Gorillaz - Humility

I was not expecting new music from Gorillaz today, but here we are with the video for "Humility" from the upcoming "The Now Now" LP, and i'm all for it.  Featuring jazz and soul musician George Benson, and with kind of a sunny vibe going on, the track feels tailor made for a summer outdoors.  Watch the video featuring Jack Black below and get the record June 29th from Parlophone.

Thou

Baton Rouge sludge metal band Thou are looking to have a very, very, very busy summer, having already released a droney, noisy mess of an EP earlier this month with "The House Primordial," a new EP, the dark and acoustic-centric "Inconsolable," drops officially tomorrow.  But that's not all!  The band also has a third EP on the way in July called "Rhea Sylvia" which the band describes as melodic grunge, a kind of Alice In Chains homage.  But that's still not all!  August will see the release of the band's fifth full-length of what is sure to be a crushing colossus of doom called "Magus."  Stream "Inconsolable" below, download it here, and pre-order the vinyl here from Community Records.



Then, listen to "The Only Law" from "Rhea Sylvia," pre-order the download here, and pre-order the vinyl here from Deathwish Inc.



And finally, listen to "The Changeling Prince" from "Magus," pre-order the download here, and pre-order the vinyl here from Sacred Bones.



Whew!  That's a lot of Thou.  Be careful out there.

Zeal & Ardor

Not really sure how i completely missed that we have a new record from Zeal & Ardor headed our way next week, but thank goodness i'm on to it now.  Combining elements of gospel, blues, slave spirituals, rock, and metal, the project of Manuel Gagneux is heavy on atmosphere, a dense layer of sound beneath throaty, gravelly vocals.  Watch the video for "Gravedigger's Chant" below and pre-order the "Stranger Fruit" LP here.

Brownout - Fear of a Brown Planet

A couple of years ago, Austin psych-funk band Brownout released an album of Black Sabbath covers called "Brown Sabbath" that was entirely too much fun.  Not to rest on their laurels for too terribly long, last week saw the release of the band's latest, "Fear of a Brown Planet," a collection of Public Enemy songs.  And it bangs too.  Listen to "Welcome to the Terrordome" below and get the record here via Fat Beats.

RIP Stewart Lupton

Long, long, long ago, in the days of digging through stacks of used CD's, i came across an album by New York rock band Jonathan Fire Eater, the group's "Wolf Songs for Lambs" somehow gathering dust in the dollar bin.  It was the kind of thing you heard about all of the time, especially in the late '90s, a small band garnering a ton of praise and getting signed to a major label, only to then fall apart, break up, and fade away into obscurity.  And it probably would have stayed that way had three members of the band not gone on to form The Walkmen.  Now, The Walkmen are just fine, but i could never feel them the same way i did for that Jonathan Fire Eater record.  And today, i've learned that the band's former singer and front man Stewart Lupton has passed away at the age of 43.  So, i'll be cuing up "Wolf Songs for Lambs" for the afternoon.  RIP Stewart Lupton.

Listen to "When the Curtain Calls for You" below.

Future Astronauts Vessels VI

Hey guys, with any and everything else you might be doing today, maybe do something positive too by getting the ambient compilation album "Vessels VI" from Future Astronauts.  All of the proceeds go towards raising awareness to mental health and suicide prevention.  Do it.  You'll feel better about yourself.  I'll feel better about you too.  In the meantime, stream it below, then get it here.

Happy Axe

Here's a sparse, eerie, and cinematic song from Australian artist Happy Axe.  "Cheshire Heart" sounds like some kind of foreboding lament, a cracked mirror, trouble brewing.  Listen below, get it here via Spirit Level, and be on the lookout for her upcoming full-length, "Dream Punching," later this year.

Julee Cruise

In August, the fine people over at Sacred Bones are releasing Julee Cruise's 1993 album "The Voice of Love" for the first time on vinyl.  That in and of itself is excellent news, but there's more.  The label is also releasing a 12"  called "Three Demos" that features, you guessed it, three demos of songs that eventually ended up on "Twin Peaks."  Listen to the demo version of "Floating" below and pre-order the records here.

Friday Horror Trailer - Piranha

Tony Price

Somewhere in some corner of a David Lynchian universe, Toronto artist Tony Price's blend of lounge jazz, cooing electronics, psychedelic vibes, and cinematic swoon is playing eternally, a surreal yet comfortable score for an off center night.  Price's recent work includes production duties for artists like U.S. Girls, but June sees the release of his solo album "Celica Absolu."  Listen to the smooth and diabolical "Heavy Jasmine" below and pre-order the record here from Maximum Exposure.

Barrie - Tal Uno

Here's a synthy, dreamy new slab of pop from New York band Barrie, whom i very much enjoyed back in March at SXSW.  Listen to "Tal Uno" below and download it here via Winspear.  Maybe a full-length is in our future.

Jake Schrock

I'm a big, big fan of practically everything that Austin record label Holodeck releases, but their bread and butter is typically more analog synthesizer oriented which is like bubblegum to my ears.  And if the showcase of upcoming talent featured on their label sampler, "Holodeck Vision One," released in March is any indication, we've got a great year or more of excellent music headed our way.  One of those artists is North Texas electronic wizard Jake Schrock, his upcoming debut LP, "Tropical Depression," out later this summer on the label.  Listen to "Cosmic Ocean" below and pre-order the cassette here.

Szun Waves

Here's a hypnotizing new video from UK jazz-psych trio Szun Waves.  "Constellation" sways and unfurls, bits and pieces of sound ebbing and flowing and circling all around you, enchanting, like those chemicals you ingested just starting to kick in.  New album "New Hymn to Freedom" is out in August on TheLeafLabel.  Pre-order it here.

Oh Sees - Overthrown

I know it's hard to believe this, but John Dwyer has a new Oh Sees record heading our way in the near future.  Considering he seems to average at least two records a year, and it's almost June, i guess he's fallen a little behind.  Anyway, listen to "Overthrown" below, and kinetic, frenetic burst of noisy psych-prog (prog-psych?) to herald the arrival of the upcoming "Smote Reverser" LP.  Download it here and dig on that Lovecraftian apocalypse album art.

Acid Vatican

Glasgow's Clan Destine Records releases a slew of excellent darkwave synth, industrial, electronic, goth, and evil techno cassettes every year.  It can be hard to keep up.  Anyway, the mysterious Acid Vatican are set to release their "Never Forget How to Bear" album in June.  Listen to the menacing "Beastmaster" below and snag the album here.

Johnny Jewel - Red Door

Forever and ever increasing my anticipation for the elusive "Dear Tommy," Johnny Jewel just keeps on releasing other music instead, this time around surprise dropping a new solo album this morning.  "Themes For Television" is a mainly instrumental record that essentially soundtracks an imaginary TV score.  Watch the video for "Red Door" below and get the album here from Italians Do It Better.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

Unfortunately, i never got to see Pavement perform.  Like so many other groups i grew up listening to and being influenced by, they called it quits before i ever got to attend a concert.  And that sucks, BUT, i did get to see Stephen Malkmus perform with The Jicks way way back in 2001 when the artist released his first post-Pavement record.  And he was fantastic, as sardonic and insightful as he's always been...and continues to be.  Malkmus's latest record with The Jicks, "Sparkle Hard," came out a couple of days ago, and is another excellent addition to his ever expanding catalog.  Get it from Matador and watch the video of a stripped down, solo acoustic take of the record's first single "Middle America."

Bonnacons of Doom

A little psychedelia, a little prog, a little krautrock, some drone, and a whole lot of doom collide together in ritualistic fervor on the self-titled release from the Liverpool collective Bonnacons of Doom.  Start your Saturday off right.  Listen to "Solus" below and get the album here from Rocket Recordings.

Friday Horror Trailer - Island of Death

VERY, VERY, VERY NSFW!!!!!

Cool Maritime

Cool Maritime is the experimental electronic project of Sean Hellfritsch, an LA composer/musician who also happens to be the spouse of fellow synth explorer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.  "Sharing Waves" has a kind of back to nature vibe going for it, analog synthesizers, sequencers, and modulators creating a soundtrack to the natural world.  Listen to "Climbing Up" below and get the album next month here from Leaving Records.

Alex Zhang Hungtai

Alex Zhang Hungtai, better known to you as the artist formerly behind projects like Dirty Beaches and Love Theme, was last seen/heard playing saxophone in the Road House on Twin Peaks with the band Trouble.  The enigmatic and prolific artist now has a new record on the way under his own name called "Divine Weight."  Watch the video for the droney, haunting, yet somehow soothing "Pierrot" below and pre-order the album here from Non Worldwide.

Matchess

Here's some dark, meditative, and disorienting music from Whitney Johnson's recording project Matchess.  "Of Freedom" plays like some kind of seductive pagan ritual, entrancing and intoxicating and luring you into the gloom.  It's kind of where my head is at today.  Listen below and get the upcoming "Sacracorpa" in July from Trouble In Mind.  Pre-order here.

Sam Gendel

Keeping with the experimental saxophone trend of my listening habits today, earlier this year LA artist Sam Gendel released "Pass If Music," a collection of warped, strained, and strange songs created entirely out of sounds made by his sax.  "East LA Haze Dream" sounds just like what the title suggests, an airy, neon noir score for dark and surreal nights, a thick layer of sound hanging in the atmosphere.  Listen below and get the album here from Leaving Records.

Ben Vince

Try not to turn on the news too much today.  It's just one horrible thing after another interspersed with fluff about the happiness of our wealthy overlords.  Instead, just wallow in the strange darkness with me for a little while.  London saxophonist and experimental minimalist composer Ben Vince has a new album out next week, the transcendent and collaborative "Assimilation."  Listen to the eerie and creeping "What I Can See" featuring Micachu below and get the album here from Where To Now? Records.  Then follow me further down the abyss.

oOoOO & Islamiq Grrrls

Man, i had forgotten all about witch house artist oOoOO, having figured the project had just faded away with the scene from 8 or 9 years ago.  Glad to see that i was wrong.  Out this week is a collaborative album, "Faminine Mystique" with Berlin producer/songwriter Islamiq Grrrls, which the duo describe as deliberately "difficult-to-digest."  The track "Be On Through" starts normally enough, a swirl of synths around a grooving beat that eventually begins to degrade and warble into different arrays of sound.  This may be a deconstructionist kind of record and i'm digging that.  Listen below and get the album here via Nihjgt Feelings.

Nine Inch Nails - God Break Down the Door

Aside from going old school in regards to obtaining tickets to their tour later this year (standing in line to get physical tickets like we used to do in days of yore), Nine Inch Nails also has a new EP out next month.  "Bad Witch" completes a trilogy of sorts, along with the preceding works "Not the Actual Events" and "Add Violence."  These EPs have been some of the best material that Reznor has released since in '90s heyday.  Listen to "God Break Down the Door" below and pre-order the record here from the band.

Uniform & The Body

Fresh off of last week's "I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer" LP, experimental metal duo The Body are back again in a couple of weeks with a new collaborative album with fellow noise makers Uniform.  The Ozzy Osbourne referencing "Mental Wounds Not Healing" is sure to be another wonderful cacophony.  Listen to "Come and See" below and get the record from Sacred Bones next month.

Chromatics - Black Walls

Are we finally getting "Dear Tommy" later this year as the band says?  Honestly i have no idea, and i expect nothing.  Anyway, here's a new song from the band, "Black Walls."  Watch the video below, and keep your fingers crossed i guess.

France Gall, tu l'aimes ou tu la quittes Vol. 1 (1963-67)

It's no secret that i have a true and profound affinity for the French pop music of the '60s and '70s, be in Gainsbourg or Hardy or more.  So, i'm super stoked that the legendary France Gall just got two tribute albums spanning her decades long career.  Listen to the band Satellite Jockey cover the 1963 tune "J'entends Cette Musique" below, get the first volume of "Tu l'aimes ou tu la quittes" here and the second one here via Ligature.

Them Are Us Too

Oakland duo Them Are Us Too put out a pretty stellar debut release back in 2014 with their album "Remain," a lovely and stunning mix of darkwave synth pop, dreampop, and shoegaze.  It instantly felt like an all-timer.  Tragically, band member Cash Askew passed away in 2016 in the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland that killed over 30 people.  For 2018, the band's other member Kennedy Ashlyn has compiled an EP of old demos and unfinished tunes, finally completed with a number of different producers as a tribute to her friend.  "Amends" is out in June on Dais.  Pre-order it here and listen to "Grey Water" below.

Fucked Up - High Rise

Long running Canadian hardcore band Fucked Up have a new 7" single headed our way in June.  Listen to their cover of the 1979 Trainspotters song "High Rise" below and get the record here from Tankcrimes.

RIP Margot Kidder

Aw man.  RIP Margot Kidder.

Ty Segall & White Fence

It's been a few year since Ty Segall and White Fence's Tim Presley made a record together, but seeing as they've both released stellar albums already this year (Segall's defining fuzz opus "Freedom's Goblin," and "Hippo Lite," the new album from Presley's collaborative project with Cate Le Bon called Drinks), the timing seems right.  New album "Joy" picks up where 2012's "Hair" left off, a cocksure swaggering statement of psych-tinged garage rock jams.  Listen to "Good Boy" below and get the record here from Drag City in July.

Ben Lamar Gay

Wow.  I'm really struggling to come up with some words to describe the extraordinary new album from Chicago artist Ben Lamar Gay.  "Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun" is a mind-thrubbing mix of jazz, avant garde pop, Tropicalia, hip-hop, and all around experimental noodling, an intoxicating record from start to finish.  I'm floored.  Listen to "Muhal" below and definitely get the record here from International Anthem.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day from all of us and Danzig.

The Bleak Engineers

Minimalist cold wave post punk from Russia played on vintage synthesizers and drum machines.  That's where we're at today.  Listen to and watch the video for "Introspecto" by the duo The Bleak Engineers below and cop the 7" of the same name here via French label Six Tonnes De Chair Records.

Friday Horror Trailer - Hell House LLC.

Munya

Here's some dreamy, hazy, lo-fi, French pop indebted bedroom music from Montreal's Munya.  Sung in French amid some warbled psychedelic synthesizers, the "North Hatley" EP has all the makings of an early summer day anthem.  Listen to "Des Bisous Partout" below and download the EP here.

Snapped Ankles

UK post punk band Snapped Ankles put out groovy music that's equal parts angular melody and butt-shaking rhythm, and evidently they released a covers EP on Record Store Day (in the UK anyway) called "Violations."  And now, they've repressed it for the rest of us.  Listen to their take on The Fugs' "CIA Man (NSA Man Violation)" below and get the record here.

Communion

Did you miss out on something cool a few weeks ago on Record Store Day?  Never fret, because as happens every year, a string of those releases that were maybe over-pressed, or were maybe always meant to be available to wider market later are popping up online for your consumption.  The items in particular that pique my interest are the RSD UK stuff that didn't make stateside to begin with.  One of those releases is the compilation album from Burning Witches Records, "Communion," a companion album of sorts to the "Halloween Witch's Brew" tape the label put out last Cassette Store Day (yes, that's a thing).  It's another cool mix of dark synth wave featuring Deadly Avenger, Timothy Fife, Graham Reznick, and more to soundtrack your descent into madness.  Stream the whole thing below, download it here, or snag a physical copy from Mondo while they've got 'em.

Mutoid Man

Mutoid Man released a covers EP, and true to form for the metal band, it's a whole lot of fun.  Listen to "She's a Mutoid Lady," their take on the Tom Jones classic below and get the EP here via Sargent House.

Jess Williamson

I've said it before, but there's something special going on just southwest of Austin in Dripping Springs, a kind of revival of haunting folk and Americana, and the latest is out this Friday from Jess Williamson.  Watch the video for the hazy and trippy "Wild Rain" below and get the "Cosmic Wink" LP here from Mexican Summer.

MASTER BOOT RECORD

I am the first to admit that this whole project is ridiculous, but there is something about it that's just so goddamn fun, that i can't stop myself from listening.  MASTER BOOT RECORD combines elements of heavy metal and chiptune synth pop to create an absolutely glorious listening experience.  It's like if demons were making video game music or something.  And on new album "Direct Memory Access," the artist has now mixed some growling vocals into the mix courtesy of French metal band Öxxö Xööx.  Listen to "DMA 4 CASCADE" below and get the album here from Blood Music.

ALEX & Megan McDuffee

We've dug on the synth wave pop of ALEX around these parts before, and now the artist has a collaborative album out this month with Megan McDuffee providing the vocals.  "Hero" is a dreamy, pulsing score to a video game that doesn't exist...or maybe it does, i don't know...i'm not a gamer.  Anyway, listen to album opener, "Quest," below, download or pre-order the record here via NewRetroWave, and stock up on lives, or energy gems, or whatever it is.

Gnod

After last year's burst of politically motivated anger and noise, UK band Gnod are back with "Chapel Perilous," another tense and pissed off screed, though this time around with some dubby psychedelia and drippy weirdness to play along.  "Donovan's Daughters" is an abrasive and pulverizing 15-minute opener, showing the band still holds some ill will towards the powers that be.  Listen below and get the album here from Rocket Recordings.

Childish Gambino - This Is America

Most likely, you've already seen this video, or heard the song, or seen the SNL performance, or at the very least seen the veritable explosion of voices discussing it all today across the web and social media, but if not...please take the next few minutes to watch "This Is America" from Childish Gambino below.  Powerful stuff.  Really, really powerful stuff.  White people (myself included), just take this all in for a bit, process it, think about it, reflect on it, but most importantly, just pay attention.  Eyes and ears people.

On a side note, Donald Glover has been talking of retiring Childish Gambino.  And if this is what he's going out on...holy shit.  I don't think he could ever dream of leaving on a higher note.

Protomartyr with Kelley Deal

FACT: Putting Kelley Deal on anything automatically makes it a thousand times cooler than it has any right to be.

Evidently Detroit post punk band Protomartyr are believers of this mantra, their upcoming "Consolation" EP featuring the alt-rock legend on two tracks.  Honestly though, "Wheel of Fortune" would probably be just as rad without Deal, but you know, she's there.  And we're all the better for it.  Listen below and pre-order the record here via Domino.

Iceage - The Day the Music Dies

"Beyondless," the latest LP from Danish post punk band Iceage came out yesterday, and it's really damn good.  These guys have had a very steady track record since their inception, and each subsequent release seems to make their sound bigger and bigger, more expansive with this kind of brooding fire burning beneath.  Watch the video for the band's "The Day the Music Dies" below and get the record from Matador.

Friday Horror Trailer - The Dead Pit