La Casa al Mare

Here's some swirling, wailing, reverb-drenched shoegaze from Italy's La Casa al Mare.  Think Ride meets Swervedriver, etc, etc, etc.  It's nice...and it makes me miss the early 90's...back when things were cool...and my body didn't hurt all the time.  I am old.

All that aside, listen to "Sunflowers" below and go here to download the song and B-side "Tonight or Never."

Korallreven covers Guns N' Roses

Swedish pop band Korallreven just released a cover of Guns N' Roses' ultra-ballad "November Rain," and it's...something.  Hearing this song in the context of an icy, synthy dance track is kind of jarring at first, and i sure am missing the guitar solos and the dramatic conclusion, but i've always had a soft spot for "November Rain," and i like to see that others do as well.  Listen below.

Robedoor

LA's experimental, psych-drone-synth-something weirdo duo Robedoor's excellent and limited 2013 album "Primal Sphere" is getting the cassette reissue treatment from Not Not Fun.  Listen to "Stagnant Venom" below and slowly slip into the abyss, or blast into the outer reaches of space as your particles are spread over all of creation.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy the feast.  Enjoy the booze.  Sleep in tomorrow.

Faith No More - Motherfucker

Faith No More's new single "Motherfucker," the band's first new material since 1997's "Album of the Year" comes out on Friday as a Record Store Day Black Friday release.  At some point during the day, i will be skipping out of work for a bit to procure myself a copy.  You should too.  Listen below.

Minuit Machine

French minimal darkwave synth duo Minuit Machine craft haunting, gothic numbers that feel equal parts Cure and quirky industrial rave.  I like everything about that last sentence.  The band's album "Live and Destroy" is out now on Desire Records.  Listen to "Agoraphobia" below, and brood a little bit.

Will Butler

Arcade Fire little brother Will Butler has a solo album on the horizon next year from Merge Records.  The first taste of "Policy" is album opener "Take My Side," a jangly and jumping piece of rock n' roll anxiety.  It's nice.  You should listen below.

Recycle Culture

Hazy electronic artist Recycle Culture always seems to get my head nodding and my mind wandering with his Balearic and dreamy beats.  It makes me want to drink a cocktail on the beach.  Listen to "AYA" from the new "AYA" EP below and get the album here.

Chromatics - White Light

Johnny Jewel, oh he of Italians Do It Better, Glass Candy, and Chromatics fame has been releasing an enormous amount of vault material over the last month or so on his Soundcloud page, and the hits just keep on coming.  One of the more recent songs to surface is "White Light" from Chromatics, a sexy, smoky, and dreamy track that would have fit in nicely on 2012's "Kill for Love."  Listen and download below, and then be sure to go here to sample and download all the other killer jams the man's been throwing out of late.

Sun Kil Moon - The Possum

It's been a big and interesting year for Mark Kozelek, a stellar new Sun Kil Moon album, another album of Christmas songs, the weird and obscenity-fueled beef with The War on Drugs, and now another new jam called "The Possum."  The song clocks in at almost 9 minutes and is all about dead possums and hanging out with Godflesh.  Get it from Kozelek's Caldo Verde label next month and listen below.

John Carpenter

I have no idea why i haven't posted about this yet (there is no excuse), but in February, legendary filmmaker and score composer John Carpenter is releasing his first ever album, "Lost Themes," on Sacred Bones.  An actual John Carpenter album!  This is too rad for words, and if the first taste of "Vortex" is any indication, we should all be stoked.  Listen below.

The Bug vs Earth

Black Friday will so be descending upon us all, a calamity of commerce and consumerism turned up to eleven.  Let's all hope for minimal trampling incidents this year.  As has become the norm over the last few years, the people behind the annual Record Store Day event have an assortment of wonderful Black Friday releases ready for the holiday shopping madness (new Faith No More single anyone?), and one of those is an interesting new collaboration between grimy electronic producer The Bug and drone metal act Earth.  "The Bug vs Earth" is two tracks of trippy, dark, and atmospheric bliss courtesy of Ninja Tune.  Listen to the appropriately titled "Cold" below, a chopped and oozing piece of cinematic dread, and let's hope for more music from these two in the future.

M!R!M

A cold mix of darkwave gloom and ethereal dreampop, London's M!R!M sound like a bunch of ex-raver, post-industrial troublemakers toiling away the hours with their synthesizers, drum machines, and floating guitar licks, attempting to commune with some alternate dimension version of Clan of Xymox.  It's kind of intoxicating.  The band's "Reel/Flowers in Bloom" 7" is available now right here.  Listen to the B-side below.

Black Thread

San Francisco's Black Thread just released a 5" (?) of droney, ambient, atmospheric tape loops, the audio sound of degradation and decay called "Sipping Sapphire."  That something so seemingly simple can evoke such a sense of devastation and loss is just insane to me.  It's like a short, lo-fi version of William Basinski's "Disintegration Loops."  Take a listen to "Sipping Sapphire (B)" below and get the record here.

Mamiffer

Here's some new gloomy, doomy ambient-psych-drone-metal kind of stuff from Mamiffer, the duo of Faith Coloccia and her husband Aaron Turner (formerly of Isis).  "Flower of the Field" comes from new album "Statu Nascendi" and plays out like some twisted, stoned journey into the center of a mysterious and foreign city.  Listen below and get the album from SIGE.

Voyag3r

Sometimes you can tell exactly what a band or album is going to sound like just by looking at the album cover.  "Doom Fortress" by Detroit's Voyag3r (pronounced Voyager 3) is one on those.  Just look at that cover.  It screams sweeping synths and shredding guitars, fake car chases through futuristic dystopian streets.  And that's what it is, another loving ode to the work of John Carpenter.  It's awesome.  Listen to "Doom Fortress Escape" below and get the album here.

Black Milk

It's a lazy, damp, and chilly Sunday morning here in Austin, the kind of weather that demands you open the blinds and watch the gray day pass by while listening to warm music and drinking warmer beverages...if you have the time that is.  I don't unfortunately, but if you find yourself there, enjoy the sounds of Detroit hip-hop producer and rapper Black Milk and his new album "If There's a Hell Below."  It's a smooth and eclectic beast, and really damn good too.  Get the record here and listen to "Everyday Was" below.

Ultimate Painting

Sure, they may just sound like they're riffing on The Velvet Underground, but that doesn't mean that Ultimate Painting, the duo of James Hoare (Veronica Falls) and Jack Cooper (Mazes) can't sound awesome and engaging.  The band bob and weave, channeling a million reluctant junkies trolling the streets of New York City, a cool fuzz.  Listen to "Ten Street" below and look for their debut LP on Trouble In Mind in the near future.

Bandelier

Here's some dusty, old folk from Tulsa, Oklahoma's Bandelier.  The band's "Landlines" LP is plucked Americana at its finest, but with enough old school country and southern fried psych rock in the mix to make it sound like some kind of all encompassing classic.  "Bison Bison" feels like standing on an empty plain, sun blaring over the rolling hills, the wind blowing cold, ripping the loose sand into the sky.  Listen below and grab the album here.

Pompeii

Austin shoegazey post-rock quartet Pompeii have a new album of soaring, reverb-drenched rock anthems for the masses.  "Loom" feels massive...and it is, a sprawling and building beautiful cacophony of sweeping synths, pounding drums, echoed vocals, and layers of guitar and feedback, while the Tosca String Quartet provide a stirring, cinematic touch with their classical string work.  It's a beautiful record.  Get it from Red Eye Transit Records, or from the band and listen to the title track below.

Keep Shelly in Athens

Greece's Keep Shelly in Athens have a new song and a new singer.  "Fractals" is a breezy and wistful synth pop dream, a song that floats you along over the horizon.  It's pretty.  Listen below.

Animal Bodies

Man, it got cold in Austin.  We're in the 30's, which is such a rarity, so let's listen to some cold and minimal darkwave synth music with some industrial trim shall we?  Vancouver's Animal Bodies sound like the club jams you would listen to in an abandoned warehouse, partying with a bunch of weirdos before they turn into werewolves.  Get the band's "The Killing Scene" LP here and listen to "Two Moons" below.

Chromatics - Blue Moon

Glass Candy/Chromatics/Symmetry mastermind Johnny Jewel has been unleashing a whole slew of rare and unreleased tracks from his various projects on his Soundcloud page over the last week or so.  Go and check everything out, but in the meantime, listen to and download Chromatics' haunting take on "Blue Moon" below.  It's ghostly and gorgeous.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2014 pics

Oh Fun Fun Fun Fest...what started as an exercise in patience, rage control, and endurance, a result of poor planning and staffing on the festival runners that ended up with a two and a half hour wait to get into the park (much, much longer for some), i eventually shed my anger, and my disappointment in missing Pallbearer, Mineral, and most of Run the Jewels, and came to love the loopy atmosphere that Fun Fun Fun Fest is known for.  Or maybe i just got drunk.  Either way, it was a good time, and maybe next year the festival planners can act like they've been doing this for the better part of a decade.  Oh wait, they have.

Check out a few pics below.  Unfortunately, none of my Nas or Yo La Tengo pics came out well.

Run the Jewels

Sun Kil Moon

Juliana Barwick

Death from Above 1979

Dinosaur Jr

Judas Priest

King Tuff

METZ

Gary Numan (doing his best Trent Reznor impersonation)

Iceage

The World is a Beautiful Place and I am no Longer Afraid to Die

Black Lips

Sick of it All

King Diamond

Iron Reagan

Angel Olsen

Deafheaven

Dum Dum Girls

Freddie Gibbs and Madlib

Chelsea Wolfe

Failure

Neutral Milk Hotel

Let's do it again next year...but let's not piss me off next time.

HAERTS

Hey, HAERTS' self-titled, debut full-length LP came out last week.  Who knew?  Apparently not me, nor did i realize the band had signed to major label Columbia.  Anyway, the band continue to wade through the waters of synthy 80's nostalgia, soaring and dreamy jams to watch the tide go out to as the sun sets brilliantly in the background.  Somewhere Tom Cruise is flying a fighter jet.  Take a listen to "Hope" below.

Chelsea Wolfe

As i'll be spending the next three days listening to live music, drinking too much beer, and walking around a park at this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest, i feel it proper to highlight one of the acts i'm most excited to see...dark folk fatale Chelsea Wolfe.  Earlier this year, Ms. Wolfe recorded a session for Folkadelphia, which you can listen to and download here (name your price).  In the meantime, listen to her stripped down and haunting version of "The Warden" from last year's "Pain Is Beauty" album below.

I'lls

It's a chilly, gray, and rainy day here in Austin, so here's some appropriately gloomy music from Australia's I'lls.  Soft and creeping analog synthesizer hums and beeps play out over warped, unintelligible vocal samples and a jazzy electro-beat.  It only seems right.  Listen to "Fifty-Phiphti" below and grab the 12" single here from Solitaire.

Blue Ruin

Jeremy Saulnier's "Blue Ruin" is a wonderfully shot, beautiful, and tense movie about the nature of revenge, and the dark spirals it leads to.  The film's score, by brothers Brooke and Will Blair, streamlines that dreariness and the dread of the movie's tone into a droney and ambient soundscape.  Said score will be out in December (in limited vinyl) on Blackest Rainbow Records.  Listen to "Confrontation" below.

New music from Nothing and Whirr

San Francisco shoegaze acts Nothing and Whirr share a member in Nick Bassett, and the two groups now have a split 12" coming out later this month on Run For Cover.  I'm stoked.  Take a listen to Nothing contribution "July the Fourth" below.