LISTEN: Aleos

Moments are, in their own way, the stitches of that fine fabric we call time. Separate they can mean nothing or everything, but together moments weave together to define a person, an era, a history. We could quantify a moment as a second, a minute, a day, or a month, because everyone seems to define time in the duration of a feeling or a memory. And let's face it, sometimes those things last more than what one could literally define as a "moment" in time. But hey, maybe I'm waxing poetic. Point is, moments have more to them than we realize -- just imagine all the ones that have passed at this stage of your life and how they've collected to define where you are right now.

SEE & HEAR: Boards of Canada - "Reach For the Dead"

With a group like Boards of Canada, atmosphere is everything. The elusive, mysterious Scottish electronic duo of Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin will release their fourth studio album, Tomorrow's Harvest, on June 10th in Europe and June 11th in the U.S. via Warp. It marks the duo's first release of new music in seven years. They just shared a Neil Krug-directed music video for the album's first single "Reach for the Dead," which you can catch below. It's a sweeping journey through valleys, desert, and abandoned structures. Matched with the soothingly eerie soundtrack, it feels rather lively despite each shot capturing rather lonely, forgotten corners of the world.

The sequence that starts around 3:26 is pure magic and visually mesmerizing.

LISTEN: Glenn Jackson - "You Too" + Morning Swim EP

Oakland producer/musician Glenn Jackson has made a name for himself in the house/dance scene over the past few years with James & Evander,  Benefits, and Hoodcats. But now the co-founder of the West in Dust label is stepping out on his own with the release of his solo debut, the Morning Swim EP (Ceremony). The 3-song extended player was released yesterday and highlights Jackson's ability to invoke a sweeping range of moods and imagery through a varied, but unified, sample-meets-synth heavy mix. It fits somewhere between the ethereal and the earthly.

In Case You Missed It, Spin This New Hour-Long Flying Lotus Mix

It's Monday. Oh man, it's MONDAY. Well, we can all sit here and say, "Well might as well just hang my head down at a 45 degree angle all day, because, otherwise, Monday is just going to slap me in the face." Well, sure it's Monday, but you could escape for a little while, away from the walls of your cubicle, with experimental producer and DJ Flying Lotus' latest Lovers Melt mix. It's full of old school soul and spirit, and plays out like a trip to world where pain, love, and beauty all coexist like welcomed complements of one another. And maybe, once you learn you can download it for free direct from the source, you'll forget it's still Monday.

DOWNLOAD: Flying Lotus - Lovers Melt III (via Brainfeeder)

(Alt Link)

LISTEN: Falcons

Among the many great 2011 releases I didn’t manage to cover before 2012 appeared was Falcons’ mini-LP Indian Summer. It’s a seven-song collection of instrumental music that’s built upon hip-hop style beats. And while seven tracks of extended beats might seem like something that might require central points of rhyming or singing, you end up realizing that vocals, or lyrics of any kind, would be more of a distraction than anything -- detracting from the strength of the music as it currently exists. This Oakland/Vancouver duo finds a happy median between hip-hop, world, and IDM, and they certainly succeed in their mission to mix characteristics from a variety of genres into one exciting new sound. Whether it’s the salsa/latin samples that define “The Trot” or the sound clips in “Anaconda” from the film of the same name (yes, the film starring Ice Cube and J. Lo) that establish a fittingly ominous mood, Indian Summer is not only eclectic, it's unique and cohesive.

Mux Mool Set to Release 'Planet High School', Download "Palace Chalice"

Mux Mool (real name Brian Lindgren) views the world as a place clouded with material obsessions and unnecessary desires. For Lindgren, the world is much less complex than it is made out to be. It's this honest view that inspires his sonic imagining of how the world appears. As Mux Mool, he translates these feelings accordingly through his forthcoming record, Planet High School, the follow-up to his 2010 debut Skulltaste. The new album isn't out until early next year, but why wait that long to check it out? Hear and download a cut from Planet High School below entitled "Palace Chalice."

Download a New Song by YACHT Right...NOW

Electropop/dance punk outfit YACHT will release their new album Shangri-La on June 21st through DFA. The album, the band's second for DFA and fifth overall, was produced, mixed, and recorded by YACHT (Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans), with assistance from frequent collaborator and touring member Bobby Birdman. According to a press release, "On Shangri-La, YACHT asserts that the future is a blank slate upon which anything can be imposed. YACHT believes that the only real sustainable paradise is in our minds, and hence creative output can be a tangible piece of the Utopia within each individual. Shangri-La literally is YACHT's Utopia, a place made of songs." Hear/download a song from the new album below.

YACHT - “Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)”


YACHT
Official Site
Facebook
MySpace
SoundCloud
Twitter

You Have 24 Hours to Download Simian Mobile Disco's 8-Track "Mixed Delicacies" for Free

You read that right. Until 12pm PST on Thursday, January 13, you can download Simian Mobile Disco's 8-track live mix album Mixed Delicacies for FREE (not even an e-mail address is required). Recorded live? That's pretty cool. After 12pm PST tomorrow it will only be available to stream, so jump on it!

Mixed Delicacies is actually the second disc that comes packaged with the electronic duo's new album Delicacies, one that features nine tracks James Ford and Jas Shaw created as part of a series of techno releases in 2010. Each track on Delicacies is, fittingly, named after a bizarre and exotic delicacy the duo discovered while touring around the world. Stream Mixed Delicacies below. You can download it from the player or head here.

Simian Mobile Disco - Mixed Delicacies


Check the group's tour dates after the jump.

LISTEN: Gold Panda - "Same Dream China"

By Gabriel S. Delgado

MP3: Gold Panda - "Same Dream China"

Intricacy can make way for such beauty. A layered mallet beat with different ranges of tone creates a sound that stirs up imagery of rain quickly hitting the ground in small drops. It's fast-paced but never feels rushed -- or even all that quick. It's a balance of rhythms and tones, with notes falling into the gaps between the drill-like pace of the main mallet beat. A bass synth line enters casually, adding a new fervor to the song. Then, a loop of some traditional Japanese music bursts in, which only seems natural seeing as how Gold Panda's creative process was heavily influenced by his two years of studying Japanese culture, language, and history at the School of Oriental and Asian studies in Japan. It all makes for one dizzying-but-soothing mix of electronic pop.

"Same Dream China" is from Gold Panda's latest release, Lucky Shiner, from which we've already heard "Snow & Taxis." Listen to all of Lucky Shiner after the jump and see Gold Panda's upcoming tour dates, as well.

LISTEN: boyChild - "Salad Days"

By Kevin Cooley

boyChild - "Salad Days"


Inside the obvious, there is such amazing beauty. When we gaze at something, we tend to take it for what it is worth on the surface, never allowing ourselves a moment to examine that which lies deeper. Neglecting to look past the surface of things causes us to miss a great deal, some of which can change our lives and our perceptions of specific things we once held to be resolute or true. It's hard to not feel as though there is a void in ourselves when we realize that there is much more to life than we once believed there ever was. Here's a song that makes you turn inward, and take that moment to look more closely at things. With clicks and blips of electronic drums, chillingly beautiful piano lines, and violins that move as gracefully as wind over water, "Salad Days" is this journey of discovery and realization put to music.

boyChild Official Site
boyChild @ Facebook
boyChild @ SoundCloud

Gold Panda Set to Release Lucky Shiner, Hear First Single

Gold Panda is set to release his debut full-length, Lucky Shiner, through Ghostly International (US) on October 12. "I didn’t want to write 'beats'," says Gold Panda, "I didn't want bangers. I wanted songs with structure."

The 11 track album is a documentation and a product of the past few years of Gold Panda's life. He spent two years studying Japanese culture, language, and history at the School of Oriental and Asian studies in Japan, which had an impact on the creative process. "Lots of factors affected the way it came together," he explains, "touring, mixing, moving houses and splitting with a girlfriend. Family, friends, and lovers, places I've never been."

Gold Panda - "Snow & Taxis"


Usually, I'm not really that into instrumental electronic music. But in this case, there's something magnetic about this song. In the moments where it sounds as though it's forever caught skipping on the same pattern, it breaks free and progresses. It plays with repetition and layers, starts and stops, sort of like a musical version of that kids' game "Red Light, Green Light". It's a warm beauty, with bits of fuzz and the bright chimes of crystal clear bells.

After the jump, download "Snow & Taxis," get the Lucky Shiner tracklist, and see Gold Panda's tour dates.

Clubfeet Give You Music, Because They're Nice Like That

MP3: Clubfeet - "Edge of Extremes"
MP3: Clubfeet - "Teenage Suicide"

Melbourne-via-Capetown's Clubfeet are unassumingly cool and confident. Their brand of synth pop is hard to resist with its honest charm and personal inflection. With group harmonies that recall Hot Chip, it's no wonder Clubfeet is disarmingly catchy. Through slick bass lines, the perfect dose of synthesizer, funk guitar and almost post-rock-style guitar riffs, Clubfeet aim for your heart by moving your feet.

Clubfeet just released their debut album, Gold On Gold, yesterday through Plant Music. And if those two songs above weren't enough for you, the band is offering up three more tracks here. These Australian gents are so generous.

BUY: Pick up Gold On Gold on Amazon (for $7.99!) or iTunes.

And check out the sexy '70s-meets-'80s LA video for Clubfeet's "Count Your Lovers" after the jump. It's kind of like a black-and-white, slow-mo "Flashdance" -- except she speaks French.

LISTEN: Freedom or Death

 (Photo: The Year In Pictures)

MP3: Freedom or Death - "Lost In Dances"
MP3: Freedom or Death - "Soldier"

High above everything, you can finally see and hear what you're supposed to. Outside the limits of the city, you finally gain your perspective. You spend your life dancing around the important things because, sometimes, you can never really realize what matters until you remove yourself from the familiar and the present. From the top of it all, you start to question decisions that have been made and, even more so, you begin to form a new perspective about everything that you once held to be concrete. Freedom or Death soundtrack this journey. Over cracks, clicks, clanks, blips, and beeps, this Toronto duo lays down smooth harmonies and gorgeous melodies underscored by lively, chilling guitar and adventurous synthesizer. With ease and grace, Freedom or Death prove their ability to move from quiet, subtle beauty to a captivatingly vast ambiance. They make an eclectic mix of post rock, electronica, electro pop, folk, R&B, pop, and even ambient that you can't help but get lost in.

Stream the whole self-titled EP here.

BUY: Pick it up on iTunes (US), iTunes (Canada), iTunes (UK), or iTunes (Japan).

Freedom or Death @ MySpace
Freedom or Death @ Twitter

LISTEN: School of Seven Bells - "Windstorm"

(Photo: Abbey Drucker)

MP3: School of Seven Bells - "Windstorm"

I feel as though making music with a sibling provides the process of writing with something special. Identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza (formerly of On! Air! Library!) and Benjamin Curtis (formerly of Secret Machines) make music that sounds, at times, quite heavenly, with a mix of shoegaze and dream pop. "Windstorm" is a perfect illustration of how all three members are in tune with each others' musical inclinations. The arrangement is nothing terribly complex, but with the soaring synth line that characterizes the track, "Windstorm" sounds as if it grows into something bigger than it was before you hit play. With the Deheza sisters harmonizing over a well-layered soundscape of synthetic drums, synth flourishes, and a subtle infusion of electric guitar, "Windstorm" carries you off the earth, high into the air.

"Windstorm" is from School of Seven Bells' new LP, Disconnect from Desire, out next Tuesday, July 13th. Listen to the whole album now right here.

BUY: Pre-order Disconnect from Desire here.

School of Seven Bells Official Site
School of Seven Bells @ Facebook
School of Seven Bells @ MySpace
School of Seven Bells @ Twitter

Geographer: Electronically Organic

The strength of Geographer is their ability to write songs that sound like they could be just as effective on an acoustic guitar with sparse instrumentation as they are in their electronic setting. By bringing the songs into the electronic world of synth blips, beeps, and beats, the band provides the music with a level of sheen that adds a certain amount of innocent appeal to their uniquely heartfelt and warm songs. Instead of getting stagnant and burying the emotion of their songs under the weight of electronic instrumentation, Geographer manages to keep things human through the incorporation of natural drums, cello, and electric guitar. It all comes together to give the music an increasingly open feeling.

LISTEN: Viernes - "Honest Parade"

Viernes - "Honest Parade" (MP3 @ Fader)

With an elastic-sounding, heavily distorted bass thumping and plucking along throughout, "Honest Parade" hits heavy. But it also breaks every few measures for heavenly verses marked by acoustic guitar and airy vocals. It's ambient that straddles the line between the light and the dark; a catalyst for thought that forces you deep into recesses of your mind. "Honest Parade" is so complexly beautiful.

SEE & HEAR: Casiokids - "Finn bikkjen!"

MP3: Casiokids - "Finn bikkjen!"

What are you trying to tell me? I have no idea what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah I understand your tone of voice, but I don't know. You know, I think I'm actually starting to get an idea. Yeah! I'm starting to understand it. I don't know how I'm supposed to explain this because I still have no idea what you're saying, but this synthesizer riff is so thumping; throbbing, pulsing with such intensity. You sound so honest and I can't turn down your pop charms. Oh hell, I get it. I'm going to say I get it because this synth riff is burrowing into my ears and it feels so good.

The video for this song kind of says it all.

Lali Puna: What Will I Remember, What Will I Forget

MP3: Lali Puna - "Remember"

Thumping synth bass line? Check.

Dance-inducing drums? Check.

Acoustic guitar? Check.

Electric guitar? Check.

Beautiful harmony? Check.

A song that sounds like a road trip through the contemplative section of your mind, starting out with a skipping, warped loop of some indistinguishable voice. I have just started my last semester of college and yet, listening to this song, I feel like it's the eve of my graduation. There's so much going on, so much reoccurring, but it's just a symptom of that warm feeling of accomplishment -- an eclectic mash-up of emotions marking all sorts of moments throughout the past four years of my life. There's a pop hook with "Will you remember..." but this song is twofold: there's the accessibility of its pop sensibilities but deeper down there's also a careful organization of loops and patches of sound. It casually skirts a line between melancholy and bliss.

Munich, Germany's Lali Puna was born from the four-track of Valerie Trebeljahr (vocals, keyboards) in early 1998. Markus Acher of The Notwist and Tied & Tickled Trio joined not long after along with Christoph Brandner (Tied & Tickled Trio, Console), and Florian Zimmer (ISO 68, Fred Is Dead). Zimmer left the band in 2003 to focus on ISO 68 and was replaced by Christian Heiß.

"Remember" is from Lali Puna's new album, Our Inventions, which is scheduled for release on April 6th through Morr Music. Our Inventions marks Lali Puna's first release in over five years.

Our Inventions Tracklisting:

1) Rest Your Head
2) Remember
3) Everything Is Always
4) Our Inventions
5) Move On
6) Safe Tomorrow
7) Future Tense
8) Hostile To Me
9) That Day
10) Out There (Feat. Yukihiro Takahashi)

The Go Find Announce Release of New Album

MP3: The Go Find - "Everybody Knows It's Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight"

What is change but an occasional desire

Rejected now, but then admired

When is it too late to change a fate

It's not something one can eliminate

A contemplative state of mind for you

Set in the past, the present, and the future, too

What is negative and oppositional initially

Will slowly become your reality

So learn to understand this pace of yours

Life is a lesson that exists outside of days and hours

Listen now as you reach the conclusion

What you thought was consistent was just an illusion

Hear the beat, see the melody

Emanating from everyone's bodies

It's not something that is predictable

For this is the rhythm of the world

You can guess, but you might not be right

Everyone knows it's gonna happen, only not tonight

Most electro pop can certainly be saccharine to an extent. There's a careful balance to maintain in this regard or else it just becomes grating. The Go Find are purveyors of a fine balance between the sweet and the pensive. Their melodies are beautiful and attractive, but lyrically they are reflective and thoughtful. By not being terribly brooding and downbeat, the band is a comforting listen. It also helps that they incorporate live instruments into the mix, allowing them to step out of the classification of simply being "electro pop."

When I was in high school, I started really getting into indie music. I was listening to anything I could find and learning new ways to not only approach music, but to appreciate it, as well. It wasn't all immediately accessible or catchy. This was of course, unsurprisingly, a result of my diet of commercial rock radio growing up (but hey, the station I had growing up was no where near as bad as what exists today). So, my knowledge in the field of electro indie pop (rock) is limited. I'd have to say that The Go Find remind me of Austin's American Analog Set.

The Go Find is the moniker of Berlin-based electronic artist Dieter Sermeus. While Sermeus might be the mastermind, The Go Find is a full-fledged band. Everyone Knows It's Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight is the band's third full-length and was recorded over a six-month period in Brussels and Antwerp. The songs were built around a base of acoustic guitars and drums and are polished with that warm indie pop production and instrumentation.

Everybody Knows It's Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight is out February 2010 on Morr Music.

Everybody Knows It's Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight tracklisting:

1) Everybody Knows It's Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight
2) Love Will Break Us Up
3) It's Automatic
4) Neighbourhood
5) One Hundred Percent
6) Stay
7) Lottery Man
8) Cherry Pie
9) Running Mates
10) Just A Common Love
11) Heart Of Gold

The Go Find Official Site

The Go Find @ MySpace

Morr Music

The Justice Cross House

Okay, I'll admit that aside from "D.A.N.C.E." I am not really familiar with Justice's music. I've been meaning to check out their debut LP for a while and still have yet to get around to it. I remember being out in California two summers ago, walking around the San Francisco Virgin Megastore and seeing the big cross emblazoned on the cover. It's certainly a striking image and one that had me quite curious as to what the nature of the music was. It certainly isn't a gospel worship album. No, no it's not. I think that's safe to say.

So, why am I discussing Justice if I am absolutely not familiar with their output? Because architects at Planda are planning to build a house based on the cross! You see that big bold image up there, that's going to be a house. There actually are cathedrals (ex. 1, 2, 3) that have been constructed in the shape of a cross, but they weren't modeled after an album cover of a French electro house duo. How awesome is that? Even more awesome is where they plan on building this thing. Watch the video below direct from Planda to see it all.


GENESIS † HOUSE from PLANDA on Vimeo.