Where the food sounds good, and the music is pretty tasty too.
Los Angeles-based duo Kisses have a penchant for making electro Pop music gems like their single release The Hardest Part. This is the kind of music summertime is made for or vice versa. No matter, you can check out their sophomore release Kids In L.A. courtesy of CASINE records. Peace.
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Pony Bwoy is the latest project from rapper/singer/provocateur Jeremy Nutzman (aka Spyder Baybie Raw Dog), this time teaming up with producer Hunter Morley. Departing from his usual antics as a drugged-up after-party boy late to the club, Nutzman has now blossomed into a soulful smooth-talker, with vocal chops and rhythmic control of uncanny proportions. This transformation is no doubt a result of his collaborating with H. Morley and his forward thinking R&B-inspired production. The songs of Pony Bwoy vary from dance floor anthems to late-night chill zone lullabies perfect accompaniment for conjoined intimacy and solo exploration in the fine art of herblaxation. Album drops tomorrow July 16th. Peace. Continue reading “pony bwoy // hallowed ground + dark soccer”
Last month, Poliça unveiled the graphic NABIL-directed video for Tiff. Along with the clip, the band released the cover art and track release for their forthcoming LP, Shulamith. Today, the band have announced an October 22nd date for the album, and offered up a re-envisioned version of Tiff, helmed by Drake-collaborator and producer behind The Weeknd, Doc McKinney.
Listen to the track after the jump, and head over to thisispolica.com for Shulamith cover art and album lyrics. Peace.
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Barsuk Records is excited to announce that Menomena is touring this fall in support of their latest album Moms. The co-headlining tour with fellow Portland duo The Helio Sequence starts on September 28th 2013 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and ends on October 25th at Urban Lounge in Salt Lake City. Full tour dates are below.
Moms is the Portland-based band’s fifth album, and their first as a duo. The album has been receiving wide praise, with Pitchfork proclaiming “Moms is without doubt the most aggressive record Menomena have ever made” and calling the lead single “Heavy Is As Heavy Does” “gloriously morose.” Rolling Stone likewise hailed the track as “an emotive outburst of a song that expertly sidesteps melodrama – confessional rock thrills without the cheesy aftertaste.” Paste remarked that the record is “the most candid and personal Menomena release to date,” while Under the Radar called Menomena “one of the most well thought-out bands working today, never sacrificing structure or composition in the name of delivering a series of power chords.” Alarm declared that Moms “is arguably Menomena’s best effort to date.” Peace.
Continue reading “menomena // co-headlining fall tour with the helio sequence”
The rap duo Old Money (Ahmad Julian and Andre Oswald) rifts precipitously and adroitly upon matters of realness minus the pre-packaged cross-fade of the fake and contrived. Rap music, like every other type or genre of music, is perpetually going through evolutionary cycles. And like all things Darwinian the weak and inefficient will go the way of the Dodo bird, leaving room for innovation and renovation.
This evolution is reminiscent of the undulating waves of sea change or stock market trends; the former based on mother nature and the latter a virtual artificial construct which has all too real consequences in our everyday lives. It is exactly this kind of mundane dichotomy which pushes and pulls rap music against itself, it becomes stale on one side of the coin and cannibalistic like Francisco Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son on the flip-side. Reincarnation or regurgitation? Rerun of reinvention?
And so the pendulum swings between the blatant commercial effigies, i.e., Jay Z’s Magna Carter Holy Grail, Kanye West’s Yeezus etc. Listening to the acerbic tracks which make up the heart and head of their debut release Fire In The Dark via Dutty Artz, is kind of like unlearning bad habits, eating more fresh fruits and veggies or subscribing to Luminosity. Basically, vowing to be a better human being through the quality of the sonic images you put into your brain cavity. This curated collection of tracks is deep but not overly didactic, no superiority complex here.
This isn’t underbelly, grimy realness, but rather the mentally progressive and self-propulsive variety. Then there is the music, which is more world-pulse driven and less stereotypically typical. And further, this LP was by no means a quick fix for what Rap music was missing. In the words of duo co-founder Ahmad Julian, “It was a few years in the making, so we definitely want to make sure people get a chance to sit with it for a bit longer.” So, pull up a chair, the table is set, read the menu. Nothing but good food for thought up in here.
Also, check out Old Money’s Certified Space Trade Mix, it has more tracks than NYC’s Inwwod-Far Rockaway line. Peace. Continue reading “old money // fire in the dark”
At 23-years of age, Mat Zo (Matan Zohar) is part of a new breed of precocious, unrestricted DJ/producers that are making big noises without the one-dimensional genre blinkers of old. In the last 12-months alone, the London-based producer has seen his boundary-blurring productions like Bipolar and his latest missive – the big room melodic funk anthem “Easy” with partner in crime Porter Robinson – dominate the Beatport charts. But really all you have to do is let your ears come into contact with the music and it’ll be a wrap. Also, as an added and totally sky-scraping bonus get Mat Zo’s latest extended Mix Of The Week courtesy of Mixmag. Peace.
Continue reading “matt zo + porter robinson = easy + mix of the week + free download”
Honestly I can’t think of a better way to kick off another fine Summer weekend than with a bangin’ new mellifluous dance music mix from the incomparable Anna Lunoe. This particular mix first aired on Evolution/Dim Mak Radio on the 4th of July and, as expected, features Anna’s signature style of dead on bulls-eye, high quality, proper like House music, sure to get any and all bottoms shakin’ this weekend. Peace. Continue reading “anna lunoe // anna lunoe mix”
Shot in sun drenched Spain and directed by Alan Masferrer, the video perfectly captures the dreamy summery mood of A.M.A..
A.M.A. is out now on limited edition Rough Trade 12” and download, with remixes from the Norwegian songwriter Susanne Sundfør who has collaborated previously with MAPS and recently featured on the M83 soundtrack for the film Oblivion; Dutch electronic artist Legowelt and fellow Mercury nominees The Invisible alongside a remix from MAPS himself.
The latest LP Vicissitude focuses, tightens and sharpens MAPS’ expansive sound. The album might have been born from a long period of self-contemplation, but maybe you do need a while to get simple answers to the difficult questions. Time to face the light. Peace.
Continue reading “maps // a.m.a. + official video”
A voice threads through my ears like starlight and heated wind. I am soul-touched though untouched physically. I am floored, a pool of human flesh upon the floor. I panting deeply, catching my breath only after her voice goes silent. I am lost and found in the sound of a… voice. Laura Mvula has the power to subdue a listener. And with a voice as remarkable as it is beautiful its no wonder she’s captured hearts the world over. The song She has been re-released as a single accompanied by a new video. If you recall the first video it featured a young boy watching Ms. Mvula performing with a choir in a house of worship, however this time out it depicts the life events of a young girl finding love. Peace.
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marika hackman // cannibal + video
The song Cannibal by the profoundly talented Marika Hackman is an exercise in beautiful, albeit subtle, songwriting. This is a song as compact as it is sapient. The notes drift like billowy daisy seeds on a languid summer wind. And Ms. Hackman’s vocals subsist above it all vapor-like, wise and sun-streaked. Cannibal is one of seven songs rife with beauty from her debut That Iron Taste mini-album. Peace.
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