First of all, I realize every 3rd post includes Grimes or SBTRKT or both. But Grimes and Pictureplane together just seems like such a natural fit and it makes one wonder why this did not transpire at an earlier time. Or did it?
SBTRKT just posted this new old unreleased jam from 2009. This is why I love SBTRKT. Beats and outer space. I think I’m officially clinically obsessed at this point.
01/16/2012
Beat Culture – Memory [Cassettes]
Remember a few weeks ago when we posted that awesome Beat Culture track “Midori“? Well, just last night, Beat Culture’s full length album Tokyo Dreamer was finally released, and all for free. I got a chance to give the album a full listen last night and it was just as great as I expected. It’s got all the glitch and glamour of some of our favorite electronic artists of the last few years, but this has a je ne sais quoi that really seems to make it special/fresh. I dig the running water and clear piano that tie the whole album together and give it a sort of nu-classical feel and can’t wait to give it a bunch more listens to pick up on all the nuance that I surely missed the first time around. Since my words will never do it any justice and since the album is free, you really have no excuse not to give it a listen if this is your thing. Check out “Memory [Cassettes]” below for another flavor if you still don’t believe me and download the album here. Oh, and did I mention that it was 17 year old Sunik Kim who made this album? Kids these days…[are way better at music than me]
01/15/2012
Elen Never Sleeps – My Aquamarine
Going through some emails in my quest to carry on the freestyle blogger lifestyle (even though it’s getting more and more difficult, mainly because I just started watching “Breaking Bad” and don’t want to stop) and ran across this nice tune from Tokyo’s Elen Never Sleeps, a one-man bedroom pop project (which I always seem to dig). It’s shoegazey in a Wild Nothing kind of way (as opposed to the heavier sort of shoegaze sound), and in fact makes me feel kind of the same way that Wild Nothing does. Hit up his bandcamp for some more free tunes.
01/10/2012
Solar Bears – Alpha People
When two acts that appeared/I discovered in 2011 and enjoy muchly join forces, how can anything bad happen? And such is the case with this new tune from our Irish friends Solar Bears who have released the first track from their upcoming album Migration with guest vocals from none other than Sarah of Keep Shelly In Athens. I like this track so much. Old school flavor, interesting asymmetrical rhythms, key changes galore, and a song that picks up a bit of steam all the way through…what’s not to love? <3
01/09/2012
Gracie – Tryck R Treat
A few months back I decided to hop on a plane at the last second to see what CMJ was all about. On the night I arrived, one of the very first people I met was Andrew Balasia aka Gracie. Besides being a pretty cool guy, I got to catch one of his sets and liked what I heard. His upcoming Treehouse EP is being released on Small Plates Records (you can preorder it here) and you may have already heard “Sisters”, but Gracie has offered up another track for your listening pleasure. If you thought “Sisters” was a bit too glitchy or abrasive for your liking (which I did not), you should give a listen to the smoother and more melodic “Tryck R Treat”. Because we all wish it was halloween again, and not the dead of winter. We got a chance to hear the rest of the EP as well, and we like it.
01/08/2012
Inc. – Heart Crimes
What do you get when you combine some quasi-minimal beats with Prince-esque RnB vocals? You get Inc. (the brothers formally known as Teen, Inc). How come this song wasn’t all over the blogosphere when their 3 EP was released way back in the summer? Listen to “Heart Crimes” below and then we’ll see what else these brothers have up their collective sleeve.
[via Britticisms]
01/06/2012
The Morning Clouds – A Walk Home
Just stumbled upon this track (via it getting sent to me in an electronic mail message) and I thought it was just great. “A Walk Home” is a track from Wasted Youth Blues, the debut EP from fivesome The Morning Clouds, led by Josh Wambeke. It’s a slower tune with a Beach House-y vibe that swells into a luscious blanket of musical warmth so I’m clearly on board with it right away. And if that wasn’t up your alley, check out the pretty unrecognizable 8+ minute remix from Sad City (which is for some reason called the LA Remix) that gives me a sort of Delorean/The Field-esque happy sunshine dancing feeling in my ears.
