Daily Jam - Satellite of Love

It's the last day of September, which means things are going to start getting spooky around here tomorrow.  So let's end the month with some Lou Reed.  Here's "Satellite of Love," our Daily Jam.

Perturbator Covers

Earlier this year, French synth wave artist Perturbator released his his latest album, the techno and industrial tinged "Lustful Sacraments."  And i missed it when it originally dropped at the beginning of the summer, but he also released an EP featuring other artists cover the track "Excess."  It's a cool assortment of artists too, from the industrial noise of Author & Punisher to the grindcore of Pig Destroyer.  Check out the sleek and lurking version from HEALTH below and download the whole thing here via Blood Music.

Daily Jam - The Leaves Are Gone

The years go by.  There's never any stopping it.  Here's "The Leaves Are Gone" by Secret Machines, our Daily Jam.

Converge and Chelsea Wolfe

Converge and Chelsea Wolfe have teamed together for a new album called "Bloodmoon: I," and they've brought along Wolfe collaborator Ben Chisholm and Mutoid Man's Stephen Brodsky for the mayhem.  The sound of abrasive metal paired with haunting, goth-tinged female vocals just works for me in all the right ways (see last year's Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle collab for proof).  Check out the video for "Blood Moon" below and pre-order the album here from Epitaph.  It rules.

IDLES

Not content to rest their laurels after last year's "Ultra Mono," Bristol post punk band IDLES have a new record heading our way in November.  And on the first single, "The Beachland Ballroom," they've injected a little a soul into their sound.  It works like gangbusters.  Check the excellent track out below and pre-order the "Crawler" LP here from Partisan Records.

re:lapse

Here are some gentles waves to soothe your soul from Japanese shoegaze band re:lapse.  Layers of guitar and reverbed male/female vocals that just float in the ether, it's like staring into a sunrise until everything just disintegrates.  Check out "f" below and download the group's debut "re:lapse.ep" EP here from Dreamwaves Records.

Daily Jam - Beautiful Freak

Feeling some old school Eels this morning.  Here's "Beautiful Freak," our Daily Jam.

Vlimmer

Let's darken our skies just a little bit with some moody music from Berlin based artist Vlimmer.  Come for the gothy post punk.  Stay for the industrial darkwave.  Check out "Kartenwarten" below and get the "Nebenkörper" album here. 

Daily Jam - Kangaroo

It took me way to long to get there, but i finally got into Big Star about 15 years ago and never looked back.  Here's a track from their third album.  Listen to "Kangaroo" below, our Daily Jam.

The Natural Yogurt Band

Here's an awesome mix of library music, funk, psych, and jazz from UK outfit The Natural Yogurt Band.  "57 Lashes of the Mallet" sounds like it should accompany some crazy Italian crime film from the '70s.  Check it out below and get the 7" here from BMM Records.

Dr. Joy

Toronto band Dr. Joy make a veritable musical stew, different genres and inspirations bubbling to the top of each track.  Check out the swirling, mellow psychedelic vibes of "No Deal" below and get the band's self-title album here from Idee Fixe Records.

Daily Jam - Free

Here's an industrial-tinged alt-rock track from the turn of the century from VAST.  Sure, "Free" is a little clunky, but aren't we all?  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - My Own Summer (Shove It)

Well, now that i'm all relaxed from the new agey library music i've been listening to this morning, let's change course and jam some Deftones whilst cleaning the house.  Here's "My Own Summer (Shove It)," our Daily Jam.

Daniel O'Sullivan

Last year, English musician Daniel O'Sullivan released the first of his trilogy of library albums recorded for the KPM Music Library.  The second of those LP's, "Fourth Density," came out yesterday, and it's a gorgeous and meditative thing.  O'Sullivan pulls from drone, new age, planetarium soundtracks, and maybe even a little bit of Popol Vuh-inspired prog to craft a quasi-score for quiet space travel or an imaginary nature documentary.  I'm years out of school, but this would have been amazing stuff to study to.

Here's what O'Sullivan himself had to say about the project:

Library music. Akasha. Here you accept that music behaves like a thing to accentuate another thing, seemingly unrelated. A beautiful, shining blankness. Not passive. An opportunity to wade. A brief encounter with an open-ended destiny. As in, you never know who or what it will be partnered with. With library music the emphasis tends to be on functionality and less on sonic self-portraiture. So it compels you to be concise, like what is the function of this work? The distance is liberating. It’s less “What Am I? and more “What Is This?”. It compels you to be brief, each little cell is a world of its own in an assemblage of miniatures all vibrating in their collective identity. Then there is the occult nature of library music which is fetishized by many for its ability to induce time travel, often to send us back to some televisual memory. However, despite its broad-brush strokes, the library can be so profoundly alien, especially when experienced independently of the televisual realm; an unruly chimera of genre mutations, compositional curiosities and the deepest wallpaper you ever laid ears on. Perhaps the observances of library music can help unshackle us from our artistic insecurities and delusions, where one is drawn to the shape of music as a whole instrument unto itself; as a vehicle carrying our intention and consisting of everything we have to give at that moment; so things that are seemingly unrelated are ultimately connected.

It's all definitely worth your time.  Check out the album opening "Perpetual Ascension" below and get the record here from VHF.

AZZURRO 80

Here's a little chilled and groovy synth from Italian producer AZZURRO 80.  "AGIP" pulls from disco, '80s funk, and jazz that sounds like driving a sports car across Europe at night.  Check it out below and order the 7" here from the excellently named Four Flies label.

Daily Jam - Sweet Jane

As big a fan of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground as i am, you gotta admit when a cover is better than the original.  And Cowboy Junkies' take on "Sweet Jane" is and always has been positively sublime.  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Jerome

Here's an ominous little slab of music from European duo Jerome.  "2050" is two and a half minutes of eerie and apocalyptic spoken word laid atop a simple and tension building synth bassline and gradually deteriorating industrial and ambient noise.  It plays like a resigned prophecy of the coming end times.  Check it out below and pre-order the group's "LP2" album here from Maple Death Records.

Friday Horror Trailer - Dark Waters

Daily Jam - Lavinia

I've been a pretty avid music collector for over three decades now, formats changing from vinyl and cassette tapes to CD's and then back to vinyl and cassette tapes, and over the years, circumstances have had me cull the collection every now and then.  For whatever reason, The Veils' "The Runaway Found" was one of those that didn't make the cut.  Like most of the albums i've sold or given away over the years, every now and then i forget i don't have it anymore, and then feel that maybe i've made a terrible mistake.  I'm sure i'll be fine, but let's take a few moments with the album anyway.  Here's "Lavinia," our Daily Jam.

Bobby Lee & Mia Doi Todd

Here's a new collaborative track from Bobby Lee and Mia Doi Todd from the upcoming compilation album "Home" on the UK's Warm label.  "Walking with Trees" finds the two artists in mellow waters, mixing elements of folk, psychedelia, and a little bit of cosmic country for something that sounds like a cool breeze, sun on your face, nature surrounding.  Cool stuff.  Check the track out below and pre-order the record here.

Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders

Australian artist Jack Ladder has been making music for a number of years now, either solo or with his band The Dreamlanders.  And he's back with band in tow for their 6th album "Hijack!"  Check out the lush and gorgeous orchestration complimenting Ladder's baritone delivery on the album opening "Astronaut" below and order the record here from Endless Recordings.

Daily Jam - The Promise

I couldn't tell you one more song the band ever did, but When In Rome's "The Promise" is just about as perfect a pop song as you're ever likely to hear.  Listen below, our Daily Jam.

Salt

Brooklyn artist Salt makes lo-fi acoustic pop full of melancholy melodies and tape hiss.  The self-titled album puts me in a kind of autumnal mood, each song giving off those late '90s college radio vibes that defined my late teen years.  Check out "Take It Back" below and grab the cassette here from Sleeper Records.

Daily Jam - The Last High

Sure, they did just fine for themselves, but i've always felt that The Dandy Warhols should have been bigger.  Instead, i feel like i'm in some exclusive club of cheerleaders for them.  But that's okay.  Here's the sublime "The Last High," our Daily Jam.

LUNACY

Here's some new music from Pennsylvania experimental artist LUNACY.  "Dust" begins with an almost sinister sounding bit of cold wave synth before a swirl of reverbed vocals, additional synthesizers, and noise turn the whole thing into a gothic cacophony.  It sounds like being stuck in a snowstorm.  Check it out below and pre-order the upcoming "Echo in the Memory" LP here.

Chelsea Wolfe Covers Joni Mitchell

It's always good to wake up to new music from Chelsea Wolfe, the indomitable dark chanteuse.  Here she is covering Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock."  Check the track out below and get it here along with new tune "Green Altar" from Sargent House.

Daily Jam - Silently

It's been too long since we've had new music from Blonde Redhead.  Somebody remedy this immediately.  Here's a track from 2007's "23" to hold us over until then.  Listen to "Silently" below, our Daily Jam.

SPC ECO

Here's a trippy new single from SPC ECO, the project of former Curve member Dean Garcia and his daughter Rose Berlin.  "When It Calls" gives off some real Massive Attack vibes, a slinky, smoky mix of trip-hop, dreampop, and groove.  Check it out below and get it here.

O d d n e s s e

Here's some dreamy, poppy, alt-rock from LA artist O d d n e s s e for your Sunday afternoon.  Bounce around to "Somewhere Somehow" below and get the "Origins" LP here.

Daily Jam - Park Avenue

Whatever happened to Girls Against Boys?  Dig on some of that late '90s alt-rock with "Park Avenue" below, our Daily Jam.

CAPITAL

I dig on that certain kind of chilly post punk that comes from our neighbors to the north.  Check out the latest from Ontario band CAPITAL, the cold and driving "Manos."  And then get the "All the Rest of My Heads" EP here.

Daily Jam - Once Again

They certainly aren't in vogue anymore, but damn if i didn't have a lot of fun listening to "mash-ups" back in the '00s.  And the creme de la creme of the bunch came from Girl Talk.  So here's Girl Talk with "Once Again," our Daily Jam.

Gold Dust

Massachusetts artist Stephen Pierce has made music for a few years now with different hardcore and shoegaze bands, but now finds himself channeling the sounds of '60s and '70s psychedelic pop on his latest solo project Gold Dust.  It suits him well.  Check out the wistful "Oh Well" below and order the upcoming self-titled album here from the artist.

Tonstartssbandht

Florida weirdos Tonstartssbandht are releasing their new album of weirdness next month with "Petunia" on Mexican Summer.  The band floats somewhere in the ether between psych and prog and dub and a hundred other things, impossible to peg down.  Check out new tune "What Has Happened," meander around a little bit, and order the record here.

Nothing Covers Delfonics

Philly shoegazers Nothing are set to release their "The Great Dismal B-Sides" EP next month, and they've shared the video for their cover of the Delfonics classic "La La Means I Love You."  It's great.  Check it out below and pre-order the record here from Relapse.

Daily Jam - A Girl Like You

Despite its great cast and overtly '90s aesthetic, i never really cared for "Empire Records."  At best, it just seemed like a cloying attempt to market to people my age, but its soundtrack did have Edwyn Collins' "A Girl Like You" on it, which is a total banger.  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Friday Horror Trailer - Black Roses

Daily Jam - The Girls in Paris

Going to just take things easy today.  I can't really think of any way better to that than by listening to Lee Hazlewood.  So here's "The Girls in Paris," our Daily Jam.

Riki

LA new wave/synth pop artist Riki has a new album heading our way in a couple of months, and new track "Marigold" really dials up said new wave vibes.  Check out that pop bliss below and pre-order the upcoming "Gold" LP here from Dais.

Carola Baer

The story of Carola Baer's 30-year old solo home recordings seeing the light of day is really quite amazing.  Recorded to cassette in San Francisco in 1990-91 and then given to a friend, the tape eventually found its way to a bin in a Goodwill in Portland, Oregon where it was discovered/rescued for the rest of us.  Compiled onto an album called "The Story of Valerie," the California by way of England artist's work finally saw release in 2018 from Concentric Circles.  It sold out.  But now we're getting a repress this November.  Dig on the 4AD vibes of "Nothing Left to Say" below and order the album here.

Body/Dilloway/Head

Since the demise of Sonic Youth, Kim Gordon has spent the last decade making haunting, noisy, often atonal music with fellow artist Bill Nace as Body/Head.  The duo have now brought a new member into the fold, former Wolf Eyes member Aaron Dilloway, with a new record landing in November, "Body/Dilloway/Head."  Check out the oozing, crumbling, alien sonics of "Goin' Down" below and order the record here from Three Lobed Recordings.

Daily Jam - Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon

Every now and then on this blog, i'll bring up a song that has that transporting, time travelling power to instantly place me back years or decades ago to an era i associate the track with.  Urge Overkill's cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon" is one of those songs.  The Fall of '94 vibes are really hard to escape when listening to it, particularly just hanging out and watching MTV with my friend who lived across the street.  Join 10th grade Tommy and listen below, our Daily Jam.

Hatchie

Last we heard from Australian pop artist Hatchie was last summer when she was covering The Jesus and Mary Chain.  This month, she's back with some new material of her own, the dreamy, dancey, almost Balearic sounding "This Enchanted."  Groove to the track below and get it here from Secretly Canadian.

RIP Norm Macdonald

Arguably one of the funniest people to have ever graced the face of this earth.  Every single dry bit always left me in hysterics.  RIP Norm Macdonald.

Crywank

I don't know much about Crywank except that they are a Manchester anti-folk band who apparently broke up, but then recorded another album anyway.  What i do know is that their track "Chainmail" is pretty awesome, a short and brooding piece of lo-fi, synth-heavy anti-pop.  Check it out below and download their "Just Popping in to Say Hi" album here.

Daily Jam - Cinnamon Girl

Feeling some Neil Young today.  Here he is with Crazy Horse and "Cinnamon Girl," our Daily Jam.

The Red Step

Serbian band The Red Step's self-titled LP came out back in February, a collection of dark indie rock jams, slightly menacing, slightly despondent.  And it's apparently what Black Heart Procession member Tobias Nathaniel has been up to while that band is on hiatus, his gravelly vocals fronting the mix.  It's good to hear him again.  Check out "For the Dead" below and get the record here from Pravda Records.

Daily Jam - Solitude

I really miss San Francisco band Girls, easily one of my artists from 10+ years ago.  They released a string of singles, an EP, and two great albums before disbanding in 2012.  And RIP to Chet White, who passed away last year.  Here's the first song i ever heard by them.  Listen to "Solitude" below, our Daily Jam.

Ashley Shadow

I generally associate Felte Records with their excellent post punk, shoegaze, and darkwave releases, but later this month, the label is set to release an album of hazy Americana from Vancouver artist Ashley Shadow.  Shadow's folk tunes feel like dusk, the air cooling ever so slightly, the sunlight slowly fading away, crickets chirping.  Check out the Bonne Prince Billy assisted "Don't Slow Me Down" below and pre-order the upcoming "Only the End" LP here.

Daily Jam - Love Is Blue

"Love Is Blue" is one of my favorite songs, any version.  Here's Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo's version, our Daily Jam.