Nothing Sounds Better

“Eyesdontlie” - Machinedrum It’s not a track...

unknowndirectives — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:33:19 -0400

“Eyesdontlie” - Machinedrum

It’s not a track we’ll see Azealia will be sampling by the end of the year. Kind of subtle for Machinedrum, don’t you think? The producer who’s recently come to fame for break beat footwork is still exploring that sound, but retreating from the spotlight a little. “Eyesdontlie” is tame for a first single, but with a space-y drop midway, it’s hard not to repeat. A grower maybe, not a stunner, but definitely a new approach from the always enjoyable Travis Matthews.

New full lenghth Vapor City will be out in September via Ninja Tune

“Jetee” - Fort Romeau Kingdoms is still my go to...

unknowndirectives — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:30:18 -0400

“Jetee” - Fort Romeau

Kingdoms is still my go to dance album, two years later. Which is a long time for dance music. “Jetee” sounds less menacing the more you familiarize yourself with it, similar to the famous short film it no doubt steals its name from, and like that circular movie, Romeau will have your head spinning in ecstasy.

- Eric Kossina

an interview: Matthew Cooper (Eluvium)

oneinacillian — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:21:00 -0400

Interview: Tyler Hanan [6/14/13] Matthew Cooper, as Eluvium, is one of the most highly regarded...

“Something About You” - Dornik There are so many...

unknowndirectives — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:30:00 -0400

“Something About You” - Dornik

There are so many entry points. We’ve gotten used to Frank Ocean’s 80’s vibe, and The-Dream’s, and even the party synth vibe on the last Beyonce album. So Dornik fits in so well he doesn’t stand out. He’s the wallflower, watching everyone vibe, who comes after the scene to blow everyone away. You won’t find Frank Ocean or The-Dream making a track this smooth, nor will you find your indie brethren with a voice as smooth. It’s a background track bubbling up to the surface and stealing the show.

If you have any doubts, he shares a label with Disclosure and Jessie Ware. Collab please?

- Eric Kossina

“Strandbar (disko)” - Todd Terje If Todd Terje only...

unknowndirectives — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:48:00 -0400

“Strandbar (disko)” - Todd Terje

If Todd Terje only release one song a year, I would still die an ecstatic man. Last year we had Inspector Norse, the year before, Ragysh, and each one became integrated into my soundtrack for the year. No doubt “Strandbar” is going to be my sound of the summer. Like a hot Miami night, Terje knows the perfect way to make you sweat. It’s perfect until the piano comes in, and then it’s better, and by the time you hit the breakdown in the end, you’ll wonder if you weren’t actually in Miami for the past 8 minutes.

- Eric Kossina

“Open Eye Signal” - Jon Hopkins It’s been a...

unknowndirectives — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:39:00 -0400

“Open Eye Signal” - Jon Hopkins

It’s been a great year for electronic music, with Daft Punk and Disclosure releasing top albums so far, but we haven’t seen much from the underground. Enter Jon Hopkins, a veteran producer who’s worked with Brian Eno and until now, enjoyed a career in the background. Unlike Eno, his ambient music was actually made for the background, until Immunity, where Hopkins explodes onto the dancefloor. “Open Eye Signal” is the sound of a producer pulling back the curtain and announcing his work to the world. It’s rave, techno, ambient, and in a similar vein to Andy Stott last year, absolutely haunting.

Immunity is out now, via Domino.

- Eric Kossina

“95 Til Infinity” - Joey Bada$$ We’re all...

oneinacillian — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 20:21:52 -0400

“95 Til Infinity” - Joey Bada$$

We’re all understandably excited for inimitable, undeniable game-changer Kanye to drop the beautifully brazenly-titled Yeezus. Though Yeezus is the most important release of the summer (whether you like that fact or not), it’s hardly the only interesting rap album to drop in the next few weeks.

While Kanye looks to the future, Brooklyn’s rapidly rising rap wunderkind Joey Bada$$ draws from the rich vein of the 90’s rap game. His Summer Knights mixtape may have been delayed until July 1st, but the quick-spitting throwback has dropped another single. Following up lauded lead single “Word is Bond,” still drips with 90’s nostalgia even as Lee Bannon imbues it with trill 20teens production. No one’s touching Kanye this summer, but there’s a lot to be said for how much Joey Bada$$ is killing it right now.

- Tyler Hanan

Torche w/ KEN mode // The Pyramid Scheme 6/7/13

oneinacillian — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:32:00 -0400

Show Review: Tyler Hanan [6/11/13] Friday, June 7th, marked the middle of a metal marathon at The...

“Lee (Columbine High Harmony” - Coma Cinema Happy...

oneinacillian — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 20:56:00 -0400

“Lee (Columbine High Harmony” - Coma Cinema

Happy Saturday, all. Whether this be the first or fifteenth time you’ve stumbled upon the news of Coma Cinema’s Posthumous Release being made available on Bandcamp, hopefully all informed have made or will make time in their day for Mat Cothran’s elegant, incredible opus. Mat’s accompanying words:

we’ll talk more about this later. but here is 3 years of my life captured onto tape. i love every one of you who has kept me going for so long. god bless every one who has taken care of me. this is my statement, this is the record i was born to create. i hope you like it. i love you all.

I take this to mean that Mr. Cothran will say a bunch of intelligent, eye-opening things about the album that will leave any observations I spout off coming off woefully misguided.

Misguided musings will have to wait, though. We’ll be talking about this quite a bit more - and more extensively - in the near future, even moreso than before. For now, take time to dive into what is one of the best album’s I’ve heard in a quite a while.

Besides already familiar singles “Satan Made A Mansion” and “Burn A Church,” as well as the recently posted on 420 love songs “Virgin Veins,” the above track and “Partners in Crime” are two of the most immediate, striking songs of 2013. The third-last track, “Survivor’s Guilt,” accomplishes the impossible in being just as heartbreaking as the Elvis Depressedly original.

The entirety of the intimate postmortem is worth remarking upon. Few others craft intimate, beautiful songs that reach far beyond their brief running time like Cothran. Go forth and feel over this deeply personal gem [link].

The album is available on vinyl and CD via Fork and Spoon Records. Orchid Tapes has cassettes available.

- Tyler Hanan

“Eulogy” - Panopticon I first stumbled upon this...

oneinacillian — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 18:38:00 -0400

“Eulogy” - Panopticon

I first stumbled upon this five-song Vestiges/Panopticon split over at Cactus-Mouth, where Panopticon’s track “A Letter” was posted and praised in all its resplendent black metal/insert other genre fusion glory. Also taken was mention of Deafheaven making bigger black metal waves in the greater public consciousness, so I’ll have to find another angle. Well behind the cultural bandwagon, we are, breathing deeply of that thick dustcloud we find ourselves left behind in.

This split, a team-up of two prolific, those-who-know favorites, was brought to mind again when I kicked up a week-old press release from The Flenser. It further fleshed out each band’s qualifications and led me to The Flenser’s bandcamp, where there are links for LP purchase and free download accompany the 37+ minute release.

Vestiges’ two tracks blend into an alternately pretty and perilous 18-minute trek, cathartic in both its barn-burning peaks and drone noise interlude moments. Panopticon provides three eclectic tracks that push beyond the boundaries of metal. Sometimes the music’s fuzzy, other times funky. It even gets outright melodic, all post-rock with incomprehensible shouting over those pretty guitars. “North American Folk Metal” - facebook bios explain all.

It’s a rad split, certainly another piece that could appeal to people who “don’t like black metal - well, not the usual black metal.” It’s definitely worth a few dollars, though no judgements will be made by the poor college kids running this site [link].

- Tyler Hanan

“HW:R” - True Widow Slow burn trio True Widow have...

oneinacillian — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 18:47:53 -0400

“HW:R” - True Widow

Slow burn trio True Widow have announced their follow-up to 2011’s well-received album As High As the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth. Balancing out the karmic scales, or possibly taking a kinder eye to would-be music journalists, the new album is simply titled Circumambulation. The album is to be released on July 23rd by Relapse Records.

This first single, debuted by Noisey, sees the band continuing in their accustomed way. In addition to (likely) being even bigger than 2011’s breakout-of-sorts, the album will also (likely) give critics another opportunity to walk that ever-present tightrope of defining just how genre-defying, but also genre-refining, a certain genre-flippant band really is. It will also give others ample opportunity for others to make fun of this trend while also undercutting the jokes by doing the exact same thing, like so:

“Whether skewing closer to shoegaze or slowcore or tongue-in-cheek “stonegaze,” the trio returns with a particularly tart taste of Texas. Bringing back that heavy and thoughtful shoecore or slowgaze sound we so enjoy verbally bumbling over, True Widow looks to offer something a little more low-key in the summer of Yeezus.”

I feel dirty, but this is an album that should be anticipated. Listen.

- Tyler Hanan

“Permanent State of Daylight” - Calculator Capping a...

oneinacillian — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 20:25:02 -0400

“Permanent State of Daylight” - Calculator

Capping a fine week of Calculator news, the California quintet’s Kickstarter was funded this Monday evening. Functioning as a preorder of sorts, the Kickstarter ended with $1,762, well beyond the $1,000 goal. This means the repressing of These Roots Grow Deep will be going forward, as will the pressing of the new full-length This Will Come To Pass. In the meantime, Zosia Mamet is still waiting on another $30,000 to make that music video. Stay strong, Zo.

The successful funding of a Kickstarter that actually has a shred of humanity wasn’t the only Calculator news, though. After debuting new songs from the album on PunkNews and SiqShit, the band posted the album on Bandcamp on Saturday. The album is streaming in full, all 13 thrilling tracks, and the album is sounding as exceptional as fans had been sure it would. It’s replete with all the requisite emotional charge and frenetic, kinetic energy. We’ll cover that more later, though; for now, dive in for yourselves.

- Tyler Hanan

“Ancient Questions” (live) - Mount Eerie Mount...

oneinacillian — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 14:20:00 -0400

“Ancient Questions” (live) - Mount Eerie

Mount Eerie, NSB favorite and crafter of two incredible 2012 albums, will soon be releasing a live 12” that’s likely to inspire just as many tears as, well, every other Phil Elverum album. Live in Bloomington, September 30th, 2011 is slated for a June 11th release from XRA Records, who shared this album track with those clever wordsmiths and fellow fans over at Tiny Mix Tapes.

This cut is particularly… cutting, with Elverum’s voice ringing out as clearly as crystal (which I’ve been told on completely uninformed authority actually is quite clear) overtop similarly serene keyboard plinking and a particularly sway-friendly guitar. Take a glance at the tracklist; I see one of my favorite 2012 singles, “House Shape,” right at the top. The buried lead: there’s also a Microphones track. Gird your hearts and tear ducts.

Introduction
House Shape
Between Two Mysteries
Ancient Questions
Karl Blau
No Inside, No Out
The Place I Live
Lone Bell
See Me
Stone’s Ode
The Place Lives

- Tyler Hanan

“Rachel” - Foxes In Fiction Apart from a small...

staircase-thoughts — Fri, 31 May 2013 14:47:46 -0400

“Rachel” - Foxes In Fiction

Apart from a small collaborative EP in February, ambient musician and co-owner of record label Orchid Tapes, Warren Hildebrand (Foxes In Fiction), hasn’t had a major release in several years from the looks of it. A sudden tumblr post in the middle of the night led to the release of his latest download, “Rachel,” a beautiful manipulation of a three-second vocal warm-up from fellow musician R.L. Kelly. It’s available for download on Hildebrand’s website, alongside this choice quote: “Something I quickly made and then excitedly posted at 3:30 AM last night. Listen w/ headphones if you can <3.” Keep that in mind the next time you feel unproductive in the wee hours of the night.

- Kyle Minton

“Teenager” - Jeff Rosentstock Bomb the Music...

oneinacillian — Wed, 29 May 2013 19:25:19 -0400

“Teenager” - Jeff Rosentstock

Bomb the Music Industry! may be no more, but, as is often the silver lining with breakups, the parts have caromed off into new and different (to varying degrees) things. At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself since I had to end the Ben & Jerry’s binge.

The ringleader of everyone’s favorite definers of DIY and punk - by the way, every BtMIs album is still available for free - has released a new song. Rosenstock brings back those fond, wistful memories even as he gets listeners dancing badly and boldly across their messy, empty bedrooms.

The song is one of two available on a 7” now up for preorder. The kicker, though, is that uppity, carefree kicker is only one of nine songs that can be had through said preorder. Available through Really Records, the preorder promises the two song 7” and a new summer recording every two weeks. It also promises a 45 RPM adapter, which is just nice. The Summer Seven Club, it’s called, and there’s no more fitting music to be had through such a thing than the summer-synonymous songs of Rosenstock [link].

- Tyler Hanan

“In my dreams we’re almost touching” - Ricky...

staircase-thoughts — Mon, 27 May 2013 12:30:35 -0400

“In my dreams we’re almost touching” - Ricky Eat Acid

When we last heard from Sam Ray’s solo ambient project, Ricky Eat Acid, he was busy breaking our collective heart. Now, he’s installing strobe lights and insisting that we give dancing a chance. “In my dreams we’re almost touching” is a shift in confidence and emotional landscape for Ricky Eat Acid. It forgoes any sullenness or cynicism in favor of overwhelming production dipped in a golden sheen, all while utilizing a Drake sample and swelling beats to spill out rather than invite listeners in. It’s not exclusionary; Ray’s sense of longing hasn’t been lost, and his less-is-more approach has been traded in for a vigor suited for a more impressive longing than the kind he usually croons about. It’s our first taste from Three Love Songs, the first Ricky Eat Acid release since his excellent split earlier this year with Blithe Field.

- Kyle Minton

“Synchrosynct” - Disasterpeace Earlier this week...

staircase-thoughts — Sun, 26 May 2013 12:30:09 -0400

“Synchrosynct” - Disasterpeace

Earlier this week Microsoft revealed their latest plan to occupy your surplus cash and time with the Xbox One, the next “all-in-one entertainment system.” There was nothing musical about the premiere, but it did remind me of Fez, the indie puzzle-platformer that debuted on the Xbox 360 and captured my heart with the shimmering melodies provided by Disasterpeace. Rich Vreeland, the face behind Disasterpeace, recently commemorated the anniversary of Fez’s release with a pair of remix albums, FZ: Side F and FZ: Side Z. The albums feature notable video game composers C418 (Minecraft) and Jim Guthrie (the documentary Indie Game: The Movie; Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP).

The first track is “Synchorsynct,” a remix of the track “Sync” from Vreeland himself. The remix takes the original’s rolling groove and amplifies the bass by a few pixels and then some. Fez’s soundtrack is fertile ground for excellent remixes, and Disasterpeace has clearly had an entertaining time warping the idyllic synths of the original and inviting others to do the same.

- Kyle Minton

Do It Together: Unraveling TYP Tapes of Greensboro, NC

staircase-thoughts — Sat, 25 May 2013 12:30:27 -0400

By Kyle Minton “We can all help out if we Do it Together.” Greensboro, North Carolina...

“Warm in the Winter” - Glass...

staircase-thoughts — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:30:23 -0400

“Warm in the Winter” - Glass Candy

“Love’s in the air,” sings Ida No, lead singer of Glass Candy and perpetuator of the notion that warm nights and hot days lead to steamy love. It’s one gem (in the sense that it’s iridescent and not just a great track) off Italians Do It Better’s newest sampler, After Dark 2, and it’s an effusive piece of Glass Candy pop. The track was released as a single a few years ago, but I can’t see anyone fighting its inclusion in After Dark 2.

The sampler includes that Chromatics track “Cherry” we heard last year and a plethora of other Italians Do It Better artists like Desire, Symmetry, and Mike Simonetti. You can find it on iTunes for ten bucks, but I’m satisfied with watching the beginning of this video over and over again until label head and Glass Candy bandmate Johnny Jewel absorbs me into his neon-lit, film grain-layered world. Go forth and soundtrack your fresh summer love with this collection of succulently layered electronic-pop.

- Kyle Minton

“Burn A Church” - Coma Cinema On a day tailor-made...

oneinacillian — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:30:21 -0400

“Burn A Church” - Coma Cinema

On a day tailor-made for NSB tastes, the second second single off Coma Cinema’s upcoming album Posthumous Release hit the internet. This latest bundle of all things bright and beautiful joins the first single, “Satan Made A Mansion,” in stoking those fires of anticipation and overused metaphors in the leadup to the album’s June 11 release date.

Mat Cothran simply does the whole beautiful song about beautifully tragic subject matter thing so well, and the album’s reception next month is likely to reflect that (as the press for the singles does right now). Fork & Spoon will be releasing the album on vinyl and CD [link], while Orchid Tapes will be tackling the cassette release [link].

Side note: Orchid Tapes is also selling a compilation tape from their label showcase, which featured Coma Cinema and a number of other great artists that you probably know if you like Coma Cinema (and if you don’t know them, get acquainted). Portals also has a gallery of photos from the event.

- Tyler Hanan