Kona Triangle

Sing A New Sapling Into Existence

Fans of Flying Lotus, Teebs, etc. will absolutely love this. It's got those glitchy electronic beats and blissed-out samples, but on a few tracks (including closer "Mauna Loa") the beat slips away and you're floating through pitch-shifted synth-warbling oblivion. It's a collaboration between Lone and Keaver & Brause, both of whom I still haven't tracked down any releases from, having been too busy with this one (also not helping: Lone's terrible album art).

Myspace // Last.fm
Buy it!

Mean Jeans

These dudes are awesome. Just look at those motherfuckers. These are the dudes in your neighborhood that blared punk music while smoking cigarettes and drinking malt liquor instead of going to school. Get your fucking mean jeans on and start pogoing.

Are You Serious?

Myspace

Cast Spells - Bright Works and Baton (EP)

Cast Spells is the solo project of Dave Davison of Maps & Atlases. He played at a local venue last night. He was extremely fun to watch. He told some really hilarious stories and his songs were beautiful and fun. The man also has quite a wonderful beard. You would be doing yourself a disservice by not listening to this release.

Bright Works and Baton (EP)

Friends

Cloud - Elephant Era (2010)


Firefly - Above And Beyond (2009)


Glass Frog & Sonoak - Watkins Glen Split (2010)

The first album I posted is one of my close friends, Tyler, who I also play with in a band, but this is his solo project and he just finished his first full length album. He plays keyboard and drums and sings, usually at the same time ;) nice beats that make everybody bounce!

The next one I posted is his cousin, Dillon, who actually wrote and recorded most these songs a while ago but then recently changed the names and order and added some new ones and re-released the album with a new name. It's pretty ambient, some psychedelic noise type stuff. I'm really into it, check it out if you like that kinda stuff.

The last one I posted is something another one of my closest friends, Greg (who also plays in the band with us), has been working on for a little while. He's been writing these songs over the past year or two almost I wanna say and just recorded them over the winter break while he was home from school. He recorded 6 songs total for the split and then I recorded 3 songs that I kinda wrote recently, I've been working on this side project a little bit and this is the first stuff I've actually recorded for it. His stuff is acoustic guitar and singing mostly, fun songs and slower songs, but good songs all around. And then my songs are weaved in between his as these kinda noisey ambient breaks.

Enjoy!

"Local Cover Band"

Cap'n Jazz reunion @ Empty Bottle 1/22/10 from jessica hopper on Vimeo.

Yep, this is it, folks.

They played a 15 minute set under the moniker "Local Cover Band" at The Empty Bottle. Want a bootleg of the set? Look no further.

The Knife does science

Alright guys. Get ready for your minds to be completely blown:

As some of you may already know, The Knife and Mt. Sims were commissioned over a year ago by some Danes to write an opera about Charles Darwin.

About a week ago, it seemed like a couple versions of the soundtrack/album were surfacing, but these were all bunk (not surprising since their studio version isn't slated to arrive until March). Talk about disappointment. However, I have an 11-minute taste tester for you guys.

I love The Knife dearly and sincerely, but i've also seen a lot of operas, so I was a little skeptical about how this beast would turn out. However, I feel pretty confident saying... this is rad.

A Coloring of Pidgeons

Osteoferocious

Switching between Upland, Indiana and Bloomington, Indiana, Osteoferocious are a dynamic duo that play a psyched-out blend of punk rock. There is a sense of camaraderie that is present in their music, a sort of small-town group of friends feel. They are releasing this 7" on a label called Flannelgraph, stationed in Bloomington. Quite simply, they are fucking fun. If you are in Bloomington on January 28th, come to the Bishop for their release show. They are playing with Cast Spells and Prayer Breakfast.

OF 7"

Blog

Feral Children

Feral Children are a Seattle-based band that incorporates woodland folk rock sounds with synthesizer-drunk backdrops. Their newest record, Brand New Blood, was produced by Scott Colburn, who also produced Feels by Animal Collective. After discovering them I decided to do some research and people are throwing around some pretty intense comparisons. One person on last.fm wrote "Take old-school Modest Mouse vocals, add in some Wolf Parade and Animal Collective for good measure, and you have Feral Children." While I don't totally agree with that statement, I don't totally disagree, either. I'll let you be the judge. I am particularly fond of "Second To The Last Frontier" over "Brand New Blood" so far. Thus, I would suggest starting at the beginning.

Second To The Last Frontier (2008)


Brand New Blood (2010)

Myspace
Buy

Panda Bear Live @ HAU2 1/15/10

I haven't listened to this yet but Collected Animals is informing me that it's about 90% brand new material. How exciting! The tracklisting is pretty much entirely untitled with the exception of Daily Routine and a track he played at ATP (go here for that bootleg) that people are calling "Surfer's Hymn". Also notable: he plays guitar on quite a few of these. So, wow. Yeah. Endless praise is owed to Raminton for recording this, and to Collected Animals user jonisaok for splitting it.

"the enemy is everywhere"

your new friend is right here.

and by "your new friend" i mean "this album"

Myspace // Last.fm
Preorder from Insound

Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise

Black Noise

Excellent hypnotic minimal techno/house album. Lots of bells and beats. Plenty of chimes and chills. One song has guest vocals from Panda Bear. Will be released by Rough Trade Records on February 8th. This link will probably be taken down within the week.

Myspace // Last.fm
Preorder from Insound

Grouper / Roy Montgomery Split

Ahh, the long-awaited (and already sold out?) four-song release from Liz Harris. You should know all about her fantastic Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill by now -- and, chances are, you're in love. Roy's single 18-minute raga-style contribution ain't much to scoff at, either. Enjoy.

Grouper: Myspace // Last.fm
Roy Montgomery: Last.fm

Dirty Projectors - Free 7"! Live Vidz!

I dunno where you've been if you haven't heard about this yet, but just in case -- Dirty Projectors is giving away a free download of their new 7", featuring two leftovers from the sessions that birthed Bitte Orca: "Ascending Melody" and "Emblem of the World". Both of them are totes gnarly. The eponymous song has been stuck in my head for days. Get it while you still can. Presumably, this is a "limited time offer".

Unfortunately, the mindblowing new live track "Wittenberg III" (or "When the World Comes to an End", depending on where you're looking) is not included. Bummer. Here's a video, for the uninitiated:


And, just for kicks, two different live versions of Ascending Melody: The first, from last summer, is similar to the recorded version; the second is from April 2008, and they play in a different key, and the vocals are totally different, and also it's longer. Variations! As a special bonus, you get a better view of short-haired Angel Deradoorian wearing short-shorts. Isn't she just lovely?

RxRy

EDIT: New link as of 1/27/10

I've been listening to this a lot lately. It was posted on BUTTERxFACE, my fav lady-run blog, a few days ago, and it totally deserves your attention. I'll let "Dee" tell y'all what's what:

imagine the textural washes of neo hip hop bangers (teebs, fly lo, etc) mixed with minimal techno nod (the field, gold panda) the compressor squash of "chillwave" (toro y moi) flushed like a tampon by the warm ambience of keyboard pads (belong, stars of the lid) and a little bit of MWPP sampler gurgle. That is getting close. Some of these songs sound like they should be in european car commercials.

Myspace

Wooden Veil

EDIT: Apparently the old link was causing some trouble! Sorry. Try again if it didn't work for you before.

What if Kria Brekkan sang on Drum's Not Dead and some of the dudes from Jackie-O Motherfucker stopped by to lend their banjos but only on the condition that most of the recording take place in the dead of night at this abandoned cabin with only three walls that they discovered on a hike into the German wilderness and they totally saw a ghost there and wouldn't it be cool if it showed up again? And then they played some of the darkest percussive tribal folk drones I've ever heard and lit incense and carved runes in the dirt to lure that ghost out from its private dimension under the decayed floorboards, but then the sun burned through the dew and maybe they had all taken Peyote because when they were startled awake by a sharp wind the cabin was gone.

That's kind of like how Wooden Veil sounds.

Myspace

M. Pyres - DSMMBR

If you dug Cast Off / Cold Months, you'll love this, the most recent killer release from Matthew Sage. It's got some sweet textures. Noisier and more electronic this time around. While you're at it, check out his Myspace for a brand new track from an upcoming 7". It's more in line with his more song-based material, but heavier. Enjoy.

Friends (fun listen tunes! awesome forever melody!)

I am posting these albums of my own accord. I was not approached with a request like, "Hey, dude... I read your blog, and, you can, like, totally post my stuff, right?" Nah, bro. I won't do that. But I totes will if I genuinely dig it, and that is certainly the case with the following dudes I won't hesitate to affectionately refer to as "bros."


Cameron Wisch +++ Myspace EDIT: he just put a brand new track up. listen 2 it

He plays drums for a ridic math-rock band called Zona Mexicana. He also does solo stuff, hey wow! This link contains both of his releases, Edge City (2008) and Flower Wars (2009). The first one is more free jazz and chill electronic experiments. The second is closer to something his main band would release; just as energetic, but way more fun. Recommended for fans of Tera Melos, Hella, Algernon Cadwallader, all those other ones.


Anders Nils - Bottom Trawlings +++ Myspace

Really sweet ambient/electronic EP. Mostly synth, a few songs with guitar and a few with vocals. Swooshy, pretty, post-rock influenced. Recommended for fans of Grouper, Atlas Sound, anything ambient/electronic I've ever posted.


Hisound +++ Myspace

You remember Tofu Delux? I had no idea at the time, but I actually had just met one of the members. His name is Jake and this is his solo thing. Or at least it was; the three tracks on his myspace right now feature a drummer, and they're more math/jazz oriented, and more rough around the edges. These two EPs, on the other hand, might remind you of Inverness or softer Deerhunter songs with hints of jazzy Dave Longstreth-esque guitar flourishes, especially on the more recent EP, NoBeat One.


Twin Sister +++ Myspace

While I'm at it, I might as well hop on this train -- I'm not friends with them, but they did go to my school, and as a result most of my friends are in love with them. Rightly so, it turns out. I gave their EP another listen about a month ago and was converted. And now, they're being blogged about on Chocolate Bobka and Pitchfork, holy shit. So, yeah, good job Twin Sister. You deserve it.

Warpaint

Exquisite Corpse EP

just some babez with angelic voices who make gorgeous music.

really dreamy, a little post-rocky, and completely otherworldly.

perfect for being snowed in for the night.

if you're starting to lose hope with all these recent dreampop bands springing up and putting out 7 minute tracks of boring, repetitive shit, don't worry-there's quite a bit of range here. they go from the more traditional "stars" to this pretty jazzy track appropriately titled "billie holiday" to "beetles," which is probably one of the more interesting stylistic ventures i've heard lately in the genre.

Ossining

Ossining - Ossining (2009)

Definitely one of my favorite tapes of 2009. Ossining is a project between Brad Rose (The North Sea, Ajilvsga, Alligator Crystal Moth, etc.) and Kevin Danchisko (Sovetskaya Gone). Forgot where I originally downloaded this from but I'm thinkin about buying a copy of the tape since there were only 70 made and I guess it's pretty fortunate that their still on sale. Released by the digitalis label which is run by Brad Rose himself I'm pretty sure. Anyway, this tape is pretty much one of the most essential and perfect drone compositions I have ever heard. This one definitely stands out among others. It's always stuck in my head and every time i listen to it it still surprises me. Enjoy! I'm gonna check out some of this dudes other side-projects now, hopefully I can find some good stuff.

Drive Like Jehu

Drive Like Jehu were from San Diego. They were the first attempt that John Reis (Rocket From The Crypt! and Hot Snakes) took at making music. I prefer Drive Like Jehu to his other more notable projects. I love the sound they have. It's sludgy, almost akin to Melvins, but has a math-rock and post-hardcore feel to it, too. Some of their riffs almost remind me of Dinosaur Jr. as well. Check them out.


Drive Like Jehu (1991)



Yank Crime (1994)