Lower Dens

Here's the latest from Lower Dens, "To Die in LA," a synthy, dreamy take on the band's signature krautrock noodlings from their upcoming album, "Escape from Evil," due in March on Ribbon Music.  Jana Hunter sounds as dour and heartbroken as usual.  Listen below.

Carpenter Brut

With a name like Carpenter Brut, you would expect music that prays at the altar of John Carpenter, horror-synth jams to run from ghouls to, or to battle the undead in a pixelated landscape to...and you would be correct.  That's what it sounds like.  And it sounds awesome.  Listen to "Division Ruine" from "EP III" below and grab the album here.

Side note: I love that album cover.

New music from Myrkur

One woman black metal band Myrkur (Ex-Cops' Amalie Bruun) is hard at work on a full length LP, following her excellent self-titled EP from last year.  Take a listen to the demo version of "Skaði" below and be on the lookout for the as-of-yet untitled LP later this year on Relapse.  If the album is as good as this demo, be prepared.

Bop English

Bop English is the solo side project of White Denim's James Petralli, a project that finds the artist tinkering with all manner of sounds and genres to craft something unique and infinitely toe-tapping.  Take a listen to the bar-rock/new-wave/psych-candy pop of "Dani's Blues (It Was Beyond Our Control)" from the forthcoming "Constant Bop" LP below, and grab the record in April from Downtown.

Tired Tape Machine

Sweden's Tired Tape Machine craft piano and acoustic guitar driven neo-folk music on their album "Not Here."  Take a listen to the somber and haunting instrumental "Stella's Other Waltz" below and grab the record here.

Mount Eerie

Ever the devotee to Phil Elverum's Mount Eerie project, whether it be in the guise of soft, wistful, acoustic folk, noisy, lo-fi, bedroom rock, or experimental drone, i'm pretty stoked for new album "Sauna," due in February on P.W. Elverum and Sun.  Watch the video for the title track below.  It's odd.

Sannhet

Here's a new, blistering, black metal inspired, math metal tinkering jam from Sannhet's upcoming second album "Revisionist."  "Lost Crown" is three minutes of shredding guitars, cacophonous drums, and ear piercing reverb.  Listen below and pre-order the album from The Flenser.  It's due in March.

Lovers Revenge

Looking for some propulsive, synthetic beats and some chiming, dark synth lines reminiscent of the kind of electronic noise that used to come out on Wax Trax 30 years ago for your Saturday listening pleasure?  Sure you are...and even if you're not, take a listen to Lovers Revenge and their track "The Revenge" from their self-titled LP below.  Get it from Romance Moderne.

RIP Edgar Froese

RIP Edgar Froese, electronic music pioneer and founder of Tangerine Dream.  Listen to the band's "Betrayal (Sorcerer Theme)" from the soundtrack to William Friedkin's "Sorcerer" below.

All These Fingers

Michigan's All These Fingers create a woozy and swirling blend of experimental tape loops and hip-hop beats, a kind of fuzzy, lo-fi take on trip-hop.  New album "Hoods" is available on cassette from Fuzzoscope, but you can listen to "The Perks" below right now.  Do it.

The Next Peak Vol. 1

So, this is pretty awesome.  An Austin art collective called Retro Promenade put together a synthesizer tribute to the music from "Twin Peaks," and with a veritable "Twin Peaks" fever going on right now, thanks to the upcoming third season, it's just what everyone needs.  Also, on the contributors did a fantastic job.  Take a listen to The Astronaut Arcade covering Julee Cruise's "Falling," featuring project organizer Lucy Black on vocals below.  Then go here to download and grab a bunch of other goodies.

FIDLAR cover Sheryl Crow

It's been awhile since we last heard from the snot-nosed, screaming, cheap beer swilling brats of garage punk band FIDLAR, but the boys just offered up a kind of hilarious take on Sheryl Crow's 1996 hit "If it Makes you Happy," taking the quiet-LOUD-quiet, verse-chorus-verse song structure to its ultimate and inevitable end.  The tune is layered over the original song's music video.  Watch below.

Father John Misty

I don't know why, but for some reason or another, i always seem to write off Father John Misty, and Fleet Foxes before him, thinking it's just some by-the-numbers, easy-listening indie rock...until i actually sit down and listen, and am consistently blown away by how beautiful and heartfelt the music really is.  Such is the case with the handful of songs i've heard from the forthcoming "I Love You, Honeybear" LP due next month on Sub Pop.  Take a listen to the wonderful "Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)" below and try your best not to have it rattling around in your head all day long.  It feels like the culmination of all the records our parents listened to, the ones that carved themselves onto our collective psyches and pushed us forth into the world.

Chromatics - The Bell

While we anxiously await "Dear Tommy," the follow-up to Chromatics' amazing 2012 album "Kill for Love," we will just have to tide ourselves over to the continuing music Johnny Jewel makes available on his Soundcloud page.  Take a listen to "The Bell" below, a fairly minimalist jam from Chromatics, and all hold our breaths until the new record comes out (next month maybe?).

King Woman

King Woman is the new project from ex-Whirr vocalist Kristina Esfandiari, a blistering, cacophonous mix of shoegaze, drone, dark folk, stoner metal, and just a pinch of doom.  Debut album "Doubt" has all the makings of an instant classic, the echoed and searing guitars, the blasting drum beats, and Esfandiari's haunted wail hovering above it all.  Listen to "Burn" below and grab the album from The Flenser.

L'Enfant de la Foret

Perturbator's James Kent, fresh off of my favorite album of 2014, is reportedly working on material for a new Perturbator record, but to keep us all fixed, he's got a side project also in the works called L'Enfant de la Foret.  The music therein still owes a lot to the last 40 years of horror film score composers, but whereas Perturbator's sound can be fun and heart racing, there is something far more sinister and creepy going on with L'Enfant de la Foret.  Take a listen to "The Birth of All Evil" below from the upcoming "Abraxas."  We'll keep you posted as to a release date.

RIP Kim Fowley

RIP Kim Fowley.  The legendary artist/producer/manager/glam rock star passed away today from cancer at the age of 75.  The man worked with everybody, from KISS to Leon Russell, Alice Cooper to Kris Kristofferson, and most famously as the manager of The Runaways.  He even penned some songs with Ariel Pink for last year's "Pom Pom."  I still really dig his glammy, solo work though.  Take a listen to "International Heroes" from the 1973 album of the same name.  It's wonderful.

Antoni Maiovvi

Composer/synth enthusiast Antoni Maiovvi continues to weave interesting works of analog soundscape, often dabbling in giallo-tinged nightmares, slasher film dread, and zombie-disco.  New album "Avrokosm" finds the artist working his textured sounds towards the cosmos, a veritable soundtrack to space exploration, the songs of some foreign, red planet.  Take a listen to "Afternoon Youth" below and grab the LP from Not Not Fun.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

Here's some late night analog synthesizer explorations from composer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.  "Careen" comes from her upcoming album "Euclid," out next week on Western Vinyl.  It's very floaty and soothing.  Listen below.

The Holy Mountain

The score to legendary Chilean experimental film director Alexandro Jodorowsky's "The Holy Mountain" just got the deluxe re(?)issue treatment (i actually don't know if it has ever been released before) on Real Gone Music.  The score was written and performed by Jodorowsky himself, along with Ron Frangipane and Don Cherry, and encompasses everything from jazz to psych rock to prog to cinematic orchestration.  Get it here and listen to "Pantheon Bar (Bees Make Honey...)" below.

John Carpenter - Night

Here's "Night," another creeping, cinematic synth jam from the upcoming "Lost Themes" LP by John Carpenter.  Get it from Sacred Bones in February.  This record is going to melt my brain.

Ghostface Killah, BADBADNOTGOOD, and DOOM

Rapper Ghostface Killah has a collaborative album due in February with Toronto proggy jazz trio BADBADNOTGOOD.  Even that wasn't already intriguing enough, DOOM makes an appearance on a track called "Ray Gun."  It's pretty amazing.  Listen below and look for the "Sour Souls" LP next month on Lex.

Ghost Bath

Here's an excellent black metal/post rock influenced jam from China's Ghost Bath.  "Golden Number" comes from the forthcoming "Moonlover" album due in March.  The song is heavy, but super melodic, and there's something glorious and awe inspiring about it's screaming highs and hushed lows.  Just lovely.  Listen below and get the album here.

Ty Segall - Mr. Face

California garage rocker Ty Segall just never stops releasing new music...and God bless him for it.  "Mr. Face" comes from the new double 7" of the same name and sounds like a bunch of stoner kids fucking around in the garage.  It's awesome.  Take a listen below and head over to Famous Class to pre-order the 2nd pressing (the record doesn't come out til next week, but the 1st press is already sold out).  You can also buy it digitally here.

The Body & Thou cover Nine Inch Nails

Fresh off of an excellent 2014, sludge metal act Thou are teaming with experimental noise band The Body, who also had a pretty good 2014, for an album of black and rotting sound called "You, Whom I Have Always Hated."  The collaboration is due later this month on Thrill Jockey, but you can listen to the blistering, barely recognizable cover to Nine Inch Nails' "Terrible Lie" below.

Action Bronson

Holy shit!  New jam from Action Bronson.  "Actin Crazy" is the first single from the upcoming "Mr. Wonderful" album due in March.  Listen below and groove.

Contact

Contact is the collaborative duo of synthesizer enthusiast A.E. Paterra (Zombi, Majeure) and film soundtrack composer Paul Lawler.  The band create cinematic synthesized soundscapes to marvel to the universe to.  Take a listen to "Distant Voices" below and grab the "First Contact" LP from Temporary Residence.

Viet Cong - Silhouettes

Viet Cong's self-titled album comes out later this month on Jagjaguwar, and based on the unbelievably awesome first single "Continental Shelf," is one of my most anticipated albums of the year.  Last year's "Cassette" EP only stoked those fires.  Well here's the second taste, another blast of post punk called "Silhouettes."  This record is going to be a monster.  Listen below.

Death Grips - Fashion Week

I don't even know what to say anymore.  The purportedly broken up Death Grips, who still have a double album due out later this year, just released an instrumental record here called "Fashion Week."  Seriously, i feel like these guys' entire career is some kind of twisted joke meant to get overeager music writers to jump the shark.  Stream the album below.

36

Here's a lovely and beautiful electronic-flavored ambient hymn from the UK's 36.  "Pulse Dive" comes from the EP of the same name that came out yesterday and seemingly immediately sold out.  Give it a listen below and grab the album digitally over here.

Got a Girl

Happy New Year (a day late)!  Let's roll into 2015 with something i missed months ago, the sleek, trip-hoppy collaboration between Dan the Automator and actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead called Got a Girl.  The album "I Love You but I Must Drive off this Cliff Now" sounds like a sorta-sequel to Automator's 2001 project Lovage...and thus it's sexy and amazing.  Get it from Bulk Recordings and listen to the Mike Patton assisted "Put Your Head Down" below.