
4. Snookered
5. Of The Mountains
6. Surprise Stefani
7. Wet Wings
8. Woof Woof
9. Slow With Horns / Run For Your Life
10. Baltihorse
11. Get Older

For the last three years Dan Deacon has been working on Bromst. Fusing together the growing intensity of his live performances with his background in electro-acoustic composition, the outcome is a collection of pieces that are intense and epic and at the same time down to earth and welcoming. Bromst embodies the same energy and excitement as Spiderman of the Rings, however the craftsmanship and composition onBromst have a wider scope and richer palette...www.radioexile.com

Mount Kimbie - Maybes

2009-02-15T17:21:00.000-08:00

A1. Maybes

A2. William

B1. Vertical

B2. Taps

Fanfarlo - Reservoir

2009-02-15T17:18:00.000-08:00

01 I'm A Pilot
02 Ghosts
03 Luna
04 Comets
05 Fire Escape
06 The Walls Are Coming Down
07 Drowning Men
08 If It Is Growing
09 Harold T. Wilkins Or How To Wait For A Very Long Time
10 Finish line
11 Good Morning Midnight

Shout Out Out Out Out – Reintegration Time

2009-02-15T17:16:00.000-08:00

01 Run
02 Guilt Trips Sink Ships
03 Bad Choices
04 Coming Home (Feat. Cadence Weapon)
05 How Do I Maintain Pt. I
06 How Do I Maintain Pt. II
07 One Plus Two Plus Three (Feat. San Serac)
08 Remind Me In Dark Times
09 In The End It's Your Friends
10 Reintegration Time

Patients - Patients

2009-02-15T17:12:00.000-08:00

1. Tall Tale Number 5
2. The Coldest Hands
3. Not In Nottingham
4. Body Song
5. Mind Ur Manners
6. Doorways
7. Mathematics
8. The Voice Of Our Age
9. Leaves
10. Sad Business
11. If You Come Back To Haunt Me

Sholi - Sholi

2009-02-15T17:07:00.001-08:00

1. All That We Can See
2. Tourniquet
3. November Through June
4. Spy in the House of Memories
5. Any Other God
6. Dance for Hours
7. Out of Orbit
8. Contortionist

Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free

2009-02-15T16:58:00.000-08:00

01. Everyone is Guilty

02. River
03. Creatures
04. The Alps & Their Orange Evergreen
05. Set 'Em Free, Pt. 1
06. Gravelly Mountains of the Moon
07. Many Ghosts
08. MBF
09. They Will Appear
10. Sun Will Shine (Warmth of the Sunship Version)
11. Last Year

Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free marks the band’s first album recorded as a trio; Seth Olinsky, Miles Seaton and Dana Janssen became a three piece in 2007 after original member Ryan Vanderhoof left the band that fall, and this shift in their line-up reconfigured the band’s approach to touring. They brought along like-minded musicians such as Megafaun, the Dodos and Greg Davis, both as openers and as members of an ever-changing Akron/Family ensemble, bringing about cacophonous onstage jams interwoven between the band’s songs. Whether it’s the three members of Akron/Family – communicating and interacting with one another onstage with something like the visceral language of the classic John Coltrane or Albert Ayler ensembles – or upwards of a dozen guest musicians joining them, their live shows are becoming a thing of legend.

Sweetheart: Our Favourite Artists Sing Their Favourite Long Songs

2009-02-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

01 Death Cab for Cutie - Love Song (Cure cover)
02 Katy Perry - Black and Gold (Sam Sparro cover)
03 DeVotchKa - Hot Burrito #1 (I'm Your Toy) (Flying Burrito Brothers cover)
04 Department of Eagles - Love Me (Elvis Presley cover)
05 Jessica Lea Mayfield - Words of Love (Buddy Holly cover)
06 Ben Bridwell - Your Love Is Forever (George Harrison cover)
07 Kate Tucker - I'm on Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover)
08 Rogue Wave - Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover)
09 A.C. Newman - Take on Me (a-ha cover)
10 Jem - Yellow (Coldplay cover)
11 Richard Hawley - Early Morning Rain (Gordon Lightfoot cover)
12 Daniel Martin Moore - I Hear Music (Billie Holiday cover)
13 She & Him - I Put a Spell on You (Screamin' Jay Hawkins cover)
14 Lila Downs - My One and Only Love (Frank Sinatra cover)

For you to be in any way remotely amped about this story, the following things have to not make you want to barf: Starbucks, Valentine's Day, NPR-sounding MOR indie, Katy Perry blatantly grabbing for indie cred, cutesy fake-vintage cover art, the idea of anyone covering Coldplay for anything other than a joke, love in general.

Still with me? On January 30, Starbucks Entertainment will release Sweetheart: Our Favorite Artists Sing Their Favorite Love Songs. Starbucks already pulled this trick in 2005, and apparently the world demanded a sequel.
The tracklist includes A.C. Newman's previously reported cover of a-ha's "Take on Me", Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses covering George Harrison, Department of Eagles doing a Leiber and Stoller song made famous by Elvis, Rogue Wave doing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and that Katy Perry cover of Sam Sparro's "Black and Gold" that lit up the mp3 blogs a few months back.
Also, both halves of the newly engaged indie supercouple Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel will be represented here via the Death Cab and She & Him selections, and maybe they'll be singing to each other because awww. (They're covering songs which, respectively, 311 and Marilyn Manson have already had their way with. Make of that what you will.)...www.pitchforkmedia.com

Daniel Stefanik - Reactivity

2009-02-14T04:22:00.000-08:00

01. Reactivity 1

02. Reactivity 2

03. Reactivity 3

04. Reactivity 4

05. Reactivity 5

06. Reactivity 6

07. Reactivity 7

08. Reactivity 8

09. Reactivity 9

Fans of Daniel Stefanik's monolithic Starless (not to mention its companion Starless Reshapes record) have cause for celebration. Stefanik's new long-player (also released by Statik Entertainment) largely sticks to the kind of cosmic, Detroit-fed product he brought to market on those records. I say "largely" because Stefanik wanders from that path quite a bit, forgoing homogeneity to include tracks orbiting on axes rather distant from the lean, brooding techno at the album's gravitational center.

An agile journeyman, Stefanik has already left plenty of evidence of his dexterity in a range of neoclassical styles, and with Reactivity he proves quite comfortable pursuing several disparate sonic directions. The least conspicuous of the album's deviations is "Reactivity 8," a troddin' slow-burner of weathered, rootsy dub. More notable are Stefanik's forays into house territory, "Reactivity 2" and "5" incorporating toms, cowbells and a faint soulfulness reminiscent of a sanded-down Theo Parrish.

The most jarring variation, surely, is "Reactivity 7," an acid burst of metallic, rapid fire percussion that's unlike anything else on the record. All this lends a versatility that keeps the album on its feet for the duration of its 62 minutes. In the main, though,Reactivity is held together by a downbeat backbone that should sit well with anyone with a fondness for Chain Reaction fare (take, for example, the opening and closing cuts, or especially "3").

A stately, almost somber album, Reactivity is choice headphones material, and does come equipped with several fine pulls for more energetic and less solitary enjoyment. It's a record that doesn't clamber for attention, and doesn't seem at pains to forge a bold, singular identity for its creator. But these shouldn't be marks against a listen as consistent, as satisfying, or as cohesive as this one...www.residentadvisor.net

Stuffit - Thats What Friends Are For

2009-02-14T00:20:00.000-08:00

1. The Ape Cage
2. Digits For Paranoid
3. Jungle Fever
4. Drummers Girlfriend
5. Dark Digital Dancefloor
6. The Man On My Place
7. Only Play With Fire

Mimas - The Worries

2009-02-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

01 Treehouse

02 Mac, Get Your Gear

03 Dads

04 Fangs

05 Why In The World Not?

06 Dr Phil's Retirement

07 Keep Quiet

08 Cats On Fire

09 Beneath The Glad Sunbeam

For a country which used to provide such a glut of lethal, hulking Vikings for so long, Denmark really does produce a lot of sensitive falsetto whiners now. These days, it's all gloomy indie this and fractal post-rock that, despite the fact that they're officially meant to be the happiest nation on earth. Mimas make no significant departure from the Scandinavian indie template, managing to tick off most of the key elements; soaring, high-pitched vocals, utterly inscrutable lyrics, over-deployment of atmospheric guitar effects, anthropomorphic animals for artwork, all being strapping, handsome young man-giants. They've opted for the straight-up post rock route, and they attack it with confidence and ability, mostly, without ever really reaching the proper crescendos which this kind of stuff aches for. While they're happy to shimmer away at their guitars, they don't bring the big guns often enough. The band would probably argue that that's not what they're going for, and that they're aiming to keep it understated, but it's hard to maintain listeners' interest levels with this sort of music, and six-minute songs need to have pay-offs.They've most in common with Sigur Ros and Explosions In The Sky, and it's a testament to what Mimas have achieved that they don't suffer in comparison to these two titans of the genre, but it's also beginning to look like there is only so much you can do with this style of music. Thus: good, but not essential...www.new-noise.net

The Low Frequency In Stereo - Futuro

2009-02-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

1. Turnpike

2. Texas Fox

3. Geordie la forge

4. Mt. Pinatubo

5. Starstruck

6. Sparkle Drive

7. The End Is the End

8. Solar System

From the Eastern-tinged pop flirt of ”Startruck” to the near 10 minute cosmic groove-trip that is ”Solar System”, the new album from this excellent group finds them on top form and taking a big leap from their previous, Norwegian Grammy nominated album. A sharper and more focused effort without a weak track in sight, ”Futuro” is both industrial and rough as well as polished and streamlined. There are nods to fellow Norwegians 120 Days as well as Stereolab, Can, Doors, Joy Divison and even B-52´s, but first of all this is a group that with their fourth album have perfected their own sound.www.runegrammofon.com

Bedroom - La Casa Dins la Casa

2009-02-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

1. El Suro De L'Amo

2. The Monster

3. Lucky Boy

4. Nits De Cels Vermells

5. The Gentle Breeze

6. Oh Lucky Boy

7. Llavis Mullats

8. Little Bird

9. Japanese Girl

Bedroom, to his credit for having been able to find the perfect name for their music. In his debut, Albert Aromar has created songs to enjoy in the privacy of a bedroom, especially in these winter days where too lazy to leave home and move to the stressful pace of the people. Bedroom, full cold snap, it's like a good cup of hot coffee when you get to the street: one of the most pleasant sensation. Flavors has looked into the mirror of those who likes to create an album of folk naked, but not cortavenas. There are around Dins La Casa La Casa and that a peaceful feeling that in his myspace quote Bedroom Bill Callahan, Will Oldham and Leonard Cohen. As in these disks, make the Bedroom key reason for its low, but rarely want the songs in this debut to take a tragic life. Nor do I say that Bedroom is the joy of the garden: there is some unease at vital points, but unless exceptions like 'Little Bird' cautious wager that is less formal and more playful. At times even closer to the exuberance of the last songs of M. Ward...www.hipersonica.com(w/ google translate)

Jenny Wilson - Hardships!

2009-02-12T22:21:00.000-08:00

1. The Path

2. Like A Fading Rainbow

3. Clattering Hooves

4. The Wooden Chair

5. Porcelain Castle

6. Anchor Made Of Gold

7. Bad Waters

8. Only Here For The Fight

9. Pass Me The Salt

10. Motherhood

11. Hardships

12. We Had Everything

13. Strings Of Grass

Former first lady of Swedish avant-garde indiepop outfit First Floor Power, Jenny Wilson, is finally ready with the follow up to acclaimed solo debut, ‘Love And Youth’ (2006). Titled ‘Hardships’ it’s produced by Wilson herself and will be released February 23 on her own label Gold Medal Recordings. (Featuring guests Mapei, Simone Rubi and El Perro Del Mar)

The Rakes - Klang

2009-02-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

1. You’re In It

2. That’s The Reason
3. The Loneliness Of The Outdoor Smoker
4. Bitchin’ In The Kitchen
5. The Woes Of The Working Woman
6. 1989
7. Shackleton
8. The Light From Your Mac
9. Muller’s Ratchet
10. The Final Hill

Not, perhaps, the sort of thing that I write about here very often, but The Rakes always sounded round these parts as one of the best bands to emerge from the whole post-Libertines/post-punk/Britpop Nouveau thing of a few years ago. They seemed to have a fair bit more wit and interesting angles than most of their contemporaries, and maybe a healthy affinity to Elastica.

Continued...

That said, I can’t pretend to remember much about The Rakes’ second album, so the arrival of their third didn’t initially cause that much fuss. It’s really good, though: it’s called “Klang!”, possibly due to it being recorded in the band’s new hometown of Berlin. “Klang!”, however, is not much like Krautrock, being instead a lean and determined reiteration of the Rakes’ skills: choppy riffs; bug-eyed social observation; very short songs.

“Klang!” has ten songs, the longest of which comes in at less than three and a half minutes. The titles are pretty good value in themselves: “The Loneliness Of The Outdoor Smoker”, “Shackleton”, “Mullers Ratchet”, the last of which apparently refers to a genetic disorder which manifests itself in asexual populations and is not the sort of thing you get dealed with so catchily in, say, a song by The View.

And as something like “That’s The Reason” belts past, the infectious bristling economy comes across as a neat rejoinder to the new Franz Ferdinand album, where their schtick seems so tired and needy. The price of success, maybe: if “Tonight: Franz Ferdinand” finds a band so anxiously trying to cling on to fame and overcompensating as a result, “Klang!” showcases one unburdened by any such expectations.

Frankly, The Rakes’ time of hipness may have past, but the quality of these clipped dispatches – and the unglossy punch bestowed on them by Les Savy Fav producer Chris Zane – suggest a longevity uncommon in British bands of their generation. The best thing of many good things here is a song called “1989”, a roisteringly nostalgic knees-up which may have something to do with the fall of the Berlin Wall, which faintly resembles “Hong Kong Garden” with its gothic portent replaced by something at once blokey and somehow cerebral.

Everything flies past in a blur, but occasionally you catch Alan Donohue’s blurry narratives through those precisely ringing and strutting guitars, that mathematically chundering bassline. In “Shackleton”, he seems to be comparing himself to “Harry Hill on happy pills”, and though I’m fairly sure there’s more erudite references in here, that one sticks out this morning. Good record...www.uncut.co.uk

Pia Fraus - After Summer

2009-02-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

1 Springsite

2 Yenissey

3 Sailing Yes

4 Doctor Optimism

5 House Eaten

6 After Summer

7 Late Again

8 Mute The Birds

9 Loveloops

10 Far Fade Whisper

Clairecords is extremely proud to present Pia Fraus' new album "After Summer". After 5 long years, we welcome the Estonian pop geniuses back to the Clairecords label with open arms.

"After Summer" is produced by legendary Glaswegian Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits, The Pastels etc). Pia Fraus and Norman Blake kept file transfer programs busy for months to exchange soundfiles; this relationship has created something magical. "After Summer" is the 4th proper album from the Pias, and quite possibly their best album to date. No wonder, if your idol takes producer's chair! The album also features some guest musicians: Estonian electronica stars Galaktlan and Pastacas guest on two of the album's tracks. Moreover, "After Summer" has the well-known and well-loved Pia Fraus sound, quality songwriting, a lot of studio tricks and layers of guitars, synths, and boy/girl vocals. This album will bring huge grins to the mouths of Pia Fraus fans, yet at the same time it is a perfect introduction to Pia Fraus for the uninitiated.

For fans of My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab, Chicago Underground Quartet, The Pastels, The Beatles, and – of course - Pia Fraus!...www.tonevendor.com

Shackleton/Mordant Music - El Din/Olde Wobbly

2009-02-12T20:34:00.000-08:00

1. Shackeleton - El Din (part 1)

2. Modrant Music - Olde Wobbly

Shackleton returns to the home of some of his finest releases, Mordant music, for two more trips to darker sonic territories. 'El Din' is Shackleton in archetypal Skull Disco mode, all dislocated Middle Eastern melodies taking a magic carpet ride around uniquely syncopated rhythms that cause the most possessed reactions on the right dancefloors.

'Olde Wobbly' from Mordant Music on the flip slots together blank-eyed pads reminding us of Shed's 'Estrange', with an arpeggiated Italo synthline and rolling percussion for an absolute brain melting cosmic tripper that defies belief. Absolute sickness. Recommended!"

The Mordant Music track is the one for me, but there's no denying the unique and somehow cumulative appeal of these Shackleton dubstep tracks. The more of them I hear, the more it's working for me as a "body of work". Brilliant stuff all round...www.boomkat.com

MSTRKRFT - Fist Of God

2009-02-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

1. It Ain’t Love f. Lil Mo
2. 1000 Cigarettes
3. Bounce f. N.O.R.E. & Isis
4. Vuvuvu
5. Heartbreaker f. John Legend
6. Fist Of God
7. So Deep f. Jahmal (The Carps)
8. Click Click f. E-40
9. Word Up f. Ghostface Killah
10. Breakaway f. Jahmal (The Carps)
11. 1000 Cigarettes f. Freeway

Former Death From Above 1979 bassist Jesse Keeler and producer Al-P's second album is reportedly "really different" from 2006's The Looks, according to Keeler.

Fist Of God doesn't yet have a release date or track list, but it will include "Bounce," a collaborative single MSTRKRFT released with N.O.R.E. in October. The disc also includes guest appearances from Ghostface Killah, E-40, Freeway, Lil' Mo and John Legend.

"We wanted to make a record that was more ideologically like a throwback to when rap and R&B production was old school; the line between that and dance was very blurry," Keeler told Billboard.com. "We knew people were gonna hate, because idiots don't like music because they like listening to it.

"They use it as a way of defining who they are. When it changes, it leaves them in a tough spot — 'I can't use this to create my identity anymore' — and their reaction is negative."...www.chartattack.com

Free Blood - Parangatang

2009-02-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

1. Free Blood - Parangatang

2. Free Blood - Parangatang (Tim Love Lee Remix)

3. Free Blood - Weekend Condition

4. Free Blood - Weekend Condition (Scotty Coats & Wes The Mes Mix)

A great single from DFA signees Free Blood, drawing on brilliant, anything goes no-wave stylings for 'Paragatang', which although sounds well within the parameters of the DFA remit, goes a little further into experimental territory. Tim 'Love' Lee glosses over the more chaotic elements and reshapes the beat into a more organised arrangement. Next comes 'Weekend Condition', another supremely odd composition, situating itself somewhere between Foals, TV On The Radio and Hot Chip. The Scotty Coats & Wes The Mes remix does little to knock some sense into the track, rounding off an admirably strange EP...www.boomkat.com

Lampshade - Stop Pause Play

2009-02-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

1. The Rest

2. 123 - Lalala - Take It Back

3. Silkesår (feat. Teitur)

4. Neon People

5. Architecture Wounds

6. Den støjende tid (Bonus track)

RebekkaMaria presses stop, pause and plays with the indie collective Lampshade once again - maybe for the last time. New mini album and tour is the 'Thank you, goodnight' from the Scandinavian sound expressionists, who don't know whether they will stop or just pause. But for now they just PLAY. With an enormous variation in style and sound, yet a consequent focus on art and expression the Swedish/Danish music collective is back as we know it - and again in a totally different way. "Stop Pause Play" is the title of their new 6-track mini album that follows up their 2003 debut success "Because Trees Can Fly" and the latest full length "Let's Away" from 2006. Again the charismatic singer RebekkaMaria enchants the listener but on the new recording guitarist Erik NylÃ©n takes the lead on 2 tracks - both as singer and songwriter adding yet another dimension to the sound landscape. Further more RebekkaMaria sings a duet with Faroese star Teitur on the Danish pop hymn 'Silkesar'. Lampshade is playful as ever. Singing in Danish and English, playing soft and monotone, loud and noisy, combining male/female vocals, "Stop Pause Play" becomes a bomb of expressions. And maybe the last release from the band that has decided to take a break - not knowing how long or if it's even definite. The reason is partly to be found in the increasing solo career of singer RebekkaMaria - the electropop project As In RebekkaMaria and in the new band This Is Head formed by guitarist Henric Claesson and drummer Adam Jacobsson. After the upcoming tour the members of Lampshade will focus 100% on other projects...www.friendly-fire.nl But before the break there are new songs to be heard live and on "Stop Pause Play". Most of the new songs will be on the set list on the upcoming tour among Lampshade classics like Disse Fugle, Come on In, Joy, The Hug and Treasure Is.

Wavves - Wavvves

2009-02-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

01. Rainbow Everywhere
02. Beach Demon
03. To the Dregs
04. Sun Opens My Eyes
05. Gun in the Sun
06. So Bored
07. Goth Girls
08. No Hope Kids
09. Weed Demon
10. California Goths
11. Summer Goth
12. Ghost Ramp
13. Killr Punx, Scary Demons
14. Surf Goth

Nathan Williams from San Diego is the current toast of the blogs but, if the name is unfamiliar, you might recognise him from his musical moniker Wavves. His debut album is a delight of bedroom pop drenched in dirty, overamped, fuzzy guitars. It’s punk marinaded in surf-pop, drawing on the Beach Boys, Wipers, Beat Happening and the Pixies, and taking its cue from the K Records’ DIY dynamic. There are a couple of departures into playful space-prog wibbling and pitchshifting electronica but the majority of the record is some form of brutally distorted guitar pop: from catchy punk (‘Here’s To The Sun’) to frenetic, driving Pixiepop (‘Teenage Super Party’) to Wire-like spikiness (‘Side Yr On’). It sounds as inspired and underproduced as punk rock records from 1976 with the same amphetamine frenzy. It may be raw but it’s powerful and satisfying stuff, best listened to very loud....www.soundsxp.com

Rasputina - Melora a la Basilica

2009-02-11T22:58:00.000-08:00

1. Clowns

2. American Girl

3. Wicked Dickie

4. I Want To Marry A Lighthouse Keeper

5. Rose K.

6. Why Don’t You Do Right

7. Rusty The Skatemaker

8. Green Finch / Johanna

9. Girl Lunar Explorer

10. Soon Forget

11. Identity Tokens

Daniel and Melora made a live recording in a behemoth of a defunct glue factory: "Melora a la Basilica - a collection of old favorites and cool covers and very similar to the live recitals they gave earlier this year. This limited numbered edition of 1,000 comes encased in a metal tin with a numbered certificate and glorious 8-panel insert of liner notes and more and is only available from the Merch Shoppe while supplies last...www.musictoday.com

Bon Iver - The Myspace Transmissions EP

2009-02-11T22:52:00.000-08:00

1. For Emma
2. Flume
3. Lump Sum
4. Blindsided

Bon Iver visited with MySpace Transmissions for an exclusive performance...www.myspace.com

The Cavestompers - Introducing

2009-02-11T22:43:00.000-08:00

01-Girl In Black
02-Rock'n'Roll
03-Был Один Парень
04-Amphetamine Girl
05-Do You Understand Me?
06-Run Outside
07-Limousine
08-Go Go Go On
09-You're My Girl
10-Louie
11-Shabby Clothes, Shabby Moods
12-Night And Day
13-Promise Me
14-Can't Stop The Stomp

Its great to hear a brand new record that gives off electric sparks and a palpable sense of the teenage spirit that lies behind all great rocknroll sounds. The Cavestompers, six guys of Russian origin, from the city of Moscow. On this, their debut long-player, "Introducing.", The Cavestompers have woven together a truly fine tapestry of sounds - much of it resonating from the valves of vintage Eastern Bloc electronic technology, and instrumentation - breathing new life into familiar noises; building a thumping, swaggering collection of authentic future dance-party favourites in the process. The influence and style of punk rock isnt so far away, and hand in hand with the proclamations of the original Rolling Stones-era have been bound together in The Cavestompers style to form what we can term today as the new breed. So without any further ado, crank up your music machine, cue the disc and let your hips shake, your bootheels stomp and your head swirl, for as the boys in the band are proud to shout out loud: "we all cant stop the stomp"! The record came with a beautifull two sided insert print, photos of the Russian instruments and studios and photos of the band...www.rayelpee.com

Black Dice - Repo

2009-02-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

01. Night Cream
02. Glazin
03. Earnings Plus Interest
04. Whirligig
05. La Cucaracha
06. Idiots Pasture
07. Lazy
08. Buddy
09. Inches
10. Vegetable

11. Urban Super Mist
12. Ultra Vomit
13. Gag Shack

Experimental Brooklyn trio Black Dice have announced the imminent release of their fifth official full-length.

Entitled Repo, the record sees the former DFA act going in a slightly accessible direction. We think. Described in the press release as having cultivated a "new roadhouse blues-band philosophy" and having a collection of "concise" songs to show it off, you'd be forgiven for thinking that these tunes will be a kinder and gentler Black Dice. In the same breath, however, we get "sonically battering" and "flat-out bizarre," which for a band that started their career off with a host of legendarily confrontational noise performances before unleashing an almost soothing dub-inspired collection of droning noise rock on their breakthrough album, Beaches and Canyons, is saying quite a bit. Whatever the result, fans of acts like Gang Gang Dance and Fuck Buttons will get their fix come April, once the record is released on Paw Tracks...www.residentadvisor.net

Benga - Diary Of An Afro Warrior

2009-02-11T01:03:00.000-08:00

01 Zero M2
02 Night - Benga & Coki
03 B4 The Dual
04 E Trips
05 Someone 20
06 Light Bulb
07 Crunked Up
08 Go Tell Them
09 Cut
10 Emotions
11 3 Minutes
12 Pleasure
13 26 Basslines
14 Loose Synths

One of the scene's youngest and brightest talents finally drops off his debut album proper for Tempa, and needless to say, it's mucking fassive. Benga has been an integral cog in the dubstep machine since the genres inception, producing his first genre defining e.p at the tender age of 16, with 'Skank/dose' on the original dubstep label, Big Apple, and has since proceeded to rule the scene with a slew of irrefutably influential releases for everyone from Planet Mu to Hot Flush, and his own Benga Beats imprint. Alongside his school pal Ollie Jones, aka Skream, Benga has come to define this particularly virulent and effective strain of the the hardcore continuum known as dubstep, marrying a rudeboy raving attitude with a devastatingly raw production talent and passion for bass to come up with the freshest dancefloor sound currently coming out of the UK right now. Kicking off with the jazzing juxtaposition of 'Zero M2', the CD moves through outright anthem 'Night' onto the massive 'B4 the dual', placing Moondog style big band wind instrumentation over a skipping Benga special, with unreal effects. Why isn't this on the vinyl copy fo f*cks sake?!?! Again, another CD only cut, 'someone 20' shows another previously unheard side to benga, with a slack and moody electro disco cut sounding quite unlike anything we've ever heard from him before. The album moves through more anthems on 'Crunked up' before arriving at electro hardcore beast 'go tell them' sounding like it could have come from Luke Vibert's Spac Hand Luke project. In the albums final 3rd, the lights are dimmed for the awesome run of 'emotions' (the b-side to 'night'), followed by '3 minutes' and the tranced out minimalism of 'pleasure', indicating very exciting new directions for dubstep as it embraces the funky house and techno scenes and moves slightly away from the skunked out rave bliss of yesteryear. The CD copy also includes the alternative ending of 'loose synths' with Benga rolling up for a velvet smooth landing with some darkly opulent synthwork, sharing more in common with Italo or European electro than anything vaguely dubstep. Seriously classy stuff, the cd edition in particular...www.boomkat.com

Swan Lake - Enemy Mine

2009-02-11T00:48:00.000-08:00

1. Spanish Gold, 2044

2. Paper Lace

3. Heartswarm

4. Settle on Your Skin

5. Ballad of a Swan Lake, or, Daniel’s Song

6. Peace

7. Spider

8. A Hand at Dusk

9. Warlock Psychologist

For lack of a better word, this album is more cohesive and less a mash-up of three different styles than 2006's Beast Moans. What we, have here is instead a band with three lyricists and vocalists working together on the same thing interweaving, rather than throwing against a wall, their vocals and musical styles so we get Krug's dissonant pop with Mercer's wild despair and Bejar's warbling nonsense. On the track's opener, Mercer takes the lead and delivers what could be a straight up Frog Eyes track but without his wife's chaotic drumming. "Paper Lace" gets both Bejar's nonsense through Jackie's return and shines through the lyrics, I think, while Mercer handles the vocal duties only for Bejar to come back with a slow not-quite piano ballad that's almost entirely a Destroyer track stylistically. Arrgh, without linear notes, it's hard to know who's responsible for what and when but regardless the trio leave you with a record that is distinctly all of them individual and possessing a rawness that has been sorely lacking in some of their other projects.

Blakfish - See You In Another City

2009-02-09T12:17:00.000-08:00

1. Preparing For Guests
2. My Stomach Feels Like My Throat's Been Cut
3. Jeremy Kyle Is A Marked Man
4. Make Your Bed And Lie In It
5. Carnival Carnivore

See You In Another City, the latest release from Birmingham’s Blakfish, almost blasts you there in the second you press play – first song Preparing For Guests is prefaced with a throat slicing, vocal chord cutting, bloodcurdling scream, before the rest of the song kicks in.

It’s the first of five hard emotional punches that knock your heart and brain about with their deadly delivery.

Blending strains of post-hardcore with full-throttle rock and an underlying indie mentality, Blakfish offer up a delicious dish of brutal confessionalism that twists and turns with each intricate guitar note, guttural songs such as the brilliantly titiled ‘Jeremy Kyle Is A Marked Man’ and ‘My Stomach Feels Like My Throat’s Been Cut’, which reach deep down and eviscerate you as you listen, slicing through your guts to reveal your innermost self and leaving it strewn all over the ground.

Faust - C'est Com... Com... Compliqué

2009-02-09T11:54:00.000-08:00

01. Kundalini Tremolos
02. Accroch‚ Tes Levres
03. Ce Chemin Est le Bon
04. Stimmen
05. Petits Sons Appetissants
06. Bonjour Gioacchino
07. En Veux-Tu des Effets, en Voila
08. Lass Mich, Version Originale
09. C’est… Com… Com…. Compliqué

The Bureau B label breaks into new territory and presents a newly-recorded album by Krautrock legends, Faust. "There is no group more mythical than Faust." Thus wrote English musician and eccentric Julian Cope in his classic of the genre, Krautrocksampler. Which says it all really -- neither the habitus nor the music of the six-piece Hamburg group is easy to grasp. Formed in Hamburg in 1970, some lauded Faust as the best thing that ever happened to rock, others dismissed them as shameless dilettantes. Their collage of Dadaism, avant-garde rock and free improvisation radically divided opinion. Their legend was built on the fact that, in the early days, they addressed the media through their producer and manager Uwe Nettelbeck. Precious little was known about the musicians themselves. When the first LP was unleashed on the world in 1971, Faust were very much the prophets in their own land, as the saying goes: few were interested in listening to their music -- in Germany. Not so across the Channel: this is where Faust's career really kick-started. These monoliths of avant-garde rock sold a phenomenal 100,000 copies of their third album The Faust Tapes, one of the first releases on the Virgin label, then in its infancy. Now that Krautrock has been revived, Faust have become one of the biggest names to drop, worldwide. Their concerts in the USA, Middle East, Japan and Europe invariably sell out. Almost 40 years since they began, Faust are issuing a brand new studio album. Original members Jean-Hervé Peron and Werner "Zappi" Diermaier were joined in the Electric Avenue studio by Amaury Cambuzat (from the French post-rock combo Ulan Bator). Star indie producer Tobias Levin recorded. The results sound fantastic! Typically Dadaist lyrics (mostly in French) accompany repetitive, sporadically overflowing patterns. Faust's music combines seemingly contradictory elements: it rages, yet is gentle; it is monotonous yet melodic, earthy and still ethereal. Safe to say, it is unique. The Bureau B label have previously concentrated on re-releases and compilations, but presented with the opportunity of releasing new works by Krautrock gods Faust, the only possible outcome was to say YES....www.ear-rational.com

Natural Snow Buildings - Laurie Bird

2009-02-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

1		Song For Laurie Bird
2		Cockmotherfighting
3		Orisha's Laments

Laurie Birds represents something transcendent and contradictory to the norm of Noise music, it represents a fragile, beautiful piece of music that rewards attentive listeners. The nearly hour long title track is like a great composition interpreted through layers of distortion. Let anyone who doesn’t care to adventure say 2008 was a step down from 2007, all that’ll happen is someone will deny themselves the best and boldest releases of the year...neoavant.com

The Juan Maclean - The Future Will Come

2009-02-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

01. The Simple Life

02. The Future Will Come

03. One Day

04. A New Bot

05. Tonight

06. No Time

07. Accusations

08. The Station

09. Human Disaster

10. Happy House

Four years after dropping the synth-drenched opus Less Than Human, the Juan Maclean are finally ready for its follow-up. Come April 14, the project run by former Six Finger Satellite front-man John MacLean will release the long-awaited The Future Will Come LP courtesy of DFA. And according to the beatmaker, fans should expect a change. Described as being more vocal and pop, the Juan Maclean’s sophomore effort finds the project going back to the '80s this time out and, in fact, entering some very Human League territory, MacLean says in the press release. “In my career as the Juan Maclean, my guiding principle was to start out more dance-y and instrumental, and someday bow out making flat-out, three-and-a-half-minute pop songs,” he explains. “I wanted to do an album with male-female interplay in the vocals,” adding that this has led him to add LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang as a full-fledged band member, as well as listen to a whole lot of Dare-era Human League in the lead-up to the record. Also helping out on The Future Will Come are Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel of NY disco duo Holy Ghost! and !!! drummer Jerry Fuchs, all whom were recently part of the Juan MacLean’s full-band live tour and helped debut much of this new material last year.

Johnny Cash - Remixed

2009-02-07T13:20:00.000-08:00

01 - Get Rhythm (Philip Steir Remix)
02 - Big River (Count De Money Remix)
03 - Country Boy (Sonny J Remix)
04 - I Walk The Line (QDT Muzic Remix Ft. Snoop Dogg)
05 - Doin' My Time (The Heavy Remix)
06 - Leave That Junk Alone (Alabama 3 Remix)
07 - Port Of Lonely Hearts (Midnight Juggernauts Remix)
08 - Folsom Prison Blues (Pete Rock Remix)
09 - Straight A's In Love (Troublemaker Remix)
10 - Sugartime (Kennedy Remix)
11 - Rock Island Line (Wolf Remix)
12 - Belshazzar (Machine Drum Remix)
13 - I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow (Apparat Remix)
14 - Wide Open Road (Count De Money Remix)
15 - Trail To Mexico (Mexican Institute Of Sound Remix)
16 - Hey Porter (Mocean Worker Remix)
17 - Katy Too (DJ Enjay Remix)
18 - My Treasure (J. Scott Remix)

1990s - Kicks

2009-02-07T13:07:00.001-08:00

1. Vondelpark

2. Tell Me When You're Ready

3. I Don't Even Know What That Is

4. 59

5. Kickstrasse

6. Everybody Please Relax

7. Balthazar

8. Local Science

9. The Box

10. Giddy Up

11. The Kids

12. Sparks

Kicks features more sassy, infectiously catchy songs about Glasgow and girls in the main, but also references Mongolian warlords, bears, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Baader-Meinhof and Scientology. Most of the songs on Kicks are anecdotes about ex, current, future and fictional girlfriends.

The album was recorded at Edwyn Collins’ West Heath Yard studio in London and it was produced by Bernard Butler. Kicks is the sound of a group careering head first, inspired by where they come from and what they can potentially do, into further adventures in sound and visions. Inspiration was taken from everything from Scary Monsters/Golden Years-era Bowie and his work with Brian Eno & Tony Visconti to Jay-Z through to Hall & Oates, the chops of Hot Chocolate and even the folk licks of Richard Thompson. Sonically Kicks is a rock record, but 1990s' intention was to make it sound slightly alien, too.

The album’s a non-stop assault of pop gems. “59” eulogises the 59 bus in Pollokshields, which comes approximately once per lifetime and goes from Narnia to Brigadoon via Pollokshields. As Michael, who sings it, explains "It’s the only bus you want to get on in Pollokshields, even if it’s going in the wrong direction. The song’s about me taking this bus and checking out the girls… with gammy eyes."

1990s' vocal harmonies on this album have come into their own and lead vocal duties are shared amongst the group much more so than on Cookies. Michael sings four songs, Dino sings two and Jackie sings the rest. “Kickstrasse” features Jackie addressing German 1970s terrorist group Baader-Meinhof, with help from Kate Jackson (of The Long Blondes) on backing vocals. On “Everybody Please Relax” Jackie threatens to move to Hollywood and become a Scientologist. Michael and Dino hope that he doesn't...www.beggarsgroupusa.com

Jackie Leven - Men In Prison

2009-02-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

Disk: 1

1. Men In Prison

2. Opening Remarks To Prisoners

3. Extremely Violent Man

4. Poortoun

5. Call Mother A Lonely Field

6. The Garden

7. Classic Northern Diversions

8. The Crazy Song

Disk: 2

1. Intro

2. Looking For Love

3. Plastic Irish Pubs In Europe

4. Stranger On The Square

5. Universal Blue

6. Jackie's Great Records

7. Single Father

8. I Saw My Love Walk Into The Clouds

9. When German People Call Me(On The Toilet)

10. Paris Blues

11. You've Lost That Loving Feeling

'Men In Prison', was recorded live in Bergen Men's Prison, Norway in 2000. A million miles away from Johnny Cash's exuberant prison recordings, the Norwegian prisoners were impassive, watchful and considered in their response to a great performance, but their gathering warmth is palpable and their appreciation heartfelt at the end of a blinding set of songs. Recorded live in 2002 at Cafe Muffathalle in Munich, with long term Jackie collaborators Michael Cosgrave [multi-instrumentalist] & Deborah Greenwood [vocals], 'Munich Blues' includes much excellent and typical Jackie humour. Both albums are recorded to the highest professional standards, as might be expected of two countries with a significant interest in obtaining the very best from artistic endeavour.).

Elvis Perkins - In Dearland

2009-02-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

1. Shampoo
2. Hey
3. Hours Last Stand
4. I Heard Your Voice in Dresden
5. Send My Fond Regards to Lonelyville
6. I’ll Be Arriving
7. Chains, Chains, Chains
8. Doomsday
9. 123 Goodbye
10. How's Forever Been Baby

XL Recordings is pleased to announce the forthcoming release from Elvis Perkins in Dearland. The album, self-titled, will be released on March 10, 2009. This album is the debut album for the band and at the same time is the follow up to Perkins' first release, the critically acclaimed Ash Wednesday.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland's new eponymous album feels very much like the second line to his exquisitely melancholic and much-hailed solo debut Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday gained Elvis a dedicated and reverent following for its nuanced meditations on death and grief — many moments on that first record felt as if the listener had tip-toed into the intimate confines of a private elegy, enveloped in that wondrous, old-soul quality of Elvis' voice.

There are still plenty of private moments on Elvis Perkins in Dearland, but Elvis is now joined by a talented trio of friends that toured with him in support of Ash Wednesday. Along with Elvis on guitar and lead vocals, Elvis Perkins in Dearland is Brigham Brough (upright bass, saxophone, vocals), Wyndham Boylan-Garnett (pump organ, guitar, harmonium, trombone, vocals), and Nick Kinsey (drums, percussion, banjo, clarinet, vocals). Many of the new songs on Elvis Perkins in Dearland were honed on the road by the four bandmates, whose natural ease with one another allowed them to constantly experiment with arrangements on the fly.

Produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Chris Shaw (Public Enemy, Bob Dylan, Ween) and Elvis Perkins In Dearland, the album was recorded in Upstate New York in the latter part of 2008. Shaw recorded and mixed the album as well.

"On this new record we wanted to capture the spirit of our performances," drummer Nick Kinsey said. "The challenge was to get down that spontaneity." Perkins says, "This album is faster and younger than Ash Wednesday. Being in a studio with three other creatives instead of just one was a new thing for me. It takes four times as long to decide everything... but in the end, this kind of interplay made for much good.

Clem Snide - Hungry Bird

2009-02-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

1. Me No

2. Born A Man

3. Hum

4. Burn The Light

5. Encounter at 3 A.M.

6. The Endless Ending

7. Our Time Will Come

8. Beard of Bees

9. Pray

10. With All My Heart

The mystery of indie rock semi-legends Clem Snide's missing 6th recording 'Hungry Bird' is finally solved as the much anticipated album will finally see the light of day. Self-described by Barzelay as a 'loosely-conceived, post-apocalyptic fairytale'...www.amazon.com