Sunflower Bean - 2013 (video)

Psychedelic Jangle spanglers, Sunflower Bean, are on some kind of roll and ain't no one kickin em off. Just saw their write up in The Voice (worth reading) and so its time we mention them here. Like the love child of Felt, Vivian Girls and possibly Spacemen 3, SB are genre mashers of the highest pedigree. Spinning weaves of intricate, chorus laden guitar, beneath bewitching basslines and hair-raising drum clatters, this is the type of shit I'm tryina hear. Vocally comparative to other C86ers, Sunflower keep their psychedelics grounded with focused pop melodies and harmonies. Check this out, right now:

Cass McCombs - Brighter ft Karen Black (video)

One of my favourite song writers and string slingers, Cass McCombs, releases a new video for 013 stand out Brighter. The song is sung by the late great Karen Black and the clip is more or less an homage to her vast body of film work, coupled with clips of her singing in her living room. It's visually simple, but extremely captivating with Cass stoically strumming away, as projections of Black stream across his face. Look here:

Cass McCombs - "Brighter!" featuring Karen Black from Hector Savage on Vimeo.

Gems - Ephemera

Wirly-gaze, ghost-pulse, newcomers, Gem conjure up an Autumn ear-worm that is sure to get everyone's goat. Something about the side-chained beat, plus the gothy bassline, and the lofty vocals give this jam a unique, sorta totally 2013 dream-pop feel.... Don't roll your eyes, just take the dive!:)

Keep Shelly in Athens - Oostende (Postiljonen Remix)

KSIA's Oostende single gets transfigured into a deep-house-synth-gaze bang-ore. The vox drip with a stratospheric verb that has been glazed over the skull pulsing, elektrophized-strings. It feels like a jam that could have come out 3 years ago (as terrible as that sentence sounds), it has that glo-fi sound, but with a much more tasteful and relevant tinge to it. Get a load of it right here.. also Happy Halloween :D :

Cut Copy - Free Your Mind (video)

Can Cut Copy and Arcade Fire save 2013 from being a year of overwhelmingly disappointing releases? Maybssss. Here's CC's new vid featuring Alexander Skarsgård shirtlessly leading a cult of bizzaro ,schlubby, Chas Tenenbaums. Have a taste:

Black Hearted Brother - (I Don't Mean to) Wonder

Shoegaze super-group featuring Neil Halstead of Slowdive and Mark Van Hoen of Seefeel, have come together to catharticly disembowel the world, through the power of ambient music. A few things to consider with this post: I personally have been waiting for Slowdive to reunite for a millenia and stumbling upon an email from a friend detailing the reunion of Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell on satge for a few dates in London was enough to implode my cranium. But then I read on. Not only has Neil reunited with Rachel, but he has also reunited with the sound of distortion. None of that yawn inducing, pseduo-country, Moajave 3 crap here! Black Hearted Brother is Neil and Mark Van Hoen shedding their ability to tour with Jack Johnson, and fulling engulfing themselves in the soup of early 90s big muff, Marshall stack, unintelligible-hyper-delay vocal greatness!

Let's be real. In 2013 have they reinvented the wheel? No. Have they even put out a new track that is as good as their best Slowdive or Seelfeel shit? ehhhh..No... BUT DON'T FRET! The tune might not be mind-blowing but its pretty damn satisfying.. even just hearing Neil repeat the line "I don't mean to wonder," in that blissed-out, monotone beauty is spine tingling. The is like the finale to Breaking Bad. Was it the finest, most artfully written BB episode to date? No way. But everyone has been waiting for it for so fucking long that it was enough for it just to air. It was a sweet episode, okay? Jack and those Nazis got lit up and Jessie got to drive off into the night, and that is what is happening here. It's not quite Slowdive, but some Nazis are getting blown away. No Doubt, you need to check this:

Holy Ghost! - Okay (video)

Slow paced TV glow, sets the tone for the new HG video. The Dynamics duo, dick around eating food, drinking coffee, playing keyboards in white-Ts all from behind the screen. Peep it:

Daft Punk - Lose Yourself To Dance (video)

Simplistic and stylish, the new video for Daft Punk's Lose Yourself to Dance has Parrell and the Shiny Gang playing for a crowd of beautiful spaceship residents, who literally lose themselves...to dance..

Cut Copy - Free Your Mind

Experience the early 90s house music/psychedelia vibes from the newest Cut Copy. The Aussi trio(quartet?) have spent 3 albums chopping their way through Dance and now they seem ready to fully plunge into the toilet of House. This track's got bongos, minimal bass, bouncy piano chords and a "Aaahhoooo," vocal melody. Mad nice feel. Serious Primal Scream circa Screamadelica thing goin on here. Dig it:

Arcade Fire - Reflektor ft. David Bowie

Here it is. The latest from Montreal's finest, accompanied by two mind warping videos. One of them directed by the post-punk visual master himself, Anoton Corbijn. Upon first hearing this new single my ears were quickly reminded of David Byrne and epic Talking Heads dance tracks, but after 4mins into this fantastically dark, black & white clip I had a brief flashback to My Chemical Romance. Win Butler's painted eyes and the rest of the band dressed in black, marching through a bleak landscape seems oddly enough, very MCR-esque. Don't get me wrong Arcade Fire are no My Chemical Romance (ROFL!) , but seriously am I the only one seeing a connection here? I think this sort of relation to bands of the past, whether highbrow or lowbrow, always seems to erupt when a familiar act gears up to release a 'concept album.' You could say all of Arcade Fire's records have been concept albums of some sort, but this one has been marketed as more dance oriented. Employing James Murphy to man the production helm is always a great sign when someone tells you they're getting into dance music, but for Arcade Fire, a band that has singularly risen above all of their Indie compatriots and subsequently contributed to defining the last decade of music, it means its gone be some next level shit. Point being? This record could be super dope and is def worth a listen. Also DUHHH did you not read this post title??! This jam features BOWIE, BRO!

R. Kelly - My Story ft. 2 Chainz

Here it is, to make your Labor Day Weekend Friday even more radical: R. Kelly's story. Yes, he's from that Chi-town dirt and now he sleeps in Versace shirts. Pretty good. Pretty pretty prettty good life, Kels. Money. Cars. Bad hoes. From the forthcoming Black Panties:

Cass McCombs - There Can Be Only One

Following in the path of previous jangling-folk Cass McCombs singles, TCBOO proves to be another hit! Melancholic wit + exceedingly pleasing guitar work = this new jam from the C man. If Jack Johnson was someone that anyone actually ever cared about listening to he might share the same navel as Cass McCombs, but that's it! Lissin. This is the new new from Big Wheel And Others:

Holy Ghost! - Okay

So much about Holy Ghost! does not work at all. They're vintage synth purists, choosing to revel in antiquated electronics over a more contemporary drum and bass sound; and while yes, many artists are living in the past these days, Holy Ghost! are fairly unique in their hifi aping of a Depeche Mode/New Order/Ministry tonality. On top of this, Alex Frankel is a criminally middle of the road vocalist, often veering out of pitch and out his element. Lyrically Frankel is equally simplistic and straight forward. Yet, despite all their disparities, I find myself fully encamped in the Holy Ghost! camp-grounds. Why? why? WHY???? Its easy to hate on a band like Holy Ghost, they sorta look like blow-holes (lets be real), but their music is dope. Okay is another outstanding single that utilises sounds from the heyday of synthetic pop to a masterful degree. The hooks here are plentiful! And the juicy, metallic, orchestra stabs are sooooooo Depeche Mode circa Some Great Reward. Earworm commin atcha:

Phoenix - Trying To Be Cool ft. R. Kelly

This is self-explanatory, no need for explanation. Phoenix. Kells. Remix. #feelgoodsongofthecentury

Medicine - It's Not Enough

Rippling tides of buzzing guitars liquidate the latest from LA-based 90s-gaze all-stars, Medicine! Medicine gained ground with a re-imagining of their single Time Baby II for the Crow soundtrack. That came out ages ago, but luckily everyone is like way into the dream-pop scene again and Medicine has born itself anew; dropping in our laps a new collection of skull-sizzling fuzz-poppers. It's Not Enough has a familiar Med-sound, with the vocals low and the guitars super echoy and loud. The video is some heady shit. The band is rockin in a basement-like-studio-space, with rainbow amoebas and other microscopic creatures scuttling across the cameras lens - Its a beautiful thing.

Drake - Hold On, We're Going Home

Drake unveils a sure to be super smash hit with this, his latest single. If this isn't a track from the OVO Grand Mister's upcoming LP, than he is truly laying on a giant pile of hidden gold than no one has yet even fathomed (think Smog!). Hold On is filled with familiar sounding silky R&B synths, and backed by a 80s leaning pure pop beat. This is Drake's catchiest release since Best I Ever Had, Find Your Love, and Headlines. Clearly Aubs knows how to get behind the dopest of production (unless he's just relying on 40) because this sounds like The Dream meets Paula Abdul and Jan Hammer ft. Majid. Most anticipated release of 013?????? MAYBBEEE!!!! DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Summer Camp - Fresh

Long have I been in the Summer Camp camp, knowing the Londoners were capable of producing another strong single, after those first few mysterious tracks they released a few years back. Welcome to Condale, their first proper LP was a significant step above the production level of their early material, yet unfortunately it was a complete misstep. The songs were still licked with a familiar 80s-pop sheen, but they lacked the warmth and ear pricking quality one experiences when hearing something new and interesting for the first time, that you could find on something like Ghost Train. Fittingly titled, Fresh, has a reinvigorated sound, that sheds the group's drab dabbling into plasticized pop production, and returns them to more a original tonality. Laying on a heavily orchestrated string sample, Summer Camp have created their first true dance single, with an excellent combo of their usual echo-y vocal cooing and a joltingly funky bass-line (reminiscent of Tango In the Night-era Fleetwood Mac). This is easily one of the best songs of this summer, and one of those wonderful Indie-pop gems that you won't soon forget.

New Order - Round and Round

When the Earth does falls under the New World Order, and we're all enslaved by the lizard people, I hope they at least appoint Bernard Sumner as the new Emperor. This week I'm delving into the deepest crevasses of Third Rock's greatest electro-group of all time. Yes, my love for New Order is undying. I'd shout it from the tallest mountains and lowest valleys - the rolling rivers and flowering meadows. Why? Well, duh they're super terrific, always have been, and they just kicked off an epic US tour, with Holy Ghost!, I might add (see you at Williamsburg waterfront tonight?) Anyway, its just one of those weeks, when Joy Division just won't do, so throw on some Substance and say, "Woohoo!" This is an extended 7" version of Round and Round, one of the singles from Technique. Check it now

Holy Ghost! - Teenagers In Heat

If ever there was a song(and band) that was biting a tremendous chunk out of New Order (in the best possible way!) its Holy Ghost!. Currently the BK duo are plowing through a a string of US tour dates supporting New Order, (and they'll both be rockin the park in Williamsburg next week wutttupppppp!!!). Later in the summer we'll be treated to HG's new LP, but until then here's a new single! No doubt, you've already heard this song on the most recent mixtape from CitiesInDust , but I was bumpin this jam this morning and felt the need to throw it up as well. This is one of the poppiest songs the group has yet released, and really it feels so right. So plug those earbuds in, bud..cuz really we're all just teenagers at heart...and right now in the heat, too!

Mazzy Star - California

Wispy, dissonant, dream-folk - the descriptive terms one might invoke when describing Hope Sandoval and Mazzy Star. MS haven't released a proper LP since 96, when they were reigning high in the acousti-gaze scene, but now they're back! They're new album, Seasons of Your Day will drop in September, but California, the lead single is out now! Hope sounds as breathy and lonesome as ever and David Roback's guitar seems to still be lost in the paisley fog of the 90s. Yet, while this is a very Mazzified tune, there is also an air of the late 60s singer-songwriter era, not unlike Vashti Bunyan or even Karen Carpenter. Check it out, guys!