Single Lash

Single Lash is the gothy, sprawling project of Austin artist Nicolas Nadeau, and his new, self-titled album is a haunting and transcendent collection of songs.  Guitars swirl around industrial hazy beats while Nadeau's almost whispered vocals feel like ancient chants summoning something otherworldly.  Listen to "Drown" below and pre-order the cassette from Mirror Universe Tapes, or download here.

RIP Leonard Nimoy

RIP Leonard Nimoy.  I'm sure there are plenty of "Star Trek" lines that could be used to eulogize the man, most notably from the Spock death scene in "Wrath of Khan," but i'd rather focus on the happier.  Watch the ridiculous video for "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" below from 1968's "Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy," and if you have the time, i highly encourage you to seek out and binge watch the old episodes of "In Search Of" that Nimoy hosted in the late 70's/early 80's.  They're delightful.  I love them.


Lastly, here's an excellent grab from "The Simpsons."  So long Mr. Spock.

Jack Ladder and The Dreamlanders

Channeling "Avalon" era Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music, Australia's Jack Ladder and The Dreamlanders swing and swoon to synth-laden ballads and grand sonic structures.  Ladder croons in a pleasant baritone over a sweeping and airy majesty.  Listen to the Sharon Van Etten assisted "To Keep and To Be Kept" below and grab the "Playmates" LP from Fat Possum Records.

The Amazing

The Amazing are a psych rock outfit from Sweden featuring members of Dungen, which is pretty much all i need to know to have my interest piqued.  For the rest of you however, the band makes droney, floaty psych explorations that could accompany a drive through the country at night or a solo and lonesome flight through space.  Listen to "Safe Island" below and grab the "Picture You" LP from Partisan Records.

Black Zone Myth Chant

I don't know who Black Zone Myth Chant are, but this French experimental electronic artist makes hypnotizing, intoxicating jams that feel like coming down off of something heavy.  Listen to "He Evil" from the forthcoming "Mane Thecel Phares" LP on Gravats.

Marfa Myths

Next month on March 13-15, the folks at Mexican Summer are putting on a cultural/art/music program in Marfa, Texas featuring acts like Grouper, Iceage, Weyes Blood, and more.  There will be visual art exhibits and installations, live music, and so on.  It looks really cool, kind of a laid back, west Texas alternative to SXSW.  I wish i could go.  At any rate, Mexican Summer are offering up a label sampler in celebration of the event that you can get here.  Listen to Michael Angelo's "The World to Be" below.

Leon Bridges - Lisa Sawyer

Here's a new jam from Fort Worth soul man Leon Bridges.  "Lisa Sawyer" is a soulful, doo-wop dream, a throwback jam that's as timeless as it is amazing.  I hope, hope, hope i can catch this guy during SXSW.  Listen below.

King Khan & BBQ Show

Garage rock freaks King Khan and BBQ Show are back for their first new album in years since their kinda/sorta breakup back in 2010.  "Bad News Boys" finds the duo parading through their usual take on raucous punk rock, a lovely and jiving mix of garage rock fidelity, doo-wop flourishes, and throwback melodies.  They never missed a beat.  Listen to "Alone Again" below and get the album from In The Red soon.

The Next Peak Vol. III

Retro Promenade have offered up the third installment of their synthesizer tribute to "Twin Peaks," this time around featuring an array of songs inspired by the TV series, rather than covers of the soundtrack.  There's some fun and interesting stuff going on here, the moods, themes, and even some dialog from "Twin Peaks" working and weaving through the synthetic soundscapes and neon afterglow.  Listen to Waveshaper's "The Ghost of Leland Palmer" below and download "The Next Peak Vol III" here.

Fluoride

Check out this kinda lo-fi punk/industrial noise track from Beach Fossils' Dustin Payseur's side project Fluoride.  "Sleep" comes from the band's upcoming "Material" LP due in March on Bayonet Records.  It makes me happy.  Listen below.

New music from Blur!!!

Holy shit!  Blur have a new album coming out in April called "Magic Whip."  I did not see that coming.  Watch the video for the first single, "Go Out," below.  Hooray!

King Dude - Deal with the Devil

Here's a new, haunting and somber dark-folk jam from the ever-dependable King Dude.  "Deal with the Devil" sounds like the lament of a broken man at the end of everything, years and years of regret transformed into a dark dirge, a procession into the abyss.  Listen below and grab the 7" from Not Just Religious Music.

Relapse Records: 25 Years of Contamination

Heavy metal label Relapse Records is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and today they've offered up a name-your-price compilation of 183 songs from their rank and file over the years.  This comp has everything from Torche to Iron Reagan, Baroness to Godflesh, Unsane to Wolvserpent, and everything in between.  Go download "25 Years of Contamination" now and listen to Mastodon's "March of the Fire Ants" from 2002's "Remission" below.

Father John Misty covers Nirvana

Father John Misty (otherwise known as Josh Tillman) has been getting a lot of press lately (and rightfully so) for his excellent new album "I Love You Honeybear."  A few days ago, the man put down an excellent solo cover of Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" for Sirius XMU.  Listen below.

Mild High Club

Though i am no fan of the punny band name, LA's Mild High Club craft wonderfully woozy, lo-fi pysch pop reminiscent of acts like Ariel Pink or Mac DeMarco.  Listen to "Windowpane" below and get the 7" from Stones Throw, and be on the lookout for a full length LP later this Spring.

Fort Romeau and New Jackson

Get your boogie on for Valentine's Day today.  Here's a new collaborative jam from London producer Fort Romeau and Dublin's New Jackson.  "Not A Word" is taken from the upcoming Fort Romeau album "Insides," out in March on Ghostly, and it's a sleek, floaty bouncer.  Listen below.

Chromatics - Just Like You

It seems like i'm posting something about Chromatics or any other Johnny Jewel project every other day now...and i guess i am.  2015 is shaping up to be a banner year for all things Italians Do It Better, and the first single from Chromatics' upcoming new album, "Dear Tommy," is a hazy, dreamy trip to euphoria.  "Just Like You" comes in like a fragmented dream, smoky minimalist atmospherics swirling around the hushed and sexy cooing of Ruth Radelet.  It sounds like it could have come out 30 years ago...or 20 years ago...or yesterday.  Welcome to dreampop bliss.  Listen and download below and look for the record sometime in March.  Jewel will be releasing a new single every week until the album comes out.  Hooray!

Cannibal Holocaust

Just when i think that Mondo Tees can't get any cooler, along comes their "Cannibal Holocaust" LP, issued for the first time on vinyl with amazing artwork by comic book illustrator and artist Jock.  Riz Ortolani's score to the notorious Italian cannibal movie is beautiful unto itself, and that beauty works with all the disturbing images of the film, somehow keeping it...well, not grounded...but from simply being some piece of trash cinema.  The album should be available from Mondo online sometime in the near future, unless you are one of the folks lucky and demented enough to attend a screening of the film on Valentine's Day with a four course meal at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin.  Read all about that here.  I'm totally demented enough, but alas, we don't have a sitter.  C'est la vie!

Listen to "Cannibal Holocaust (Main Theme)" below.

High Aura'd and Mike Shiflet

"Awake" is the new, sprawling album from High Aura'd and Mike Shiflet.  Album opener "Parlour Games" finds the two droning guitarists colliding their sounds together in a beautiful sea of noise, like watching the creation of sub atomic universe or staring into the fire flames moving in slow motion.  It's abstract and loud and beautiful.  Listen below and grab the record from Type.

Vision Fortune

UK experimental/electronic/synth/drone/etc. duo Vision Fortune just released their new album, "Country Music," on All Tomorrow's Parties.  Regardless of title, there is no country music on this record.  Motorik beats, chirping synth lines, monotone chanting vocals, and any assortment of strange and wonderful noises fill up the album, assembled by some crazy madmen drunk on ultimate power.  Take a listen to album closer "Back Crawl II" below and get the record here.

Pink Fink

So maybe Halloween was over three months ago, but that doesn't mean we can't listen to some sinister funk, some ghostly disco, some haunted synth boogie.  Pink Fink hail from New Orleans and keep the night filled with ghouls and boogeymen shaking their asses on the neon-lighted, smoke-filled, swampy dance floors.  Listen to "Frightened Love" below and grab the 7" from Disko Obscura.

Makthaverskan

Makthaverskan hail from Sweden and make dark, pop-fueled post-punk in the vein of bands like Savages.  There's also some definite Siouxsie Sioux action going on here.  It's awesome.  Listen to "Witness" below and grab it here.

Them Are Us Too

Them Are Us Too is a California synth-Goth duo that sounds like some sort of dreamy offspring of Siouxsie and The Banshees, Cocteau Twins, and a drum machine.  "Us Now" is a floaty, throbbing jam that sounds like the soundtrack to some eye shadow and black nail polish canoodling.  Be on the lookout for a release from Dais Records and listen to the song below.

Gwenno

Former Pipettes member Gwenno recorded a kraut-pop concept album last year called "Y Dydd Olaf," taking its name and themes from a 1970's Welsh sci-fi novel, and it's seeing its release this month on Post/Pop Records.  Listen to the motorik beat and Stereolab leanings of album opener "Chwyldro" below and grab the cassette here.

The Next Peak Vol. II

Retro Promenade have unleashed the second volume of synthesizer interpretations of the music from "Twin Peaks."  Take a listen to 20Six Hundred's menacing reinterpretation of "Laura Palmer's Theme" called "She had a lot of Secrets" below and download "The Next Peak Vol. II" here.

Also, dig on that neon-Bob above.

Chastity Belt

Seattle's Chastity Belt make druggy, jangly guitar rock to wile away the night to, a four-piece of lovely ladies just trying to make me shake my bits...and maybe shotgun another beer while the reverb rattles around in my head.  Listen to "Time to Go Home" below and get the album of the same name next month on Hardly Art.

Chromatics - Yes (Love Theme from Lost River)

So, Johnny Jewel and his usual gang of miscreants on Italians Do It Better have supplied the soundtrack to Ryan Gosling's film "Lost River," because of course they have.  Honestly, this was probably set in motion when Gosling starred in "Drive."  Well, the outcome is just lovely.  Listen to and download the Chromatics' tune "Yes (Love Theme from Lost River)" below, featuring an assist from Ida No of Glass Candy and Megan Louise of Desire.

John Carpenter remixed by Blanck Mass

John Carpenter's "Lost Themes" came out today, and because i'm so stoked, here's the Blanck Mass (Benjamin John Power of Fuck Buttons) remix of "Fallen" taken from the deluxe version of the release.  Listen below and get the album on Sacred Bones.

Mew - Satellites

Danish psych pop band Mew have been absent from our ears for over half a decade now, but April sees the release of their forthcoming album "+/-," a grand behemoth of power pop and sweeping, epic melodies.  I had no idea they were still around...but i'm happy they are.  Watch the video for "Satellites" below and get the album from Play It Again Sam.

Black Sunday

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everybody!  The good folks over at Mondo have put up a pre-order for the full soundtrack to the 1977 thriller "Black Sunday" by composer John Williams with amazing cover art from Jay Shaw.  The movie is about a terrorist plot to blow up a blimp at a football stadium during the Super Bowl, and features an excellent unhinged performance from Bruce Dern, and Robert Shaw trying not to seem too drunk.  What a wonderful time.  Today only, Mondo is offering up Patriots and Seahawks color vinyl variants.  Get the record here and sample some tunes below.

The Intended

Take a listen to this woozy and intoxicating slice of garage noise from Detroit's The Intended, featuring members of the band Tyvek.  "Huguenot" feels like it's full of youthful energy and abandon...and yes, drunk or stoned.  It's lovely.  Get the 7" from All Gone.