While the States prepares to dine on turkey and stuffing, Impose's Week in Pop takes you by the hand through the week in a flash of headline news items. First up is Kanye going all Ice Age on us at Barclays, Pharrell Williams' 24-hour length music video, Lana Del Rey is said to be the executive producer for another documentary on Daniel Johnston, and word has it that 2014 may begin with a brand new Wu-Tang album. And while the rest of the country looks back 50 years to ponder grassy knoll conspiracies and the like; we look 50 years forward in our presentation of exclusives, interviews and thoughts from A Million Billion Dying Suns, Dudley Perkins, Sam Martin, Aquariana, and more-in no particular order.
(photo courtesy of Darrell Nance)
It's no secret that we have been crazy about the song “Plush”, from San Francisco dream machines, A Million Billion Dying Suns. Lead by Nate Mercereau, the group creates the sound of flying light years into the cosmos to gain a better understanding of ourselves, humankind, the continuum and paradoxes of existence, new life and more. That band has built themselves around the following mantra;
“As the million billion suns die, they coalesce into one singular form of energy, before they ultimately end or explode into super nova. It is the vanishing point, where you and me don't matter, but we do. And so do you. Yes, You. We are all Dying Suns, sewn into the same fabric. Endlessly dying, constantly living, in the pattern of the infinite universe.”
So as the band is hard at work on recording a couple of EPs in the Mission District's Different Fur studios; AMBDS gave us a permission to premiere their sky and space soaring video for their mighty single, “Plush”, directed and edited by John Coyne. The video assembles VHS cassette recordings of classic advertisements, vintage animation, 90s PC screen-savers of flying toasters, grainy taped performances and successfully creates the feeling of flight and motion; the display of bursting super novas and various galactic endeavors abound. Taking large inspirations from Cosmos guru Carl Sagan and flight sequences from the 80s TV show The Greatest American Hero, the video presents a pastiche of the world's multimedia landscape that exists in the embedded passages of our consciousness that gets thrown into the big bang theorems of hyperspace in a reality that feels close to the heart and yet 10,000 light years from home. Red dwarfs are everywhere, stars explode into new beginnings, as the wah-wahs whirl the guitars, effects and vocals into the great melting pot that might explain our origins, the places where our consciousness continues after we pass, and hints at the final frontiers that our little world continues to discover and explore on a daily basis.
A Million Billion Dying Suns' Nate Mercereau talked to us about the music video for “Plush”, the 60s spirit of San Francisco bands, news of two EPs currently in the works, and more.
It's not every time that a group makes a sound that matches the energy and magnitude of their name. How did you arrive at the moniker of A Million Billion Dying Suns?
I like the visuals it conjures up, the scope of it, before you even hear the music.
(AMBDS' Nate Mercereau, photos courtesy of The Center for The Arts)
And like the name matching a close approximation of your sound, that John Coyne video for “Plush” is a rich representation of intergalactic supernovas that are stitched together with a pastiche of our collective media consciousness fabrics (American Gothic portrait, flying toasters screen saver, Carl Sagan, etc). What was Coyne's developmental approach to translating such plush and rich video?
We approached this video together, I brought in most of the footage and ideas and John took these different elements and put them together. We wanted to use things that made you feel small, floating, out of your body, transcending.
SF has often been called one of the indie dream pop capital of the States. How has living in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay impacted and inspired the sound of AMBDS?
Living in the Bay is like living in a cloud. It's a magical friend oasis. Fog is rad. So much beauty to be inspired by.
Who are some of your favorite local acts?
Our friends are in great bands like Facing New York, Creepers, Solos
Favorite not-so-local-acts?
Drake.
The name of your EP is Strawberry, is this like a throwback to some kind of Summer of Love, Upper Haight slice of sympathizing? If so, how do you feel that the sprit of '67 has lent influence to your work and others?
It's not a throwback, but we're definitely inspired by our surroundings. The 60s spirit of San Francisco bands comes through in our general attitude towards music. It's all vibezzzz mannnnnnn. We love playing shows with our friends for our friends. Transcending together through music.
What is the AMBDS song process like?
Inspiration from anything. Nature, weather, people, the infinite vibrating universe, other songs, creation, hashing it out in The Torta, and then tweaking for anywhere from 0-1000 hours. I write and record the material myself first to get it down, then get the guys to play certain parts that need extra.
Are you translating your own dream journals to get that sound?
Actually, yeah. If I can ever remember the dreams, they can be unique inspiration to start an idea.
Plans for winter 2013/2014?
We're playing some shows in San Francisco/Oakland this December. Mixing two new EPs at Different Fur in SF. Planning a west coast tour at the top of February as well.
Having been four years since the release of Holy Smokes; Oxnard, California's Dudley Perkins is preparing to release his new album Dr. Stokley after Thanksgiving on November 29 (retail day zero/ground zero, Black Friday) from Mello Music Group. Produced by his wife and fellow operator of their indie label SomeOthaShip Connect, Muldrow keeps the keys fluttering and the bass progressions in constant motion to create the sound of a collaborative powerhouse.
Today we have the mic test of “Hearing Test” that features Percee P from South Bronx's The Patterson Projects who spells out their occupation, while Dudley brings an inquisitive series of theosophical questions that pertain to the nature of metaphysics and the reality of struggles in the material world. “Why does injustice hurt all day? Please God, take it away, I beg you, I plead, I pray. Some say I shouldn't be this way, denouncing all religion, and still respect the true living, respect the breath that God has given, God has risen through this thing we call rap music.” Between P's old school East Coast delivery and Perkins' gruff, tough and real rhymes that seek answers and ruminations on reasoning; Georgia Anne Muldrow keeps the production tied up in a crisp cohesion reminiscent of the best late night hip-hop radio programming heard on underground, college or pirate radio stations. And while all the artists keep the concepts marinating and pondering; there is a realness that feels certain in a style that is grounded in the classic blues-rhythm-&-rhyme guard that feels eternally fresh.
Dudley Perkins joins us to talk about the upcoming album Dr. Stokley, sharing family values, the potency of wielding super-powers, exploring the heart of his illmindmuzik, the meaning behind his different monikers, the art of educating oneself through hip-hop, and further intimate insights from a true California legend.
In the past 4 years leading up to Dr. Stokley, you and Georgia have been busy with various projects at SomeOthaShip Connect, tapes with Madlib and such. How do you feel these various collaborative works with family and extended family have developed the style on your upcoming solo record?
Every record creates the next record…for there is no next without a now…this process of evolution my sound has gone through has been cultivated for some years now. This new record is part of that process. I have been highly blessed to be amongst some of the greatest, also greatest slept on, artists of this decade. This record was created out of the love and respect I have for all who have been down with illmindmuzik since its very humble beginnings.
What's behind the central character Dr. Stokley on your upcoming Mello Music disc?
I’ve grown and have re-educated myself through hip-hop. It is my profession, also is a huge part of my spirit and who I am. I am no longer a student of the game. I have also seen the sickness that has now been overdeveloped in music and art…and the amount of time I’ve been a very observant student…I feel I can graduate myself and give myself an honorary doctorate.
Is it like delving into another moniker or side of yourself, or character, kinda like Delcaime?
Dr. Stokley is Declaime…to declaime is actually a way of speaking so all what you call alter egos are all just me, no real significance in it. They’re just titles.
How do the different name identifiers provide you with different rhyming and writing platforms? Do you find it easier, and or difficult to explore different personas through taking on different characters?
Sometimes spirit has you sing …sometimes dance. If you truly follow with your heart anything can come through your vessel with little or no effort. As I said before, names are just titles. I took the name Declaime because it best suits my job.
You, Georgia, Madlib, and everyone hanging around you all seem to have special, secret, super hero powers in both ways of production, beat mixing, flows, and straight up creating rhythms as you all see fit. What inside-insights can you drop on us on how you all have been so blessed on so many creative fronts?
We are superheroes. We’re the theme music for life. We can either save the day or destroy it. Musicians and artists have that power.
Was the ChuckNLV minimalistic old school TV video idea a way to provide an aimed message, like Dudley Perkins going Ad Council on the people?
I didn’t see the video until it was finished. My homie Chuck’s so talented at so many forms of media. I usually just show up and be. He’s growing and will soon be that go-to guy. We’ve done many spur of the moment videos. It does take on a sort of Sesame Street public service announcement feel.
Mello Music Group is another great imprint like you and Georgia Anne's SomeOthaShip, what kind of insider trading of artists and releases do you all got going on? Seems like you all maintain a balance of cutting edge while both building and upholding legacies.
I’ve been partners with Mello Music Group and my buddy, Mike Tolle for years. MMG is like SomeOthaShip's brother. We got each other’s back. Also his label caters a lot to the youth. I know my records are cared for when I turn them over to MMG. We also have another upcoming label. We’ll be supplying that fonk ship called Olmec. It’s run by my bro Jay Devonish who handles a lot of big projects and labels for eOne Music. We’re forming these alliances so in 2014 there’s no mistake of who runs this mutha!
With Dr. Stokley dropping the day after Thanksgiving on the retail extravaganza of Black Friday, what are you thankful for this year, Dudley?
I’m thankful for this air I selfishly breathe and these beautiful fruits and vegetables I get to consume for free every day. I’m thankful that my kids are still alive and healthy in a world that still doesn’t respect the intelligent melinated man fully. I’m thankful for this divine insight to see and know a better day is coming.
Dr. Stokely will be available November 29 from Mello Music Group.
Sam Martin has been one of the best kept secrets of Omaha, Nebraska. An eclectic hero of various stylistic approaches, and a man who tries on genres like different caps. His music has stayed predominately within the comforts and confines of the Midwest, until now. Today we are proud to debut Martin's “Morbid Masters” that he has contributed to the upcoming Nik Fackler film, Sick Birds Die Easy slated for soundtrack and film release on February 11. Fackler is in the group Icky Blossoms, and has made a variety of music videos for various other Saddle Creek artists as this project finds him and a band of oddballs taking their travels to the region of Gabon, Africa to document their eccentric group of artists, musicians, drug addicts, and filmmakers in search of the mythic Iboga psychotropic plant.
Sam's Bandcamp page provides an experience of the good man's wide range of styles as an eclectic collaborator and perenial student of music. From his recent Trite Monsters release, “Love ?” -or- “A bunch of shit”, Death?, Kids, Beat your vegetables, Kitten Kaboom!, and more; Sam's contributions to Sick Birds Die Easy takes on the role of a rambling troubadour strumming easy through illustrations of generational paranoia and heartbreak in a fearless fashion. The song takes on the suffering of the planet, and the apathy of rulers in their desensitized responses (or lack of responses) to calamities and disasters while providing a narrative bit of exposition on the film's expedition into the jungles of Gabon. “And we don't know when to go home, without all of us dying.” Through the slow picked guitar riffs and broad lyrical brush strokes, Martin paints the journey and plight of the film's weary travelers in search of a cure, panacea, and a possibly a powerful potency to help unlock an answer from within.
Sam Martin takes us behind the scenes of his own varied approaches to music, while giving us a sneak peek on the making of what might be the wildest movie of 2014.
Given that you and company were spending a lot of time in the jungles of Gabon, Africa; how did the shift of environment of writing effect your songwriting and mind set, different from say Omaha, Nebraska?
While on location in Gabon [I was] writing songs, although my job title was the last thing on my mind. With the daily shit show that this production was, eating and navigating the economic structure of Gabon was the biggest daily stress for the crew and myself not to mention actually filming things. Although as a 'struggling' musician, this isn't that far removed from my environmental woes at home in Nebraska, and it proved more difficult in a jungle where lots of things can be fatal, and dangerous. [Song]-writing came in five minute breaks with a hand held tape recorder.
The sparse electric-blues-folk style you take is on like a drunken Woody Guthrie. Who are the “Morbid Masters” you sing of? Is this a kind of post-colonial song of warning, perhaps?
'Morbid Masters' is as wide a song as I could hope to write. Wide in its possible implications I mean. A song of paranoia and heartbreak from watching the things that my generation has come to call normal and subsequently fear.
Given your various works like your recent Trite Monsters, your music is very eclectic, how and what made you take the more holistic approach? What inspired the troubadour character you took on for the soundtrack?
I have an eclectic catalog partly because I have a short attention span for my emotions and because I study music vigorously. Nothing is off the table when I write for writing's sake. Given a collaborative project such as a film the musical decisions I make become more causal, more to elevate the film rather than to stand on their own. I've always wished for the voice of a troubadour, for this I just pretended I had one.
How was it working with Nick Fackler? How did you join this whole wild crew, and this crazy Iboga plot?
Nick is a fantastic director in a new school of filmmakers. He knows the film is out of his control in a certain way and he uses that, which is refreshing to me. We have been friends for a very long time. He just called me and asked me to come to Africa and me and my wife were really into the idea of the film so we accepted the invitation.
(Sam Martin, captured by Chevy Anderson)
Was it like some kind of Joseph Conrad experience of delving into the heart of darkness, madness, or whatever?
Joseph Conrad, more like your local bums just waking up in a psychedelic jungle with a camera strapped to their faces, still pink from America's womb.
Any wild stories you can share while working with Fackler and company?
Here is something that stuck with me: So we arrive in this village the first night, none of these people drink alcohol except on occasion. They knew the Americans where coming so they had crates of beer waiting for us, literally crates. That's who we are to the rest of the world. People who first [set] foot on the ground need crates of beer.
What else do we need to know about Sick Birds Die Easy?
The movie should at least be seen is all I will say. Making it was incredible and I think what came out is very special.
What else can we expect from Sam Martin in 2014?
I have a new record coming out in late February on Make Believe Records.
Sick Birds Die Easy will be released on film and soundtrack February 11, check out the main site for further information, and watch the trailer now.
Taken from the self-titled slated for release December 17 from Drag City, it is our privilege to debut some piano lead emotive melodies and an outpouring of heart from Aquariana. A passionate voice that contributed to The Life Choir in LA and various Family bands who performed on the Sunset Strip; Aquariana summons an otherworldly force to conquer any obstacle on the powerful premiere of, “Love Dispels Darkness” that has remained shelved in the vaults for decades-until now. A member of The Source Family, Aquariana was one of the 13 wives of cult leader Father Yod, who had recorded the disc back in 1974 but never saw a release in the flurry of The Source's label Higher Key that put out YaHoWha 13 and Savage Sons of YaHoWha.
The song “Love” borrows liberally from the New Testament scriptures of John 1:5, and will take you back to a time when the spirit of protest, Jesus movements, and cults running amok would create a plethora of new denominations seeking a bevy of new paths through new gnostic interpretations. The minor key progressions give a glimpse of the Family's disbanding from the move to Hawaii after selling The Source restaurant and subsequent death of father Yod that would seal this record's fate into what seemed like an indefinite obscurity. Discover more about the The Source Family here in our discussion with the director's from the Drag City documentary released earlier this year, and get a listen to this fringe folk nugget of heaven that your ears have waited 40 years to hear proper.
Mix some 50s rnr with modern day technology fixations and web camera obsessions with Jeremy and The Harlequins' “Cam Girl”, off Jeremy Fury and company's self-titled debut EP available December 17. The track takes off on it's own heart pounding tempo, kicking it off with a chorus of hand claps that lead in the “I-I-I want you so bad” with riffs that ring right out of tin can speakers from the vintage pump-stations and greased up garages across the States' golden fields and roadside pit-stops and attractions. Everything old becomes new, and the new technologies seem somehow familiar on “Cam Girl”. Stick around for our coversation with Jeremy after the jump and jive.
Jeremy joins us to talk 50s fanaticism meeting the millennial, and everything else in the middle.
What is it that first attracted you to those classic era rnr sounds and styles?
It's hard to say. I first started listening to rock n roll when I was probably about five years old. I remember my dad driving me to kindergarten playing a compilation tape of Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly, etc on the car stereo every morning. My first concert was The Beach Boys when I was 7. The first song I ever learned on guitar was ‘Bye, Bye Love’ by The Everly Brothers when I was seven or eight. That era of music seems so timeless. In an age where everything is so fast paced and temporary, I find myself going back to simpler things with permanence. It's more like I rediscovered something that was a part of me from early on.
What are probably a few of your top 5 vintage 45s from that time that you rock on the reg?
In random order…
Johnny & The Hurricanes, “Red River Rock / Rocking Goose”
I have soft spot in my heart for early rock 'n roll from my hometown of Toledo, Ohio.
Charlie Feathers, “We're Getting Closer To Being Apart”
Before country music became… well, what it is now.
Roy Orbison, “Ooby Dooby”
Roy with The Teen Kings. I confess, I only have the mp3's. Anyone have the 7″ for me?
The Heartbeats, “A Thousand Miles Away”
Love this classic.
The Five Satins, “In The Still of the Night”
My brother and my two first cousins would sing this in our best four part harmony on road trips with our family when we were grade school age. I probably won't forget that, so it makes the list.
In a world that is moving in so many directions of post-genres developments, why choose this particular Golden Era sensibility when you could say, make a lo-fi vintage-y other sound from say the analogue 80s or 70s?
I don't think it was a conscious effort. I gravitate to things that interest me. I love music from all eras, not all music and bands from all eras, but there are always the songs and bands from every decade that stand out. Why this era? I feel that there is a re-birth happening in America right now. People realize that they have the power to make ideas a reality. It seemed like a sense of cynicism, entitlement, and overall laziness permeated throughout America over the last 10 to 15 years, but people are beginning to wake up. That power existed in American music in the 50's and 60's, and maybe sub-consciously, I'm attracted to that era because I feel that spirit awakening again. Or, maybe I'm just waxing nostalgia.
Isn't it interesting too that even in this classic approach that you still incorporate contemporary technological items? Is this to say that combining this greaser/rocker element to today's obsessive “Cam Girl” culture of voyeurism are not exactly mutually exclusive?
That's the whole point of that song. I find that people today sometimes view modern technology as a type of black magic. It's as if we're saying, ‘if this technology didn't exist, then the world would be in a better place.’ I don't think that's true at all. Modern technology changes how we do things, but not necessarily what we do. That's up to the individual.
Give us the low down on your self-titled, what was recording the sound of the mid to late 50s like whilst recording it in the new millennial era?
I feel like we did most of it very similarly to how bands did it in the 50s did it. It wasn't by choice, but necessity. We had barely any budget and we only had two days to record, so we did all the instruments live. I sang the vocals to ten songs in about two and a half hours. While we did most of the recording to tape, we did record some of the vocals and overdubs digitally, but we mixed analog to tape on the board. I don't have any qualms about recording digitally if that's what works best, but for me, I find that recording mainly analog and mixing on a board sounds better. I think some bands take pride in being able to say they recorded everything analog. If I could get the sound I want off an iPhone recording app or on Garageband, I suppose I'd record that way. I just want the right sound. After all, the sound of the 50s came from the limits of the recording technology of the time. They weren't going for a vintage sound, just a sound.
What are you and the Harlequins looking forward to the most about 2014?
We want to get on the road and show people what we're doing. We also have a lot of music recorded that we have yet to release and we have more songs that we want to record. I love being busy and am looking forward to being as busy as possible.
Jeremy and the Harlequins' self-titled debut EP will be available December 17.
Earlier today we reported to you the upcoming tour dates for New Jersey bad asses Liquor Store with a listen to their “Satin Dollars” single, and we are also pretty jazzed and proud to bring you a quick little chat with the band to get you further juiced on their sound. In case you missed it, “Satin Dollars” is the like the NJ response to the vintage CBGBs sound, taking it back to a time when it wasn't a Target reprinted t-shirt, or some Las Vegas commercial spectacle. This is the resurrection of the fuggin' Dictators, the spirit of Handsome Dick Manitoba, with an edge almost on par with Dead Boys' Stiv Bators getting head from from a CBs waitress while playing on stage. Liquor Store's album In The Garden is available now from Almost Ready Records, and our interview begins after the jump.
And without further ado, our lively conversation with New Jersey's Liquor Store:
You all flock from so many different acts, how the hell did you all come together as Liquor Store?
We all met on the first day of sixth grade. Me and Bones were in the same homeroom and Block was the sub because the teacher Mrs. Schiavo was in the hospital. I was actually on Bones's baseball team years before but didn't realize until later. “Get down on your haunches!” All those other bands we were in was when we were teenagers basically.
Would the name Convenience Store perhaps be not cool enough, or maybe be too…convenient?
In Detroit they call them party stores. That's kind of a better name. Although a lotta people at the liquor store around here aren't really partying, just kinda getting loc'd. I think the whole idea was that it's already written all over. I guess it makes it impossible to search us on Google. Good. Google will probably fucking kill us all eventually anyway. Google that shit, Google. Motherfuckers. You too Zuckerbeg, bring it on motherfucker. No, that name would not be cool enough. Although if we wanted to be cool we would've called the band King Black Wolf or something, no? We're gonna start a new band called Wolfather and the albums gonna be called 'Your Baby'.
Why In The Garden, and not 'in the asphalt'? You guys are so heavy, this is not twig kicking music.
It was Block's idea, he loves them trees. All the songs ended up being about shit that went down around where we live at. Maybe if we lived in the asphalt state. That'd be pretty sick I guess. Brick state would be more appropriate maybe. 'Take a brick, bitch!'
What's happening lately in NJ?
I saw a sick tractor trailer exploding on the Turnpike the other day. Jersey boys been going a little psycho lately, shooting up the mall, shooting up the airport. Same shit I guess.
Mall shooter was a pussy, only ended up popping himself. We held hands and cried and took selfie pictures in the back of Wetzel's Pretzels right before he took the final quap.
What's up with that Chris Christie dude. Bros? Not bros? What's he about? Is he chill?
I never met him so I wouldn't know. I think he's about eating, and the law. He eats laws for breakfast. He's a big boy, I heard he has his own podium he take around with him to speeches, he's too big for the regular one. Huge Boss fan. Huge fan. Not for nothing, after Sandy the Boss gave him a big hug and he got so emotional over it he want back home and cried all night to his family. I wouldn't say he's chill, no.
Tour prospects?
I wanna do a tour of all the weird towns nobody ever plays and call it the 'Shit City' Tour. We rolling through the South, Texas, and Midwest in December. Hopefully knock a bone off up in there. Maybe Milan to Minsk next year. Locin on loc street, USA baby.
If you had your own tour film what would it be called?
'Nobody Gets Hurt'.
Holiday plans and a parting message from Liquor Store?
What better gift for all of your friends and loved ones than our latest sorry attempt at a record album? They'll probably end up giving it back to you, and then you'll have almost all the copies you need. Unless you have no friends or family. Then you really need a copy. I think we'll be driving from Detroit to Jersey on Christmas Eve, so remember us when you're slurping your warm milk and rubbing your children's heads next to the fire. Not that it matters, we're all Scientologists.
Liquor Store's In The Garden is available now from Almost Ready Records.
Canada's River Tiber is the project of Tommy Paxton-Beesley, who brought us some electro-soothing tapestries to dream on with the release of his The Star Falls EP this week. The title track kicks things into a starting gear of electric momentum, then giving an ethereal drive through “California”, ambient builds on “North”, mellow electro melodics on “The City”, closing with the restraint therapeutic outing of “What Are You Afraid Of”. While it must be stressed that Tommy works to a music that is informed by geography and roads travelled; the closes peer we can think of would be the recent Cygnus album from Sacramento's Doombird. Listen, and let the stars fall all around you, right now.
Tommy Paxton-Beesley took the time today to discuss the The Star Falls EP, his chosen moniker, the upcoming Synapses full-length, the importance and influence of environment, and more.
Places and locales have a lot of pertinence in your track titles from “California”, “North”, “The City”, to the galactic title cut “The Star Falls”. How does location and environment impact your music?
The environment I’m in has a huge impact on my music. I get a lot of ideas when I’m travelling – like making a soundtrack to my surroundings.
How did you take on Italy's famous river as a moniker?
I lived in Rome for a year when I was a kid…I used to cross it every day on the way to school.
How do you go about designing the sound of your music from the drum programming to the gentle guitar chords and soothing vocals?
Hahaha the soothing vocals. Well there’s a lot involved in the production side of things that’s hard to describe in a few sentences – you’d have to come sit in on a session. I think the key is to have big ears and stay experimenting. A lot of the time I don’t know what I’m doing. I have to let everything find its right place.
Your electronic patterns are very much your own and idiosyncratic according to the feeling and moods you like to explore. Who do you consider to be your musical peers out there in the world?
I would say my peers are all the amazing musicians I have the chance to work with locally in TO. But I really look up to artists like James Blake, Sampha, Justin Vernon – guys that are making new sounds. It’s impossible to list them all.
Is there a River Tiber full-length in the works? What can you share about it's development?
There’s a lot in the works. The full length Synapeses will get a commercial release in 2014. It’s done, ready to go. I recorded the whole thing by myself in my basement, layering instruments, vocals, and samples on top of one another and just learning how to produce as I went. I’m currently working on what comes out after that…it’ll be a lot more collaborative and a real evolution on the Synapses sound I think. The record was an incredible necessary learning process, and it helped me find my voice as an individual. But now I’m working on combining it with others’.
River Tiber's The Star Falls EP is available now via iTunes.
From their forthcoming Sun Structures album slated for release February 10 from Heavenly Recordings and February 11 from Fat Possum; let Temples “Mesmerise” with their new recent single. Tear the curtain, open the gates, and let the iron doors swing ajar, as you feed your mind on this bit of guitar pop cool attitudes and atmosphere. This here is the stuff that all the Richard Ashcrofts of the world thrive off of, that attitude of fuck it all, because we are the yesterday-today-tomorrow and whatever, and we are as bad ass as we want to be.
With that infectious Ryan Hemsworth production, get a look and listen to SF's A-1 remixing Lana Del Rey's “Summertime Sadness”. The David Dutton video takes a noir route that plays upon shadow play to A's listing of tragedies and songs about strength and survival underneath the sun's heat that keeps the December clouds chasing away the good times like police lights infiltrating the sun's beams of light.
San Francisco synth sweethearts Strangheart has been getting lots of hype over their single “In Another Life” and have taken it to the hilt with the fancy Zak Stoltz video for “How To Feel Right”. Watch the special effects, and super heroes take on each other with glorious fanfare and Hollywood effects.
With a slough of North American dates scheduled for January, Cloud Control dropped the dream chasing video for “Promises”. Get wild, chant along with the refrain of “for your love”, and hit some golf balls at the range after midnight to the tune of Cloud Control. Their Dream Cave LP is available now from Votiv.
Fresh from a release party at Porltand's Holocene's, PDX indie poppers Adventure Galley have dropped their Anywhere That's Wild album on the heels of their The Right To Be EP and lent a loving listen to the remastered cut, “Addict”. Listen to the word play of “you're so good at it” turn into “addict” before your very ears, as you too may as well find yourself addicted to one of Portland's most fun party bands of 2013.
With their self-titled EP coming in early 2014, we got your post-Halloween spooky indie vibes with Haunted House's “Guts” that spills some gore and glory with the following infectious listen; straight from the gut.
FABRICLIVE 72 presents your boys, Boys Noize in the mix on Fabric Records with a listen to the demo “Anoid” that spins animatronic grooves for droids and humans alike.
Having their 2007 disc Caught The Breeze remastered and re-released by Cascine, Boat Club saw their beautiful track “Memories” remixed by UK purveyors of indie dance St. Etienne. The gentle rhythm structure keeps you moving, while elevating and alluding the 2007 made song to ways that could have happened in the 1997 or 1987 undergrounds. The lush bass-key-percussion recipe to us sounds like what we like to imagine the worlds and atmospheres of 2017 sounding like. This is the sound of a true and certain type and sense of belonging that is truly timeless.
The Mast's singer Haleh Gafori and beat-maker Matt Kilmer made an adorable video that stars Gafori's nephew being the EDM-crib-star maestro for The Mast's dance floor jump and jive of “So Right”.
Anthony Valadez dropped his Zack's Thesis EP this week for Plug Research, and we got the title track for you to peep here with some visuals of LA streets, chill rhymes and beats, courtesy of director Holly Gable-Port.
Check out the Russell Mangicaro for Manicanparty's “Bow Through My Heart” that helps to provide some comfort and compassion and companionship for heartbreak that presents all the coping mechanisms and peccadilloes that go with the process of any brutal break up. Watch Jessica Corazza go through all the dramatic motions to the tune of the 'Party's subtle electronica as Patrick Morrissey looks on with a stoic, and steadfast gaze.
Listen to the title song of “Native State” from Jess Williams ahead of her January 28 slated album from Brutal Honest. If the banjo strings don't plunk their way through the heart and to the hidden corners and places in your soul; you might find it heard to express emotions into words when Jess sings the final lyrics of, “when you're gone, you'll be tattooed under mountains on my arm”.
Toronto's Shara Gibson is making her way to LA with some folk tale dream projects in the works, and we got a listen to her recently shared single, “Singapore”. Gibson's globe trotting sound presents subtle moods with a wanderlust that creates a drift like gentle waves of grain, tumbling weeds and the coolness of a rolling stone that refuses to gather the moss of staying in a singular place. Keep an ear out for more to come from Shara.
Get into the dream with Jake Schreier's video for the title track from Francis And The Lights' Like A Dream EP available available November 25 from London imprint, Good Years Recordings. Walk through fields of whey, stroll through and to the light, and just keep on walking forward to let the dream-feelings flow forward.
Tel Aviv loves Vaadat Charigim deliver the video for their opening cut, “Odisea” from their new monster album, The World is Well Lost. Available now from Burger Records/ANOVA/Warm Ratio, take a bike ride through urban Israel as you meditate on some of the year's most monumental music. Check out the recent mix Vaadat made for us, here.
Having made a tape recently with Oakland heroes Main Attrakionz, and fresh from his album Lost Angeles; Sacramento producer and emcee Tynethys dropped the video for “Loading” from director Edgar Olazaba for Ninety One Ninety. Riffing off the internet-age-old element of uploading and downloading media, sites, programs and more; Tynethys' trippy and reality slipping style brings analogue, natural and digital distortions that intertwine thoughts on real life with the virtual worlds. Marinate and listen to T's words like, “we're living in the ugliest days, so I'm drowning all my problems in haze, trying to stay afloat trying to keep my head above the waves”. If our calculations are correct, Tynethys could very well be the great hope beyond the hype for closing out the ugliness of 2013 with some of that 'head held high' PMA that 2014 might bring and the world desparately needs. In short, keep an ear and eye on Sac town's newest rising producer and rhyme slinger.
Desert Noises dig deep down for some spare change on the floor stomping-shit kicking strummer, “Dime In My Pocket” off their debut full length 27 Ways available March 2014 from SQE. In the same fashion of your Fahey favorites and “Fixin' to Die” standards; get a little of that alt-Americana fever here with production from Nic Jodoin.
Connan Mockasin declares news of his forthcoming tour spanning from NYC to LA from January 9 through 16, and embraces his inner-playboy in the lush Daniel Brereton video for, “I'm The Man, That Will Find You”. From exotic dwellings and his endless romantic appeals and resolve; Mr. Mockasin presents a visualization that matches up to every sense of how I expected it would look. Connan's Caramel is available now from Mexican Summer.
Fresh from Copenhagen's 'Mayhem' studio/venue/rehearsal space, Communions are preparing their 7″ for Posh Isolation for this December and offer up a listen to the title track “Cobblestones”. The quartet made up of siblings Martin and Mads Rehof, rounded out by Jacob van Deurs Formann and Frederik Lind Köppen made a sound that feels like you are running freely along the old meets new streets of Denmark with an excited sound that reverberates between the home recorded and studio cadences and assemblages of sound and sensibility.
Banoffee dropped the single “Reign Down”, far ahead of the forthcoming EP (co-produced by Oscar Key Sung) coming in early 2014 from Two Bright Lakes. Melbourne's Martha Brown is behind the Banoffee moniker, who presents more of the reigning sentimental soundscapes that seem to pour forth from one of Australia's great creative hotbeds of creative minds whose music breaks the binders of time and country borders of audio origination.
Japan's synth enchanter Cuushe released the Albert Choi video for “Lost My Way”, that leads you blindly down the atmospheric corridors of colors, emotions, thoughts, ruminations on mortality, and perhaps the transcendence of mortality. Between the spirit stirring vocals, the security blanket warmth of the keys and awakening of various feelings; the visuals and sounds of “Way” provide a moment of pause and reflection to pour out your heart-or just have a good cry by yourself, or in the company of trusted friends with excellent taste. Cuushe's Butterfly Case is available now from Tokyo imprint Flau, with a limited double LP on colored vinyl pressing available from Dilated Time Records.
In honor of their album and title track video for “Graffiti of the Young Man's Mind” from Cathrine Westergaard; The Bushwick Hotel are going speakeasy style at 110 Morgan Avenue in Brooklyn November 23 to celebrate both the release of their album and the sex, suds, and rock and roll of their video of the same name.
Get a listen to what everyone has been talking about with the grooving guitar ways on the gentle glowing “Lights”, taken from Nir Felder's upcoming Golden Age LP available January 21 from OKeh Records.
We just found out that Lancaster County, PA quartet The Districts have signed to Fat Possum and are touring from February 19 through March 8 2014 with White Denim. So get excited and check out this live version of their cut “Funeral Beds” filmed at Philadelphia's Hotbox Studios.
We got the Cody Critcheloe video for AVAN LAVA's “So F*kt Up”, in stunning and seedy b/w for you to get both turnt up and fuckt up to, as the single will be available December 3
Off the album Gold Girl, Nyteowl presents an assemblage of various eye candy to accompany the danced up density of “Get In It”.
Hiss Golden Messenger brought the lo-fi essences and strums of “Drum”, off the January 14 slated reissue of M.C. Taylor's home recorded Bad Debt album, direct from the kitchen table of his home in Pittsboro, North Carolina, courtesy of Paradise of Bachelors.
Portland's Vikesh Kapoor gave us a look at the folk stinging struggle of chutes and ladders with the Randy Sterling Hunter video for “Bottom of the Ladder” off the album The Ballad Of Willy Robbins, available from Mama Bird Recording Co.
Check out a special clip from Kathleen Hanna’s forthcoming The Punk Singer documentary coming November 29. Forever and ever; you go grrrl.
In case you have been living under a rock, introduce yourself to Nashville's BlackBear + The Surf Bums who released their debut EP Soft Kisses In The Rain on their Bandcamp in full-indie-pop-history-respecting glory. BlackBear was born from the creative genius of Useless Eaters' Ricky Hamilton bringing together The Surf Bums to make a Southern born but world-leaning sound and sentiment in a global bound creation. Check out our debut of the single “Western Spaghetti“, headline profile feature, and/or listen now.
Coming December 9, it's the Gildas Kitsuné Season's Greetings Mix which bring you holiday gems from Lost Scripts (John Talabot), The Swiss, Azari, Classixx, and much more. Get in the spirit, peoples with the following mini-mix from your boy, Jerry Bouthier.
So our week was going chill, when cables were coming in from our friends over at the Holy Underground Collective that ODESZA dropped the NO.SLEEP – Mix.01, presented by Jiberish. We're talking all the grooves you can get down to, featuring French Kiwi Juice, Slow Magic, Beat Culture, Panama, KAASI & TÂCHES, Laura Mvula, Rudimental, Lusine, Sampha, Jeftuz, Ambassadeurs, Giraffage, and of course; the might and magic wielded by the great ODESZA dropping the LIttle People remix of “My Friends Never Die” to top it all off. Have a nice weekend, peoples.
