I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the new Friendly Fires album. I was hot and cold on their debut LP, but I liked the bits and pieces I heard leading up to Pala‘s release, so I gave it a shot. As it turns out, Paul Epworth’s production has helped their sound immensely (you may also know him as Phones, or as that guy that produced Adele’s juggernaut of a sophomore album), and Ed Macfarlane’s voice has somehow gotten even stronger. Doesn’t hurt that the cover art is awesome, either. The excellent summery disco track “Hurting” is below, but the album is solid from front to back and definitely worth a listen.
I’m sure this record is getting/will get all the hype it deserves, but it’s been damn-near on repeat for me so I’m gonna throw it up here anyways. Washed Out’s two EPs were staples for me last summer, and helped inspire a whole mix of hazy songs that was designed for poolside listening. This is taken from his upcoming album Within And Without, and it’s great to hear that he hasn’t lost a step since being crowned the Chill Wave ambassador (kind of kidding about that last part, but mostly not). Sometimes you just want to hear songs that make everything shimmer, you know? I’m really looking forward to the full length, but this single does the trick just fine in the meantime.
So, this one showed up on the internet a few weeks back, alongside the announcement for diskJokke’s next album, Sagara. The story here is that Norway’s Oye festival comissioned diskJokke for a one off project, for which he could travel to any location in the world and study a particular type of music. He chose Indonesia’s Gamelan music and jetted off to Java, and the results of his time there will be released on Sagara on June 14th. In the mean time, check out a little preview below. It’s got a sound that’s a bit like an ambient John Hughes score, which is about as up-my-alley as it gets.
Shout out to Nick and the crew at Fool’s Gold for putting me up on this one. Basically, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced some of the illest funk, disco and R&B of the 80s under the name Flyte Tyme, and Sparkle Motion (aka DJ Yoda and Tobes) compiled a whole host of their best tracks into this excellent mix. The transition between Janet Jackson’s “Miss You Much” and Cherelle’s “Saturday Love” just made me stand up in my bedroom and scream “WHOOOOOOO!!!!,” and I haven’t even been drinking! This one is definitely a must for 80s disco fans. Stream/download it via the Soundcloud player above, and check the tracklist here.
Nice abridged history of the New York apartment from this week’s New York Magazine. I never get sick of this kind of stuff. Bonus recommendation: reading long form articles on the web in their printable versions. It’s really so much nicer to read without all of the ads, sidebars and other bullshit getting in the way. Web designers might be mad at me for saying that, but whatever.
This mix tape (seems more like a short album to me) is some weird R&B that’s being made by two anonymous musicians. So far I’ve gleaned that they are (or were?) living in Toronto, and that Drake is a fan. My first impression was “This sounds like The-Dream got super depressed, developed a drinking problem and then made an album.” Which is to say, it sounds amazing. Best of all, it’s available for free on their website. Yet another rebuttal to anyone who says this isn’t the most amazing time for music in the last century.
Do you have a job that affords you plenty of time to read things on the internet? Well, @longreads is about to be your best friend. It’s basically a collection of long-ish articles that are available to read online, almost all of which are interesting. Articles are sourced from publications like The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, and The New York Review Of Books, among others. If you’re not big on Twitter, you can also browse articles via their Tumblr. Essential stuff for the curious and/or bored.
@discographies
Broadcast: 1 "I had this hazy dream about the future:" 2-3 "I grasped at patterns that grew lovelier as they diffused. I never caught them."
For the music nerd, @discographies offers short, amusing summaries of artists’ entire careers in 140 characters or less. Obviously, you’re not getting any real insight from this one, but it’s always good for a funny or poignant moment. This one about Joy Division and New Order is probably my favorite (so far):
Joy Division/New Order: 1-2 "He left notes." 3 "The funeral was hard." 4-8 "We got high & danced. It helped." 9-10 "But he was still dead."
I’ll admit that Beans is a weird name for a mixtape, and frankly I have no idea how it’s significant to/descriptive of the songs contained there-in, but that’s really all beside the point. The Magician is Stephen Fasano, and those of you who have been paying attention to the internet know that he was in Aeroplane with Vito DeLuca until last year. Anyways, this is a mix that he created for the Japanese art/fashion site Oki-Ni, and it’s chock-full of great italo disco songs, as well as contemporary disco tracks that have been influenced by that sub-genre. 80s nerds, like me, will dig this one a lot. Stream or download it below, and check the tracklist/commentary from Stephen here.
I had planned to write about a different album tonight but after I got home from work I put this song on and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it, several hours later. Helplessness Blues is an album I’ve been looking forward to for a long, long time and it’s apparent that Fleet Foxes have only improved during their time off after releasing and supporting 2008′s self-titled debut – the harmonies in the second half of the song are just stunning. You can stream and download the track from the nice looking player up top, and pre-order the album beginning tomorrow (Feb. 1) from their website.
If you were into the Sacred Harp album that I posted earlier, then you’re gonna love this one. William Tyler lives in Nashville and plays in Lambchop (a familiar name for indie rock devotees), and has contributed to records by Silver Jews and Bonnie Prince Billy, among others. This is his solo debut, and it’s filled with some pretty wonderful open-tuning folk guitar instrumentals. I particularly love the small little details, like the crickets you hear at the beginning and end of “Missionary Ridge,” (also check the way he utilizes a music box in this video, where he performs that track live), or the sigh that closes the album following “Ponotic.” It’s stuff like this that makes me long for a cabin in the woods with a wood burning fire place and nothing but snow and trees as far as you can see.
