Semi Precious Weapons is a band founded by singer and Berklee College of Music grad Justin Traner. Though starting off as a punk band in NYC, their sound has evolved and they’ve toured the world with Lady Gaga and most recently Kesha. Now, they’re based in LA and have a new album coming out in April. The new album, Aviation, was produced by Tricky Stewart. Keep your eye out, and in the meantime check out the video above for “Aviation High.”
Filed under Band Change-ups, new albums, video
NPR has premiered the new PHANTOGRAM record Voices in its entirety as part of their exclusive FIRST LISTEN series. Due out February 18th via Republic Records, Voices can be heard now!
Stream: Phantogram – Voices (via NPR)
Phantogram will be taking to the road this spring in support of the record, with a full US tour that begins April 4th in Pittsburgh, PA. (YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!)
Phantogram have also premiered the video for “Fall In Love”, the critically-acclaimed first single from Voices.
The pre-order for Voices is available now —
Listeners who pre-order the entire record will get an instant download of tracks “Bill Murray”, “Nothing But Trouble”, and “Fall In Love”.
In addition to the full US tour, Phantogram will also be performing on the West Coast during the week of the record’s release, making the following stops:
02.20.14 Oakland, CA Fox Theatre – SOLD OUT
02.21.14 Sacramento, CA Ace of Spades
02.22.14 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium – SOLD OUT
02.23.14 Ventura, CA Ventura Theatre
After featured performances at the Maverick Music Festival in San Antonio Texas on March 21st and the Buku Music & Art Project in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 22ndPhantogram will embark on a full U.S. tour:
04.04 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
04.05 Columbus, OH LC Pavilion
04.06 Cincinnati, OH 20th Century Theatre
04.08 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
04.10 Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre
04.11 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theatre
04.12 Madison, WI Majestic Theatre
04.13 Minneapolis, MI First Avenue
04.15 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
04.16 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue
04.18 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theatre
04.19 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theater
04.21 Tulsa, OK Cain’s Ballroom
04.23 Dallas, TX South Side Music Hall
04.25 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
04.27 Atlanta, GA Counterpoint Festival
05.23-25 George, WA Sasquatch! Festival
06.20-22 Dover, DE Firefly Music Festival
Recorded in Los Angeles with co-producer John Hill (Santigold, MIA), Voices follows up the group’s celebrated self-titled EP, which spawned the track “Black Out Days”. Phantogram’s full-length debut Eyelid Movies [2010, Barsuk] and Nightlife EP [2011, Barsuk] established them as one of music’s most intriguing indie outfits. Soon, the likes of The Flaming Lips and Big Boi [Outkast] began seeking them out for studio collaborations. Republic Records also recognized their spirit and joined forces with them in 2013.
Filed under Awesome, Highly Anticipated, new albums, Shows, video
Lune (translated as ‘moon’ in French) is a new music project fronted by Sweden’s Linnèa Martinsson, and today she has unveiled the details for her debut album, Music & Sports, which will see a US release on March 10th through Refune Records.
Listen: Lune – “Tonight”
The core of Lune’s music is rooted in the dance and performance world she started in at an early age, writing simple songs with two chords, and simple, direct lyrics. Her sound ripened when creating music with Adrian Lux and Carl-Michael Herlöfsson, which resulted in movie-like pop melodies and lyrics about art, fighting, sport, love and sex. She has a haunting reinterpretation of Swedish House Mafia’s hit song “Leave The World Behind” (see the video below), that the group heard and hand-picked for the soundtrack to their upcoming documentary of the same name, which premieres at SXSW 2014.
Music & Sports Tracklisting:
1. Inside
2. Tonight
3. Close Dance
4. Standing Eagle
5. That Day
6. Boys & Roses
7. Falling
8. Feathers
9. Girls With Bangs
10. Call Me A Taxi
11. Epic
Filed under Awesome, listen, Lists, new albums, video
“Here are my favorite released & unreleased remixes of my Out Of The Black album incl. Chemical Brothers, Justice, Chromeo, Oliver, Jimmy Edgar, Audion (Mathew Dear), Blood Diamonds + 2 DJ-edits of mine.” – Alex Ridha“This remix was really fun to work on, so much that I ended up doing two.. one that Alex used for his live show and is now coming out and the other for the single, really happy to be part of this. I wanted the remix to sound like a power tool cutting through, and coincidentally thats what the vinyl looked like.” – Jimmy Edgar
Boys Noize Out Of The Black – The Remixes
** Previously unreleased & exclusive mixes1. What You Want (Jimmy Edgar Unreleased Dub MixAlb) **
2. XTC (MMM Remix Boys Noize Re-Did) **
3. Missile (Boys Noize DJ Edit) **
4. Conchord featuring Siriusmo (Oliver Remix) **
5. Ich R U (Justice Remix)
6. Got It featuring Snoop Dogg (Blood Diamonds Remix) **
7. What You Want (Chromeo Remix)
8. XTC (The Chemical Brothers Remix)
9. Stop (Audion’s Acid State Mix) **
10. Circus Full Of Clowns feat. Gizzle (Housemeister Remix) **
Boys Noize shared the official “Got It” music video featuring Snoop Dogg dancing to Boys Noize’s signature raw vibe and sound which you can check out below.
In March, Boys Noize will invade Los Angeles with 4 uniquely curated events between shows at Austin’s SXSW and Miami where he will play several shows, including Boysnoize Records events.
The album’s Jimmy Edgar remix was premiered via Rolling Stone. “Jimmy Edgar is one of my favorite producers right now,” Ridha tells Rolling Stone. “On his remix he took the funk essence of the original and flipped it to a darker but club-friendlier banger. So killer!”.
In the past year, Boys Noize has toured the US, Europe, Asia, Australia and South Africa with his signature SKULL, and performed headline shows at ULTRA, Bonnaroo, HARD Summer and HARD Day Of The Dead. In addition to releasing the GO HARD EP last June, Boys Noize teamed up with Skrillex this year to form the new group Dog Blood and lit up Coachella, Lollapalooza, Electric Zoo and HARD Summer with an electrifying live show. Entertainment Weekly described the Dog Blood debut at Coachella as “the world’s most joyous Satanic ritual. It was mystifying but fascinating—the Sahara Tent became its own congregation complete with everything but the swinging incense.” In September 2013 Dog Blood released the Middle Finger Part II EP.
Filed under new albums, remixes, video
photo: Rasha Deluliis
Filed under Band Change-ups, listen, Lists, new albums
Last month I shared a new song from Milagres, “Jeweled Cave” (read about it / listen to it here). Now, in anticipation of their new album out later this month, they’ve released another track, “Sunburn”.
Listen/download: Milagres – “Sunburn”
They’ve also added a few more tour dates to the list:
4/3: Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
4/5: St. Louis, MO @ The Demo
4/10: New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Filed under downloads, new albums, Shows
“Abstract” is a word that often gets thrown around when talking about experimental music, but patten’s sounds are genuinely intangible, amorphous and seem to be constantly in flux. Familiar sounds become foreign, foreign sounds seem familiar, and it’s impossible to say where one thing ends and another begins.” – FADER
“juggles multiple rhythms, moving at drastically different BPMs through its distorted drum beats, airy pitch shifted vocals, and choppy editing like a sunnier take on Actress” – Stereogum
The video for “Agen”, taken from upcoming record ESTOILE NAIANT, is an elegant exercise in typology, directed by regular collaborator Jane Eastlight. Trawling hundreds of image search terms to create a unique vision of a fever-dreaming stream of consciousness, Eastlight’s ultra-modern psychedelia perfectly mirrors patten’s entrancing and opulent sound.
ESTOILE NAIANT, patten’s debut album on Warp will be released on February 25. The full-length sees him step out of the shadows and into full focus as a producer of impending resonance. patten has already performed in front of thousands at the Tate in London, and played in the US for the first time in early January in NYC with shows at Joe’s Pub as part of an APAP showcase, Output, and participated in the first 285 Kent farewell show along with Laurel Halo and Autre Ne Veut.
Filed under Check 'em Out!, listen, new albums, video
LA based trio Bravesoul has a new EP, The Infinite Hourglass that will be released on 2/18.
The band recently won a Whole Foods Music contest and will be featured on VH1’s first ever “You Oughta Know” compilation that will be sold in WF stores. The track “If The Morning Ever Comes” is featured on the compilation and the band just released a new music video:
Stream: Bravesoul – The Infinite Hourglass
Bravesoul blends gritty soulful vocals with anthemic, adventurous rock sounds. They have been compared to Imagine Dragons, Kings of Leon, Muse and Young The Giant. Their single “Keyhole” from early 2012 tallied over 300K plays on Youtube in over 3 months.
Filed under Awesome, Check 'em Out!, listen, new albums, video
Photo Credit: Michelle Tran
Architecture In Helsinki is one of Australia’s most infectious and beloved pop bands. Following their internationally acclaimed 2011 album Moment Bends, the band will release their highly anticipated new album NOW + 4EVA this April via the band’s own Casual Workout.
The bands highly polished and unique pop sound reaches an even brighter level on NOW + 4EVA; as the album’s first single “Dream A Little Crazy” vibrantly attests. “Dream A Little Crazy” is a song about letting go and enjoying it thoroughly. Featuring a big sing-along chorus, Architecture in Helsinki debuted the single live at Splendour in the Grass earlier in the year and it had the crowd singing along in harmony.
Today, AIH reveal the “Dream A Little Crazy” official video, which stars frontman Cameron Bird as a mad scientist of sorts working in a bio-tech lab called “The Biological Bakery.”
“Dream A Little Crazy” and NOW + 4EVA were mixed in Los Angeles and Montreal by Francois Tetaz and Damian Taylor. Long time collaborator Tetaz is most notably known for his efforts with Gotye’s full-length album Making Mirrors as the engineer/mixer, as well as working with Kimbra. Taylor has a successful past working with Bjork, Gotye, The Killers and Arcade Fire.
Tracklist for NOW + 4EVA:
01 In The Future
02 When You Walk In The Room
03 I Might Survive
04 Dream A Little Crazy
05 (Boom) 4EVA
06 U Tell Me
07 Echo
08 Born To Convince You
09 2 Time
10 April
11 Before Tomorrow
Filed under Highly Anticipated, new albums, video
Click the image to stream the new album!
Earlier this week, Rolling Stone premiered the song “You,” proclaiming it “exists at the intersection between modern EDM and classic Eighties synth-pop.” Similarly, the album’s enthralling first single “Sleepwalking,'” which is featured on the television commercial for Grand Theft Auto V, recently debuted at #1 on the Alt Specialty Radio Chart and was also added to Sirius XM’s Alt Nation playlist. The song was nominated for Spike TV’s Video Game (VGX) Awards for “Best Song In A Game,” and is the most popular on the GTAV soundtrack , with over 30K sold.
Led by the genre-jumping singer/multi-instrumentalist Kamtin Mohager, the band will be performing at SXSW and Governor’s Ball, with additional tour dates coming soon.
Daydream Forever was produced by Isom Innis (Foster The People) with additional production and mixing from Tony Hoffer (M83, Phoenix). The new album is the anticipated follow-up to The Chain Gang of 1974’s widely acclaimed 2011 debut Wayward Fire, which Esquire declared “one of the summer’s most surprisingly fantastic new records,” earning similar praise from the likes of SPIN, MTV, FADER, NYLON, RCRD LBL and more. They have shared the stage with the likes of Foster the People, Big Audio Dynamite, Tapes N Tapes, and The Naked and Famous, as well as a lauded performance at 2011’s Lollapalooza, which Yahoo proclaimed “a fabulous onstage display.”
Filed under Awesome, Highly Anticipated, listen, new albums
Musically Amusing 