Yumi Zouma covers Air France

Dreampop artist Yumi Zouma just recently released a cover of the now defunct electro-dreampop duo Air France's "It Feels Good to Be Around You," recorded with the assistance of Air France.  It's sleek and smooth and sexy.  Listen and download below.

Future Islands

I've never really given Future Islands a fair shake.  I don't know why.  I listen to a ton of stuff, and sometimes things just slip through the cracks, are catch me at the wrong time, or just don't jump up and punch me in the nuts when that's what i'm looking for.  But then i heard the band's "Seasons (Waiting on You)" in the car today while driving back from Houston...and it just worked for me.  This morning was emotionally difficult for me and my whole extended family of longtime friends, and for some reason, the vibe on this song just seems to wrap a whole lot of melancholy and celebration into four cathartic pop minutes.  It's what i needed this afternoon.  Watch the video below and grab "Singles" from 4AD.

Run for the Rose

Last year i lost a dear friend to brain cancer.  She meant a lot to a lot of people.  If you feel so inclined, please donate to the Dr. Marnie Rose Foundation, a charity organization that raises money for cancer research.  Thanks.

Fucked Up - Year of the Dragon

As if a new studio album on the horizon weren't enough, Canadian screamers and shouters Fucked Up are unleashing the latest 12" single in their Zodiac series.  "Year of the Dragon" is fire and destruction and rages on for 18 minutes.  It's epic and awesome and worthy of your attention.  Get it from Tankcrimes at the end of April, but listen to it in all its glory now below.

Horseback

Chapel Hill experimental-psych-folk-ambient-drone-Americana-metal band Horseback have a new album up for grabs from Three Lobed Recordings.  "Piedmont Apocrypha" finds the band in calmer waters, albeit dark waters nonetheless, as if something monstrous and sinister is lurking just beyond eyesight...waiting.  Horseback have always managed to wear ALL of their influences on their sleeves, yet somehow still come out sounding like no one but themselves.  Get the new record here and listen to the vast and sprawling album closer "Chanting Out the Low Shadow" below.

De La Soul and J Dilla

Right now you can download the "Smell the DAISY" mixtape by De La Soul and J Dilla for free.  You would be doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't go download it here right now.  Get on that shit, and listen to "Vocabulary Spills" below.

Luminance

It's not only muscles that come from Brussels.  Bask in the cold wave of Luminance, cool female vocals over icy synthesizers and pulsing beats, meeting a vampire in some European back alley and following him or her to your doom.  Listen to "Obsession" below and look for the 7" in May on Weyrd Son Records.

Found Vinyl: Euphoria - Euphoria

Euphoria were a short lived sunshine pop and folk group from the late 60's/early 70's.  Their lone self-titled album from 1969 at times feels like the early AM gold, sun-drenched Americana with a sing-a-long vibe.  They sound like driving in a convertible on a road trip across country with friends...or strangers.  It sounds like hitchhiking before it was dangerous, or smoking the good weed.  Listen to "Tucson" below.



And here's "There is Now."



And let's end with the wistful "You Must Forget."

Power Glove

Far be it for me to mock video game music...i've always had a soft spot for it in my heart of hearts, even though i'm not a gamer by any standard.  Melbourne's aptly named Power Glove provided a very 80's synth score for the game "Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon," and it will be available on Record Store Day.  Hooray!  Listen to "Blood Dragon Theme (Reprise)" below.

HAERTS - Call My Name

Here's a new one from one of my favorite acts from the last couple of years.  "Call My Name" finds HAERTS revisiting the lush synthesizers and 80's melancholy vibes that make me jones for oh so much more.  Listen below and anxiously await word on a proper full-length debut.

RIP Oderus Urungus (Dave Brockie)

RIP Gwar frontman Oderus Urungus (known on other planes as Dave Brockie).  I think i first became aware of the insanity that is Gwar when i was 12 years old, all thanks to Beavis and Butthead and The Headbangers Ball.  Their live shows were notorious and hilarious, and i thankfully was able to experience one back in 2010.

Take a minute and watch the video for "Sick of You" from 1990's "Scumdogs of the Universe" below.

Greg Ashley

Greg Ashley, leader of the Texas psych rock band The Gris Gris released a solo album of bluesy, folky, jazzy songs called "Another Generation of Slaves."  It's good.  You should get it.  Listen to "Medication #7" below and grab the record from Trouble in Mind.

Thou

Thou hail from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  The band creates often beautiful, often brutal dirges, a forward moving, progressive take on sludgy metal and ambient doom.  "Heathen" comes out next week via Gilead Media, and it's just a piece of work, an album meant to be consumed as a whole.  March back into the swamp and lose yourself in the muck and slime.  Nature is the devil's church.  Listen to "Free Will" below.

Dana Falconberry

Dana Falconberry has been making folk and Americana jams around Austin for a little while, but her upcoming release on Public Hi-Fi finds her teamed with Spoon's Jim Eno on the boards.  His production adds a nervous energy to her work.  It's kind of hypnotic.  Listen to "Palmless" below, and be on the lookout for the 12" on Record Store Day.

Ben Frost

I'm having a difficult time deciding on how to describe the music of Ben Frost.  There are elements of experimental electronic acts like Aphex Twin in the mix, haunting chamber music and bells, atmospheric drone and ambient textures, and an increasing intensity that sounds like the sky opening up and world shattering floods beginning.  Listen to "Venter" below and look for the "A U R O R A" LP in May on Mute.

Barren Harvest

We are purveyors of the dark arts, looking out to the old gods, crafting monuments of stone and mud, grey clouds, somber faces.  Somewhere in the ether where ancient folk music, droney hymns, and the murk of black metal converge, lies Barren Harvest, the haunting collaboration between Lenny Smith (Atriarch) and Jessica Way (Worm Ouroboros).  The duo's "Subtle Cruelties" is out next week via Handmade Birds, but you can listen to "Claw and Feather" below.  Fans of Swans are encouraged to partake.

Creepoid

While we're on a 90's revival kick, here's Philadelphia four-piece Creepoid.  The band's self-titled album is awash in psych and garage-tinged shoegaze, discordant no-wave, and stoner alt-rock guitar riffs, a kind of beer-fueled score for a long a weekend on the road.  Get it from No Idea Records and listen to "Yellow Wallpaper" below.

Heathers

Here's a jangly, little indie-pop number from LA band Heathers.  There's kind of a 90's alt-rock revival thing going on here...and it's infectious.  Listen to "Fear" below and grab the 7" here.

Swans - A Little God in My Hands

Since 2012's dark, epic, and difficult (and amazing) "The Seer," Swans have kept pretty busy with touring, a live album, and now the upcoming follow up record, "To Be Kind."  The darkness of previous efforts may have ebbed...but not really.  First taste "A Little God in My Hands" sounds like some kind of serial killer mantra, a swirl of cacophonous noises, repetitive and trance-like, until the blasts of discord and violence disrupt all reason, and the bloodletting begin.  Listen and download below, and look for the album in May from Young God/Mute.

La Femme

One of my favorite band's from last week's festival madness was the French new wave group La Femme.  The band has a retro 60's thing going for them a la Stereolab, but also throw in equal parts B-52's, Velvet Underground, and EDM in for good measure.  They're also very, very French.  Adorable.  Listen to "La Femme" below and get the record from Born Bad Records.

Youth Code

One of the groups i unfortunately did not get a chance to check out last week during SXSW was LA's electronic industrial noise makers Youth Code.  It's good to know that the kids are still listening to Wax Trax and Skinny Puppy.  Get the repress of their self-titled album at Dais Records and listen to "Carried Mask" below.

Fucked Up - Paper the House

Fucked Up have a new album due out later this year.  Look for "Glass Boys" on Matador in June.  And watch the video for first single "Paper the House" below.  Hell yeah!

Viet Cong

The demise of the fantastic Calgary band Women was pretty tragic, an ugly break up that occurred on stage, followed by the death of a band member.  Since then, members have been putting out various solo projects like the excellent Androgynous Mind, and now Viet Cong who will soon have a release ready for Mexican Summer.  Listen to the rough mix of "Bunker Buster" below.  There are a lot of elements of Women in the mix, noise and pop...and that's a grand thing.

Umberto - Temple Room

Kansas City's John Carpenter-worshiping synthesizer enthusiast Umberto is set to release a new 12" single on Not Not Fun later this month, a reworking of "Temple Room" from 2010's "Prophecy of the Black Widow" LP.  Watch the excellent video below and spook out.

Gymshorts

I saw a lot of music last week, and one of the groups i really dug was Providence, Rhode Island's Gymshorts, a scuzzy burst of garage, punk, and surf rock...the kind of stuff to smoke bad weed and drink cheap beer to.  Get their album "No Backsies!" here and listen to "Scumdog" below.

Lewis

The nice folks over at Gorilla vs Bear were kind enough to post about Light in the Attic's upcoming reissue of the 1983 private press oddity, "L'Amour," by the artist simply known as Lewis.  I'm at a loss for how to actually describe the music.  It's kind of atmospheric, kind of poppy, kind of yacht-rocky (maybe?), kind of something.  I don't know.  You just have to listen.  It's beautiful, and "I Thought the World of You" is kind of haunting.  Get the record in June and listen to the track below.

Golden Retriever

This has been a long week (and i was on vacation the whole time).  Up to my armpits in beer and food and music, it's now time to wind down, sit, reflect, relax, and just enjoy all that is life...with some beer and food and music.  So let's listen to the space exploration theme that is "Flight Song," the latest from synthesizer enthusiasts Golden Retriever from their upcoming album "Seer" on Thrill Jockey.  It's like closing your eyes, letting go, and just collapsing into the center of a black hole.

It also makes me want to watch that "Cosmos" show tonight, so mental note and all that.  Listen below.

SXSW 2014, Day 5

And so we've reached the end of our saga...and what an end.  Yesterday my 9 month old son saw his first concert at Waterloo Records' SXSW Saturday day party.  Mobb Deep and Temples.  My baby digs on gangsta rap and psych pop.  He's already cooler than i am.

Afterwards, i closed out with some psych garage rock from Ty Segall and a whole lot more, drank a mystery beer, and slowly began to peel the dead, sun burned skin from my face.  I guess this year qualifies as a success.  Here's some pics from Saturday.

Mobb Deep

Temples

Holy Tidal Wave

Coachwhips

Construction Unit

Ty Segall

The Coup

Calvin Love - Cool

Last year when i saw Calvin Love at SXSW, the man was singing warped and strange little pop-folk jams, but this year, he put on a more debonair and slick 80's synth yacht rock vibe.  And he owned it, as evidenced on his latest "Cool/Wild Blue" 7" on Hit City USA.  Listen to the A-side below.

SXSW 2014, Day 4

Man.  Doing the whole South By thing while taking care of a baby is exhausting.  I just can't do it like i used to.  I just can't stay up like i used to.  I just can't drink like i used to.  But the siren call of free beer and junk food is just too enticing, too hypnotic, too demanding.  One does not ignore its call.  One simply obeys.  And i keep trying to.

Here are some pics from the day...

La Femme

The Entrance Band

Mutual Benefit

Classixx

Gruff Rhys (of Super Furry Animals)

Jessy Lanza

SXSW 2014, Day 3

Thoughts, prayers, and love to all the people, family, and friends of those affected by the tragic car accident last night.  A general somberness hung over the duration of the day's shows and everyone was just a little bit nicer to each other today.

Here's a few pics from the day...

Calvin Love

Cities Aviv

Overdoz

Nicole Atkins

Trash Talk

nothing

BADBADNOTGOOD

Tyler, The Creator

The Midgetmen with Diarrhea Planet and Melissa Etheridge

Diarrhea Planet

Diarrhea Planet