Mango Nebula.

INTERVIEW: Za!

2012-01-23T15:40:00.000-05:00

Za! is an insane hodgepodge of experimental music whichincludes base elements of heavy droning guitar, weird vocal loops, and styleslifted from every corner of the world. They try to emulate and make fun ofeverything they like, from jazz to Japanese manga soundtracks to traditionalPortuguese guitar to video game sound bytes to strange throat music from shepherdsin Tuva, Russia.

The guys told me about all of the influences that inspiredthe infinitely interesting yet danceable mess that was their last release, Megaflow. We met for a drink on thesidewalk terrace of the first bar we wandered upon in Gracia. It wassurprisingly fair in Barcelona for January weather. Sweat was beading on theglasses of our cañas and the guys were eating some fried tapas, croquetas and asalsa drenched bomba.

Spazzfrica Ehd [Edu]and Papa duPau [Pau] were joined by afriend, Marcos Junquera. Although he doesn’t play in Za!, he has another projectwith both of the guys called La Orquesta del Caballo Ganador [Orchestra of the Winning Horse] in addition to his own band, Betunizer from Valencia. They told me he only joined us because they knew the interviewwas for thebomberjacket.com and he was wearing an authentic colonel’s jacketfrom the Spanish army.

Our conversation meandered about as much as their music doesthrough topics like the movie Top Secretto Barcelona’s music scene to video games and even a bit about the economiccrisis in Spain. We began by deciding which language to speak in, consideringthey spoke Spanish, English and the regional dialect, Catalan.

&lt;p&gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://discorporate.bandcamp.com/album/za-megaflow"&amp;gt;ZA! - Megaflow by Discorporate Records&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

MANGO NEBULA: Your music has a lot of different languages init. Are you trying to make a statement about languages at all?

PAU: It’s something that happened, but we weren’t trying todo.

EDU: I don’t think we are making a statement with anything. It just happens and it’s fun. For example, Pau will start playing a song and it’ll remind us of something. “Oh, this sounds like something from Senegal.” He’ll start to laugh, “J’ai un ami qui habits en Casamence” [from the song Casamence] with his bad French, “I have a friend that lives in Casamance, blah blah blah,” and we then decided, “Ok, those are our lyrics. Cool.” “Lederhosen sauerkraut,” [from the song Nanavividedeñaña] is a joke from Top Secret, the film. There’s a tape where you can hear a German teacher teaching German and at the end he says “Die Sauerkraut ist in mein Lederhosen,” which means, “there is this plant that makes you very itchy in my underpants.” It sounded good.

[Watch the video for Nanavividedeñaña below]

MN: I really like the ways that you described your music onyour websites. There was one that was ‘Super Mario when he gets a star.’

P: Yeah, it was Edu.

E: Or for example, it sounds like Steve Reich against the AntonioMachín.

MN: Steve Reich is classical music right?

E: Yeah. Or a sherpa playing a riff from Slayer. Why not?

MN: You also mentioned the shepherds of Tuva. Who are thethey?

P: There’s a region in Russia in Mongolia that’s calledTuva. It’s a republic and there are, I think, 100,000 people living there andthey are kind of…[to Edu in Catalan] Com es diu descendens?

E: Descendents.

P: They are descendents of Genghis Khan. You know? Theybelieve in nature and spirits and things like that.

E: They do throat singing very well.

P: For their throat singing they make very low sounds like…[makes a very low sound]…and a superhigh pitch like…[makes a super highpitched noise]…like it’s a kind of whistle. In our last album, Macumba oMuerte, we played a typical song from there. We tried to play it.

E: We did a cover of a traditional song.

P: We destroyed it. It was in a documentary that was very interesting fromPaul Pena. Have you heard of him?

MN: No, I haven’t.

P: It’s very interesting.

E: He was a blind blues musician who went there. Thedocumentary is called Genghis Blues. He met all those people and he mixed theblues singing with the throat singing. It was really amazing for us when we sawit. All the music that we like, we always try to do it and we do it as best aswe can.

P: That republic in Russia, when the communists were therethey just stepped on that culture, you know?

E: Their culture was oppressed.

P: They were clearing out all the religion and all theculture and everything. They were really surprised. They were against a bigcountry and they were really proud of themselves to be descendants of GenghisKhan.

MN: There were a lot of references like that listed. Haveyou traveled a lot?

E: We haven’t really traveled a lot. We listen to a lotmusic, because it’s so easy now with the internet. We listen to anything. Forexample, Pau discovered a lot of traditional music from all over the worldthrough.

P: I had a CD for the JVC when I was a kid.

E: JVC is like an encyclopedia.

P: My brother’s music teacher lent me that CD when I waslike 14. We started to hear music like Buddhist chants, music from India, musicfrom Ethiopia. I don’t know, it’s something that we grew up with. I’m notreally into ethnic music or anything like that. I think that when you become anadult there’s a kind of residual memory that comes to you.

E: For example, we always say that we have a big influencefrom the soundtrack to Akira. It’s a Japanese manga film, un dibujo animado. We listened to it when we were kids and we stilllisten to it years later and it’s amazing. You feel like influences come fromstuff like that.

P: There’s a source, you know? For us, maybe it’s the soundof the gamelan. It’s a group of percussion instrument in a orchestra in Bali andJava, you know, in Southeast Asia. There are a lot of harmonics. They play xylophonesand tea kettles.

E: Our former bass player is now in Bali studying gamelanmusic.

MN: Your music has a lot of experimentation. Is there anymusic theory to it?

E: We’ve never taken classes.

P: We taught ourselves.

E: I think it’s the best way to learn. We all share apractice room with a bunch of other bands, so there are a lot of instrumentsand we try a lot of things. For example, when Alberto, our former bass player,told me to join Za!, I used to play guitar. I hardly ever played drums. Ilearned the bad way to play drums. Regular drummers play like this…[plays air drums with arms crossed]…Iplay like this…[plays air drums with armsseparated]…

P: No, it’s not bad. What other instrument do you play bycrossing your arms? Except for the drums, there’s no other instruments. Imaginethe harp…

E: Or the piano.

P: Yeah, “He’s a virtuoso!” Maybe scratching, you know, likea DJ. Or to play the guitar like that.

MN: How do you approach songwriting?

P: Sorry?

E: [In Catalan] Comencen a composa.

P: Sometimes we start with nonsense. “That joke is reallygood, imagine that joke repeating a lot of times!”

E: “Ok, let’s record it!” Sometimes it’s, “I heard thissound somewhere. It would be cool to turn it into a song.” Or, “I want to do asong where we create a rule. A stupid rule.” Let’s make a song without playingthat thing or only the black keys from the piano.

[Watch that performance below]

P: Edu told me last week.

E: Coming back from where?...Holland!

P: You told me, “Let’s try to make a song where you writeall of the bass parts and then I’ll make the arrangements.”

E: I’ll do a song that I write by myself for example and Paucan do whatever he wants. Then we’ll change every time. Every time we play thesong, Pau will do that and I can do whatever I want. That night maybe I’ll staylike this…[crosses his arms and doesnothing].

MN: What’s the craziest rule that you’ve ever made?

P: Maybe the craziest rule wasn’t in our band, but in theband with Marcos. The Orquesta del Caballo Ganador. Which was, whileimprovising we had to make street fighter sounds. It was one of the craziestthings we did, I think.

MN: Can you give me an example of a street fighter sound?

P: The conductor would say…

E: If he’s conducting now…

[Marcos raises his handslike a conductor]

[Street Fighter sound bytes follow from everyone at variouspitches]

E: Hadouken. Yoga fire. Yoga Flame.

MN: I was a Mortal Kombat guy.

P: Yeah! Finish him!

E: FATALITY!

MARCOS: Raiden wins!

MN: Good game.

E: Mortal Kombat was the more violent one.

MN: Were the voices the same in Spain? It must’ve beendubbed in Spanish.

E: No, the sounds were in English. Sub zero wins. Finishhim. Fatality.

P: FATALIDAD!

M: Acabalo!

E: Or it would be in South American Spanish. I don’t knowwhy. “Termina con ellos!”

[Many more MortalKombat noises and translations ensue]

MN: There was another term used for Za! “Post world music.”

P: I don’t know who made up that label. But, thinking about“post world music” is a lot of nonsense. Who put that label up there?

E: It was a joke I made to Johannes, the guy fromdiscorporate records. He liked it so he put it everywhere. There are so manylabels that are “post” anything and the concept of world music is a little bitdangerous, I think. It’s like we are the leaders of the world and we choose todo music that represents the rest of the world, because the center is us. [laughs] It’s a funny mixture.

MN: Like saying that you’re speaking for these people?

E: It can be a superiority thing. Like I discovered thatmusic from these people and I’m giving it to the real world, meaning thewestern culture.

P: I think world music is a really ethnocentric concept.

E: That was the word.

P: “It’s world music.” Ok, “Why?” Because, “I’m Stanley andI’m in the middle of Africa and I discovered that there are people here too.”

E: There are a thousand music labels for rock, indie,grunge, post-punk and one of them is world music. It’s the rest of the world.It’s all the same. Gamelan is the same as Senegalese music is the same as thesounds from Dubai.

MN: You both play a lot of instruments. Who plays what?

E: On stage I play the drums, keyboards and add my voice. Onthe records I also play clarinet. He [Pau] normally plays guitar and trumpetbut he also plays kalimba, which is an instrument that has metal things…

P: Like a thumb piano.

MN: What’s the weirdest instrument that you’ve everincorporated into Za!?

P: Maybe hooligan voices. Japanese speaking. Things likethat.

E: There was a show in Tarragona and we just got off workand we were in a hurry and when we got there I realized that I forgoteverything. I sat on a table. I forgot the areal tom. I didn’t know what to do.They gave me a big barrel of beer, you know those metal barrel of beer.

MN: A keg?

E: Yes, a keg.

MN: Was it full or empty?

P: It was full, because it was really heavy.

E: I put it on a stool and it sounded amazing. At one pointin a song Pau took the mic and he put it next to the barrel and was playingwith the pedals. We spent like five minutes just playing with the barrel, becauseit was amazing.

MN: You should make the keg a permanent part of your drumkit.

E: [Laughs] it’stoo heavy. We can’t get it on an airplane.

MN: What music would you recommend for someone?

P: SchnAAk, from Germany.

E: The band of this guy [pointsto Marcos] and it’s not just because he’s here, but because it’s one of ourfavorite bands. It’s called Betunizer. Another very different one, Steve Reich.That kind of serialist music we listen to a lot.

MN: How do you feel about jazz? I thought I heard some influences on "PachaMadreTierraWah! #2" with the trumpet.

E: Yeah we like it too, but we don't play jazz.

P: But, it was nu jazz. [they laugh] It was a joke. You know the CD jazz that pretends to be something.

E: Sort of like "new jazz." But, we like a lot of things. I personally like Coltrane and Nat Coleman. The typical ones.

P: I recommend Exploding Star Orchestra. ChicagoUnderground.

E: All those bands like Chicago Underground Duo are all bands that come from a rock background, but introduce jazz elements that we like. But, it's not like typical jazz from the 50's.

MN: There’s a song on your last record, Megaflow, called “Mesoflow” that is a crazy track, but it hasSpanish guitar in the beginning. Was that part of a joke?

E: It’s actually Portuguese.

P: It’s a traditional Portuguese style.

E: It’s because we played at a festival in Portugal and wehad a super good night there. We ended up playing a football match at 9amagainst other bands. One of the guys was from another band…do you know El Guincho?We have been friends with him forever. He was running to get the ball and raninto one of the streetlamps and broke three ribs.

P: That whole song is full of jokes. The joke started like,“We could make a radio show.” A top ten. It would happen in England with anEnglish accent and also in Japan with a Japanese accent.

MN: Do you know any other Barcelona bands that I shouldcheck out?

E: I recommendLes Aus. It’s an improvisational duo. They are really good. Everythingthe guitar player does is really good.

P: Another group is called “No More Lies.”

E: From Spain, I would also recommend Picore.

P: We did a kind of cover of Picore.

E: In “Mesoflow” we tried to play like Picore, because it’sa really complicated band. Like math rock. The first take was always the good one. On “Mesoflow”we kept all the first takes.

MN: What about the dada art movement? I saw that mentionedin your bio on the discord website.

E: We didn’tmention that, I guess somebody else did.

P: There’s nothing about dada here.

E: I’m not really into modern art, but what I’ve seen hasbeen cool. Playing with the absurd is cool.

MN: Would you rather have people dancing at your shows orscratching their chins, pondering?

P: We have both. At the same time.

E: It’s cool when we have both.

P: I don’t know why, but girls are always dancing more thanboys.

E: Boys are usually shyer and prefer to analyze things.

P: Boys are head banging and girls are doing tropicaldances.

E: It’s cool to have both. If you only have the guys thatare doing this [scratches his chin] you don’t know what they think about theshow. I’m having a lot of fun, but I don’t know about the rest of the people. Andif it’s the opposite way, you think that they don’t care about us and they’rejust dancing.

MN: What are some good venues in Barcelona?

E: In Barcelona they are closing a lot of venues.

P: In all of Spain.

MN: Is it the crisis?

P: Yeah, it’s the crisis, but I don’t think it’s theeconomic crisis, it’s kind of a values crisis. You know? Now, you either play in a super big venue that is reallyexpensive or you have to go somewhere else. At least here there is Heliogàbal in Gracia. But, you can’t playloud. It’s the only problem with Heliogàbal. Every day they have shows. It’s one of the few bars or venuesin Barcelona where people go just to see what’s happening tonight. They don’tgo because they like a particular band or because it’s not that expensive.Sometimes people will be like, “I don’t know that band very well and its seveneuros, so I’m not going to go.” It’s frustrating.

[Watch a video from Festigabal at Heliogàbal below]

MN: You mentioned a crisis of values. What are yourperspectives on that? It seems like that, especially in Catalonia, that peoplestill have a post-Franco mentality and feel desperate to preserve the culture.

P: There are a lot of things to say about that. If you wantwe can do another interview. [laughs] In my humble point of view, I think thatwe are now talking about Spain or about western culture. We were at a point inhistory where we thought that utopia would become reality. The idea was thateveryone could have enough work and flats, but this isn’t possible. Our sourcesare finished. Son finitos. The crisis is about frustration with the utopia. Theproblem isn’t the situation that we have now. The problem is what we thoughtthat this could be.

MN: Expectations?

E: We are all also very lost in the sense that we aredisappointed with everything. We believed in many things and a lot of thingsare not happening. You saw what happens in the squares. People are fed up, notwith one political party or even with all the political parties, but witheverything.

P: It’s a frustration with the future. 20 years ago wethought the future had to be different and better than now. Es el supesto ironio.

MN: What can you tell me about the Barcelona music scene?

E: There isn’t one particular style from here, but in theend we’re all friends. We play in the same places. We go to the same bars witha lot of different bands. What I like from the bands I like here is the sensethat they can do whatever they want. There’s a band called Manos de Topo and weshare a practice room with them. They make pop, but the singer sings like if hewas a disturbed child. Like crying. But, ok, if that’s the way he wants tosing, that’s perfect!

P: The scene for me in Barcelona is Heliogàbal. There are alot of people from a lot of different bands from a lot of different parts ofSpain. The scene isn’t about the bands, it’s about this place I think.

M: It’s not about the people, no? It’s more about the music.

MN: Where do you normally play in Barcelona?

E: We don’t play a lot. We’ve played in Apollo, in Sidecar.In Heliogàbal we played acoustic shows.

MN: You do acoustic shows?

E: Yeah, it wasn’t really acoustic. We did another one witha grand piano, which was really cool. We played with amps, but we just had tolower the volume.

MN: What are the band’s plans for the future?

E: We are recording another album in August and we aretrying to play…

P: …as far away as we can. We are going to travel to othercontinents, but we’re not sure where yet.

E: We are going to Brazil in May and the states in March.And Canada too.

MN: Are you playing at Primavera Sound again?

E: I don’t think so. We played three years in a row. Weplayed a show for kids also.

MN: A show for kids?

P: There’s a special stage for kids in Primavera Sound.

E: We did it with, do you know the band Dirty Projectors? Wedid it with the bass player, the singer. A girl named Angel. We were dressed assailors and we were looking for a shrimp to save the shrimp from a shark. Allthe kids were hitting the shark really hard in the balls.

MN: Was it a person in a shark suit?

E & P: Yes.

P: Kids are very dangerous.

At the end of the interview, I was talking with Pau aboutthe reason I was in Spain. His wife was a teacher and for a month they hostedan English teacher like me in their home while she was looking for anapartment. The girl turned out to be someone that I met the year before in oneof the smallest cities in Spain, Albacete. It was a weird coincidence, but Isuppose it makes sense that it would happen in the presence of some post worldleaders.

http://megaflow.bandcamp.com/
http://discorporate.bandcamp.com/album/za-megaflow
https://www.facebook.com/putosza

VIDEO: Youth Lagoon :: July

2012-01-16T01:29:00.000-05:00

Watch the video for Youth Lagoon's July below.

VIDEO: Emperor X :: Nervous Energies Session

2012-01-09T12:40:00.002-05:00

Emperor X recently did a video session for a little cassette and vinyl label and weekly session filmer. The site is called Nervous Energies. http://www.ryanrussell.net/nervousenergies/

Emperor X's Chad Matheny had this to say: "My friend Ryan Russell and I recorded an E.X set in front of a blazing steel furnace in an industrial zone in Birmingham last month. An older Southern gentlemen came over and asked Ryan's girlfriend if we were "environmentalists or something," and assured her with odd enthusiasm that the fumes coming up off of the furnace were clean and pure. Then we had Chinese food. It was a great day."

Watch the videos below::

Canada Day::

Allahu Akbar::

The Magnetic Media Storage Practices of Rural Pakistan ::

A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp ::

http://emperorx.tumblr.com/
http://westernteleport.com/

Art Gallery :: 2011

2011-12-31T14:22:00.000-05:00

These folks made some art in 2011.

See also: Sound Quilt of 2011

Wye Oak :: Civilian

Merge Records :: March 8th

The Mountain Goats :: All Eternal's Deck

Merge :: March 29th

Bright Eyes :: The People's Key

Saddle Creek :: February 1st

Tim Hecker :: Ravedeath, 1972

Kranky :: February 14th

Handsome Furs :: Sound Kapital

Sub Pop :: June 28th

Emperor X :: Western Teleport

Bar/None :: October 4th

Bon Iver

Jagjaguar :: June 21st

James Blake

ATLAS :: February 4th

W U L Y F :: Go Tell Fire to the Mountain

LYF :: June 13th

Destroyer :: Kaputt

Merge :: January 25th

Radar :: 2011 Retrospective

2011-12-28T13:55:00.000-05:00

RADAR

01-18
Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde [Fat Possum]
Hands and Knees: Wholesome [Self Released]

01-25
Destroyer: Kaputt [Merge]
Iron & Wine: Kiss Each Other Clean [Warner Bros./4AD]
John Vanderslice: White Wilderness [Dead Oceans]

01-31
Nicolas Jaar: Space is Only Noise [Circus Company]

02-08
Akron/Family: S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT [Dead Oceans]
The Babies: The Babies [Shrimper]
Cut Copy: Zonoscope [Modular]
James Blake: James Blake [Atlas/A&M]

02-15
Bright Eyes: The People's Key [Saddle Creek]
PJ Harvey: Let England Shake [Vagrant]
Yuck: Yuck [Fat Possum]
Radiohead: The King of Limbs [Self-Released]
Tim Hecker: Ravedeath, 1972 [Kranky]

02-22
Beach Fossils: What a Pleasure EP [Captured Tracks]
Toro Y Moi: Underneath the Pine [Carpark]

03-01
Dum Dum Girls: He Gets Me High EP [Sub Pop]

03-05
Gracious Calamity: Carefree Since '83 [Whitehaus Family Record]

03-08
Dodos: No Color [Frenchkiss]
Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring for My Halo [Matador]
Wye Oak: Civilian [Merge]

03-29
The Mountain Goats: All Eternal's Deck [Merge]
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong [Slumberland]
Dirty Beaches: Badlands [Zoo]

04-01
Girlfriends: Cave Kids 7" [Black Bell]

04-12
Cass McCombs: Wit's End [Domino]
Panda Bear: Tomboy [Paw Tracks]
Vivian Girls: Share the Joy [Polyvinyl]

04-19
tUnE-yArDs: w h o k i l l [4AD]

04-26
Explosions in the Sky: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care [Temporary Residence]

05-03
Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues [Sub Pop]

05-10
The Antlers: Burst Apart [Frenchkiss]
Karl Blau: Max 12" EP [K]
Man Man: Life Fantastic [Anti-]
Mountains: Air Museum [Thrill Jockey]
Okkervil River: I Am Very Far [Jagjaguwar]
EMA: Past Life Martyred Saints [Souterrain Transmissions]

05-24
David Bazan: Strange Negotiations [Barsuk]

05-31
Death Cab for Cutie: Codes and Keys [Atlantic]

06-07
Sondre Lerche: Sondre Lerche [Mona]
Cults [Columbia]

06-14
Woods: Sun & Shade [Woodsist]
The Music Tapes: Purim's Shadows [Merge]
WU LYF: Go Tell Fire to the Mountain [LYF]

06-21
Bon Iver [Jugwajar]
The Caretaker: An Empty Bliss Beyond this World [Haft]

07-04
Bright Eyes: Live Recordings EP [HMV]

07-05
Brian Eno: Drums Between the Bells [Warp]
Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't: Lost in the Pancakes [Cloud]

07-12
Washed Out: Within or Without [Sub Pop]

07-28
John Maus: We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves [Ribbon]
Handsome Furs: Sound Kapitol [Sub Pop]

08-02
Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle Reissue [Merge]

08-23
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks: Mirror Traffic [Matador]

08-30
Beirut: The Rip Tide [Pompeii Recordings]
Male Bonding: Endless Now [Sub Pop]
Glen Campbell: Ghost on the Canvas [Surfdog]

09-02
The Drums: Portamento [Island]

09-13
Neon Indian: Era Extraña [Static Tongues]
Laura Marling: A Creature I Don't Know [Ribbon]
Memoryhouse: The Years EP [Sub Pop]
St. Vincent: Strange Mercy [4AD]

09-20
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!: Hysterical [Self-Released]

09-27
Youth Lagoon: The Year of Hibernation [Fat Possum]
Dum Dum Girls: Only in Dreams [Sub Pop]
Twin Sister: In Heaven [Domino]

10-04
Cymbals Eat Guitars: Lenses Alien [Barsuk]
Emperor X: Western Teleport [Bar None]
Prince Rama: Trust Now [Paw Tracks]
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: Wolfroy Goes to Town [Drag City]
Feist: Metals [Cherrytree/Interscope]
MGMT: Late Night Tales [LateNightTales
S.C.U.M.: Again Into Eyes [Mute]

10-11
Girls: Record 3: Father, Son, Holy Ghost [True Panther]
Crooked Fingers: Breaks in the Armor [Merge]
Bjork: Biophilia [Nonesuch/One Little Indian]
James Blake: Enough Thunder [Atlas]

10-18
M83: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming [Mute]

10-24
She & Him: A Very She & Him Christmas [Merge]

10-25
Justice: Audio, Video, Disco [Ed Banger/Because/Elektra]
Tom Waits: Bad as Me [Anti-]

11-01
The Beach Boys: SMiLE [Capitol/EMI]
Kurt Vile: So Outta Reach EP [Matador]
Charlotte Gainsbourg: Stage Whisper [Because Music / Elektra]

11-08
Atlas Sound: Parallax [4AD]
Quilt: Quilt [Mexican Summer]
Cass McCombs: Humor Risk [Domino]
Florence and the Machine: Ceremonials [Island/Universal Republic]
David Lynch: Crazy Clown Time [Sunday Best Recordings/PIAS America]
Owen: Ghost Town [Polyvinyl]
Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica [Mexican Summer]

11-15
Los Campesinos!: Hello Sadness [Arts and Crafts]
Olivia Tremor Control: Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle and Black Foliage: Animation Music Vol 1. Reissues [Chunklet Industries]

11-18
Brian Eno: Panic of Looking [Warp]

11-22
Neutral Milk Hotel: Discography Box Set [Self Released]

12-06
The Black Keys: El Camino [Nonesuch]

12-11
James Blake :: Love What Happened Here [R&S]

Girlfriends :: Nothing Nice to Say

2011-12-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

Boston's Girlfriends have released a four track EP just in time for the holidays. Listen below::
&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://girlfriendsband.bandcamp.com/album/nothing-nice-to-say"&amp;amp;gt;Nothing Nice To Say by Girlfriends&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

VIDEO: The Mountain Goats :: Estate Sale Sign

2011-12-19T12:16:00.000-05:00

Below the jump, watch the video for The Moutain Goats' "Estate Sale Sign" from All Eternal's Deck.

SOUND QUILT :: Most Listened to Records of 2011

2011-12-14T01:39:00.000-05:00

Below are the albums that I've listened to the most in 2011, based on my Last.fm tally. The most listened is at the bottom of the whole post, but however is first in the mix. So it goes.

See also: Art Gallery :: 2011.

Quilt
M83 :: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
EMA :: Past Life Martyred Saints
Tim Hecker :: Ravedeath, 1972
Wye Oak :: Civilian
The Babies
Washed Out :: Within and Without
James Blake :: Enough Thunder
Atlas Sound :: Parallax
Panda Bear :: Tomboy
The Mountain Goats :: All Eternal's Deck
Hands and Knees :: Wholesome
Kurt Vile :: Smoke Rings for My Halo
Feist :: Metals
John Maus :: We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Dirty Beaches :: Badlands
Yuck
WU LYF :: Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
Handsome Furs :: Sound Kapital
Emperor X :: Western Teleport
Bon Iver
Woods :: Sun & Shade
The Drums :: Portamento
Youth Lagoon :: The Year of Hibernation
Beirut :: The Rip Tide
James Blake
Girls :: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
The Antlers :: Burst Apart
Destroyer :: Kaputt
Bright Eyes :: The People's Key

Washed Out :: Within or Without

2011-12-12T12:49:00.000-05:00

MP3: Washed Out :: Amor Fati

Washed Out ::
Within and Without
Sup Pop
July 12th 2011

Click here to hold this.
subpop.com/artists/washed_out
ernestgreene.blogspot.com

Stream the album below the jump:

Dirty Beaches :: Badlands

2011-12-05T01:11:00.000-05:00

MP3: Dirty Beaches :: "Horses"

Dirty Beaches : Badlands
Zoo Records
March 29th 2011

Click here to hold this.
dirtybeaches.blogspot.com
dirtybeaches.bandcamp.com

Stream the album below the jump:

Ticketmaster Legally Forced to Return Money Stolen from Customers Since 1999

2011-12-03T07:48:00.001-05:00

http://pitchfork.com/news/44802-ticketmaster-forced-to-give-back-some-of-the-money-they-stole-from-you/

Ticketmaster was brought into a class action lawsuit for charging those pesky and sketchy $1.50 fees since 1999. Also, you'll get money back if they charged you for shipping. You don't even have to do anything, they'll be sending emails out to people that it applies to. Of course, you will recieve only "ticketmaster credits." So yeah...not much of a payout, but a small victory against the evil oppressive monopolistic corporation that is clear channel. They will have to pay a minimum of $11.25 million.

James Blake :: Enough Thunder

2011-11-28T14:15:00.000-05:00

MP3: James Blake :: "Fall Creek Boy's Choir (With Bon Iver)"

James Blake
Enough Thunder
October 7th 2011
A&M Records
jamesblakemusic.com

Click here to hold this.

Stream the album below the jump:

TRACKS: Unreleased Elliott Smith :: Misery Let Me Down

2011-11-23T01:03:00.000-05:00

An unreleased track has emerged by Elliott Smith that wasn't part of my unreleased Elliott playlist. It comes from a radio session and as you can hear from him talking during to take, no one was supposed to ever hear it. Well, enjoy!

Listen to the song below. Listen to the Elliott Smith unreleased song collection playlist here.

Elliott Smith :: "Misery Let Me Down"

The Whitehaus Family Record Family Record Vol 2 :: Are You In Paradise?

2011-11-21T15:00:00.000-05:00

Click here to hold this.

The Whitehaus Family Record

Whitehaus Family Record Family Record Volume 2: Are You In Paradise?

November 11, 2011

Jamaica Plain's The Whitehaus Family Record have released their second vinyl compilation this month. It features a lot of the Mango Nebula's favorite artist's including Greg Mullen, Gracious Calamity, MANNERS, The Needy Visions, Shai Erlichman, Chris North from The Points North, Shira E. from Tiny Tornadoes, and the Woodrow Wilsons. Buy the MP3s or vinyl here.

Find out about the first Whitehaus Family Record Family Record here.

Whitehaus Family Record Family Record Vol 2: Are You In Paradise? by The Whitehaus Family Record

M83 :: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

2011-11-16T01:47:00.000-05:00

M83 ::
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Mute Records
October 18th 2011

Click here to hold this.

ilovem83.com

Stream the album below the jump:

Playbutton :: Inventive New Music Format

2011-11-14T14:57:00.000-05:00

Just when you thought that all tangible music forms were in their final throes, here is a new one. A New York based company called Playbutton is producing MP3 players with safety pins and the façade of an average button so that you can wear your favorite music like badges of honor. The idea has a similar aesthetic appeal to vinyl as does the quality, because every player contains high quality ogg files. The idea is intriguing because in giving the listener a reason to buy the album (so it can be worn), it's singularity becomes a good treatment for the attention deficit disorder of modern music culture.

The company already has releases by Mount Eerie, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The XX, and Belle and Sebastian. There's even the opportunity for independent musicians to contact the company and press some buttons. I found out about them through the music collective Boston Hassle who is using the format for their new compilation.

Read about it here.

playbutton.com

MIXTAPE: Colibri Carrots Carouselle

2011-11-11T15:51:00.001-05:00

A mid-spain-ish mix. Listen below the jump.

Boston Hassle Comp

2011-11-10T14:58:00.000-05:00

Two of Boston's most active groups for planning and spreading the word about the coolest stuff around the city (namely Bodies of Water Arts and Crafts and Boston Counter Cultural Compass) now have a new affiliation: Boston Hassle. A new compilation has just been released under the name. The thirteen tracks are only available for now as a Playbutton, a wearable MP3 player badge.

Read more about Playbutton here.
Download the comp here.

Stream the comp below the jump:

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://bodiesofwaterartsandcrafts.bandcamp.com/album/boston-hassle-a-boston-underground-music-compilation-on-a-wearable-button-music-playing-format"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;BOSTON HASSLE: a boston underground music compilation(on a wearable button music playing format!?) by BODIES OF WATER arts and crafts&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Quilt :: Debut LP

2011-11-08T16:15:00.001-05:00

Quilt

Quilt

November 8th 2011

Mexican Summer

quiltmusic.bandcamp.com

Click here to hold this.

The Boston (/Brooklyn) Trio make their debut on Mexican Summer. Stream some tracks below:

Cowboys In The Void/Penobska Oakwalk (Single) by QuiltMore Quilt goodness:
Burger Records Cassette
EP - Agents of Play
Deubt Cassette
Live Review 2010
Video Interview

Atlas Sound :: Parallax

2011-11-07T01:05:00.000-05:00

MP3: Atlas Sound :: "Te Amo"

Atlas Sound
Parallax
November 7th 2011
4AD

Click here to hold this.

deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com

Stream the album below the jump:

Youth Lagoon :: The Year of Hibernation

2011-11-01T13:51:00.000-04:00

MP3: Youth Lagoon :: Cannons

Youth Lagoon : The Year of Hibernation

Fat Possum

September 27th 2011

Click here to hold this.

youthlagoon.blogspot.com

Below the jump, stream the whole album.

VIDEO: Dirty Beaches :: Lone Runner

2011-10-24T12:38:00.000-04:00

Below the jump, a video of Dirty Beaches' "Lone Runner." The song appears on a single between "Stye Eye."

VIDEO: Handsome Furs :: What About us

2011-10-21T01:00:00.000-04:00

Not too many contemporary videos attack nudity in the way that the new Handsome Furs do. Watch the video below::

Woods and Kurt Vile Split 7"

2011-10-19T01:08:00.000-04:00

MP3: Woods :: "Skull"

Woods & Kurt Vile ::
Split 7"
Sacred Bones
woodsist.com
sacredbonesrecords.com

Woods and Kurt Vile are putting out a split 7" with five new tracks on it. They both had new albums out this year, Woods' Sun & Shade and Vile's Smoke Rings for My Halo, and became touring buddies. This thing is out on Sacred Bones, but it's going to be a tour only release. So, if you go to a show, grab one while you can.

01 Woods: "Skull"
02 Woods: "Cold Blue"
03 Kurt Vile: "Commercial Reject"
04 Kurt Vile: "In/Out Blues"
05 Kurt Vile: "Water Fingers"

VIDEO: John Maus :: Believer

2011-10-17T01:26:00.000-04:00

Apparently created using rare vintage video equipment, the video for "Believer" is an odyssey into color. Watch it below::

Directed by Jennifer Juniper Stratford
Video synthesizer programming by Seth Nemec
Motion Control Camera by Bodo Holst
Director of Photography: Nicolas Amato
Production House: Telefantasy Studios

VIDEO: Bon Iver :: Holoscene

2011-10-12T01:44:00.000-04:00

Below, the latest video from Bon Iver from his self-titled this year. It features a young Justin Vernon wandering around Iceland, living in a hobbit hole, and moving rocks with his mind.

Woods :: Find Them Empty 7"

2011-10-10T01:00:00.000-04:00

Woods ::
Find Them Empty 7"
July 19th, 2011
Sacred Bones
woodsist.com

Click here to hold this.

Sacred Bones has a 7" single from Woods of two tracks not included on Sun & Shade. The B side is called "Be There." You can listen to the single below.

VIDEO: St. Vincent :: Cruel

2011-10-07T01:09:00.000-04:00

Below the jump, watch St. Vincent's Annie Clark get buried alive in the video for "Cruel."

PLAYLIST: Nirvana : I Hate Myself and I Want to Die

2011-10-06T17:40:00.000-04:00

Nirvana ::

I Hate Myself and I Want to Die

The reissue of the 20 year old Nevermind inspired me to post a collection of Nirvana b-sides and unreleased songs. So, if the With the Lights Out collection was too dense and at times impossible to listen to, try this on. The title of the mix comes from the joke name that Kurt Cobain wanted to give In Utero.

Get the tracks here.

VIDEO: Jeff Mangum playling on the street for Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-05T13:06:00.001-04:00

Jeff Mangum turned up in the crowd to support the economic protests in Liberty Square in New York. Watch the guerrilla video below::
He played:
a cover of the Minutemen's "Themselves,"
"Holland, 1945,"
"Ghost,"
"Song Against Sex,"
"Two-Headed Boy Part 2,"
"In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,"
"The King of Carrot Flowers Part 1,"
and "Oh Comely."

occupywallst.org

Emperor X :: Western Teleport

2011-10-04T23:38:00.000-04:00

Click here to hold this.
MP3: Emperor X :: "Erica Western Teleport"Emperor X ::
Western Teleport
Bar/None
October 4th 2011
emperorx.net
westernteleport.com

Emperor X is Chad Matheny's one man pop songs with flares of guitar, electronics, and inventive rhythms. He's been playing underground scenes for a decade, since he ditched the physics degree. A lot of the lyrics reflect his previous career path. The Blythe Archives Volumes I & II from 2008 and 2009 feature some of his catchiest and well penned tunes to date.

Along with the album, Emperor X has hidden "nodes" all across the US. In order to "play" you have to first buy the album, which is the easy part. Then you have to find a node, which consists of a translucent purple audio cassette and activate it for exclusive content from the Western Teleport sessions. Matheny did something similar for The Blythe Archives releases. It's a great way to make music more personal, as well as an adventure. Check out westernteleport.com for node locations and discoveries.

Nirvana :: Nevermind...Well, Whatever (Unmastered Reissue Butch Vig and John Peel Mixes)

2011-09-29T01:10:00.000-04:00

Nirvana :: Nevermind

Geffen

September 27th 2011

September 24th 1991

The reissue of Nevermind was an event that almost went unmarked on the Mango Nebula calendar for a few reasons. As the band's major label debut, the album was what gave the band global infamy thanks to Geffen's hype machine, and almost assuredly started Kurt Cobain writing drafts of his suicide note. The album bears the marks of something built for the mainstream, the hit single first, close on the sad song, flawless production, and isn't as artistically constructed as its successor, In Utero. However, it's the production of the album that was always the most bothersome. For a punk rock inspired thrash metal band, the glossy production that excised the grunge from grunge of Andy Wallace's mixes never made sense and were markedly different from that of their first, Bleach.

So, when the news came out that the reissue would include Butch Vig's Devonshire mixes and Smart Studio Sessions, as well as John Peel's incredible live BBC sessions, it became a bit more interesting. It seems the most work was put into "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as it is the opener, and it sounds like it could fit right onto Bleach. Other most notable alternate mixes are the "Breed" demo "Immodium," the Smart Sessions "Lithium," and "Drain You" from the BBC. "Immodium" has an energy not present on the already insanely energetic Wallace mix. Cobain messes up the lyrics towards the end, as he often did on stage, but it seems to fit with the already switched around and jumbled words of the confused narrator. The "Lithium" version is incredible because the verses feature an acoustic guitar which slides with poor production into the electric chorus. The John Peel sessions all feature well rehearsed live material and are worth searching for on the internet. Particularly, "Drain You" has a fanatically romantic intensity and even features jangling pocket change and an air compressor or something in the bridge. It's a feat that is hard to figure how they were able to pull it off live. Along with the 'secret track,' "Endless, Nameless," which is a dark botched piece of debauchery also from the BBC sessions and not included on the reissue, these tracks form a different vision of Nevermind that is more consistent with the punk rock Nirvana that preceded and followed it.

Tracklist:
1. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Butch Vig Devonshire Mix)
2. In Bloom (Smart Studios Session Take)
3. Come As You Are (Butch Vig Devonshire Mix)
4. Immodium (Smart Studios Breed Demo)
5. Lithium (Smart Studios Session Take)
6. Polly (Smart Studios Session Take)
7. Territorial Pissings (Butch Vig Devonshire Mix)
8. Drain You (BBC John Peel Sessions)
9. Lounge Act (Butch Vig Devonshire Mix)
10. Stay Away (Butch Vig Devonshire Mix)
11. On a Plain (Butch Vig Devonshire Mix)
12. Something in the Way (Butch Vig Devonshire Mix)
13. Endless, Nameless (BBC John Peel Sessions)

Get the tracks here.

The Drums :: Portamento

2011-09-27T01:03:00.000-04:00

MP3: The Drums :: "Money"

The Drums ::
Portamento
Septemeber 2, 2011
Island
thedrums.com

Click here to hold this.

The Drums produce simple freaky indie pop. Due to their slight oddness and geekitude and the albino white of the singer's hair, they remind me of a group you'd find playing in a damp basement club somewhere in central Europe dancing spastically or swinging from a chandelier with one shoe on. I don't know why there's a chandelier in a disco dungeon, but there is.

VIDEO: The National :: Exile Vilify

2011-09-22T01:33:00.000-04:00

Below is the video for "Exile Vilify," a track The National wrote for the game Portal 2. The group had a contest for the video and this is the result. A lonely sock puppet wandering through the wilderness.

Hogstompers :: Demos

2011-09-19T01:01:00.000-04:00

MP3: The Hogstompers :: "New Revolution"

The Hogstompers ::
Demos from 2009-2010
Yes.Oui.Si!
myspace.com/thehogstompers

bandcamp.com/album/hogstompers

yesouisispace.com

This group is formed by some of the folks responsible for the art and music space Yes Oui Si in the Fenway area near the MFA. This group and that organization are supporting a lot of the most interesting underground music in Boston right now. The Hogstompers are some pretty simple folk country jams. This collection of mostly live recordings and demos is available for free download over at Boston DIY's bandcamp page here.

Hogstompers by The Hogstompers

Girls :: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

2011-09-15T01:05:00.000-04:00

MP3: Girls :: "Vomit"

Girls ::
Father, Son, & Holy Ghost
September 13, 2011
True Panther
myspace.com/girls

Click here to hold this.

There's something immediately trite that strikes one about Girls. The simple, maybe even pathetic, lyrics seem only to be saved by the ingenuity of the music. However, things change when contrasted with the background information that the lead singer and songwriter Christopher Owens grew up in the Children of God cult who let his brother die because they didn't believe in medicine and forced his mother to prostitute herself. Once escaping their clutches, a millionaire took Owens under his wing.

At their most brilliant moments, Girls capture a confused adult who is trying to live out a childlike fantasy, where his only concern is chasing after girls, in order to achieve some amount of normalcy, but his hiccuping pop simplicity betrays a suppressed inner chaos, confusion, and disillusioned existence. However, whereas their debut Album addressed Owen's past more, more often than not on the new album, Girls is just another throwback retro band singing great songs about love.

Neon Indian :: Era Extraña

2011-09-13T01:01:00.001-04:00

MP3: Neon Indian :: "Polish Girl"

Neon Indian ::
Era Extaña
September 13, 2011
Static Tongues
neonindian.com

Click here to hold this.

Neon Indian's new album title is curious. It means "It Was Weird," but without any context, the feminine adjective could make it to also mean "She Was Weird." With the title of the last track being "Eras Ending Above Us," there's a "Weird Era" vibe to the album too. Makes you wonder if there's any Deerhunter connection. Below is a live video for "Should Have Taken Acid with You" from Psychic Chasms.

Neon Indian's first album Psychic Chasms from 2009 showed the artist bringing songwriting back to the digisphere. The songs bear a clarity in the vocals and effects that many drone laden contemporaries lack. Of course, the last album had chilled out trance-stramentals as well. The new track follows with a similar vibe. Fallout is cute, but the last album had better word play with songs like "Terminally Chill" and "Ephemeral Artery." Era Extaña still tackles tactful synthesized experiments and explores some distorted droning in addition to their classic bubble gum blips.

Don't miss your chance to snag their invention too, the PAL 198X.

VIDEO: Neon Indian's New Synth Infomercial :: Pal 198X

2011-09-12T01:20:00.000-04:00

Neon Indian's Era Extraña comes out on 9/13 an with one of their limited edition deluxe packages, you can be the owner of a fine synth that they invented themselves. Watch the infomercial below and Enter to win one at stereogum.

Take a gander at what this little device can do::

PLAYLIST: New York City Just Wants to See You Naked

2011-09-06T22:41:00.002-04:00

...and they will.

Handsome Furs :: Sound Kapitol

2011-09-05T01:33:00.064-04:00

MP3: Handsome Furs :: "Serve the People"

Handsome Furs ::
Sound Kapitol
Sub Pop
June 28th 2011
handsomefurs.com

handsomefursmusic.tumblr.com

Click here to hold this.

Handome Furs is a "side project" of "Wolf Parade." The quotations imply the latter group's "indefinite hiatus." This fact was what first drew my attention to this album. The second thing was that the band is a husband and wife duo of singer-songwriter Dan Boeckner's and keyboardist Alexei Perry. Sound Kapital really is a whole beast unto itself in comparison to Boeckner's most well known project for a number reasons. Firstly, this is the first album the group wrote entirely on keyboards. Perry brings a garage rock flare to electronics that holds up very well.

Parts of the album were inspired by the band's 2010 tour in Burma. Apparently they had shows with bands that were playing in hiding, being suppressed by the government. Not only did these bands have trouble getting their hands on recording equipment, but they had trouble getting electricity. The opening line makes sense in this context, "When I get back, when I get back home, I won't be the same no more." It's also a great anthem for anyone that's ever been changed by a place they've traveled to.

The album cover and title reflect these international influences as well. Not only does it represent sexual liberation, but also could be viewed as a sort of commentary on the music industry as well as on the band itself when placed alongside the title. Sound as capitol, nudity as promotion. The 'c' of course changed to a 'k' to accommodate foreign languages, like the slew of translations at the top of their website.

VIDEO: Vivian Girls :: Take it As it Comes

2011-09-02T01:15:00.000-04:00

Below is the new video from Vivian Girls. It's pretty straight forward what you'd expect from the song, with the unmasking of a TV static head "Johnny" at the end.

Mango Nebula Summer 2011 Mixes

2011-09-02T01:00:00.000-04:00

Below are two mixes inspired by my summer, one down and one up.

Cymbals Eat Guitars :: Lenses Alien

2011-08-31T01:00:00.051-04:00

MP3: Cymbals Eat Guitars :: "Definite Darkness"

Cymbals Eat Guitars ::
Lenses Alien
Barsuk
October 10th 2011
lensesalien.tumblr.com

Click here to hold this.

Stream it here.

The best way to describe Cymbals Eat Guitars' debut Why There Are Mountains would be "you know how some bands will do a little crazy experimental distortion and whatnot diddy as an outro to a song, well that's how they start their songs." Experimental to the point where nothing repeats, but everything is a hook so it's all still catchy as hell. Lenses Alien follows suit, the opener breaking the inaccessibility barrier by reaching past eight minutes. However, the record is ineffably darker. The sleezy lounge keys are toned down a bit and it just sort of drags. It doesn't pump you up as much as the first did right from the very first second with the overloaded chanting scream, but it's grungier and explores interesting territory. And goddamn those guys for giving me a fear of sitting down in the dark at the movies with the line from "Definite Darkness," "There are people who put dirty hypodermic needles between the seat cushions at the movie theater." The album art is inspired by artist Allison Diaz' Haunted Mirrors series. Check out her work here: http://allisondiaz.blogspot.com/.

Beirut :: The Rip Tide

2011-08-30T01:35:00.039-04:00

MP3: Beirut :: "Vagabond"

Beirut ::
The Rip Tide
August 30th 2011
Pompeii Records
beirutband.com

Click here to hold this.

Stream the album from NPR.

The last release from Beirut was an EP experiment thingie March of the Zapotec/Realpeople Holland featured a lot of unusual arrangements for the band, particularly the digital leaning of the second half of the release. It suggested that might be something the band would make use of on the next record, however the exact opposite is the case. The Rip Tide has a sound that's very similar to their last two full lengths, only simpler, surprisingly and unfortunately quite short, and with less of an orchestra and more of a band. A majority of the record is upbeat and it makes for a great introductory Beirut record. It's unbelievable how amazingly well the band can capture an antique romantic Europe. It's something that I'm sure is magnified for me, having spent the past year in Spain.

If you have any interest in Beirut at all, you must listen to The Flying Club Cup. It's an unbelievably orchestrated poignant record and a favorite.

TRACKS: James Blake and Bon Iver :: "Fall Creek Boys Choir"

2011-08-27T01:55:00.001-04:00

The collaboration between James Blake and Bon Iver comes quicker than expected. Below is the track "Fall Creek Boys Choir." It's apparently an email expedition as the result of a chance meeting at SXSW. Justin Vernon is on vocals and production was done by James Blake. The Youtube info says "Enough Thunder Oct. 2011" so we may be looking at an album very soon.

PLAYLIST: Neutral Milk Hotel Box Set, Stream 18 Rare and Unreleased Tracks!

2011-08-26T15:01:00.001-04:00

walkingwallofwords.com
Click here to hold this.

Below the Jump is a mix of Neutral Milk Hotel Rarities to celebrate the box set.
I like to call it "Sweetness Sings From Every Corner."

A new website has launched for the band on NMH Records! For a hundred bucks you can grab expanded vinyl editions of the groups two full lengths and EP as well as a slew of other add ins, including 15 unreleased tracks. A lot of these tracks could only previously be stolen from the internet in live form, such as "Ferris Wheel on Fire," "Oh Sister," "I Will Bury You In Time," "My Dreamgirl Don't Exist," and "Little Birds." All classics. These can be downloaded by naming your own price. You can also buy original drawings from the site as well as listen to a thirty minute radio show by Jeff Mangum. A percentage of purchases from the site will go to the charity Children of the Blue Sky.

This past year has shown a lot of great signs for Neutral Milk Hotel. Jeff doing public shows again, curating festivals, and now reissuing records and issuing new material. I don't want to jinx it.

Box set includes::

OnAvery Island
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Everything Is EP
Ferris Wheel On Fire EP
Holland, 1945 7"
Little Birds 7"
You've Passed / Where You'll Find Me Now 7"
Two 24"X24" Posters

John Maus :: We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves

2011-08-25T01:00:00.000-04:00

MP3: John Maus :: "Quantum Leap"

John Maus
We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
June 28th 2011
Ribbon Music
myspace.com/johnmaus
ribbonmusic.com

Click here to hold this.

A contemporary of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti and the similarities are immediately evident. The most notable is the inherent sense of humor. The differences being that John Maus' echo soaked groanings bump along to acidic and addictive beats and digital melodies that sparkle like Christmas lights. You might say that Maus was censoring himself through his revision process as the lyrics are sparse, but then on second thought, there's a song called "Cop Killer," so...

The label's site says the album captures Maus' live performance of "shirt pulling and air punching," which would be fun to see, but it isn't nearly as violent. Disturbed, maybe, but not violent. They cite inspirations for the album ranging from gore-rror filmmaker David Cronenberg to french philosopher Jacques Rancière to the thrash metal band Body Count. A mix as confused, weird, and lovely as the album itself.

TRACKS: Jeff Mangum :: Roky Ericson Cover and Live set in Toronto

2011-08-24T01:59:00.001-04:00

MP3: Jeff Mangum :: "I Love the Living You"

Jeff Mangum Live at Trinity St. Paul's in Toronto, 2011

southernsouls.ca/jeff-mangum

After a series of super secret living room and basement shows, Jeff Mangum now has a public nationwide tour. Tickets are impossible to find and are being sold on ebay for around 5,600 bucks apparently. Download Jeff's whole echo drenched show in Toronto at the site Southern Souls here. His set included a cover of Roky Ericson's "I Love the Living You," which you can check about above.

Quilt :: Burger Records Tape

2011-08-23T01:58:00.002-04:00

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://quiltmusic.bandcamp.com/album/cowboys-in-the-void-penobska-oakwalk-single"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Cowboys In The Void/Penobska Oakwalk (Single) by Quilt&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Quilt ::
Cowboys in the Void Cassette Tape
March 1st 2011
Burger Records
quiltmusic.bandcamp.com

Click here to hold this.

A new release from Quilt in the form of a cassette tape came out on Burger Records in California. Although it's a 'cassingle,' it's long enough to be considered an EP. The group just posted the whole thing for download on their bandcamp, which now includes "The Silver Stairs of Ketchikan" and "Children of the Light." The vocals are more in the forefront than any other release and it gives their vivid drone psychedelics a 60's infusion. There's a bunch of bands that last line could put into your head, but their triple harmonies even come to conjure Simon & Garfunkel. A good quote from Jenn Pelly at pellytwins.blogspot.com: "At a moment when so much underground psych is focused on synthesizers and electronic vibes, Quilt’s organic, vocal-heavy psych-rock is uplifting."

The cassingle was recorded with Jesse Gallagher in Cambridge in 2010 and pressed in a run of 300. I checked out Burger Record's website, because it seemed odd for an east coast based band to release something on the other side of the country. The label's got a lot of other great artists that are worth checking out.

For the past couple of years Quilt have been playing lots of shows, touring, and releasing things pretty frequently. Read about Liz Pelly's odyssey with the band on the road to sxsw via the Boston Phoenix. There are tons of live videos and surprises::
Intro
Day 1 - Philly
Day 2 - Fredericksburg
Day 3 - Asheville
Days 4 & 5 - Memphis and Denton

Let's hope that their first full length will be out soon. Rumor has it that Mexican Summer might release something soon, but no official word yet.

VIDEO: Neutral Milk Hotel Performing Live on Parks and Recreation!

2011-08-22T11:46:00.002-04:00

I mean, you know, being mentioned is just as odd as a live performance would be. I don't know how I haven't posted this yet. The show Parks and Recreation is a pretty great political allegory and luckily it's also pretty damn funny. They also have the first representation of hipsters in all of western popular culture, Aubrey Plaza's April Ludgate.

In the clip, April is asked on a faux dating show which musician she would sleep with. Although, I don't know if you could call Jeff Mangum a "Rock" "Star." I never understood why those two characters were together, especially when April had the opportunity to have a gay boyfriend with another boyfriend last season. I think this clip perfectly illustrates why their relationship will eventually and inevitably end violently.

Watch the clip below. Also, watch the whole episode below or here: http://www.megavideo.com/?v=GVACBAOF (suck it hulu.) Thus beginning and completing the list of Neutral Milk Hotel appearances in popular media and also making it so that it is no longer hip to like this band. They had a good run of underground cred though.

Parks and Recreation Neutral Milk Hotel shout out ::

Parks and Recreation Season 3, Episode 14 :: "Road Trip"

Man Man :: Life Fantastic

2011-08-17T01:26:00.003-04:00

MP3: Man Man :: "Knuckle Down"

Man Man :: Life Fantastic
Anti Records
May 6th 2011
manmanbandband.com

Click here to hold this.

The new Man Man album may just be their least spastic Man Man-y album yet. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It was recorded with Bright Eyes member/engineer Mike Mogis, which is an interesting fact when thinking about what contributed to the arrangements flowing a bit more logically. Although it may have more pop structures there's still a slew of experimentation and Man Man goodness.

Stream "Life Fantastic" below:

Some info from the Anti website::
As frontman Honus Honus explains. “Contextually, this is an album fueled by the end of relationships, the death of good friends, an absence of structure, drifting from place to place without a real home. It's funny because in the past I was able to take bad situations and turn them into something creative but this time around I just couldn't at all. I felt nothing, which was worse than being miserable and depressed. Sometimes I guess you have to stumble around in a fog for awhile until you find a way out, rediscover your heart, take comfort in knowing that the only thing you really have control over is how you choose to roll with the punches. In many ways, this is an album about carrying on."

“The songs were fully-formed entities by the time we got to Mike’s studio,” says Kattner, “But he was there to say things like, ‘Okay, that’s a bit (too) much.’ He was able to help us carve the beauty out of the chaos we brought. It wasn’t whittling down the points; it was sharpening them so they’d puncture even deeper.”

VIDEO: Best Coast :: Our Deal

2011-08-15T01:08:00.003-04:00

Below is the video for Best Coast's "Our Deal" from last year's Crazy for You. It's just another example of why you don't trick girls with word play during vicious gang fights. The video is directed by somebody, I can't remember if she's famous or not, but it features Donald Glover (Troy from Community!) and Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Developement!) and quite possibly more that I missed. Oh! I remember now, Drew Barrymore directed it.

The Music Tapes :: Purim's Shadow

2011-08-10T01:00:00.005-04:00

The Music Tapes ::
Purim's Shadows (The Dark Tours he World)
June 14th 2011
Merge Records
orbitinghumancircus.com

Click here to hold this.

Story of their last adventure.

The Music Tapes have released a new digital EP and a Kazoo. If you order the EP from the Merge store, they'll send you a Kazoo, a bonus track called "Hacidem," and a "special something made by Julian," the group's lead. They still use antique recording equipment to capture the bowed banjos, singing saws, harmoniums, and the seven foot tall metronome. The group is getting ready for the release of the twin full lengths that will be The Imaginary Symphony No. 3. The first part, called Mary's Voice, will be out soon. The tour that follows will be eagerly anticipated, because for their last tour they played in bedrooms all across the east coast singing lullabies for people as theu were about to go to sleep. You can read the Mango Nebula article about it here. The last time the mysterious Santa-like magicians were spotted, they were playing saws while people were riding a carousel somewhere near Boston. So whatever they come up with next should be amazing.

If you read the aforementioned article "Remember this Feeling That You're Feeling Right Now," then you may remember Julian's fluffy and contently listening dog, Rudolph. The digital booklet that comes with the album says "dedicated to Rudolph. I'll miss you forever."

This is a nice description from Merge::
"The Music Tapes, to me, is a sort of living dream that illustrates the continual process of how dreams become real. For example, when the 7-Foot-Tall Metronome sprang from my imagination, it was to be The Music Tapes’ primary rhythm instrument, and although it existed only as a drawing in a notebook, imagining it delighted and inspired me. My friends (Scott Spillane, Terry Rowlette, Robbie Cucchiaro, Laura Carter, Eric Harris, and others) saw the drawing and, in a flurry of excited activity, made it real. And thus the real world became different: it had a 7-foot-tall metronome in it.

Many of the basic tenants of The Music Tapes’ world are found on Purim’s Shadows, including the 7-Foot-Tall Metronome which provides the primary rhythm for “A Lightning’s Cheeks.” Also featured are the Orchestral Banjo and the Singing Saws. The Orchestral Banjo is played with a violin bow, producing a sound that I love very much; it’s like having at your command ghostly orchestras from crackly old records. And Saws, of course, sound to me like angels. This recording marks the first time a Singing Saw solo was encouraged (played) by someone other than me on a Music Tapes record: the solo at the end of “Night and Day” is the work of Ian Ludders, a great encourager of Saws, and I am honored to have had him play with us. Robbie Cucchiaro, The Music Tapes’ co-founding member, supplied horns and his signature euphonium. And finally, the most important contributors to this recording, and central to The Music Tapes’ sound, are the Webster Chicago wire recorder, RCA DX44 ribbon mic, and The Music Tapes’ array of antique and modern recording machinery and field recorders.

Without state-of-the-art machinery, The Music Tapes’ recordings would be next to impossible. But, of course, the past is where the future comes from. What often makes something new is not a loyal adherence to the trends and technologies of the moment but rather a loving interaction with the rich inheritance that makes our moment in time the most unique of all. All that has come before us has been left for us to find, dusty and often without any context to distract from its pure magic. It is my happiness to endeavor to make brand-new sorts of things in which all that I love most about the world will have a home, just as my friends meaningfully and lovingly set out to make a 7-foot-tall metronome exist, giving their love and friendship a large, loud wooden form that can march forward in time."

VIDEO: Sufjan Stevens :: Get Real, Get Right

2011-08-08T01:10:00.002-04:00

Below is another video from The Age of Adz, directed by Sufjan Stevens himself. In the middle of his live show at Primavera Sound, Sufjan told a ten minute story about the inspiration for the new album. One of the biggest influences was outsider artist Royal Robertson that eventually became a recluse, hiding inside his art. Most of the art in this video are by Royal. After the rant, Sufjan went on to play this song, saying it was addressed to the tragic artist. It's not often in contemporary indie music that you get such overt christian messages. It's something that usually turns me off to music, because it usually is oppressive. However, like on Seven Swans, the theme is tactfully dealt with. It could be like Jeff Magnum wrote on the liner notes for "The King of Carrot Flowers, Parts II & III," that Jesus Christ or the Lord doesn't need to mean a christian deity, but the bumbling ball of light in the clouds of one's choice that one may refer to with such names.
Read about the album here.
Get the documentary that inspired Sufjan here.

VIDEO: Primavera Sound 2011

2011-08-02T01:00:00.002-04:00

Below are some good videos from Primavera Sound 2011 courtesy of Pitchfork.

tUnE-yArDs ::

James Blake ::

Kurt Vile ::

Yuck ::

Male Bonding ::

Woods :: Sun & Shade

2011-08-01T01:28:00.038-04:00

MP3: Woods :: "Pushing Onlys"

Woods :: Sun & Shade
July 14th 2011
Woodsist Records

woodsist.com

Click here to hold this.

Woods' latest release conjurs up their ole timey Woods goodness; not too much is reinvented here, but the essence of woods is explored quite well. It includes a mixture of their catchy as hell tunes and extended instrumental insanities as the bright poppy sun winds into the cool winding shade in a well noted progression for the record. Songs of Shame showed the group veering off into strange and interesting, and mountainous, territory. At Echo Lake explored to group's more quickly pleasing, lagoon-like, melodies. The new record is a good balance of the two. It lacks the innovation, inspiration, and spark of life or sporadic insanity on their earlier works, but it's still a damn good record to listen to.

Here is a quote lifted from their website that describes it pretty well:
"Woods is a two-headed dog asleep on the porch and a butterfly on the windowsill... a Janus, a Gemini and a screen door. The sun wont fade and the earworms will not leave, but the jams go on too long for the girl in the back who wonders if her friends are at another bar. Still, the ballads always make her cry." -Glenn Donaldson

More Woods goodness:
http://mangonebula.blogspot.com/2011/03/video-woods-death-rattles.html
http://mangonebula.blogspot.com/2010/03/preview-woods-at-echo-lake.html
http://mangonebula.blogspot.com/2009/12/preview-mango-nebula-favorites.html

Bright Eyes:: Live Recordings EP

2011-07-27T01:00:00.004-04:00

MP3: Bright Eyes :: "Bowl of Oranges"

Bright Eyes :: Live Recordings EP
July 4th 2011
Saddle Creek Records

thisisbrighteyes.com

Click here to hold this.

Bright Eyes released a live EP compiled from their current tour in support of their latest, The People's Key. It's a limited release, only available through HMV. This live version of "Bowl of Oranges" must've been easy to do for their last tour, considering the pit of synths Conor Oberst was buried in. The lyrics also make a bold change. Instead of "That's why I'm singing 'baby,'" he switches that last word to 'Maria.'
Read the Mango Nebula review of The People's Key here.
Also, check out the star spangled video for "Jejune Stars" below.

Tracklist::
1. Firewall
2. Shell Games
3. Ladder Song
4. Arc Of Time
5. Bowl Of Oranges
6. Lover I Don’t Have To Love

to love and to be loved_

Boy Without God :: God Bless the Hunger

2011-07-25T01:00:00.005-04:00

God Bless The Hunger by Boy Without God

Boy Without God :: God Bless The Hunger
June 21st 2011
Self Released

boywithoutgod.bandcamp.com

Click here to hold this.

Boy Without God's latest release is indeed hungry. Famishedly sparse like being surprised by a cold shower or getting your tongue stuck to a pole. Yet for all the gutteral atheistic wallows of songwriter Gabrial Burnbaum, there are quite a few feasting moments of vigor and depth. The album was recorded at the Soul Shop, mastered at Soundmirror, and even the jackets were made by Repeat Press for a whole homemade package. Get the album and a whole slew of Boy Without God's back-catalogue at their bandcamp.

Refried Ice Cream :: Witness to the Storm

2011-07-22T01:11:00.014-04:00

MP3: Refried Ice Cream :: "Halo"

Refried Ice Cream :: Witness to the Storm
October 2010
Team Love

Click here to hold this.

refriedicecream.com

Mango Nebula review of The People's Key.

Refried Ice Cream should now be well associated with Bright Eyes, as frontman Danny Brewer contributed the eerie and apocalyptic love espousing spoken word genesis recorrections to The People's Key. And yes, their music is just as odd and interesting. Witness to the Storm is the tenth album out by the father son Texas duo and first release on Team Love, the label started by Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and Nate Krenkel. Time could be wasted trying to explain the 1970's in dimension X sound or saying that the Roky Erikson inspired style that verges on Jandek greatness, but what describes the band best is a nice little story blurb on the Team Love website that you can read below. The group is quite politically conscious as well, in their lyrics and on their website, which is like a late nineties free webpage creator disaster and is thoroughly entertaining to explore.

"It was 109 degrees on the ground the afternoon we flew into El Paso. I could see the dust rising in angry swarms from the flat restricted zones of Fort Bliss while the murder capital city out the window on the other side of the aisle was like an extremely sick and overweight sister I never had who had grown so obese she could no longer rise from the couch and dip her ankles into the Rio Grande.

I had heard from the boys in the Mystic Valley about a father/son rock band somewhere to the east of El Paso near Tornillo or Fabens. They were outsiders from another time, an old man with a Harley engine for a heart and his son with an apple pipe affixed to his lips. They had a sound that had turned off Interstate 10 somewhere around 1971 and never looked back, crushing the Texas mountain laurel and hollyhock with amphetamine laced VU riffs that drone on ad infinitum in search of buried gold and healing waters. It was under the shade of an almond tree that I finally met Refried Ice Cream.

Denny had injured his back repairing a motorcycle and his son Josh kept reiterating the importance of good health. They sipped ice water and spoke of far away things, of dimensional parasitic races and amputated feet that grew back. They had driven over from their compound that was a bastion of priceless guitar amps and discarded metal detritus, where Janis Joplin’s car and a brand new Imac shared the same plot of dust with a family of hippie lizards and a caldron of extinct moeritherium stew. Like their music, their conversation leapt from the drone of linear time to the heights where the human psyche cracks and the blue-sky floods in, from a simple government plot to control the populace, to an eternal quest for a bottle from god’s private stash.

When our time together was over my faith lay shattered and scattered among the empty beer bottles was a copy of, as Josh described, their latest series of jams, their new album, “Witness To The Storm.” The first song gave me the impression I was pinned to the underside of the engine hood of a flaming red Super Bee. Effects were catching fire and dripping from the cymbals as Denny sang in what I soon realized was his patented style of lazy cool repetitive and repeating six shooter slow draw, and then came Josh with his rants of mind control and poison in the well. After the third song I looked up and took notice that we were on the banks of the Rio Grande. George Bush’s wall was before us hot to the touch and already broken out in rust and decay. A lightening storm danced across the sky horizontally but offered no respite from the heat. Only in this climate, in these times, could music that expressed the both the power of the psychedelic landscape, the paranoia of the dying world and the glory of speed and thirst that comes from years of driving on two lanes under an enemy sun be made.

After El Paso I was never the same. I carry with me now an expression that says to other like minded outsiders and collectors of the strange and sublime, do you see what is on my face, have you heard this sound, do you know what I mean when I ask for it Refried?" -Napo K. July 2010

TRACKS: Girls :: "Vomit"

2011-07-21T00:40:00.004-04:00

The Girls track "Vomit" was released today. Listen to it below. Their new record Father, Son, & Holy Ghost will be out Sptember 13th on True Panther Sounds.

Girls :: "Vomit"

Tracklist:
01 Honey Bunny
02 Alex
03 Die
04 Saying I Love You
05 My Ma
06 Vomit
07 Just a Song
08 Magic
09 Forgiveness
10 Love Like a River
11 Jamie Marie

VIDEO: James Blake :: Lindisfarne

2011-07-18T01:00:00.003-04:00

Perhaps as strange and jumbled as the lyrics, "Lindisfarne" features a strange, seemingly pointless ritual. The video is below ::

Mango Nebula preview of James Blake.

Click here to hold the album.

jamesblakemusic.com

TRACKS: The Tallest Man on Earth :: Weather of a Killing Kind

2011-07-12T01:44:00.002-04:00

Adult Swim's singles series just featured a song by The Tallest Man on Earth. Download it for free from adult swim today, here.

Check it out below ::

BON IVER

2011-07-10T01:30:00.015-04:00

MP3: Bon Iver :: "Minnesota, WI"

Bon Iver
Jagjaguwar & 4AD
Eau Claire, WI
June 21th 2011

Click here to hold this.

boniver.org

It would be a near impossible challenge for Bon Iver to make an album with more mystique than For Emma, Forever Ago's bearded lumberjack in a cabin in the woods cutting down trees with an acoustic guitar. However, the new self-titled record plays with a lot more possibilities for the name and is actually one of the only instances when making an album self-titled is acceptable, because it serves a purpose. The album travels around the country a bit, although it does still stick mostly to the mid-west. Similarly, the sounds and structures explore quite a bit of new territory, while never straying too far from the cabin in the woods. It does a good job of redefining Bon Iver, experimenting quite a bit and even dropping the falsetto a few times. A good example of Bon Iver's diverse capabilities is "Minnesota, WI." The record doesn't quite have the inherent majesty of the first and loses a few points for rehashing an 80's nightmare on the last track "Beth/Rest."

Check out the video for "Calgary" below.

The lyrics also define a well developed poetic style unique to Bon Iver. He uses words that aren't that common and form a new lexicon, because they're all similar in some way (probably in majesty). Words that seem sort of out of place in the context, but push onward like a baby or an animal unable to understand its surroundings and just accepts them to succumb to the flow of time. Its all almost like a secret language. The word bank includes: "fane," "furling," "gamut," "Hmong," "onus," "Noachide," "morass," "hawser," and "soffit" (I don't need to link, you know how to use google right?). Bonus points for good vocab (I think I read on one blog somewhere something like: "passages that would give a freshman writing TA heart palpitations."). And some words he made up, like "arboretic." Words that are perplexing, but their sound gives a jist of meaning. The arbor part lined up next to "truth," gives a apple in the garden of Eden vibe. Considering the rest of "Minnesota, WI"s references to scripture and kneeling, the "arboretic truth you kept posing" conjures a scene of someone in a suit, talking religion to singer Justin Vernon in some dusty annex in the middle of the thick northern woods.

But goddamn it, is that last song kitsch in the worst way.

Tracklist ::
01 Perth
02 Minnesota, WI
03 Holocene
04 Towers
05 Michicant
06 Hinnom, TX
07 Wash.
08 Calgary
09 Lisbon, OH
10 Beth/Rest

All the lyrics from Bon Iver here.

Video for Calgary ::

Teaser Promo ::

Happy Birthday America!

2011-07-04T14:12:00.000-04:00

Bright Eyes :: "Don't Know When, But a Day is Ganna Come"

To celebrate the fourth of July, I bring to you "Don't Know When, But a Day is Gonna Come" by Bright Eyes live at Coachella in 2004. It's a perfect song for the day, because it's full of explosions and patriotism!

James Blake

2011-07-03T12:20:00.004-04:00

MP3: James Blake :: "Unluck"

James Blake
Atlas Records
London, UK
February 7th, 2011

Click here to hold this.

jamesblakemusic.com

It took me a while to post this album, because the first few times I heard James Blake I hated it. The EPs that preceded this album received rave reviews, but seemed like a nightmarish mess of noises, cliched 80's synth, and regurgitated hip hop and R&B tropes. Even when I heard the debut LP, I was quick to judge it as lacking imagination, but I wasn't looking at it the right way. James Blake's first release is an extreme experiment in minimalism, like a Rothko painting or a frame filled in with just one color that you have to take a course in art history to understand why it's hanging in a museum.

Videos for "The Wilhelm Scream," "Lindisfarne," and "Limit to Your Love" below.

Most songs repeat one line over and over again with a void of space in between the words and keys. For example, the third track is five minutes of "My brother and my sister don't speak to me, but I don't blame them." The repetition becomes the singer torturing himself with guilt over and over again, quickly peaking in some electrified sci-fi synth that overpowers the words. In a clever little bit of morose comedy, the song is called "I Never Learnt to Share."

One of the most interesting parts of the album are the songs "Lindisfarne I & II." Both songs share certain lyrics and both are vocally modified, but the first part doesn't feature any instruments. The breath of the song in the spaces between the words surprisingly fills it well. It's two ways to tell a strange tale about a crime, buses, beacons, birds (kestrels), guns and cute girls. Lindisfarne is an island off the eastern coast of England and is called the "Holy Island." Apparently, the name is old English for the island of "travelers from Lindsay."

James Blake has been compared to Bon Iver a lot, but that's garbage. For Emma, Forever ago was more about acoustic simplicity than minimalism. Perhaps they do share a similar depth of self-torturing emotion, but James Blake is closer to Daft Punk than anything else.

On the album, James plays around enough with his style that the repetition doesn't get boring. "Unluck" is one of the most diverse songs on the record, to ease the listener in as the first track. "I Mind" just warbles the title in one long breath. You even have your traditional piano James Blake for a track on "Give Me My Month." After a few listens, the melodies even get pretty addictive.

Tracklisting ::
01 Unluck
02 The Wilhelm Scream
03 I Never Learnt to Share
04 Lindisfarne I
05 Lindisfarne II
06 Limit to Your Love
07 Give Me My Month
08 To Care (Like You)
09 Why Don't You Call Me
10 I Mind
11 Measurements

Video for "The Wilhelm Scream" ::

Video for "Lindisfarne" ::

Video for "Limit to Your Love" ::

Bright Eyes Live Session :: NPR's On World Cafe

2011-06-09T06:51:00.003-04:00

Download the session tracks here.

Here´s a live session from NPR. It features some cool stripped down versions of the songs from The People's Key and an on air interview.

Set list::
01. Triple Spiral
02. Firewall
03. Beginner's Mind
04. Lua

Stream the session from NPR here.

PHOTOS: Primavera Sound 2011

2011-05-29T20:02:00.004-04:00

Here are some photos of Primavera Sound that I ruthlessly stole from Pitchfork (Thurs, Fri, Sat). Two of the most amazing things I'm glad I experienced before I died were Sufjan Steven's outsider art, neon infested, strangely costumed nonsenseatorium and Animal Collective's unbelievable mesmerizing jams.

Thursday, May 26th

Glasser (21:45)

Grinderman (23:00)

Friday, May 27th

Sufjan Stevens (17:00)

Male Bonding (19:15)

M. Ward (20:00)

James Blake (20:30)

The National (21:15)

Sufjan Stevens joined them for Terrible Love and Anyone´s Ghost

Belle & Sebastian (22:45)

Explosions in the Sky (00:30)

Deerhunter (00:30)

Saturday, May 28th

The Tallest Man on Earth (17:30)

Yuck (18:00)

tUnE-yArDs (19:15)

Fleet Foxes (19:40)

Kurt Vile & the Violators (21:45)

PJ Harvey (22:30)

Animal Collective (02:00)

Random Festival Shots

VIDEO: Owen Pallett :: Lewis Takes off His Shirt

2011-05-26T01:00:00.000-04:00

Below the jump, the first video from Owen Pallett´s Heartland for "Lewis Takes off His Shirt." It´s sort of a home movie gone wrong, or perhaps an anti-music video. Read more about the album here.

http://www.owenpalletteternal.com/

The first video from Owen Pallett´s Heartland for "Lewis Takes off His Shirt." It´s sort of a home movie gone wrong, or perhaps an anti-music video. Read more about the album here.

http://www.owenpalletteternal.com/

VIDEO: Hold Your Horses :: 70 Million

2011-05-23T01:00:00.000-04:00

A pretty clever video by a French band called Hold Your Horses. Reenacting some of art´s most famous paintings with cardboard and scraps of fabric.
myspace.com/holdyourhorsesparis

VIDEO: tUnE-yArDs :: "BIZNESS"

2011-05-20T01:00:00.001-04:00

Below the jump, the first video from tUnE-yArDs' w h o k i l l. Some expressive children and colorful interpretive dancing.

The Notwist :: Neon Golden

2011-05-18T16:38:00.001-04:00

Click here to hold this.

The Notwist :: "Trashing Days"

The Notwist :: Neon Golden ~ Domino ~ Weilheim, Germany ~ February 25th 2003

Recently reissued in November of 2010, the thing that is the most appealing about The Notwist is their beautiful and tactful fusion of acoustic and digital elements. It's one of the best examples of the aforementioned union produced by the aughties. Most balances of analog and electronics gives way to one or other. This record is a drastic change from the grunge they were playing when they formed in Germany and quickly kicked. Neon Golden has also influenced and been remixed by the likes of Caribou, Four Tet and Panda Bear. The rerelease includes three bonus tracks: Scoop, Propeller 9, and Formiga from the Scoop EP.

The Notwist :: "Pick Up The Phone"

The Notwist :: "One With the Freaks"

www.notwist.com

VIDEO: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: "Heart in Your Heartbreak"

2011-05-16T01:03:00.000-04:00

Below the jump, the first video from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's Belong. Typical guitar shop shenanigans.

thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com

The Antlers :: Burst Apart

2011-05-10T01:01:00.076-04:00

The Antlers :: Burst Apart
Frenchkiss Records
Brooklyn, NY
May 10th, 2011

Click here to hold this.

Full stream from NPR here.

antlersmusic.com

MP3: The Antlers :: "Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out"

In comparison to 2009's Hospice, the new album from The Antlers has more of a pop focus and is much easier to follow. Well blended diverse instrumentation, while still maintaining the group's signature spooky lullaby falsetto trance. It was quite easy to get lost in the well woven meandering and hallucination-like structure of Hospice, whereas Burst Apart easily gets your attention and is less of what songwriter Peter Silberman called "overtly depressing." Songs like "Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out" display this pretty well, as a groove to the Freudian dream symbol for castration and masturbation. It continues one of their most interesting themes of emasculation and gender role reversal. Another stand out is the last track "Putting the Dog to Sleep," which features a lovely doo-wop guitar slam and well constructed domestication relationship metaphors with the striking line "don't lie to me if you're putting the dog to sleep...that pet you just couldn't keep...and couldn't afford." With newfound accessibility, Burst Apart only lacks perhaps the most compelling part of Hospice, being the concept of using the analogy of a hospital attendant and a terminally ill patient to conceal an abusive relationship.

Tracklisting::

01 I Don't Want Love
02 French Exit
03 Parentheses
04 No Widows
05 Rolled Together
06 Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out
07 Tiptoe
08 Hounds
09 Corsicana
10 Putting the Dog to Sleep

The Apples in Stereo's Robert Schneider Invents Mind Controlled Synthesizer

2011-05-05T05:40:00.001-04:00

Robert Schneider of The Apples of Stereo has invented an instrument that plays synthesizers using brain waves called the Teletron. Which, sounds very made up, but the proof is in the video below the jump. The first performance with the instrument was by none other than Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum at Duke University during a Neuroscience class. There's no word yet on whether or not there will be a repeat performance.

Vivian Girls :: Share the Joy

2011-05-02T04:54:00.005-04:00

Vivian Girls :: "The Other Girls"

Vivian Girls :: Share the Joy ~ Polyvinyl ~ Brooklyn, NY ~ April 11th 2011

The most compelling part of Share the Joy is it's sarcastic and honest female empowerment. As much of a bummer as it is to categorize a band as "girl rock," the group pigeonholes themselves to make a some feminist commentary on "the other girls" and on underground punk traditions. The pinnacle of this is during "Take it As it Comes," which, through the form of an audio sketch, advises the confidence-lacking, cell phone laden, love obsessed (and partially crazed) teen girls within all of us. Stylistically, Vivian Girls champion the genre with commentary such as the blazing guitar solos during their opening track "The Other Girls." It's also worth repeating that rarely ever does a band have such a well appropriated name, especially for this album. Vivian Girls were the creation of outside artist Henry Darger who could quite possibly not tell the difference between boys and girls and whose art was discovered in his recluse's apartment upon his death. The documentary In the Realms of the Unreal is fascinating and worth a watch.

freewebs.com/viviangirls

tUnE-yArDs :: w h o k i l l

2011-04-29T01:00:00.001-04:00

tUnE-yArDs :: "Bizness"

tUnE-yArDs :: w h o k i l l ~ 4AD ~ New England ~ April 18th 2011

Some of the most spastic contemporary experimental music that manages never to lose itself in meandering and is always gloriously poppy. W h o k i l l shows the songwriting of Merrill Garbus developing from 2009's BiRd-BrAiNs, relying less on repetition and more on pop. It's a good step forward, making goofy commentary such as a bit of feminist sarcasm regarding things like body image as on "Es-So." The album dips a bit in parts that rely on pop culture tropes, such as borrowing an Ice Cube lyric on "You Yes You." Overall, it's something still built into the humor of the album, which is strong and bizarre territory that is infinitely fun to explore.

tune-yards.com