Boy Friend – “Lovedropper”

Sarah Brown, aka Austin’s Boy Friend. The Lovedropper 7″ drops May 16 on Hell, Yes! Limited to 1000 copies, with the first 300 coming on orange vinyl. Pre-order here, or here in the States. The band is currently working on an LP, and you can purchase their first EP on cassette here.

Boy Friend :: Lovedropper

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mp3: Toro y Moi – “Made in Bed” mix

Here’s a sweet and breezy little 37-minute mix that Chaz Bundick of Toro y Moi put together for the latest installment of Modular’s Modcast series. Featuring songs from King Tubby, Ennio Morricone, Julian Lynch, Goblin, and more, including a few jams that were new to me (really digging the Connan Mockasin and Kathy McCord tracks). Download it, and check the full tracklist after the jump:

mp3:
Toro y Moi :: Made in Bed mix (51 mb)

Toro y Moi :: Made in Bed mix

A First Class Dub – King Tubby
Come Live With Me – Dorothy Ashby
Part Version 8 – Piero Piccioni
Pealed Tomato – Chorafas
It’s Choade My Dear – Connan Mockasin
Mariangela e la Seduzione – Ennio Morricone
Show Me To The Window- Robert Lester Folsom
Chi Mi Cerchera – Enrico Simonetti with Goblin
Was It All In Vain – Bixio Frizzi Tempura
Rainbow Ride – Kathy McCord
O Sabia – Les Wanted
Clay Horses – Julian Lynch

Tags: mixtape, modular, mp3, toro y moiposted by: Chris

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Track Reviews: 4/27

Son Lux – Rising

I first wrote about Son Lux, the project of prodigious Ryan Lott, about a year ago. He had just released a new EP called Weapons, and I was struck by the depth of his sound. Part-classical, part-electronica, and part-rock, the most apt comparison I could think of was Ryuichi Sakamoto; he is one of the best examples of fusing the classical and electronic genres, doing so in a way that remains infectious without removing the intricate genius of classical works. Sakamoto began much like Lott, toying with a fairly straightforward form of electronic-pop that later grow to incorporate a variety of styles. Sakamoto later won an Academy Award and is now inarguably considered one of the forerunners of electronic music, but not before struggles.

Despite being impressive, Weapons showcased struggles that come natural to an ambitious songwriter like Sakamoto or Lott. It was apparent that his vocals were hidden behind instrumentation for a reason; he had little confidence in the melodic ability and incorporation of his voice, even as the instrumentation was sweeping and powerful. His technical prowess was hard to argue against, as was the exhilarating whirlwind that best defined his structural tendencies, but he had yet to fully capture the element of pop music that was yearning to be incorporated. Lott’s new album, We Are Rising, is equivalent to Sakamoto’s Left Handed Dream, the first instance of his true vision as a solo artist. It is a majestic, staggering release that finds Lott crafting a sound that is wholly unique but also expected considering the breathtaking potential demonstrated on his past releases.

A review of the album is forthcoming, but in the meantime lead track

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Strange Talk

The latest band that gets the hot Neon Gold label treatment is Australia’s , who will be releasing their EP on May 2nd. This EP marks Neon Gold’s 1st ever vinyl & CD release (to this point there have only been vinyl Neon Gold releases). The last few months have seen flex their musical muscle as a live act, honing their show opening for the likes of The Rapture, Neon Indian & Marina and The Diamonds.

pair considerable musical talents from disparate backgrounds

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Classixx + YACHT

Since they released “Into the Valley”, Classixx have been busy shooting the video, kicked off a US tour & their friends YACHT remixed the single.

“Into The Valley (YACHT Remix)”

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Thieves Like Us

I’m a big fan & totally missed this remix album they released back in November…how embarrassing. Again & Again Remixed features remixes by Nite Jewel, Minitel Rose, Sundance, Kamp! & Cécile to name a few.

“Forget Me Not (Sundance remix)”

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Miracle Fortress

Montreal producer (aka Graham Van Pelt) has announced a N. American tour with Junior Boys in support of his anticipated sophomore album, Was I The Wave? out May 17th on Secret City Records (Diamond Rings, Plants & Animals). These shows follow his Canadian tour with Shad in May, & will include stops in Toronto, New York, Nashville & Chicago. Confirmed venues & dates after the break.

Acting as composer, arranger, producer, & engineer, Van Pelt here shows more of an electronic side than on his 2007 Polaris Prize-nominated debut Five Roses, which was a fan & industry favorite, gaining critical acclaim from several tastemakers. Was I The Wave? expresses themes of alienation, anonymity, & the desire for intimacy, with the 1st side keeping a deliberately crowded atmosphere, & the 2nd side more open & personal. In support of his upcoming release, has released a Pantha du Prince remix of first single “Raw Spectacle” as a free download.

“Raw Spectacle (Pantha du Prince remix)”

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Explosions In the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

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Four years ago, Explosions in the Sky ended their last album with a short (for them) song called "So Long, Lonesome". It was pretty and melancholy, not so unlike a lot of their other music, really, but as its title suggests, it had the feel of a goodbye. It seemed so final. But no, the Austin quartet is not done. Take Care, Take Care, Take Care finds the band returning with a renewed focus on its most basic sound: multiple guitars with drums and a bit of bass. The piano that helped lend "So Long, Lonesome" its sense of cold finality is gone, and the band sounds confident getting back to the setup on which they built their reputation.

The band famously doesn't consider itself post-rock, but if we're being honest, today they may be the last true exponent of turn-of-the-century post-rock-- unlike Mogwai, they never wandered away from drifting instrumentals constructed around loud-soft dynamics and the contrast between soft guitar tones and pounding drums. Most of their other contemporaries from the period are gone or found dub or electronics or something else. But Explosions in the Sky are sticking to their guns-- Take Care is less ragged than Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, but it's otherwise a very similar album.

So whether or not you dive into Take Care will largely depend on your appetite for loud/soft instrumental post-rock. If your appetite for it is boundless, you will be very pleased by this album, and probably also its elaborate artwork, which can be folded several ways to make the interior or exterior of a building. At its best, Take Care is ruled by drummer Chris Hrasky. The guitars tend to hang on particular figures or throw up an e-bowed haze, and Hrasky is the one who can cut through that. On "Trembling Hands" his drum kit is the lead instrument as he unleashes Keith Moon-worthy torrents of snare, tom, and cymbal, throwing himself at the guitars as though they were a wall to break through.

One could argue that the music here is predictable and even a bit old-hat. We've lived with this sound for well over a decade now, and we have classics to compare it to, including Explosions in the Sky's own work. And that argument holds some water. But the simple fact is that Explosions in the Sky are very good at this particular thing, and it seems as though no matter how many crescendos and diminuendos they play, there remains a certain amount of cathartic power to their music. The emotion in it is ambiguous, and you can read whatever you want into it-- the soundtrack to your rainy day might be the soundtrack to someone else's overwhelming joy, and that too is important to its appeal.

— Joe Tangari, April 25, 2011
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mp3: maria minerva x keep shelly in athens

Transparent is set to release a new Keep Shelly in Athens digital EP, featuring remixes of the duo’s latest sold-out 7″ single by the likes of Blood Diamonds and D. Paris, plus this Maria Minerva rework, in which she distantly warbles some old Spice Girls jam karaoke-style over a woozy, warped version of KSiA’s “Song to Cheer You Up.” Head over to Transparent to download the whole EP, including the original versions. Holler:

Keep Shelly In Athens :: Song To Cheer You Up (Maria Minerva Holler Remix)

mp3:
Keep Shelly in Athens :: Song to Cheer You Up

Tags: keep shelly in athens, maria minerva, mp3, remixposted by: Chris

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Losing my patience

The Shit Robot Show made its way to the US this March for a handful of special shows ending in NYC opening for, & performing with, LCD Soundsystem. Doing justice to the LCD legacy the Village Voice reported back from Terminal 5 that Shit Robot’s

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Fixers + Memory Tapes

“Crystals” is the lead track from Fixers’ 1st real body of work following debut single on Young & Lost. It’s being released on May 9th along with 4 other tracks on an EP titled Here Comes 2001, So Lets All Head For The Sun.

The bands debut headline tour commences in Manchester on May 1st. Confirmed dates & venues after the break.

“Crystals (Memory Tapes remix)”

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Neon Indian – “Heart: Attack”

Here’s our first glimpse at Neon Indian’s forthcoming LP, in the form of this short video shot in Helsinki — where Alan Palomo recorded most of the album — by Austin filmmaker Sean Lopez. Featuring an excerpt from “Heart: Attack,” the first of a “three-part instrumental movement” that appears on the new record:

Neon Indian’s new full-length is due sometime in the Fall of 2011. The band also has a number of shows planned in the coming months; check those dates after the jump…

05-14 Dallas, TX – HomeGrown Music and Arts Festival
05-16 Pittsburgh, PA

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100 Followers!

Just want to thank all my followers!!!

Do whatever you want all the time

Baltimore foursome Ponytail have released a new video for “Honey Touches,” off their 3rd full-length, , out this week on We Are Free. The video – directed by Bill Benz & Mike Giambra, also known as MENZ – chronicles “man’s everlasting battle with fruit and the pursuit of making the ultimate smoothie.” Click here to watch.

Bonus:

“Easy Peasy”

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S.O.K.

So glad I don’t need to wait until the 25th to blast this song all day long. Son Of Kick is giving away his ‘rekix dub’ version of “Playing the Villain”. I still can’t wait for the release though!

Son Of Kick has also announced a couple of gigs in the UK & Europe, if he’s going to be in your town or anywhere nearby, DO NOT MISS IT! Click here to check out the flyer.

Don’t forget to watch the video!

“Playing The Villian (Son Of Kick Rekix Dub)”

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Starfucker - Reptilians

The Feelies: Here Before Jamie Woon: Mirrorwriting Atmosphere: The Family Sign Starfucker: Reptilians Wiz Khalifa: Rolling Papers Crystal Stilts: In Love With Oblivion Bob Dylan: In Concert: Brandeis University 1963 The Flaming Lips / Neon Indian: The Flaming Lips With Neon Indian Ponytail: Do Whatever You Want All the Time The Low Anthem: Smart Flesh The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong Snoop Dogg: Doggumentary Burial: Street Halo The Weeknd: House of Balloons Foo Fighters: Wasting Light Paul Simon: So Beautiful or So What Meat Puppets: Lollipop Sonny and the Sunsets: Hit After Hit Jamaica: No Problem Jamie Woon: Mirrorwriting Crystal Stilts: In Love With Oblivion Hauschka: Salon des Amateurs Jeremy Jay: Dream Diary Rhys Chatham: Outdoor Spell Bill Callahan: Apocalypse Atmosphere: The Family Sign Ponytail: Do Whatever You Want All the Time The Low Anthem: Smart Flesh Starfucker: Reptilians TV on the Radio: Nine Types of Light Low: C'mon Bob Dylan: In Concert: Brandeis University 1963 The Feelies: Here Before Quintron: Sucre du Sauvage
Recently Friday,
April 15 Thursday,
April 14 Wednesday,
April 13 Tuesday,
April 12 Monday,
April 11 Friday,
April 8 Album Reviews Foo Fighters: Wasting Light Paul Simon: So Beautiful or So What Meat Puppets: Lollipop Sonny and the Sunsets: Hit After Hit Jamaica: No Problem The Playlist Lil Silva: "On Your Own"

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Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

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Dave Grohl didn't make it easy for himself. Not long after Nirvana dissolved in April 1994, following Kurt Cobain's suicide, Grohl was offered the opportunity to back Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. For him, a Petty fan, that was a dream job. Though he would drum with them during a "Saturday Night Live" performance later that year, Grohl ultimately declined, to start over from scratch and do what he's still doing today: front a band.

At the time, that decision was probably daunting. Grohl had already spent some time in a Seattle studio recording a humble demo tape that would become Foo Fighters' debut, one for whose release rights major labels were already grappling. But the sizable shadow cast by Cobain and the weight of his legacy and death was immense. This week, coupled with Wasting Light, their seventh full-length, Foo Fighters have been screening their new, somewhat revisionist, sometimes 3-D retrospective documentary, Back and Forth. There's some great footage early on during what was Grohl's very first tour (opening for Mike Watt) with his brand new band. There, despite having never heard any of the yet-to-be-released Foo Fighters songs, young Nirvana fans were showing up early and in numbers. "Marigold!" they'd scream out between songs, in hopes of hearing the one Grohl-penned Nirvana tune there was. He never played it.

The idea of Grohl opening for anyone now seems just as ridiculous as him having to field requests for anything but one of the two dozen modern rock hits he's released since. But in Wasting Light, Grohl is attempting to come full circle. The plan was to go back to basics, in a few ways: 1) record the album to tape in Grohl's San Fernando Valley garage, 2) hire famed Nevermind producer Butch Vig to man the boards, 3) bring former Germs, Nirvana, and Foo Fighters guitarist Pat Smear back into the mix, 4) have founding Nirvana member and bassist Krist Novoselic down from Seattle to guest on some of the recordings. As Grohl says during Back and Forth, before recording began in earnest, "I love that we're going to make an album at home. It's going to sound like it was recorded in a house. I know it will."

It doesn't. In fact, said garage was built with the arena in mind, and as a result Wasting Light sounds just as mammoth and capable of knocking out teeth as anything Foo Fighters have recorded since the late 90s. That's more a product of force than hooks. As evidenced by the opening roar of "Bridge Burning" and "Rope" or metallic uppercuts of "White Limo", the new, three-guitar attack in place provides a wallop that wasn't there before. Vig is renowned for sugaring up recordings, but here, the aim seems solely about knocking down walls. Front to back, Wasting Light meets that cause with lean, workmanlike aplomb. Grohl's screams haven't registered this dangerously, gleefully shredded in years-- if he was hoping to exorcise some demons, it sounds as though he made that happen.

But Foo Fighters' long-standing foundation has been built on fist-pumpers. While Wasting Light features a host of worthy set-openers, few prove to be as sticky or memorable as any number of their previous singles. There just isn't a melody or hook to really amplify. Those songs here that hold tightly to Grohl's long perfected, quiet-LOUD formula and crescendos-- see: alt-rock lullabies "Arlandria" and "These Days", or the pop-punk door-to-ass closer "Walk"-- come closest to matching the energy of his best work. In theory, as a form of therapy, it still works. Former Hüsker Dü frontman and fellow 80s punker Bob Mould guests semi-audibly on the Zeppelin-like crunch of "Dear Rosemary" and then of course, there's Novoselic's turn on "I Should Have Known", where the latter's bass sounds as round and bowling ball-heavy as it did on Nirvana's "Sliver".

There's a scene not long into Back and Forth, when Grohl remembers, "People really resented me for starting this band, for making music they thought 'sounded just like Nirvana.' What? You mean loud rock guitars? Melodies? Cymbals crashing? Big-ass drums? Well, that's what I do." It's true. He always did. It's just that, this time out, it's his melodies that are missed most.

— David Bevan, April 15, 2011
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mp3: Purity Ring – “Lofticries”

Here’s the latest from our dudes at Transparent: the b-side from Purity Ring’s beautiful/brilliant debut 7″ single, Ungirthed. Download the oddly moving “meditative future-ballad” “Lofticries” below, and if you missed the equally great a-side in our January mix, grab that one too:

mp3:
Purity Ring :: Lofticries
Purity Ring :: Ungirthed

Purity Ring’s Ungirthed 7″ is out next week. More info

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Jess Mills

There’s a fair chance you’re already familiar with the sublime voice of N. London girl . Refresher: her vocals graced the recent Radio 1 A listed, top 40 single “Fighting Fire” by Breakage.

Jess’s relationship with Breakage was cemented on Leftfield’s recent comeback tour, where Jess was providing the vocals for the seminal dance act, & Breakage was the support. Bonding over a shared love of Radiohead, 90s drum’n’bass & Depeche Mode they decided to bunker down in James’ South London studio. There’s where Jess wrote & laid down the vocals for the club smash “Fighting Fire”. A track that left confused message board chatter over whether it was dubstep, trance or pop music, but that clearly united people on the dance-floor.

Like Geoff Barrow’s first meeting with Beth Gibbons, there was magic in the air

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Panda Bear - Tomboy

Amazon MP3 & CD Tweet MP3: Panda Bear: "Last Night at the Jetty"

Noah Lennox's Panda Bear project has always been about making "difficult" music scan as almost radio-friendly, to translate experimental moves to a broad audience with little interest in such things. It's a strategy he learned, at least in part, from sonic forebears like Arthur Russell and Brian Wilson, along with the avant-techno types he reveres. Like those disparate influences, Lennox has used potentially off-putting compositional and textural ideas to craft some of the most inviting music of his era. In turn, he's inspired more of his own followers in the last four years than anyone might have guessed. Lennox has found himself the unwitting king of the chillwave nation, hero to a whole generation of underground kids drawn to his mix of heavy reverb, sun-woozy synths, droning kraut-surf-ambient-pop songs, high childlike voice, and psychedelic-cum-nostalgic sleeve art.

Tomboy, Lennox's fourth solo album as Panda Bear, was mixed with Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember of Spectrum/Spacemen 3. And again, in a way there's little here that's any further out-there than the blissful psychedelia and dream-pop Spacemen 3 and their peers were playing in the late 1980s, a lineage that stretches right back to stuff we now consider classic rock. With its angelic choirboy harmonies over an unchanging synth buzz, even "Drone", the album's roughest song, is a dead-ringer for the way Spacemen 3 songs like "Ecstasy Symphony" merged the pop high of Beach Boys with the woozy downer feel of the Velvet Underground.

But despite Tomboy's shorter songs and more conventional structures-- especially compared to the loose percussive jams of Lennox's 2007 solo breakthrough Person Pitch-- he's still committed to pushing his music to strange places. And few of his chilled-to-the-point-of-entropy acolytes can match Lennox for warped hooks. Forget comparing his gorgeous voice to their mumbling. Unlike many chillwave and dream-pop artists (and Spacemen 3), Lennox is blessed with the ability to actually sing, and he knows enough about crafting harmonies to do more than vaguely nod in the direction of 60s pop. So Tomboy is a pretty singular mix of the eerie and the inviting.

Despite the murk and terror and noise of Animal Collective's earliest music, there's never been anything particularly ugly about Lennox's mature solo work, starting with 2004's Young Prayer. But even then, he wasn't comfortable playing the laid-back hippie stereotype that's been laid on A.C. by detractors in recent years. Young Prayer might still be the most emotionally wrenching album in the Collective's catalog, an album written by a young man wrestling with some heavy shit. Lennox's father was dying of brain cancer while Young Prayer was being written. "

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