We’ve tended to avoid the whole beach meme (save for Real Estate) that has propagated itself across the voluminous festering pit that is the blogosphere. That doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy sunny jams, especially when done with pizzazz and that certain je ne sais quoi that makes music immediately difficult to categorize. Bedroom recording artist double U’s latest, Pineapple Dream, fits the mold for rolled down windows and vibing out in some lounge furniture. However, a visceral intensity and dark sonic space runs throughout Parisian Franck Rabeyrolles’ 14 tracks, providing some ominous clouds to obscure the rays when it seems necessary.

Surf-inspired clean guitar tones, light percussion, an occasional unusual instrument (banjo, accordion), warm synth flourishes, distant vocals, and a shit-ton of reverb make up the entirety of Pineapple Dream. The way in which this simple formula is realized, with great effect, vastly varies the mood throughout. The album’s intro best represents the ends of double U’s spectrum, included below for your consideration. And yes, that’s Stereolab’s Laetita Sadier taking up throat duty on “Interludic.” Simple, layered psychedelic pop just in time for the warming weather, Pineapple Dream is available now from Wool.

For fans of:  City Center, Atlas Sound, Galaxie 500

MP3 :::
double U – Hey Bro
double U – Interludic [feat. Laetita Sadier]

And it sounds muy bueno. Enjoy “Car.” Emily Reo is on some next level hauntological shit.

POSSIBLY RELEVANT :::
Emily Reo’s Haunted Graffiti

MP3 :::
Emily Reo – Car

Can’t figure out this band name. It’s one of three things, right? Black Feelings are either keeping in line with the tradition of naming your band Black ____ (Black Eyes, Black Dice, Black Sabbath, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Black Lips, Black Keys, Black Mountain, Black Angels, Black Kids, Black Flag, Black Francis, Crunchy Black, Fleetwood Black, etc… DUDES, MY SHIT IS CONFUSED), relating some sort of odd commentary on race relations, or it’s something nonsensical/an inside joke we’re not privy to. It’s perhaps worth mentioning that none of these dudes are black (though race is a social construct, but that’s a different conversation). They are all Canadian, though, and more importantly, they are a neo-no wave collective that totally rip.

The little bit of press that this evil triage has garnered most often compares them to Liars. I think that’s fair, though I think their lush, brooding, echo chamber art punk is closer to This Heat and Suicide with a slice of shoegaze aesthetics and freak electro.  However, Black Feelings have a sound all their own. A little bit of Throbbing Gristle’s abrasiveness here, a dash of epic angular battle marches a la Swell Maps there, and insane sound effects peppered about in a very Acid Mothers Temple manner, all conceived in a relatively easy-to-swallow package that is both fun and mind-expanding. A real joy to listen to, despite song titles like “Eternal Bad Trip.”

Their eponymous debut is available now on the very underrated Alien8 Recordings.

For fans of:  Swell Maps, This Heat, Women

MP3 :::
Black Feelings – Golden Children
Black Feelings – Eternal Bad Trip

I’ll try to keep this short, since Bear in Heaven’s recently released debut Beast Rest Forth Mouth will probably be all over the Intarwebz and college radio soon, and people with more sophisticated prose than I will be discussing this jam hive. But I’m a verbose bro, so we’ll see what happens. This is what you need to know, in easy-to-read bullet format:

- Bear in Heaven is not to be confused with Grizzly Bear, Panda Bear, Gorilla Vs. Bear, Bear Bryant, The Black Bear Jamboree in Pigeon Forge, TN (which is the tits, don’t be misled), Bearforce1 (look it up if U DON’T KNO), Smokey the Bear, et fuckin’ cetera. They’re totally different than the aforementioned. They just have “bear” in the name. “Bear” is the new “wolf.” Or “crystal.” Or “sufjan.” Crystal Bears are Wolf Like Sufjan. I challenge The Hood Internet to mash that up.

- Bear In Heaven isn’t exactly new. They’ve been doing the damn thing since 2003. Before that, group founder Jon Philpot (not to be confused with Pol Pot – see first bullet) was half of Presocratics, who were sick and insane. Peep Works and Days.

- Yes, they formed in Brooklyn, but I’m really not trying to hold that against them.

- “Dust Cloud” and “Deafening Love” are near perfect songs. “Wholehearted Mess” is kinda shitty, though.

- That last fact notwithstanding, the album as a whole is really good. Remember when M83 released the Dead Cities set and it totally ruled? Then M83 released the follow-up, Before the Dawn Heals Us, and it sucked major dick? Bear in Heaven is reminiscent of the former, but only reminiscent. They don’t actually sound like M83. They sound closer to some sort of Public Image Ltd./Siouxie Souix/Bark Psychosis meets Cocteau Twins/Curve/Boo Radleys creature.

- All the songs are constructed from ideas straight out of the Mogwai School of Thought: constantly evolving and tension-building jams that collapse and fade. Their approach is much closer to this than the nuanced, motorik drive of krautrock. However, that genre definition has been thrown around in a few recent reviews for Beast Rest Forth Mouth. Don’t listen to these people because they are idiots. Bear in Heaven is an excellent nod to post rock and dream pop, not krautrock.

- For reasons that remain intangible, there’s something about Philpot’s vocals that is viscerally similar to REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin, especially during the crescendo of “Bear in Peace” and the chorus of “Lovesick Teenagers.” I think that rules. REO Speedwagon plus shoegaze is a recipe for win.

- I can’t tell what’s synthetic and what’s live instrumentation, much like Manitoba’s Up in Flames. That’s a great style, too.

- This is why we don’t release our Best Of/Worst Of list until the actual end of the year. You never know when stuff like this will pop up.

For fans of:  Cocteau Twins, Fever Ray, Slowdive, Bark Psychosis

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating

MP3 :::
Bear in Heaven – Dust Cloud
Bear in Heaven – Deafening Love

…Cynicism can’t escape the chillness of Washed Out’s hazy electro rip-tide. His new EP High Times is sort of like an 80’s movie soundtrack á la M83 but instead of the bubblegum and popcorn of John Hughes we slide through nine tracks of Risky Business style seduction.

Producer Ernest Greene mashes the kind of retro-future synth touches common on Warp with sunny arpeggios and deep hip-hop bass. Only working on this project for two months, he’s already dropped the infectious, blog-approved Life of Leisure on Mexican Summer, a synth-pop EP drenched in beach coma ecstasy. On this follow-up, Greene rotates the vocals out more to make room for vaporous interludes that play like blissful alter-egos of those found on BoC’s Geodaggi. This cassette-only release is currently sold out (cue bummer), but allow these MP3’s to motivate you to stick around until we can get a restock.

The High Times cassette is currently being released in small runs by Mirror Tapes.

MP3 :::
Washed Out – Phone Call
Washed Out – Luck

Oh gee whiz you guys, I made a computer programming joke in this entry’s subject. I’ll now get all sorts of geeks coming here looking for hawt tips on Ruby on Rails, and all they’ll get is some fucked-up kraut/electro/experimental/intergalactic instrumental pop. Bad vibes, greases!

No, but seriously, this On Rails stuff is on point. Dig on “Broken on the Wheel”’s tinty, crisp, motorik-driven, freaky-deeky electro battle cry, closer to Neu ‘75 than, say, the Faust Tapes. This is a power jam. Use it to get your morning started. And dude, czech the On Rails bro’s cover of the Velvets’ “White Light, White Heat” with enough vocoder to make Wendy Carlos and Black Moth Super Rainbow shit at the same time. Ever wonder what a classic rock cover performed by Kraftwerk would sound like? Wonder no more. This cover is crazy.

All of their current material is available for free on their website, with the thought that you’ll come out to see them at a later point because you like the songs. I think that tactic works.

For fans of:  Can, Kraftwerk, Cluster

MP3 :::
On Rails – Broken on the Wheel
On Rails – White Light White Heat

Broadcast, in some ways, seem to have followed rather stridently along a solid trajectory. The group started as a quartet firmly planted in haunting ’60s vocal pop and garage ballads, augmented by lightly arranged vintage atomic age samples and Trish Keenan’s silky and distant vocals. The latter was, of course, the only thing that ever remained consistent, as Broadcast became more divergent through the years, ending with 2005’s glitchy, noisy, electronics-heavy and cosmically surreal Tender Buttons.

Perhaps it is simply a new direction or the influence of Julian House from The Focus Group on this latest effort, but Witch Cults of the Radio Age acts as the bridge between the organic retro-futuristic pop of Work and Non-Work and the more chaotic latter repertoire, with extra ornate instrumentation courtesy of House. This is a spooky, gorgeous record, and probably the most accessible effort from the “library music” camp (i.e. the Ghost Box/Mute/Warp family that both samples and draws inspiration from the classic BBC Radiophonic Workshop – see Barry 7’s Connectors and the Ghost Box site for additional reference).

With the exception of Keenan’s contributions that channel Margo Guryan and The United States of America, it’s hard to distinguish where Broadcast ends and The Focus Group begins, other than the weirdo samples that House is wont to incorporate into his instrumentals (including a slew of Conet Project snippets, which is major thumbs up). The collaboration is seamless and refreshing, and has added to an extremely strong addition to the nearly flawless curriculum vitae for both Broadcast and The Focus Group. I’m not sure if I feel this way because I’ve been listening to the same Broadcast catalog for four years and this disc is new, but Witch Cults of the Radio Age might just be my favorite Broadcast release thus far. Hence, I’m getting very excited for the full length due out on Warp some time next year.

No need to give Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age our normal rating or any of that jive. This is absolutely essential listening that earns its one billion smiling Donald Fagens. It’s total insanity.

You can purchase the digital release right now at Bleep, and/or grip the physical release on October 26. Get on it!

POSSIBLY RELATED :::
Praise Ye Jehova… Broadcast is Back in Action

MP3 :::
Files removed per request

Without any fanfare, Broadcast just released their first new material since 2005’s Tender Buttons, um, today. I was correct about the title, it’s called Witch Cults of the Radio Age. That’s the cover up there. And… it’s a collaboration with Julian House! House is, as you may know, not only the graphic designer for all of Broadcast’s album and poster imagery, but is also a member of Ghost Box “library music” powerhouse The Focus Group.

Though it’s a “mini album,” or EP, or “primer for proper forthcoming full length,” or whatever they’re categorizing it as, Witch Cults spans 23 tracks (though I’m sure some of them are segues and analog tomfoolery). Here’s a preview. Shit is space age!

This is going to be so good. I haven’t heard it in full, but I’m currently downloading it RIGHT NOW from Bleep. You should do the same.

Majorly stoked on the Columbus gig October 25. Perhaps the press pass fairy will pay ol’ Bloggins a visit for that one. Pretty please?

Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age:
1. Intro/Magnetic Tales
2. The Be Colony
3. How Do You Get Along Sir?
4. Will You Read Me.
5. Reception/Group Therapy
6. A Quiet Moment
7. I See, So I See So
8. You Must Wake
9. One Million Years Ago
10. A Seancing Song
11. Mr Beard, You Chatterbox
12. Drug Party
13. Libra, The Mirror’s Minor Self
14. Love’s Long Listen-In
15. We Are After All Here
16. A Medium’s High
17. Ritual / Looking In
18. Make My Sleep His Song
19. Royal Chant
20. What I Saw
21. Let It Begin/Oh Joy
22. Round and Round and Round
23. The Be Colony/Dashing Home/What on Earth Took You?

I enjoyed the new Tickley Feather record the first time I sat down to listen to it on Wednesday. Then yesterday I had a nasty 24-hour flu bug (or a 24-hour H1N1 – I’m uninsured, so I didn’t have it professionally diagnosed) and got rowdy on the Nyquil and Dayquil at the same time. I was thoroughly fucked. It was at that point that the new Tickley Feather jam hive sounded real good. I tried to type out my review for the album in this state, but all that came out was thoughts like “fickley teather’s bringing the happy face grind out ya doppler radar outta control” and “annie sachs lol, reminds me of, like, ’sacks’ as in ‘i want to carry around sacks so if someone ask for a hand i can be like – no dice, got these sacks’ jack handey to the max”(true story). Better wait until I’m 100% to write this, which I’m doing right now.

So… the fuck was I talking about? Oh yes, we were discussing adorable lil’ Annie Sachs, a.k.a. Tickley Feather a.k.a. Animal Collective’s BFF 4 Life. The Feather recently described her forthcoming Hors D’oeuvres as an attempt to embrace her “Southern Gothic meets Existential Hillbilly vibe,” promising a more bucolic, joyful, accessible effort. Bucolic? Yes, and you can hear the optimism embedded within from her recent move back to her homestead of rural Virginia. But accessible? Fear not, Tickley Feather is still weird as all hell and delightfully psychotic and looking glass-esque. Different this time around, as previously alluded, is the very concise, focused songwriting. The album’s production still sounds like it was recorded underwater (as it should), but the melodies and compositions are so good. Perhaps Hors D’oeuvres will go quadruple platinum. I fucking hope so.

Tickley’s signature drum machine, melted keys, and allegiance to four-track recording still remain in the forefront as she experiments with many genres, intrepreted slight askew of course. “Sure Relaxing” combines aquatic vocals and wah-pedal to evoke a sexy, LSD-lens Cocteau Twins. “Club Rhythm 96 and Cell Phone” brings you nasty dance funk electroclash as recorded by and for the Morlocks. “Buzzy” takes a page out of Ariel Pink’s instrumental jam book, using minimal loops and altering their fidelity to change the mood and timbre of the song throughout a la William Basinki (and a gorgeous one it is). “Don’t Call, Marilyn” amalgamates a ’60s doo wop sensibility with a sort of paranoia-inducing carnival beat and remains a big highlight.

However, where Tickley really hits her stride is on “Trashy Boys” and “Roses of Romance.” Tickley has a serious sense of soaring melody that was only hinted at on earlier work like “Natural.” Despite the wash of hazy effects and otherwordly disposition, there’s a quiet intimacy a la Movietone through the songs’ resplendent warmth that’s quite refreshing in the freak folk realm (though called Tickley “freak folk” is a bit of a disservice to her rather ingenious music). Truly gorgeous stuff.

Hors D’oeuveres holds up as I listen to it now with a sober mind, and was totally fuckin’ awesome on cough meds. Without sounding cliched, it is truly a syrupy trip into strange candy-coated lands, like entering the “Dark World” in Zelda Link to the Past. Highly recommended for all ocassions, and I reckon that it will end up on the best-of list for the year.

Hors D’oeuvres will burrow a hole in your dome when it drops October 20 coutesy of Paw Tracks. The image at the top is not the cover of the new album, by the way. High-res artwork has yet to be released for it.

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating

For fans of:  Ariel Pink, Bachelorette, Broadcast, Movietone

MP3 :::
Tickley Feather – Roses of Romance
Tickley Feather – Trashy Boys

Hey Trish and James,

It’s Bloggins. Many moons since we’ve heard from you all. I mean, it’s been a minute. I wondered what happened to you dudes. I mean, Broadcast drops this brilliant album, Tender Buttons, back in the fall of 2005. It made my solar plexus tingle. You all toured a bit on that jam hive. Good times. But then you guys, like, bounced. Just straight up peaced out. I feared you might’ve broken up. I went through five stages of acceptance.

But now you’re touring again – first time in ages. That’s great news. I guess I would’ve known about this sooner if I followed the Fun Fun Fest lineup, but unfortunately I didn’t/don’t give a shit about it. Perhaps I should be better about shit-giving. But anyway, you’ve roped in Deerhunter bro Bradford Cox’s Atlas Sound. Excellent choice. Does this mean that a new album is to follow? I hope so. You guys need to show the indie rock retards how it’s done. I know that a new EP is getting ready to drop on Warp. And that Focus Group had something to do with it? Sweet cinnamon and biscuits! It’s like Christmas up in this bitch.

Anyway, enough gabbin’. I do see you’re playing a club called The Black Cat, too. That’s funny. A hardy lol was muttered from this side of the table, no doubt. Hope the tour goes well, and I’ll be seeing you guys in Columbus or Chicago. Haven’t decided which yet. Wish you had, like, just one open date on the east coast so I could help bring you all to Louisville, but somebody’s got some type-A-personality booking goin’ on. I ain’t mad at ya, though.

TTYL,
Kenny Bloggins

All dates below are with Atlas Sound and The Selmanaires. No word on the official release date or title of the new EP, but I think it might be called Witch Cults of the Radio Age. If you poke around their MySpaceTime, you’ll probably ascertain why I think that. Anyway… dates…

10/15 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
10/16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
10/17 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
10/18 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church Sanctuary
10/20 New York, NY @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
10/21 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (CMJ)
10/22 Boston, MA @ The Paradise
10/23 Montreal, QC @ Le National
10/24 Toronto, ON @ Lees Palace
10/25 Columbus, OH @ Wexner Center
10/26 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
10/27 Northfield, MN @ The Cave
10/30 Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret
10/31 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
11/01 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
11/03 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
11/04 Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
11/05 Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
11/07 Denton, TX @ Hailey’s
11/08 Austin, TX @ Fun Fun Fun Fest

MP3 :::
Broadcast – Black Cat
Broadcast – The World Backwards