Mid-Air Thief - Crumbling (2018)

 

Here's a record that was, from what I understand, fairly huge in South Korea but is much less ubiquitous in the US. 

This is an electronic pop album, or folktronica as their Wiki page states but that's a word that makes me want to barf. Showing my age, I guess. If the blending of acoustic instruments with electronic instruments makes something folktronica, the description is apt, however reductive. 

The gorgeous melodies of this album, in the exchange between girl/boy vocals, and the playfulness of the dynamics.. the parts of the album that whisper and then swell into a prism of sound.. these are the things that earned this record Best Dance and Electronic Album of the Year at the 2019 Korean Music Awards (there's really no element of dance here, however). 

The acoustic bits, and the rhythms in part, are actually quite Brazilian. I'm not well versed in the genres of Brazil but I think I'm correct in saying this album is part electronica and part bossa nova. Maybe not throughout the entirety of Crumbling but it's definitely there. 

I stumbled on this album exactly one year ago and over the year, it's been my happy place. It got me through a bout with Covid, through hot summer road trips, and eased my anxious mind to a restful place. 

11/10.

Mid-Air Thief - Crumbling

Oscar Key Sung - Tape Voice EP (2012)

Still unsure about seeing the new Star Wars. I just get immediately suspicious of anything cultural that I feel is being shoved in my face. Like Adele, I don't know her music but I know I don't like it. Just think about this for a second: Hollywood will be flogging the jedi cash cow for the rest of your life on this planet. We will never be free from the question, "Have you seen the new Star Wars?" Never free from storm troopers advancing into department store television advertisements.

Not necessarily wanting to be left out of a cultural phenomenon, while not having the inclination to participate, I've decided to carry a standardized response to the "Have you seen the new Star Wars movie" question... which is "YEAH I SAW IT AND IT WAS COMPLETE GARBAGE"... just so it appears that I'm at least trying to keep up with things of cultural relevance, while encouraging those who ask to never repeat the question. Bah humbug.

I'm much more inclined to champion and gush over the great music of obscure folks who I think should be less obscure. For example, I was pleasantly surprised by this EP from Melbourne-based Oscar Key Sung. He seems to really have a knack using his voice as an instrument and not just a vehicle for delivering lyrics. Medulla-era Björk immediately comes to mind. The glitch-synth-drum loop elements suggest a Prefuse 73 influence. It's like Max Tundra - but instead of making you feel weird it makes you feel the mood for sexy times.

Free download, 4 songs.


Oscar Key Sung - Tape Voice EP

Daddy Rocks - Ah re que (2015)

Daddy Rocks was a group featured on the Scenes of a City post on Rosario. Argentina. I found them of my own accord kicking around bandcamp and really liked what I heard. They've gotten hip to this the time since and thought it good practice to update me on their new album. So here it is,  Ah re que <3 i=""> the latest effort of the Argentine electronic outfit called Daddy Rocks.

Now, I do recall Daddy Rocks being a heavily electronic operation, but I gotta say they really leaned into it for this new album. It is more purely a selection of electronic dance tunes than I have been exposed to in recent months. Nonetheless, I found it incredibly delightful. The songs are fast, compact and exciting. I could not ask for a better soundtrack to play during a house party or hear at a bar that's compelled to have lights flashing. I do not mean any of this in a snarky way, as I engage in both this vices as regularly as my social life allows. This sort of music holds a prominent place in my heart as I elate at hearing anything half as good as Daddy Rocks in these context and feel a million times better for not hearing awful R&B garbage. Moreover, I am pretty certain hearing electronic music in any language you don't know is much better than understanding the lyrics. Hopefully I am not insulting the band with my off-color endorsements, for I truly love their songs, and I recommend you all take the time to hear it.

Te be had here:
Daddy Rocks  - Ah re que <3 a="">

Mariscal De Campo - Recordatorio (2014)

When Larry started the Scenes of a City series I hadn't a clue it would become so popular. They've generated it more attention and responses than most anything else we've ever done and for that we're thankful and bashfully proud. Yet in the course of searching around for the music from a particular city sometimes there'll be various other threads that appear which are insufficiently related to the post we'll be writing to be included but are simply begging to be pulled. Mariscal De Campo is a band I found in this backwards route, via stumbling upon the Argentine label Fuego Amigo Discos.

So the whole website is in Spanish, but what can be sussed out despite the language barrier is that Fuego Amigo Discos is an independent label that at least sometimes gives albums away on their site. Recordatorio by Mariscal De Campo is just such an album. Only other thing I could figure out from the site is that this band is from the coastal town of Punta Alta. So everything hereafter is mere conjecture, or in other words business as usual. The simplest way to explain Mariscal De Campo is that they make snythpop. However, this fails to fully elucidate the interesting interplay between dreamy and dancey sounds they've brilliant incorporated. The songs "Dejame" and "Escapada" show off their more new wave-tinged dance rock capabilities excellently, with "Otra Canción" and "Eso Que Ni Pensamos" show more dreamy snyth playing. All wonderful, and there are tunes like "La Comodidad" where all bets are off and it certainly a new wave hit. A live set by this band could be amazing. Surely gonna have to see what else Fuego Amigo Discos has to offer after this.

To be had here:
Mariscal De Campo - Recordatorio

Scenes of a City, Vol. 8 Rosario, Argentina

Hard to think Larry and I have done eight of these already. They are the most time-consuming of all the features that we do, but in many ways the most rewarding due to the more in-depth look at what's going on abroad. This write-up on Rosario might be the best example yet, as I hadn't even been aware of Rosario as a major city of Argentina until I was idly gazing at a map (my life is thrilling, I know). Afterward I felt compelled to see what that place was all about, and keeping with my theme it isn't the biggest city, nor the capital, but rather the third largest city of the Argentine Republic. What I found was amazing, as I've never had so many good selections that I had to narrow down into a post before. Rosario is an absolute hotbed of musical activity and embracing the very model of giving away free streaming and/or downloads quite fully. All of these save one are free to download (name-your-own-price technically, if you feel generous).

To be had here:
Mi Nave - Estela (2014)

This is the album that instigated an entire post on Rosario. I ran across this rather haphazardly and the foxy album art and location were enough for me to give it a listen. What I heard really blew my mind, for I don't like a little or some, rather I can't believe how sweet this shit is. Mi Nave doesn't possess a single sound, as they shift around in a psychedelic, post-rock/whatever sphere with their songs. The tracks range from sort of electronic dance pop to post-rock to something absolutely wonderful with horns. I mean really wonderful and the best track has to be "Matt Damon," you gotta listen to it all.

Daddy Rocks - Epoca de Brujas (2014)

Without a doubt some of the catchiest pop music I have heard in months. Now, It isn't fare to compare Latin American indie pop to any of the drivel we've got on commercial radio in the United States, yet I will confidently say Daddy Rocks blows all that shit away, hands down. The album title means "Witch Time" if google translation is to be believed, and it is a fantastic series of pop tunes sung in Spanish that even a monolingual English speaker like myself can get behind.

Brylcream - Brylcream (2014)

An instrumental indie rock outfit that I know almost nothing about. I found them by chance on bandcamp and their page doesn't elaborate, not even a little bit, beyond the fact that they're from Rosario. So the music will have to speak for itself, and it does an excellent job without words of doing just that. The songs range rom jaunty, bluesy tunes to smoother, drawn out progressive-sort of jams, even some jazzier numbers. The key is the instrumental nature of the band, it just drives along and you can sink right into everything without worries.

Norma Pons - Para Ser Felix (2014)

Norma Pons plays something between traditional Latin folk music and pop or rock. I haven't a clue again as to what they're on about in the lyrics, but it is undoubtedly cheerful music. In fact it is the sort of music that I might not like if it wasn't in Spanish and therefore something I can ignore the words of outside of being another instrument. While being cheerful Latin tunes, it isn't to the corporate bullshit chain restaurant degree. I guess I am just tickled at horns and whatnot being played in a South American way. I feel like a tourist without leaving my apartment.

Vacaciones en Globo - VACACIONES EN GLOBO (2014)

This band is the one that most reminds me of Latin American and Spanish indie rock/pop I've heard before, including Brazil's Supercordas, who I rave about so frequently. I'd say they are less psychedelic, leaning more toward the folk-pop, and every inch as competent in songwriting ability. It's hard not to be charmed by Vacaciones en Globo immediately, they're really outstanding, the sort of thing I wish could be heard more commonly here in the United States. This album, along with Mi Nave's Estela were put out by the Rosario based label, Polvo Bureau, who's catalog surely merits a good browsing.

Scenes of a City, Vol. 5: Gijón, Spain

Now I work primarily as a used bookseller, which I like to think of as a job that requires me to know a little about everything, but be adept in very few. Yet there are things you entering into the trade with a mild curiosity for and as you get to see the volume of books, or lack thereof, on the topic you'll cultivation it accordingly. My main two fascinations I've nurtured since becoming a bookman is depressing, existentialist foreign literature and the maybe even a more depressing subject of the Spanish Civil War. As I imagine is common for English-speakers, I was exposed to the war via George Orwell's account of the conflict in Homage to Catalonia. Ever since I've wanted to know more but I won't bore you with the details of the volumes I've collected and spent my spare time pouring over. Rather this is a way to explain why I have begun to know the names of many Spanish cities, the various linguistic differences of the country and the political structure of Spain with its autonomous communities. This is how I know of Asturiason, the northern, mountainous and coastal area of Spain and the region in which Gijón, or Xixón as it is known in Asturian, is located. What I only recently discovered is how much music is being produced in this city, and how much of it is readily available on bandcamp. So forget my depressing pre-occupations as you hear these marvelous tunes.

To be had here:

No Fucks - No Fucks (2014)

The most recent release by a band that's got several enjoyable and free releases on bandcamp from the past two years. They make a retro pop-rock that has some touches of surf rock, and this 7" is sung in Spanish (maybe Austrian, I'm not versed enough to know) and is quite alluring and catchy. The last track, "Vegetar," slows it down some and really show off how lovely of a song they can compose. I recommend hitting up their back catalogue too, those EPs are great shit.


HUIAS -  ! (2011)

An electronic pop EP with chillwave and dream pop tones. It is quirky but not overbearing, a sort of subtle and refined approach is apparent in the music of HUIAS. It is really the instrumentation that makes these songs so damned beautiful and how they play off the fantastic vocals, and like all thing with music and this whole blog I can only struggle to convey that is is pleasant to hear. It is easy to get sucked in and wanna hear these songs again. Additionally, they've got a new single out called "Movimiento Este" that is totally worth hearing.

agora que somos muertos - Aquelarre (2012)

If you haven't noticed by now I am a huge fan of folk and American primitive music, as recently shown by the Steve Palmer and C. M. Slenko posts and my everlasting love of John Fahey. So I imagine my joy at finding a Spanish band that was playing folk that came reasonable close to Fahey's style. Aquelarre is full of the wonderful experimentation and psychedelic-by-way-traditonal (this is a concept I am pondering) that I've come to respect and covet so deeply.

The Starkwells - Take The Money And Run (2014)

There seems to be a continuous thread through my posts on cities that there is one band that can pass as a British band while decidedly not being from Britain. This band perhaps doesn't have the accent as well done as prior bands, but it does sing it some fine English and have some very good power pop songs to go with that very British seeming name. It is lighthearted and sweet to the ear, but the issue is that while it is streamable I can't seem to see how one can download or purchase it. Perhaps that band will come through with some details....

Los Guajes - Mujeres y Centollos (2012)

This is what we've all been waiting for, a Spanish garage rock revival act. I mean, we're bopping all around and far from displeased at what I've found in any of these cities, but I had a theory that garage rock was this universal presence at one time and I hoped it survived in abundance. Thanks for Spain and Los Guajes might retain some of this blissful illusion. Here is the freshest, even at two years tardy, of albums from this band, and it goes for seven Euros but the previous album, La vida es como un CARRUSEL, is a free download. I really don't know what else to tell you beyond these simple words... GARAGE ROCK, ORGANS, SPANISH, MOUSTACHE, SUITS, FUZZZZ.

Sarah Mikovski - Sarah Mikovski (2014)

This is admitted outside the the usual fare on this blog, but not something I think many of the readership will dislike. At least that's my hope in posting it up. I came across this album while putting together the Scenes of a City post of Lyon, France yet it didn't seem to gel with the other music on that post, in fact as I suggested, with most of the lo-fi rock and adjacent genres I normally cover. Nevertheless, it is an album I could not ignore and found myself desiring to hear it has it popped back into my mind even days after writing the Lyon post.

I've got a soft spot of French singing. Partly because my French is so awful I can't understand more than a few words in any given song, and partly for the same reason French is held as a romantic and poetic language in general, at least by those not raised speaking and reading it. It isn't the only language for which I harbor mawkish feelings, but it is the only I have the longest relationship with and the only one I half-assedly tried to learn. There are many adolescent memories listening to Serge Gainsbourg and Françoise Hardy, loving the chason pop and the sweetness of yé-yé girls. My wish isn't to conflate Sarah Mikovski with those musicians, but like most truly popular the sounds of have permeated our minds and becomes a point of departure for new music, even if we only impose it there as a listener. Of course, her songs are pop music meant to be sung in French and therefore shares that very board lineage of chason and she does it fabulously.

This self-titled release is only an EP if judged by length, only being about 20 minutes. However, that is if you only hear it once through, which I can't imagine how one would manage that. I didn't even make it past the first song "Au bord de la Seine" without having to put down my book and restart the track. And it isn't the only song get me to do that, I was already repeating reactions with the second tune. Her soulful and swift singing, the eletro-pop beats that recall Stereo Total,  is fascinating to hear, and while it has many trapping of popular music and little of it will be surprising as elements, yet it never that way with pop. The whole song, the meshing of the various influences and borrowed affectations into a fresh auditory experience is all that matters. Sarah Mikovski has masterfully produced this effect and it is addictively good.

To be had here:
Sarah Mikovski - Sarah Mikovski 

Scenes Of A City, Vol 4. Lyon, France

If I never mentioned it before I am a fan of learning history. While I own mostly stacks of novels and short stories written by dead old Europeans, strange Latin Americans and tormented Asians I began gathering knowledge of these other parts of the world in the more conventional source of history texts. This lead to a geography fascination, as I poured through the maps and lists of historic events and stored away the important sites of battles, the economic hubs and political capitals of the world. Yet with all my unsophisticated research as a juvenile I don't know much about Lyon, France beyond it being the second largest city in that country. While, a city of that size in such a culturally powerful nation can't be sitting on its hunches, so I wanted to see what music they were playing there other than what I am sure have been at least a half dozen bands that submitted releases from there, as France does like to submit the tunes.

To be had here:

Hugo Clarence - The Ocean Tape (2014)

This artist was the instigating factor that caused be to pick Lyon for this Scenes of a City. As Hugo Clarence has a track called "Porto City" and you may recall that was the previously featured municipality. This turned me onto his slightly more recent release, The Ocean Tape. Echoey, psych-tinged naturalismo mixed with bluesy alt country, if you can grasp that. The songs will remind one of style that regained popularity with the likes of Devendra Banhart, who I still enjoy listening to. Plus this includes a sent up to Hank Williams, which is pretty legit.

Ouiouioui - Oui Oui Oui (2014)

With such affirming names it seems this EP was bound to be pleasing. It's electro-pop, as stated on the the gentleman with an eyeball for a mouth's suit coat. Slower in tempo than you may expect, the tracks are sort of simmering just below a boil most of the time with lovely beats and imaginative instrumentation. The songs never reach a fever pitch, instead they keep a wonderful balance between a down tempo and a flashy electronic freakout. Ultimately it has a cinematic feeling, with light tension being a driving element.

Strange Milk - The Odd One Out (2013)

There's nothing about this band that would make one assume they're from France at all. They sing in English and they play like a band from Athens, GA, Austin, TX or name your college town with good tunes of choice. Nonetheless, Strange Milk lives in Lyon from what I can tell, even playing shows with French garage rock favorites, Qúetzal Snåkes. Their charming psych-pop that fits so neatly into what I have been desiring to hear lately I'm have a hard time moving on to another band from Lyon to write about.

MALAÏSE - MALAÏSE (2014?)

An album to shake you out of your complacency from how easy-going everything on this post has been so far. This album is a rather heavy and full sounding post-punk release befitting a band with an umlaut, or more accurately a tréma as they are French. Again, sung in English which I'm told is the language of rock and roll, and who am I to fret over the fact I can theoretically understand what the mighty female vocalist is singing? I can't for the record, it is beautifully washed out with the wall-of-sound and loud guitars. Also, it is another album tagged "cold wave" so I guess I am getting down on that sound.

The Pathetic and Elegant - I Am In Love (2014)

My legs are sore and my brain is sleepy. Too much hauling, and the big furniture of this move is coming tomorrow still. My mind is weary as my boss as decided the driving force in his life is to converting me into a teetotaler, which frankly sounds like an awful plan. So I get to my uniquely unpleasant position of having an eccentric old bookseller chasing me around hollering at me and making up schemes for me to achieve utter temperance. How do I cope with it? Drink a beer and listen to an album, because I am not a mad Lithuanian like my boss.

I Am In Love is an album by 21 year old from Baltimore, Maryland that's chosen the poetically delightful name of the Pathetic and Elegant. It was written while he was in Osaka, Japan, which seems like irrelevant information until you hear the lyrics that make references to being away from home and around Japanese girls. Overall it is a lyrically heavy album, but in the same way that a Car Seat Headrest song can be, in a seamless blending of lot-fi bedroom pop with awkward lines sung with sincerity. In fact it reminded me of several strange indie pop musicians like Car Seat Headrest, Nate Henricks, Tim Cohen and James Ausfahrt. No so much as they musical compositions are alike, rather they seem to bear similarities in conception and tone. What I mean is that despite the reminiscences that it may provoke for me, it sounds incredibly unique and compelling. The songs themselves are very well produced and will bet re-listening like good indie/bedroom pop should. I especially love the tracks "Come On, Baby" "Call Me Weak" and "I've Got The Vibes" as excellent displays of successfully quirky songcraft. Also, if you look at the bottom of the bandcamp page you'll notice this: "Vocals for this record were recorded in various karaoke bars through out Japan." Now that a fucking way to be, pilgrims, bringing your own songs to karaoke.

Finally, I Am In Love was put out by Spellabee Space, a neat Baltimore indie label, podcasting hub and artistic promotion project that seems to be getting going, but looks quite promising. If their tastes are to be trusted based on their working with the Pathetic and Elegant is any indication it should be a source of more quality media.

To be had here:
The Pathetic and Elegant - I Am In Love 

EP Grab Bag vol. 69

Ahhh, sixty-ninth Grab Bag, very nice...

To be had here:

Club de Surf - Sonic Death EP (2014)

A very fast, very loud and very punk EP to begin the Grab Bag with this week. Club de Surf is a garage punk outfit from Santiago, Chile. It is beautifully noisy and intense, with lyrics that are beyond even guessing at. I mean, just look at these cats in their shades, you know it's fucking rock and roll and you know you're down. The sort of thunderous percussion and fuzzed out guitar that makes me feel like I'm not doomed to wandering around confused at khakis shorts and graphic tees with Disney shit on it.


The Lost Day - The Lost Day EP (2014)

Now to Greece for more high volume guitar playing, this time instrumental psychedelic rock from two other fellas. Has a ever so tiny touch of pop sentimentality in between the heavy freak out sections to make an invigorating blend of fast and loose fucking around with thought out composition. Even gets a bit droney at times, which is always a welcome development. The final track is something to look forward to too with the Dick Dale style reverb layered on early then some crazy Asian spoken word on it.



Saint Julien -  Space​-​Age Politics Single (2014)

Three tracks from Nashville act Saint Julien of a bizarre variety. Hard to place, certainly experimental but that term doesn't mean much, I'd call it lo-fi electro-whatnot. It is very brief, feels like it is over just as it begins and leaves you stranded in a strange feeling, yet one that makes you want to click the button to replay it over and over. A full-length of this would be pretty fucking epic, I'd bet. We can only hope that is something the future has in store for us all.


Prude Boys - Demos from Lost Boys Days (2013)

There are four tracks from a Hamtramck band, and for those you not of the Detroit area Hamtramck is a city fully enclosed within Detroit know for its low rent, Polish food, small bars and rock shows. Anyhow, these are some cool garage rock songs that have nice fuzzy guitars and fine singing, though I would scale the vocals back but I always say that it seems. Exceptional fine for demos and very promising for the new material they're putting out. Seems they've got a six-part project of two track demo releases coming out, so keep an eye on these guys.

Grushemka - Enredo interesante (2014)

Back overseas with the Spanish band, Grushemka of Barcelona. The lyrics are in Spanish (or maybe Catalan, but I can't understand it regardless) but the music is some very tight dream pop. The first track is a very dancey sort of beat-driven pop song and the second is a lo-fi acoustic guitar number that is very sweetly done. Hope they're singing something sweet and not something gross to trick me, but if they did do that: good fucking work. Anyhow, just found them at random and thought it was worth sharing.

Buttering Trio - Toast (2014)

The ME may be going to hell in a hand-basket, but the beats and music from the region keep rolling on towards a better and brighter day. Or maybe a darker one. I don't have a clue.

What I do know is that the ME, and Israel in particular, is the home to some great musicians who are making music that is pushing the boundaries of pop globally. I have championed Memory in Plant on this site and on the podcast, and this record by Buttering Trio is a perfect flip side to their music. Both are experimental and creative in their approach, but while Memory in Plant creates disjointed post-punk music for the pop crowd, Buttering Trio creates vibrant sounds-capes through the use of electronics. You can't always tell a book by its cover, but the sleeve to this record perfectly encapsulates the sound within.

When I say this is an electronic record, you should not expect disco and techno beats to coldly pound a simple vocal harmony into your eardrums. This is "warm music" that is often hard to come by in the electronic genre. Rather than forcing you do deal with the cruelty and dissonance of the modern world, Buttering Trio wrap you in warm embrace of beats. Then, and only then, do they share the horror that is the world.

Get it here:
Buttering Trio - Toast (2014)

This is Lorelei / MaoTzu - Spilt Cassette (2014)

A new release from MaoTzu and this time he brought a friend. This is a split cassette put out by Chicago's Grandpa Bay Recordings featuring these two musically like-minded fellows. The songs are experimental pop made with a combination of electronic and acoustic instrumentation. While This is Lorelei isn't something I've heard before this release, I can confidently say it is right up my alley, especially in light of this current minor obsession with bedroom/experimental/psych pop songs (just look at what I've been posting for evidence). The songs are short, upbeat and charming in their irreverence and nearly schizophrenic changes in tempo, instruments and tone. And this goes for both of the musicians, and while they each undoubtedly possess personal qualities in this songs that are unique and awesome, it is at the same time like to sides to a coin in many ways as they are so incredibly complimentary in sound. If you've liked the recently share Nate Henricks, Pill Wonder, or Wizard Oz you'll likely be down with this, even if you lazily never got to those and are a fan of Elephant 6 I'd still get it.

To be had here:
MaoTzu / This is Lorelei - This is Lorelei / MaoTzu

Bashe - Open Up (2013) + Open Up (Slowly) (2014)

If you're a listener to the show the you might recall we were discussing remixes and how we felt about them, and I thought that to be the perfect excuse to share what is my very favorite sort of remix with set of new tracks submitted by Bashe. Bashe is from Denton, Texas and makes electronic pop music that strays close to dance rock at times and more toward dream pop at others. Awesomely they've tagged it as "hypnagogic pop" which might very well be one of the best new generic terms I've heard. Now, what we have here is a short release from last year called Open Up that is an incredibly catchy and smooth electronic EP, and the other as the name suggests is a slowed down version of the very same tracks. This is a not a new concept, nor is it the first time I have featured a re-worked release of an album by the same artist before. Long time Spacerockmountain pilgrims may recall Toronto's Tearjearker did a similarly self-imposed remixing of their 2010 album Strangers with the following year's Strangers Remade. Just as I was throughly impressed by Tearjerker, I found Bashe's releases to be astounding in their own right, but the really magic happens when heard back to back. The juxtaposition of the two versions, noticing the similarities underling and picking up on the alterations is a remarkable insight to the power of tempo and speed in musical theory.

To be had here:

Open Up











Open Up Slowly

Pill Wonder - Shy Dogs (2014)

After listening to the new album by Nate Henricks and looking over my old reviews on his earlier albums I was reminded of Pill Wonder, another electronic bedroom pop musician I highly admired. Pill Wonder's debut album Jungle/Surf came out back in 2010 and I listened to that motherfucker day and night for months, and it held place in my personal rotation for years after. Now after a four year break has this Seattle-based musician released a new album on Couple Skate Records. As you might imagine the style has altered somewhat with the intervening period, and the album is noticeably less chaotic, noisy and psychedelic than Jungle/Surf. In fact is easily noticeable that he's become influenced by 80's music from both Japan and those Westerners mimicking them. Reading about the release on the label's website, "Haruomi Hosono’s Yen Records crowd in a creative exchange with Mark Isham’s seminal 80’s works" are cited a major influences for this new direction. Therefore, one familiar with Pill Wonder already might not recognize Shy Dogs as by the same artist if not told so beforehand, but this isn't to say he's lost anything as much as tried something new and produced a damned sweet set of songs. It is just a wild conjecture on my part, but if I recall this fella and I are about the same age and I am curious if this is him calming down and attempting something more refined, even if that is in the realm of composing albums on his computer.

To be had here:
Pill Wonder - Shy Dogs

Wizard Oz - Wizard Oz (2014)

I've been listening to this album for a few days now and it is only getting better. Wizard Oz is relaxed and subtle album that mixes elements of chillwave, shoegaze and pop. It is addictively smooth and enticing enough that have been been sneaking away from customers at work to listen instead. The tracks are complex despite them never reaching an feverish pitch, they've layers of sound all gentle piled into some kind of sonic cake (can you tell I am hungry as I write this). Never thought I'd be such a fan of well placed beeps in the midst of shimmering effects and delightfully ethereal vocals. If you've been keen on some of the great Canadian electronic pop/chillwave albums we've posted in the past like Tearjerker or Foxes in Fiction you'll most certainly like Wizard Oz, though I believe they're Australian. Released by the French label, Beko Disques, and mixed by our pal Warren Hildebrand of Orchid Tapes.

To be had here:
Wizard Oz - Wizard Oz

Comets - Fire The Wake Up Call (2014)

It is always exciting to get a new project from talents musicians I've already had the good fortune to become familiar with through writing this blog, and here we've got not only one musician dedicated readers of the site with know but two. This is a the collaboration of the two Connecticut-dwelling musical frontmen, Cal McNamara of The Gentle Stunts and Tynan Cooney of Werewolf Police. Each of those bands were among my favorite submissions, and I even got to briefly meet Tynan at a live show of the Inclined Plane show, of which my erstwhile roommate is a member, when I was living in Connecticut. Now that you've read of this incestuous knot of bands hopefully you'll get an understanding of the high hopes I had set for Comets. Happily, they met my expectations with their electronic indie pop that blends 80s, instrumental hip-hop and top 40s music into something they've adorably tagged creep pop. If I ever had a club this the sort of songs I'd play, which might not be ideal for a the club-going crowd but seeing them not understand the darkly composed yet dance-able pop tracks would please me to no end. The lyrics absolutely worth listened to, with their absurd subject matter delivered a bizarrely stylish fashion. Watch out though, the songs'll are genuine ear worms just waiting to make a home in head.

To be had here:
Comets - Fire The Wake Up Call

Zapaska - KONTUR (2014)

Zapaska is a Ukrainian duo from the capital city of Kiev. Their music is both beautiful and mysterious, drawing on elements of rock, 90's club, Ukrainian folk, and hip hop -- all under the umbrella of electronic pop. A veritable smorgasbord of genres, which I'm a huge fan of because it keeps the ears stimulated and I get to use the word "smorgasbord".  Speaking of Swedish things, Zapaska's music reminds me a little of Swedish bands like Whale and The Knife, in the female/male vocals of the former and the occasional, strangely processed vocals of the latter. Some really great beats are present on KONTUR, the group's third release, and with the melodic guitar work and decidedly lo-fi production value, the output of English producer Bibio also comes to mind.

There's an overarching melancholy to Zapaska's music. Not depressing, but almost a fun melancholy -- like a Ukrainian version of the Portuguese "saudade".  And while I'm not sure what the songs are about, in an interview, member Pavel Nechitailo spoke to the emotion of the Ukrainian people and Zapaska's music, "It's as if there are special pylons everywhere, giving off radio waves that herd people together with misery... and since I'm a native son of these lands, I sing sad songs."

Well, shit.

I find this album has been a great companion to rainy Portland afternoons, and I look forward to playing it during my upcoming DJ night. You're all invited, by the way.

18 tracks:

Zapaska - KONTUR (2014)

Greggy Clypse - Easy 101's (2012)

Summers in eastern Canada last maybe 2 months on average. A lot of folks in the states wonder how people can deal with so much cold throughout the rest of the year.... I say, that's easy... you wear layers, stay inside, or put a hot toddy in your cry hole. Boom... warmth. The question really is: how do Canadians deal with the anticipation, arrival, and departure of such a brief summer? People must go abso-fucking-lutely insane with happiness... the very act of walking stored away in cedar closets with flannels and coats. Instead, I bet entire cities ballet dance to their jobs or corner stores. People must stand on rooftops, overlooking those dancing below, throwing tufts of cotton candy and spraying champagne onto them.

Goddamn, I gotta get my passport and see this shit.

The first time I went to Canada, it was in the fall and you didn't need a passport to get there. I was checking out the University of Toronto, thinking it'd be nice to get away from the post-9/11 nationalist fever sweeping the United States. It was a weekend and I'd neglected to schedule a tour or anything, so I ended up wandering around the city. Man, what a nice place... I was really impressed with their black squirrels. And there was a dude selling his band's hip hop CDs on the street... just like in Muscle Beach. I bought 2. They are horrible.

What isn't horrible, however, is all this awesome music currently coming out of Canada. There's even evidence of a scene, a weird lo-fi sleaze scene that this guy, Greggy Clypse, sounds a part of. He's a new act from London, Ontario which, apparently, has one of the largest bbq rib festivals in the continent, so it's gotta be a pretty cool place. His sound is lo-fi disco glitch pop and, as if that were a discernible sound at all, there's something a little off about his take on it. The music is engaging but also makes me a little uncomfortable. In that respect, it's a little like a 70's porno, which are weird because everyone is too hairy and no one is very sexy. The song "Moments" sounds like MGMT if they made a record while high on cough syrup... "Duh Duh Duh" sounds like Ariel Pink or White Williams writing a disco-glitch rendition of music from the Super Nintendo game, Pilot Wings.

This is weird stuff, accessible but weird. 7 songs, free for download, including a Willie Nelson cover.

Greggy Clypse - Easy 101's

Abschaum - Teenage Apocalypse (2011)

Teenage Apocalypse is a solo project of French musician going by Abschaum here, who is a member of the earlier posted noise/punk rock band Prypiat. This album is unlike Prypiat however, as it is thoroughly snyth-drenched electronic pop. Now, hopefully my manager won't read this, but when we work together that cat makes me listen to is Pandora. I loathe Pandora, as no algorithm can be allowed me please me, right? Anyhow, the speakers are at the cafe aren't angled for the employees to hear well, so it is like chilling in a bunker under Berlin that shares a thin wall with a dance club. While I imagine German clubs are superior to North American in most all respects (I've never been to one here, and once only in Dresden as far as Germany goes); I still can't see it being my bag. Nevertheless, this Frenchman does a wonderful job reminding me why dancable snyth-laden music should continue being made. Although not my sought after sound, done well it is pretty neat, and this shit is clean as fuck.

To be had here:
Abschaum - Teenage Apocalypse

Pollens - EP (2011)

Hopefully you're not overdone for jovial tunes after Shugo Tokumaru, for I've been sent an EP from a Seattle band called Pollens. Shares with Tokumaru a good deal of eccentricity. Utilizing electronic effects, the old boy-girl dynamic in vocals, and catchy beats makes Pollens very quick to warm to. A pretty good effort for a debut EP, especially the two opening tracks which are by far the most memorable personally. Seems like a rather promising band that if they keep it up could make some fine pop. Downloadable via bandcamp with the option of naming your own price and full streamability as usual.

To be had here:
Pollens - EP