(more) SIMA

The artwork from the Texture EP is very eyecatching, so much so that I thought I'd share some more of it as well photos which give a bit of insight into the creative process.

 Artwork and photos are courtesy Sima and Matt Millar. Enjoy.

SIMA

Sima’s music can best be described as old world meets new. Old world, that comes in the shape of the classical composers who are clear influence. We’re talking, Part, Prokoviev, Bach. Stockhausen.

And the new comes in the form of the modern production techniques that are layered over the top of the piano foundations. And the end result is something which has the best of both; something which is a little haunting, a little catchy, but ultimately has been put together quite nicely.

The latest EP is called Texture, you  can listen to it below and purchase it from Bandcamp. Why Texture?

Well it’s a private study or experiment about texture in the musical context, and each track has a number of textures. 

THOMAS COLLINS

                                                    A Tom Collins


"Thomas Collins sat down to dip his feet in the pool. His namesake cocktail in one hand and his aviator glasses in another. The sky was too grey to justify actually wearing the glasses. The disappointing weather that the Big Apple had to offer meant he switched off a little. Losing himself in the shallow azure his thoughts turned to Miami – the city that never disappointed. 

Melodic and echoey music swirled around in his head as his internal synth machine starting whirring.  It would be forty five minutes before he would look up from the pool and gaze out at the metropolitan skyline. He was now running very late. Perhaps, he thought to himself, his friends were right and he was a little too relaxed about life.”

Now unfortunately Thomas Collins isn’t a real person: but the music, thankfully, is real and it comes courtesy of Andrew Nichols on vocals and Abe Quezada on production. The debut EP came out last month - and you can listen to it below – it’s slow pop music which has a metropolitan, US of A feel to it that is distinctive to these European ears; the cover of Miami is well worth listening to. 


Thomas Collins will be coming out with more new material in the near future, perhaps at the tail end of an Indian summer, which would be ideal really.

100 days of (gloomy) Summer

If, like me, you agree that the summer so far has been a bit disappointing then this is for you; a little rabble of tracks ideal for when the trip to beach or the grassy knoll has been cancelled.

I’m off to buy a suitably thick jumper. Enjoy.

 100 days of (gloomy) Summer by TobyBakare 

tracklisting

Umber – Tommorow We’ll Throw Out Some Old Shoes

Psychologist – Come In Waves

Simiah - Everlast

Jeniferever – Silesia

Waking Aida - Sundances 


Factual error alert. The Psychologist EP is called Waves of OK, not Comes in Waves. My bad. Sorry.

oscar buzz

Here's the video for the single Propeller, from the aptly named Psychologist. Fantastic performance from the guy and, understandably, it's generating a lot of Oscar buzz.



Propeller EP is out on 15 August on Moshi Moshi.

HALLS

Halls is South Londoner Sam Howard and his music is a bit of treat; I’ve put his self titled EP on here for all to enjoy and got to asking him how he would describe his music. Here is what he said:


I guess I'd describe my sound as atmospheric and moody. The songs from the first two EPs were written as it was becoming winter, so I guess they reflect the sombre feelings people experience as it gets colder and darker. The new music I've been working on has a broader range of influences, such as choral and classical music, as well as different forms of electronic music.

There has to be a certain irony then that his music can produce such a warm feeling of contentment.  

Solace is the other EP from Halls and both of them are available from Bandcamp. In terms of what’s next from Halls, there is new material in the offing which promises to be “ very open and sad”.  I hope I bear up listening to it. 

UMBER

Umber’s music is a coalescence of so much of the music that I love, folk and drone and ambient beat making. The Morning Pass EP is well crafted, with not too much of one or the other.

So, I had to ask, how does one bring it all together?

Morning's Pass EP uses a lot of instruments. Most songs are based around a drone or a loop and then I begin to add other instruments such as a guitar then a banjo or a harmonium. I'll probably then layer up some more drones, add some effects into the mix and then I’ll have a song! Repeat this six times and I’ve got an EP!

And a very good EP at that. It’s available from his Bandcamp for internet prices.I was in the mood to ask questions, so I followed up with this one: do you make any other music?

I have this project where I record a song a week and it's more of a folk outlet for me. I'm using only acoustic instruments and sometimes a field recording of the birds outside my bedroom window. It's a lot of fun doing that because I limit myself to 3-4 hours on a Sunday to write and record a song.

You can follow Alex Steward's journey on his tumblr page. 

LA2019

Here is the video for Arctic Stars Melt The Clouds, the leadoff single from Deco, the debut EP from LA2019. It reminds me of Brighton, and coincidentally, is set in Brighton. I asked LA2019, or Tom Skyrme what was the inspiration behind the video:

Arctic Stars Melt the Clouds was the second track I wrote for the EP so the video was shot a while back when I was living in Brighton. For me, the song really captured the essence of living in Brighton. I wanted to embed that into the video. I wanted to take the solidarity and camaraderie that you have with really close friends and place that into the concept of the EP. The video really reflects the EP concept in a multitude of ways, with its heavy film and nostalgic future influences. 

I like the video itself because Jacob Perraton [Director] slowed it all right down, edited and coloured it in a way I hadn't even imagined and it fit perfectly. I'd have to say what I enjoyed the most was staying up until 4am with Akin, Jake, Sean and Teej drinking, waiting for the perfect blue sky to start shooting.

Staying up late, as usual, has been entirely vindicated. So Deco is out on 15 July and what can we expect? Well, from the horses mouth, I’ve been told to expect synths and drum machines held together by a “1980’s film sound.”   

The release of this is an intriguing one as there are a limited number of individual photos, taken by Tom on holiday, that are available along with a download code. The future is indeed now. 

Hachiko

Hachiko, the debut album from Waking Aida came out on yesterday. The EP has 5 lovely tunes for you to listen to and comes complete with a sample from my favourite Phillip Seymour Hoffman film, sublime artwork courtesy of Asphensia and  a price tag to suit any budget.

Apparently this is one of two out this year. The mouth waters.