Animal Collective - FloriDada

Animal Collective are set to release their new album "Painting With" in February on Domino, featuring three different album covers.  That's one of them above.  Take a listen to first taste "FloriDada" below.  It sounds like Animal Collective.

Mass Gothic

Former Hooray For Earth front man Noel Heroux has a new project in the works for Sub Pop.  Mass Gothic channels a lot of the same kind of dreamy, shoegazey pop that Heroux's former band traded in, but adds a meatier post-punk thud to the mix.  Take a listen to the first single, "Nice Night," from the upcoming self-titled album due in February.  It's damn near sublime, and a catchy earworm to roll through your holiday weekend to.

Cindy Lee

Cindy Lee is the project of former Women guitarist/vocalist Patrick Flegel, and so far this year, have released the amazing, haunting, devastating album "Act of Tenderness."  The physical version of that record is not even out yet, and already we've got a new album from the band called "Malenkost."  It's just as amazing, haunting, and devastating as ever.  The cassette came out last week on Isolated Now Waves, and is already long sold out.  No word on a digital release or repress yet, but most of the songs can be found on Youtube.  Take a listen to "Always Lovers" below, and while you're at it, head over to CCQSK Records to pre-order "Act of Tenderness" or grab a download of the whole album for free.  It's well worth your time.  These records are beautiful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Insert political screed here.

Wild Nothing

Take a listen to two gorgeous and dreamy tracks from the upcoming new album by Brooklyn band Wild Nothing.  "To Know You" and "TV Queen" recall all the best sounds and waves from four decades of dreampop, new wave, and post punk, with the former easily making a case for best new music of 2016...once we get there.  Listen below and get the "Life of Pause" LP in February from Captured Tracks.

Ariel Pink

So, this Friday is the dreaded Black Friday.  As someone who works in retail, let me just say...ugh.  Anyway, Record Store Day's Black Friday event sees a slew of new and limited releases hitting the shelves on the 27th, and while there really aren't many that piqued my interest, we are getting a new Ariel Pink 7", featuring an assist from Blood Orange's Dev Hynes.  The two songs are taken from the film, "Heaven Knows What," and they're warped and spacey.  Try to grab it on Friday at your local brick and mortar record store, and watch the video for A-side "I Need a Minute" below.

Frankie Cosmos

Airy and dreamy, "Young," the latest from Frankie Cosmos has been begging to be played on repeat all afternoon.  It sounds like walking through the clouds.  Listen below and get the "Fit Me In" EP from Bayonet Records.

Pye Corner Audio

Hey gang!  The electronic and synthesizer purveyors of Pye Corner Audio have a new album of subtly sinister electro-jams out on More Than Human Records called "Prowler."  Listen to "She Hunts at Night" below and grab the album, if you're living stateside, from Mondo Tees.

EMA - Amnesia Haze

Been digging on EMA's dark pop and rock jams for a couple of years now, and her latest is a floaty, haunting dream.  "Amnesia Haze" comes from the soundtrack and score she composed for the upcoming film, "#Horror," a movie i know nothing about, but the song is at once so sweet and foreboding, that i'll probably have to find out more.  Listen below.

David Bowie - Blackstar video

In January, David Bowie will be releasing a weird new album called "Blackstar" via Columbia Records.  Any Bowie news is always welcomed warmly around these parts, and i've got to say, i am a fan of the first taste of this new record.  The video, which you can and definitely should watch below is...well...wow.  It's weird and creepy and hypnotizing.  I am stoked for the new record.

John Cale - Big White Cloud

I got nothing today.  Sometimes, everything just kind of sounds the same to me, and nothing pops, and nothing gets me excited.  I'm sure there is amazing new music to be found and heard right this very second, but i don't have the energy wherewithal to seek it out.  So let's just listen to John Cale's "Big White Cloud" instead, from 1970's "Vintage Violence."  I will relax and redouble my efforts in the morrow.

Reckno

An afternoon at home with my son.  Here's a preposterously titled, blissful drone jam from UK act Reckno.  Listen to "Under the Sun They Presented Smiles to the World; Under the Moon, They Were Lost in Thought: So They had Quietly Passed the Years" from the "Eating Flowers - God Was a White-Tailed Deer" cassette.  Get it here.

Iron and Wine covers GWAR

I'm not the biggest fan of Iron and Wine.  That's not to say that Sam Beam isn't a talented dude, or that he doesn't have a song or two that i can dig on, but a lot of indie folk just kind of puts me to sleep most days.  But here he is covering GWAR's "Sick of You."  And that's just neat.  Watch the video below.

Oneohtrix Point Never

Daniel Lopatin and Oneohtrix Point Never really need no introduction from the likes of me, so let's just get to the music.  New album "Garden of Delete" is out now on Warp, and it finds Lopatin channeling his inner Aphex Twin.  Listen to the twisted, sprawling, and chaotic "Mutant Standard" below.

Black Moth Super Rainbow

Good news everyone!  Pittsburgh lo-fi-synth-electro-psych-folk weirdos Black Moth Super Rainbow have a new album on the horizon.  "SeeFu Lilac" is due in February, which you can pre-order from the band here.  Listen to the hazy, hypnotic album closer "Warm Water Leviathan" below.

Vive la France!

Fuck terrorism!  Fuck religious extremists!  Fuck anybody who feels that they have to kill and hurt and maim to feel big about themselves!  Keep Paris in your hearts.  Keep Syrian refugees in your hearts too.  Keep anyone affected by violence or terror in your hearts.  And keep any other person that has to flee their homeland because some impotent fucks can't stomach the possibility of someone disagreeing with them in your hearts too.  Vive la France!  Peace!  Love!  Let's listen to some fucking Eagles of Death Metal!

Get "Zipper Down" from T-Boy Records.

Palm

Recalling some of the more psych-tinged sounds of earlier Animal Collective, but adding some really angular guitar licks into the mix, Philly band Palm seem to be carving out their own little niche of off-kilter pop.  New album "Trading Basics" feels naturalistic, but also kind of all over the place, like dirt getting swept up in a dust devil, moving indiscriminately through the desert.  Those angular rhythms never get too mathy, but they keep things from ever descending into downright hippie-dippiness.  Take a listen to "Ankles" below and grab the record here from Inflated Records.

Charlie Hilton

Here's a moody, floaty little off-kilter synth pop jam for you from Blouse member Charlie Hilton's solo outing "Palana," out in January on Captured Tracks.  "Pony" is a hazy dream to lull you back into sleep.  Listen below.

Baron

British four-piece rock band Baron dabble in everything from dark folk, to psych, to prog rock, to krautrock, and beyond.  The mix is a mesmerizing beast, a thudding, pulsing, and wailing cosmic exploration.  Just listen to "Deeper Align" from the upcoming "Torpor" LP and feel yourself melt away.  Awesome!  Listen below and grab the album from Svart Records.

In a Moment...Ghost Box

Hey gang, the fine folks over at the unbelievably cool record label Ghost Box have released a compilation album celebrating their tenth anniversary.  "In a Moment...Ghost Box" has tracks from the usual gang of suspects like PYE Corner Audio, Belbury Poly, The Focus Group, and more.  Cool electronics, analog synthesizers, freaky folk vibes, experimental beeps and clanks, and all around weirdness abound.  This is a great collection.  Listen to a sampler smorgasbord below and get the album here.

RIP Gunnar Hansen

On Saturday, we lost a horror icon from one of my all time favorite movies.  Gunnar "Leatherface" Hansen may have lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, but he left behind one of the definitive horror performances for the ages as Leatherface in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre."  RIP Gunnar Hansen.

Fun Fun Fun Fest X: Day 3 pics

True to form for the last two days, i began the fest with a little bit of dancing, and then since i wasn't really there to see anything until later in the afternoon, i wandered the park from stage to stage catching bits and pieces of a whole slew of artists i knew little to nothing about.  And so, i caught some dance jams from Lido, some snotty punk from Title Fight, the comedy stylings of Eric Andre, and some indie pop from Broncho.  I then caught sets from OFF! and Doomtree, go motivated by Andrew WK, shook my ass at Big Freedia and Chromeo, and then fulfilled yet another junior high/high school desire and saw L7 tear it down.  Then home.  I'm sleepy.  Until next year everybody.

Some highlights:
- I ended up buying the Nolan Ryan/Robin Ventura shirt from yesterday.
- Eric Andre is hilarious.
- L fucking 7!
- Jamming to the jazzy beats of BADBADNOTGOOD as i left the park.

Check a few pics below.

Lido

Title Fight

Eric Andre

Broncho

OFF!

Doomtree

Andrew WK

Big Freedia 

Chromeo

L7

See you next year!

Fun Fun Fun Fest X: Day 2 pics

Man, i am getting old.  I've been doing music festivals regularly for over a decade, and i'm just pooped tonight.  You hit that point where you can either walk to the other side of the park to see the band you'd dig, or you can just keep sitting where your at and listen to the band you don't really care about.  I did a lot of the latter as the evening wound down.  Still a good time though, whether it's the quirky electro-pop of Shamir, the hardcore shenanigans of Fucked Up, some hip-hop from Joey Bada$$, or good stoner garage rock fun from a baby-faced Ty Segall and Fuzz.  A trifecta of bands i loved 20 years ago rounded the day out with excellent sets from Archers of Loaf, RIDE, and Jane's Addiction.  I'll be back tomorrow, but damn i'm tired.

Some highlights:
- Any time you get a chance to see Fucked Up, you goddamn do it.
- The aforementioned trifecta of old bands i love.
- A t-shirt consisting of nothing by Ryan Gosling heads and another t-shirt of a drawing of Nolan Ryan punching Robin Ventura in the head.
- Shiner Cheer...i've got to stop drinking that stuff.

Day 3 tomorrow and then sleep, sweet needed sleep.  Check some pics below.

Shamir

Fucked Up

Joey Bada$$

Fuzz

Archers of Loaf

RIDE

Jane's Addiction

Fun Fun Fun Fest X: Day 1 pics

And so we start it all over again with the tenth anniversary of my favorite music festival, Fun Fun Fun Fest.  There is so much to see this weekend, that there's no way i'm going to get to see it all (as so often happens at these things, multiple artists i want to check out always end up playing at the same time).  Hence, no Drive Like Jehu for me today, who i hear were fantastic.  Boo me.

But let's not focus on what i missed.  Let's celebrate what i got to see today.  Overcast and a little rainy all afternoon, i started off with a little hip-hop from young Chicago rapper Kembe X, and then on to the heavy shoegaze of Nothing, some crunchy guitar fuzz from Creepoid, and the metal madness of Mutoid Man.  The day continued with some comedy from Eugene Mirman and excellent sets from Dwarves, Viet Cong, and Slow Magic.  Babes in Toyland took me back to junior high.  Peaches was Peaches...dirty, nasty, and awesome.  And then Antemasque and the legendary Cheap Trick shut it down (for me at least as i bailed a little early tonight).

Highlights of the day:
- Mutoid Man's triumphant cover of The Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."
- A guy proposing to his boyfriend on stage to roaring applause at Peaches who then popped a bottle of bubbly for the couple.
- Everything about the Babes in Toyland set.
- "Surrender" by Cheap Trick.

Check some pics below and be back here tomorrow for Day 2.

Kembe X

Nothing

Creepoid

Mutoid Man

Eugene Mirman

Dwarves (with Nick Oliveri)

Viet Cong

Slow Magic

Babes in Toyland

Peaches

Antemasque

Cheap Trick