Toronto's Kidcity are 21-year-olds Kelly Ann and Caleb whose debut EP is released at the end of May. The duo call their dark pop “clip-hop”, impossibly placed between Enya and Dr. Dre, but they could happily be filed alongside Balam Acab and other drag-happy innovators.
Dream Cop's excellent debut EP 'Basement Tapes' is out today, featuring remixes from Millionyoung and Outputmessage and the finished version of previously heard track 'Warm Thrash'.
'Limit To Your Love' is one of the tracks that's behind the hype justifiably surrounding James Blake. In a rare clubbing excursion I caught him deejaying at XOYO a few weeks back, which was quite a sonic experience. Released 8th November, this is the first track to be taken from his forthcoming 2011 debut album.
Eskmo has signed to Ninja Tune for his full debut, set for release in October. His very individual dark dubstep meets wonky (does anyone call it wonky any more?) meets gothic folk sound is evident on first single 'Cloudlight'.
Dreamend a.k.a. Ryan Graveface, the guitarist/bassist of Black Moth Super Rainbow, releases his new album 'So I Ate Myself, Bite by Bite' on 10th August. Chronicling events in the life of a serial killer through nightmarish folk song, the banjo driven 'Magnesium Light' shines a point of light through the darkness.
You've already seen the video for Trentemøller's 'Sycamore Feeling', now grab the MP3. Really looking forward to the album 'Into The Great Wide Yonder'.
Trentmøeller's new single 'Sycamore Feeling' is taken from his forthcoming album 'Into The Great Wide Yonder'. The video was shot in the deserted ghost town of Centralia, PA, notorious for a mine fire that has burned beneath the ground since 1962. This has resulted in some spooky shots of smoke and steam rising from the earth amongst the deserted buildings.
Well hello 2010, and how better to mark the return to the excitment of the working week with a little melancholia from San Jose's Worker Bee. Taken from their home recorded debut album 'Tangler', the haunting 'No Dreams' is an exercise in quiet/loud/quieter/louder explored to transcendent conclusion.
Dragon Turtle are Brian Lightbody and Tom Asselin, two musical souls split between Brooklyn and rural Northeastern PA. While Lightbody lives in the city as the band's creative director and musician, Asselin works on a tree farm and operates the band's One Forest studio. Their conflicting environments are reflected in their music as ambient folk meets dark refracted noise, aimed at contemplating natural dualities within the universe. Their debut album 'Almanac' is out now.
In the back room of their record label, four teenagers from SW London have made one the best pop albums of the year. Yes, The xx are very good. Sophisticated influences that belie their youth, but emphasis their talent, combine to create a coherent mish mash of skeletal 80s indie, 90s rnb duets and 00s nostalgic hindsight. Effortlessly and almost impossibly cool.
What with Proper Songs HQ still not having the 'net since moving (though we're not homeless now) and to make up for the absence of a podcast this month, here is a 1 hour 'Off The Grid' mix straight off the old vinyl - snaps, crackles and pops at no extra cost.
01. Dion - Daddy Rollin' (Decca) 02. Bonnie Koloc - Don't Leave Me (Ovation) 03. Francoise Hardy - Le Temps De L'Amour (PYE) 04. Fleetwood Mac - Hypnotized (Reprise) 05. Lalo Shifron - Quite Village (CTI) 06. Madlib - Elements For Mr Crabfeather (Stones Throw) 07. Lark - Hatbox [The Bees Version] (Care In The Community) 08. Donovan - Teen Angel (PYE) 09. Neotropic - Sunflower Girl (Ntone) 10. Roxy Music - Avalon (Warner Brothers) 11. Family Man Barrett - Soul Constitution (Dubstore Records) 12. Sam Ragga Band - Ibis Dub (Eimsbush Entertainment) 13. Found - Mullokian Dub (Surface Pressure) 14. Money Mark - Sometimes You Gotta Make It Alone (Mowax) 15. Scanner - 1978 Formant Modular (Static Caravan) 16. Elmore Judd - Eigenfunktion (Above The Clouds) 17. Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater [u-ZIQ Remix] (Matador) 18. The Beach Boys - All I Wanna Do (CBS)
Music based on cult soundtracks appears to be very much de rigueur this month. The latest offering comes from The Giallos Flame, influenced by the sounds of 70's Italian movie soundtracks, from Goblin horror funk to Morricone psyched out giallo-jazz.
Guy Bartell aka Bronnt Industries Kapital's third album, and first for Get Physical, mangles krautrock and electronics with studies of timeless 80s soundtracks from John Carpenter movies. A range of cinematic moods are conveyed from exploring a balance of electro and acoustic sounds, rhythms and subtle sonic textures. Helped out on three tracks by Gravenhurst's Nick Talbot, this is an instantly listenable album that provides uncommon depth and longevity.
PS: Tell us a bit about yourself and where you are. I'm Ben, GHOSTS is pretty much just me. I'm sitting in a library in Sheffield. I have a habit of moving from one place to another without telling anybody. If you write to me then I will send you a cassette tape and some photocopied paper, I like this immediate/archaic way of doing things.
PS: When did you start making music as GHOSTS and what prompted you? I have always been making tapes and CDRs in different bedrooms under weird names, but last January I decided to make songs with words which could be recited before a crowd of people. GHOSTS was born around then, somewhere in France. I needed a way to tell stories and to overcome silence.
PS: Talk us through the process of creating a song. What inspires you? Songs exist in my head for a long, long time before they're recorded. I'm always trying to record things whenever I have the space, but this can be a slow process. I use a combination of cassette recorders, a four-track machine, and a laptop to make things happen. I'm inspired by adventures, spooky forests, my BMX, and whatever or whoever may be around me. I also tend to steal sound ideas from the 'Welcome Nowhere' record by Thanksgiving.
PS: Which other artists would you recommend checking out? Lucky Dragons are coming over here really soon, which I'm excited about. You should also check out Urgent Talk, they're making Sheffield sound interesting again.
PS: Give us a top 5 of something. Top five Nirvanas. 5. About a Girl 4. Dumb 3. Blew 2. Sliver 1. Drain You
Upcoming gigs: 11th Mar @ The Stockroom, Sheffield 29th Jun @ The Winchester, Bournemouth
'Dark Was The Night' is a double compilation in support of the Red Hot Organization - an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS. If you take away the obvious reason for buying this album and concentrate on the actual music, you come away with a decent round up of the current of cream of the US indie/alt scence. A 31 track album is always going to vary in quality but contributions from Dirty Projectors with David Byrne, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Kronos Quartet, Blonde Redhead + Devastations and Bon Iver easily outweigh any lesser moments.
Its been a fair old time since Bomb The Bass had an album out, 15 years in fact, and even longer since their biggest track 'Beat Dis' topped the charts in 1987. Tim Simenon's ever evolving outfit has come a long way since then with the newest incarnation moving towards minimal electronics and Krafwerk inspired beats. In stripping the production back to the bear bones an unusual amount of space has been opened up, bearing more in relation to dubstep and techno than Bomb The Bass' previous major influence, hip hop. It can sound a little disconcerting at first but repeat listening reveals intricately constructed songs pushed forward by a desire to adopt modern styles into a long running project. It more than often comes off, especially on the the dazzling Fujiya & Miyagi colab 'Butterfingers'. Simenon's always been one to rope in some outside talent; Justin Warfield, Sinéad O'Connor, Jah Wobble, Will Self, Benjamin Zephaniah and Minnie Driver (yes, that one) have popped up in the past. Mark Lanegan and Jon Spencer also feature alongside Paul Conboy, who provides the bulk of the vocal work. A fine return and quite unexpected.
