Lay Llamas

Just in case you were wanting to listen to something a little more frenetic today, here comes Italy's Lay Llamas, and their honking, wiggling, spastic groove-psych.  Taking slices of surf rock, jazz, world music, psychedelia, and some all around wonkiness, the band's upcoming "Thuban" LP blasts sound in your face, smearing your brain along the universe.  And with assists from members of fellow psych troubadours Goat and Clinic, this is one to cram all the way into your headspace.  Listen to "Silver Sun" below and get the record in June on Rocket Recordings.

Girls Names

May brings us new music from Belfast post punk band Girls Names, just in time to darken the skies.  "Stains of Silence" is cold and moody, and brooding kind of record that feels like watching the storm clouds roll in, and cold rain begin to fall.  Listen to the oozing "25" below and pre-order the record here from Tough Love.

Vacations

Australia's been churning out a great array of pop lately, from psychedelic mayhem to jangly, surf-indebted pop.  For the latter, check out the latest album "Changes" from Vacations.  Summery, melancholy little nuggets to get lost in the haze to.  Listen to "Moving Out" below and get the album here via Human Sounds Records.

CASTLEBEAT

Here's a little lo-fi, bedroom pop for your pre-holiday Saturday.  New York's CASTLEBEAT draws from goth, 80's pop, dreampop, and shoegaze and ties it all together in a nice jangly bow.  Listen to "Here" below and snag the "VHS" album here via Spirit Goth Records.

Failure - Dark Speed

We got new Failure yesterday!  I had heard a rumor that there were some possible EPs in the works for 2018, and the first (of four) is out now.  Watch the video for "Dark Speed" below.  The song's got a real motorik krautrock kind of thing going for it, and it works.  The "In the Future" EP is available for download from the band here, where you can also pre-order the other EPs as well as an LP that will compile the music later in the year.  Hooray!

Hilary Woods

Something akin to being lost in a snowy wilderness, the haunting and atmospheric music of Dublin's Hilary Woods is the sound of the snowflakes floating in the air around you, your breath visible before your eyes, the limbs of the trees moving in the wind.  It's the sound of a cold surf retreating back into the ocean.  Listen to "Inhaler" below, the opening track from the artist's upcoming "Colt" LP, a cold, stark, and dreamy affair that dips its toe in folk, drone, and cooing dreampop.  Pre-order the album (due in June) here from Sacred Bones.

Friday Horror Trailer - Xtro

Kali Uchis

I am always so, so late to the party on stuff like this.  It's like if there's even a modicum of main stream hype surrounding an artist, i turn my nose up at it without listening.  It's a bad habit i picked up as a teenager, and i need to quit that shit.  Anyway, i'm sure a lot of you already know the silky chanteuse Kali Uchis and her brand of R&B.  Funky and smoky and locked in a groove, the Bootsy Collins and Tyler The Creator assisted "After the Storm" is apparently totally my shit.  Watch the cool video for it below, and be on the lookout for the "Isolation" LP next month on Interscope/Virgin.

PILOTPRIEST - Others

Hooray!  We've got a new jam from one of my favorite synth wave artists PILOTPRIEST today, and it's every bit as moody and propulsive as you could ask for.  Listen to "Others" below and download it here.

Memory Keepers

Here's a little synth and vocoder action from Austin duo Memory Keepers.  "No Distractions" comes from the band's upcoming 7" release, due later next month.  In the meantime, listen below, and download the song here from the band.

Sloppy Jane

Usually during SXSW, on that last Saturday, we'll take the kids out to see some music, which is how my eldest got to see Mobb Deep perform before he was even a year old.  This year, neither boy was feeling it, so no SXSW for them...admittedly though, it's probably for the best.  There was a solid chance we were going to go to Brooklyn Vegan's last day show of the year, and if we had, we would have gone early, and if that had happened, we would have seen New York's Sloppy Jane play a crazy and raucous set...that would have included WAY more nudity and performance art than i think i could have explained to the 4-year old.  So, bullet dodged there, though i feel like i totally missed out.  Listen to "King Hazy Lady" below, the opening track on the band's new "Willow" LP, then get the record here.

Altars of Grief

Here's some gloomy, doomy, goth-tinged black metal from Canada's Altars of Grief to continue your Monday with.  The band's new album "Iris" is out now on Hypnotic Dirge Records (get it here).  Listen to album opener "Isolation" below.

The Blind Owls

I'm not sure how i've managed to never see Corpus Christi's Mod throwback The Blind Owls.  These guys capture their sound and image perfectly, like they were transported here from 1964 or something.  Listen to "Make Up Your Mind" below and the grab the upcoming "Four" 7" here via Hidden Volume.

Hiss Golden Messenger

There are, as i write this, important marches going on all over the country today.  Here's hoping that these wonderful kids can make real change.  Anyway, Hiss Golden Messenger has released a new single, "Passing Clouds," and he's donating all of the proceeds to Everytown, a non-profit organization working to end gun violence.  Download it, or order the "Hiss Golden Messenger Meets Spacebomb" here.

And learn more about the work that Everytown does here.

HIDE

Birthed from Chicago's DIY scene, HIDE make blistering, abrasive industrial electronic music to rattle your brain to.  New album, the wonderfully titled "Castration Anxiety," is out now on Dais Records.  Listen to the mellower "Come Undone" below.

Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis is the musical project of Chicago artist, author, and filmmaker Jason Coffman, experimental slices of sound that dabble in everything from ambient drone to moody, stark jazz.  New album "Dark Love, Dark Magic" uses often eerie swaths of sound, synthesizers and shadows to make something wholly cinematic and immersing.  Listen to "Shadow of a Witch" below and download the album here.

Sexores

Ecuadorian band Sexores have been making music for a few years now, pulling sounds and moods from shoegaze, dreampop, and darkwave synth pop to create airy, echoed bits of sound, pop music that hangs in the air like a smoky haze.  On their latest release, "East/West," the band push their synth tones further into the night, all dreamy and neon-tinted, occasionally disrupting the atmosphere with reverb-drenched guitars.  I am seriously stuck on this record right now, and loving every second of it.  Listen to "The City that Sorrow Built" below, the get the album on Buh Records here from the artist.

GosT

Of all the recent horror soundtrack indebted synth wave acts coming out of the ether these last few years, none seems to have skewed quite so techno as Dallas area artist GosT.  Combining a host of frenetic techno beats with screaming synthesizers, menacing tones, occasional blasts of black metal, and a whole lot of Satan, GosT's work sounds something akin to the godless thumps of the house DJ in hell.  Even at its poppiest, like "Sigil" from new album "Possessor," there's still evil afoot...and plenty of shaky, grinding, dancing as well.  Listen below, and get the album from Blood Music.

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan

Every year during SXSW, i live by the mantra that you are going to miss out on something cool.  With so much going on everywhere, it is inevitable.  And so, last week i missed out on (among other things) the triumphant return of Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, and their particular brand of whacked out, experimental, psych, metal, noise pop.  Color me bummed.  Anyway, the Canadian band's latest opus, "Dirt," is out today via Paper Bag Records.  Listen to the strange, ethereal, and shoegazey "Hungry Ghost" below, then get the album digitally here, or on physical media here.

Laura Jean

Well, it's Friday, so here's some dreamy synth pop from Australian artist Laura Jean.  Watch the video for "Touchstone" below and grab the upcoming "Devotion" LP here from Chapter Music, due in June.

Friday Horror Trailer - Phenomena (Creepers)

Young Fathers

I've always gotta give it up for uncategorizable pop, and Edinburgh trio Young Fathers are about as uncategorizable as they come.  Straddling a line between hip-hop, alt-rock, noise, pop, and some all around weirdness, the group's avant garde brand of music burrows into the brain, and then fucks things up for a while.  It's groovy.  Listen to "Lord" below and get the "Cocoa Sugar" LP here from Ninja Tune.

Also, kudos for the freaky, uber-memorable album art.

Trevor Nikrant

Coming out last September, i missed Nashville artist Trevor Nikrant's wonderful new album "Living in the Kingdom."  Crafting psych-leaning Americana and country-tinged folk, Nikrant fuses a lot of old American sounds into a backyard jams, feet up, beer in hand, cigarette dangling on the ashtray.  Listen to "Spring Vision" below, and dig on that sax when it comes in during the bridge, then get the record here from the artist.

The Messthetics

The Messthetics are an instrumental group from Washington D.C. featuring Fugazi's rhythm section of Brendan Canty and Joe Lally playing alongside experimental jazz guitarist Anthony Pirog.  The result is an aggressive mix of jazz, prog, and punk.  Listen to "Serpent Tongue" below and pre-order the band's self-titled debut here from Dischord, out this Friday.

Holy Pink

Here's some spacey, new-agey synthesizer explorations from LA duo Holy Pink.  The group's upcoming "Meditation Hymns for an Electronic Age" cassette lands in late April via Never Content, but listen to album opener "Fragrant" below in the meanwhile.

Vive la Void

Moon Duo member Sanae Yamada is set to release her first solo project this May on Sacred Bones, the upcoming Vive la Void.  First taste "Red Rider" has a hazy, moody synth thing going for it, smoky tones for a blistering hot day.  I dig it.  Check out the video below and pre-order here.

Run the Jewels - Oh Mama

This has actually been out for a few days, but i finally had a sec to sit and watch the new Rick and Morty featuring video for Run the Jewels' "Oh Mama" from "RTJ3."  It's pretty awesome, and as i'm a fan of both RTJ and "Rick and Morty," this is right up my alley.  Watch below.

Blanck Mass Remixed by Zola Jesus

Hunting around for some new music this morning, and came across an EP of remixes of songs from Blanck Mass's 2017 album "World Eater."  It's gonna be a good day.  Zola Jesus, Gazelle Twin, Naked, and M. Lamar each take a track from the record and turn them into gothy post punk, electronic and synth explorations, or noise.  Listen to "Please (Zola Jesus Remix)" below and download the digital only "World Eater Re-Voxed" here via Sacred Bones.

Superfonicos

Yesterday i was able to catch a little Colombian funk and soul from Austin's Superfonicos, and it's been on the brain since.  Listen to the band's "Rio Negro" below and download it here.

SXSW 2018 Day 6 Pics

In the olden times, before kids and stuff, the last Saturday of SXSW was almost an endurance test, kind of an end all be all melee of venues, artists, beer, and junk food.  I'd hit up parties from noon til 2AM, cramming in as many last minute performances as possible.  It was fun.  Exhausting, but fun.  Times have changed though, especially since the second child was born, and now the last Saturday of SXSW is a much more family friendly affair, settling on one afternoon all ages show, and usually just for a couple of hours at that.  Seems like Waterloo's always got me covered.  So, without further ado, here's the last couple of pics i took during SXSW 2018...

Superfonicos

Speedy Ortiz

...And You Will Know Us by The Trail of Dead

Let's do this again next year...

Pink Milk

Reverb drenched, darkwave post punk from Sweden, female led, with twangy surf rock inspired guitar throughout...i didn't know it, but this is exactly what i'm looking for today.  Listen to Pink Milk's "Detroit" below, get their "Purple" LP here, and catch then at Spider House today if you're in Austin for SXSW.  I would be there, but unfortunately, the demands of fatherhood will probably keep me away.



As a bonus, here's there cover of Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is."  You're welcome.

All of Them Witches

The excellent Burning Witches Records label released the latest from horror synth wave artist All of Them Witches earlier this month.  Listen to "It's Not Cranberry Sauce" below and get the "Hunters Moon" LP here.

Aiming For Enrike

Here's some noisy, proggy math rock from Oslo duo Aiming For Enrike.  That's a lot of noise for dudes, a drum set, guitar, and an endless array of petals, loops, and processors.  Listen to "Nibblonian Car" below and get the band's "Las Napalmas" LP here via Pekula Records.

Friday Horror Trailer - Alligator

SXSW 2018 Day 5 Pics

So...much...hotter..today.  Lots of sun and sweat, but i got to see Andrew WK, so all is well and right with me just now.  Check out a few pics below.  Probably a few more to come tomorrow, and we've got a kiddie dance party date with Questlove coming our way on Sunday.

Ought

Snail Mail

Andrew WK

Andrew WK

Shamir

Partner

Mark Perro (of The Men)

Aiming for Enrike

SASSY 009

Leon Bridges - Bad Bad News

Aside from an appearance on "Sesame Street" recently (we watch a lot of Elmo in my house), Texas soul revivalist Leon Bridges has been fairly quiet of late.  And now, we get word of a new album, "Good Thing," due in May, and a couple of new tunes.  Listen to the jazzy "Bad Bad News" below.

RIP Augie Garrido

I keep getting home from SXSW with news of yet another passing, be it Craig Mack, Stephen Hawking, and now Texas coaching legend Augie Garrido.  Thanks for all those great seasons coach...and even the not-so-great ones too.  RIP Augie Garrido.

INVSN

Did you know that Refused frontman Dennis Lyxen has a dark and gothy synth pop side project called INVSN?  Me neither.  Did you know that they covered Lana Del Rey's "Love?"  Me neither.  And guess what?  It's kind of cool, the whole project carrying a kind of Depeche Mode vibe to it.  I'm down.  Listen to "Love" below and get the "Forever Rejected" EP from Dine Alone Records.

Erica Eso

Brooklyn art project-turned-band Erica Eso have a record coming out tomorrow, "129 Dreamless GMG" on NNA Tapes.  Pulling from dreampop, R&B, electronica, yacht rock, and '80s pop, the group's work is a grooving, pulsing, and hazy affair, a constant synthetic blur on your periphery.  Listen to "Gun-metal Grey" below and get the record here.

Pinky Pinky

It's getting scary to think that i'm 20 years older than a lot of artists currently bumming around Austin for SXSW...and 20 years older i am.  Anyway, check out these minors from LA, Pinky Pinky, and their blend of classic and garage rock.  "Hot Tears" also has kind of a doo-wop vibe to it, so i'm all in.  Listen below and cop their 2 cassettes here from Innovative Leisure.