5.31.2012

Raglani


Joesph Raglani came to more widespread attention a few years ago when he released Of Sirens Born on Kranky. That album, wrapping itself in Kosmiche tones and stuttered rhythms was only a part of the story. Prior to its release Raglani had littered tapes and CD-rs across labels like his own Pegasus Farms, IDES, Arbor and Gameboy and each was a small document to his devotion to the history of electronics in music. Now Arbor has rounded up an essential overview of these years with Husk a masterfully cohesive collection of pieces from those disparate releases. The collection foams and seethes with bristled tones and proves just how accomplished Raglani's catalog is, especially in light of so many artists who've made similar strides in the analog kingdom while his work has been left overshadowed due to its own limited nature. Adding to the deal and sweetening the pot all the further is artwork by Robert Beatty whose done outstanding pieces for Wooden Wand, Peaking Lights, Real Estate, Ga'an and Gary War.

Download:
[MP3] Raglani - Lissa Says

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE or HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 8:39:00 AM 1 comments

5.30.2012

Fergus & Geronimo


Fergus & Geronimo have proved nothing if not surprising. After a run of garage-inflected singles they put together Unlearn, an album laden with equal parts psych-pop coating and blue-eyed soul. It seems only natural that the band should subvert a few expectations on their sophomore LP but what's funny about the duo is that they seem fairly content to throw out any expectations and to confidently switch the scheme altogether. Funky Was the State of Affairs displaces the touchstones of garage and soul and takes stabs directly into the heart of 70's punk and early 80's post-punk with a flair for James Chance sax breaks and a post-modern, technological hangover concept holding the edges together (complete with alien/sci-fi spoken word vignettes). Its a nice left turn for a band that's constantly on the move and we whole-heartedly applaud their affirmations and intentions to make an "album" in an age when the sum isn't always the goal of the parts.

Download:
[MP3] Fergus & Geronimo - Roman Tick

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:19:00 AM 0 comments

5.29.2012


Barış Manço - 2023
Often considered one of Manço's masterpieces, 2023 is a concept album whose themes of peace show up in his later works on songs "2024" and "2025". The album makes a strong case for the fusion of Turkish traditional music with American
and European rock influences. Manço traveled to Belgium to study in his late teens and there he picked up much of the rock influence that would seep into his solo works. The charismatic performer was a favorite in his home country for spreading messages of peace in turbulent times and this album offers much of the same, while seamlessly folding in influences of funk and early electronics via spacey drum machines and synthesizers. Its easy to see why the epic is often considered his best and longest lasting release as it crosses borders to become more than just a "world" music oddity. Its a startlingly progressive album that feels as interesting today as it must have on release. In the 80's Manço became more political in his songwriting, calling for peace following a military coup, and rose to become one of his country's foremost musicians. He would later transition into television, but always remained a force for peace and understanding in his country up until his death.

Download:
[MP3] Barış Manço - 2023

Support the artist, buy it HERE

Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:24:00 AM 0 comments

5.28.2012

Dylan Shearer (co-premiere w/ Ad Hoc)


There is a history of records from the 70's that were recorded by reclusive but oftentimes starkly brilliant songwriters (see Bill Fay, Skip Spence, Kevin Ayers) that used their recordings as an outlet of demons, neuroses and of course heartbreak. The records were usually overlooked on release and relegated to critical favorites and collector obscurities. Prior to the enthusiastic reissue market that exists today, stumbling on one of these treasures felt like a secret discovery, an entry into the fractured world of its creator that few would know or appreciate. Dylan Shearer's songwriting has the same haunted, secretive quality of these records. Shearer has a way of capturing melancholy and pouring it, cocktail smooth, into the grooves of Porchpuddles. His songwriting, his voice even, feels disjointedly out of time as if echoing from the expanse of 30 or 40 years in the time it travels from speakers to ears. Full of restless ennui and monumental sadness, it’s been years since a singer has accurately captured the sense of desperate, gentle soulfulness that's inherent in Shearer's work. As I've remarked about his last release (which had a scant 100 copy run), this is the kind of record that haunts collectors years down the road and it should haunt you if you know what's good for you.

Download:
[MP3] Dylan Shearer - Afterwhile

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:48:00 AM 0 comments

5.25.2012

Crocodiles – Endless Flowers / Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9) Singles
Crocodiles have released a couple of tastes from their upcoming album Endless Flowers and both are pretty great indications of the direction they're taking. The first,
"Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)" is a joyous bit of psych that's gooey with reverb and laden with the band's insistent sense of rhythm. "Endless Flowers", the title track from said upcoming LP is a bit more reserved and even more polished that its predecessor. Still very nice, but a shade cleaner than we've expected from the band. However, more exciting than either of these two pieces of the album are the band's choices of b-sides for the singles. Always game for a good cover (see their version of "Groove is In The Heart"), the band has picked a couple of punk obscurities that are both great in their original incarnations and excellently reworked into Crocodiles classics here. "Sunday" is backed with a take on The Kids' "Fascist Cops" that's a bit more relaxed than the original and adds a touch of organ that really brings out the melodic aspects of the song. "Endless Flowers" is backed with an RSTB favorite, a cover of Teenage Head's excellently undersung track "Picture My Face" that's taken on a bit of tempo shift and again slathered with a choice chunk of organ that makes for a fun time. Is it wrong to hope that someday these guys might put together an entire album of punk and power pop covers?

Listen:


Support the artist. Buy it HERE and HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 11:54:00 AM 0 comments

Suum Cuique


Demdike Stare's Miles Whittaker brings his second solo offering in the form of Suum Cuique's Ascetic Ideals. The album was created in an entirely analog, mostly one pass manner and its a startlingly brittle work that wraps downtempo fluctuations in a bath of static and hiss. Its easy to see how Whittaker's solo work meshes with his nightmarish visions as part of Demdike but the album pulses with a fractured heartbeat that's entirely its own. Shifting from laboratory ambient squalls to a shuffling, abstract dance; the album is a stark vortex of almost nihilistic proportions. It feels as empty and uncompromising as the cracked pavement and rusted gutters one minute and then oddly, mechanically alive the next. It's just as nightmarish as any of his other works but the open space leaves the listener to fill in the fevered, soul-clenching antagonist themselves. A record best left to the early hours of the morning and the dark recesses of the mind.

Listen:


Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 10:22:00 AM 0 comments

5.24.2012

Eternal Tapestry


It seems that the Tap wanted to lay down an album that more closely resembled their live setting; a fuming, churning beast of sound and light that seems impossible to pin down to the grooves of a record. Still, as impossible as it sounds, the band have certainly captured as much of that beast as possible in the spaces on Dawn in 2 Dimensions. They've thrown out Space Ritual-era Hawkwind as a touchstone and that's not so far-fetched as it might seem. Few have been able to lift that Space Rock torch as effortlessly as Eternal Tapestry in the past few years and this album brings them closer than ever to that vaunted perch. Starting out with a volatile blast of psychedelic guitars and cinder-scuffed horns, the album lays into a mid section groove that completely nails the floating vapors aesthetic before cooling completely into pastoral psych-folk. Quivering on the edge of these two precipices, the album ebbs and flows dramatically between euphoria and ecstasy then dives head first into a sidelong, three part epic that works the cycle all over again. For fans of heavy and well-balanced psych, there are few bands that come close to Eternal Tapestry and this may be one of their finest moments yet.

Listen:


Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 12:05:00 PM 0 comments

5.23.2012

Premiere: Night Beats / TRMRS split


We've been a fan of Night Beats since their arrival on a 7" at Trouble in Mind a few years back, and last year's full length only cemented that love. Not to mention a set at SXSW that proved them a force to be contended with. Now the band has teamed up for a limited split with Californians TRMRS presented by Volcom and Santa Ana record store Resurrection Records. The split sees both bands putting the fury on hiatus and taking the road to slow-burn, smoldering garage-psych territory. Night Beats in particular cook through "Messiah" with an intensity that feels like its about to bubble over. Check it out below. The split's limited to 1000 copies and you can pick it up below.

Listen:


Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 3:59:00 PM 0 comments

Deep Time


Here's the thing about Deep Time, this one caught me way off guard. Its true, I'd been familiar with Yellow Fever when that album came out via Vivian Girls' Wild World Records and honestly it just didn't hold my attention. It was pleasant enough but seemed like there were plenty of other similar statements shouting much louder at the time. It was too ramshackle, too lo-fi, too soft a punch. Which is what makes hearing Deep Time's eponymous album all that much sweeter. It seems to resolve all of the above criticisms. It cuts, scrapes and pastes a cross-section of post-punk touchstones from Young Marble Giants to The Au Pairs and cools them off with a low slung rubbery bass bounce and uncluttered delivery that feels as detached and cool and unassuming as any of the bands they might attempt to emulate. The Yellow Fever album under-utilized Jennifer Moore's voice, or at the very least failed to present it in a flattering manner. Here, though, once the vocal somersaults begin on "Sgt. Sierra" its nothing but surprises throughout the duration of the album. This one has steadily worked its way into rotation more and more. Moody and fun with enough knock-kneed swagger to be charmingly danceable. What more could you ask for with the encroaching promise of summer nights?

Download:
[MP3] Deep Time - Clouds

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:23:00 AM 0 comments

5.22.2012


Fox - San Francisco Sessions
Guitarist Garry Pihl is better known for his involvement in Boston and to a lesser, more cultish extent, Day Blindness. The latter dissolved after the release of their S/T debut that was built on a huge San Francisco reputation and web of
associations but crumbled after it was poorly received upon its release. Following Day Blindness' dissolution Pihl restructured the band and created Fox who recorded these sessions around 1970-71. Of the sessions, only one single was released at the time but the whole thing has been rounded up by RD records and put out on vinyl. For any fans of his previous band, this should sound pretty familiar but with a less Doors-y pompousness and a harder blues edge on the psychedelic template. Fox wouldn't ever really come to fruition (and in fact there's a semi-well known 70's band also named Fox which has seen some reissues on Cherry Red that may prove easy to confuse with them) but the sessions do prove to work out to an album that had some potential. For those interested in the evolving West Coast psych sound, this one is a great rarity given new life.

Download:
[MP3] Fox - Susie S Kalator

Support the artist, buy it HERE

Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:22:00 AM 0 comments

5.21.2012

Ty Segall Band


Well we'd be remiss in our coverage of Ty Segall if we didn't bring his latest chunk of fuzz to your attention. Following incredibly close on the heels of the White Fence collaboration album, Slaughterhouse sees Segall take his touring band into the studio to focus on intensity and volume and that's exactly what's come out as a result. Probably the closest recording to capture the feeling of seeing Ty live, and while it shaves a few of the sharper pop edges off his work, it makes for a damn fun listen. Those of you not in the NY area may have lamented not seeing the huge Ty/White Fence/Strange Boys/The Men show that went down last week and we hate to be the bearers of bad news, but you did miss out on a hell of a show. All the bands, but especially the double shot of headliners brought back some of that spark of how fun it is to see a full on rock show. Not the spectacle of sets and pomp and grandiosity of the 80's that seems to have worked its way into live pop acts lately but the full bore 90's hit of rock that's cathartic and pared down and completely untethered. Slaughterhouse feels much like that show. Its an album made by an artist who seems to love that sense of excitement that accompanies performances like that. It embodies the soul of someone who's aware of how much fun their job is and is intent on sharing that experience with, you, the listener. It doesn't hurt either that the members of the Ty Segall Band are accomplished enough to bring that exuberance to life on record and on stage each and every night.

Download:
[MP3] Ty Segall Band - Wave Goodbye

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:20:00 AM 0 comments

5.18.2012

The Fresh & Onlys – I Would Not Know The Devil 7"
I'm not entirely sure when the members of Fresh & Onlys sleep. With a new album on the way, solo outings from members Wymond Miles and Tim Cohen and now a new single, it all seems utterly exhausting. The
music's anything but exhausting though and this is another double shot of goodness from the F&O railroad. The a-side's the more upbeat of the two offerings here, with vamped guitars and a brash sneer on its lips. The flip is a subdued and fairly languid affair as far as Fresh & Onlys tracks go. Its a perfect pairing that slots this in amongst the necessary pieces of your Fresh & Onlys collection.

Download:
[MP3] The Fresh & Onlys - I Would Not Know the Devil

Support the artist. Buy it HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:40:00 AM 0 comments

5.17.2012

Royal Headache - "Girls" Video

Royal Headache has worked up a fun video for the standout track "Girls" from their latest album. This was one of our favorites from last year, but for those here in the States that missed out on the Australian import of their amazing self-titled album, What's Your Rupture? has given it a new life domestically. Pick up the album below and if you're in NYC the band is coming to Northside and as far as we understand, the boys are not to be missed in the live setting.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 2:47:00 PM 0 comments

Wymond Miles


Wymond Miles' previous Sacred Bones EP, Earth Has Doors took me quite a few listens to absorb. It’s a dense, untethered pop gem that works some fairly esoteric ideas into winding paths of song. I'd expected more of the same on his subsequent LP but it seems that while the grandeur remains, the songs on Under the Pale Moon are much more grounded and tangible. The album pulls from the moody, grandiose, dark pop of the 70's; bits of Roxy Music, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Cure. Its clear that this period in pop had a profound effect on Miles' musical upbringing and he's able to synthesize the elements that have made those bands appeal to newer and newer generations and give his own songs that tip-of-the-tongue quality that makes them feel so nostalgically familiar and yet so prismatically new. It may not have as many dense layers as the EP but that's sometimes its greatest asset, allowing the songs to seep into your marrow instantly and become a soundtrack to heartache, loneliness and bittersweet smiles each time you put it on.

Download:
[MP3] Wymond Miles - Pale Moon

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:27:00 AM 0 comments

5.16.2012

Purling Hiss - "Lolita" for Shaking Through



Purling Hiss are the latest participants in the Shaking Through series sponsored by WXPN. The band hit the studio to record a new song, "Lolita," produced by War on Drugs' Adam Granduciel. The track is a cleaner, but still biting version of their fuzz-psych sound and a pretty clear argument that these guys need to get into the studio for a proper full length that's higher on the fidelity spectrum. They've displayed an aptitude on record for mind flaying solos and gravel gnarled guitar grit but coupled with this clearer view of Polizze' songwriting it would be interesting to see how they could balance the two halves of their identity into a ferocious record. Grab a download of the new track below.

Download:


Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 1:27:00 PM 1 comments

Blues Control


Lea and Russ return, new label, new elements but still Blues Control at heart. Valley Tangents finds a home in the ever deepening stable at Drag City and it's the duo's most expansive, varied and clearest vision yet. Just off their collaboration and subsequent tour with Laraaji, the pair have rolled out an album that throws new age, jazz, lounge and experimental touchstones in the mixer and comes out with such a seamless digestion of the pieces that it instantly feels like all of them and none of them at once. Surprisingly, for an album that feels so modern and strangely bubbling with urban concrete in its veins, the album was inspired by a move to the open airs of Coopersburg, PA. The country life seems to have done the pair good, and as mismatched as those aforementioned ingredients might sound, the album is nothing short of inspired... invigorated even. Its blissful, but never listless. It zones out into swirling tangents but seems to know its way home. It has groove but never meanders. Its a perfect soundtrack to the coming swelter of summer, just in time to cool the dizzying din of too much cracked pavement like the first grasp of condensation on the glass. You'd do well to get this in your hands as soon as its available and then spend some time in a lawn chair, headphones on and lost in the hazy corona of Blues Control's glow.

Download:
[MP3] Blues Control - Iron Pigs

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:25:00 AM 0 comments

5.15.2012

Padang Food Tigers


The sorely ovelooked group Rameses III has evolved into a duo (Stephen Lewis and Spencer Grady) and been rechristened Padang Food Tigers; but though the name has changed, the pair's love for naturalistic folk and the bustling pang of nostalgia has held firm. The new setup does strip away some of the drone that buzzed in the background of Rameses' work but that void has been filled all too well by the wistful chirp of field recordings that open the album up like endless expanses of rolling farmland. Shuffling crowds meet the cries of bright summer birds and the solemn and serene pluck of guitars filtered through the green hued light of sun through the trees. Its a beautiful album that can't help but conjure the feelings of lying on one's picking shapes from the clouds, but like the clouds rolling through the sky, its soaked in the knowing passage of time. For all the carefree songs, there are some that feel equally bittersweet. Where some are rooted in youth, others are rooted in a sudden feeling that those days are gone, never to return. Those moments knot in the stomach but they don't dwell too deep. Lewis and Grady want to remind you that those days were wonderful and sweet smelling and seemed to stretch forever. So, even when the sounds of rain (quite literal rain, indeed) and mournful piano begin to pile on, they're soon washed away by a cherubic laugh and the gentle pluck of resolve.

Download:
[MP3] Padang Food Tigers - In My Heart I'm Already Gone



Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 8:46:00 AM 0 comments

5.11.2012

Veronica Falls – My Heart Beats 7"
Fer cryin' out loud, Veronica Falls craft such perfect pop its almost unbelievable. The band's initial singles peaked our ears, the album blew us away and cemented them forever in our hearts, while that covers EP shed a little light on their
influences and made them shine bright for a new age. Now the group is back with a new single and two new tracks, both are stunners. The A-side is an unstoppable torrent of melody with guitars lit up in vibrant pinks and purples and voices harmonizing in perfect proportions. Its as if Phil Spector took a day leave to crank his famous wall one more time for these amazing Brits. The flip slows things down, but despite the slower tempos nothing really cools off. It’s a slow burn of beautiful, shimmering pop that aches to the very last groove. I don't mean to gush but its hard not to swoon a little bit at such heartfelt recordings. I'm hoping these aren't just a slip stopgap and there's a new album on the way but even so these two will last us a while.

Listen:

Support the artist. Buy it HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 8:56:00 AM 0 comments

5.10.2012

Peak Twins / Scott & Charlene's Wedding


Night People has always had an ear for interesting sounds coming from Down Under, which is pretty impressive for a label located smack dab in the middle of America's corn bucket. On this latest split they pair Melbourne bands Peak Twins and the oddly named but entrancing Scott and Charlene's Wedding. The former drift along on a dreamy cloud of strums and down tempo melancholy. The band is at their best when they keep things a bit brighter as on the closer "Your Love." It’s all well and good but fairly eclipsed by the happenings on the second side. On the flip, Scott and Charlene's Wedding (pictured) brings some sunny, Kiwi-style jangle that recalls their compatriots The Twerps in a very good way. Chiming guitars, the soft fizz of feedback and a wistful vocal style are the earmarks that lump them nicely with that crew and frankly a few other members of the Underground People's stable. The band's first album is worth a check as well, but this EP is a fun place to start. Their whole side speaks well for future endeavors and though they're now residing stateside they'll always bring that Aussie charm with them. Pick it up from Night People soon as the Australian counterpart on Bedroom Suck is already sold out and this looks to go as well.

Download:
[MP3] Scott and Charlene's Wedding - Two Weeks

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:33:00 AM 2 comments

5.09.2012

Afterlife


Franklin Teagle (Cenote Glow, Tranquility Tapes, etc) and Ryan McGill (Cliffsides, Bones of Seabirds, etc) have been cranking out dense sonicscapes under the Afterlife moniker for a good clip now but they've yet to cross over into the vinyl territory. A pity since their sounds, while not inaccessible on tape, could use the deep chasms of sound associated with the format. Hooker Vision gives the boys what they need sound-wise on their new album Celestial Habitat, an otherworldly cave dive into burbling synths and deep resonant tones. The album creeks and groans with life, breathing in monolithic alien rhythms that are slow and deliberate. The surface of the album is littered with tiny crystals of sound that flash and glitter and shimmer with the change of the light and the angle of the head. There have been many synth explorers of late, but getting the right mix of space, pacing and sonic architecture doesn't always come easily. Thankfully the duo has the patience and acumen to craft this album into the kind of analog tapestry that it deserves to be. Hooker Vision doesn't put out a lot of vinyl so you know this one had to be good to get the nod... and they were very right in that call.

Listen:

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:18:00 AM 0 comments

5.08.2012


Terry Manning - Home Sweet Home
Terry Manning's little heard solo album gets a proper reissue from the wizards over at 4 Men With Beards. The album, which started as a bit of a studio inside joke when Manning, the engineer for
Stax at the time, recorded an over the top psych version of their song "Choo Choo Train" that proved to be a hit with the label. Manning was requested to record a whole album in the same over-indulgent psychedelic style. Manning was up to the challenge and created an album that portrayed the 60's excess with a sense of humor, but also the technical process to pull it off. The results are a postcard from a studio whiz to the world and while its on the edge of camp its also a fun one to slot into mixtapes and the occasional 60's dance party. The album does a good job to taking stabs at The Beatles, Box Tops, Jerry Lee Lewis vamped up rockers and the growing trend of psychedelic blues rave-ups. Sounds as good as ever in this new vinyl incarnation, making it more than just a curio, but somewhere less than a necessity. Any 60's collector would do well to have this on their shelf and Big Star aficionados can drop in as well since the album marks the first studio appearance of Chris Bell on guitar.

Download:
[MP3] Terry Manning - Talk Talk

Support the artist, buy it HERE

Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:07:00 AM 0 comments

5.07.2012

Rayon Beach


A clearer and more potent version of the sound the band explored on their debut 12" and following 7" swims into vision on Rayon Beach's new LP, This Looks Serious. Even the old favorites that show up on the album ("Jacuzzi Limo Explosion", "Sister Fever", "Shocking Aqua") have all been given a new life, pulled from the murk and given a dark, sinister sheen. The new sound pounds with queasy sweat, tumultuous bile and vicious sinew. Where they'd been mired in the sludge in the past, they now seem to be embracing the otherworldly, shiny sounds of progressive punk and grinding them down into sinister waves of bass throb and keyboard squall. Its a huge step forward and the album continually unfolds with new nooks and crannies of weirdness that get discovered on each subsequent listening.

Download:
[MP3] Rayon Beach - Oh Yeah

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:52:00 AM 0 comments

5.04.2012

Cozy – Cola Shock Kids 7"
2011 into 2012 is so full of vamped up, hip swaggin' power pop rolled in glam crystals its ridiculous and adding to the party is this latest HoZac chestnut from Cozy. The band stomps and claps through the spirited A-side, a decidedly raucous
bit of rock candy that's driving down lanes once populated by The Sweet and The Paul Collins Beat. On the flip they cool things considerably with a mellow, saccharine swinger that wades into Milk n' Cookies and The Quick territory that seems more innocent than possible in this current age. The band play the part of the 70's sweethearts visually, appearing in matching denim coupled with a write up that brings to mind the over exuberant back covers of yore tacked up on the HoZac site. The A-side hasn't left our Power Pop Playlist and it’s a great start for the band. Here's hoping for an album that matches the energy delivered on the debut.

Listen:

Support the artist. Buy it HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:14:00 AM 0 comments

Pye Corner Audio


The work of the Head Technician aka Pye Corner Audio has recently caught our ears, though reluctantly not soon enough. The project, tangentially connected to the esteemed Ghost Box records, has a flair for BBC Radiophonics, degraded audio transmissions from the deep and hallucinatory lunar mission soundtrack fuzz rippled through a twisted synth filter. Over the past few years the project has produced three entries into The Black Mill Tapes series, with the first two just now getting a reissue on vinyl by Type and the third being released, as is custom, through Bandcamp. While all equally engrossing the third installment sees the project headed in a dark and rhythmic direction (well darker than even the first two) and we're hoping that this will also see the lacquered treatment. A bit less rooted in the ambient soundtrack territory, but still feeling eerily cinematic, the new compositions have toughened their skin and begun to creep out of the 70's television world that PCA had embraced in the past. The vinyl edition is going fast but its definitely worth making sure you have these digitally to soundtrack late night walks around the city skulking to the grainy beat.

Download:
[MP3] Pye Corner Audio - Electronic Rhythm Number Five

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE or HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:11:00 AM 0 comments

5.03.2012

Nice Face


We've already shared one taste but the sum is greater than its parts because Horizon Fires, the new album from Nice Face, is another salt coated laceration of the soul. Just as fierce as his Sacred Bones debut, the new album is all chewed glass and sinew, acrid as hell and leaving no room for mercy. Still full of the chaotic clatter of drums, strangled guitar fits and keyboards that seem abused to the point of submission; we'd be lying if we said this wasn't one of our most anticipated of the year and it lives up to every expectation. There's a steely reserve under the surface of menace this time as well, a darkness that makes all of the caustic contortions even more sinister. This takes shape as a handful of slow burn psych nuggets that feel like they're ready to explode, though they never quite reach the tipping point, making them all the more dangerous (as exemplified by the already debuted track "Shaman"). Still, when they boil over, Nice Face is at their biting best and its that frothing, cathartic explosion that gets us every time.

Download:
[MP3] Nice Face - You're So Dramatic

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:31:00 AM 0 comments

5.02.2012

Grass Widow


Grass Widow charmed us from the outset. Their debut album for Make a Mess was a gnarled, propulsive record tempered by the silky punch of the three shared vocalists' honeyed coos. It was the kind of debut that felt instantly part of the musical lexicon, somehow classic and fresh on equal levels. On their latest, Internal Logic, the ladies are doing things for themselves; having started their own HLR imprint and self-releasing this LP after a string of anticipatory singles. The album picks up where their Kill Rock Stars sophomore stint left off and it’s knotted in the same post-punk push-pull of throb and strum that has come to epitomize their recordings. Those honeyed vocals are still in for the ride as well, and the trio harmonizes so perfectly it’s easy to get swept away in the sunshine state of mind that seems to blow in their wake. Internal Logic feels stronger and more confident than its predecessor, both more accessible and more complex but as with all Grass Widow albums it’s the effortless breeziness about it that makes it so enticing. The album is available below from HLR and we highly recommend picking it up.

Listen:

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 9:23:00 AM 0 comments

5.01.2012


Hollins and Star - Sidewalks Talking
Chuck Hollins and David Starr were a footnote in the psych folk movement but their sole album is one of those understated classics that feels more significant in retrospect than it ever might have
upon its release. The duo paired dreamy lyrics with a soft-psych palette that incorporated jazz overtones and lush orchestration bringing to mind Love, The Grass Roots, Simon and Garfunkel and a few fringe acts like Blossom Toes. Filled with flute trills and fuzztones the album could have only been born out of the 60's excess and post-summer of love hangover. Staying mostly in the wistful mindset, though occasionally adopting bits of funk and avant-garde exploration on their anti-war anthems, the duo’s sentiments seem quaint, the usual product of the times. Though, musically those bits of "far out" exploration prove to be some of the most entertaining points on the album. The duo wouldn't go onto much more acclaim but they did leave an interesting document of '69's transition into '70. A time capsule unlocked to reveal a handful of pressed flowers and a stray tab of sunshine.

Download:
[MP3] Hollins and Star - Feelin' Good

Support the artist, buy it HERE

Bookmark and Share
posted by dissensous at 11:57:00 AM 0 comments