Summer Camp's brilliant Young EP is now available from Moshi Moshi. This week they cleared the mid-tempo cut, "Veronica Sawyer," for downloading pleasure. It's more downtempo than the excellent EP opener "Round the Moon," but it stil has plenty of late-night, drunken charm.
The U.K. duo is known for referencing or sampling '80s movies, so in keeping with tradition, this tune is named after the lead character in the movie Heathers, starring Winona Ryder as the murderous Veronica Sawyer. Pro tip: Play this song during weekend benders. Before you go, check out the viral video for "Ghost Train."
Junip: "Always" Video
Today, Junip debuted Andreas Nilsson's somewhat unsettling, air guitar-heavy video for new single, "Always." There's also some slithering mentor figure that preps the group for their big performance by dissolving their instruments with his fingertip-rays. I kept thinking: "Strings!? Where we're going, we don't need strings!"
Nilsson has worked on a handful of singer/guitarist José González's videos, but is well known for his directorial work with MGMT, The Knife, Fever Ray, Goldfrapp, and Yeasayer. Junip's debut album, Fields, can be streaming on NPR through its September 14 release date on Mute. See Jumips fall tour date at the band's official site. (Via Pitchfork.tv.)
Marnie Stern is ready to re-introduce her finger-tapping tunes to the world this fall. Her third LP is self-titled and drops October 5 via Kill Rock Stars. Pre-order here. Download the second single released from the energetic full-length. It's called "Transparency Is the New Mystery" and keeps a healthy pace throughout.
The new LP features longtime cohort/Hella drum maven, Zach Hill. Also, Stern's boyfriend, Matthew Flegel of Women, plays bass, and Mars Volta mixer Lars Stalfors keeps Stern's guitar-drum thrash crisp and fierce. Marnie Stern's lead-off cut, "For Ash," was recently posted around these parts. Go to Stern's MySpace for upcoming gigs in North America and Europe.
The Good Ones are a trio of Rwandan genocide refugees who craft folk tunes in the ancient, Kinyarwanda street dialect of their nation's capital and geographical heart, Kigali. Primary songwriter Adrien Kazigira, bassist Stany Hitimana and backup vocalist Jeanvier Havugimana recorded the 12 tracks on Kigali Y' Izahabu during one summer evening on a friend's back porch. Example: During track eight, "Umuhanano," you can hear a dog barking and howling off in the distance. Though they just have beat-up, out-of-tune instruments, the band's voices intertwine quite well and the raw melodies hit hard. Language barriers disintegrate on first listen. There are traces of reggae in the sparse rhythms too, largely due to Hitimana only having four strings on his guitar.
The songs were put to tape like field recordings by two-time Grammy-nominated producer Ian Brennan (TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Richard Thompson). Brennan was traveling in Rwanda, hoping to document some of the region’s rich musical history and contemporary landscape. He thought he was going to leave with nothing until he met The Good Ones.
As Brennan remembers: “They were standing in the dark, their eyes downcast and restless, and holding only one guitar between them. From 100-feet away, I knew instantly that there was something special about them, a feeling one is lucky to experience even once in a lifetime. By that point, I’d already visited literally every recording-studio in the capital (Kigali) and surrounding areas over two weeks and listened to hundreds of artists, but to no avail. This meeting had been set up through a mutual friend and the instant the band opened their mouths to sing, it was as if the universe reached down to tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘What these guys do is precious and rare. Don’t fuck it up.’”
The Good Ones' debut, Kigali Y’ Izahabu, streets November 9 in North America and November 22 in the U.K. Dead Oceans will release. Download the opening track, “Sara” above. It's a nice introduction to this "new" band. (Via The Fader.)
London producer Gold Panda just digitally issued his debut album, Lucky Shiner, today via Ghostly International in the U.S. and NoTown Recordings in the U.K. The physical release is October 12. Also, download the chiming "Same Dream China." You can stream the full LP at the album's website.
As we reported last week, Dirty Projectors will issue a double-disc reissue of last year's excellent Bitte Orca on September 28 through Domino. Pre-order it here. The expanded edition includes a cover of Bob Dylan's "As I Went Out One Morning," various B-sides from the last two years, and a recording of an acoustic gig at New York record shop Other Music. Check out the group's stripped-down rendition of "Temecula Sunrise" from that show, above. Another victory lap for Bitte Orca. Tour dates here.
Caribou Vibration Ensemble
“Every Time She Turns Round It’s Her Birthday” MP3
At last fall's ATP New York festival, Caribou performed a set with a 15-piece group that included artists such as Four Tet's Kieran Hebden and Sun Ra Arkestra frontman Marshall Allen. That rousing gig is now available as a double-vinyl DVD/LP, which you can only purchase at Caribou gigs. (The credits go to the Caribou Vibration Ensemble Featuring Marshall Allen.)
Let's have Owen Pallett do the explaining on this post: "For my birthday last year I had a big open party in Toronto with all my favourite bands. It was the best birthday ever. Sorry if your invitation was "lost in the mail." This year I decided to include you. Domino's putting out a four-song 10-inch this month called A Swedish Love Story. For all you people who still listen to MP3s, here's a freebie." (You can also download it above.)
"A Man With No Ankles" is a dancier brand of piano-and-strings track than what we've grown accustomed to, but the classical-pop maestro gets the job done. Before you go on your merry way, peruse some tour dates and more info on the release here.The gist: it's out September 28.
