Active Child – You Are All I See

I seriously can’t get enough of Active Child. In anticipation of seeing them open for M83, I gave the album a listen on iTunes a few weeks ago, and it didn’t do much for me. Maybe it was the mood I was in, who knows… but after seeing them live I was completely won over. As a three piece with a mix of harp, keyboards, electronic and acoustic drums, and guitar, the music on it’s own was stunning next to the vocals that might go down as the some of the best I’ve ever heard live. Pat Grossi, the man behind the band, sings with a mix of heavy reverb, harmonies, and sampled vocals, and it just filled the venue unlike most other vocals I’ve heard. It was hypnotic and I would see them again in a heartbeat. Now that I’ve got the album, it’s been on heavy rotation and I love every single second of it.

Two videos are included below: the official video for Playing House, and a live performance of Hanging On performed at KEXP in Seattle. Not included below but available here is the full 24 performance at KEXP.

Tycho – Dive LP

The long awaited new album Dive was released by Tycho today and it’s a thrill to hear the songs he’s spent the better part of the past year or more working on. Tycho is actually touring with a band these days and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they come to Chicago.

For those unfamiliar with Tycho, it is the musical output of San Francisco based artist and musician Scott Hansen, who, along with a few others runs what is easily my favorite design and music blog, iso50. I’ve been exposed to more greatness in art, photography, design, and music on his blog than I have anywhere else on the web. In terms of his own work, whether music or design, everything Scott touches ends up being something you wish you’d come up with first. Musically, Tycho is incredibly inspiring to me personally as these days I’m working more and more delving into electronic and instrumental music on my own. As I write this I’m only on the fourth track on the new album, having subsided on the already released track Hours for a few weeks now. That song is included below.

Buy Tycho – Hours

Visit blog.iso50.com

Apparat – The Devil’s Walk

I was really excited to get the new album The Devil’s Walk from Apparat today, as my main exposure to him has been limited to a handful of songs, including the excellent song Circles found on the DJ:Kicks compilation he curated in 2010.

Apparat is German electronic musician Sascha Ring, and he’s released a number of albums and singles since 2001. My exposure has been a bit limited, but based on the songs I’ve heard prior to this release I didn’t entirely know what to expect. His remix of Telefon Tel Aviv’s song Lengthening Shadows, found on DJ:Kicks, was excellent.

On The Devil’s Walk, I’m impressed by the amount of instrumentation – especially some of the strings and percussion that’s not always electronic. For some reason the album reminds of of Bibio in the sense that it’s fused electronic and analog sounds so perfectly that they never dominate one another. As fall and winter approach, I don’t think there’s a better new album to go with the changing seasons. As a huge Telefon Tel Aviv fan, there’s something about this album that feels very comparable to the feel of their music, while also still being something unique to Apparat. Two songs off the album are included below, including the official video for Black Water, and the song Ash/Black Veil, which has such an incredible build of repetition and texture and reminds me highly of the song Circles on DJ:Kicks. I highly recommend picking up this album.

Apparat Official Website

Download The Devil’s Walk on iTunes

Kent – Stop Me June from Hagnesta Hill

Swedish band Kent has long been one of my favorite bands. I think I discovered them in 1998 when their album Isola was released. They’ve not released any English language albums in several years, but Isola, Hagnesta Hill, and some older B-Sides are generally the only English language albums they released. The guitar sound, instrumentation, and vocals are incredible and even when you can’t understand the non-English songs, the greatness of the music holds up perfectly.

There’s a ton of info on Kent on wikipedia. The song below, Stop Me June, is from Hagnesta Hill, released in 1999. I used to search all over the place to find their CD’s since they were imports and difficult to find. This song just randomly came up on iTunes and it’s the first I’ve listened to them in a while.

A few more songs after the jump…

Read More »

SBTRKT – SBTRKT

I am hooked on the new SBTRKT album and the song below, Hold On, has been in heavy headphone rotation for the past few days. “Post-dubstep” is a term thrown around quite a bit when it comes to SBTRKT’s music, and the album features a variety of guest singers behind the producer’s instrumentation and heavy bass. Not all songs are similar to Hold On, but all are just about as good. Pitchfork.com will give you a far more comprehensive description of the album than I can manage myself at 12:30 am, so take their word for it – it’s an excellent album.

SBTRKT Website

Download SBTRKT on iTunes

The Horrors – Skying

I am completely loving the new Horrors album, Skying, and after what seems like 100 listens this week it still isn’t getting old. Their previous album, Primary Colours was excellent, but the overall sound on the new album is such a great leap forward. Primary Colours always felt like a dark album, and more so now that Skying sounds like a total 180 from it. I’ve seen people criticize Skying for the excessive reverb and the backwards guitar, and I find that odd because THAT IS THE SOUND of The Horrors. Sure, it’s been done before, but they have a sound all their own no matter how much they’re borrowing from My Bloody Valentine or The Jesus and Mary Chain. There’s a sense of positivity on the new album that Primary Colours lacks – you don’t expect a good summer album from a band like The Horrors, but that’s what they’ve delivered.

The more I listen the more it’s impossible to pick a favorite song, but Oceans Burning is bound to be one of my top five favorite songs of the year. At nearly eight minutes long, it could easily go on for eight more and I don’t think I’d get tired of it. Below you’ll find the official video for Still Life. They’re coming to Chicago in November and I’m definitely planning on seeing them.

Visit The Horrors website

Download Skying on iTunes

Noel Gallagher – The Death Of You And Me

I wasn’t incredibly shocked or disappointed when Oasis broke up, in fact, like many people I hoped it would allow us all to see Noel Gallagher step away from the band and make the incredible solo album he’s bound to make without the scorn of brother Liam for breaking apart from the typical all-for-one, one-for-all band mentality he’s always spoken of. To me, some of Oasis’ best moments were when Noel was on vocals – the MTV Unplugged in which Noel led the entire show while Liam cursed at him from a balcony was proof enough that no matter how much of a rock star he really is, the band would be nothing without Noel and some of the legendary songs he wrote.

So they broke up, with Liam forming Beady Eye along with Oasis members Gem Archer, Andy Bell, and Chris Sharrock. Their debut album, Different Gear, Still Speeding was alright, but I don’t recall listening to it too much after buying it. In the past few weeks, Noel Gallagher has revealed that he’s been quite busy with his solo project, and release the first single The Death of You and Me this week. I was right: expecting big things from any future solo outing, the new song is fantastic and instantly more memorable than anything on the Beady Eye debut. Don’t get me wrong, there’s good stuff on that album, but nothing stands out like even the guitar riff at the beginning of Noel’s song. The vocals and overall song is everything I’d expect from one of the UK’s best musicians. If this song is any indication of what we can expect from the full album, we’re in for quite a treat when Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds is released October 17th.

Noel Gallagher Website

Wugazi – 13 Chambers

This has been making the rounds this week, and was suggested by friends so I finally gave it a listen. Never was a Fugazi or Wu-Tang fan, but this album is pretty cool. This makes me want to get out and go running for some reason.

Wugazi is described as “a labor of love by Cecil Otter & Swiss Andy. A year’s worth of cutting up every imaginable Fugazi record and trying out every Wu-Tang acapella they could get their hands on, resulted in Wugazi: 13 Chambers (a must listen for anyone who even looked at a skateboard in the 90’s).”

Another Chessboxin’ Argument is probably my favorite track so far, so here you go:

Download it here

Wugazi.com