Galaxy

If you enjoyed the celestial pop of Magic Places and the spaced-out synths of Zonotope, then Galaxy's epic, genre-sprawling We Are The Dreamers might just be your new favorite EP. With its booming beats, chopped-up vocals, sci-fi synth riffs and typically tight production, it's a promising debut that's as pop-friendly as it is plenty weird. It sounds a bit like Yeasayer's earthly, tribal tones packed into a Justice-designed spaceship and blasted off to Jupiter and the infinite beyond. Either way, it's highly recommended. Stream "Crimes of Passion" and "Running" below; grab the rest for free at Galaxy's Bandcamp. Enjoy.

Galaxy - Crimes Of Passion
Galaxy - Running

(Props to Don't Die Wondering for the tip)

Forest Spirits

Forest Spirits is one Liam Fitzpatrick, a twenty-something college student from Auckland, New Zealand. If his glitchy, dubbed-out hip-hop beats belong to Los Angeles or London, his sampling skills are entirely his own, unique in style and yet universally appealing in their dream-like quality. With "Summer Sleep," we're being romanced by a French girl, bumping to an 808 beat even as we travel down Avenue Gustave Eiffel in a Peugeot 403 - a mash-up so misconstrued in time and place only deep R.E.M. sleep could reconcile it.  Likewise, even with "Storm Clouds" on the horizon, we're dreaming old-school Disney, our cartoon caricatures unconcerned as they twirl umbrellas and skip across a sun-swept field. Beautifully evocative, fantasy-filled, even romanticized beats. Dreamstep? I think so.

Forest Spirits - Summer Sleep
Forest Spirits - Storm Clouds

Follow Forest Spirits here.

Props to Rose Quartz for pointing me in his direction.

November 2010 Mix

  

At the risk of creating a tradition, here's another end-of-the-month mix of some of my favorite songs floating around the blogosphere of late.

Best heard while Christmas shopping, to drown out the drone of cranky capitalists and replace it with the beats, blips, scratches, swells and tweaks of some rather fabulous tunes.

I'd absolutely love it if you'd listen, leave a comment and share it with a friend.

Casket Crash Vigil November 2010 Mix

Tracklist:

Painted Face - Favorite One
Brothertiger - Evening Glow
Keep Shelly In Athens - Running Out Of You (Memory Tapes Version)
Gobble Gobble - Nikki (The-Dream Cover)
Mark McGuire - Brain Storm (For Erin)
Drop/Dead - Rinse Issue
Jaded Hipster Choir - Cait Sith
Kinder - My Kite (Short Mix)
Coma Cinema - Her Sinking Sun (Kumon Plaza Remix)
Painted Palms - Falling Asleep
Wise Blood - Solo ('4' Claire)

Diamond Messages

I was planning on including a song from Diamond Messages in a forthcoming mix, but I simply can't choose between "Liquid Summer" and "Smoke And Mirrors." They are both too good not to share.

In an interview with Truants, Diamond Messages' Jason Craig says his stage name references a Claude Debussy quote about music's intended message versus its actual impact. With Diamond Messages and very few others, the music and the name are perfectly synchronized. These songs are indeed crystalline particles, encoded and electrified to convey and captivate.

The Smoke And Mirrors EP is available digitally from Amazon (US/UK), iTunes and Spotify in Europe.





(via The Road Goes Ever On)

D/R/U/G/S

Here's a fresh banger from Manchester duo D/R/U/G/S, whose frustratingly limited catalog of three original songs and one remix is completely forgiven by how freaking good these songs sound. "Liquid Max (Testmixx)" starts with a pulsing beat and throbbing bass chords that recall Radiohead's "Pyramid Song" and ends with cut-up diva vocals cascading over twinkling synths. If there's anything wrong with the song, it's the sudden ending and relatively short length of 3:22. When house sounds this good, I could listen happily forever.

D/R/U/G/S - Liquid Max (Testmixx)

"Hathaway (Testmixxx)" and "Love (Love/Lust Darkmix)" are equally excellent.  Check them below.

D/R/U/G/S - Hathaway (Testmixxx)
D/R/U/G/S - Love (Love/Lust Darkmix)

Follow D/R/U/G/S on Tumblr for more music and news on their debut 12".

RxRy - Ω

Please forgive my RxRy-related redundancy, but the artist has graciously offered his latest album, Ω, for free download at his blog. It readily awaits your consumption.

On first listen, Ω is a life-affirming stream of ambient soundscapes and stuttering beats. Song titles that reference air and rail travel feature aural examinations of the same: these are sounds we can only imagine we'd hear floating weightlessly above the clouds or charging full steam ahead, soaring or spinning metal traveling through space and time.

After one listen, or many, you may not find a "favorite" song or even remember any of the titles. That's because RxRy's music lulls you to dream-like state, where details such as song titles and track lengths aren't important or even perceptible. At a certain level, you are not actively listening to music. The music is actively transforming and transporting you. Let it take you where you want to go.

More words on Ω will likely follow in the near future.

Sample three artist-selected songs from Ω below.  Then get Ω - and the rest of RxRy's excellent discography - here.

ΩPLYLST by RxRy

Delorean & Lemonade @ Lincoln Hall

Genuinely looking forward to seeing Spain's Balearic pop stars Delorean and NYC-via-San Francisco electro-funk-punk trio Lemonade tonight at Lincoln Hall. A song from each follows.

Delorean - Stay Close

Lemonade - Lifted