Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Listen: Arca – “Soichiro”

Experimental electronic producer Arca shared some new music from his forthcoming record titled Mutant earlier this week. “Soichiro” is a wild ride of glitchy, scattery percussion and twisted synth sounds juxtaposed in moments of stark, minimal hums and swooshes. 

Mutant does not currently have an official release date but should be out before year’s end.

Video: The Icarus Line – “Solar Plexus”

The Icarus Line continue to be a criminally overlooked band, unfortunately I don’t really see that changing any time soon given the musical climate of the last 5 years or so, but for those who are looking for a good dose of psychedelic punk rock that adds some Nick Cave and Stooges take note.

"Solar Plexus" is the latest song to be shared from the bands forthcoming LP, All Things Under Heaven, due October 2nd via American Primitive and it’s got a video shot by Aric Lorton to boot.

Purchase the limited edition vinyl release from Rough Trade here and make sure to check the band out live if you get a chance, I’ve seen them 6 times over the years and its always a good time. Was looking forward to seeing them this Friday at Saint Vitus but the show was canceled for some reason.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Listen: Deafheaven – “New Bermuda” (Full LP Stream)

San Francisco’s Deafheaven are dropping a new LP and follow up to the largely successful Sunbather next week on October 2nd via Anti-. New Bermuda falls in line with the Sunbathers sound, ie. The sound of the underground in 1999-2003 or so. That’s by no means a dig, I love the era of punk music which is why I like Deafheaven and can happily state that I enjoy their latest album as well... But for those of you who missed the last record and have no idea what these guys sound like think lots of Chaos with bits of ambience mixed in along the lines of Orchid, Jeromes Dream, Saetia and anything coming out on RoboticEmpire and Hydrahead during their most prolific years.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Video: Everything is a Remix (Remastered)

I am a remix junky, there is nothing that tickles my fancy more than being able to call out a reference or sample that’s been re-contextualized and re-packaged for public consumption. Some people truly make an art form out of it, surpassing the inspiration and flipping it on its head for something altogether unique and exciting.

Kirby Ferguson celebrates the remix as much as I do and has made his well-known series “Everything is a Remix” available for the first time ever as one long play video.  Although some of this content has been around for 5 years now, everything has been given a polish and new transitions to make it all work even better in celebration of the series anniversary.

Grab some popcorn and a drink, get comfortable and enjoy the 40 minute clip,  it might even surprise some and change your outlook on what makes something original and why we are attracted to the things that we are in the first place.


Everything is a Remix Remastered (2015 HD) from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Listen: Meow the Jewels - "Oh My Darling Don’t Meow"

Clearly I’m not posting as much as I used to, simply put I’ve just become a little more selective. I’m sure now that winter is around the corner again I’ll be spending more time in front of the computer screen, my loss will be your gain in theory.

Last week Killer Mike and El-P shared another Meow The Jewels tune from the forthcoming remix project due out by the end of September. Just Blaze take’s on “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry” turning it into “Oh My Darling Don’t Meow.” It’s another winner for sure but misses some of that brilliant playfulness that Boots captured when he manned the deck for “Meowrly.” The cat sounds could be a lot higher in the mix and there could be more of them but that’s just me nitpicking at the end of the day.

Listen: Joanna Newsom - "Leaving The City"

New Yorker’s love to leave the city, it makes them feel special to reconnect with nature, they even pay top dollar to escape their overpriced apartments to go do yoga and play farmer for the weekend. They do so in areas that often resemble the various countries and rural towns around the world they ran away from in the first place!  It’s all very confusing but the point is Joanna Newsom has shared another new song off her forthcoming album Divers and it's called "Leaving The City."

Divers is out on Drag City on October 23rd and along side Newsom herself the record features arrangements from Nico MuhlyDirty ProjectorsDave Longstreth, and Ryan Francesconi.  Steve Albini is behind the boards again with Noah Georgeson.