Jan 03, 2019

There doesn’t seem to be that much electronic bedroom pop anymore, or at least not much that’s easy to find. Pickle Darling, aka Lukas Mayo, out of New Zealand just released his album Bigness on bandcamp, which he labels as “10 songs about bigness and smallness”. It’s charming, airy and amusing. Have a listen.

Jan 02, 2019

Another bandcamp find. Braces is an ambient, instrumental soundtrack style project from Hunter Grier and collaborators out of Seattle. The debut album was just released on bandcamp. Stream it here. Some words from the creator:

Dec 24, 2018

As we are just reflecting on the best music of the past year, get ready for some of the best from the year to come. Scotland’s The Twilight Sad is coming out with their new album It Won/t Be Like This All The Time in January and played a bunch of the new songs in Seattle (The Crocodile!) in October. They also stopped through KEXP the morning of the show for a live session. Not surprisingly, it’s thrilling and the interview with host Hans is great as well. This is Christmas music, and don’t let anyone tell you different.

Songs: Videograms, I’m Not Here (missing face), It Never Was The Same, Cold Days From The Birdhouse.

Dec 20, 2018

This live set at Iceland Airwaves from the Faroese-Icelandic electronic dynamo Kiasmos was published in the beginning of the year, but time constraints don’t apply here. KEXP just promoted its viewing on social media, so have a look to see/hear why. The 47-minute set took place at KEXP’s Kex Hostel In Reykjavik.

Dec 18, 2018

Skinny Lister is a London six piece and is ramping up for the release of their new album The Story Is… on March 1, 2019 via Xtra Mile Recordings. The band just shared their daring video for the title track.

“Always a band unafraid of testing the limits, the band has just revealed a daredevil and highly original video for the title track. Filmed in NYC, the video follows first-hand the perilous ascent of an urban explorer as she scales the Williamsburg Bridge in the dead of night. The track itself sees the band poetically sing about love and loss with words that will surely tug at the heart strings during this timely season of reflection.”

Dec 17, 2018

One of the better breakout band of the year was Young Jesus. Their record The Whole Thing is Just There was one of the better albums of the year as well, and the track “Fourth Zone of Gaits” might just be the best song on it. Today, Young Jesus shared its video, directed and animated by Peter Nichols. Young Jesus videos thusfar have been artful and clever and this one is no different. Check it out.

“We chose to work with Peter on this video because we’d seen his work and we knew that a sort of other-worldly pacing was a part of it. I had him and the rest of the band over to my apartment where we brainstormed as the song played on loop. He asked us thoughtful questions, we responded with lots of stories and feelings. The name, Fourth Zone of Gaits, is a reference to horse gaits, a trot, a gallop…John was imagining a gait that feels like something else. I think of it as moving along a wave, if you accept it as your context and listen to it, you float. None of us surf but we talked about waves a lot, which Peter understood. Light waves, radio waves, sound waves, the fact that matter exists as both particles and waves. Maybe God is a harp player that invented physics. This is what’s going on in the video.” – Young Jesus

Dec 14, 2018

Adult Swim just released a 15-track synth compilation titled Fever Dreams. It’s described as a collection of “cybernetic road trip soundtracks, futuristic dancefloor anthems, and instrumental sojourns to hell and back.” Fun. It features tracks from the likes of S U R V I V E, Com Truise, and Alice Glass.

Its curator Dana Swanson, a senior writer/producer and voice actor for Adult Swim, looked to create a melange of Hughes-ian bedroom synth, Outrun-era car jams, and dark basement beats.

“I’m a giant fan of Synthwave and was inspired to create something that sounded incredible while driving at night,” states Swanson. “I’m also beyond fascinated with the dichotomy of the dreams that you have when you’re sick and half-awake: anything is possible, but someone else is behind the wheel.”

Fever Dreams