Music before it happens.
Tourist. ~ Placid Acid
Brighton, UK producer Will Phillips is known for his production work with bands such as HEALTH, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, and Memory Tapes under the name Little Loud. He recently went solo as Tourist., adopting a dreampop-y sound focused on distant, reverbed vocals and slow, repetitive synths. His EP, Placid Acid, is available on the MakeMine Bandcamp page.
Porcelain Raft ~ Unless You Speak From Your Heart
Italian-born Mauro Remiddi, who now records out of New York under the name Porcelain Raft, has had an interesting musical career, composing music for award-winning film shorts, playing for off-Broadway productions, and collaborating with several musicians on a variety of projects. His wayward and varied life is reflected in the dreamy strains of his current sounds, betraying a mind that’s never truly touched down, never at rest.
On his first full-length EP as Porcelain Raft, Strange Weekend, Remiddi blends together shoegaze and dream pop sounds, making liberal use of lilting organ riffs, muddled guitar, and breathy, agendered vocals. His never-quite-satisfied lyrics hint at that part of us that wants to float away, leaving the tribulations of daily life behind us as we cruise down the coast, watching the clouds disappear over the horizon.
Clams Casino ~ I’m God
New Jersey-based producer Clams Casino (nee Mike Volpe) started gaining recognition after sending his instrumental samples to explosively popular rapper Lil B (aka Based God), which the hip hop star then used as backing tracks to his rhymes. Sampling breathy female vocals from pop starlets such as Imogen Heap and layering them over soothing breaks lends an unexpectedly ethereal nature to Volpe’s tracks. They stand spectacularly on their own, free from the driving, chaotic influence of Lil B’s lyrics. He’s currently preparing to drop a solo EP, Rainforest, while on tour with Brooklyn noise-rock luminaries Black Dice this summer.
Black Moth Super Rainbow ~ spraypaint
Pittsburgh based psych-rockers Black Moth Super Rainbow have been conspicuously quiet since the 2009 release of their album Eating Us. Many of the band’s members have been pursuing independent projects, including synth-master The Seven Fields of Aphelion, who released her album Periphery in 2010 under Graveface. Frontman TOBACCO dropped a few independent and pre-BMSR tracks on his Soundcloud account, culminating in the release of this track a week ago. Though whether this track is a single or part of BMSR’s just-announced forthcoming album remains to be seen, its psych-wave vibes are great for chilling out to on a warm spring day.
Kona Triangle ~ Airlock
The result of a collaboration between Lone and Keaver & Brause, Kona Triangle’s 2009 album Sing A Sapling Into Existence combines ambient synthetics (reminiscent of Boards of Canada) with stuttering, hip-hop influenced drum tracks that evoke Bibio and some of the better break artists out there. Their use of both synthetic and recorded ambient samples makes their songs perfect backgrounds to the subtle movements of the world.
Gold Panda ~ Marriage
Gold Panda is a composer and producer from London known for his warm, crackly electronic sounds and soothing melodies. Under the label Ghostly International (of course), he released the album Lucky Shiner in 2010 to immediate critical acclaim, receiving the Guardian UK’s First Album Award for it. The single Marriage was released as an EP this year, featuring remixes by Star Slinger, Baths, Forest Swords, and Halls. (You can stream the entire EP on Soundcloud.) The song features a melodic beat driving the action, overlaid with simple piano refrains and just enough fuzz to create a sound that warms you from the inside out. It’s a perfect track to put on while watching the cars pass by on a drizzling evening. Dreary, yet soothing.
Tycho ~ From Home [Mux Mool remix]
Ghostly International artist Tycho’s (Scott Hansen) re-release of his 2004 album Sunrise Projector as Past is Prologue features remixes by a few other electronic artists, including one of my favorites: Brooklyn’s own Mux Mool (Brian Lindgren).
Lindgren takes Hansen’s distant, dreamy sound and adds his own broad, moving psychedelia to create a track that’s otherworldly, trippy, and chills-inducing. It provides the perfect soundtrack to discovering other worlds from the comfort of your own couch.
I’ll be going to see Mux Mool play at Fright Club on October 11, and will hopefully being seeing Tycho at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on the 16th. If you happen to be in the New York area for either of these shows, definitely stop by. I can guarantee they’ll both be wonderful sets.
Grizzly Bear ~ Eavesdropping [Simon Bookish remix]
Brooklyn-based indie folk suit Grizzly Bear’s 2004 album Horn of Plenty was widely touted as one of the best albums of that year—an oft-longing, sometimes sweeping collection of folk ballads that skillfully mixed expert instrumentation with dirge-like sentiments to paint a sad, soulful picture.
A year later, several prominent producers and artists came together to remix the entire album, including such names as Dntel, Safety Scissors, Ariel Pink, and Final Fantasy. My personal favorite from the album (besides Owen Pallett’s beautiful, soul-wrenching take on Don’t Ask) is definitely London’s little known Simon Bookish’s choppy, driving version of Eavesdropping. Cutting apart and patching together vocalist Edward Droste’s lyrics creates a whole new song and feeling from the original track.
Ryan York ~ If I Am This Forest
Ryan York is a glo-fi electronic artist from LA who creates digital music under the moniker Asura. His music—an engaging fusion of gravelly soundscapes with detailed electronic repetitions—evokes other bands in a similar vein, including a few of my favorites such as Boards of Canada and Underworld. Asura is a project exploring the space between the subjectivity of mind and the objectivity of nature, first explored by the Japanese poet Kenji Miyazawa in his collection An Asura in Spring. York’s music encourages the listener to relax, let go, and let the music take the mind where it may, making it perfect for meditation and reflection.
Zorch ~ Cosmic Gloss
I just moved to New York City a few days ago, just a few blocks away from the recently burglarized DIY venue The Silent Barn. (Link goes to their Kickstarter.) Being an indie geek and a supporter of all things DIY, I decided my first show in the city should be a benefit show for TSB, held at Death by Audio. (Another excellent venue.)
Austin, TX native duo Zorch will be headlining tonight. They’re an experimental group with a penchant for wavy effects and heavy percussion, falling somewhere on the spectrum between dream- and noise-rock. They make heavy use of the interesting Omnichord, a nifty little device manufactured by Suzuki in the 80s. Their sound is brash, trippy, and engaging. I’m excited.
