Daily Jam - Emerge

At this very moment, i'm wandering somewhere in the Crescent City, hopped up on booze and beignets and crawfish.  And Fischerspooner's "Emerge" just felt right.  Your Daily Jam...

Daily Jam - Map Ref 41 N 93 W

In between 1991's "Loveless" and 2013's "m b v," Kevin Shields and My Bloody Valentine occasionally got our hopes up for a new album with a song here or there over the two decades.  One of those is this fantastic cover of Wire's "Map Ref 41 N 93 W."  Why the tribute album was called "Whore," i do not know.  Anyway, here's our Daily Jam.

Fragrance

Parisian synth pop artist Fragrance released a new album last month full of moody, pulsing electro-jams.  Listen to the Hante. assisted "Hazy Strobes" below and get the "Now that I'm Real" LP here from Synth Religion.

Blood Cultures - Flowers for All Occasions

Here's a new moody pop jam from mysterious Jersey band Blood Cultures, whom i did not get the chance to see during SXSW and am still irked by.  Anyway, listen to "Flowers for All Occasions" below and get it here from the band.  The slow roll out of new singles suggests a full-length may be hitting us soon.

Tiny Ruins

Check out the dreamy, folky "How Much" from the "Olympic Girls," the latest album from New Zealand band Tiny Ruins.  It's got a breezy air to it, perfect for the springtime.  Listen below and get the record here from the artist.

Jess Cornelius

There seems to be an almost inordinate amount of artists and bands from New Zealand and Australia working their way into my repertoire, and the latest is the now LA-residing singer/songwriter Jess Cornelius.  Check out her latest single, the folky, alt-rock leaning "No Difference," and get it from the artist here.

August Eve

Here's a slinky, synthy, dreamy little piece of R&B pop from LA artist August Eve.  "You Already Know" sounds like something that should play over the end credits of some yearning, romantic movie, or as you close your eyes watching the love of your life.  Check it out below.

Aldous Harding

New Zealand folk singer/songwriter Aldous Harding has one of those strange and almost mystical voices that makes her sound both otherworldly and entrancing.  It's a haunting but soothing coo that feels of the earth and far away.  New album "Designer" is out in April on 4AD.  Pre-order it here and watch the video for "The Barrel" below.

Daily Jam - Born to Lose

Punk rock in New York in the '70s was a fun scene yeah?  Anyway, every single time i hear "Born to Lose" by The Heartbreakers, it's inevitably going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the day.  So here it is, our Daily Jam...

Friday Horror Trailer - Ganja & Hess

American Pleasure Club

It is increasingly difficult to pin down the music made by American Pleasure Club (formerly known as Teen Suicide).  The project moves from lo-fi folk to guitar oriented indie pop to mic-in-a-room stripped down piano noodling and beyond.  Their latest album, "Fucking Bliss," keeps a lot of the lo-fi aesthetic i first loved them for but ups the noise and feedback and layers in plenty of drone to make something that's both abrasive and dreamy.  Listen to "What Kind of Love?" below and get the record here from Run For Cover.

The Caretaker

After two and a half years, experimental artist Leyland Kirby has concluded his magnum opus under his Caretaker moniker.  "Everywhere at the end of time" is immense and sprawling, a statement and sonic embodiment of gradually losing your memories and yourself as dementia slowly erases your mind.  Loops and tape hiss and warped samples create a tapestry to lose yourself in and eventually disappear.  It's beautiful.  It's haunting.  It's devastating.  Listen to the ambient closer "Stage 6: Place in the world fades away" below and get the whole amazing series of albums here via History Always Favours The Winners.

Daily Jam - Comin' Home

I used to watch "Superjail" on Adult Swim.  If you're unfamiliar, it's a hyper-violent cartoon featuring David Wain has the voice of the warden.  I don't believe it's on anymore, but the show's theme song, "Comin' Home" by the band Cheeseburger still makes it into my regular rotation.  Dig on that sax solo.  Our Daily Jam...

Sky Ferreira - Downhill Lullaby

I was a big fan of Sky Ferreira's 2013 debut album "Night Time, My Time," and its mix of pop, rock, light, and darkness, but she's been kind of elusive ever since then, tumultuous relationships both personal and professional and whatnot.  I think the last i saw anything of her was when she appeared in an episode of "Twin Peaks: The Return" back in 2017.  Anyway, she's prepping a sophomore release, "Masochism," a record she's been teasing for years, and we've got our first taste.  "Downhill Lullaby" is a beautiful and kind of ominous swirl of strings and sound featuring production from Jorge Elbrecht and Dean Hurley (of David Lynch sound design fame).  It's great and has me legit pumped for the new record to be released...sometime.  Listen below.

Daily Jam - Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)

Here's a little love song from a few years back from Father John Misty for our Daily Jam, "Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)."

Black Midi - Crow's Perch

This morning brings us a new jam from UK band, and SXSW darlings, Black Midi.  "Crow's Perch" falls in line with the band's almost indescribable mix of post punk, math rock, funk, tension, and spaced out weirdness.  Watch the video below and go get the single here via Rough Trade.

Daily Jam - You Don't Have to Worry

"You Don't Have to Worry," the smoky, smooth soul jam from 1967, and the lone release from duo Doris & Kelley, has been on my want list for a long time, but its scarcity and price tag have kept it just out of reach.  Anyway, the song is excellent, and it's our Daily Jam.

Tamaryn

LA artist Tamaryn makes cool and wistful dreampop, layers of sound and echo and synthetic textures.  New album "Dreaming The Dark" is out now on DERO Arcade.  Get it here and listen to the album opening "Angels of Sweat" below.

Daily Jam - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore

Scott Walker passed away early this morning, so i'm probably going to be listening to a lot of his work today.  One of his earliest hits with The Walker Brothers was the amazingly catchy "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore," your Daily Jam.

RIP Scott Walker

One of my all time favorite vocalists and composers, the enigmatic Scott Walker (nee Engel) passed away this morning at the age of 76.  Beginning his career as a teeny bopper with The Walker Brothers, but gradually morphing into an artist whose work got more and more experimental as he got older, Walker influenced just about everyone who listened to him, from Bowie to Eno, Radiohead to Sunn O))) (whom he recorded an album with a couple of years back).  He will be missed.  So, here's one of my favorites from early in his solo career, an English translated cover of Jacques Brel's "My Death."  RIP Scott Walker.

Paige Stark

LA singer/songwriter Paige Stark makes a kind of '70s psych folk style of pop music, world weary lamentations dressed in dusty Americana.  Her latest is the wistful "Depression Song."  Check the video for the single below, get it here, and be on the lookout for a full-length album sometime soon.

Daily Jam - Going Home

Starting Sunday with a Daily Jam from the late, great Alice Coltrane, pianist, harpist, composer, singer and wife to John Coltrane.  "Going Home" from 1972's "Lord of Lords" LP sounds like the universe awakening, the world coming to life, a beautiful psych, prog, and jazz tinged neoclassical opus to soothe our hearts and souls.  Give it a listen below.

Mort Garson - Mother Earth's Plantasia

I love that so many odd and obscure little albums from 30, 40, 50 years ago are gradually getting the reissue treatment from a bevy of different record labels.  All of this lost and maybe vaguely remembered music is getting pushed back into the light and our collective consciousness, and i am here for it.  One of the latest is the quirky, analog synth album "Mother Earth's Plantasia," a new age record for plants written and recorded by one Mort Garson back in the '70s.  Listen to the album opening "Plantasia" below, and get the download, or pre-order June's vinyl release here from Sacred Bones.

Metro Crowd

Here's some dubby, anxious, industrial-tinged post punk from Italy's Metro Crowd to induce just the right amount of paranoia in you on this Saturday, wherever you may be.  New album "Planning:" is out now on Maple Death Records (get it here), but take a listen to "A Dreamless Sleep" below and feel your muscles begin to tense.

Daily Jam - Free Your Mind

I don't care what anyone says, this song is a fucking banger.  En Vogue's "Free Your Mind," your Daily Jam...

Daily Jam - A View to A Kill

I've loved Duran Duran since i was a little kid way back in the '80s, and i think a lot of that can be traced to their (still excellent) Bond theme, "A View to A Kill."  Maybe we'll have more Bond themes sometime in the future.  Anyway, here it is, your Daily Jam...

Tame Impala - Patience

Hey, it's new music from Tame Impala.  New jam "Patience" finds the band continuing to explore the synth pop and psych sounds they began with 2015's "Currents" venturing into chilled, soft rock territory.  I think i can get behind this.  Spring's begun and Summer's only around the corner, and "Patience" certainly has some pool vibes going for it.  Anyway, listen below, and probably be on the lookout for a new record sometime in the near(ish) future.

Pink Mexico

Here's a little grungey garage rock from Brooklyn's Pink Mexico.  Listen to "High Dive" below and get the new "DUMP" LP here from Little Dickman Records.

Nots

So many artists i didn't get the chance to see over SXSW, many of whom i'm still lamenting a week later.  One of those was Memphis noisy post punk group Nots, whose new album "3" drops in May, full of jagged riffs and stabbing sounds.  Listen to "Half Painted House" below and pre-order the record here from Goner.

Friday Horror Trailer - Two Evil Eyes

Amyl & The Sniffers - Monsoon Rock

Now that the dust has settled, the alcohol has burned off, and the the ears have stopped ringing, i think it's safe to say that Australian punk band Amyl & The Sniffers were easily one of my highlights from this year's SXSW.  The boys and girl trade in raucous, snotty punk and pub riffs, all vitriol and rock n' roll.  And the live show matches it tit for tat.  After a few singles and EP's, the band is set to release a proper full-length in May on Flightless.  But for the meantime, they've released a new single from the upcoming record with an accompanying video.  Watch and listen to "Monsoon Rock" below, download the track here, and be on the lookout later in the Spring for that debut LP.  Oh, and certainly catch them live if you can too.

Daily Jam - O.K.

From the criminally underrated Local H comes "O.K.," our Daily Jam.

Lust for Youth

Denmark's Lust for Youth have a new album of New Order and Depeche Mode inspired synth pop heading our way this summer.  Check out "Great Concerns" below and pre-order the upcoming self-titled album here from Sacred Bones.

Constant Smiles

Massachusetts band Constant Smiles have been making quirky, lo-fi rock and pop for a couple of years, and new album embraces a kind of psychedelic, darkwave, lo-fi shoegaze thing this time around.  It's damn good too.  Listen to "Endless Water" below and pay what you want for new album "John Waters" here from the band.

Daily Jam - Party and Bullshit (Ratatat Remix)

Quite possibly my favorite remixed track of all time, Ratatat's mix of Biggie's "Party and Bullshit," your Daily Jam...

Empath

Philly's noisy art rock band Empath are set to release their debut full length "Active Listening: Night on Earth" in a couple of weeks, and coming off a successful run through SXSW, they've shard their newest single from said album," Hanging Out of Cars."  Listen below and get the album from Get Better Records.

Dead Swords

New Jersey's Dead Swords combine elements of shogaze and doom metal, and the end result is marvelous, a dark and moody bombast of reverb and riffage.  Listen to "Black" below and download the new "Enders" album here from the band.  Also, keep an eye out for a vinyl release hopefully sometime soon on Human Blood Records.

Abul Mogard reworks Penelope Trappes

Working with Brian Eno and others, Serbian experimental artist Abul Mogard just released a new album, "And We Are Passing Through Silently," in which he transforms and mixes the work of a handful of other artists into something completely different.  A highlight for me is the stretched and sprawling mix of Penelope Trappes' "Carry Me."  In Mogard's hands, the song becomes a slow crawling piece of droning ambience that stretches to the ends of the cosmos and back again.  Listen below and get the record here from Houndstooth.

Saudade

Saudade is a supergroup of sorts featuring a rotating cast of artists and musicians from Deftones, Bad Brains, Dillinger Escape Plan, Cro-Mags, Team Sleep, and Medeski, Martin, & Wood.  New song "Shadows & Light" features a duet between The Deftones' Chino Moreno and goth chanteuse Chelsea Wolfe.  It's moody and ethereal and heavy.  Here's hoping we get some more music from these guys and girls soon.  Listen below.

Karen O & Danger Mouse

I've apparently been sleeping on the collaborative release from Karen O and Danger Mouse, the lush and gorgeous "Lux Prima."  The title track actually came out last November, but i'm only hearing it for the first time now, a 9-minute epic with multiple parts that's cinematic and grooving and pretty damn awesome.  Listen to it below and get the record from BMG.

Carly Rae Jepsen - Now That I Found You

I am not too proud to admit that i can dig on some bubblegum pop music from Carly Rae Jepsen.  And you should too.  Anyway, the pop artist just released a couple of new tunes, one of which, "Now That I Found You," has an accompanying video in which the "You" from the title is Ms. Jepsen's cat.  I can get behind that.  Watch the video below, and probably be on the lookout for a new album sometime this year.

Grimes - Pretty Dark Demo

So, apparently aside from working on a new album, Grimes is also writing a musical, or something akin.  Check out the slinky pop of the demo for "Pretty Dark" below.  As far as i know, it's not about workers' unions.

Teutonik Disaster

I love the wave of releases we seem to have gotten over the last decade compiling lost and forgotten music from around the world of literally any and every genre: Italian disco, Irish post-punk, Thai psych, etc.  And here we have the "Teutonik Disaster" comp, a mix of new wave and funk from Germany, 1978-1984, featuring new mixing and edits from Munk and Kapote.  This is hip stuff, and i always love to hear how different musical styles translate around the world.  Check out Die Chefs' "Frauenkorper" below and download the album here from Toy Tonics.

Daily Jam - I Feel Love

Love it, hate it, or just think it's goofy, disco music hit hard and fast and seeped into the culture, its reverberations still being felt in popular music.  And for me, the very best was the stuff that had Giorgio Moroder's finger prints all over it, hence Donna Summer's "I Feel Love," our Daily Jam.

BarbWalters

Feeling a little goofy and a little dancey today, so here's some bouncing post-disco electronic funk from BarbWalters.  "BBROWN" features a Bobby Brown sample and makes me want to groove at a ridiculous party with ridiculous people.  Listen below and get the "Pleasure" cassette here from Business Casual.

Daily Jam - Bama Gettin Money (Diplo Remix)

A friend recently reminded me of this song, noting that i had written about it on the blog years ago, and that it always reminded him of me now.  I can get behind that kind of endorsement.  Featured on the 2011 mixtape "Fear and Loathing in HuntsVegas," Diplo's remix of the Paper Route Gangstaz track "Bama Gettin Money" features a Wham! sample and some southern ghetto verses.  I fucking love it.  Listen below, your Daily Jam...

SXSW 2019 Day 7 Pics

One last day to squeeze some stuff in.  We left the boys with my mom and sister and their cousins and hit up the Big Easy Bar and Grill for some final SXSW goodies, seeing sets from Gong Gong Gong, David Boring, and Cindy Cane.  I also had some crawfish which made me about as happy as anything else could this week.  It's been real SXSW.  I'm gonna attempt to do a real write-up in the next couple of weeks to be published...somewhere...hopefully, and god willing, i'll be back again next year.  Here are my last pics...

Gong Gong Gong

David Boring

Cindy Cane

Crawfish