Postiljonen – All That We Had Is Lost / Atlantis / Supreme

Posted on September 13, 2013 by ManeatingCow23

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I think it’s about time I formally introduced you all to the auditory magic that is Sweden’s magnificent Postiljonen.  When I originally sat down to post something tonight I was really only thinking I was going to share this brand new video for “All That We Had Is Lost”. Your ears aren’t deceiving you, yes, this is in fact a reinterpreted cover of Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know”, now with more saxophone and heartbreak.  It’s so, so good, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Postiljonen’s new album, ‘Skyer’.

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As I was prepping my post for “All That We Had Is Lost” I caught a glimpse of a link on the side of the screen for “Atlantis” and I clicked on it, and it was at that moment that it came back to me how great an album ‘Skyer’ truly is.  Postiljonen is dream pop at its finest. Synth melodies that wash over you, warm and comforting; sax solos that uplift your spirit without feeling clichéd; vocal harmonies that feel like they emerged from within a dream originating in your own mind.  In case you were wondering, it’s bands like Postiljonen that are why I still write about music for a blog like this.

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I first teased ya’ll with Postiljonen’s genius through Niva’s remix of “Supreme” on the Can You Take The Heat??? mixtape.  The original version of that song is just as good as the remix, if not better, with a chiller, breezy vibe that floats across your ears like willow seeds caught in a summer wind.  If the first two songs hadn’t already convinced you, “Supreme” should be the final sign that you should probably start downloading ‘Skyer’ right now.

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Blood Orange – Chamakay

Posted on September 12, 2013 by ManeatingCow23

Blood Oranges Blood Oranges3This song is good.  Like really good.  Like damn good.  Like holy shit, this song keeps getting better and better the more I listen to it, good.

Blood Orange (Dev Hynes, previously of Lightspeed Champion) is probably more famous right now for producing a string of hits for artists like Solange, Laura Welsh, Sky Ferreira, etc, but he’s also a fantastic solo artist in his own right, and he just knocks it out of the park with “Chamakay”.  He channels 90’s R&B and Michael Jackson for this song in spectacular fashion, and the outstanding female backing vocals are sung by none other than blog favorite Caroline Polachek of Chairlift. I mean can you really go wrong with Caroline Polachek doing your backing vocals?  I think not.

This gorgeous travelogue of a video was actually shot in Guyana and, well, I’ll let Dev Hynes himself explain why:

“I decided to visit Georgetown, Guyana for the first time, the town where my mother is from. She, herself has not been back for 30 years, 3 years before I was born. I tracked down family members, including my 92 year old grandfather, who I had never met before. In this video you will see our first ever meeting.”

Blood Orange’s new album ‘Cupid Deluxe’ is out later this year.  Let’s hope it all sounds as good as this.

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CHVRCHES – The Mother We Share / Recover (live)

Posted on September 11, 2013 by ManeatingCow23

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Glasgow trio CHVRCHES are about to release a new album, ‘The Bones of What You Believe’, which features some pretty impressive synthpop like this track, the lead off song to the album, “The Mother We Share”.  There’s just enough magic in this song to turn the depressed, isolated girl in this video into one of the magic kids from the M83 “Midnight City” video.


ChVrchesFor good measure here’s a live performance they did of “Recover” in a roller rink for Pitchfork.tv:

 

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Hawk House – Live-ation

Posted on September 11, 2013 by ManeatingCow23

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I bookmark every single new music post I come across on the internet because frankly, I’m lazy and it would take take me forever to listen to ever single song I ever came across. Every once and a while I go back through these bookmarks and I stumble across a video where I have no idea how I first found it, but it doesn’t matter, because I end up really loving it no matter where I originally stumbled across it.  This is the case with UK trio Hawk House’s “Live-ation”, a downtempo, R&B infused hip-hop track that reminds me of Outkast and pretty much every good hip-hop artist from the late 90’s/early 2000’s who wasn’t mainstream enough to make me feel like they sold out to sell albums to suburban white teenagers.  It’s late night hip-hop at its best; smooth, chill and too cool for school.

Hawk House’s new mixtape ‘A Little More Elbow Room’ is out now.

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Mirror Kisses – Team Follow (18 Carat Affair Re-Freak)

Posted on September 7, 2013 by ManeatingCow23

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Continuing on with tonight’s nostalgia overload tour, I give you this 18 Carat Affair remix of Mirror Kisses “Team Follow”.  The remix chops up the vocals and then bathes everything in this warm, fuzzy, slightly distorted sound that you would get from recording something on a cassette tape, and it sounds fantastic.

Warning, the video is sNSFW, with some brief animated bare butt action and a lot of sexually suggestive acts.  I’m not sure if the footage is from a highly sexualized anime or from some heavily edited hentai, since you can never really be too sure with the Japanese.

You can pick up Mirror Kisses’ ‘Bad Dreams’ album–including five hidden tracks like this “Team Follow” remix by 18 Carat Affair–for free (or name your price) right now on their Bandcamp page.

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FutureCop! – Coming Home feat. Neverstore (Anamanaguchi Remix)

Posted on September 7, 2013 by ManeatingCow23

MarioI’m feeling a tad bit nostalgic tonight and perhaps that’s why I had such a visceral reaction to this video for Anamanaguchi’s remix of FutureCop!’s “Coming Home”.  FutureCop! have always excelled at capturing the sound and feeling of 80’s music without actually sounding like anything that was produced in the 80’s, but when you compound that super-condensed 80’s essence with Anamanaguchi’s 8-bit influenced remixing skills and a bunch of footage from old Nintendo Entertainment System commercials from the 80’s, well, that just puts my brain into retro nostalgia overload.  Pretty much everything that it is that I loved about being a kid in the 80’s can be found in this video.

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Whinnie Williams – Break Hearts In Your Sleep / You Don’t Love Me

Posted on September 4, 2013 by ManeatingCow23

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I really wish more music was made like this.  First of all, anyone who can effortlessly and seamlessly add string arrangements and flutes into pop music deserves a round of applause.  While unfairly pigeonholed into categories like “lift music” (or elevator music to those listening in the States), this is actually a style of music that I quite enjoy.  Whinnie Williams takes what’s best about 60’s girl groups, Burt Bacharach and bossa nova, and adds a dash of modernity to it.  She reminds me a bit of a less crass Lily Allen. The videos are also pretty fun to watch, like if Wes Anderson made vintage mod music videos and was really into poodles. I can’t wait to hear more from her.

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Still Corners – Fireflies / Berlin Lovers

Posted on September 4, 2013 by ManeatingCow23

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London based synthpop duo* Still Corners is an unsung personal favorite of mine.  All of their albums so far have been close to perfect in my mind.  Matter of fact when I was first watching this video I was convinced that I had put “Fireflies” on my last mixtape, but apparently it got cut at the last minute in favor of “Going Back To Strange”. That’s a cryin’ shame because as you can hear from this newly released video, “Fireflies” is a pretty darn awesome song.  Filled with layered vocals, cymbal washes and a sparse, gently flowing melody, “Fireflies” is the perfect song to play right now while we’ve still got a little Indian summer left.

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While prepping this post I rediscovered the video for “Berlin Lovers”, a song I was too lazy to post when it was originally released earlier this year.  It features the same pretty vocals from Tessa Murray that you’ll find in all of Still Corners’ songs, but this one goes much heavier on the retro-sounding analog synths than a lot of their other songs.  The video has a decidedly retro vibe as well, featuring two teenagers flirting for the first time in a roller rink.  You remember roller skating?  Man, I miss that.

Both of these songs can be found on Still Corners’ new album, ‘Strange Pleasures’, out now on Sub Pop Records.  If you’re not already listening to Still Corners, well, you really should be.

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[*Correction: I know in a previous post I called Still Corners a “five piece” but apparently it really is a duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist/producer Greg Hughes and vocalist Tessa Murray. The other members (wikipedia lists four total members) are only part of the live band.] 

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Delorean – Destitute Time / Spirit

Posted on August 30, 2013 by ManeatingCow23

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I still consider Delorean’s ‘Subiza’ to be one of the best albums of 2010, heck one of the best albums of the last decade, and it’s been a long three years before Delorean finally announced that their second album ‘Apar’ was ready.  I almost started to wonder if they had broken up–which would have broken my heart, much like the couple in this video–but all my fears can be brushed aside because Delorean are back in a big way.  This Barcelona-based band makes grand New Wave statements with just enough of a breezy Mediterranean fair inspired by their hometown to create a unique musical statement that you just don’t hear anywhere else. And if you thought it couldn’t get any better, “Destitute Time” features backing vocals from Glasser. Their sound is so amazing, you can almost smell the sunshine in their tight Balearic sound.

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‘Spirit’ is actually the first official single from the new album. While the song is this huge Balearic summer jam filled with layer upon layer of guitars, keyboards, drums and vocals, the video is a little more minimal with its focus on the album’s cover artwork, which was inspired by Basque artist Jorge Oteiza. With its driving rhythm and choral backing vocals, this sounds a bit like the track New Order would make while on holiday in Ibiza.

‘Apar’ is out September 10th in North America.

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Julianna Barwick – One Half

Posted on August 29, 2013 by ManeatingCow23

JuliannaBarwick_OneHalf_VideoReally the whole song, but the second half of “One Half” in particular, sounds a lot like what you would get if Sigur Rós had a female lead singer, which I guess makes a lot of sense considering Julianna Barwick traveled to Iceland to record her newest album, ‘Nepenthe’. The track layers wispy vocal runs one on top of another with a sparse string arrangement to craft an intimate ambient soundscape that’s truly aurally beautiful to experience. There must be something really special about the character of Iceland that brings out this unique flavor of fragile beauty in their music.

 

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