LINGUA IGNOTA

Experimental artist LINGUA IGNOTA just released a collection of demos, instrumentals, field recordings, sketches, etc. that were written and recorded from 2019-2021.  Check out the intense and haunting piano ballad "Man Is Like a Spring Flower" demo below and download the "Sinner Get Ready // Fragments" album here from the artist.

Daily Jam - Words Come Back (Piano)

One of the artists i've been fortunate enough to discover this year is '80s Maryland hardcore punk and proto-emo band The Hated.  Much thanks to the good folks at Numero Group for reissuing the band's brief but stellar output, a highlight of which is demo piano version of the song "Words Come Back."  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Broadcast

Next month sees the release of "Distant Call," a collection of demos recorded by Broadcast from 2000 to 2006.  And it will be their swan song.  With the passing of Trish Keenan back in 2011, bandmate James Cargill has painstakingly released as much material the two were working on and more over the last 13 years: demos, film scores, BBC sessions, and so much more.  That door finally closes with "Distant Call."  Tear.  Check out the unearthed and previously unreleased "Come Back to Me" below and pre-order the album here from Warp.

Broadcast

In September, we are lucky enough to receive two collections of demos from Broadcast, one being "Distant Call," a collection featuring demos recorded between 2000 and 2006 that would eventually become the band's albums that we all know and love.  The other is "Spell Blanket," a collection of demos and sketches recorded between 2006 and 2009 up to Trish Keenan's untimely death that would have eventually become the band's fifth album.  I'm super stoked for these and don't know if i can wait until September.  To tide us over, here's the gentle, whispered "Follow the Light."  Check it out below and pre-order both records here from Warp.

Daily Jam - Nude (Early Version)

You know, there's only so many times you can buy the same album, formats and special editions demanding those dollars in earnest.  I elected no to partake when Radiohead released their massive 20-year anniversary edition of "OK Computer" in 1997 (i'd already bought it once on CD and once on vinyl).  I already had the majority of bonus material included, so it didn't seem necessary.  That being said, i have my regrets because of the addition of the "OKNOTOK" cassette that came with the expanded release, a collection of demos, early takes, and odds and ends, some of which wound up in more complete versions on future releases.  One of those is the absolutely amazing psych and soul laced early version of "Nude."  That song eventually made its way onto "In Rainbows," and it's great, but i'm struck by the rawness of this earlier take.  My god, those organs.  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Ghoëst

Over the last three months, Swedish artist Ghoëst has been dropping a series of demo tracks consisting of long and moody synth instrumentals.  At their heart, they're dungeon synth pieces with elements of darkwave and dark ambience interspersed.  Check out the cavernous sound of "Demo XI (Through Secret Structures)" below and get it here along with the rest of the demo series.

Daily Jam - Do Re Mi

It's always interesting to hear an artist's unused bits of song detritus, be it a home demo or outtake or whatever.  And in my opinion, Nirvana has always been one of the few whose scraps are better than most other band's official output.  For your consideration, here is one of Kurt Cobain's home tape recordings of an unfinished song he was working on called tentatively titled "Do Re Mi."  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Radiohead - MINIDISCS [HACKED]

So apparently, some asshole hacked Thom Yorke's computer and absconded with hours and hours of "OK Computer" era Radiohead sessions and then demanded a ransom or he'd release them.  The band pretty much told him to fuck off and then released all of the sessions themselves today.  Now, for the next 18 days, you can download all 18 hacked minidiscs (about 18 hours worth of music) for 18 pounds, all of the proceeds going to Extinction Rebellion.  In a lot of ways, this is probably just for the diehard fans, though it is really interesting to hear the germ of a song idea slowly evolve into its final form, and the funds go to a great cause.  Get it all here, and stream the whole thing below.  What, are you busy for the next 18 hours or something?

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.

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).

Melody's Echo Chamber

A couple weeks ago, Melody Prochet of Paris psych-fueled, dreampop band Melody's Echo Chamber put up some unreleased dreamy, floaty psych-pop demos that hopefully, maybe surface on a record sometime in the future.  For now though, these will have to do, but they're so good as is, that maybe that's all we need.  Listen to "From Pink They Fell into Blue" below and check out the others here.