Week in Review #45
We’re kicking this week’s stream off with the latest from Russian imprint Full of Nothing, a collaborative three-way EP from label proprietors Love Cult and friends released at the beginning of this month: “Pick a Piper / Squalloscope / Love Cult is a collaborative EP by three artists from Canada, Austria, and Russia respectively. The young producers met in New York to attend Red Bull Music Academy and worked out two gorgeous tracks operating on the fringes of pop, weirdo electronics and psychedelia.” The result is an enigmatic 7″ of unique future muzak, a compact missive from the burgeoning frontiers of pop.
(& speaking of messages from the frontier, we also missed out on mentioning the new installment of Tristan Bath’s tape column for The Quietus: a Blue Tapes feature, well worth reading.)
#1 – 11/8/14 – At the end of last week, San Francisco beat imprint Fuzzoscope unveiled their second (larger than your average) mixtape, Earwax Fizzica 2, which also happens to be their third cassette to date; following a shorter outing with Milwaukee based producer Sumthin Gunny. I spotted the collection thanks to Fuzzoscope’s slipping in one of Pregnant’s incredible donation-based buy-your-own-song songs; full disclosure, I got one myself but they’re all amazing. The rest of Earwax Fizzica is at least as good, and so is the (sadly sold-out) first edition. -DP
#2 – 11/9/14 – Andy Stott’s genre-bending new album, Faith in Strangers, started streaming at NPR; according to them his beats have slowed down to a “lumber, the atmosphere surrounding them foreboding,” though a vocal contribution from his former piano teacher appears to balance the dynamic. -DP
#3 – 11/10/14 – Deathbomb Arc welcomed Denver’s goth-rap trio BLKHRTS to their roster. The sample-happy, vowel-light crew already has several self-releases under their collective belt, including BLK S BTFL and CHRCH. Check the video for the Bauhaus referencing “PORTIES” below and snap up BLKHRTS’ latest free offering Death, Romance and the Color BLK here. -SD
#4 – 11/11/14 – Beyond Beyond is Beyond released Prince Rupert’s Drops’ sophomore album, Climbing Light, following up their 2012 debut Run Slow. The album is an idiosyncratic acid-rock journey through a cornucopia of pleasant jams, starting with the straightforward-yet-spacey “Death March” and ending with the beautifully layered nostalgia of “Rosy Red.” My favorite might be “Sesame Seed”, with its funky Talking Heads guitar riffs and upbeat vibe. Head over to BBiB to grab the album; it’s available digitally, on CD, and on black or oxblood-colored vinyl (check out that hand-screened risograph print, too)! -LP
#5 – 11/11/14 – Big Ears, possibly one of the most fascinating and consistent festivals around, announced the initial line-up for its 2015 edition. Scheduled for March 27-29 and sprawling all over Knoxville, the fest already boasts the likes of SWANS, Laurie Anderson, Ben Frost, Max Richter, A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Clark, Grouper, Steve Gunn, Nels Cline, Amen Dunes, Holly Herndon, and Demdike Stare, all curated by artist-in-residence Kronos Quartet. Tickets also went on sale yesterday, so don’t sleep on the discounted, early bird price if you have any interest in attending! -BP
#6 – 11/12/14 – Beko Disques released a new Super Crayon music video in anticipation of an upcoming La Souterraine compilation; the track, “RF-Y162″, is accompanied by simple but hypnotizing animations as seen through the window of a spaceship leaving Earth. Grab your moonboots and take off with the video below; Super Crayon’s full-length is coming out on Beko in 2015. -LP
#7 – 11/13/14 – Our friends over at AdHoc announced the return of its fabled zine today, re-launching the platform in an enticing and ingenious PDF-for-a-dollar model. Crammed full of incredible visuals from artist-in-residence Keith Rankin and thoughtful long-form writing on music and culture, the ‘zine is a welcome development to AdHoc’s already ambitious coverage. Grab your copy here. -CP
#8 – 11/13/14 – Recordings of the Rosetta comet began circulating, thanks to a snippet on the SoundCloud profile for Germany’s ESAO Operations; though there was some confusion over the comet’s name. Long story short, comet “67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko” sounds tremendous, and probably destined for extensive sampling. -DP
#9 – 11/13/14 – Peter Holslin of the Passion Weiss blog wrote a diverting recollection of when and why he picked up Choubi Choui! Folk & Pop Sounds From Iraq, what he rightly describe as a “technicolor compilation” in the tagline. The compilation itself is magnificent, drawing from a wide range of sources to illustrate the development and character of Iraq’s pre-calamity culture. Check out Holslin’s essay at Passion Weiss. -DP
#10 – 11/13/14 – FACT released a video for the first single off of Disappears’ upcoming Irreal, the Chicago band’s fifth album and Kranky’s first release scheduled for 2015. “Another Thought” highlights Disappears’ ongoing lean away from kraut-inspired noise-rock and toward more abstract focuses. While the guitar and melody scream Glenn Branca and other No Wave progenitors, Brian Chase’s vocals and eerie, errant noises recall Liars. I, for one, can’t wait for the full length. Scope the video below and look for Irreal to drop January 19, 2015. -BP
#11 – 11/13/14 – Jay Harmon, aka BOY FROOT, uploaded five stunning new images to his incredible tumblr. I just thought you all should stare at them for a few moments. Enjoy. -CP
#12 – 11/14/14 – Impose shared a slinky new techno mixtape from LA producer Sahy Uhns, a little more than a week after the release of his latest album Courtship Dances; available here on the Proximal Records Bandcamp. Stream the album below and check out the mix over at Impose. -DP
#13 – 11/14/14 – Check out Jared Brown’s madcap video for “Home,” off his album Shee. Less music video and more “kind of drunk full disclosure shapeshifting reality”, the video features sped-up and slowed-down footage of Mac Demarco and the Connan Mockasin crew chatting and cleaning up after a show while “Home” plays somewhat quietly in the background. Get weird with the vid below and we’ll keep our ears peeled for more goodies from Jared. -LP
#14 – 11/14/14 – Just a few days after reportedly quitting the internet, Zach Phillips of OSR Tapes arranged some sort of ”Tapes Conference” event to go down in Chicago on November 29th, complete with guest speakers such as CE Schneider, Vehicle Blues’ Gabe Holcombe (also of Lillerne Tapes), and more. The description of what, and why-the-hell this is happening is super dense and strange, so I won’t relate it here, but you can RSVP or check out what details there are as of yet by clicking here. I can’t make it so… can anybody TAPE it for me? (yuk, yuk). -CP
