'Come inside, out your snow'

Tall Ships are another band upping the ante when releasing new material. Their new single, Plate Tectonics, is out on 4 April and with it are remixes of Tall Ship songs from Teej and Pure Lust. Nothing special there.  But along with that are 50 signed prints of the single artwork which look very nice indeed and are available here.

Um, I’m tempted to make an investment. 

Now is the time for Ice Cream

Another piece of artwork which has the toby seal of approval. Album is released on June 6.

Remix ATC? Yes, No

The debut album from Alright The Captain is out now. Well, actually it’s been out for a while. It’s called ‘Snib’ and it is a fairly dense offering as this is a band who try and cram a lot into their 40 minutes.

Highlights for me would certainly be Peanut Worm and Neo Tokyo, though there certainly aren’t any duff tracks. The band are currently on tour and playing London over the next few days and then the rest of Europe.

Word has it that they are releasing a remix EP soon, and are looking for contributions, this is obviously a good thing. Remixes can be submitted on their website, http://bit.ly/fqAsmD .

LIMITED TASTE

 Limited Taste is a self described AWOMB (After Work One Man Band), an artist on a mission. That being to put all the sounds that linger in his, and no doubt all our minds, out there, into the ether, for the greater good. The whole process should take no more than two years by which time quite an impressive canon of work will have been built up.

Here’s some of what he had to say on the project. Below you can also listen to ‘Hari Seldon’s First Appearance’, a recent addition that, with it's authoritative and instantly recognisable speaker, is a bit of a favourite of mine.

“Limited Taste is me and my laptop broadcasting to the world in the evening and early hours of the night from Amsterdam, Netherlands.In my head (and in a raw form on my hard drive) I have about 1 hour of original music which I think is entertaining enough to ask people to listen to it. 

The plan is to release 1 track each month. Publishing the in between results on Soundcloud and getting some feedback from the crowd makes it fun to do and 'forces' me to finish things. If I can keep it at this tempo the whole project can be finished in about 2 years. I now have 3 sets of songs out on Soundcloud.

There is more come. But it's a rather slow process. I hope for some real patient people to follow me on Soundcloud for a while. I could use some more comments telling me what listeners like about the it and what sounds wrong to their ears.”

LT 

 Limited Taste - Hari Seldon's First Appearance by Limited Taste 

The Remix

“Remixing is like musical prostitution. I think it’s really cynical and vacuous; I’m batting offers away like flies. It never used to be like that. Ray Charles didn’t need five remixes. The song speaks for itself”. – James Blake

The one album I haven’t  been able to stop listening to recently is ‘We’re New Here’ which is a remix of the recent Gil Scott-Heron album made by Jamie from the xx. The dubstep elements are very modern and, help give whole new meanings to songs – kind of the point of a remix  you’ll no doubt agree. And the words of Heron speak for themselves.

So  you can tell by now that that I disagree with Blake. If not for the remix treatment I wouldn’t have listened to the brilliant original; remixes bring the music to a wider audience who wouldn’t otherwise have heard it; it’s like rappers and duets.

So yeah James is wrong.

The next World of Warcraft

Minecraft looks like the sort of game I could get into. The soundtrack’s pretty awesome too. Made by c418, it’s available to buy here.

ZACK HEMSEY

If only more hip hop artist were like Zach Hemsey. To go along with the high productivity rate is a willingness to touch on some subject matters which aren’t glamorous and the desire to experiment with new sounds. Zach has just made a series of instrumental re-interpretations to some of the songs that featured on ‘The Empty Room’. They give a new, welcome perspective on the songs – and as instrumentals seem alot more epic.

The songs are available from bandcamp for itunes prices.

At SXSW it's all about the music

TiBs

No, I don’t speak Danish, but music is a universal language right? Tibs is a Brondby based rapper whose spits bars (as they say in laaaandan) over classical instruments. the two create an intriguing mix, even to someone who isn't fluent in the language.

Tibs - TBS Beats

 Tibs - Flygter - TBS Beats by Tibs

The Scattered Calm

The Scattered Calm are a group of young upstarts hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their first EP is entitled ‘Burn the Forest’. It’s quite ambitious for a first effort with tracks that cover a lot of ground. Externality is a case in point. 9 minutes, two crescendos and an awful lot of shoegazing. But it has won me over.

Burn the Forest is available, at a pay what you like price, on their bandcamp. 

KONTAKTE

British band Kontakte are back with a soon to be released album, ‘We Move Through Negative Spaces’. Guitars are the fulcrum but there are elements of white noise and industrial percussion running throughout. This though doesn’t belie the fact that ultimately this album isn’t all that harsh and indigestible, but instead comes across as rather a soft landscape rendering.  

I can’t say enough good things about this album so I won’t even try.

You can listen to the album below. To launch the album Kontakte are playing at the Vibe Bar, London on the 17^th with support from Iambic, Wild Dogs in Winter and Waking Aida (details here) before playing a couple of dates in Germany.

The band are also pushing the boat out with a limited edition version of the album, which includes but is not limited to: three exclusive tracks, exclusive photos, a badge and a schematic of the recording process (kind of curious to see what that looks like). Limited to just 50, these can be ordered from their blogsite kontaktemusik.blogspot.com. 

 Kontakte - We Move Through Negative Spaces by Drifting Falling 

SABURO

Japanese artist Saburo is an artist that I have posted before. I wasn’t going to share his latest because of this fact. But now I have. It doesn’t change anything, but it does feel like the right thing to do.

Thoughts are with Japan right now.

Saburo – Night Flow

 night flow by Saburo

seminal

I’m relatively new to post – hardcore and so New York’s Rival Schools are a new on me; I’m reliably informed that their 2001 album ‘United By Fate’ is seminal. Fast forward 10 years and they have made a (slightly mellowier) follow up, ‘Pedals’. I like it a lot by I’m not going to assign it a sub genre.

The album can be streamed in full here and on good old Spotify.

Brontide

Brontide posted this picture on their tumblr a few days ago and I thought I'd share with you. it’s proof, if proof were needed, that the mastering process on their debut album is well under way, and that we, the public, won’t have too long to wait before it gets heard. 

'lunacy is mad' I think that's what he's saying?

I went to see Tubelord play Shoreditch last night. As a band they seem to have gone through a few changes, the last time I saw them their bass player was a completely different person and they didn’t have a man on synths. Now as a four-piece they brought their goods to the table and the audience lapped it up  - all except an insanely aggressive amateur photographer who must have had his drink spiked or his girlfriend break up with him, or something.

They also brought with them a clutch of new tracks. Very rarely do I take instantly to new material, especially if I am hearing it live for the first time. But their new stuff had me instantly;there is more in the way of processed beats and a bit more experimentation all round. And so I went from being nostalgic, me remembering past gigs and past triumphs such as ‘Night of Pencils’, to thinking of the future. I await the new album with keen interest.   

Here’s one their new tracks, ‘Bazel’. Note the lead singers Rihanna style hairdo, I certainly did.

The album is out very soon – I don’t know when. Early birds can pre-order a copy, with exclusive content, here.  

Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx

A song that has already featured on this blog, but now there is a video. So it's a feast for the eyes as well as the ears

Aida, an Egyptian princess

Waking Aida are an instrumental four piece from Southampton, and friends of mine to boot. Their brand of post rock is layered with a complexity that marks them out as being talented and v. creative to go with it. Here is their latest finished product, ‘Meanwhile... in Lounge Doom’. On a personal level it is nice to listen to a track I first heard as a rough cut a while back see the light of day as a complete song .

Their live show is also something to beholden; fast paced and lots of flashing lights. There’s an EP on the way I think, I hope. And If you are in London tonight they are playing Proud Camden. And then, possibly, a town near you soon.

National I quite like io's second album day

Birmingham four piece io have their second album out and it’s called ‘Materioptikon’. It’s been out a while on the newly formed Grammatical label, but I’m only discovering it now. First impressions... well it’s an album that’s full of surprises, notably in ‘Silent Hymns in the Dark’ which ends on heavy electronic note which is quite evocative. That bit I hadn’t expected from  a shouty math rock offering.

There is a plethora of choice, not too much never too much, but still an awful lot out there and some bands can really drop off the radar. I hope this band get some sort of recognition, though. Their music is astute (the vocal moments are particularly well timed) and has technical elements to it but is never over the top. Maybe they have received all sorts of acclaim and accolades and I’m just really late to the io party. Who knows, maybe.

The album is out now and available to listen on Spotify.

io - This is Where the Cat Lives

 This Is Where The Cat Lives by IO (weareio) 

wild beauty

Well this is exciting isn’t it? Wild Beast have just announced that their third album is on the way, it’s  going to be called ‘Smother’. I can’t wait - this sense of anticipation must be what it has felt like to be a die-hard Radiohead fan over the last few weeks.

Two Dancers was a real treat of an album, and judging from the lead single off Smother, Albatross, the guys look like their continuing to develop the soulful pop/rock sound we’ve all no doubt grown to love.

Here is Hayden Thorpe then, below is a trailer to the album and a tracklist. Smother is out May 9th.

Wild Beast  - Albatross

 Wild Beasts - Albatross by 1FTP




Wild Beast - Smother 
01 “Lion’s Share”
02 “Bed of Nails”
03 “Deeper”
04 “Loop the Loop”
05 “Plaything”
06 “Invisible”
07 “Albatross”
08 “Reach a Bit Further”
09 “Burning”
10 “End Come Too Soon”

What I'm listening to at the moment...

iceage – New Brigade: Death Rock which straddles the thin line between madness and genius.

 020 Iceage - Youre Blessed by PressWolfPR 

Gil Scott-Heron  - I’m New Here: spoken word from a past master.

 Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here by musicmule 

...And what I’ll be listening to in the future.

Grails – Deep Politics: same locale as Emeralds. Features Guitars and Synths. Out March 8^th..

 Grails - Almost Grew My Hair by pelecanus_net 

Some Days Are Better Than Others

‘Some Days Are Better Than Others’ is just one of those films that I’ve been meaning to see, but still haven’t, and what with ‘Submarine’ just around the corner it could be a while before I do. It’s not that I have a quota of indies that I see a month, it’s just sheer laziness.

Anyway the excellent film score for the former mentioned film is coming out in April. Produced by by Matthew Cooper, aka Eluvium, going from what I've heard so far I’m expecting great things of this. You can hear the title track, in full, here. Or see below the for the film trailer which has snippets of the track.

Some Days are Better than Others (trailer) from matt mccormick on Vimeo.