Eye on New Releases: May 1st, 2012

 April showers bring May flowers, and new music!  Check out some of these fresh cut tracks!

 

Label: Coco Machete Records

Album: Radio Robotic

Artist: Stereofunk
Genre: Electro House
 

 Radio Robotic is Sterofunk’s second go after his 2009 album "Fools Planet." This release is a diverse collection of disco, techno, hip-hop and even soul inspired house tunes that is sure to click with dance club fans and headphone jockeys alike.  The albums’s first track "Senseless" showcases Stereofunk’s electro chops, while "Shooting Star" infuses the mix with a bit of disco to flesh out a unique sound.  "Livin My Life" and "Get Off," featuring two of Coco Machete’s premier rappers Razor Cain & D’ Secret SVC, respectively, liven things up with their appeal to the “you only live once” mentality and signature hip hop showboatsmanship.  "Brasina" and "Sleepless," two softer gems hiding amongst the upbeat pack, are seamlessly blended soundscapes that help round out the pack and keep things relaxed.  Broadcast radio may not be run by autonomous robots yet, but this latest effort by Stereofunk certainly makes the idea palatable.

Label: Poison City Records

Album: Infinite Void

Artist: Infinite Void 

Genre: Alternative

With song titles like, "Give up," "Still Waiting," and "(You’re) Still Sour," Infinite Void’s self titled album initially appears to be one of the most depressing releases of the year.  In actuality, it’s a hard driven punk rock album that invokes calls to apathy, stagnation, and outrage.  The overdrive-laden guitars and driving tempo keep up the energy, and engage the listener.  The vocals mostly consist of a female lead, with occasional call and response sections, creating a frenetic sensation.  In true punk tradition, lyrics are shouted more than they are sung, which really brings the angst that fuels the music into focus.  Haunting verses such as, “your voice in my head, like a hand on my neck,” in "Something is Lost" definitely brings across a sensation of social claustrophobia, and a longing to break free. Despite it’s dark themes, "Infinite Void" is an empowering jam session that is sure to contain within it’s 11 listed tracks at least one anthem for all the downtrodden alternative rock fans out there.

Eye On New Releases: February 21st, 2012

Today's offerings include veterans of their fields. Disappears continues to do what they do best: rock out. Dirty Disco Youth & Fukkk Offf start the end-of-the-world party 8 months before the supposed apocalypse. And for those of us wondering where winter is (it has rained only four times here in San Francisco since the new year began) bios+a+ic & Tanker reminds us that the cold does exist... somewhere in the world.

Label: kranky
Album: Pre Language
Artist: Disappears
Genre: Rock

Right on cue, the third annual report from Chicagoʼs Disappears has been submitted for your consideration. Following up on the acclaimed Guider album released just over a year ago, and with new drummer Steve Shelley now fully integrated into the group, these songs were again forged into proper shape during live shows before heading to the studio and the tape machine. Never ones to dither or be indecisive, itʼs a full-bore assault from the opening track to the last as Disappears attack these new songs with their usual relentless determination. Itʼs a sinister proceeding - debut Lux was preoccupied with death and endings while follow up Guider with protection - but Pre Language finds the band speaking on, of all things, love. Direct allusions to Philip K. Dick, James Baldwin, and Joan of Arc sit side by side with songs about the lows of life and the characters that permeate it. Recorded in Hoboken New Jersey at Sonic Youthʼs Echo Canyon West studio and mixed with John Congleton, Pre Language finds Disappears at their most potent and focused. The band has finally stepped into their own world and the results are thrilling.

Label: Coco Machete Records
Album: Nuclear War Disaster EP
Artist: Dirty Disco Youth & Fukkk Offf
Genre: Electro House

Fukkk Offf's Bastian Heerhorst and Dirty Disco Youth's Phil Speiser team up to drop a bomb on Coco Machete Records and the world at large. With two equally devastating tracks the Nuclear War Disaster EP delivers on its promise of total devastation. Both tracks attack, drive, squelch and pound in ways only these two artists can only to be released by an overture worthy enough to ride with the Valkyries. I think it's time to head to the shelter!

Label: symbolic insight
Album: froZen
Artist: bios+a+ic + Tanker
Genre: Electronic/Experimental

froZen by bios+a+ic + Tanker was originally released by symbolic insight on March 9, 2007 in conjunction with Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland, Colorado, as a limited edition of 100 units, which quickly sold out. This epic album sonically documents one of the coldest winters in decades and reflects upon the strange annual festival which exploits a frozen old man. The music is edgy ambient noise and drones combined with field recordings of the artists walking upon the local frozen river and reservoir. It features bios+a+ic's lush effects-laden trumpet, time stretched looping, and minimal sound textures. These elements are combined with Tanker's warping analog synthesizer, pulsing rhythms, and glitched blips. Musician Vince Herman of the legendary bluegrass band, Leftover Salmon, states that this was the trippiest CDs he had ever heard. froZen is a powerful and unique musical statement which takes the listener to a strange and beautiful world which could exist in either outer space or inner Earth. This release was the final musical statement made by mountain man and artist, Tanker, as he left his world the following summer. The album ends with his voice speaking over his synth, may he rest in peace.

Eye On New Releases: February 14th, 2012

Valentine's Day is here, and today's new release pickings are perfect for sharing with your special someone.

Label: Reckless Records
Album: Resurrection Moon
Artist: Audrey Auld
Genre: Adult Contemporary, Country

Hot on the heels of her 2011 album, Come Find Me, Audrey Auld and Reckless Records are proud to announce the release of Resurrection Moon, a 20-track overview of the veteran singer-songwriter’s best-loved songs of the last decade.  It’s been 15 years since Auld issued her debut EP — and 14 since the launch of her own Reckless label. In that time, the native Tasmanian has released 5 internationally acclaimed solo albums of original songs, a live record, an acoustic collection of traditional Australian folk songs, and a duets album with Bill Chambers (1999’s Looking Back to See). But she’s never stopped to catch her breath long enough to assemble a proper compilation of her own best work — until now.  As a collection of the best of Auld’s best (so far, at least!), Resurrection Moon plays like the perfect live set and showcase for the award-winning artist’s eclectic range of moods and styles: from the devastating frankness of “Losing Faith” (winner of the 2006 MerleFest Song Contest) and gorgeous sorrow of “Song for Clax” to the playful swing of “Jellyroll,” the giddy rush of “Love You Like the Earth,” and the tender familial affection of “My Father.”

Label: Kayo Stereophonic
Album: My Funny Valentine Live 1955-59
Artist: Anita O'Day
Genre: Vocal Jazz

This profound collection of rare never-before-heard live recordings of Anita O’Day in small clubs to larger venues captures the essence of the incredible voice of this legend of jazz vocals. Most of us were not old enough to be sitting in the Village Vanguard or some small club in Miami or any one the club dates back in the 1950’s. But...pull up a chair, open a bottle of wine and dim the lights for this warm, incredibly intimate collection that will make you feel like you are front row in New York City, 1955.  The song list is all A+, the best of the standards and Anita’s improvising mixed with the top sidemen make this great collection A MUST for your music collection, and for Valentine's Day.

Label: FSS
Album: Pareidolia
Artist: Tetras
Genre: Experimental

In early 2010 Tetras (Jason Kahn, Jeroen Visser, and Christian Weber) began meeting in studio to develop their sound. Pareidolia documents those sessions.  Tetras take a long-form approach to their music, with live sets approaching one hour or more. The gradual structural development of their pieces blurs the sense of time passing, moving through various fields of improvisation which owe as much to rock (This Heat, Can), as they do to jazz (Sun Ra, electric-era Miles Davis), minimal music (Steve Reich) or drone (Phil Niblock). Aside from their collaborative approach to the music, Tetras also work collectively in all aspects of the production involving a recording. On Pareidolia each member of the group had a hand in either mixing the initial tracks or mastering them for the final vinyl cut before pressing. The title Pareidolia refers to the idea of hearing through the music, to find the many shifting layers of form and interplay slowly manifesting themselves over the duration of the pieces.

Label: Temple Music Group
Album: We Bring The Party EP
Artist: HeatSeekers
Genre: Electro House

Heatseekers is the creative collaboration between Josh Quest and AJ Sorbello, two of Seattle's premiere DJʼs and producers. Both have been involved in the Pacific Northwestʼs EDM scene for over 15 years, playing festivals and clubs while producing consistently throughout that time. Their single “We Bring the Party” features vocals from Seattle native Melakai and includes remixes from the world famous Ron Carroll of Chicago and Seattleʼs The Fender Fable. These tracks are meant to turn up the heat and make the party go off in Heatseekerʼs fashion.

Eye on New Releases: January 24th, 2012

From fast, dance-y electro house to something more slow and mellow, this week's new releases will put you in the right mood.

Label: Coco Machete Records
Album: Bitches From Ostblock Pt. 2
Artist: Ostblockschlampen
Genre: Electro House

They came from the deepest woods of the former UDSSR!…AND THEY WILL BOMB WHO THEY WANT!!! Ostblockschlampen, “THE BITCHES FROM THE EASTERN BLOCK” is Markus Lange and his cohort Vanilla, two electro terrorists that have been rocking the boat and kicking in doors across the nation. Bitches From Ostblock, a two part release, features a who's who of upstart producers including Modek, Stereofunk, Faites Leur la Danse, Ill Saint M, Boylerz, Frederic De Carvalho, & Phantom's Revenge...bass bass bass...but you say who??? Wir sind die Bitches!

Label: Cosmicleaf Records
Album: Discovering Eguana
Artist; Eguana & Side Liner
Genre: Ambient, Downtempo

In 2011 Cosmicleaf and Side Liner discovered Eguana: a very promising talent from Russia who knows how to please with his multi chill out sounds. Discovering Eguana is a compilation of tracks carefully selected  for your ear pleasure, from downtempo lounge to trip-hop. Cinematic sonic environments detailed with wispy and organic synthesizers, nimble vocals, and a warm, welcoming low end, elevate listeners into an intimate involvement within their own senses. Discover Eguana!

Label: symbolic insight
Album: Leaving Palestine
Artist: entropoic advance
Genre: Electronic/Experimental

entropic advance’s Leaving Palestine release is a collection of improvised sounds and textures recorded at symbolic insight studios by the founding members, Noise Poet Nobody and bios+a+ic, from 2002-2004. The original release was a limited edition of 50 copies, packaged with a handmade paper insert stamped with only the projects logo, which is now sold out. The album sounds like a epic soundtrack for a film about the trials and tribulations of the Palestinian people. Minimal pulses, glitches, metal percussion, and tribal rhythms are layered with lush ambient tapestries and deep dark drones. Beautiful, haunting trumpet, morphing slide guitar, along with inspiring synthesizers, carry the sound into space. The music expresses an emotional intensity, while maintaining a mellow vibe, allowing the listener to experience a journey to the unknown regions of the mind. There is a therapeutic ambient flow in this reflective journey, which ultimately leaves one with feelings of hope, love, and empathy for the human condition.

Eye On New Releases: November 22nd, 2011

Label: Chemikal Underground

Album: If Then Not When

Artist: King’s Daughters & Sons

Genre: Alternative

The ghost stories, murder ballads, and grimoires on the new full-length album  If Then Not When by Louisville, KY's King's Daughters & Sons are haunting, spare and at times explosively unsettling; part William Faulkner, part Led Zeppelin. Given the musical pedigree at play here, it should come as no surprise that every note, drum beat and vocal has been employed with an economy few bands have the sense to muster.  The album itself, clocking in at over 51 minutes despite there being only eight tracks, shows that King's Daughters & Sons are quite happy for the aforementioned ghost stories, murder ballads and grimoires to unfold at their own pace. The album's axis, in more ways than one, is the eight-minute-plus, fourth track, "The Anniversary": a rich cast of characters weave their way through a tale of love, treachery and murder while the music eddies, tumbles and roars in sympathy with the narrator. It's a phenomenal track, explaining the reference to Faulkner in their press release's opening salvo and clearly demonstrating that this is not your average album.

Label: Moodgadget Records

Album: No Body EP

Artist: Beacon

Genre: Electronic, R&B, Ambient

Beacon is Thomas Mullarney III and Jacob Gossett. Their No Body EP explores a combination of deep south bass music and ambient pop melodies, with R&B tinged vocals that accompany warm arpeggiated synthesizers. The EP's atmosphere and narrative recall brooding spirituality in the wake of first love and the allure of the paranormal in teenage romance. Jacob and Thomas’s extensive work in the video production and set building worlds has given them the techniques to produce their own unique vision for the release of No Body; a cheap prom set where real and imaginary moments continually conjure up feelings of love, lust and all things in between.

Label: Coco Machete Records

Album: Remix Your Face Showdown

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Electro House

Here are the three winners of the Coco Machete 'Remix Your Face' Showdown from late spring 2011. The label offered up all the remix parts to three different classic Coco Machete releases setting them free for anyone to take a shot. There was one winner picked for each track based on quality and his or her own fan participation on Facebook...it can't get any more real than that. These are the ones to watch: Naeleck & Oddity are a production due based in both France and Japan, Sebastian Love hails from Italy, and D' Secret SVC, Coco Machete mainstay came in with a funk break remix of "In Da Club" that is undeniable....Just keep on watchin’!