Zebra Katz - "W8WTF"

Every time i'm introduced to a new Zebra Katz jam, it's in the form of an unsettling video accompaniment to an already unsettling hip-hop track.  Very Lynch inspired.  Watch the video for "W8WTF" below.

Emmylou Harris covers Grandaddy

I don't normally support things that Shia LaBeouf is a part of (i'll never forgive anybody for that Indiana Jones Crystal Skulls abomination), but Country legend Emmylou Harris provides a simple and haunting version of Grandaddy's "Aim Towards The Sky" for the "Lawless" soundtrack (a movie LaBeouf stars in).  And her take on one of our favorite tunes is fantastic.  Listen below.

Barbara Morgenstern

Here's some moody electro-pop from Berlin based Barbara Morgenstern.  "Sweet Silence" is available from Monika, and you can watch the video for the title track below.

T. Williams

T. Williams?  I thought i was T. Williams.  As far as i know, i'm not a black London producer creating R&B tinged electro house jams.  Anyway, here's "Moving Fast" by my namesake, so swallow that pill and shake your booty.

Supreme Cuts & Haleek Maul

Beats from Chicago production duo Supreme Cuts + rhymes from Barbadian rapper Haleek Maul = super awesome.  Grab the "Chrome Lips" mixtape for free right here, and listen to "M00N" below.  It sample King Crimson for God's sake.

Parenthetical Girls

Here's the latest from experimental pop weirdos Parenthetical Girls.  "Curtains" comes from "Portrait of a Reputation," the final installment of the group's "Privilege" 12" series.  It sounds kind of like The Dream Academy on acid.  Ahhh...nice.  Get it from Slender Means Society.

Ssleeping Desiress

San Francisco is generally not the first place that comes to mind as a hub of cold, minimalist, darkwave synth music - must be all the hippies.  Ssleeping Desiress is here to change our perception.  Working with kind of a desolate Joy Division vibe and oozing with evil sounding synthesizers, the one-man band crafts the soundtrack to cold rain falling in a dirty, smoggy city.  Bleakness.  Listen to "A Voice" and B-side "Sister" below from the 7" available from FlexiWave or Dark Entries.

Moonpool & Dead Band

Damaged disco by way of Detroit weirdos and noise makers Moonpool & Dead Band.  "Human Fly" crunches and oozes and melts off your face like so much toxic waste.  And i think there's a Cramps sample in the mess somewhere.  Get it from Not Not Fun before it gets you...and listen to jam below.

The Orb & Lee "Scratch" Perry

Electronic legends The Orb and reggae legend Lee "Scratch" Perry have a collaborative album, "The Orbserver in The Star House" due out next week from The End Records.  It sounds pretty much like you would think it would sound.  Listen to "Golden Clouds" below, a dubby reinterpretation of The Orb's classic "Little Fluffy Clouds."  It's awesome...and kind of makes me want to get high...so i guess it's done its job.

JJ Doom

"Key to the Kuffs" is the debut album and collaboration from MF Doom and producer Jneiro Jarel.  Crazy, smoky psyche-rap.  Gotta love it.  Watch the video for "Guv'nor" below.

R. Ring

R. Ring is the new stripped-down project from perennial hip chick and Breeders guitarist Kelley Deal.  If some new music involving one of the Deal sisters is not enough to get you excited, then i guess i just don't know you as well as i thought i did.  Listen to "Fallout & Fire" below from the upcoming 7" on Misra (they're that label that uses the Nirvana font).

Holy Other - Held

Listen to the title track from Holy Other's new album "Held" below.  The album's a beautiful piece of electronic work that bounces back and forth between cold and warm moods, sometimes vibing on both simultaneously.  It's like walking alternately among the streets of Berlin and Los Angeles as your reality swings back and forth.  Get it from Tri Angle.

 

IO Echo

IO Echo's "When The Lilies Die" is almost a year old.  I don't know why it's taken me so long to get around to posting about it.  Think of the throbbing beat of a garage rock girl group paired with some shoegazey effects and drone in a pop song.  Marvelous.  No albums or any physical releases from the band yet, just a few jams posted here and there.  Listen to the aforementioned track below, and get more info at Iamsound.

Mount Eerie

Mount Eerie is always good for some somber, quiet, and sometime disquieting lo-fi jams.  "Ocean Roar" is the title track from their new LP (the second one released this year) due in September from Phil Elverum's own. P. W. Elverum & Sun imprint.  Listen to the track below.

Les Sins

Les Sins is the dancier side of Toro Y Moi.  Check out the A-side "Fetch" and B-side "Taken" from their latest 7" available on Caribou's JIAOLONG label.

U.S. Girls

Megan Remy's one-woman lo-fi fuzz attack U.S. Girls have a new album coming out in October from Fat Cat.  "Jack" comes from said release, and is a cover of a Brock Robinson song.  Glam meets lo-fi noise!  At last!  Look for the "Gems" LP on October 23rd and listen to the track below.

Group Rhoda

Listen to the smooth, soothing sounds of San Francisco's Group Rhoda.  Their "Out of Time - Out of Touch" LP channels sunny West coast vibes through pulsing drum machines and minimal synth textures, like if Throbbing Gristle had lived in California.  Listen to a sampling of songs below and grab the album from Night School.

Dinowalrus

Listen to and download the new hazy jam "Grounded" from Brooklyn's Dinowalrus, if for no other reason than the band name being Dinowalrus,  If you need more incentive, the track's got kind of a baggy pants Mad-chester vibe to it, or early 90's Brit-pop.  Look for an album soon.

Fear of Men & Beta Frontiers

We've mentioned the sunshiny pop of Fear of Men in the past, but now check out the ready-for-the-dance-floor remix from Toronto's Beta Frontiers.  It's bouncy.

Starring

Crazy noise-rock-jazz-prog-psyche is not always the easiest music to digest, but Brooklyn's Starring sure make it enjoyably.  Listen to and download "The Best" below, taken from this year's "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ" LP from Northern Spy.  It's awesome.

Jonny Greenwood's score for "The Master"

The last time Paul Thomas Anderson and Jonny Greenwood teamed up together, we got the incredible soundtrack to "There Will Be Blood."  In September, Nonesuch will release the soundtrack to Anderson's latest film, "The Master," featuring Greenwood's score.  Excellent.  Watch the trailer for the movie below.

Before Watchmen

I don't know why it's taken me so long to get around to writing about the semi-controversial new comics coming out from DC, "Before Watchmen."  To clarify to any of our non-comic reading fans out there, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's "Watchmen" is held in pretty high esteem as one of the best, if not the best, comic book series ever created.  It transcends all conventions and is about as close to high art as anything may ever approach in the medium.  That being said, there are a lot of fans out there that cringe whenever somebody else plays in that universe (see Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" film).  And i had my doubts at first too.  And kind of still do, even though we are a couple of issues into the individual series.  But i'm treading lightly...even if i'm having a lot of fun doing so.

General reaction upon hearing about this project:  "Come on, they're only gonna fuck it up."
General reaction upon hearing about the creative teams behind the project:  "Go on..."

Here's the rundown:
"The Minutemen" - story and art by Darwin Cooke
"Silk Spectre" - story by Darwin Cooke, art by Amanda Conner
"Comedian" - story by Brian Azzarello, art by J.G. Jones
"Nite Owl" - story by J. Michael Straczynski, art by Andy and Joe Kubert
"Ozymandias" - story by Len Wein, art by Jae Lee
"Rorschach" - story by Brian Azzarello, art by Lee Bermejo
"Dr. Manhattan" - story by J. Michael Straczynski, art by Adam Hughes

These are some pretty adept comic book creators, so excitement is only natural.

Still, the worry is that even with such talented people on board, the new stuff will only sully the original series.  That's understandable, but i don't think the intent is to really mess with anything (at least so far).  At its best, it feels like a bunch of writers and artists just having a lot of fun with some really awesome characters.  At its worst, it's glorified fan fiction.

I think it's been pretty damn fun so far, so check it out, if for no other reason than it's the last work from the late, great Joe Kubert.

Get more info here.

New Dirty Beaches

Rockabilly experimenter Dirty Beaches has a new single out courtesy of Kingfisher Bluez and their new singles subscription club.  "Elizabeth's Theme" is a mellow, wistful instrumental.  Listen and download below. Get more info on the singles club here.

New Ty Segall

Any day we get a new jam from Ty Segall is a good one.  Listen to "The Hill" below from his upcoming "Twins" album due in October from Drag City.  In the meantime, get the 7" here.

RIP Joe Kubert

Legendary comic book artist Joe Kubert died today.  Rest in peace sir.

Hank III pics

Hank III performed at Emo's last night for a blistering three and a half hours winding through sets of country music, punk rock, doom metal, ear-searing grindcore paired with cattle auctioneer samples (cattle-core), and all around rambunctiousness.  The crowd was just as eclectic as the set, a mix of hipsters, old timers, burnouts, bikers, Mexican gang members, and more white trash than you can shake a stick at.  Good times.  Here's a few pics from the show.

Now, do yourselves a favor and head over here to pick up last year's "Ghost to a Ghost/Guttertown" album, easily our favorite record of 2011.

Sundress

Denton's psychedelic freak-out otherwise known as Sundress have a new self-titled EP currently available over on their bandcamp page.  The band score the perfect bleary-eyed, hazy-skied jams that melt you into the pavement on these 100+ degree days.  Listen to album closer "Thirteen" below.

Prince Rama

The wonderfully weird ladies from indie-psych-rock-chant group Prince Rama get all conceptual on their latest release from Paw Tracks.  The girls take on different personas/bands for each track like a compilation of hits, and so we have "Top 10 Hits of The End of The World."  Bands have done this kind of thing before (see Fucked Up or The Turtles), but this one's a little different as all tracks are supposed to be number one hits on the day the world ends.  Listen to "So Destroyed" below by fake band Rage Peace.

The cover art is pretty damn cool too.

Hot Chip

Hot Chip have managed to craft some pretty groovy dance songs over the course of 5 albums, a feat that continues on their latest, "In Our Heads."  Listen to "Flutes" below, and i dare you to try and not tap your foot or nod your head...or dance alone in your bedroom in your underwear.  Whatever you're into.  We don't judge.  You can grab the album from Domino Records.

ERAAS

Brooklyn darkwave-electro-goth group ERAAS will release their self-titled debut on October 2nd from Felte.  Take a listen to album opener "Briar Path" below, and dig on that Cranes meets Factory Records vibe.  Oh yeah.

Hooray For Earth

Here's a new jam from Brooklyn electro-pop maestros Hooray For Earth.  Listen to "Never" below and look for it on August 21st from Dovecote.

Ryan Hemsworth

Check out the cool animated video for producer Ryan Hemsworth's "Charly Wingate."  The track's pretty cool as well.

Eraserhead reissued

The disturbing and beautiful soundtrack to the disturbing and beautiful film "Eraserhead" gets the long overdue reissue treatment from Sacred Bones.  The collection includes a booklet, stills, and an additional 7" of Peter Ivers' "In Heaven."  The whole thing is wonderful.  Listen to "In Heaven" below.

Chrome Canyon

New York artist Morgan Z, aka Chrome Canyon, would like to welcome you to the future via his vintage time travelling devices.  Just be careful not to veer off into some alternate dimension.  These vintage time machines have a tendency to do that sometimes.  Listen to "Generations" below and look for the "Elemental Themes" LP in October from Stones Throw.  You can also download the track for free right here.

Ella Kromah

Switzerland finally does us all a solid with the soulful tunes of the lovely Ella Kromah.  Combining elements of soul, jazz, blues, rock, electronica, and hip-hop into a vintage sounding parlor tunes, Ms. Kromah creates something that sounds all-encompassing, otherworldly, classic, and brand new at the same time.  Listen to and download the excellent "Dancing in The Dark" (not a Springsteen cover) below and be on the lookout for an album in the near future.

Kid Machine

Every once in awhile, we've got to throw in some good, old fashioned space disco jams to keep the killer robots at bay.  They deserve to boogie every now and then too.  Watch the video for Kid Machine's "Replicants" below.

Uncanny Valley

I can't really find much information on the band Uncanny Valley other than they have an upcoming cassette release from Night People and that they make music that could almost replace the "Bladerunner" score...almost.  Listen to the pulsing "End Game" below.

New Desaparecidos

Way back in the long long ago, Conor Oberst (oh, he of Bright Eyes and emo haircuts fame) decided to grunt and scream and howl away on a pretty rocking politically-minded project under the name of Desaparecidos.  They put out one album.  It was awesome.  And now, over a decade later, we're finally getting some new material (and performances) from the band.  Listen to "MariKKKopa" below.  We'll keep you posted as any new album info begins to surface.

MOONS - Moons Over Paris mixtape

Here's a cool mixtape from MOONS.  Great for pool lounging.  Listen below.

Swans

 Long time droney, post-punk demi-gods Swans are back again in September with new album, "The Seer," a sprawling 10-track, 2 hour opus that seemingly soundtracks the nightmares to some deranged lunatic.  It's scary, intense stuff.  Check out the creepy cover art above, and the then listen to the 10-minute edit of "The Apostate" below (it's normally 23 minutes long).  Sweet dreams.

Seriously, these guys all look like they should be on death row.

Grizzly Bear - Yet Again

Here's the latest jam from the much anticipated upcoming new album "Shields" from Grizzly Bear.  Listen to "Yet Again" below.

New King Dude

One of my favorite new artists from the last couple of years has definitely been the Gothic folk stylings of King Dude.  Dais will release the new "Burning Daylight" LP later in the fall.  Listen to Nick Cave-inspired doom-country of "Jesus in The Courtyard" below.

PAWS

Glasgow's PAWS are set to release their debut LP, "Cokefloat!" from Fatcat in October.  Listen to and download the raucous, noisy first single, "Miss American Bookworm" below.

The Child of Lov

Here's a new mellow, spacey jam from the mysterious The Child of Lov.  "Rotisserie" floats in a hazy universe of warped R&B and smoke.  The dude's currently at work on a mixtape that will feature Damon Albarn and MF Doom.  Keep an eye out and listen below.

New Dum Dum Girls

Dum Dum Girls are becoming a very prolific group.  The band's new "End of Daze" EP is due in the fall from Sub Pop.  Listen to "Lord Knows" below.