New York nu-folkie Langhorne Slim‘s third album, Be Set Free, is coming out on Kemado September 29th. “I Love You But Goodbye” is one of its well-worn tracks. It’s a typical, bluesy Slim cut but he throws some cinematic eyes on the mix this time. This is “drink raising” music through and through and it’ll leave you repeating the thought, “hallelujah to hurt!” Check out Slim’s tour dates at his Myspace.
Electric Tickle Machine
“Part of Me” MP3
Aug 26, 2009
Electric Tickle Machine‘s debut album Blew It Again, is being self-released October 6th. Recorded in 14 days in the winter of 2009 by Matt Boynton (Gang Gang Dance, Vietnam, Bat For Lashes), its a record brimming with psychedelic fuzz. The album’s “super cool” party anthem, “Part of Me” is a hand-clapping good time with MGMT-esque lyrics like the following: “Buy a puppy it’ll make you more presentable,” “We’ll buy an island and get high.” Those lines certainly makes the nipple slippage cover to the right seem even more apt. Blew It Again‘s tracklist is below and the band will tour the U.S. this fall.
Blew It Again (Self-released) Vinyl available: October 7th
01 Blew It Again 02 Bones 03 Somethin Else 04 Part of Me 05 Find a Home 06 Gimme Money 07 Ask Me Anything 08 Fast Train 09 Honest Injun 10 Tongues of Fire (Outro)
Slaraffenland
“Open Your Eyes” MP3
Aug 26, 2009
First of all, congrats to Lily Wilson, the winner of our 7-inch Slaraffenlandcontest! Your winning entry regaled us with the harrowing story of your boyfriend’s parents giving a creepy tour of their taxidermy collection and Revolutionary War reenactment uniforms.
In other Slaraffenland news, we’ve got a preview of their forthcoming album for Hometapes, We’re On Your Side, due out September 15th. The Danish fivesome’s sleepy “Open Your Eyes” opens with jittery percussion, woodwind squeaks, and plenty of vocal interplay. The slight acoustic strums propel the quiet track until its sunny exit.
Islands
“Vapours” MP3
Aug 26, 2009
Last month we reported about the new Islands album, Vapours, coming out September 22nd on ANTI-. You’ve seen its steamy cover, peeped “No You Don’t” and now we’ve got the title track for your listening pleasure. “Vapours” is fairly simple indie pop, with horn and tambourine building on each other for a powerful outro.
Mew
“New Terrain/The Zookeeper’s Boy” (Live Medley on Daytrotter)
Aug 26, 2009
Despite some mixing hiccups here and there, I’ve always enjoyed the nice balance of Daytrotter‘s florid writing and their stripped down studio sessions. Naturally, I was excited when they announced Danish prog-pop trio Mew came through town after their July appearance at the Pitchfork Festival. Here the guys treat the blog to a haunting medley ofNo More Stories Are Told Today, I’m Sorry, They Washed Away. No More Stories, The World Is Grey, I’m Tired, Let’s Wash Away‘s “New Terrain” and And the Glass-Handed Kites’ “The Zookeeper’s Boy.” Both are stripped of their swirling, kaleidoscopic atmospheres.
Also available on the site is an OK version of their infectious Kites single, “Special.” No More Stories is out now on Columbia.If you haven’t already, L.A. area fans can RSVP for the Mewseum Zune event here. Also, be sure to check out the band’s current tour dates at their Myspace and our recent interview with Jonas Bjerre.
We’re certainly “pleased to meet” the London/Swede indie pop group Fanfarlo. They’ve got the dark theatricality of Arcade Fire and the strummy pop sensibility of Beirut. The video for the second single comes from the group’s shimmering debut, Reservoir. It was co-produced by the band and moody sound sculpter Peter Katis (The National, Interpol). “The Walls Are Coming Down” is a horn-laden performance clip with a twist: Hanging from the middle of the room is escape artist Ros Walker wriggling his way out of the classic Houdini upside-down straight jacket. The magically simple video was directed by Nick Cave collaborators Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard at London’s Hangar Arts. Reservoir is out in the U.S. October 6th but the band’s been selling the CD from their website since July 24, regardless of country. The Fanfarlo crew are also hitting the U.S. in September. Tour dates are below:
Fanfarlo U.S. Tour: 09-04 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey 09-15 West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour 09-16 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo 09-17 San Francisco, CA - Popscene 09-20 Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie 09-21 New York City, NY - Bowery Ballroom 09-22 New York City, NY - The Bell House
Brooklyn group The Antlers makes pain and suffering sound oddly triumphant on their excellent debut. The Hospice song suite centers on frontman the friend of Peter Silberman and his slow crawl to death. In the video for one of those devastatingly hopeful cuts, titled “Two,” colored orbs rise out of the group’s instruments and start floating around New York City. The slow build still crushes me on this one. Minor spoiler: The animated video also features some dismemberment towards the end. Watch the Ethan Segal and Albert Thrower-directed clip above. Hospice is out now on Frenchkiss.
Raekwon
“House of Flying Daggers” (Feat. Inspectah Deck, GZA, Ghostface Killah & Method Man) Video
Allhiphop has the hyperviolent video for Raekwon‘s mad gully banger “House of Flying Daggers”, which boasts cartoon iterations of Rae and his Wu-Tang crew as the Five Deadly Venoms. Directors Eric Sasso and Brian Wendelken weave in sliced spines, brain splats, and blood-soaked basketball courts. The infectious beat comes from the late J Dilla. Ghostface has the best line here with “The team gotta eat, our seeds is hungry/ That’s why we ain’t scared to dump on you, cuz our guns is chunky.” “Daggers” (and the other leakedsnippetsfloatingaroundYouTube) bode well for Rae’s long-awaited Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, is due to drop September 8th, via Ice Water/EMI.
New York nu-folkie 
Electric Tickle Machine
First of all, congrats to Lily Wilson, the winner of our 7-inch 
Last month we reported about the new 
Despite some mixing hiccups here and there, I’ve always enjoyed the nice balance of 
