Our Berlin buddies Kool Thing have announced the details of their debut full-length release, and shared the lead single from it. The self-titled album consists of fourteen tracks, all of which are brand new except for the couple of already familiar gems, “Light Games” and “The Sign”. Kool Thing is comes out in less than a month, on March 4th to be more precies, via the new label Mad Dog & Love Records. The first taste of the LP comes in the form of the powerful single “TV Tower”, which you can listen to right here:
KOOL THING – TV TOWER
February 14th, 2013FELICITA – (>’.')># EP
February 12th, 2013
We first got acquainted with the London producer Felicita back in 2010, although, as his former collaborator Palmistry so insightfully predicted, 2013 might be the year he steps his game up and starts receiveing more attention. Evidence #1: Felicita’s new free release with an un-Google-able title (>’.')>#. Streaming below is “Slavs Wi Sparkley Eyes”, the gorgeous opening track which doesn’t quite prepare you for the oddball electronic video-gamey sounds of the following three tunes. Download the whole EP here, oh, and don’t let that bloody video clip confuse you.
Facelicita.
NC GUEST MIX#67: PETE SWANSON
February 6th, 2013
We’re more than happy to present you with a guest mix by the mighty Pete Swanson. His new EP, entitled Punk Authority and set for release on March 12 via Software, is now available for pre-order. If the fabulous first single “Life Ends at 30″ is anything to go by, the forthcoming release may be his most exciting work to date.
Here, Swanson delivers an expectedly unexpected selection of more and less obscure tracks from the realms of experimental, electronic, drone, noise, and contemporary classical music. He also includes a couple of unreleased tracks and edits, but hey, I guess it’s best that we let him introduce the mix himself: “There’s not much of a theme other than this being music I’ve been listening to lately. This is what my roommates have to put up with on a daily basis. Lately they’ve been thwarting my efforts with Solange and AlunaGeorge, which I find to be far from the worst music that could be blasted at you. Most of the music that I’ve been playing lately, that I wish I could include is unfinished work from Howse and Goodwin, who are both working on really fantastic tracks right now. A lot of these tracks are from records that I attempted to “recommend” to another magazine that wasn’t receptive to my suggestions, so I’ll take this opportunity to give those albums their due.” Those are some very lucky roommates. Also, I wonder what that magazine was, and what exactly did they expect to get from someone like Pete Swanson? Anyway, better for us!
01. Emptyset – Core (edit)
02. Roberto Cacciapaglia – Sonanze (3rd movement)
03. Pete Swanson – unreleased
04. Charles Dodge – Speech Songs – A Man Sitting in the Cafeteria
05. Pierre Henry – Variations For A Door And A Sigh (edit)
06. Hair Police – Scythed Wide
07. Brooks Arthur Ensemble – Hang on Sloopy
08. Darius Dolat-Shahi – Razm
09. Ruth White – Hanged Man
10. Sensate Focus vs. Heatsick – Deviation Heat-Treated Y (edit)
11. Akos Rozmann – 12 Stationer Cross III (edit)
12. Bulbs – Sees
13. Leech – Sense Enjoyer
14. Jerome Notinger/Will Guthrie – Carpet Burn
Pete Swanson on Twitter.
V/A – THE END OF CIVILIZATION
February 5th, 2013
The Italian label Mannequin is releasing a compilation of obscurities from various artists from around the world, including a couple of familiar names. Curated by Mushy, who happens to have recently made an excellent mix for yours truly, this collection shifts from minimal synth and coldwave to noisy and psychedelic stuff. The contributions from Deathday, Phosphor, and Police des Moeurs are streaming below, but I suggest you head over to Bandcamp and listen to the whole thing, especially those last few tracks.
MARIA MINERVA – BLACK MAGICK [VIDEO]
January 31st, 2013Here’s a new video for Maria Minerva‘s latest single ”Black Magick”, a track off the BLESS EP that comes out in April on Not Not Fun. This incredibly fun and playful video makes for a perfect match for what is probably one of her most straightforward pop songs to date. The video was directed and features original animation by the ever-amazing Alice Cohen.
Maria Minerva online.
CLIPPING. – KILLER
January 31st, 2013
Last week we found out that one of the dudes from Captain Ahab was involved with a new project, which was pretty exciting, being that the sadly disbanded duo was one of our favorite live acts in recent years. Clipping. is comprised of CA’s Jonathan Snipes, William Hutson (a.k.a. Rale) and Daveed Diggs. The trio combines, umm, rap and harsh noise? Hell yes, please! Stream two songs and watch the trailer for their debut full-length, due out next week. “It’s Clipping., bitch.”
Clipping. on FB.
FUNERALS – BOO SRA REMIXES
January 24th, 2013
We haven’t heard from Funerals in a few months, and it was nice to learn that the electronic duo of Mollie Wells and Casey Immel-Brown dropped a new release yesterday. Boo Sra Remixes collects five different takes on the stand-out track from their fine last year’s Hypermotion B EP, featuring reworks by Deathface, Druid Cloak, MikIX The Cat, Hissy Fit, and Funerals themselves. Download the whole thing from ?????’s Bandcamp, and stream their own remix of ”Boo Sra” right here:
Like Funerals? Like their guest mix?
BRITE AID – ESCAPE RING
January 23rd, 2013
Maligna is a newish netlabel from Mexico City, related to the mighty NegativeYouth website, and Sour EP marks the fourth release in their catalogue. Originally hailing from Houston, the mysterious Napoli-and-Berlin-based producer Brite Aid makes noisy electronic music influenced equally by dark ambient, hip-hop and house sounds. ”Escape Ring”, streaming below, is perhaps the most representative of the five tracks featured on the EP. The song has an accompanying video you can watch here. Get Sour EP from Maligna’s Bandcamp.
Escape Ring
Brite Aid on Soundcloud.
HERVÉ FEAT. AUSTRA – SAVE ME [VIDEO]
January 22nd, 2013UK producer Hervé‘s collaboration with Austra‘s Katie Stelmanis on “Save Me”, the first the single from his forthcoming album, just got a matchingly creepy video. The Tim Kelly-directed clip seemed kind of boring at first, but the mood draws you in after a while. Hervé’s The Art Of Disappearing is due out March 4th on Cheap Thrills, and, apart from Stelmanis, it will also feature a guest spot from Maria Minerva. Sounds interesting!
MIXTAPE #14
January 21st, 2013
It appears that we’ve managed to completely forget about one of the supposedly regular features on the blog: It’s been more than a year since we last bothered to make a mixtape, but the wait is finally over – here’s a new one. The more than an hour-long winterish mix comes with tracks by Evian Christ, Fatima Al Qadiri, Le1f, Vessel, Fabulous Diamonds, oOoOO feat. Butterclock, Chris Brown feat. Planningtorock, Burial Hex vs Mueran Humanos, Raime, Jewels of the Nile, Hype Williams, HTRK, Water Borders, Princess Dies, and others. Ya know, just some stuff we’ve been listening to lately.
JULIA HOLTER – YOU & ME BOTH (ARTHUR RUSSELL COVER)
January 17th, 2013
So I was browsing through my social network feeds when I noticed a little title saying “Julia Holter – You & Me Both”, and I was like WHOA is this what I think it is?! Indeed, it was a Julia Holter cover of one of Arthur Russell‘s many brilliant songs. It also happens to be a live recording with a lot of background noises, but really, who cares? Although musically very different from the original, Holter’s expectedly gorgeous reinterpretation captures the vibe of Russell’s songs quite well. The track is featured on the collaborative compilation between Stones Throw and Leaving Records, due out nex tweek.
[via]
Julia Holter online.
BUTTERCLOCK – DON’T [VIDEO]
January 15th, 2013Watch the new Butterclock video for “Don’t”, a track off her forthcoming release. Entitled First Prom, the EP is set to drop in February, and the limited edition CD is now available for preorder from Fantasy Music. The video was directed by Dario Natale and Laura Clock herself.
Butterlike.
CIRCUIT DES YEUX – LITHONIA
January 14th, 2013
A few months ago Circuit des Yeux announced her new release, a 10″ mini-album called CDY3, stating only that it would come out sometime in the winter. The winter is finally here, and so is CDY3, as promised, along with a stream of another new track. Showcasing Fohr’s powerful vocals, the eerily gorgeous “Lithonia” sounds quite different from the noisy “Helen, You Bitch” we featured back in October. Get CDY3 from Magnetic South, and check out Fohr’s recent guest mix.
Circuit des Facebeux.
NC GUEST MIX#66: MUSHY
January 11th, 2013
Our first guest mix of 2013 was made by Valentina Fanigliulo, the Italian artist better known as Mushy. Her second full-length, Breathless, a collection of ice-cold dreamy synth-pop gems, was released on Mannequin Records last year. Apparently a new release will have to wait at least until spring. Mushy is currently on tour in Europe, promoting the latest album; check out the live dates here.
Her mix, entitled “Formless Wolrds Pass By Me”, is pretty much the perfect soundtrack to the shitty-weathered snowless winter that we’re having here, but I’m sure you’ll be able to appreciate it regardless of the climate circumstances. It opens with a Tim Hecker cut from his phenomenal 2011 album Ravedeath, 1972, which appropriately sets the tone for the rest of the mix. All kinds of experimental electronic goodness – from ambient and drone through industrial and noise to techno, from last year’s favorites to some lesser known eighties’ acts, are all blended together in one perfectly flowing, dark yet pleasant set.
NC GUEST MIX#66: MUSHY – Formless Wolrds Pass By Me
01. Tim Hecker – Hatred of Music II
02. Ramleh – Bite The Bolster
03. Ricardo Donoso – Reflection & Rotation
04. Andy Stott – We Stay Together
05. Factrix – Phantom Pain
06. Raime – You Cast Will Tire
07. Psychic TV – Terminus
08. Ssaliva – Tridimensional
09. Nagamatzu – Watch & Waste
Mushy on FB.
PETE SWANSON – LIFE ENDS AT 30 [VIDEO]
January 10th, 2013Ex-Yellow Swan Pete Swanson has been putting out some quality techno noise stuff recently, and “Life Ends at 30″ is no exception. The song is featured on his forthcoming four-track EP called Punk Authority, due out this March on Ford and Lopatin’s Software label. Apart from the Soundcloud stream of the thirteen-minute track, a hypnotizing accompanying video for the shorter version has also been released. A lot of videos get described as hypnotic, but, I don’t know, I’ve actually just spent four minutes staring at this thing and am feeling a little funny now. Directed by Justin Meyers.
Follow Pete Swanson.