24 Oct
"Pop music shouldn't always get a bad rap," says Top Pops!, a recurring selection of pop music highlights across a selection of styles. In both today's featured tracks from Toro Y Moi and Shock, the power lies in nuance rather than pounding you over the head with pop hooks.
SEE ALSO +++ FULL POST + ALL TOP POP COLUMNS + ALL MUSIC COLUMNS

 

Toro Y Moi

Toro Y Moi's Chaz Bundick has proven himself time and time again to be adept at shape-shifting through the indie electronic universe, and his latest, "So Many Details", spaces its way though the five-minute mark while feeling infinite. Though not as overtly funky as 2011's Underneath The Pine, "So Many Details" has a quiet allure and power behind it, and moves forward even further from Bundick's blander chillwave days. I can't get enough of this track, and cannot wait for his upcoming full-length, Anything In Return, which comes out January 22nd, 2013, via Carpark Records. The full tracklisting is below, along with 2013 tour dates. The So Many Details 7" comes out November 23rd.

 

22 Oct
IN SHORT: "It's not your average Black Moth Super Rainbow Album."

 

In discussing early album reviews for Cobra Juicy, Black Moth Super Rainbow's de facto leader Tobacco called the album "the 1st bmsr I really got right." It's an interesting comment, especially for a band who pride themselves on the reckless nature of their sound and their presence on stage. And then there's the fact that Cobra Juicy simply wouldn't exist in its current state if it wasn't for crowd-funding the project on Kickstarter. Especially considering the latter, there are certainly extraneous expectations surrounding the long awaited release. See full album review

 

09 Oct
AURAL DEVASTATION Because sometimes all we need is our ear drums shattered by the weight of music, the force of distortion, and the insanity of noise. +++ FULL POST + AURAL DEVASTATION COLUMNS + ALL MUSIC COLUMNS

Kabul Golf Club

Belgium's Kabul Golf Club sound like a less frenetic version of The Locust combined with a less sassy version of The Blood Brothers. This isn't meant in a bad way on either account. The band pulls in some grimy sludge that The Locust can't take the time to create and The Blood Brothers were too polished to want around. It is an oddly approachable jam that has a perfect low-cost music video to accompany their sound. They've recently released an EP called le bal du rat mort, and you can check them out further on Facebook and their website.

 

03 Oct
Have you ever wondered what it'd be like to trip out in Midday Veil's practice space with them? Well, now you can virtually, through the wonders of the first video from their upcoming album, The Current (release date and label TBD). Whereas this video's predecessor, Moon Temple, set a high water mark for godhead hallucinogen mimicry, this one's a bit more subtle. It's like the difference between ingesting a heroic dose of mushrooms before meditating in the woods and casually dropping a quarter tab of acid to jet fuel a night of social drinking. Both are fun, and it really depends on what you're in the mood for. The way Midday Veil swirl subtle layering effects together to recreate distorted states of consciousness goes hand-in-hand with their modus operandi of consciousness expansion. My favorite part is when it focuses on David Golightly playing the keys and you get the classic LSD chemtrail effect -- or when there's a bunch of freaky keyboard noise, and then I realize it's actually Tim Mason, the guitar player. Or the part where Emily smiles at the camera and her image kind of dissipates into the ether. It's all pretty fun, but more than anything gives a teaser for their new album which I'm sure will be even more potently psych-tastic.

 

SEE ALL POSTS RELATED TO MIDDAY VEIL FULL TOUR DATES, PRESS PHOTOS, AND MORE CONTINUED IN FULL POST

 

19 Sep
"Pop music shouldn't always get a bad rap," says Top Pops!, a recurring selection of pop music highlights across a selection of styles. Two female-fronted records from Taken By Trees and Southern Shores offer their unique spins on tropical-influenced experimental pop and release their records on the same day (October 2) via Secretly Canadian and Cascine, respectively. SEE: FULL POST + ALL TOP POP COLUMNS + ALL MUSIC COLUMNS

 

Taken By Trees

Victoria Bergsman, former frontwoman of The Concretes and the female voice on Peter Bjorn And John's "Young Folks", is now stepping into a new light with her newest project, Taken By Trees. Her debut record, Other Worlds, will be released on Secretly Canadian on October 2nd and highlights a sunshine-filled period in Bergsman's life, when the Hawaiian Islands and falling in love played a crucial role in changing her artistic trajectory. Two singles have been thus far released for the album -- the stereotypically dream pop "Dreams", with a music video you can see HERE, and the dubbed out dance jam, "Large", which you can hear below. On Other Worlds, Taken By Trees is innovative at times and derivative at times, but "Large" is a hint of Bergsman's better tendencies. Simply drawing from tropical influences is often not quite enough -- especially in this current tropical pop-saturated atmosphere -- but when tropicalia is slathered in manipulations and unexpected tendencies, that's when it really shines, and Bergsman does so well here. Taken By Trees will soon be on tour with Jens Lekman, whose latest you can hear HERE. See full tour dates at the bottom of this post, and expect our full review of the record soon.

 

14 Sep
Remix City sifts through mountains of remix trash so you don't have to, in an attempt to find the ones that contribute to their originals.
++ SEE ALL: REMIX CITY POSTS - MUSIC COLUMNS - FULL POST

 

Matthew Dear + Michna

Michna's 4-track Moving Mountains EP comes out early next week on Ghostly International, and has remixed a track from labelmate Matthew Dear. "Earthforms" upholds Matthew Dear's dubbed-out vocal treatments while entering frequently into drum n' bass territory. Moving Mountains EP is the first release fom the New York producer in nearly four years, since 2008's debut record, Magic Monday. His single "Through The City On The Edge Of Forever" can be heard on Ghostly International's Soundcloud. Pacific Northwest folks can see him live tonight at Barboza in Sattle or tomorrow at Rotture in Portland. Both dates are with Breton. Full tour dates below, along with the original of "Earthforms".
Matthew Dear - "Earthforms" (Michna Remix) [audio:/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Matthew-Dear_Earthforms_Michna-Remix.mp3|titles=Matthew Dear - Earthforms (Michna Remix)]

 

13 Sep
"Love in the world is very short/ Don’t look back," sang the Portland-via-Somalia Iftin Band. Their translated message wrapped up the Global and Mobile Pop event at TBA Festival 2012. The crux of the evening was indeed about not looking back, but about looking everywhere, in a celebratory program of global music paired with local savvy. Co-curated by Portland's purveyors of tropical pop, Brainstorm, and self-proclaimed amateur ethnomusicologist, Christopher Kirkley of sahelsounds, Global and Mobile Pop strung together the work of musicians (foreign and domestic) in the African tradition, but with an Information Age twist. A triad of tall screens provided a data-rich backdrop with imagery evoking the foreign and the familiar: hyperbolic, color-saturated music videos hailing from West Africa; Safari windows devoted to on-the-spot search results piloted by local musician turned website jockey, Jason Urick; and a live Twitter feed soliciting audience participation, with all the facets of the microblogging world -- sometimes informative, other times insightful, or irreverent.
SEE FULL SHOW REVIEW Brainstorm - "Flat Earth"

 

23 Aug
Whim is a collection of media focused on independent rock/pop/garage and everything surrounding it. Doubling up on Menomena-related creations today, with a track from the band itself (just in time for their laser show CD release kick-off party -- details in full post) and one from Ramona Falls, the solo project of Brent Knopf, former Menomena member. SEE: FULL POST + ALL WHIM POSTS + ALL MUSIC COLUMNS

 

Menomena

When I last spoke with Brent Knopf of Menomena for their last record, Mines, things were looking successful but dire. The portrait painted -- and not inaccurately so -- was of a band that was grossly talented but also grossly dysfunctional, living proof that sometimes the people you feel the strongest musical kinship towards are not the people who you are the most interpersonally compatible. Maybe things have looked up since then. Knopf has left the band to pursue Ramona Falls (below), and the newly reformed duo of Danny Seim and Justin Harris worked quickly, pushing out their latest, Moms, in under two years. Has the band become less neurotic? Maybe in some sense, but in another sense, the album is named after Moms, which is ostensibly strange, and the lead single "Heavy Is As Heavy Does" is indeed heavy -- on family problems and cringe-worthy relations to dad that are not at all disguised. You can hear the track below. It's standard Menomena, once again balanced in unpredictable instrumental hysterics and the muted. Menomena's album release LASER SHOW will take place tomorrow, August 24th, at OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) in Portland! It's only $5, and will be featured alongside Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon! Surely to be a tasty audiovisual treat! Says Seim: laser technicians were too expensive so instead we're just crossing our fingers and setting these lasers to 'Floyd'. Maybe it'll line up like The Wizard of Oz!" Maybe so!

 

See our Menomena Band Interview Moms will be released September 18th on Barsuk Records, and pre-orders will come with a t-shirt designed by Siem. Full tour dates and newly released track, "Capsule", can be found in the complete post.

 

21 Aug

Lightning Bolt

This post is dedicated exclusively to Rhode Island duo of insanity, Lightning Bolt. Here's some news that just about everyone who likes chaos in music cares about: Lightning Bolt just announced tour dates and a new EP of old things. If you've never seen them perform, you should snatch up tickets for this next tour before they sell out, as they are bound to do. And if these video samples below aren't enough to convince you, or if the music just isn't your bag of chips, know that it doesn't even fucking matter. Watching Lightning Bolt is a transcendental experience of some other variety. Read this live show review to understand the benefits of throwing yourself in the midst of such refined and controlled chaos. Coinciding with the tour (full dates below) will be a release of "lost" materials from 2008, entitled Oblivion Hunter. Full tour dates below, along with videos of their live performances, and the EP's first single, the predictably insane "King Candy".
13 Aug
"Pop music shouldn't always get a bad rap," says Top Pops!, a recurring selection of pop music highlights across a selection of styles. Getting soulful today with a new Toro Y Moi video, and additional tracks from Portland's Shy Girls and Bryan Ellis.

Toro Y Moi

Toro Y Moi recently premiered "Rose Quartz" as a single, by way of live videos from Pitchfork Festival in Chicago. Not much to say here as this is definitely not breaking any new ground or blowing any minds. It's just solid, soulfully mellowed out funky house -- kind of the lowest common denominator for introducing such sounds into the indie mainstream.
TORO Y MOI TOUR DATES * = w/ The Choir Quit, Can't Kids 8/26 - Brooklyn, NY - Afropunk Festival 9/26 - Durham, NC - Motorco Music Hall 9/27 - Asheville, NC - Orange Peel * 9/28 - Charleston, SC - Music Farm * 9/29 - Fairburn, GA - Counterpoint Music Festival 10/13 - San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Music Festival

 

10 Jul
"Pop music shouldn't always get a bad rap," says Top Pops!, a recurring selection of pop music highlights across a selection of styles. Austin's Deep Time get feminist, Shawn Lee has one foot in space and in the ocean, and Seams bring some math into surf.

Deep Time

A few seconds of Austin-based male-female duo Deep Time, and you know that they have a creative fire burning under their asses, and plenty of steez to go around! The contrast between rhythmic basslines of mega low-end satisfaction and the vocals of Jennifer Moore (Voxtrot, The Carrots), which switch between harmoniously playful and erratically yelpy, really carry this shit forth with a swagger and a lean. The record comes out today, July 10th, via Seattle garage/rock imprint Hardly Art. Miss Moore also wrote an essay commenting on an intentionally sexist (in the name of humor that was cursed upon some and entertained by others) review in Vice Magazine. See it HERE. See full post for tour dates and a video teaser of the album. Deep Time - "Homebody" - DOWNLOAD MP3 [audio:/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Deep-Time_Homebody.mp3|titles=Deep Time - Homebody] Deep Time - "Clouds" - DOWNLOAD MP3 [audio:/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Deep-Time_Clouds.mp3|titles=Deep Time - Clouds]

 

10 Jul
AURAL DEVASTATION Because sometimes all we need is our ear drums shattered by the weight of music, the force of distortion, and the insanity of noise.

 

Old Man Gloom

Super groups that are actually super are a rare thing nowadays, but it was never really fair to call Old Man Gloom a super group as they were more a meeting of musical minds, friends, and colleagues than they ever were a band. Old Man Gloom features Aaron Turner (ISIS/owner of Hydrahead Records), Santos Montano (Zozobra/ISIS), Nate Newton (Converge/Doomriders) and Caleb Scofield (Cave In/Zozobra). They've never been a band made for the fundamentals of the industry, as made evident by their unexpected awakening this year after a long period of dormancy. It has been eight years since Old Man Gloom last put out an album, but NO hit the streets this year, and the band which is hardly a band played some shows. "Rats" is the perfect example of what Old Man Gloom can do. They are a brooding, self-loathing monster that clearly don't give a shit what is going on. Ambient, suffocating, troll-like noises echo throughout the speakers until it launches into the sludge that the band, despite hardly being a band, does better than so many others. OLD MAN GLOOM TOUR DATES 09/03 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo w/ William Fowler Collins, Sad Vicious, & Ides Of Gemini 09/04 San Diego, CA @ @ Soda Bar w/ William Fowler Collins, Sad Vicious, & Ides of Gemini 09/05 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill w/ William Fowler Collins & Sad Vicious 09/08 Seattle, WA @ Highline Bar

 

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