May 16, 2012 · 5:16 pm

New Collaboration: SMILE

The brainchildren behind two of Sweden’s most beloved musical projects have combined to form one artistic force, the result being an infectious pop revolution. Smile is the collaboration of Björn Yttling, world-renowned writer, producer and bassist of international indie-pop powerhouse Peter Bjorn and John, and Joakim Åhlund of bear-masked electro outfit Teddybears. The duo is excited to announce the May 29th release of their debut LP, A Flash in the Night, as the first artist album from the Swedish artist collective, Ingrid.  The recording is fully loaded with electro-focused pop tracks, many instrumental and constructed around addictive synth. The vocals that are offered are artfully sparse. The album features the single “Clean Gloves, Dirty Hands,” a standout instrumental track that The Fader has deemed, “excellent”, set amongst the hazy and nostalgic “Jean Michel,” complete with retro future-synth and the dream-pop gems “Crooked” and “Satellite Blues”

Ingrid made it’s official debut on Record Store Day, April 21st. with a 15-track compilation aptly titled Ingrid Volym I . The release features new original tracks from Nordic musicians and label founders Lykke Li, Joakim Ahlund of Teddybears, Miike Snow and Björn Yttling of Peter Björn and John.  In addition to solo music projects by members of Peter Björn and John, Teddybears and Miike Snow, additional artists on the compilation include Andrew Wyatt, The Chinamen, Coco Morier, Electrocute, Hortlax Cobra, Little Majorette, Max Von Sydow, Peter Moren and Starlight Serenaders. The story behind the Swedish powerhouse label is anything but ordinary. Now they have all joined forces to record music as a single sonic entity highlighting Sweden’s eclectic music scene, ranging from dark, lush cosmic pop to psychedelic minimalism to melodic kraut.

A FLASH IN THE NIGHT TRACKLISTING

  1. Jeans Team
  2. Satellite Blues
  3. Clean Gloves, Dirty Hands
  4. Jean Michel
  5. Eating Dirt
  6. Med Hopp Om Battring
  7. Second Hand Smoke
  8. From Time To Time
  9. School. Work. Dead
  10. Have Some Fun Tonight
  11. Crooked
  12. Rescue Dog
  13. A Flash In The Night
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May 16, 2012 · 5:00 pm

Download: Baby Monster – “City of Lovers”

Baby Monster is preparing to release a brand new organically grown collection of tracks by duo Daniel Sternbaum and Marty Larson Xu. Written simultaneously from different cities, the grinding beats and airy vocals of the City of Lovers EP produce a summer-ready ethereal atmosphere which reflects the tension between the duo’s varying perceptions of both the metropolitan and natural environments. Known for their popular remixes for Gorillaz, Ellie Goulding and Foster The People among others, Baby Monster will release the City of Lovers EP on June 5. Opening the record is title track “City of Lovers” a summery track with layered vocals over booming synths which seamlessly leads into “Hitchhiker” a song lead by heavy bass and handclaps and distorted vocals. “The General of Hot Desire” turns up the heat peppered with twinkling reggae-infused beats and tambourine, breaking into a climactic chorus of voices.

Hailing jointly from California and Oregon, Baby Monster’s previous releases include the singles Ultra Violence and Beethoven, and She Comes Alive, as well as their self-titled debut LP Baby Monster released in June of 2011.

Download: Baby Monster – “City of Lovers”

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May 16, 2012 · 4:49 pm

Video: Robert Schwartzman – “Second Chances”

Check out a brand new song and video from Robert Schwartzman. This song “Second Chances” is from his upcoming album Double Capricorn and was inspired by a trip he took to Tibet, during which he spent time with Tibetan Monks and lived in a monastery. (That’s pretty rad, I think. I met Robert when he played a show with his band Rooney in Pittsburgh. Very cool and nice guy.)

“I’d like to thank everyone who helped out to make this video possible.  Everyone in the video gave their time to share in the experience and to bring life to the finished piece.  I want to give an extra shout out to my Mother, who plays my Mother in the scene where they think I’m possessed, and my brother Jason, who plays my brother/bandmate…(watch his skills at creating the slow motion effect in real time).  My Mother was in a Rooney video years ago, but this is the first video where Jason and I got to rock out together.

When you see how other people live in other parts of the world, you appreciate how many good opportunities we have in our country. It frustrates me when I see people here who take things for granted. I wrote the song as a kind of a wake-up call for those people to get it together. I think we all have chances.” — Robert Schwartzman

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May 16, 2012 · 4:27 pm

Newest Love (+ download): The Dig

New York City’s rock band The Dig will release their new album Midnight Flowers on May 29th via Buffalo Jump Records. In celebration, they’re hosting three record release shows in DC, NYC, and Chicago. In July they will move to Los Angeles by popular demand and return for a residency at Silverlake Lounge after playing their successful shows with Ben Kweller last month. The band is proud to lend their single to Turn the Tide: Songs for “Last Call at the Oasis” a companion chartity album to the new film Last Call at the Oasis in support of the global water crisis alongside 20 unreleased exclusive tracks from artists including Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Alabama Shakes, My Morning Jacket and more.

Listen/Download: The Dig – “I Already Forgot Everything You Said”

The Dig’s sound has been developing ever since the band’s two singers Emile Mosseri and David Baldwin started making music together when they were eleven years old.  After meeting California native Erick Eiser, the three songwriters have been writing tunes and playing in different bands since they were 16 years old. Anchored by sharp guitars, a woozy synth backdrop and airtight vocal harmonies, the new album Midnight Flowers is produced by Bryce Goggin (Pavement, The Apples In Stereo, Swans, Antony & The Johnsons) and it recalls styles ranging from T. Rex to Brian Eno to The Everly Brothers. Leading up to the release of Midnight Flowers, The Dig have pressed a limited number of cassette tapes containing the album’s first two singles, “Red Rose In The Cold Winter Ground” and “I Already Forgot Everything You Said.” 

“Even though it takes us about 15 minutes to make each individual cassette, which is done using an old boom box in the back of our van between shows, we like the idea of having the songs that we recorded using analog tape machines available on cassette.  For any of our fans that have moved on from 1995, each cassette comes with a digital download.”

Following their acclaimed 2010 debut, Electric Toys, The Dig amassed a passionate national following with magnetic live performances touring with the likes of Portugal. The Man, The Antlers, and The Walkmen. The band began writing new songs on the road and back home in New York between tours. The new songs reflect a rich sense of lyricism in “Red Rose in the Cold Winter Ground” and “Glass Horse” while thrumming with a charged pop sensibility in “All Tied Up” and “Break the Silence.”  When we were writing “I Already Forgot Everything You Said,” guitarist and vocalist David Baldwin recalls, “We had just gotten off the road with The Antlers and we were listening to a lot of Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind.  I think those influences found their way into that song particularly. But really the songs on this album are personal.”

The Dig are:

  • David Baldwin (Guitar/Vocals)
  • Emile Mosseri (Bass/Vocals)
  • Erick Eiser (Keyboards/Guitar)
  • Mark Demiglio (Drums)

The Dig – Midnight Flowers track listing:

  1. Red Rose in the Cold Winter Ground
  2. Black Water
  3. I Already Forgot Everything You Said
  4. All Tied Up
  5. Hole In My Heart
  6. Animal Screams
  7. Break The Silence
  8. Police Car
  9. Clouds and The White Noise
  10. Glass Horse

The Dig live:

  • 5/19: Washington, DC @ The Dunes (TICKETS)
  • 5/25: Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands (TICKETS)
  • 5/31: Chicago, IL @ Schubas (TICKETS)
  • 6/16: Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar
  • 7/11: Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake Lounge
  • 7/18: Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake Lounge
  • 7/25: Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake Lounge

 

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May 16, 2012 · 3:57 pm

The Music Box in New Orleans

Watch a video of a past performance at The Music Box

The Music Box is an interactive installation comprised of musical architecture. It was created by non-profit organization New Orleans Airlift in collaboration with 25 artists including the international street art star Swoon. The Music Box features a collection of purpose-built shacks and miniature houses, each containing an instrument or having instruments built into its structure. The wooden shacks that make up this “shanty-town” are constructed from salvaged materials reclaimed from a late-18th-century Creole cottage that collapsed on the site several years ago.

Housing a slew of unconventional and inventive instruments, The Music Box offers its visitors a blank canvas to create music in an entirely new way. Between now and the end of June The Music Box will host a series of recordings sessions and pop-up performances in the space by amazing and diverse musicians including Thurston Moore, longtime Swoon collaborators Dark Dark Dark, the beloved Cajun musician Jo-El Sonnier, the sample-based band Javelin, the Brooklyn pop punk duo Japanther, and noise heroes Black Dice.

A final performance by the Shantytown Orchestra will feature an unexpected and eclectic line-up including local musicians like  Donald Miller (of the legendary 1980’s noise band Borbetomagus),  to Rosalie “Lady Tambourine” Washinton,  a familiar New Orleans character who plays with gospel acts as well as the Neville Brothers. They will be joined by out-of town performers including the transgendered harpist Baby Dee, (a collaborator of Will Oldman and Antony and the Johnsons), Magas, the electronic wizard of Chicago, and the Brooklyn-duo Javelin. These June 8th and 9th concerts mark the very last chance to experience a full orchestral performance at The Music Box before the installation is taken down at the end of June 2012.

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May 16, 2012 · 1:23 pm

Check ‘Em Out: SSCION

Hailing from Kansas City’s unexpected art-scene, SSION has reached the apex of synth-pop perfection with the album Bent, out August 7th on Dovecote. Led by the charismatically avant gender outlaw Cody Critcheloe, SSION creates music that is simultaneously dance inducing and cheekily crass and that irreverently pokes fun at contemporary culture. Tracks are meticulously crafted with reverbed synth, deep bass and vocals that verge on the addictive. Critcheloe’s creativity is not bounded by music making, as he has been commissioned to produce music videos for a multitude of heavyweights in the unconventional-pop world, including Peaches, Gossip, CSS and Santigold as well as promotional videos for the vibrant outsider designer and fellow Kansas City local, Peggy Noland.

Drawing from a multifaceted artistic background, SSION is a total multimedia experience playfully on the vanguard of culture, replete with high-concept visuals, performance, costuming and make-up. The enhanced hard copy re-release of Bent will include previously unreleased bonus tracks and remixes from MNDR, Grimes, Nightfeelings, Physical Therapy and more.

Bent features the lushly reverbed introverted single “My Love Grows In The Dark.” In the accompanying video, conceived and produced by Critcheloe, the front man portrays himself as the antithesized pop-star, journeying through a surreal house of androgynous dancers and confronted with issues of representation, indifference and intimacy. The track got a dreamy disco remix treatment by Nightfeelings (Nick Weiss of Teengirl Fantasy).

SSION not only nods to the most influential and iconic pop artists of the past, but also stands to carve out its own place in the future as a whole new breed of pop.

SSION will play select live dates across on the east and west coast, appearing with Gossip, JD Samson and Sharon Needles. He will also be performing  at this year’s San Francisco Pride.

Tracklisting:
1. Listen 2 The Grrrls
2. Blonde With U
3. Psy-chic
4. Luvvbazaar
5. Earthquake
6. Growin
7. Feelz Good (4-Evr)
8. My Love Grows In The Dark
9. Nothing Happens At Nite
10. Weird Yearz

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May 16, 2012 · 1:03 pm

Download: Fixers – “Crystals” (Memory Tapes Remix)

Fixers released Pop Meat/Your Corruptor, their first EP in the US, on April 24th via Dolphin Love Records, and now the band is sharing a Memory Tapes remix of their lead single, “Crystals.” Memory Tapes reworked the track with an irresistible bassline and funky, ocscillating synths. If you missed the bands’ kaleidoscopic video for “Crystals” last month, be sure to check it out!

Download: Fixers – Crystals (Memory Tapes Remix)

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May 15, 2012 · 9:54 am

Download: Tin Sparrow – “My Own”

Sydney’s Tin Sparrow have a brand new crowd favorite “My Own”. Taken off their sophomore EP Fair & Verdant Woods, “My Own“ is available for free download now.

Listen/download: Tin Sparrow – “My Own”

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May 14, 2012 · 3:01 pm

MP3: Friendly Ghost – “Valerie”

Friendly Ghost has perfected a recipe of Eric Prydz’s “Call on Me” and Ra Ra Riot’s “Valerie”

Check it out and download here.

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May 14, 2012 · 2:55 pm

Nobody Beats the Drum

After a successful run in March, Dutch electro trio NOBODY BEATS THE DRUM prepares to once again invade the US for the summer festival circuit and select headline shows. Vice/HP’s Creators Project reported “The lively electronic trio garnered tremendous reception from fresh crowds at both SXSW and Ultra Music Festival”, claiming them to be, “Amsterdam’s most mind-altering export.”

NOBODY BEATS THE DRUM is production duo Sjam Sjamsoedin, Jori Collignon, and visual artist/video director Rogier van der Zwaag. Starting May 12, they embark on an 8 week tour that will stretch 12,000 miles of the US and Canadian landscape, with few cities missing out on the group’s mix of hypnotic beats and multi-genre blending live sets. This tour will also see the US debut of the group’s nine screen live projection system known as the Telenovem Automaton 333″, aptly named for its captivating visual experience spanning 333 inches in diameter.

Along the tour at festivals like The Hangout, Sasquatch, Wakarusa, Spring Awakening, Governors Ball, Electric Forest, Montreal International Jazz Fest, Quebec City Summer Fest, and Camp Bisco, NOBODY BEATS THE DRUM will perform along with electro heavyweights like Skrillex, A-Trak, Diplo, Afrojack, Steve Aoki, Thievery Corporation and more. Additional shows of note include headliners at LA’s Dim Mak Live, Belly Up Aspen, and Bassmentality Toronto, with supporting slots to Skrillex and Wolfgang Gartner in Canada. Come out to a show and find out why Consequence of Sound calls the band “The future of Dutch dance music”.

2012 Upcoming Dates

* May 12th – Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia PA (Loaded Festival official after party)

* May 17th – The Hangout Festival, Gulf Shores AL

* May 22nd – Cinespace, Los Angeles CA (Dim Mak Weekly)

* May 23rd – Vessel, San Francisco CA (Dim Mak Weekly)

* May 25th – Celebrities, Vancouver BC (w/ Wolfgang Gartner)

* May 26th – Sasquatch Music Festival, Quincy WA

* May 29th – Belly Up, Aspen CO * June 1st – Wakarusa Music Festival, Ozark AR

* June 2nd – Wakarusa Music Festival, Ozark AR

* June 15th – Majestic Theatre, Madison WI

* June 16th – Spring Awakening Festival, Chicago IL

* June 21st – U Street Music Hall, Washington DC

* June 23rd – Governors Ball Music Festival, New York NY

* June 23rd – Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn NY (Governors Ball official after party)

* June 30th – Electric Forest Festival, Rothbury MI

* July 1st – Electric Forest Festival, Rothbury MI

* July 4th – Wrong Bar, Toronto ON (Bassmentality Weekly)

* July 5th – Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal QC (Les Nuits Heineken)

* July 11th – Quebec City Summer Fest, Quebec City QC (w/ Skrillex)

* July 13th – Camp Bisco, Albany NY

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