New Com Truise - "Colorvision"

"A new jam!" from synth wizard Com Truise (aka Seth Haley).  With its fat analog bass riff and sci-fi synthesizers, "Colorvision" might well soundtrack a B movie about a team of Jamaican ambassadors sent to the outer reaches of space to interact with extraterrestrial life forms. 

Colorvision (WIP) by Com Truise

If "Colorvision" leaves you begging for more, as it should, Haley's Cyanide Sisters EP dropped last week on Ghostly International.  Originally offered as a free download through AMDISCS last summer, the Ghostly version is expanded and remastered with its tracklist shuffled around.  A liquid hot mess of warbly wave lengths and squelching synth tones, the Cyanide Sisters EP is highly recommended.  Support the arts by buying it.

Com Truise - Slow Peels

Com Truise on Facebook / Last.fm / MySpace / SoundCloud / Twitter

Bad Autopsy - "Decades"

I've been following London producer Bad Autopsy since February 2010, when "Beam Beamer" and "Psionic Terror" premiered on No Pain In Pop.  Under the headline "Transcendental Slime," the songs sounded like the garage child of Burial and Forest Swords bubbling up from the bottom of a primordial swamp, with frustrated, ghost-in-the-machine vocal samples seeping into a mix of smog and sick and twisted beats.  

Since then, Bad Autopsy's been exploring brighter sounds with a bit more bang to them, first on the songs he's uploaded to his SoundCloud and then with his self-titled EP for Ramp Recordings.  His most recent upload, "Decades," certainly belongs in the brighter, banging category, even if it's inspired by a number of genres.  The song's synth stabs seemingly belong to trance, but the polyrhythmic beats and drawn-out diva vocals are pure electro house.  Whatever the case, "Decades" is highly addictive and seriously recommended, as is the rest of Bad Autopsy's frequently shifting SoundCloud page.

  DECADES by Bad Autopsy 

Buy Bad Autopsy's EP digitally or physically.  Follow him on MySpace and SoundCloud.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Round and Round" (Pional Remix)

Guyanese ambient beatmaker Pional turns Ariel Pink's brothers-in-arms pop ballad into a shuffling slow-burner, backed by a disco beat, with tribal drums, synth stabs and woodwind tones. 

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round and Round (Pional Edit)

Here's Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's original, which was one of my favorite songs of 2010:

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round and Round

And an original from Pional, also a favorite of 2010.

Pional - In Another Room (Pional's Reduxed Version)

Memory Tapes - "Today Is Our Life" (Video)

Memory Tapes : "Today Is Our Life" from Jamie Harley on Vimeo.

Here's the video accompaniment to the new Memory Tapes song that dropped yesterday.

Memory Tapes - Today Is Our Life

Memory Tapes on Blogger / Facebook / Twitter

New Banjo Or Freakout - "Go Ahead"

The folks at The Fader just premiered a song from bedroom producer Banjo Or Freakout's debut album, due "in early 2011" on Rare Book Room Records.  On first listen, "Go Ahead" is what we've come to expect from artist Alessio Natalizia: strikingly beautiful folk-pop compositions that gradually give way to a dense haze that might coat Seattle or London on a rainy afternoon.  Repeated listens reveal the production skills of Nicolas Vernhes, who gives Natalizia's songs a tighter structure and strikes a balance between his pop-infused vocals and the copious amount of fuzzy distortion.  Banjo Or Freakout's "105" 7" is out now; more details on the self-titled full-length when they're made available.

Banjo Or Freakout - Go Ahead

Also from Banjo Or Freakout:

Banjo Or Freakout - 105
Banjo Or Freakout - Breathe Out
Banjo Or Freakout - Upside Down

Banjo Or Freakout on bandcamp / Blogger / Last.fm / MySpace / SoundCloud / Twitter

(via The Fader)

New Waskerley Way - "Hyper Hazard"

Waskerley Way is readying his full-length debut, Waterfall, for release on Wonder Beard Tapes.  In the meantime, you can make a donation to download the Ghost Cat single, which features two tracks from the upcoming album, over at his bandcamp.  I was blown away by B-side "Hyper Hazard," with its soaring, swirling synthesizers and intensely building beat pattern.  More info on the Waterfall cassette as soon as it's made available.

  Waskerley Way - Hyper Hazard by casketcrashvigil

Waskerley Way on bandcamp / Tumblr / Twitter

Memory Tapes - "Today Is Our Life"

The blogosphere was alight today with news of a brand new song from Memory Tapes, co-founder and finest fellow of the chillwave genre.  The bass-propelled, pop-friendly "Today Is Our Life" serves two purposes: it is part of LOVE SIC DISCO, a Something In Construction-curated mixtape celebrating that label's 100th release.  It is also the first single from Memory Tapes' second full-length, which is hopefully due this year.

Memory Tapes - Today Is Our Life

Grab the LOVE SIC DISCO mixtape here.

And from Memory Tapes' first album, "Bicycle," one of my favorite songs of all time, just in case you haven't heard it.

Memory Tapes - Bicycle

Memory Tapes on Blogger / Facebook / Twitter

Phaseone - "True Romance"

We first heard a dub version of Phaseone's "True Romance" on the December 2010 mix he made for XLR8R.  A standalone version now streams below and at the St. Louis-based beat producer's SoundCloud.  Backed by soaring atmospherics, vocoder vocals, woodblock beats and some Eastern-tinged synthesizers, I believe this is the longest and most laid-back track we've heard from Phaseone.  And I'm not complaining in the slightest. 

Phaseone - True Romance by PHASEONE

Phaseone on Facebook / MySpace / SoundCloud / Tumblr / Twitter

Buck UK

I stumbled upon Buck UK while I was surfing Halls' SoundCloud last week, and his ambient 2-step songs are a large part of what I've been listening to since.  Artist Phil Buckley was born and raised in Manchester, UK, but he's lived stateside since 2008.  Three years removed from the mother country of 2-step, Buckley's connection to that scene is still very much intact.  His songs either shimmer in a grayish candescence or stutter-step like a drunk with a gimp leg.  Or they do both in a way that fans of Pariah and Teengirl Fantasy will definitely appreciate.  Stream some Buck UK below, then head to his SoundCloud to check out the rest of his treasure trove. 

Wonder by Buck UK

Understand by Buck UK

Always by Buck UK

a·skance by Buck UK

New Two Inch Punch - "Love You Up"

Poppin' fresh pulses from producer Ben Ash, who records blush-pop glitch-hop as +Two Inch Punch-.  "Love You Up" just dropped yesterday, while "Breaking Hearts" is a few weeks old.  Dude is seriously becoming a front-runner in my best hope/most anticipated artist of 2011 list.  Music so fresh and great is basically demands a record deal.  I'm thinking Ash needs a debut 12" like right now.  I'm talking to you, Ghostly International.

  +++ Love You Up. --- by +Two Inch Punch-

  +++ Breaking <!--3's --- by +Two Inch Punch-

Follow +Two Inch Punch- on MySpace, SoundCloud and Twitter.

---

Previously:

+++ Her Heart Moves --- by +Two Inch Punch-

+++ Luv Luv --- by +Two Inch Punch-

Halls - Halls EP

Pretty much blown away by this self-titled debut EP from UK-based, bedroom/beat producer Halls.   It took only thirty seconds of "Chakra Drums" streaming on No Modest Bear and I was at Halls' bandcamp, hoping the rest of the EP held up.  I was ecstatic to find it definitely did.  As Halls, artist Samuel Howard manufactures ambient soundscapes buttressed by skitter-step beats.  This is hardly the first time we've heard a solo artist produce hazy, reverb-heavy tracks, but Halls' music is more ambient than the anthemic, dance-oriented songs of, say, Washed Out.  Perhaps a better reference, then, is Foxes In Fiction.  Halls' songs are also a tad drab and dreary.  The resulting sound demands an intensely personal connection to the music, one that invades your headspace and clouds out the extraneous details of the day.  Perfect for a lazy, lonely listen.  I mean that as the highest compliment to the artist and as a recommendation for you to listen. 

Halls - Cave Days
Halls - Kaleidoscope

Buy the Halls EP for ₤1 (less than $2) here.

Follow Halls on bandcamp and SoundCloud.

(via No Modest Bear)

Evan Abeele - Lineage EP

Evan Abeele of dream-pop trio Memoryhouse justed posted a new solo EP at his bandcamp.  You can stream his Lineage EP below and then support Abeele by buying a download for $5 (or more).  This is gorgeous-sounding ambient/classical/meditative/New Age-type stuff, perfect for your next chill-out session.  Fans of Ambient-era Eno will know and love it at first listen.



(via @inmemoryhouse on Twitter)

Notable American Women - "Wind" & "Man-Babewyn"

Devon Delamarter makes swampy, sample-based music as Notable American Women.  His songs are so dubbed-out and rife with distortion that they seem to crawl forth from the same Cretaceous cave as Forest Swords creepy output.  So I was a bit surprised to learn that Delamarter lives in Lakeland, Florida and not gray, gloomy London.  These songs are freaky, yes, but they're also freakishly good.  "Wind" is the more straightforward of the two, but even it slithers and squelches like a dying animal gasping for air.  This song is the wind, or rather, the sound of it: stale, cold and uncaring, it carries the animal's last cries into the ears of a fearful townfolk.  Meanwhile, "Man-Babewyn," whatever that is, sounds a bit like Panda Bear covering or remixing Portishead, with heavily reverberant vocals hovering over a revved-up synth riff.  Listen to and download those two songs below; grab two more at Notable American Women's bandcamp. 





Follow Notable American Women on bandcamp and Facebook.

(via Don't Die Wondering)

Pierce & Pierce - I Simply Am Not There EP

I spent Monday morning listening to Pantha Du Prince's Black Noise (2010), so it's fitting I found Pierce & Pierce on No Modest Bear that afternoon.  The Denmark duo consists of Jens Holmberg Jensen and Nicolas Hansen, who make similar-sounding ambient electronica even as they explore the more club-friendly beats and melodies of techno and house.  "This Is Not An Exit" is awash in ambient swirls, with percolating key tones popping up throughout the mix.  Preview it below, then grab the rest of the excellent I Simply Am Not There EP at Pierce & Pierce's tumblr. 

Pierce & Pierce - This Is Not An Exit

EDIT: The Fader posted this song today, too.  Their writers are better researchers than I.  Pierce & Pierce is a reference to "American Psycho" (2000); it's the investment firm that employs Patrick Bateman, Christian Bale's character.  The EP title is a Bateman quote, while song title "This Is Not An Exit" is from the book.

If it matters.

Pierce & Pierce on Facebook / SoundCloud / Tumblr

(via No Modest Bear, with props to The Fader)

RxRy - Alpha (Coming May 2011)

Something's afoot from dream-state drown-step artist RxRy.  The artist's blog features five new teaser videos and a promise for something by the name of Alpha, to arrive this year.  A fourth full-length?  A new EP?  An audio-visual album a la Animal Collective's "Oddsac"?  Only time will tell.  The sounds showcased in the following teaser videos are the most sonically saturated we've heard from RxRy.  It's early, and the audio snippets are short, but they may also be the most promising yet. 

EDIT: Alpha is a "microLP/megaEP," originally released as a free download, now set for release on vinyl this May.  Read more here.


A | RxRy | 1 from Rx Ry on Vimeo.


L | RxRy | 2011 from Rx Ry on Vimeo.


P | RxRy | 2011 from Rx Ry on Vimeo.


H | RxRy | 2011 from Rx Ry on Vimeo.


A.2 | RxRy | 2011 from Rx Ry on Vimeo.
 
RxRy on Blogger / SoundCloud / Vimeo

Hips Like Cinderella - all the girls i know all of them EP

Jheri Evans of Get Off The Coast recently posted "it's what ev" from Hips Like Cinderella and it pretty much swept me off my feet like a knight in shining armor might do to a Disney princess.  The song is basically the ghost of John Lennon issuing imperceptible echoes as lyrics over some seriously bent-to-shit, buzz-saw guitar riffs.  I immediately went to Hips Like Cinderella's bandcamp to grab a free download of the all the girls i know all of them EP, which I seriously recommend you do as well.  The whole EP is great, and I was equally struck by the dizzying dirge that is "haunted thoughts of you."  That song sounds like Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark covering ivansxtc, with its back-of-the-throat New Wave vocals sung on top of a slow-dance, shoe-gaze song structure.  Hips Like Cinderella, highly recommended.

Hips Like Cinderella - Haunting Thoughts Of You

bandcamp / Blog / Facebook / twitter

Flower Orgy

Lo-fi folk-pop quartet Flower Orgy made the rounds across the blogosphere with their autumn 2010 single "Boneyard," a blown-out, fuzzed-up ear-fuck of a song that's equal parts grungy and jangly.  The group has a cassette out on The Curatorial Club, which can only mean great things for them (see Twin Sister and Games).  You can grab three songs from the cassette over at the group's Bandcamp.  Sounds like a brighter Neutral Milk Hotel recorded in a field during a camping trip to the Green Mountains.  The first half of that last sentence is an opinion statement; the second half is an actual fact!  Flower Orgy's debut cassette can be yours for just $7 (or $11 international).  Order it here.

Flower Orgy- Country Side
Flower Orgy - Boneyard

(Props to McGregor)

double entendre

I've been enamored with Ryan Daniels' double entendre project ever since I heard it on Friendship Bracelet back in September 2010.  My excitement increased exponentially when I saw a fresh release pop up in double entendre's RSS feed yesterday.  Early Works 1979-2010 compiles double entendre's self-titled and red lions EPs and features a reprise of "Out Of The Way."  Two tracks have different running times, so we can assume they were re-recorded and/or remastered. 

Daniels' describes his music as "ambient" and "chillwave."  The former works, as the album's electronic oscillations are likely to make you feel as though you're soaring high above an illuminated electronic grid a la "Blade Runner" or "Tron."  Chillwave, however, comes with a negative connotation of an unskilled synth operator offering reverb-soaked songs as real musical talent.  double entendre is plenty chill and has waves both sea-based and sine, but it showcases Daniels' legitimate chops as a composer and more than transcends chillwave's psych-stoner stereotype.  For fans of Cascaders, Dolphins Into The Future, Emeralds and Radio People.

Stream the whole thing below, then head over to double entendre's bandcamp to buy it.  For a purely audio-based experience, you can cop a download for $5.  For an audio-visual experience, you can get a download plus a hand-printed poster for $10. 

RxRy - "Aertigo Lapsees" Video

RxRy: Aertgo Lapsees from Ezra Ewen on Vimeo.

RxRy just posted an Ezra Ewen-directed video for "Aertigo Lapsees," one of the many standout tracks from his Ω album.  The video doesn't feature trains, as the song seems to, but it is filmed in dark basement with a shrouded figure tinkering around on an old piano and getting sucked into a TV as well as stock footage of space exploration.  So it matches the song's swirling grayish atmosphere well.  Recommended viewing.

(via RxRy's Blog)

Jamie XX

The new year is only a week old, but Jamie XX is already well on his way towards owning it with his brilliant production skills. The beat guru/drummer/knob-twister/resident genius/sage sampler of The XX basically ruled the blogosphere yesterday, with Pinglewood premiering a mix Jamie made for BBC Radio 1 and umpteen blogs posting the freshest track from Jamie's Gil Scott-Heron remix album. If Jamie's production work has yet to blip your radar screen, I've done my best to compile new and old, original and remix, which you can peep below. If you like dance music in general and that UK sound in particular, you simply can't miss this.

---

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX - "I'll Take Care Of U"



Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX - "NY Is Killing Me"



From We're New Here, where Jamie XX remixes and reenvisions Gil Scott-Heron's I'm New Here album. Available February 21 (UK) and February 22 (US) on CD, MP3 and limited-edition vinyl box set. Pre-order here.

---

Adele - "Rolling In The Deep" (Jamie XX Shuffle)



Out soon digitally and on vinyl through XL Recordings.

---

Jamie XX - Far Nearer



From Jamie XX's debut 12", out sometime in the near future on Numbers Records. The release is supposedly held up because of an unauthorized Janet Jackson sample. And no one wants to piss off the Jacksons. Especially Joe.

---

Miscellaneous:

Jamie XX - In The Mix for BBC Radio 1
Nosaj Thing - Fog (Jamie XX Remix)
Florence and the Machine - You Got The Love (Jamie XX Remix) [feat. The XX]
Jack Penate - Pull My Heart Away (Jamie XX Remix)

Best hope/most anticipated/producer of the year?  It's early, but I'm thinkin' so.

+Two Inch Punch-

Surfing around on SoundCloud, I stumbled upon +Two Inch Punch- as a result of a loving comment left by Taragana Pyjarama.  Getting warm.  Then I saw how London producer Ben Ash describes his music under the +Two Inch Punch- moniker.  He uses words like "blush," minimal and soul.  Getting warmer.  He self-categorizes his songs as "DreamStep" and "Lovestep."  Getting hot.  Then I clicked play on "Her Heart Moves," and trust me, his songs are flame, even if they're slow-burners.

In a way, "Her Heart Moves" feels like a follow-up to Gold Panda's "You" - a comparison the artist should take as the highest possible compliment and not at all as a complaint.  Both songs seem to sample the same alien plush toy.  On Gold Panda's "You," said alien is out for an extravagant evening, bouncing around like crazy, shrieking with euphoria.  "Her Heart Moves" is the misty-eyed morning after, as the hungover alien hobbles home, relishing the night's events and lamenting its passing.  There's joy here, and love too, but it's bittersweet and not without longing.

"Luv Luv" is equally excellent.  It sounds a bit like an Aaliyah & Timbaland jam chopped in a blender, with finger snaps percolating throughout the mix.

Fans of Diamond Messages, Hard Mix and Pariah should be eating this up.

Follow +Two Inch Punch- on MySpace, SoundCloud and Twitter.

+++ Her Heart Moves --- by +Two Inch Punch-

---

+++ Luv Luv --- by +Two Inch Punch-

Geotic

Will Wiesenfeld makes gleefully glitchy beats by the name of Baths: his debut album Cerulean was my second favorite album of 2010.  Quite prolific, the bedroom producer also records ambient instrumentals as Geotic and avant-garde electronica as [Post-foetus].  Mend is Wiesenfeld's latest album under the Geotic moniker, which he's offered for free download on Geotic's website.  It's a simple yet strikingly beautiful composition of melodic guitar riffs, tinkering key tones and hazy electronic textures - perfect for refocusing after an extravagant New Year's Eve.  The meditative melodies on Mend are as life-affirming as they are likely to lull you into a contemplative and deeply relaxed state.  Sounds a bit like an instrumental Memoryhouse covering Ambient-era Eno.  Fans of The Album Leaf and Sigur Rós will surely enjoy this.

Geotic - Unwind
Geotic - The Sprawling, Glorious Newness

(via Will Wiesenfeld [@BATHSmusic] on Twitter)