“Open Eyes (demo)” by The xx // Demos from Forthcoming Album (2011)
I’d forgotten how much I missed The xx and then boom, a prompt Christmas reminder in the form of a stark, haunting demo from the recording sessions of the forthcoming album. This is a dark one. Ghostly, sparse stuff that sounds like it could be an outtake from a This Mortal Coil album. That’s not meant to be a crack - in fact I pretty much love this track. It’s absolutely got me salivating for more. Hopefully those next tastes will be sooner rather than later.
Sobrenadar is Paula Garcia. An Argentinian musician who makes rather gorgeous, floating waves of dream pop for the excellent digital label, Absent Fever. Think of her work somewhere between Washed Out’s more airy compositions and Teen Daze’s late night chilled out affairs. The dreamy vocals take these songs out of the usual chillwave sounds that have become so popular with bedroom pop musicians as of late and gives her work a real sense of texture and depth. It’s soothing, ethereal stuff and definitely worth the time that it will take you to download Physeos for free from Bandcamp.
“Cherry Radio” by Mint Julep // Save Your Season (2011)
The new full length from Mint Julep is an dreamy, shoegazey beauty and you can stream the whole thing over at Soundcloud right now, courtesy of The Line of Best Fit. One of the standout tracks in an album loaded with ear goodies, is this one, “Cherry Radio”. It driving beat matches up nicely with the airy, ethereal synths and otherworldly vocals. Definitely a must listen for fans of Slowdive, Secret Shine, and Lush.
We have once again arrived at the start of the weekend, so why not once again highlight six songs worth spinning from this week. The week itself was fairly light on hot new album releases, but there were plenty of great singles and new unreleased tracks finding their way to your ear holes. As usual, I’ve kept the list to six, but if you’re looking for an extended list from a different perspective, you should check out Danceyrselfclean’s weekly roundup. She’s usually batting a thousand over there.
As always, click on the title and artist to hear the songs and if something happens to tickle your fancy, please do what you can to support the artists. Happy listening and have a wonderful weekend and a lovely holiday week!
There you have it. The six songs that struck my fancy the hardest this week. Of course, by no means is this meant to be a best of, merely a favorite of mine, a jumping off point. It’s been a busy week, so surely I’ve missed some goodness out there. Go explore. Speaking of exploration and discovery, a good place might be checking out the latest episode of my podcast, the Radio Slow Riot Podcast. It’s almost two hours of commercial free music that you can stream or download and take with you. Lots of new goodness with the occasional forgotten gem tossed in for good measure. Listen and share if you get a chance. I enjoy putting them together for everyone.
Thanks again for listening, writing, supporting, and being generally awesome. All the kind words, comments, and reblogs are very much appreciated. Don’t forget to support the bands that you enjoy in whatever way that you can (blog, tweet, share). Have an extra special Thanksgiving next week. Stay warm, listen loudly, be safe, and have a wonderful weekend!
“Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” by Low Roar // Low Roar (2011)
Reykjavík (via San Francisco) musician, Ryan Karazija (aka, Low Roar), sure knows how to bring forth sounds that seem to remind the listener of images of his homeland. Through frigid beats and folked out rhythms, he calls to mind the sounds of The Album Leaf and Sigur Ros. Perhaps not an appropriate comparison because those are tremendous shoes to fill, but press play and maybe you’ll understand what I’m getting at - It’s just really solid, beautiful music for the cold weather months.
It’s really great to have new Tearjerker back in my ear holes. This new b-side to the leadoff single (“So Dead”) from the forthcoming album, Rare, is a haunting, ethereal beauty that’s up there with the best that the band has ever recorded (and they’ve seemingly recorded excellence exclusively). Best of all, you can download it (and it’s accompanying A-Side) for free, right now at Bandcamp. You’d be doing yourself a disservice to miss this song.
“Sa Sa Samoa” by Korallreven (ft. Julianna Barwick) // An Album by Korallreven (2011)
On November 15th, Korallreven will release their new album, but today there is a special taster in the form of this ethereal wonder that features vocals from, the always incredible, Julianna Barwick. It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a collaboration between the two, but that’s just fine. The gauzy, floating orchestration that builds alongside the ghostly vocals until the beats come in and we’re suddenly inside of something that sounds like some beautifully strange after-life dance party.
The title track from the new Phantogram EP has been a glimmering, hazy, lullaby of sorts for me lately. I found myself cueing it up and letting it go on repeat as I dozed in and out of sleep. Letting those synths, horns, and soaring vocals carrying me in and out of sleep. It’s a dark, lovely throwback to trip hop, but forward enough to slide more into dream pop and chillwave-esque floating beats. Definitely worth a couple of dozen listens.
Creatures of an Hour by Still Corners(album stream)
Sub Pop has been kind enough to upload and stream the entire new album from cinematic dream poppers, Still Corners. Creatures of an Hour is one of the best albums of the second half of the year and completely rewarding after multiple listens. It’s dark, ominous beauty can often times remind you of a score to some strange Halloween film that you never saw as a kid (“Velveteen”, “Demons”, “The Twilight Hour”) or maybe just offer up a reminder of some faded love lost that comes back around to haunt from time to time (“Endless Summer”, “Cuckoo”). Whatever the case, I cannot imagine that this album will not be among my favorites of the entire year. Give it a listen here and if you like it, track them down and support this wonderful band.
“Demons” by Still Corners // Creatures of an Hour (2011)
Creatures of an Hour by Still Corners is one of my favorite albums of the past few months, so I thought it would fitting to dig out a creepy little song for the season for that particular album, in the form of this beautiful, but ominous little lullaby. If you’re looking for something to help bring in the months of fall, Still Corners have your number. This is a fantastic album.
“Flying Saucers are Real” by Sleep ∞ Over // Forever (2011)
While looking for something to help soothe my head and act as a lullaby to an early evening, I remembered I hadn’t properly sampled the new Sleep ∞ Over album. Lo and behold it had exactly what i was looking for in this ethereal gem with lovely choral vocals and a dark, haunting atmosphere. I think this might find it’s way to the repeat button.
Sub Pop has been kind enough to offer up a high quality Soundcloud stream of Memoryhouse’s remastered (with added tracks) EP, The Years. I previously posted the dreamy “Modern, Normal”, and the downright gorgeous, “Quiet America”, but now you can hear the entire EP. Give it a spin. It’s one of the highlights of the Autumn releases.
Elizabeth Walling’s project, Gazelle Twin, traffics in haunting, sparse, electronically infused dream pop similar to Austra (though less beat heavy), Fever Ray (less artistically leaning), and Replicas. It’s gothic, stormy sounds are counter balanced by Walling’s gorgeous voice, which sounds like a more youthful Beth Gibbons (Portishead). This track in particular is almost solely built around that voice, with limited distant beats crackling and shifting over her echoed backing vocals. It’s a pretty stunning track and a solid example of what you’re in for if you listen to The Entire City, which can be heard in it’s entirety through a very impressive interactive album feature on Gazelle Twin’s website.
“Water People” by Grouper // Water People b/w Moving Machine (2011)
“Water People” is a new track by Liz Harris’ Grouper project recorded at the non-profit artistic program Ballroom Marfa, located in Marfa, Texas. It’s another lovely, ethereal composition from the mind of the wonderful, ambient artist. Taken with the release of her other two albums this year (Alien Observer and Dream Loss), Grouper has been one of the overlooked gems of an already superb year of new music.
