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“We will admit to a bit of heightened curiosity about the ever-curious lo-fi, alt-folk, slightly loony “master of the idiotically cosmic” (Rolling Stone) Devendra Banhart. The few months of dating Natalie Portman, the new signing to major label Warner Brothers, the bizarre photo spreads…well, we’re in hippie-meets-hipster Devendra-land where just about anything is possible. Banhart’s seventh album What Will We Be arrives next week (October 27) and follows up his remarkable 2007 project Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, a disc that The Boston Globe described as a “trippy collection (that) spans Brazilian Tropicalia, ’60s psychedelia, classic rock, blissed-out pop, gospel…a ridiculous range of styles, but one that works under Banhart’s expansive, expressive umbrella.”
Recorded at a makeshift home-studio in California with Banhart and Paul Butler (Band of Bees) producing, What Will We Be features backup from Noah Georgeson (guitar and vocals), Greg Rogove (percussion), Luckey Remington (bass and vocals), and Rodrigo Amarante (guitar and vocals). Alternately hazy and dazy, the curiously affecting What Will We Be could be more aptly titled What Will Be Will Be as Banhart and crew careen from one style (and musical decade) to another, from Spanish lullaby to trippy folk to doo-wop chorus to piano bar sing-a-longs to ramshackle, 60’s rustic folk/rock all delivered with Banhart’s quavering croon in tow.” -press release
Devendra Banhart – What Will We Be (2009)
fuck you pitchfork ratings, who could give the new weezer a 4.5 and this a 4…? fucking corporate idiots… this owns, y2k+ Weezyer blows and retroactively almost ruins pinkerton for me…
” The heavy metal record label Prosthetic Records saw (eight-string) gutiarist of Reflux, Tobin Abasi’s guitar work and asked him to create a solo album for them. Abasi initially declined, feeling such an endeavor would be “egotistical and unnecessary”. When Reflux disbanded, Abasi decided to take the label’s offer. The name Animals as Leaders was inspired by Daniel Quinn’s 1992 novel Ishmael, which addresses anthropocentrism. Abasi coined the name as a reminder “that we’re all essentially animals”.
The project’s first album, Animals as Leaders, was recorded in early 2008. Abasi recorded all guitar and bass tracks on the album; drums and various synthesized effects were programmed by engineer Misha Mansoor. The album was released April 28, 2009 by Prosthetic Records. ”
“Scandinavian disco kings Hans-Peter Lindstrm and Prins Thomas are set to release the follow up to their widely acclaimed eponymous debut this year.
The duo have had quite a journey since the release of their debut three years ago, with Thomas completing countless remixes and seeing his Full Pupp stable go from strength to strength, whilst Lindstrom went on to release his solo cosmic disco opus, Where I Go You Go Too. Both of them have been busy in the studio together during their time back in Oslo, and the fruits of their labour are now finally ready for release.
Whilst Lindstrom has always been one for using live instrumentation in the studio, Thomas’ gradual shift into using more and more live elements in his solo work has meant that their second collaborative album, entitled II, has a much looser, anic feel than the first record. The original intent stands, however, as they merge their italo, Krautrock and disco influences into a lush singular whole, imbuing them with their characteristically warm production sheen. Released just in time for summer, it looks as if the Nordic duo are looking to compete for part of your personal sunshine soundtrack this year.” -pressrelease
“Brooklyn-via-Providence duo Javelin, who mention being influenced by junk shops, flea markets, endless loop tapes, regional dance music, local partying, and New Edition.” -stereogum
“[Jamz n Jemz]…a CD-R they’ve been distributing at gigs, is flecked with brilliant little vignettes– almost every one a gem, many of them certifiable jams– that argue for the notion of a million little pieces coming together to make something much larger / …never letting their listener get too close to an idea or a groove for very long.” p4k
JAVELIN: A new addition to David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label. “Sounds range from broken dance jams to relaxed instrumental cut-ups, created with love on their MPCs. Long forgotten samples are chopped and re-assembled with drums, wooden recorders, old keyboards, handmade thumb pianos or whatever instruments are readily at hand. The result is a kind of mix tape fantasy (residing in the mythical “dollar bins of the future”), where R & B impresarios, amateur booty bass producers and Andean flautists hold equal sway.” OUR STAGE
“… is an American avant-garde metal band from Shreveport, Louisiana, formed in 2007. Their musical style is considered experimental metal due to their use of frequent genre changes within songs, including jazz, swing, and electronica, but primarily metalcore. They have released one EP and one full-length album, and have toured with Winds of Plague, The Human Abstract, Sea of Treachery, and See You Next Tuesday.” -wikipedia
“…the spastic blending of genres maintains a cohesive sound that draws in listeners from many musical worlds. Love it or hate it – as long as they get a strong reaction to their music, the members of this band will feel that they have done their duty.”
“The IWABO overall aesthetic is all things radical. They are heading in down a trail they are blazing themselves – with twists and turns of their own creation. Due to their powerful live show and commitment to making sure every single fan knows how much they are truly appreciated, the more people who are exposed to the IWABO experience, the more new fans they will amass.” – century media records
Philadelphia’s Dayve Hawk : Memory Cassette, Weird Tapes, or Memory Tapes
“… a record of achingly gorgeous dance-pop that captures both the joy of nostalgia and the melancholic sense that we’re grasping for good times increasingly out of reach…
Seek Magic is something of an inhabitable universe that proves there’s far more to Hawk’s sound than a way with reverb and passing familiarity with dance loops.” – p4k review
hazy, nostalgic, otherworldly, unsettling
…an album that shifts effortlessly between several styles and sounds while fitting together as a diverse but cohesive package. There is common theme running through Continent’s songs even if it is not easy to pinpoint or describe.
The Montreal native has been creating tracks since his pre-teens and has only begun to present his music publicly in the last couple of years. CFCF’s career began to take off with his contest winning remix of Crystal Castles “Air War” and has followed up with a chain reaction of official remixes for talents such as Sally Shapiro, The Presets, HEALTH, The Teenagers and Hearts Revolution among many others.
“The songs range from mid-tempo nu-disco to balearic, house to ambient. Often the basis of the atmosphere was culled from films by Werner Herzog, Michael Mann, David Lynch, and David Cronenberg as well as countless musical influences including Arthur Russell, Saint Etienne, and Tangerine Dream.” -pressrelease
The Fader Magazine said in a recent interview with CFCF, “Like many people his age, Silver obsesses over childhood ephemera. But rather than sate his yearnings with late night eBay binges on Ghostbusters memorabilia, he resurrects ’80s keys and synths, modifying them into a hybrid of sturdy structure mixed with vintage minor chord melody. “There’s definitely a feeling I try to capture,’ [Silver] says. ‘This feeling of the last day of school, or it could be a decade I didn’t even live in. It doesn’t have to be specific to me.’
funk / idm / electronica
“Vibert helped to redefine the rules of electronic music in the UK in the early to mid ’90s – alongside a bunch of reprehensible mates that included Richard D. James (a.k.a. Aphex Twin), Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher), Mike Paradinas (µ-Ziq), Chris Jeffs (Cylob), and the labels Rephlex and Warp”
“A pretty sweet set from the man of many names, club groove beat legend Luke Vibert! Rhythm has a lot of spacey soul jazz inspired sounds in the mix, and beats the roll from a laidback hip hop style more of sparse groove — kind of a slow rolling groove rather than a fill the club floor sound — a sample based, borderline hip hop instrumentals style set”
Luke Vibert – Rhythm (2009)
“The title track shows off his ability to create something so hypnotically cool out of such simple lines and hooks that you’ll believe old skool hip-hop is British” / “He mixes up genres and EFX across the 14 tracks; hip-hop vs. Acid, experimental electronic vs. dubstep, electro vs. tech house” -www.flyglobalmusic.com
Luke Vibert – We Hear You (2009)
brain-melting, spaceship-powering tribal tr(d)ance jams from the future / adrenaline pumping, ear purging slab of towering, pristine noise / swirling atmospherics and percussive gunfire / ‘rarely have two men sounded so much like the end of the world’ / new wave of intelligent, literate British pop music / iridescent synths, psychedelic drone, distorted vocals and tribal rhythms
Some People Ride the Wave 