Dean Blunt

Here's a wonderful, soothing new jam from Dean Blunt (formerly Hype Williams).  "Papi" is taken from Blunt's new LP, "The Redeemer," due from Hippos in Tanks in May.  And i'm under the weather right now, so this is the perfect jam to send me off to sleep land.  Goodnight everybody.

Gazelle Twin

Because i can't get enough of dark, brooding electronic music, and because the album cover above will probably work its way into my nightmares at some point in the near future, i give you "I Turn My Arm," the latest from Elizabeth Walling, aka Gazelle Twin.  The "Mammal" EP is currently available from Sugarcane.  Order it here and listen below.

Colin Stetson

It's very hard to describe the music of saxophonist Colin Stetson.  He serves as a session and touring musician for a lot of indie acts (see Arcade Fire), but his real calling are his solo works, jarring and hypnotic solo takes that seem to be channeled directly from the old gods.  He sounds like an army of musicians just using his mouth.  "New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light" is due in April from Constellation.  The first two parts of this trilogy are brilliant, and i have to highly recommend that if you ever get a chance to see this guy do what he does live, you jump on that chance like a fat kid on cupcake.  It's awe inspiring.  Listen to dense, almost tribal "High Above a Grey Green Sea" below.

The Knife

My younger, more impressionable years were spent idling the time away with a plethora of electronic music, via the stomping industrial vibes of Wax Trax, the drug trip that is The Orb, the nightmare inducing sounds and images from Aphex Twin, or the plain old retro booty shaking of Daft Punk.  And then we parted ways as i explored new pastures only to be drawn back into the fold in 2006 with the now iconic "Silent Shout" from Sweden's The Knife.  2013 finally sees the proper follow up to that amazing album with the forthcoming "Shaking the Habitual" from Mute.  (For some reason or another, 2010's Darwinian electro-opera "Tomorrow, In a Year" doesn't count.)  At any rate, we are very, very excited about the new jams.  Watch the video/short film for first single "Full of Fire," directed by Marit Östberg below.

New Sleep ∞ Over

Austin's own Stefanie Franciotti, otherwise known as Sleep ∞ Over, will be releasing a new 7" of dreamy, ethereal, sometimes haunting pop rock via Hippos In Tanks tomorrow.  Listen to both sides below, "Rooftop," and the cover of Vashti Bunyan's "I Want to Be Alone."




Hooray!

New Dirty Beaches

Dirty Beaches (Alex Zhang Hungtai) has been one of our favorite artists to emerge over the last couple of years.  His stark take on rockabilly and forays into almost spooky instrumental territory paint a rich tapestry that would be perfect as a score to a David Lynch movie.  A double album, "Drifters/Love Is The Devil" is due in May from Zoo Music, but listen to the instrumental dirge that is the title track below.

Ty Segall at The Mohawk pics

Here's a couple of pics from Friday night's excellent Ty Segall show at The Mohawk.  Viva garage rock!

OBN III's

Ex-Cult

Ty Segall

Ty Segall

Troller

Originally released on cassette last year, the good people at Holodeck Records (in conjunction with now kind of defunct Light Lodge Records) have taken it upon themselves to reissue gloomy Austin goth-synth band Troller's self-titled debut on vinyl.  And we are total suckers when it comes to gloomy goth-synth bands.  Grab the record here while you still can and listen to the longing "Tiger" below.

Yellow Loveless

Because racism is perfectly funny and acceptable if you're doing it to yourself (am i right Spike Lee?), the tribute to My Bloody Valentine's seminal 1991 album "Loveless" featuring a slew of Japanese bands is titled "Yellow Loveless."  The album features Boris, Shonen Knife, and a bunch of other bands i've never heard of.  Here's the tracklist:

01. Tokyo Shoegazer – “Only Shallow”
02. GOATBED – “Loomer”
03. The Sodom Project – “Touched”
04. Lemon’s Chair – “To Here Knows When”
05. Shonen Knife – “When You Sleep”
06. Tokyo Shoegazer – “I Only Said”
07. Age of Punk – “Come in Alone”
08. Boris – “Sometimes”
09. Shinobu Narita (4-D Mode1) – “Blown a Wish”
10. Lemon’s Chair – “What You Want”
11. Sadesper Record – “Soon”

Listen to Boris's fuzzy, distorted take on our all time favorite MBV jam "Sometimes" below via youtube, and keep your eyes peeled for the album from High Fader Records.

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Paul Banks mixtape

"Everybody on My Dick Like They Supposed to Be."  Indeed.  Paul Banks of Interpol fame just release a hip-hop mixtape today...and it's actually pretty good.  Mr. Banks has the good manners to not rap himself, and the largely instrumental and sample heavy affair is momentarily graced by the likes of El-P, Mike G from Odd Future, and Talib Kweli.  And it's called "Everybody on My Dick Like They Supposed to Be."  Stream below and download for free here.