Julie Byrne

Here's some dreamy, ethereal folk from New York's Julie Byrne.  "Natural Blue" floats and sways with haunting allure, its gentle psychedelic strands caressing your mind and soul.  Listen below and get the upcoming "Not Even Happiness" LP from Ba Da Bing Records in January.

Arc Neon

Solid cheese synth riffs for days and days...of course i'm going to love this.  UK synth wave act Arc Neon offer up "Bloodsport 2092: Part II - Vathek's Revenge," a ridiculous sequel album to a ridiculous original album.  80's sci-fi and video games reign supreme.  Listen to "The Doom that Came to Zothique" below and grab the album here.

Burial - Young Death/Nightmarket

Hey, new music from Burial.  The producer's latest was apparently accidentally sold early at some record stores last week...but not mine.  Anyway, listen to "Young Death" and "Nightmarket" below, and get it from Hyperdub.

Lower Plenty

The songs from Melbourne, Australia's Lower Plenty have a kind of dusty wanderer vibe to them, world weary travelling jams for the lo-fi set.  New album "Sister Sister" is out now on Bedroom Suck Records, but you can check out opener "Bondi's Dead" below.

Chinatown

Record Store Day offered up their Black Friday releases yesterday, and they went pretty easy on me this year in regards to stuff i really want.  I did make sure to snag a copy of the "Chinatown" soundtrack from Light in the Attic though.  Great film.  Great score from Jerry Goldsmith.  Listen to "Love Theme from Chinatown" below and look for the regular edition of the soundtrack soon.

Sigur Rós - Hoppipolla (Planet Earth II mix)

The excellent BBC nature documentary series "Planet Earth" is getting an excellent sequel series, "Planet Earth II."  And Sigur Rós is providing a rework of their 2005 track "Hoppipolla" for the show's soundtrack.  The song has always evoked an emotional response from me, and this new version does the same.  Listen below.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving 2016 everybody!  May the family political arguments commence!

Secret Chiefs 3 - Telstar

I have always loved the song "Telstar," a little piece of pop culture that will always remind me of my dad.  There have been several versions of the track recorded by a number of artists throughout the years, and now we get one from long-running experimental band Secret Chiefs 3.  Listen below, and download it and another new jam here from Web of Mimicry.  The band should have some new music out next year.  Hooray!

Dæva

Here's a little dancey dreampop from Brooklyn's Dæva to add some glitter to your long holiday weekend.  "Dream" comes from new album "Beta Persei" from Furious Hooves, out this Friday.  Get the cassette here.

Proper Ornaments

Ultimate Painting's James Hoare (also of the band Veronica Falls) has another project in the works, Proper Ornaments, with Max Oscarnold of Toy.  "Cremated (Blown Away)" has a soothing and jangly feel to it, a kind of gentle indie psych pop to while away the time to.  Listen below and grab the "Foxhole" LP in January from Slumberland.

Great Ytene

Here's some chilly, reverby post-punk from London's Great Ytene.  New album "Locus" is due in February on Faux Discx.  Listen to the title track below.

The Pattern Forms

By my estimation, the fine folks over at Ghost Box Records have released exactly zero bad albums.  You can't go wrong with anything.  They're all winners.  The labels mix of folk, prog, psych, kosmiche, library sounds, and analog synthesizers continuously hits all the right notes.  On "Peel Away the Ivy," the new LP from The Pattern Forms, the band continues their label's streak with a lush and beautiful synth pop record, layered in all manner of old school analog wash and dreampop aesthetics.  Listen to "Don't Let Me Dream" below.

RIP Sharon Jones

Found out right before i went to bed last night that the wonderful Sharon Jones passed away yesterday at the age of 60.  If i've said it before, i've said it a thousand times, "Fuck cancer."  I remember seeing her with The Dap Kings a few years ago as she invited some shy and awkward guy on stage to dance with her.  And i was envious.  I wanted to be that shy and awkward guy dancing with the fifty-something year old woman on stage in front of hundreds of people.  Man.  RIP Sharon Jones.

The Body - To Know and To Hide

Responsible for what is easily some of my favorite music of the year, noise metal duo The Body have released a new single via Adult Swim, "To Know and To Hide."  The track is ominous and foreboding, a kind of creeping dread nightmare fuel for future horror movies, with eerie synths and cacophonous noise.  Listen below.

Steve Hauschildt

Former member of the now defunct synth duo Emeralds, Steve Hauschildt continues to create intricate pieces of sonic art, electronic and ambient soundscapes that transport the listener to strange and wonderful places in and off world.  New album "Strands" is available now on Kranky.  Listen to the title track below.

Ty Segall - Orange Color Queen

Of course we've got some new music from the ever prolific Ty Segall on the horizon.  The garage psych rocker just released a new track, the psych pop-tinged "Orange Color Queen" from the as of yet untitled/unscheduled new record out sometime in early 2017 on Drag City.  I'm always down for some new Ty Segall, so this is wonderful news.  Listen below.

The Magnetic Fields - 50 Song Memoir

Way back in 1999, The Magnetic Fields made the gimmick album to end all gimmick albums, the quirky and sublime 3-album "69 Love Songs."  Evidently, Stephin Merritt has the itch again with the upcoming 5-disc album "50 Song Memoir."  Merritt wrote a song for every year he's been alive (i had no idea he was 50 years old), beginning when he turned 50 and playing over 100 different instruments over the course of the record.  And it all comes out on my birthday next year (March 3rd) on Nonesuch Records.  Listen to "'74 No" below.

A Tribe Called Quest - We the People...

I haven't had a chance to sit and listen to "We Got It from Here...Thank You 4 Your Service," yet, the first new record from A Tribe Called Quest in 18 years, and i will remedy that as soon as is humanly possible, but i have heard the album's track, "We the People...," and it's a monster.  It's a bouncy, pulsing jam, and goddamn poignant as hell in this shattered reality we live in.  Listen below.

Symbol

Symbol is the side experimental electronic project of This Will Destroy You's Christopher Royal King.  New album "Consequence Ornament" is due later this month from Austin record label Somatic, purveyors of weird and wonderful faraway sounds.  Listen to "Gamn" below, a haunting discordant lullaby that sounds like a universe slowly breaking apart.

RIP Leon Russell

Man, this succession of musician deaths will come to no end.  Southern rock legend Leon Russell died over the weekend in his sleep.  He was 74.

Beach Baby

Ending a shitty week with a jangly and dreamy song i heard this morning from UK four piece Beach Baby.  "Bug Eyed and Blonde" comes from the band's full length album "No Mind No Money," available from B3SCI Records.  Watch a video (not sure if it's official or not) for the song below, consisting of a bunch of clips from movies featuring blondes.

The Wrens - At Irish Exit (demo)

It's been over 13 years since "The Meadowlands" came out, the magnum opus from indie rock band The Wrens and one of my favorite albums from this century.  There's a whole myriad of reasons why the follow up has taken so long to come out, but lead man Charles Bissell just put out an instrumental demo version of a new track called "At Irish Exit."  He had this to say about it:

"Sooo…quite a poop week (after quite an ‘interesting’ year or so), a week in which I found myself thinking that many things don’t matter or not in the way I thought, or that they used to, or at least music, or at least being overly precious & perfectionist about music (maybe that’s it, actually).

Which led me in some post-election despair-y fog to say, “what the heck, I’ll post a song” but really, that’s not fair to the label folks who have very, VERY cool & patiently waited for me to eternally wrap my shit up.

So with an eye towards the ideal politics of the hopefully-not-distant future (i.e. as a compromise), this is an instrumental version of the song I happen to be working on right now, it’s the last one still under construction and yes, that means the album is only finishing now.

There a bunch of reasons for that (the work itself, health, working at night like lots of folks, that sort of thing) but I just can’t bear to hear myself go into them all, esp. this week. I’ll post something about all that later.

Meanwhile, the finish line lies right beyond this: I’ll check the vocal version tomorrow and then create a new version w/ parallel limiting/compression to make the parts sorta squeeze out around the vocal; then it goes off to mastering as well (this is the fourth official round of mastering, all due my shortcomings, not the mastering engineer who is a sonic guru).

The upshot, if there is one, of an instrumental v., is it’ll let you hear all the parts that I’m sure, w/ my limited engineering skill-set, will be completely obliterated by the lead vocal. I hate vocals (esp. my own). They ruin everything."

Listen to the track below.  Hopefully we'll have a new record sometime next year (i say that every year).

t e l e p a t h

Electronic artist t e l e p a t h, one half of the dreamy, ethereal electronic project known as 2814, just released a new EP titled "A."  The record consists of some of the same floating and intoxicating sounds that 2814 dole out on a normal basis, as well as a little piece of synth pop candy to close the album out.  Listen to "Lover's Gaze" below and get the record from Dream Catalogue.

The Flaming Lips - How??

Here's another new track from the upcoming new album, "Oczy Mlody," by The Flaming Lips.  Watch the video for "How??" below and grab the record in January on Warner Brothers.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Rattlesnake

True to form with so many of their garage and psych rock brethren, Australia's King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard release albums with an almost alarming prolific abandon.  With reportedly five(!!!) new albums on the horizon in 2017, the band is first releasing "Flying Microtonal Banana" in February on ATO Records.  The album finds the band experimenting with Eastern microtonal tuning, and like everything else the band releases, should be a noisy blast.  Watch the video for "Rattlesnake" below.

RIP Leonard Cohen

Having a bad week?  Me too.  And now some news to make it even worse since the universe just loves to pile it on.  Singer/songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen, one of the greatest lyricists of our time, passed away today at the age of 82.  He's been an inspiration on me for a long time, and even if i spent a thousand years writing a song, i'd never come anywhere close to writing anything as good as he ever did.

Listen to two of my favorites below, "Last Year's Man," and "Anthem."  I love you guys.  Goodnight.

Mica Levi - Children

I've been interested to see Pablo Larrain's upcoming biopic "Jackie" featuring Natalie Portman as the former First Lady in the days after the JFK assassination, and now i find out that Mica Levi is scoring the thing.  It is now a must-see...and a must-listen too.  Listen to the stark and somber "Children" below and get the album in December from Milan Records.

Run The Jewels feat. Boots - 2100

In response to what happened Tuesday night, Run The Jewels released a new track yesterday.  Probably intended for the upcoming "RTJ3," but given it's ferocity and lack of optimism, the Boots assisted "2100" is what a lot of us still need right now.  Listen below, and then maybe take El-P's lead and donate some money to Planned Parenthood or any other program or service in danger of being gutted in 2017.

Wolf People

Hailing from the UK, psych rock band Wolf People incorporate all manner of old school psych sounds into their fuzzy, intoxicating mix.  Elements of folk, prog, and metal abound, as the band harnesses stoner Sabbath riffs and bombastic Zeppelin beats into a garage freak out that pits plants versus mankind.  Watch the video for "Night Witch" below, and grab new album "Ruins" tomorrow from Jagjaguwar.

People Skills

People Skills is the project of Philadelphia's Jesse Dewlow, a somber, kind of haunting, lo-fi, droney folk act that feels like hiding in your bedroom as the world burns outside around you.  This is where we're at.  Listen to "Town of Diana" below and get the record later this month from Blackest Ever Black.

Mind Over Mirrors

The fine folks at Paradise of Bachelors are releasing the latest album from Jaime Fennelly's Mind Over Mirrors project.  "Undying Color" is a swirl of analog synthesizers, Indian pedal harmonium, and far-out and trippy noises, the sound of consciousnesses expanding.  This time around, Fennelly has put together a full band consisting of members of Death Blues, Califone, and more for a lusher, fuller record.  Listen to "Restore & Slip" below.

How to Disappear Completely

There were actually several songs and albums that i wanted to post about today, forever being the music cheerleader.  But, i just can't today.  And Radiohead's "How to Disappear Completely" keeps coming to mind.  So, here you go.

There are no words...

Prettiest Eyes

California band Prettiest Eyes make a kind of noisy, mutated version of psych rock, all lo-fi screeching and cacophonous grunt.  It's pretty awesome.  Watch the lo quality VHS video for the band's new jam "Gold Snake" taken from the upcoming album "Pools."  The trio seem to be performing some kind of ritual which i'm sure will bring about nothing but good things.  Watch below.

Laure Briard - Dreams

French singer Laure Briard already has a follow up ready for her lovely psych pop album from earlier this year "Sur La Piste de Danse."  "Dreams" is a floaty and flighty little nugget, and great for this rainy day here in Austin.  Watch the video below and grab the upcoming "Sorcellerie" EP from Midnight Special in December.

The Microcosm:Visionary Music of Continental Europe 1970-1986

When Light In The Attic puts together a compilation, they really go all out.  Following the lead of 2013's excellent "I Am The Center," a compilation of American private issue New Age music from the latter half of last century, "The Microcosm" tackles music in a similar vein from Europe.  Like its predecessor, "The Microcosm" looks to reevaluate what has always been perceived as an unhip genre, but this time around with a smattering of prog, krautrock, and ambience in the mix.  Take a listen to the floating and simmering "Shiva's Dance" by Suzanne Doucet and Christian Buehner below.  It's the sound of the cosmos, a glance into the ever expanding universe.  Then pre-order the album here.

Relapse Sampler 2016

Every year, the excellent folks over at Relapse Records put out a sampler of all the awesome music they've put out in that particular year.  And they do it on a pay-what-you-want model, so you'd be stupid not to download all of them.  Anyway, 2016's sampler has a smattering of great metal with some shoegaze and synthwave thrown in for good measure.  Songs from Red Fang, S U R V I V E, Steve Moore, Boris, Horseback, Myrkur, and so much more.  Listen to the whole thing (41 songs!) below and download it here.

T2: Trainspotting

I'm not entirely sure how i feel about a sequel to "Trainspotting," even with the original cast and filmmakers back.  Nostalgia is great and everything, but maybe we should start leaving things in the past alone and begin making new things instead.  I don't know.  The trailer for "T2: Trainspotting" sure does hit all the sweet spots though.  It's not like i'm not going to see it.  Watch below.

Westworld covers

I've been digging on HBO's new series "Westworld," a reimagining of the original Michael Creighton film from the 70's.  Like most HBO fare, there's plenty of sex and violence to go around, and some pretty good performances too.  One of the highlights though, has to be the cover songs that are making their way into the show courtesy of soundtrack composer Ramin Djawadi.  Orchestral takes on The Rolling Stones and Nine Inch Nails, and old timey player piano versions of Radiohead, The Cure, and Soundgarden.  The latter of those is pretty fun.  Take a listen to "Black Hole Sun" below and get the tracks from Water Tower Music.

Moon Duo

Portland psych rock band Moon Duo are evidently readying two new albums for release next year, the first of which, "Occult Architecture Vol. 1," is coming February via Sacred Bones.  Listen to the zoned-out and fuzzy "Cold Fear" below.

Delicate Features

Chanelling new age spiritual sounds, Eastern mysticism, funereal processions, and cold, Soviet synth textures into their space age sonic arrangements, Saint Petersburg duo Delicate Features make exotic and haunting music to score your next meditative afternoon.  New album "Sky of Earth" is available now on cassette from Not Not Fun, and you can listen to the dreamy "The Sun Tangled in Your Hair" below.