The new year always seems to get off to a slow start, so this beautifully downtempo album from Georgia's Bearhead seems pretty apt. Clearly inspired by the likes of Bibio, Boards of Canada and Duster, this one's definitely for the experimental dreamers. Stream a few of my picks below, or head over to Bandcamp for the full 21 tracks in The Sixth Volume.
If you watch TV more regularly than me - you may already know Psapp from shows like Gray's Anatomy & The OC. This is them after a few years hiatus, and it's really worth the wait - take a listen to Everything Belongs to the Sun below:
I just received my first taste of NYC producer MunDane, and I like it a lot....like a lot a lot. He's just released an EP called Small Apartment which can only really be described as a beautiful and interesting exploration of electronic sound. Already I'm a big fan, you can stream a couple of tracks taken from the EP below:
Also worth checking out is this super nice Blue Hawaii remix, in which he really does justice to what I personally think is the best track of the year (so far).
Sometimes the creativity of other people amazes me:"the whole idea behind this side project is to go into recording a song with no idea,goal,genre or type of sound in mind. Just to simply pick a instrument and start recording". The sense of spontinaity and experimentation makes Chemists' Slow House Virtual really worth a listen. Stream below:
Regal Safari's new track Closer kind of proves that the innately human desire to define everything is becoming increasingly lost in the world of music; where influences are drawn from completely opposing corners of a constantly fluctuating spectrum. This is also the strongest the duo has ever been, as Dan Snaith-esc. vocals echo around quivering guitars and fuzzy synths - it's the sound we've been waiting for all along. Stream below:
Experimental dream maker Bronson returns today with the release of Gulch, a 7 track album that sounds like a direct musical translation of my own unconscious mind. Playing below is the unbelievably beautiful Ascent, which I cannot describe because I'm pretty much lost for words.
This is Brooklyn duo Prism House, their debut EP Reflections will be out next month via Ceremony (05/03) and for some reason I find them really exciting, probably because usually; when I get these sort of experimental soundscapey tracks I don't have much time for them, it's quite easy to cross over the line of pretension. But Someone Save Me is kind of like a perfectly flowing collage of sounds, full of rich melodies and really well produced, take a listen below:
I remember first listening to CocoRosie when I was like 16 or something and being completely blown away. Not sounding too soppy, I think they really opened my mind to what music could be, and so they're a duo that really need no introduction. Along with premièring a new track, they've announced a release date for their 5th album Tales of a Grass Widow - which I'm super excited about - out May 27th. Stream Gravediggress below:
This is the solo project of the singer of a band called Her Name is Calla. Blood Collects is taken from his new 13-track album We Were Animals, which was released just last week via Olynka Records. The track itself is pretty atmospheric experimental folk which is made up of some really interestingly textured sounds, it's very pretty. Listen to Blood Collects below before you go and stream/buy the rest of the album here:
I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of Is and of The until I woke up to a track of theirs in my mail box this morning. The track I'm referring to is called The Past Inside the Present and it belongs to the Handpainted Glow EP which was released just over a month ago via Mush Records.
I don't think the track could have been paired with a more suitable name, because the music I'm hearing is completely mind-bending. You can't really stick a label on this but if you were to call it anything it'd be highly experimental. Everything is textured and layered so beautifully, there's vocals on this but the way they're used is to an instrumental effect which I absolutely love; they ripple over the guitar and synth to create something pretty wonderful. And I can't stop listening.
The rest of the EP is just as brilliant, and it's safe to say that this is easily one of the most intelligent pieces of music I've heard in a while; music that cannot be ignored for sure. Watch the video for The Past Inside the Present below, then go and get the EP here.
Leaves of Green is a wonderful little solo project from James Madole, a 20 year old student living in NYC. His debut album is called 'Imago' and it's beautiful. To learn that everything about this album has been not only recorded by one person alone, but has also been written and orchestrated completely by that same person is something which I find quite amazing.
The only instruments which were used on this album were a guitar, a ukelele, and a keyboard. Along with some delicate vocals, the end result is a beautifully stripped down record. It's something which music is now continually drifting away from, but I'm glad to see that it's still alive and well within some artists, proving you don't really need tonnes of expensive equipment or the most unusual noises, in order to create the best kind of music. I could compare some of the sounds on this album to those of Grizzly Bear, Elliott Smith or Nick Drake. The acoustic folk-inspired guitar bounces off the gently eerie vocals and layers of keys to create such an atmospheric sound. Mixing low-fi pop with a more traditionally acoustic and melodic sound is a smart move. Everything fits together quite unexpectedly and creates something experimentally unique but technically impressive.
Imago is a wonderful debut, I believe it has an edge that would appeal to so many different kinds of listeners, and it's a record in which you can tell so much time and effort has been placed into making it just right. you can download the whole thing for free here. Before doing so, have a listen to a couple of my favorite tracks from the album here:
I just got linked to this this. artéfact is a German producer, specialising in experimental sampling. I'm a sucker for sampling. Especially when swing is involved. The beats are pretty basic, but I personally think this really highlights the samples themselves, as the drums are so reminiscent of what the music originally was. This may not be to everybody's taste I admit, but I find artéfact's sounds really interesting. This isn't something you'd stick on to sing and dance along to whilst your getting ready to go out, but to me; it's the kind of stuff that highlights music as an art form:
