Gigi Masin

Italian composer Gigi Masin crafts ambient works infused with elements of library grooves, jazz, lounge, techno, and more.  His latest release is "Movement," his debut for the great Sacred Bones Records.  Check out the sci-fi-noir vibes of "Lost" below and get the LP here.

The Saxophones

Oakland based husband and wife duo The Saxophones released their new album "No Time for Poetry" earlier this month, a mix of baroque pop, exotica, lounge, and noirish jazz.  The whole thing plays like some kind dark and strange film, black and white images in a smoky haze.  Check out the album opening "Too Big for California" below and get the LP here from Full Time Hobby.

Monde UFO

Earlier this year, LA artist Monde UFO released the weird and wonderful, and probable year-end-best, "Flamingo Tower" LP.  November brings us a "sequel" EP with the upcoming "Flamingo Tower, Nobody Cares."  Check out the also weird and wonderful album opener "Nobody Cares" below, a kind of dusty, cinematic mix of old pop sounds.  And pre-order the EP here from Fire Records.

Whatitdo Archive Group

I'm a little bummed i'm not going to get to take the boys to see fireworks tonight because of the rain, so for the time being i'm just going to mellow out to the exotic library sounds of Whatitdo Archive Group.  Listen to new tune "Exotique" below and get it here from Record Kicks.

Resavoir & Matt Gold

Chicago based artists Resavoir and Matt Gold provide the easy jazz sounds on "Canopy" from their upcoming new album "Horizon."  Pour yourself a drink, hang out in the shade, and watch the sun set behind the trees.  Dig on the track below and pre-order the LP here from International Anthem.

Maston

LA-based artist Maston is back with a couple of new tunes, including the jazzy, loungey library track "Foreign Affairs."  The song plays like a breeze.  Check it out below and download it, along with B-side "Liaison" here.

IE

In the need for something to just quietly groove on, Minneapolis band IE hits the internet airwaves with a dubby mix of psychedelia, lounge, and space age pop.  "Simplify" sounds like you're slowly floating through space, observing the expanding universe around you, or it feels like sinking into the floor, the world getting farther and farther away.  Check it out below and pre-order the upcoming "Reverse Earth" EP here from Quindi Records.

Ivan the Tolerable

Here's some strange and exotic new music from experimental artist Ivan the Tolerable.  New album "Nocturnes" finds the the artist dabbling in the sounds of jazz, lounge, exotica, psychedelia, and breakbeats to create a practically teaming aural collage.  Get the LP here from Echodelick Records and listen to the album opening "Confessionals" below.

Daily Jam - Twiggy Twiggy

When i was in high school, i don't think i was ready for the far out and retro pop sounds of Japanese band Pizzicato Five.  I'm ready now.  Here's the frenetic "Twiggy Twiggy," our Daily Jam.

The Saxophones

California husband and wife duo The Saxophones are back with new track "Burning with Desire," a retro and jazzy lounge number that sounds like old Hollywood, cinematic and romantic with a dash of noir.  Check it out below and download it here from Full Time Hobby.

Daily Jam - Vanity Fair

We all have our favorite albums, but then there are also those albums we can listen to whenever and wherever, circumstances or mood be damned.  Mr. Bungle's "California" is one of those albums for me.  Listen to the album's penultimate track "Vanity Fair" below, our Daily Jam.

Monde UFO

I've really been digging on the work of LA band Monde UFO the last couple of years, their mix of jazz, lounge, exotica, and psych-tinged alt-rock scratching a particular itch i wasn't even aware i had.  The band's new album "Flamingo Tower" is out in March.  Listen to the strange "Samba 9" below and pre-order the LP here from Fire Records.

Art d'Ecco

The oft androgynous British Columbia artist Art d'Ecco just dropped a new track that's equal parts old Hollywood jazz lounge and glam rock.  It rules.  Check out "Serene Demon" below and download it here from Paper Bag Records.

Daily Jam - Drums A-Go-Go

Gotta get back on the road later this afternoon.  But, we're taking the boys to a water park first so that i can make sure i'm exhausted before going.  Great plan me.  Here's some frenetic music from The Hollywood Persuaders to bounce my brain around and keep me going.  Listen to "Drums A-Go-Go" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Shipbuilding

“Is it worth it?”

For a song that’s about a community that thrives during wartime, an economy built on manufacturing the warships that they will then in turn send their own sons to die on, Elvis Costello and The Attractions’ “Shipbuilding” sure does sound sexy. Gracing 1983’s Punch the Clock, the song sets its potentially gloomy subject matter with a melancholy jazz melody and sheer poetry to craft a veritable work of audio art.

Originally penned by Costello and Clive Langer for English singer-songwriter Robert Wyatt (whose version is also pretty great by the way), “Shipbuilding” drew its inspiration from the Falklands War of 1982, musing on a kind of dichotomy of war. As the traditional shipbuilding areas of England saw prosperity from their wares, they also experienced the increasing likelihood of losing their young men to the same conflict they were benefiting from, like some sort of sacrificial lambs for harvest. War is hell sure, but it’s also a moneymaker.

“Within weeks they’ll be re-opening the shipyards and notifying the next of kin.”

On Costello’s version, the song’s jazzy lounge vibe almost undersells the urgency of the lyrical themes somewhat, but adds just the right amount of wistfulness to create a kind of tragic romanticism to the whole affair, brought most to life by Chet Baker’s beautiful and haunting trumpet solo. It’s like witnessing the inevitable, knowing that there is nothing you can do to change course, but deeply hoping or wishing that someday there will be…and maybe even actually believing that.

“With all the will in the world, diving for dear life, when we could be diving for pearls.”

Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

GORE

"All art is recycled."  That's the mantra of Toyko artist GORE, and on new album "テキサスブロンコ," the plundered sounds create a very chilled out and loungey sonic tapestry.  It's very cool.  Check out "マグナム" below and pay what you want for the download here.

Monde UFO

I was unaware we were getting a new LP from LA band Monde UFO tomorrow, but here we are.  The band makes a strange mix of exotica, jazz, lounge, ambient, and other assorted weirdness that feels like it's being broadcast from the other side.  Check out "Garden of Agony" below and order the new "Vandalized Statue to Be Replaced with Shrine" LP here from Quindi Records.

King Khan

I love that among the prolific work of King Khan, aside from the psych rock, soul, garage rock, folk, and punk, he also experiments with weird, exotica-tinged, psychedelic jazz and lounge music.  Get new album "The Nature of Things" here from Ernest Jenning Record Co. and listen to the title track below.

Daily Jam - Makahaa

Man, it's been a long day.  And it's not over yet.  Here's John Zorn doing some surfy, exotica, lounge stuff with "Makahaa."  Listen below, our Daily Jam.

Röyksopp

All the European electronic duos are coming back into my life.  Norway's Röyksopp are back with a 3-part album called "Profound Mysteries."  Listen to the chilled out "The Ladder" from the first part below, download all three here and order individual records or the 6LP collection here.