Friday 30 July 2010

Cerebral Ballzy U.K Tour!!

Cerebral Ballzy are doing a short UK tour!!
From New York they do proper punk hardcore like it used to be, and they get wrecked and skate and drink forties!

They're playing at The Old blue Last on 2nd August and also at the Sexbeat Radfest on the 8th! As well as a string of dates across the UK from Leeds to Folkestone, Newquay and Cardiff!
Full details on their Myspace page.

Below is footage of their gig in Brooklyn from five months ago, I doubt much has changed since then!
Go see them and mosh and through yourself about and buy any t.shirts they have!

Thursday 29 July 2010

Colleen Green and Girlfriends summer tour.

Girlfriends are a trashy indie-punk three piece from Boston that make me think of The Pixies and The Moldy Peaches.
They have a free two track EP called "Good To Be true" available to download for free from their Bandcamp page (one is a Vaselines cover!) and two EPs to buy real cheap.
It's all really catchy stuff that has been stuck in my head for months! They also have a fun and constantly updated tour Tumblr here.
They are on a massive self booked tour around the U.S at the moment with Colleen Green.




Colleen Green is a one woman band from Oakland California who sings, plays electric guitar over a drum machine and generally make a great lo-fi garage punk sound. Kind of where the Anti-folk sound went after all the original bands started going in different directions and being over produced by hippies.
She has various tapes and Cds available from her Myspace and I guess from all her shows!

The tour is hitting up Wisconsin, Chicago, Ohio, Kentucky, New Jersey, Brooklyn, and loads of over places the listing are on both bands Myspace pages.

Free EP from Skeletal System.

Skeletal System have been getting a bit of blog notice at the moment, they were just on Altered Zones. An unsigned duo from San Francisco they make a night time chillwave sound, if Neon Indian and Washed out are all about summer sun and blissed out nostalgia then Skeletal System soundtrack that point at 3am on a hot July night when the trip is really kicking in and you're staring at a bunch of tree roots trying to get them to stop talking.
Its a little bit cold wave at points and a bit like the really slow tracks from Joy Divisions Unkown Pleasures album, very nice.

Their five track EP is available for free from their Bandcamp page.

Night Manager play scuzzy, lo-fi surf punk.

Night Manager are a four piece from Brooklyn wielding bass, drums, guitar and great female vocals, making noisy garage surf punk along the lines of Wavves, Best Coast or The Girls At Dawn.
Its scuzzy and lo-fi and pretty awesome and as a band they look great!
The video below is from a gig of theirs a few weeks ago, the camera work is a bit awful so try and not get seasick!

Blood Red Shoes: "Heartsink" video.



This is the video for Blood Red Shoes Heartsink single directed by Steve Glashier. I was behind the scenes helping create the "making of" with photographer, director and drummer Philippa Bloomfield. Read all about the day on the Fokkawolfe blog here.

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Velvet Breasts, Russian neo-psychedelia.

Two guitarists, one drummer and hell of a lot of neo psychedelic space jam rock! Velvet Breasts are from Saint-Petersburg, Russia and spin some crazy webs of sound. Incredibly easy to listen to, no hard won hear prizes here its not Wolf Eyes more Teeth Of The Sea. Its scything soundscapes of acid tweets and freak out rock but also some real gentle subtle areas that climb mountains and build little towers of rocks at the top.


Their first record How Does It feel is available to download for free from their Myspace or if you want to take the short cut, from here.
Their current record Ancient Dream can also be downloaded from their Myspace page for free and this link is the shortcut. Though I urge you to go buy the limited edition hand made CD from the TaqueOT Blog.

Free download of Dreams, Simple Steps EP.

For a band operating in chillwave territory I cant decide whether its a weird or inspired to so heavily sample Paul Wellers Changing Man on the first track of their debut EP but Dreams do it and it sure is ballsy. Plus the great thing is it works brilliantly! (Hopefully The Weller wont hunt them down and beat them senseless for it!)


This bands EP charts the journey of a night out it would seem, each song name is a step on the journey, literally, track one is called Step 1 (Preperation...Good old days/Some nostalgia) and so it continues up to the last track, Step 4 (Hands in the air. Say goodbye... All the good things in life)





Its happy upbeat tape warmed dance music, samples and echoing voices, vaguely tropical like a transistor radio on a sunset beach half phasing in and out with the waves. Their name sums it up perfectly, holiday dreams bleached by the sun and set to music. With nice little hooks in the songs as well!




From Portugal Dreams EP is called Simple Steps and is free to download from their Bandcamp page. They are unsigned and though the product of just one guy they have a live set up of some kind, with the Myspace talking of drums, guitars, synths etc.
They also rock a mean Tumblr and Facebook.

Friday 23 July 2010

Novella.

I don't know much about Novella but they seem pretty good for a band that's only just recorded the demo's that are up on their Myspace. Master of ranting revelry Princey Illustrated turned me on to them via good old Twitter.
This band are a four piece from London all lo-fi spaceyness and female vocals over chillwave dreams. Chugging guitar, tons of reverb and shoe gaze sensibilities From what can be pieced together from the two songs available its good stuff!
They have a few London gigs coming up and one playing at the Offset Festival in September!
Worth checking out as they could blow up big anytime!

Thursday 22 July 2010

Geneva Jacuzzi, Clothes On The Bed video.

Clothes on the Bed by Geneva Jacuzzi from Eric Fensler on Vimeo.

GENEVA JACUZZI is awesome. I have some serious love for this girl right now. In my top 5 of the best female musical artists around at the moment!!


White Ring release Suffocation 7 inch!

New York Witch House ghost riders White Ring have a 7" on white vinyl called Suffocation out August 3rd via purveyors of limited edition vinyl Hi Scores Recording Library.
Droney doomy, synths howling from beyond the veil and dance beats dredged from the canal outside of Crystal Castles mansion dried out and smoked by crack heads in need of a fix.

The digital download version has five remixes with it. One by Los Campesinos and one by Mater Susperia Vision! Awesome!
Pre order it here.

Summer Camp.

Summer Camp might possibly have the most hip Chillwave name ever but they also have a great sound. They are also from the UK not the USA which is a change. It seems to be a side project of quirky folk rocker Jeremy Warmsley (who also shares a name with my old landlord which always confused me!) and one Elizabeth Sankey.
Its a bit Beach House and also bit twee but also a bit jerky and folky and definitely its own sound. Nice stuff. They are doing a loads of festival dates this summer so try and check them out!

Atlantic At Pacific leaked tracks.


Atlantic at Pacific's upcoming full length album "Weddings" will be pretty damn good if the leaked tracks are anything to go by.
Released by Alchemist Records its out August 24th.
Its spacey surf Chillwave sparkling like Brain Eno taking a trip with Ernest Greene from Washed Out then doing an album about it. Here are two tracks to download free from the album that the label sent me a few days ago. (just right click and save.)

The Mekano Set, smoke machines and carnage.

Have I written about The Mekano Set yet? They're from Brighton and used to feature the vocal talents of Blindness front women Beth who I wrote about back in June.
Now a three piece they take an industrial rock sounding shoegaze for a ride through a world of phazing guitar and driving beats, Depeche Mode vocals and slick electronic walls of sound.

The first track featured here is a new one and heads into heavier dancier territory while the second is more their usual sound.


Last time I saw them live the soundsystem in the venue wasn't working properly and as a result the band got pissed off, turned the smoke machine on full blast until you literally could not see your hand in front of your face and howled their guitars before stopping and leaving after one song! Brilliant!

Get there stuff from iTunes here.

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Blood Red Shoes: Heartsink video day out!

Over fifty hardcore Blood Red Shoes fans stand on a waste ground somewhere in London; some have travelled from only a few streets over, others from as far afield as Portugal, Holland or Berlin. They clutch what will soon be bits of broken and twisted metal, torn paper and burnt clothing. For now these items are intact, VCRs, school uniforms, mix tapes, ornamental plates, Instamatic cameras, guitars, love letters. It’s a sweltering July day and the sun is lobstering up anyone foolish enough to stand exposed for too long.
These fans are here for one purpose to smash, trash, destroy or burn an item that means something to them, whether that item is something they hate or love is up to them. Oh and it’s for a music video.

Blood Red Shoes second album Fire Like This has been out since March and has seen them go from strength to strength with yet another huge line up of dates across Europe stretching from now until December. The single Heartsink will be the third from the album and is out in August. On the 6th July the band got together with director Steve Glashier and crew amongst the rubble of a half demolished building in Colliers Wood with a host of fans that had heeded the call to attend.
There to film a behind the scenes documentary about the day, I knew that this video was to be all about the fans, I just wasn't sure what to expect. With camera in position and fans already massing by the gate of the site I felt it was time to get them in front of the camera and find out what made them tick.
Blood Red Shoes fans are a mixed bunch it would seem, from classic indie kids sporting mop top haircuts, to skaters, goths and hipsters in skinny jeans and fitted shirts. Ages too ranged from kids in school to gig going thirty somethings.

Their stories, halting and shy at first, came rolling out like confessions.
T-shirts signed by classmates ready to burn leaving childhood behind, scented candle holders gifted by ex girlfriends that they just wanted to smash, creepy china dolls that plagued their nightmares, undeveloped rolls of film their ex boyfriends took of them. The list was endless.

My questions were all kind of the same, what have you brought along today and why?
Some times their response seemed to leave things unsaid:
"It's the first guitar I ever owned so obviously it has some meaning to me... I won’t be getting another"
While others didn't need anything else:
"I've got a wine bottle, because my mum was an alcoholic... We don't speak anymore...”
The sacrifice of treasured possessions or things that marked a point in their lives were big hitters:
"I'll be tearing up a piece of artwork that I did a few years ago, that I am most proud of and that I feel got me into Uni' and where I am today"
"I've brought a teddy bear which I got from my best friend just before we went to different schools and lost our friendship...”

There were also a lot of relationship stories and as afternoon went on and as story after story was told my mood grew a little towards melancholic.
"It's a crystal ball my ex girlfriend gave me, the day before she broke up with me on our anniversary and I'd really like to get rid of it as it just reminds me what a waste of time she was to me."
The most poignant was one girl who had come with an SLR Camera,
"My real dad gave it to me when I was eleven and doing photography at school. But I haven't seen him since I was about twelve. I held onto it and the photos waiting to show them off to him, but I'm twenty now and am pretty sure that's not going to happen!"

Now from reading this you might think the general mood amongst the fans arrayed before the camera was one of sadness or tragedy but that couldn't be further from the truth. Everyone there had unifying theme to not only their back stories but also in their attitude towards the imminent moment of destruction.
This was a cathartic day, a symbolic split with something or someone in each of their pasts a positive ritual of mindful destruction... and it also looked awesome!

Interviews with the fans over it was time for their moments of truth and one by one rain of debris started to accumulate upon the ground, smashed, broken, burnt, crushed, torn and shattered, the pieces mingling together to form a monument to moving on. These were committed fans of the band but as the day went on you could see their excitement at being in the video, at being with their heroes, give way to an excitement about the destruction at hand, even when their object was trashed their focus simply moved to the next fan and the next thing to go.
In a quiet moment I spoke to the videos director who gave a rare interview, talking about the shoot, fans and working with Blood Red Shoes.

Me: Roughly what was the outline of the video; did the band have much of a hand in the idea?

Steve Glashier: The idea was to have something with some energy, and we all thought would be good to have some people in it, I proposed we get some fans to come and smash up possessions that meant something to them. I think the whole video was decided in two emails, and I met up with the band to discus aesthetics.


Me: How easy was it to find fans willing to destroy their treasured possessions?

Steve: Easier than I thought we had about a hundred emails within a couple of days, and all very open about the reasons why they wanted to destroy their chosen object, happy and sad.

Me: What do you think the fans, or anybody getting in front of a camera for free, gets out of it?

Steve: Sometime I look at the extras and I do wonder what they will get from it, but it’s usually a fun day, but a little long. This video was different, as the fans were the focus of the video and with a bit of luck it was a nice positive experience.

Me: You've worked with the band before, what do you like about them or what makes it a rewarding experience?

Steve: Very rarely you meet people, let alone a band that know their own minds, Blood Red Shoes are one of a few and I think you hear that in the music. That's the rewarding bit for me, to see uncompromised art and collaborate with interesting people who have a good disregard for health and safety on a video shoot..!

With evening approaching things were wrapping up, the fans were leaving and I hopped on the train home. From that evening to writing this now, two days later, all I can see when I shut my eyes is a riot of objects smashing into bits. Tea pots, alarm clocks, computer monitors, books, acoustic guitars, type writers, mirrors, Xbox’s, records, vases, breaking smaller and smaller until they're gone.

Wednesday 14 July 2010

High Park, crack witch residue.

High Park is from Ontario and makes that ghost hip hop. Witch house on the crack-head side of the the tracks, dark nasty and industrial.

Very like ✝ NO VIRGIN ✝ that I wrote about back in May, High Park is also connected to fellow Ontario crack witches ZXZ and ▼□■□■□■ (pronounced Mourning Star)
These guys are kind of on the outside of the Witch House scene, disliked by the Last.fm Witch House group for not having enough of an occult image and leaning too much towards an industrial sound. I would say that Mexican based 'juancarlitos' who runs the group is a pretty powerful figure in this genres propagation.

Check out High Parks blog for images, videos downloads etc.

Below are two of his tracks


Bosco Delrey, EP releases finally!!

Hell yeah! Bosco Delrey has been a long running favourite on this blog and now he's got two EPs/double A side singles out via Mad Decent.
The first is his proper debut release called Wild One/Evil Lives.
Its all 60s organ and modern beat programming, stoned rock gospel vocals and a real danceable groove!


The second EP/Single is called Space Junky/My My Racecar. The Space Junky track is a Drop The Lime reworking of Bosco Delreys song that emerged last year.
Its faster than before, a nice shuffling beat driving it along, dancehall basslines, crisp psychedelic guitars and a cleaner production sound.
Both EPs can both be bought on Amazon here and here. AND later this moth Bosco Delrey 7" vinyl is coming out! So glad stuff is finally happening for him!!



Sunday 11 July 2010

Welcome To The Witch House by Mater Susperia Vision,remixed by †‡†

Quick post to let you in on a collaboration between two of my favourites, †‡† and Mater Susperia Vision. This is a †‡† remix of MSVs Welcome To The Witch House and it kicks it outa the ball park!

My Pal The Crook from Мишка just wrote a great piece for the Seen All Over site that covers the glorious rise and proliferation of Mater Susperia Vision, read that here.

I feel as I'm talking about them you should see one of the more recent in their constant stream of videos, so below is The Drone Cabinet of Doctor Trance.

This band came into existence within this year, they already have an album out, four intense mixtapes, numerous solo track releases, over thirty videos, video cassette and dvd releases and another album out this August plus various collaborations and remixs.


Saturday 10 July 2010

//Tense// and LOOM11 releases. Synth ahoy!

Desire Records has some great releases at the moment, the new //Tense// album Memory for example which is amazing and only $8. Listen to a mixed sampler of it below!
There are also still a few copies left of //Tense//s Introducing EP on CD and tape.

Also from Desire comes the LOOM11 single Artifacts on lovely white 7" vinyl.
The brainchild of Elon Katz the writer and producer behind Chicagos White Car. LOOM11 see's him going in harder EBM direction, all classic digital synth and thrusting drum machines. Get it here.




Thursday 8 July 2010

Dream Boat cover an oOoOO song!

Dream Boat are from Rhode Island and have an EP/tape out on AMDISKS called Fevers. They rock a fierce witch house sound akin to †‡†. Its large its epic and it moves with a pace! Proper dance floor stuff if witch house ever had any dance floor to step on!

They have also covered oOoOOs 'No Summer4U' song and put it on soundcloud for the internet to share!

I guess this the first witch house cover, there have been a bunch of remixs and thats just part of the course but no covers up until now, I mean how could you do a cover of this stuff?
Well like this is how!

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Neon Indian interview on The Creators Project.


Just cant get enough of Neon Indian or this song. I was riding on an open top double decker bus earlier today, the sun was out, the wind was babbling through my hair and for the first time so far this year it properly felt like summer. Why? 'cos I was listening to 'Should Have Taken Acid With You' I would have been well up for psychedelic drugs and maybe some festival times right then!

Check out this interview with Alan Palomo of Neon Indian on Vices'
The Creators Project.
Its a good little interview where he talks about gear getting stolen, live visuals, synths, his earlier projects, and having a mexican popstar as a father.

Monday 5 July 2010

Applicants, Evelyn Waugh video.



This is Applicants new video for the song 'Evelyn Waugh' from the album 'Escape From Kraken Castle' Out now on Tigertrap Records. These guys have been around for a few years now but their frenetic power pop punk endures like Bis record on a desert island! The video is directed by Mike Prior who also did this little video for hardcore band Rooks which might just get you looking at your lunch if your stomach is the sort that turns easily!

Saturday 3 July 2010

Hipster Youth, Teenage Elders album.

Hipster Youth is one guy from Dublin making blissed out 8-bit/chiptune, kind of like the Atari version of Toro Y Moi.

His debut self album Teenage Elders is available to download for free from his Bandcamp page. Or you can buy it as a nice packaged up cd thing all limited edition and with extras from his DIY label Long Lost Records here.
Check out the rest of the artists on the label, there's some interesting projects going on!

That's a picture of the cd and extras to the left.




Thursday 1 July 2010

I Haunt Wizards, Mater Susperia Vision and Antwerpmusic.

Three tracks from three bands off of Soundcloud:

I dont know anything about Antwerpmusic other than they're from London and this track is great, you can download it too!




Mater Suspiria Vision are fast becoming one of my favourite bands.
Here is their treatment of the queen of illuminati Lady Gaga and her new single Alejandro:


I Haunt Wizards are now a two piece aspiring electro R&B outfit but go back a few years to when they were still at school and a three piece and they made 8-bit inspired weirdness like this great track.
All their songs .. well I guess they're old songs, (about thirty three of them!) are available to download for free from their Soundcloud and are worth checking out!

Persona La Ave, Brothers Were Taken EP.

Persona La Ave are from South Carolina and desribe their music as "stargaze."
Its classic stuff, (strange chillwave can already become a classic sound!) all wave samples, retro synths, blissed out melodies and downtempo drums.

They've collaborated with fellow purveyors of excellent chill Kiss Kiss Fantastic on a song called Dive which is on their Brothers Were Taken EP available to download for free on their Bandcamp page along with two other songs, Beach and Dunes!

Check "Dunes" out in the video below:

Persona La Ave // Dunes from Jarred Beeler on Vimeo.

They also rock a mean Tumblr here: