Sweden’s Mackaper make old school psychedelic music built around the tinny drum beats and vintage tones of old Hammond B3 organs. Originally the duo of Markus Hulthen and Per Nyström from the Concretes, the band has expanded into a six piece and mastered a sound that’s equal parts funky Swedish prog, hypnotic motorik riffs, and wild bursts of free jazz.
Highlights of the group’s latest, When All Is Sad and Dawn, include pseudo-title track “Sad and Dawn,” powered by the jazzy drumming of Simon Stålhamre and a circus-esque organ melody; the pastoral “Tindra,” with its dewy mixture of organ, melodica, and french horn, and the hymn-like “December.” “Tale of Tales,” found below for your consideration, emphasizes swirling, gothic organ melody and wordless, ghostly female vocals to great effect.
When All Is Sad and Dawn can be purchased via Mackaper’s website.
I make no bones about the fact that I’m a moron. Exhibit M (or wherever we are in this real time demonstration), I start cleaning out my old email, and find a message from October of 2008. That’s Q4 of ‘08. This was during the second Bush administration, mind you. Stamps were 42 cents. Billy Mays was still alive and selling me on cleaning solutions I used on a weekly basis.
Yeah, so that was a while ago. Sorry dudes. Regardless, the message from Panda Riot caught my eye and I checked it out. Liked it very much. Liked it so much that the PR firm that employs me picked them up too (just a full disclosure). Anyway, the Chicago collective gives off a thick vibe blast of second wave dream pop vibes a la The Stratford 4 and The Eaves (though perhaps more informed by Velocity Girl), packed with restrained and hypnotic analog electronic flourishes and sugar siren meets punchy Spector-esque post doo-wop vocals. And their name is Panda Riot. Ya know what I mean:
But of course they’re on MySpazz, so see about ‘em. Additionally, I’m very happy to premiere this track off their forthcoming EP Far and New.
Baby Sloth Spirit would be a pretty weak ghost story but I think it fits just fine for this California down tempo project. His new self-released Eyes EP kind of sounds like Boards of Canada re-imagined by Paper Rad or bit-crushed flashbacks of arcade game victory screens. You know, the kind of psychedelic 80’s melange you’d expect from someone who still rocks unicorn t-shirts and has a Myspace that’ll make your eyes bleed. Mummified dance beats sweat warm tape saturation to vaguely tropical keyboard workouts that owe more to the New Age Tapes collective than chillwave artists. This is a great way to relive your childhood without having to scrounge for quarters. Selective memory never sounded so good.
I hate to tease you guys with a song when I have no info to give, but the amount of times I’ve listened to this particular one in the past couple days seems exception-worthy. World ofWitchcraft’s jams are just too perfectly executed by their hazy, opium riddled, post-Joy Division prowess for me to care about much else. All I can tell you is that he/she has a 7″ coming out some time on Captured Tracks (shocker) and that they’ll be playing with the equally rad Cloud Nothings in Brooklyn this March supporting Abe Vigoda. You can stream a few cuts on their myspace. Thanks to our buds @No Conclusion for the tip.
…on the new Velvet Davenport 7″? How? Am I really that inept of a blogger? Guess so. That’s pathetic, ya’ll. When news of the Get Out + Run vinyl deployed from the mighty Sdwply Records all the way back on February 6th, we should’ve been on that like flies on horseshit. But we weren’t. Ridiculous.
Anyway, enough with the self deprecation and on with the jam. “Get Out” is included below for your purusal. This collaboration reminds me a lot of The Vaselines weirder work (or a more focused R. Stevie Moore track), so I’m very much in love. Visit Shdwply if you want to swipe your copy, which you do, so get on that. And mucho grasias to Microphone Memory Machine for properly reporting this news in a timely manner, as opposed to our sorry ass.
This goes without saying, but: Velvet Davenport, Ariel Pink, and Gary War Collaboration > We Are the World 25.
Over the past few months I’ve listened to a ton of poorly recorded drone music, so it’s pretty refreshing to hear a beautifully mixed ambient album like loscil’s Endless Falls. loscil, a.k.a. Scott Morgan, is from Vancouver, and this is his fifth album under the loscil name (he also drums in Destroyer). Beginning and ending with the sound of rain, Endless Falls is a dour, contemplative album that uses the tools of dub techno (phasers, heavy echo, flangers) and instruments like viola, piano, and harp (?) to create poignant soundscapes that are both tense and becalming. Like fellow Canadian Tim Hecker, Morgan is a master at creating instrumental music with hidden depths; songs that seemed pleasant on the first listen later sound on edge, and vice versa.
According to the album’s press release, many of the songs are built around samples of rain recorded in Morgan’s backyard. This is most apparent on songs like “Showers of Ink” and “Shallow Water Blackout,” which capture the way in which the rhythm of the rain can be both eerie and comforting. “Lake Orchard,” which I’m including for streaming, has a deep low end that pulses beneath shimmering loops and strings–it’s an amazing track.
Endless Falls will be available March 1 on Kranky.
Got a nice little reward for getting my ass out of bed this morning in the form of a rad demo from Young Adults. Recorded right under my nose here Brighton, MA, these three locals transplant the aggressive undertow of punk into a shoegaze breed. The barking vocals evoke the glory days of the DC scene and gives the spacey surf rock vibe an amphetamine pick me up. They formed last October as two brothers and a mutual friend to combat “post-college idleness”, but they’ve certainly hit on something bigger. Currently unsigned, but probably not for long, consider yourself tipped. The only problem I have with these songs is that they make me wanna skate but it’s too shitty out.
Dude… last week was shit. We found out that our largest (and rather legendary) independent music retailer, ear X-tacy, might be closing their doors. We also found out that our Six Flags will definitely be closing its doors (miss you wave pool). And to top it all off, I’ve been trying to quit smoking. Fuck, it’s a horrible experience that I don’t recommend! If you’re a non-smoker, don’t start. If you already do, keep the smoke stack churnin’ because quitting is psychologically destructive and sucks major dick. I’ve been having dreams reminiscent of the last five minutes of Eraserhead and shit. So, needless to say, things are not well with our hero.
To that end, I’m very thankful that Deep Space Recordings is around to provide me with my fix. Check the glory that is The Fauns (not to be confused with The Fonze, which I could not put up with right now). The Fauns come to us from the motherland of shoegaze, The UK (though their hometown of Bristol is more known for their beats than their beats in space). Not only is this original-yet-true-to-canon shimmering and subdued ethereal pop awesome, it’s awesome sounding. The resonant low end and thick tones on “Lovestruck” are as much of a joy to hear as the song itself. And… that’s all that really needs to be said about it. Sure, I spent most of this entry talking more about contextual and tertiary details that are in no way relevant to The Fauns. But dude, this anecdotal evidence is all you really need to know… I was bumming, this song turned my frown the fuck upside down, and it’s massive and beautiful. So have a listen below, venture to Deep Space Recordings to hear more streaming audio and look at The Fauns’ stash (as well as other fine artists), and we’ll talk again soon. Laters.
Last Christmas my friend got his niece the first High Places album and she gave it her coveted best new music designation. Like much of the stuff coming out around that time, it wasn’t hard to imagine it as a fitting soundtrack for playtime. Pots and pans, whimsical use of world music sampling, and saccharine vocals held the LA duo guarded from rigorous criticism in it’s naive execution. On their upcoming second full-length, High Places vs. Mankind, they haven’t abandoned this aesthetic entirely, but it is, to my pleasant surprise, a slightly different beast. The drum beats crack and shuffle with renewed confidence and guitars take a higher seat in the mix to create more complex moods. A little dissonance is a welcome addition to the percussion-heavy minimalism we’ve come to expect, and Mary Pearson explores darker textures for her voice that really pull this out of it’s niche. We know you’re already excited about this, and for good reason. Out with the cute, in with the new.
High Places vs. Mankind will be available April 6th on Thrill Jockey.
