Thursday, June 30, 2011

Favorite Albums of 2011.5

As we bring 2011 to the halftime, here's my 10 favorite records of the year so far (everyone else is doing it). It was actually a little harder to whittle it down to 10 than i thought it would be. Anyway, here you have it (in no particular order as per usual):

Gang Gang Dance - "Eye Contact"

Tyler, The Creator - "Goblin"

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - "Rome"

Panda Bear - "Tomboy"

PJ Harvey - "Let England Shake"

Xander Duell - "Experimental Tape No. 2, Vol. 1"

Fucked Up - "David Comes to Life"

Destroyer - "Kaputt"

Belong - "Common Era"

Julian Lynch - "Terra"

These are all great. Look for further explanation at the end of December. Hooray!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Andrew WK

I picked up Andrew WK's "55 Cadillac" from Ecstatic Peace! yesterday, not knowing what to fully expect from an album of "spontaneous solo piano improvisations." It's actually very good, kind of jazzy, and all about cars. A far cry from partying hard, but worth a listen nonetheless, and proof that life's not all about doing rails of cocaine and practicing karate kicks.

And on a side note, here's an Andrew WK answering machine message. Party hard.

Andrew WK Voicemail Message by triple_j

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Borden, Ferraro, Godin, Halo & Lopatin

RVNG's latest in their FRKWYS series (due July 17th) consists of a hodgepodge of synth-enthusiasts, namely David Borden, James Ferraro, Samuel Godin, Laurel Halo, and Daniel Lopatin. This thing's going to drone your ass off. Check out "People of The Wind Pt. 2" below. Hazaaaaaaaaa!

Borden, Ferraro, Godin, Halo & Lopatin - People of the Wind Pt. 2 by RVNG Intl.

Adult Swim and Mastodon

Welcome to week 4 of Adult Swim's summer singles series. The first three weeks were a little mellow, but head over to the site now to pick up "Deathbound" from Mastodon and feel your balls shake.

Part TIme

The latest release from Mexican Summer, Part Time's "What Would You Say?" is rife with synthesized pop fun, perfect for night drives through a neon city in a red convertible. Here's what the label has to say:

"Captivating bedroom pop with a karaoke video/soft haze filter on it that collapses the textural dimensions of music to an appealing, shiny finish. The music of Part Time owes a debt to ‘80s movie scores, neon lights, fog machines and nightlife, a generous sampling of New Romance in a post-capitalist world, its heart going out to everyone who hasn’t abandoned their silk shirts in favor of more practical attire. The home studio shell and canned dynamics of Part Time quickly dissolve to reveal some serious jammers in the midst, the image of a man pouring his heart out into the psychotropic fronds of the lounge at the Venusian Holiday Inn. Pour yourself a yard of liquid acid and float along."

Sweet. Listen to "In This Filthy City" below. Order the album here.

Part Time - In This Filthy City by garritynet

New M83...soon...

Here's a teaser video announcing a new M83. Sounds pretty grandiose.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Slime

Slime is Will Archer, a UK based producer and musician who will release his debut EP "Increases" this week from Tough Love. It's pretty. Listen to the closer, "Next Time" below.

Slime - Next Time by Slime Music

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Loved Ones

Seeing as i was too exhausted to make it to Half-Christmas last night, let's celebrate music that could serve as a soundtrack to other pagan rituals. Enter Loved Ones. Comprised of Nik Glover (Seal Cub Clubbing Club) and Rich Hurst (The Laze), Loved Ones create a hazy, yet pulsing kind of folk music with bowed guitars and vibrating vocals. Mellow stuff. Excellent for chanting and dancing around a holy rock, or for burning a virgin alive for harvest. "The Merry Monarch" comes out soon(?), but you can listen to the track "Hi Pressure" below.

Hi Pressure by LovedOnes

Saturday, June 25, 2011

New Bjork

Head over to Disco Naivete to listen to "Crysalline," the first song from Bjork's new album/I-Pad art project "Biophilia." Sounds like Bjork.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Dent May - Fun

Dent May of Magnificent Ukulele fame is set to release a new 7" from Paw Tracks in September. Groovy psyche-pop. Hooray! Listen to "Fun" below.

Fun by Dent May

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Dr. Dee: An English Opera

Damon Albarn of Blur/Gorillaz fame (as well as the thousand other projects he's been involved with) is currently putting the finishing touches on his opera, "Dr. Dee: An English Opera," an opus about the medical and scientific adviser to Queen Elizabeth I. Heavy stuff, but also pretty good. It's set to premier at the Manchester International Festival in July. Check out the live, acoustic performance of "Apple Carts" on British TV.

Head for The Country

Here's the video for John Maus's "Head for The Country," from the forthcoming LP, "We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves." Get it June 28th from Upset The Rhythm. Watch the video and download the tune below.

JOHN MAUS - Head For The Country (Official Video) from Upset The Rhythm on Vimeo.



John Maus - Head For The Country by Upset the Rhythm

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Bodies of Water

For the next couple of days, Bodies of Water are offering up every song from their new album "Twist Again" for free on their Sound Cloud page. Throwback pop gems reminiscent of 60's West coast folk, French pop, and 70's AM gold...perfect summer tunes for a drive through the desert. Download here and then buy the LP from the band here.

Divine

French weirdo wunderkind Sebastien Tellier released one hell of a dance pop record back in 2008 called "Sexuality." With production from one half of Daft Punk, it was very good, and very French. One of the standouts was the jam "Divine" which just recently got a re-issue via Record Makers in 12" single form with some additional remixes, one from Australia's Midnight Juggernauts that tops the original. Listen to the remix below.

Sebastien Tellier -- Divine (Midnight Juggernauts Remix) by Rombo_Rama

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Adult Swim singles week 3

Go over to Adult Swim to download summer singles, week 3: How To Dress Well's "Us in The Sense of Forever." It's a super dreamy nappy time jam.

Iceage

Denmark just loves to bring the noise. Danish post-punk quartet are no different. "New Brigade" is loud and abrasive like power tools on sheet metal in a dusty garage. It's music to make your heart sing and your ears throb and hum. Oh, and nose bleeds are ok. Take a listen to "White Rune" below and get the record from Dais.

Iceage - White Rune by Pgm_Denmark

Radiohead - Staircase

Here's a new video for a new tune from Radiohead, live from The Basement.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Wild Flag

Wild Flag, the super group consisting of members from Sleater-Kinney, Helium, and The Minders put out a really good 7" for Record Store Day earlier this year. Their new song "Romance," from the forthcoming LP due from Merge in September continues the fine track record. Crunchy chick punk rock. Hooray!

Wild Flag - Romance by MergeRecords

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Upper Deck 89

Today, i bought a pack of Upper Deck 1989 series baseball cards, but alas there was no Ken Griffey Jr. card in the pack. Damn you Kid! How do you continue to elude me for 22 years?

Touch remixed

Berlin producer Holy Other released his fantastic EP "With U" via Tri Angle last week. And now the label will be offering up some remixes for the song, "Touch." Check out the Blood Diamonds reworking below.

Holy - Other Touch (Blood Diamonds Remix) by 7Johnk7

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Schizophasia

I'm going to be honest with all of you and myself. Sometimes, i'll buy a record just because i think the cover is awesome, hence the above 7" from Schizophasia. Part of me was really hoping it would be a lot of Satanic chanting and stoner metal riffs, but what i got was far more destructive. It's a cacophony of experimental noise punk. Go here to read a better description than i can muster and sample and buy the record too.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Is Tropical

I don't know anything about the dance-pop-rock group Is Tropical, but this video for "The Greeks" is the shit.

IS TROPICAL - THE GREEKS (official music video) from EL NINO on Vimeo.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Children's Hospital

I can't believe i just started watching this. Freaking fantastic. Check it out at Adult Swim or buy the first two seasons on DVD. Hooray!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Same Mistake

Here's the first new tune from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's forthcoming LP, "Hysterical." It's string-laden and produced by The Paperchase's John Congleton. Enjoy "Same Mistake" below, and download for the price of an email.










Tuesday, June 14, 2011

New Best Coast single on Adult Swim

Adult Swim unveils summer single number 2 with Best Coast's "Gone Again." Get it here.

New Beirut

Beirut has a new 7" out on Pompeii Records to amp us all up for the next LP. The "East Harlem b/w Goshen" single lives up to pretty much any expectation you'd have for a new Beirut release. It sounds just like them. Listen to "East Harlem" below.

Beirut - East Harlem by Revolver USA

The Caretaker

The Caretaker is British composer James Leyland Kirby. He will be releasing "An Empty Bliss Beyond This World" from History Always Favours The Winners. It's an ethereal, experimental, kind of classical, kind of jazzy, kind of droney opus about Alzheimer's patients and the sounds they can recall from before the disease set in. Pretty heavy stuff. At times it's entrancing. Listen below.

The Caretaker: An Empty Bliss Beyond This World by alteredzones

Monday, June 13, 2011

We love you Kelly

Here's to a speedy recovery and enough with the brain tumors already.

Mellowhype - 64

Here's the creepy video for Mellowhype's "64." I didn't realize it was Halloween already. Look for the physical re-issue of "Blackenedwhite" later in the summer from Fat Possum.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Weird

I know this has been around for a little while, but it still makes me laugh...

Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Tigress

I love booze. Let me start over. I love drinks, be they beers, wines, or spirits. And, i'm not a good reviewer, so let's just make this short and sweet. If you're looking for a real cocktail and you're in Austin, hit up The Tigress. They've got a short menu of 10 mixed drinks and about a half dozen beers on tap. That's it. You want a rum and Coke? Make it your own damn self. You want a margarita? Go to one of this town's million Mexican restaurants. If you're looking for classic or original, then this is your joint. I had a "Root of The Matter" tonight. That's absinthe and root beer, and it's fucking phenomenal. And now i'm a happy tiger.

You know you want one too.

100 West North Loop Boulevard
Austin, TX 78751
(512) 600-3232

Zammuto

Nick Zammuto, guitarist and vocalist for the awesome experimental duo The Books, has been tinkering around a bit on his own and released a threesome of tracks on his blog yesterday under the title of "3 Tracks For Zach Miskin (For Your Safety)." Check em out below.

Three Tracks for Zach Miskin (For Your Safety - Naive) by zammuto

New Crystal Antlers

Crystal Antlers have a new record coming out on July 12th via their own imprint Recreation LTD. You can go there right now and download the first single, "Summer Solstice." You gotta love the sound of organized noise.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Washed Out - Echoes

Here's another new tune from Washed Out's debut LP, "Within and Without," due in July from Sub Pop. Listen to "Echoes" below. (Not as immediately infectious as "Eyes Be Closed," but a good little mellow jam nonetheless.)

Washed Out - Echoes by TheNJUnderground

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Thundercat

Thundercat is the alias of one Stephen Bruner, bassist for hardcore band Suicidal Tendencies. He also collaborates with producer Flying Lotus and will be releasing his debut record, "The Golden Age of Apocalypse" in August. The album will feature Erykah Badu and Sa-Ra among others, and thus, will sound nothing like Suicidal Tendencies. Check out the soulful rendition of George Duke's "For Love I Come."

Thundercat:For Love I Come by PhunkSession

Twin Sister - Bad Street

Dreamy, poppy Twin Sister have hooked up with Domino to release their debut full-length LP in September called "In Heaven" (we like the title). Listen to and download the first single, "Bad Street," below.

Twin Sister - Bad Street by DominoRecordCo

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Black Lips on Daytrotter

The Black Lips recently recorded a session for Daytrotter. I love Black Lips. They do things like spit on their guitars and then let said spit drip back into their mouths. If you are or are not repulsed, check em out here. Garage rock is fun.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Blood Diamonds

Here's a new jammy-jam from Vancouver producer Blood Diamonds. "Grins" is kind of haunting and uplifting at the same time, like watching a sunset as storm clouds role in. The 7" is due next month from Transparent. Listen and download below.

Grins by BloodDiamonds

Monday, June 6, 2011

She

Here's the video for Tyler, The Creator's "She." Some nefarious shenanigans are afoot in the township of Nilbog.

Adult Swim singles club 2011

Last year, Adult Swim offered up a free mp3 a week for the summer. New jams from Washed Out, Madvillain, Cults, and more kept the summer afloat. This week they kick off round 2 with a new song from Ford and Lopatin. That's super kewl. Get it here.

Summer Fest pics

Ah, an outdoor music festival in Houston in June...what could possibly go wrong? Not much really. Despite the 105 degree weather, the whole event was actually put together pretty well. Beer and bathroom lines were manageable, but really, when you're sweating as much as i was, are you really gonna pee all that much?

The bands were great. I was a little nervous about Ween for a minute just because you never know if you're going to get weirdo awesome Ween, or crappy jam band Ween. Opening with "Buckingham Green" was a good move. Bravo Weeners. Aside from that, Peelander Z were entertaining as always, Beirut, Health, and Weezer put on great shows, and Fucked Up were phenomenal as always.

See you next year H-Town. Here's some pics:

Houston at night...with Weezer

Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears

Peelander Z

Peelander Z

Fucked Up

Fucked Up

Fucked Up (I gave him a high five after this pic was taken to cheer him up.)

Fucked Up

Beirut

The Black Angels

Caddywhompus

Health

Health

Neon Indian

Guitar Wolf

Cut Copy

Weezer

Holy shit! For even more pics, visit us on Facebook.