antique pony – ‘manifold twin’
January 10, 2013
gay ghosts is the second coming of an exiled witch who set herself and that hedonistic city ablaze; ‘manifold twin’ is the destructive pinnacle of that perfect fiery madness.
Click the link above, the download is free, and the tape is available from antique pony member Derek McArthur’s Glasgow-based cassette family Hikikomori – which is set to release Heroin Party‘s debut and an upcoming set of songs from UUUUUU (who is wonderful and was featured on our 2k12 best of).
righteous sound: albums of 2012
December 31, 2012
Big thanks to everyone who helped make this year great. 2k12 was uncomfortably transitional and I appreciate the support and love, y’all are the best. So here are the albums that made everything okay; there are no rankings as they inhabit similar summer homes within me.
[Continued after the jump]
squall – ‘repulsor’
December 4, 2012
About a year ago, we posted about the life-inducing instrumentals of Boston rogue-psych project Sea Yarns, and it looks like Tavis MacLeod is back with a full band and a bigger, rowdier sound.
A Nick Cave-control of the mic finds house in a high speed, low-lying intensity painted black, chiseled into stone, given to the oppressed, and shouted from their rooftops. Squall has a damn solid late 70s goth rock feel that I honestly can’t get enough of, and their Repulsor/No Life Here 7″ is coming sometime January so continously to stream it on Soundcloud until then.
Squall :: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Facebook
ivory weeds – we all become
November 13, 2012
Sorry about the stagnated content flow of late..school is almost forever over and everything will soon be normal again. Until then, I wanted to share an album that is soft and serene and truly wonderful.
There’s something strikingly intimate about We All Become, the way it houses panorama-like texture while complementing the internal spaces it originated from. In the words of Ivory Weeds himself: “This album is LoFi for the reason that it captures not only the song that I am recording, but also the moment in which it exists. Each time a song is played it is new in that moment, it will never exist again in the same way, in the same feeling..”
Another IW favorite:
Ivory Weeds :: Bandcamp / Twitter / Facebook / Website / Monalloh Foundry
deimos phobos – feelings
October 1, 2012
Company found and sought after. The lissajous curve of desire, distress, divinity, indifference. Slumber for solace; an enduring moment of harmony. Steps from normality. Celestial bounds from reality. Our calves substituted by cognitive existence, hurdles swapped for oppression, set free by sharing and accepting it all.
[He took down his bandcamp and put up a download-all-my-old-stuff link]
A physics student at peace, Eau Claire’s Deimos Phobos wrangles together a short, but instantly memorable ride through clouds and consciousness. With the help of Elan Mccallum, Lindsey Etzkorn, and Adelyn Rose [whose album Mezzanine is up there with the best of 2012], feelings is both intrapersonal and dance-in-a-sweaty-crowd-able which kinda reminds me of those MJ MJ‘s good mood tapes.
euglossine – ‘limit of/to your reason (feat. bola)’ + ‘holy days (thankful waves)’
September 18, 2012
Two nodes diverged from a fellow brood. To be one traveller, misunderstood. The ever-energetic Gainesvillian Tristan Whitehill has put up some personal work up under his moniker Euglossine and the psych world rejoiced. Aside from the now streamable 30-minute Floridian Abstraction tape that was released on Housecraft Recordings, two tracks sit side by side as odes and oms to his creative fluidity.
BOLA, like Tristan, is apart of Gainesville’s 21st century interstellar hip hop act MSNRA and butters up consciousness with the heavy hitting beatwork on ‘Limit Of/To Your Reason’ while ‘Holy Days (Thankful Waves)’ finds tranquility in the depths of a slow churning pond. Pleasantries intact in a room flavored vanilla.
Euglossine :: Soundcloud / Elestial Sound
halasan bazar – ‘figure it out’
September 10, 2012
Alkaline wisdom best displayed in a backyard. Today’s perversions are scattered over tar-painted apartment walls, holding overnight clarity bleached white at dawn by tempered regret. A moment of nothingness began the day where nothing was fixed and nothing meant all that much. Today was everything two eyes need. Today was definite.
‘Figure It Out’ comes off the debut album of the Copenhagen woozy pysch-folk group. The self-help sounding title How To Be Ever Happy isn’t exactly a blueprint for injecting summer fun into your beating veins and I don’t think head man Fredrik Eckhoff intended it either. Instead we find Fredrik digging through graves and eating minds in search of what we’re all unsure about: meaning.
I can only assume Fredrik found something in those graves.
Halasan Bazar :: Bandcamp / Soundcloud / Facebook
trails – ‘guaguancó’
September 4, 2012
A breath of fresh air scented with mangos, bongos, irrational fractions, and spine tingling righteousness is Orlando’s diamond duo Trails. They’ve been jolting crowds with mathy grooves for the better half of a year, opening up the recent PORTALS/Tiny Waves showcase last week and passing out their debut single – ‘Guaguancó’ – and sweaty hugs in the process.
In short, ‘Guaguancó’ is a first launch NASA would be proud of. Featuring the vast talents of their eccentric drummer Kyle Potter and guitar techie Bryan Burgos, the two welcome the skills of Gerald Perez, who manages to have a hand in every act that calls North/Central Florida home including his very own swoon project Maximino, to lay down his notoriously slick basslines and give an already stellar sound that little extra sumthin’ sumthin’.
+ If you’re in Orlando next week, Kyle and Bryan are playing Will’s Pub Anniversary Week Sept. 9th and the Shine Shed Fundraiser Show Sept. 12th
vyxor – ‘rich dark glass’
August 13, 2012
The expansive nature of Vyxor steers clear of static norms through hyper-R&B collages suitable for any fifth dimension R.Kelly lover. Never to be known in the realm of bland, Tyler Burton has graced interstellar pop addicts with the lively spectrum of Porcelain & Pewter; single-handedly saving our race from anti-falsetto Melvins. Praise Tyler.
Give thanks to lord Vyxor and the folks at Young Latitudes for putting out the digital release + heed to doctor’s warnings and revisit the forever rad Nocturne Feveron.
Vyxor :: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Facebook / Twitter
outlands – ‘the looming’ + ‘sisters/lovers’
July 8, 2012
The continuous jet lag of an absent spirit gathers stale mold without mercy or openness to the host it feeds. A cure comes from connecting mind, body, and soul – easier said than done; done easier over time.
The course of each track from Virginia duo Outlands‘ debut EP fits perfectly with the budding power that fosters within. Cloud-filtered rhythms of disco-bred, electro-pop and the golden waves of vocalized summits match up in a way too good to ignore. As a friend put it “if Olivia Newton-John was still in the game, this would be the outcome.”
Stream their self-titled in full over on Chill Mega Chill and pick up the cassette for a hit $5 while you’re at it – it’s under the super-limited dubbing of 25 copies.
Outlands :: Bandcamp / Soundcloud / Facebook
tom day – echoes
July 5, 2012
The problems accompanied with finding space alluded the fields. Written far from home without thumbs to hitch. Night will come with time and discoveries will be made by wick and wax. This will find you; if not this life, our next.
‘Echoes’ – the most recent single from Melbourne’s Tom Day – whisked with grace and kneaded to ease tension. Gorgeous apexes and sun-drunk valleys alike, the slow building head-glider finds tempered rest under changing moons and dying stars. Dig through past tracks and find what’s to come over on TD’s Soundcloud.
Tom Day :: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Facebook
tape stories: nomadic firs
June 29, 2012
We were delighted to receive an email from Decoder man Dwight who was quick to sent over a couple releases from his trustworthy label imprint Crash Symbols. The first tape was Nomadic Firs‘ self-titled debut. When I sat down to write some words about the tape, a wafting psychedelia came over me and tape stories was created.
Walking a case of the locally brewed summer ale down a friend’s dock, passing aging wood to the tune of branches brushed with a river breeze and flip-flop claps, in the water a boat features warm smiles. The boat takes off north. The clouds are sparse but dense enough to lend out shade when needed most. The motor kicks into high gear and we begin to fly over bridges, making small talk with seagulls who also came into their own after a brief stint away from the herd.
The sun set an hour ago but the tank is still half full. The clouds act as lawn chairs and jokes are told and tents are made. Life is lucid. The sun told us so when morning came. When the morning came the boat was gone. Never turn your back to a flock of shifty-eyed seagulls. The only way home was down so we dove. Terminal velocity meant nothing and the view was great – people waved; they looked so significant and were all the same. The waves broke our fall and the seagulls, feeling guilty and offering a well-seasoned platter of mahi-mahi, returned the boat. Nice guys really.
Nomadic Firs :: Bandcamp / Facebook / Twitter / Soundcloud
Pick up the tape and digital download for a measly $5 on Crash Symbols’ Bandcamp.
The second tape from Crash Symbols is Some Ember‘s Hotel of Lost Light and will up next week.
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