There’s a really good 12″ EP coming out from the Dutch label Relatives that is worth checking out. Four artists, four songs. The record features great electronica/dance music from Axel Karakasis, Zule, Wyrus & Matija Marinic, and Boriqua Tribez, so if you’re a fan of techno that pushes the limits, get this. You can order your copy from Juno UK. To hear excerpts from each of the songs, clicking this will open up WinAmp to listen to an audio stream from Juno.
Jon Kennedy has yet another 45 release coming out, this one bringing “Boom Clack” together with “Mr. Brown”, credited to KRS Jon vs. Bob Marley so get your hands on this one. You can order your copies from Organik Recordings.
Kingdom has turned Shyvonne’s “Mindreader” inside out and has turned it into a wicked club track. The song, b/w “You” is being released as a 10″ single by Acephale Records, and it sounds like it will seriously turn some heads no matter where you play it.
You can order your copy here. Only 500 copies will be made, so snatch doubles while you can.
When I popped in Nedry’s Condors (Monotreme), the first thing I thought of when I was listening to the electronic beats buzzing and tweezing was Chemical Brothers. As the vocals came in, I said “oh, Björk lite”, but that’s unfair.
Vocalist Ayu Okakita has been in a number of groups over the years, but now she’s with Nedry, who are also Matt Parker and Chris Amblin. Okakita’s voice is very smooth, delicate, sensual, and eerie all at the same time, singing something that may come off like a loud whisper but is really just her reserved way of singing with power. She doesn’t over do it, so songs like “Four Layers Of Pink”, “Scattered”, and “Where The Dead Birds Go” could bring back flashbacks of the best works of Portishead or Gina Rene and Soulstice. What I love are the layers of sound Amblin and Parker create, especially as things move from dreamy to abrasive in a Shirley Manson fashion. When she sings in a manner that may sound like she’s borderlne out-of-control, the music backs that feeling up and the mood is always right where it needs to be.
The album cover consists of a pixelated eagle, which in a way may help inform the listener about the unpredictable sounds within.
(vinyl version comes with a CD of the full album) |
Holy Hail received some nice words with the release of last year’s EP, The Dying Party, and now they’re about to go on tour in support of a new EP (title to be announced), both happening in April. They were able to find friendship with the band Florence and the Machine, and together they’ll brave the unpredictable spring weather of the Americas. Here are the dates for their tour:
04.05.10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre Of Living Arts
04.07.10 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
04.09.10 – Manhattan, NY @ Terminal 5
04.10.10 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Center
04.12.10 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
04.14.10 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
04.15.10 – Seattle, WA @ the Showbox
04.17.10 – Portland, OR @ the Mezzanine
If you live in or near New York City, you’ll be able to catch them at The Armory this Sunday (March 7th), where they’ll most likely play tracks from the new EP.
Zang Tuum Tumb (or Zang Tumb Tuum if you wish, ZTT for short) were responsible for 808 State’s success around the world in the 90’s. Twenty years later, ZTT are about to release brand new remasters from the electronica group.
I reviewed two of my favorite 808 albums, 808:90 and ex:ex. You can read a review of both discs by clicking to Okayplayer.com.
This is an older video (the video came out last November) but was only made aware of it recently, so I pass it along. This is from Comfort Fit’s album, Polyshuffle, on the Tokyo Dawn label.
Esther Duijn has been entertaining fans and nightclub fanatics in the Netherlands and throughout Europe with her music and extensive DJ sets. She continues to push the possibilities of sound with a new 12″ single on a brand new label in Portugal, Exquisite Music.
Side A is a track simply called “Track 1″ and is credited to D.A.D., which is Duijn, Anonym, and Steady Douglas. Anonym is the only American in the trio, and is very secretive about his work (thus his name). Side B features “Zuidwest” by Duijn and Douglas.
The 12″ was released on February 12th and can be ordered through Decks.de.
Duijn has also archived a number of her DJ sets on her Soundcloud page, which you can download for free.
The vinyl pressing for Autechre’s forthcoming album, Oversteps, is very impressive. The double-LP is described as such:
Double heavyweight 180gram vinyl, each disc packed in its own printed inner and outer card sleeves
900mm x 600mm double-sided poster printed on Offenbach ultra fine stock, folded within its own card sleeve
Housed in printed and debossed rigid slipcase
It looks like a deluxe box set. You can see different perspectives of the packaging by clicking to the Warp Records website. Warp has March 23rd listed as the release date.
If you’ve pre-ordered the album (LP or CD) from Autechre’s website, you are now able to download the album right now for free right now. You’ll be able to download it as high quality (320kbps) MP3’s), or as WAV files, either as 16bit/44.1kHz (standard CD audio) or 24-bit/96kHz (hi-resolution DVD-Audio quality). It’s nice to see that a band cares so much for the music and the packaging equally.
Derek Webb is an artist from Nashville who feels that his new album should be heard by as many people as possible. Or more specifically, the album as originally intended since the label he was with didn’t approve of one of the songs, so for a short time he’s giving away for free.
Stockholm Syndrome is an album that continues to show development of this contemporary Christian artist who became known first as a member of Caedmon’s Call. He left the group for awhile to devote himself to a solo career, but joined them again a few years ago. His style of music is pop with Christian overtones but not overly so, with electronic-based production, so it’s addictive for all the right reasons.
Webb found himself in a bit of controversy when one of the songs from the album, “”What Matters More”, was considered too much by his record label, as it points the finger at Christians who may believe one thing but may speak hate towards the actions of others, more specifically one’s sexuality. It may be “expected” from pop or rock artists of the secular world, but a protest song in Christian music? Blasphemy indeed.
Webb has decided to release the uncensored album for free. You can make an optional donation for the download, or if you love the album, show some support by buying a hard copy, which you can do so here. The store also includes a DVD documentary on the making of the album called Paradise Is A Parking Lot. Since Webb is also open to people creating remixes of his work, the DVD also features isolated multi-track stems so you can bring his music into your world (some remixes have already been made and can be heard on his Soundcloud page.
