Beacons of Ancestorship is best thing these Chicago avant-rock innovators have forged in many years. Jumping into a kind of cosmic post hip-hop vibe, Tortoise harnesses the best part of their sound, delivering a weird, angular wail that electrifies the band and the listener alike. To sound retro and current at once is difficult, but they have managed it, and even spared some time to add a slice of classic TNT-era loveliness via "The Fall of Seven Diamonds Plus One."
Minimal Wave does it again with this great four song-EP from Sudeten Creche. A mix of unreleased material and songs originally released in the '80s on S/Phonograph and Illuminated Records, you'd think the Human League had made a record for early-'80s-era Cherry Red, the music being synthy, poppy, catchy and even unexpectedly funky at times -- homemade but altogether sophisticated and elegant. Sound good to you? It should!
EXCLUSIVE ADVANCE RELEASE. The ruthless duo of Andrya Ambro and Sarah Register, often clad in post-apocalyptic jumpsuits, achieve sonic destruction by twisting metal tools under guitar strings, pummeling drums to obliteration, and shrieking like possessed banshees. Addictively dark and technically invincible, this will vibrate believers of Erase Errata, the Fall, and DNA on all wavelengths.
Formed by prolific songwriter David Longstreth, whose been releasing Projectors records with a rotating cast of contributors since the early 2000s, Bitte Orca finds Dirty Projectors placing their own angular but ornate, harmony-filled stamp on this thrilling set of songs that twist and turn through off-kilter rock, R&B and chamber music in ways that you could never imagine.
This is one of the finest meetings of jazz and "world music" ever recorded, being French composer and pianist Jef Gilson's fusion of America's greatest art form with the traditional music of former French colonial island Madagascar. A zither-like stringed instrument called the vilha takes center stage creating a cascading blanket of sound that the ensemble embellishes with poly-rhythmic percussion, electric piano, xylophone, and soaring horn arrangements.
Their second release for Jagjaguwar reveals Spencer Krug and crew to be the most fervent heirs to the David Bowie throne since…well, David Bowie. Whip smart chord changes and propulsive drumming from the hands and feet of Jordan Robson-Cramer create a twitchy but sinister atmosphere for Krug’s oft-unsettling lyrics that explore voyeurism and madness.
EXCLUSIVE ADVANCE DOWNLOAD. A chance meeting between Jan Jelinek and the son of Ursula Bogner led to the release of the unheard music of this deceased experimental-electronic music hobbyist on Jelinek's new Faitiche imprint. The tracks are jaunty and percolating little explorations that almost sound like cells reproducing in a Petri dish, while at other times they bring to mind someone's idea of techno with a head cold, enveloped in a fog of Robotussin.
Hyperdub continue their unblemished roll with this wall-crumbling new joint from Kevin Martin (the Bug) under his freshly minted King Midas Sound moniker. Following the crushing Cool Out EP, King Midas Sound might be both Hyperdub and Martin's most horizontal output to date. Drums tip and tick through squelchy electronic basslines and the distant traces of ghost vocals echo through the ether.
Psapp’s second collection of early tracks serves as a fantastic primer to the band’s ponderously cute (yet oddly aching) twee pop. Carim Clasmann and Galia Durant tie nostalgic little bits of sound and melody to the fingers of endearing and often funny stories, and manage to find the rhythm in everything: from British-inflected human speech to raindrops on rooftops.
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