Solar Bears & Keep Shelly In Athens

The artists behind one of our favorite albums of 2010 come floating back to us in 2012 for another round of computer noises and breathy atmospherics.  Ireland's Solar Bears will release "Supermigration" later this year.  For the time being, you can listen to "Alpha People" below, featuring vocals from Keep Shelly In Athens' Sarah P.  Groove on.

Alpha People by Solar Bears

Ital - Hive Mind

Mi Ami member Daniel Martin McCormack often moonlights under the dance-dance-revolution guise of Ital.  Beats to sweat until dawn and quirky late 80's/early 90's-leaning electro-jams for the hipster raver set...but wait, it's good!  And we'll finally get a proper full length in March from the always awesome Planet Mu.  Check out the opening song/preview video for "Doesn't Matter (If You Love Him)" below.  Sweat baby, sweat.


Ital - Doesn't Matter (If You Love Him) from Planet Mu on Vimeo.

Black Dice

Noise making weirdos Black Dice are back!  And they're still noisy!  And they're still weird!  New album "Mr. Impossible" is due out in April from Ribbon Music, but you can listen to "Pigs" below right now.  Hooray!

Fielded

Chicago's Fielded provide the soundtrack to an exploration into the depths of space, or the bottom of the ocean, or the center of the earth, or the inner recesses of the collective conscious of the hive mind.  Creeping ambient drone and whispered vocals leading the way deeper and deeper until we crescendo and finally meet what's been living and ruling there all along.  Yeah.  It's like the kids wanted to make a trippy, droney, lo-fi Rush record.  Grab the split record with artist Alex Barnett from Nihilist Records and listen to "Horse" below.

Horse by Fielded

Schadillac

Austin beatmaker Schadillac puts a bunch of great samples together drawing from primarily from old soul records.  Check out the fantastic "Tiger Woods Kobe Bryant" below and then head over his Bandcamp page to download the "Grizzly" EP.  It's only 3 bucks!

Somebody needs to rap over these jams fast.

The Quiet Americans

Graham Greene novel reference aside, there's nothing subtle about the raucous garage rock of Fresno's The Quiet Americans.  Noisy in all the right ways.  You can download the "Medicine" EP at the group's Bandcamp page, or order it on cassette there or from Coattrack Records.  (Apparently the kids are into cassette tapes these days.)  But, take a listen to closing track "Weird Mountain" first.

Eugene McGuinness

British folk troubadour Eugene McGuinness is all set for a big 2012 with his upcoming release from Domino Records.  Sure, the folk is still in the mix, but he's added some stylized rock and sonic accouterments to create some fun pop jams.  Listen to "Lion" below, and look for the new album in the upcoming months.

Eugene McGuinness - Lion by DominoRecordCo

New La Sera

Vivian Girl Katy Goodman continues her solo sonic pop explorations with a new album from her La Sera project due in March from Hardly Art.  Listen to "Please Be My Third Eye" below.

La Sera - Please Be My Third Eye by My Old Kentucky Blog

Megafortress

Just in case you couldn't get enough electronic music with some R&B leanings for your listening palette, Mexican Summer and Software offer you even more in the form of a new Megafortress EP.  New Yorker Bill Gillim uses sparse arrangements, synths, and samples, and then adorns the whole thing with his wonderful falsetto.  Awesome stuff.  Look for it later this month and listen to the beautiful "Green Child" below.

Megafortress - Green Child by softwarelabel

Napolian

19 year old LA producer Napolian meshes electro-synth pop with funk and smooth R&B.  Looks like all those  experimental synthesizer composers are ready to start getting their freak on.  Aww yeah.  Get the "Rejoice" EP from Mexican Summer/Software and listen to the first single, "My Refuge," below.