🐣SHLOHMO — THE END

⌾ LISTEN TO THE END BY SHLOHMO ⌾ Chaos and calm collide in this calamitous track, a dirge of insular sunbeam hope, a decree for celebration burned at the edges and wet from acid rain. Shlohmo's 'THE END' basically works out for the best.

It's a tale of different influences, from the doom of the clanging metallic guitars and their twinkling-in-the-basement arpeggios – feeling a little like Brand New's most despondent moments – to the vital trap thump of the beat with its ripped paper handclaps and ticking white noise hi-hats, it is a beast of everything; thin synths even herald better things with their shining, future bass builds—before, of course, the guitars tear them to shreds.

Dusty pianos tumble decayed in the background, spook house chimes trickle by warped and chopped with radiation shimmer, whilst bass rumbles lo-fi in the distance. As far as a track charting apocalyptic mess goes, Shlohmo's is one of consideration, playing your favourite trap heroes as the windows melt; nonchalance in the face of extinction.

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• 🔔 This crunchy anti-melodrama is the title track taken Shlohmo's THE END, the upcoming album due out 22nd March via Friends of Friends / WEDIDIT. You may even purchase this lovely track and pre-order the album in deluxe vinyl form from Shlohmo's Bandcamp, if you like.

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📠
☟ Shlohmo Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ wikipedia ⚘ spotify ⚘

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🐣 NAKURY — NECESARIO (BARZO REMIX)

Last time we heard for this Costa Rican MC it was from her incredibly breezy and bustling 'Aunque Quieras' (that's "whatever you want" in English), but this time around Nakury has offered up something quite different. Although the original 'Necesario' is a bass heavy brute of a track, ticking along with a nearly dubstep rhythm with minimal decoration save for the trilling rapid-fire flow of Nakury herself. However, this flip by fellow Costa Rican musicmaker Barzo adds a thick wall of metal guitars for an entirely different take on the track.

At first this reminded me of 'Dog', a crunchy SebastiAn song from Ed Rec Vol. III - the guitars are richly distorted, and the beat below thuds hard, with the snares grippingly abrasive and the hefty robust kicks entangled with just a touch of sidechain. Barzo's version sees the original vocal now skipping over the distorted riffs, the hook now anthemic with three pulsating chords giving the track a new smouldering rock atmosphere. A mix of not only hard beats and hard guitars, but also of Latin rap – ostensibly disparate styles (nu-metal, anyone?) – this is a sultry, genre-bridging track.

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• 🔔 The original 'Necesario' is taken from Nakury's album VIA, released via Lácteo Cósmico back in April 2017. You can download the album here here.

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📠
☟ Nakury Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ itunes ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify ⚘ songkick

☟ Barzo Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ itunes ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify ⚘ songkick

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🐣 NEBULAMIGO — DISTANCE

The ripples on the surface of a body of water glittering crystalline sheen more like molten metal than water, the guitar arpeggio that bounces with a misty pallor summoning these gleaming scenes gurgling with reverb each string glinting with indie jangle into a traversable rip tide of thudding uptempo kicks, and caught in the momentum tumble somersault into the wash of haze and hallowed heavenly harmonies that fly and fall with far-off warmth, heavily effected later in the track bubblesome and wobbly, all the time with the bass so lean and rounded and rolling forward with semaphore fills and flourishes, stretching to meet the jogging pace of the beat.

The tick-tick-tick of metallic sharp hi-hats alternates between the kicks and the lo-fi dull thud snare hits and the rimshot accoutrement that adds textured tangle to the beat, a simple complication that adds an air of technicality to the proceedings. How the veil of dreampop falls away from 'Distance' nearer to the two-minute mark, rapid garage post-punk palm-muted chords judder silkily and takataka hi-hat rattle and a nocturnal slice of guitar noodling lends itself again to this pace, the speed of the track, Nebulamigo making it breezy but intense and only in a somnolent summery sort of way, all the kinetic energy of pogosticking but with such swathes of sunny lethargy imbued in it, the pallid bleach of sunlight its washed out halo.

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• 🔔 'Distance' is taken from the Long Beach, California band's recently released Talk in Roses EP. The six-track digital offering can be downloaded for a paltry $4 if you would like to do such a thing.

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📠
☟ Nebulamigo Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ songkick ⚘ spotify

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🐣 LIL PEEP — BENZ TRUCK (ГЕЛИК)

The menace of the crunching bass and the downtrodden guitar, the slapdash strumming leading into a graveyard of sound that looms like something poised to pounce but never does—it's that ever-present threat of sound, melancholy on the edge of negative action, which gives 'Benz Truck (гелик)' its brooding atmosphere, a gothic gloom that is charged with potential energy yet which seems to shrink and wallow in grief. It does both. Producer smokeasac attaches a disjointed drum machine the dirge, thin gasping snares crack whilst kicks gloop and thud, subtle hi-hats ticking slow and sometimes tripling up like origami assault rifles takata-takata-takata just adding to the hype of the track, the electricity of it that you'd swear didn't exist here if it weren't as palpable and downright tangible as it is.

Slurring mumbling darkly with downcast confidence is Lil Peep, whose laid-back rap flows slow like spilled apple sauce, delivered with laissez-faire aplomb and a mellow fierceness. He casually delineates his situation whereby he has obtained money and success, enough for "iced out teeth on an iced out whip / with the limousine tints, you can suck my dick." He goes on to pre-empt accusations of sell-out that seem to come with the attainment of fame – "who you wanna hate now? pretty soon you gonna hate me" – as well as boldly stating: "all the money that I make now / I'll never let it change me." His tone, something like a drugged Jesse Lacey would sing over the top of something Brand New might play if they injected beats into their hard emo sound, is soaked with reverb, and conjures a persona at once calm and collected, less emo crying and commiserations, more stoic control of life.

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• 🔔 The track is taken from Lil Peep's album Come Over When You're Sober, set to drop at some point soon I guess. You can purchase, stream and/or download 'Benz Truck (гелик)' via this lil link here.
• 🔔 The Russian word гелик in the title refers to the exact type of Benz truck he's talking about: G-Class—the word, read as something like "gelik" in English, and let's assume it's a slang term, throws up images of black boxy cars on Google.
• 🔔 The video for the track was directed by Get Mezzy (also editor), SUS BOY, and Wiggy. It was animated by Chadwickmak and Connor Moy.

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📠
☟ smokeasac Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram

☟ Lil Peep Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram ⚘ wikipedia

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HOT FLASH HEAT WAVE – DIRTY DREAMER (XXX)

There's a reason why this kind of music never really took off, or in fact wasn't even born out of a cold country. Well, actually, who knows the actual direct correlation, but basically it's very sunny music and it is & will be eternally associated with California. Which is where this four piece, Hot Flash Heat Wave, come from – specifically, San Francisco.

But location-schmocation, right? 'Dirty Dreamer (XXX)' is a lo-fi nu-doo-wop coastal groove, claps and stabs of golden guitar following a timeless pattern that is soaked in nostalgic americana. Vocals cut through in distorted serrations of sound, a who-the-fuck-cares lassitude simmering within, even though it's filled with hum-along hooks. Speaking of which, dig that bright guitar lick that pops up as a pre-verse treat, utterly dripping with cool.

More slapdashery arrives towards the end of the track, where a guitar solo breezes in a virtuosic tangle, something so totally satisfying about that sound: the perfect excitedly euphoric crescendo to a track seemingly inspired by swift, raucous romances.

• If you liked this, you should most definitely check out the very recently released self-titled Hot Flash Heat Wave EP, where you'll find this and four more tracks of the same quality calibre.

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☟ Hot Flash Heat Wave Social Media Presence ☟
Facebook • SoundCloud • Bandcamp • Tumblr

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JAWS – THINK TOO MUCH, FEEL TOO LITTLE

Where am I? What? Huh? Oh right. It's 2014. May. Tuesday. It has been sunny but it is not sunny today – major bummer. But it's ok. I found something a month or so ago that was on a little list of 'Things To Definitely Keep An Eye On' so I kept my eye on it and nothing happened so I'm just gonna write about their newest song.

Oh I've done it again haven't I? Just carried on without giving a mention to what I was writing about. They never taught me how to do that in journalism school. Actually I never went to journalism school, can you tell? Ha. Ha. Haaa—. Anyway, I'm writing about JAWS, a band from Birmingham (UK not US), and part of the fabricated/joke scene 'B-Town' (incl. Peace & Swim Deep) – though it's always the way that, without approval from artists purportedly "in" the scene, all scenes, all genres, are just fabrications – but I can see how it's a joke: I live near a place called Kingston and we call it K-town, jokingly. Not that I'm in any sort of band or anything.

But with writing about music you kinda have to dig for clues, make connections & assumptions, and come to conclusions – if they're widely accepted enough, they become gospel. For instance, none of these B-town (I even hate writing it, ok?) bands have a very similar sound, yet NME was able to see that the scene "seemed to roll out of bed, insular and uncontrived, smirking at its own in-jokes." Fine. Yet there is a waft of irony in the use of "uncontrived" – finding these differences, purposefully looking for them, is a journalistic contrivance in itself. How we are endlessly at odds with ourselves.

Now, I would like to forget about that and say hello to 'Think Too Much, Feel Too Little' by the eight-legged JAWS.

First thing that struck me was its vague similarity to something else, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it, till I realised it was 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police. It kinda follows the same chord progression and has that same plinky palm-muted pattern, though in the JAWS song its a twining of two guitar patterns that seem to shimmer-glitter in the lightbulb-heavy flavours of a post-party mood. Indeed, the song's lyrics, sung with a nicely reverbing nonchalant lilt, spin a tale of dimly lit dancing interrupted by the end-of-the-night's awakening; a romance dream with splashes of colour and the syncopated bassline oozing groove with the slow-sway fruity drum crunch and blissful anti-triumph in this half-lament of a track – "We get it, we get it, it's over / I'll go back to being alone…" – full-stopped with a crescendo of reality, drowning out the star-dots of hazy memory and love-in-passing.

Lovely stuff. If I'm late on it then pffffffffft whatever, but I'm glad that I found this song, whose title is quite similar to a line from Charlie Chaplin's speech in his film, The Great Dictator.

• Some comments on the song mentioned an album or EP or something soon, but I don't know anything. Best thing is to follow these guys on the links below – if you like what you hear, of course.

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Like JAWS on Facebook
Listen to JAWS on SoundCloud
Visit JAWS official site
Follow JAWS on Twitter

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DIAMOND MIND – DRAGON EGG [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I haven't written about anything by a band like this for a while and I'm not sure why. I think it's because, not that it isn't good, but it just seems to fit much better with sunny days and this long approach to summer we call spring. So it's with happiness and hope for the warm weather days to come that I introduce Canadian band Diamond Mind. I was originally going to write about this Edmonton-based band's song 'Better Alone', which is a pretty slice of indie doo-wop flavours with hints of baroque orchestration in its strings and jaunty melodies… but then I heard 'Dragon Egg' and everything changed.

This track isn't very sunny, isn't very spring-themed, but it is instead a galloper of a track – a true sprint through zingy, energetic feelin and expansive guitar sounds that, sure, ok, may summon a little bit of sunshine, but if it were a film it would be more adventure-romance than rom-com – does that make sense? The sunshine is less a static thing and much more a thing that's almost followed, a hanging beacon in a sky above endless roads and exciting potential.

Well, a dragon egg is quite an exciting thing I suppose. And if this song is supposed to be an illustration of that fact, well, then it's done its job pretty much perfectly. It was the undeniably experimental intro that first grabbed me: frenetic drums and dramatic twists between full-noise and no-noise and chipmunked vocals thrown into the equation – it's full of wonder as to what's gonna come next. A dynamic shift, and we count into the lo-fi flutter of gleaming guitars – an ethereal riff. Smooth silky vocals, with a distinctive lilt, seem calm yet urgent as guitar chords stab and the drums judder excitedly, bass providing slices of groove beneath it all. A really super cool song that I can't get enough of right now. Wahoo!

And, getting outside of this song's clarion brilliance, it shows the brilliance of the band, able to doo-wop in coastal-pop fashion like anybody's business one minute – singing this indie rollicker about a dragon egg the next. I'm genuinely curious to see where they go next – is there an album or something or an EP? I don't know.

• And it's a free download, do you want anything else with that? Biscuits? Complimentary hot towel? Fries?

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Listen to Diamond Mind on SoundCloud

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LAZY INTERVIEW #20: SUPERFOOD

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← #19: BRETON #21: DCUP →

I didn't find or didn't try to find a suitable image for this particular little piece, so I made one. What it is, as you can see, is the word Superfood, in stylised font of course, repeated six times. It's a good thing that who I'm writing about is actually a band called Superfood, and not a band that has a completely different name. Did my research, you see.

However, in all seriousness, I'm here to talk about a band. It is a band from the Midlands – Birmingham, specifically – called Superfood. I've said that already, but saying it again makes you think of the name a little more. Remember it. Savour it. Let it flash in your mind like a gently alluring neon sign. Because that's what it should be doing. And if it isn't, and you haven't heard their music, then their music should have the same effect on you. Why? Cause it's real good, that's why.

First encountering the band at the start of summer in the form of a self-titled demo, I basically got addicted to their sound there and then. Moving onto another demo called 'TV', whose lyrical content included such things close to my heart as being unable to sleep unless the TV was on quietly in the background, they've since picked up the pace with a video for their latest tune 'Melting'. And just yesterday, they released a 12" of two songs: Bubbles/Melting – get that HERE.

But what they sound like? A kind of revitalisation of Britpop, quirky guitar melodies played slapdash-style in a kind of Anglo-Weezer sound with all the beautifully mundane lyrics and laid-back style that has given and still gives British music its sense of cool. Kind of like that. Or to sum all that up in two words: "college rock"... In other news, the band's frontman – Dom Ganderton – was kind enough to lend his time and brain to this latest edition of the Lazy Interview.

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Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
My name is Dom, I am from the beautiful Midlands and I play guitar and sing in Superfood.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
I don't think there was ever a conscious decision to get into music initially, it was just after I had some cello lessons at primary school that I kind of drifted onto guitar and carried on until now. The reason me and Ryan started Superfood however was because we had both had a few years out of playing in bands and only having a computer to jam with became quite stale. We both kind of realised how much writing songs and singing them meant to us and how it kind of emptied a tank in our heads that would otherwise just overflow and send us bonkers. I'm really happy that I'm not completely bonkers yet.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
This is always such a tricky question as I feel that we're really not going to know exactly who we are as a band till after we've had a little more time together and got an album down and stuff. It's pretty songwriting with big beats that's a little rough around the edges.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
Right now the best place to listen to our songs is in a 200 cap club while we are on stage playing but we want to bring it to the bedroom dancers and pre-lash legends.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
I think what's inspired our songs so far are the two years we took out of being in bands dancing in nightclubs, trying to pay rent and attempting to go to university. But inspiration musically can come from anything. We wrote a song using this old harp my sister made in school years ago.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
So far it has to be this *moment* I had half way through out UK tour with Peace, I can't remember where we were but we were halfway through our set and there was like 5 or 6 seconds where I was like fuck we're actually pulling this off... Kudos.

What are your favourite three songs at the moment?
The Turtles - I'm Chief Kamanawanalea (We're the Royal Macadamia Nuts)
Isley Brothers - Love The One You're With
The Cardigans - Been It

Who do you most admire in the music world?
Jeff Lynne

In your opinion, what is the future of music?
I reckon the future of music is for people to realise that you don't have to be futuristic and use machines to make music evolve. I think people need to get back to the fact that music requires real instruments played by humans. Computers are great tools but people shouldn't rely on them as a main component of their sound.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
We're going into record our album in the new year and hopefully we're going tour Scotland a lot fingers crossed.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
...

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Due to the luxuries of censorship, I'm unable to tell you the answer to that last question. Sorry. But I can tell you that along with sounding like a perfectly down-to-earth chap with honest intentions with regards to music, feeling impulsed to write, sing and play, Dom also has a good sense of humour. A sense of humour is key. Taking oneself too seriously leads to being unable to take a joke, and stuff like going completely crazy on Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

But with that little apologetic and revelatory blip outta the way, to wrap up, it seems that Superfood, at least with Dom involved (cause I don't know what the rest of the band – Carl Griffin (drums), Emily Baker (bass), Ryan Malcolm (guitars) – think), are onto a winner. Songs that spill naturally from people's minds, the work of wordless, intangible inspiration, are often quite good songs; it's been true so far. Gloriously stepping into the future without relying on typical tropes of "futuristic" music, Superfood fill a void in Britain's musical landscape that eschews effects and electronic instruments in favour of "real instruments played by humans". Of course, they haven't been around for long, so what the future holds: who knows?

However, without wanting to sound too dramatic, these guys manage to create music that is not too dominated by throwbacks to past eras, not trusting computers for palatable and zeitgeistical gimmicks – music that sounds like it's from exactly when and where it's from, played honestly and without pretence. GET TO KNOW.

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← #19: BRETON #21: DCUP →

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Like Superfood on Facebook
Visit Superfood official site
Follow Superfood on Twitter
Watch Superfood on YouTube

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PREMIERE 初演 • UMA – VANITY

Something a little bit special now. Yes, it's happened again. After the first ever premiere ever on YES/NO ever in the History of Time, another song surfaces like a new, mysterious island in a sea painted with beauteous calm. This time around it comes from Berlin two-piece, UMA. Comprised of couple-duo, Ella and Florian Zwietnig, they released a debut EP last year titled Drop Your Soul, a soothing yet menacing collection of electronic sounds, an electropop outing that sees the "pop" part of this wide genre twisted and subverted.

That characteristic of an essentially dark atmosphere carries through into this brrrand new single, 'Vanity'. Yep, it's brand new and it's out today. Arriving into your ears firstly with glittering, metallic feedback and a distorted beat made up of kicks and toms in a heart-thudding tribal-esque rhythm, we're quickly introduced into a world of mechanical iciness, a robotic aesthetic at work throughout. Plinking chords reverb in wintry succession as icicle-like synth leads glisten out of the shadowy sounds.

The vocals certainly help with the atmosphere, chanted out in an almost monotone series of rich harmonies soaring over the insectoid stutter of the hi-hats and thin snares. But it's at the beginning of the song's second half where its groove comes into place. The beat regularised now regularised and augmented with percussion, a saw-wave bassline underpins the gloomy chord progression with a pattern buzzing booms. Then, left with background noise and pretty guitar licks, the vocals return in a more understated way, crooning with a glass purity amongst the sleepily forboding sounds until the song ends.

It's an exercise in atmospheric electropop and minimalism, yet also in subtle dynamics that sees the track soaring in a wash of noises, bustling and expressing themselves alongside gloriously nonchalant vocals. Indeed, Ella - the voice of the duo - "grew up in the middle of nowhere, spending her early life studying classical music and singing in choirs" and it certainly shows in the arrangement of her vocals, and in the differing parts of the song, fitting mini-movements, mini-themes into this mini electronic symphony.

This is out TODAY as a co-release between Bad Panda Records and Seayou Records.

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Like UMA on Facebook
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Visit UMA official site
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SUPERFOOD MELTING

Every song this band releases seems to be just right - no matter if it's about food (as in their self-titled song 'Superfood') or TV (as in, um, 'TV' - the song's been taken down though...) or about– well, it's not about bubbles but it IS called 'Bubbles'. Who are they? What are they? Well, they're a band from Birmingham, UK, and they're called Superfood and they make really nice music. They're a four-piece, I've only just now found out: Carl Griffin (drums), Emily Baker (bass), Ryan Malcolm (guitars) and Dom Ganderton (vocals/guitars).

I've seen things said about these guys like that they're catching the "butt-end of brit pop" but I was never much of a fan of brit pop so... And anyway, I wrote before that I think they sound a little like an English Weezer. Anglo-Weezer. Or is it the case that Weezer sound like an Americanised brit pop act? Either way, I don't really want to talk about brit pop too much. I feel queezy. I want to talk about Superfood because they're Supergood. They have a new song which is called 'Melting' and true to form with this song they continue to impress and excite.

Ok, so it is kinda like brit pop. There are moments in here that seem to channel early Blur - especially the chorus - but it has its own heartbeat. There's a slacker feel to the song, something gloriously lazy and university-soundtrack about its feel, the slapdash distorted guitar stabs in the verse and the swinging collapse of the raw drums. It combines this with a real ear for dynamic, each song so far - including this one - has felt like a musical story. As for decoration, there are lovely little drum rolls, not so much a screaming as a groaning guitar solo, and a honky-tonk-sounding piano being bashed throughout, giving this a really nice live vibe, like something some students taking over a pub and its piano for an evening would play. Well, if pubs had pianos anymore. I've never even seen one in a pub WHAT am I talking about?

Anyway, it's easy-on-the-ear and punchy, equal parts intelligent and catchy; each sound finds time to breathe, each element shining out at one point or another: the funky slides of the bass in the verse, the deliciously British and wholly natural vocals, the delicate guitar picking before the last chorus. There is something really mundane in the thud of the beat, something that is not a negative thing at all and is in fact positive: this mundanity, the plodding rhythm of the song, gives it a unique touch that is adorable and that also gives a lot of room for speeding the songs up into rollicking, fever-pitch versions of themselves live. Maybe not. I dunno, I've never seen them live. But that's the impression I get. Anyway, it's fun, I like it. Do you?

This is out as a single on 9th December alongside 'Bubbles' and both tracks will appear on their forthcoming MAM EP, out early 2014 on Infectious Music. There's no reason why Superfood shouldn't get a lot of praise & at least some amount of fame off the back of this, cause they deserve it.

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Like Superfood on Facebook
Visit Superfood official site
Follow Superfood on Twitter
Watch Superfood on YouTube

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WEEKEND ROSARIES [VIDEO]

What no picture/image/photo? Well, no. It's just something I'm trying out. BEAR with me (yes: to all those who are always asking people to obscenely "BARE" with them, it is actually spelt "bear"). In any case, there's still a video up above this writing to watch. Sure is. Anyway, enough blabbering.

This is a video for a song called 'Rosaries' by San Francisco-based trio - the first names of which are Shaun, Kevin & Abe - Weekend. A very ungoogleable name if I may say so and also not to be confused with The Weeknd. These guys are very different. Always up for a bit of shoegazin' sound myself, I full-screened the video and watched the lonely guy at the centre of this video live his nocturnal life (it cut a little close to the bone actually). Whilst I watched with a vague unease, I found the music not only fitting but a soothing soundtrack to the situation: perhaps because it fit so well, perhaps cause it doesn't have any really discernible lyrics that you could ascribe to this man's predicament. I dunno.

Away from the video, just listening to the song, it's a wash of beautiful bleakness. It pervades the air with an intense ambient white noise that falls over you like a constant grey mist. It's wracked with a near-suffocating cloud of endless reverb that works by attaching feelings of muffled hope and faint shades of despair to the song; an all-encompassing feeling which, if you've felt before, you should hear teeming in this track. Sparks of Western-movie guitar twang in the midst of this ambient storm - a touch of the leaping human heart - as a thumping beat drives it forward, growing increasingly developed with rolling hi-hat and the slap-crash of a snare in the last third.

It comes from Weekend's 2nd album Jinx, already out in the USA on Slumberland Records, but released internationally via the band's own label, Strange Dog Records, on 25th November. I'd link to the Strange Dog Records site but you wouldn't believe how ungoogleable that is also. Dog records - as in World Records won by dogs - which are strange.

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Like Weekend on Facebook
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RÁJ GHOST [FREE DOWNLOAD]

who is RÁJ? What is 'Ghost'? Well, RÁJ is a maker of music - whether it's one person or more than one person I don't know. Also, where is this entity located? Dunno. Sorry. Could be anywhere. They've got the Eiffel Tower as their background picture on Twitter, so it could be Paris but then again it could not be Paris. Who knows - not me. 'Ghost' is their brand new song. Like, really brand new.

Not completely brand new. Like a day old. Is that ok? Sure it is. Sure. In any case, it sounds pretty darn beautiful. It kinda sounds like pop, with a pop structure and a pop melody in the vocals but it's dark. Yep, it's sunk in the depths of morosely strummed clean guitar chords and a sullen vocal that expresses intense emotion yet staying controlled: a talented voice. Judging from a few of the lyrics, it could well be anti-drug, a kind of intervention song or lament for someone - a loved one - close to RÁJ. But it's not all gentle strumming and emotive crooning, not at all. Listen and see fo yo self.

Oh, and it's a free download. How nice is that?

It starts with a sample of child talking - something that pops up like strange snippets of memory throughout the song. The chords come in, a beautiful set if I may say so myself. After the first chorus some muffled drums march in alongside a chorus of wordless oooo's, kind of hopeful dirge, the snare exploding with reverb. There's a lot of reverb, giving it this faraway sense of not being able to reach the person (or people?) at which the song is aimed, an acute atmosphere of resigned desperation.

The entire song builds up from the very beginning, first adding the dynamic of those suffocated drums and then abruptly breaking into a more concrete beat that is accompanied by a dark orchestra of aching strings that seem to touch your heart. Frantic percussion decorates the towering beat as the vocals belt out the lyrics in loud lungfuls of heartfelt tones: a testament to the emotion in the song. A murky synth melody drapes itself along this epic final section. Beautiful, basically.

Well well. It's their first song uploaded to SoundCloud. They've got like, 12 followers on SoundCloud. But if this first offering is anything to go by, there will be some very nice tunes to come - the familiarity of pop with overtones of fragility and dark atmospheres that do come from everyday life.

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Listen to RÁJ on Soundcloud
Follow RÁJ on Twitter
Check RÁJ on Tumblr

CHILDHOOD SEMESTER

If there's like, nothing out there about a band or artist - as in, they don't have a Facebook page or Twitter account - then the only way to find out information is to google 'em (it's the verb so I ain't capitalising anything). However, with an ungoogleable name like Childhood, that could be pretty tricky. A lot of people now are taking the one-everyday-word-is-all-I/we-need stance when it comes to band names and aliases. Which I don't mind at all. I actually quite like it. What I don't like is being unable to find out anything. Luckily, Childhood are on FB and twitz so it's ok, don't worry. Just sayin' was all.

Anyway, they are a four-piece/quartet/four-person-band from London. Made up of Ben Romans Hopcraft, Leo Dobsen, Daniel Salamons and Jonny Williams, they describe themselves as a "hot boyband" - you be the judge of that. They're pretty handsome, I'll say that much. But I'm not here to judge looks. This ain't a beauty contest yo. This is a music contest. Minus the contest part.

So anyway, this song is called 'Semester' and it's a wonderfully distorted number that has a really nicely produced bass, a real low-low gravelly sound, something you often don't get with this brand of lo-fi indie pop, which is quite refreshing.

The vocals, with a similar yet Southern-accented yearning and confidence displayed in the past by Alex Turner, are backed up by "ooo-ooo"s that give it a nice pop hook - something retro about that too. There's a grey sky feel to the song, something distinctly English in the sound. The guitars jangle with light distortion in the verses, scream away completely overdriven in the chorus sections, and later on in the bridge get completely shoegazey with heavy doses of flanger - that's whilst the drums go intermittently go mental with a lot cymbal bashing.

It's a nice sound overall - decidedly raw, especially the drums, which sound as if I could be hearing them from next-door, and slightly bleak yet with the friendly jangle and catchiness of pop that will make Childhood a quite-sure hit, if they aren't already. This is the AA-side (what? I thought it was "B-side"?) from a single with another song of theirs, 'Solemn Skies'. You can buy that here.

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THE ORWELLS WHO NEEDS YOU [VIDEO]

I know I don't often post about bands so much - I am not sure why that is. Before I began writing this post I was wondering, "Why is that?" and I thought that perhaps bands are more likely to have management, PR, etc. than people sitting in their bedrooms (horrible stereotype but there you go) making electronic music. So people who make electronic music are more numerous. Thus they're easier to find. Thus I post about them a little bit more and GOD what a horrid and pretentious word "thus" is. I'm sorry about that. Anyway, I might be wrong, ok? So don't worry.

Here we have The Orwells with a nice chirpy song called 'Who Needs You'. I first heard about The Orwells, a band from Chicago, when Palma Violets were talking on the radio about touring with them in America. They played one of their songs and I liked it. Fast forward to now, and I am finally getting around to writing about them. I still have "The Orwells" scrawled on a scrappy piece of paper somewhere as a crappy reminder.

It's a bouncy, rhythmically distorted number that has more in common with English stuff like The Libertines, for example - just listen to those staccato chords at the end of each chorus cycle: positively brimming with the pogo-bop of pop-punk. The drums are thick and create a dancefloor stomper, and the instruments don't overwhelm the vocals, instead being given their own, voice-free chance to shine. Speaking of the vocals, in fact, they're unique in their rich and raspy yelling, something that you wouldn't necessarily expect with this kind of music - something more high-pitched and affected would be more the kind of thing. For me anyway. However, it works perfectly. In fact, I love the vocals in this song. I think they are what give it their kinda indefinable edge - you can detect urgency and energy with them. The music backs them up very nicely.

The Who Needs You EP will by out 9th September (UK; 10th US). More juddering sounds to keep the onset of Autumn at bay, I hope!

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IKEBANA ALONE [VIDEO]

Flau Records, based in Tokyo, seems to have been putting out some very nice music recently. There's a decent list of artists versed in many things from folk pop to experimental electronica - for instance, Twigs & Yarn, whom I wrote about on Thursday. And yesterday, from the same wonderful label, came 'Alone' by IKEBANA.

Touted as a kind of ambient shoegaze, IKEBANA is a female duo from Japan made up of Maki and En - both have musical backgrounds, though it feels as though the both of them won't be moving onto anything different anytime soon; it seems that they enjoy very much the music that they are currently making together. How can I tell? Well judging from this song, I think if anyone can play such simplistic music with such feeling it says something about how much they're getting into it.

It's a very easy song to get lost in. With all the minimalism and beauty of its namesake (ikebana = 生け花 = "living flowers" or simply "flower arranging") it sparkles in a very understated way. Try for yourselves.

The first thing I noticed about this song was its opening chord: it's exactly the same as the chord that opens 'Suedehead' by Morrissey - whether that was a conscious thing or not, I dunno; it's still a very nice chord anyway.

Speaking of the guitar chords, they are the main base to this song, always played in the same pattern yet not moving around too drastically, giving a sense of droning, almost like organ music transcribed for the guitar. The voice, softly singing over the chords, is pure-sounding, with just a little echo dabbed onto its tail-end. A simple guitar melody is pinged just after each chorus (the lyrics to which run, "Go away / alone / ooo, ooo / run away / alone / ooo, ooo" - simple and sung so prettily), the same each time, wonderfully effective and uses the space between each note to allow the sound to breathe and resonate organically. Nice.

After the last chorus the guitar chords are set to flanger, slowly warping like water going down a plug hole as the song fades away with the solo guitar still making its delicate sounds over the top, like a dreamy boat on an electrolyte sea. I nearly got swept away when I first listened to this with my eyes closed. It's spacey and shoegazey, that's for sure.

Anyway, it's from new album when you arrive there set for release 8th July - on Flau, of course.
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SLOPPY JOE ONCE AND FOR ALL

I watched a documentary about The Smiths the other day. It was on the BBC and it was kind of informative but really it was just nice to be reminded of a band that I really do like. They're one of those bands that are always in the background - for instance, I've amassed quite a few of their CDs and whilst I don't play them much nowadays, it's just nice to know that they're there. Do you understand what I mean by that? Well, whether you do or you don't, the fact of the matter is that they are a very nice band that kind of live in the past, unaffected and unaltered by anything that happens now. Cause they don't exist anymore. Yep.

But then I remembered that I had seen something really interesting before that documentary - or should I say, heard something really interesting. And very nice. And quite cool. It's a song called 'Once And For All' by a Japanese band called Sloppy Joe. I went back and listened to the song and thought yes I just have to write about this. They're a band from Tokyo who really like guitar music of the 80s, so you can understand perhaps why I led in with the stuff about The Smiths - this song captures the Smiths-sound aesthetic pretty much perfectly. From the jangling light-as-air guitar to the warbling voice, this is a great song and even more great if you're a fan of The Smiths.

Have a listen yo.

Lovely. The drums are particularly stand-out, with rolls and fills that are as much a delight to the ear as, I dunno, sherbet is to the tongue. Fizzy and unexpected. Although much of the lyricism is lost due to the vocal style, it's that very vocal style that I love - it just sounds nice, filled with all the longing expected of a song that sounds like this. In addition, there is a surprise bit of trumpet that really and beautifully works with the song, like a fanfare for the musical style that these guys clearly love.

You could say that it's completely aping The Smiths (in fact I think it does sound quite a bit like 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side'), but then you'd be an idiot. Why? Because The Smiths were The Smiths and that was 'back then'. This band has come around a few decades afterwards and therefore has an ocean of different music to be inspired by (which, just by one look at their Facebook page, is very extensive indeed); if anything, Sloppy Joe are showing their love and appreciation for music of a certain era by creating songs that evoke that era. Everything sounds new - how can it be a copy?

And if you truly liked that jangly 80s vibe, then you'd love more bands to sound like Sloppy Joe.

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ON AN ON GHOSTS

This is the quite lovely and nice sound of a little band from America called ON AN ON with a song called 'Ghosts'. Yes, I'm doing it again, the song is old, blah blah blah.

Who cares. Maybe I should even just stop pointing that fact out. It's late and I'm tired. Sorry.

There is something about this song that is quite magical. To be honest, this style is not the kind of music that I'd listen to out of choice - the intro sounds a bit like THAT Snow Patrol song, for one, and that put me off straight away. But I am quite happy to say that my opinion changed quite quickly. There's so much going in the song in terms of interesting sounds and dynamics and stuff that makes it really nice to listen to. When I first listened a few weeks ago I was watching the video below along with it. Suffice to say it's mesmerising.

Mellow.

I love the faraway vocals (first lyrics are fab) and the endless quality of the gently strummed guitar, in fact the endless quality of the whole thing - it is a panoramic camera forever turning slowly around a mountain scene with cold clouds and marching pines, with smoke coming from some undefined point that drifts just as endlessly. That's what I get from it. A nice expansive sound.

But there are also really quality details that just make my ear hairs tingle when I hear them. The sometimes explosive drum snare, like a pile of cardboard boxes toppling over, is wonderful, as are a lot of the drum noises: especially the barely-audible taps and the lush paradiddles that pop out of the jumble of guitar sounds. There is also a very nice guitar noise at about 3 minutes 30 in the video. The bass, too, especially when it is alone at that same break in the song sounds gorgeous and clean-yet-unpolished. Never thought I'd be going into such raptures over this kind of indie-rock-I-guess but this one's good innit. Comes from album Give In which is out now.

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SUBURBAN LIVING ALWAYS EYES // COOPER'S DREAM EP

Ah yeah I like these vibes a lot. Perfect name. Now here's something I can seriously get on board with - Suburban Living. My my, if there's anybody who knows about suburban living it's a man from the suburbs (still IN the damn suburbs). But I can imagine that an all-American, apple-pie, movie-soundtrack suburb is rather different from this English suburb by the Thames. This music actually doesn't really fit here. Round here it's garage. That's the soundtrack for this place. Pretend-you're-urban kind of thing you know. But ENOUGH. This ain't about me.

This is about, as I said, Suburban Living - the musical moniker for the real world person, Wesley Bunch (pictured above). So yeah maybe it's all the American culture that we absorb absent-mindedly over here, but there seems to be this borrowed nostalgia around the sun-drenched American suburbs of yesteryear, a lived-in feeling that makes us yearn for a dream that we never had about an ephemeral place to which we've never been. Ah yes. All those yesterdays we never had. Ahem.

It's that kind of feeling that this song, 'Always Eyes', evokes. Yeah with its jangle-echoing guitars that seem lighter than air and the thin reverbed vocals, it's pretty and ambient, driven along by brash 80s-style drums. Delicate synths clothe the verse of the song like water on oil. But it's synths that make the chorus fun. It's down to these that give the chorus its catchy vocal hook that belies its touching lyrical content, such as, "Why did I wait, why did I wait for you, why did I waste my time?" The breakdown at like the start of the last quarter of the song is great - joyful - complete with epic drum rolls.

Lovely isn't it? Well nice. This song comes as Mr Bunch's latest release off the back off the tantalisingly named Cooper's Dream EP. And yes, it was inspired - in part at least - by the indefatigable cult TV series Twin Peaks. Ah Cooper, you and your zany ways.

From first song - honest, light-diatribe of 'I Don't Fit In' - it's an outing that, if you like 'Always Eyes', you'll enjoy quite a lot I can imagine. Stop-start hi-hats and acrobatic bass in 'Give Up' lead up to its climax washed with guitar distortion, whilst 'Prom' is a synth-fest of 80s proportions, punchy drum machines below simmering synths. 'Float In Clouds' gallops along, stopping for the verse where space in the sound and occasional guitar strums do float on air, then gallops onward. The ballad of title track 'Cooper's Dream' is spookily reminiscent of Twin Peaks in its sound; slower than the others and somewhat more emotive because of this reason, it could be the best track. Maybe I'm biased. Have a listen.

Dream pop, thy name is Suburban Living.

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FIDLAR MAX CAN'T SURF // NO WAVES

Lots of nice music comes from where it's sunny and people can write songs about surfing and skateboarding and having fun on the beach. Have you ever noticed that? It's carefree and the same colour as the sun, kind of a white-yellow. Which is, like, the happiest ever colour. Cause it's the sun. There just seems to be an atmosphere of fairer weather, tanneder skin and funner lives in music that comes from these areas. Mainly I mean California. Los Angeles (sorry acronym fans) in particular. That's where FIDLAR are from.

Yes that's the one, FIDLAR - a four-piece band. What would you call them? Post-punk? Everything's post-punk though, isn't it? What a stupid genre name. My cat is post-punk. My kitchen sink is post-punk. Jesus.

Let's just say they're rocky and abrasive and if you like lo-fi distorted guitars and just as distorted whelping-yelping-shouting vocals, then you're in for a treat. Huw Stephens actually had them as his nice music of the week this week on BBC Radio 1, so I thought now would be as good a time as any - to be precise it was their 2011 song 'Max Can't Surf' that pricked his ears. Mine too. Probably yours also. If y'ain't'eardit yet, listen B.Lowe to the video for 'Max Can't Surf':

Betcha thinkin' "Whoa all the members of the four-piece FIDLAR look well the same!" But whoa there, don't worry, relax, it's Max, from the band, dressed as everyone else. It's good cause it's the title of the song, but also because it's just one FIDLAR on the roof. References.

As for the song itself, ain't it just peachy? What I like most about it is the complete contrast between the rip-roaring shouts of the verse and the relative melodiosity of the sing-song chorus, always with the scratchscreech of the guitars, which sound like they're being battered. The lazy rhythm of the whole song, in fact, and the don't-care-whatever guitar stabs in the verse - and a lyrical treatment of weed - give it this beach bum quality that you can't help but dig undoubtedly.

Then there's this, Summer 2012's 'No Waves'.

Whew. Fun stuff. At least, the video looks like it was jokes to make. It totally captures the vibes that they seem to be going for. Yeah that's right, vibes captured. Done. Just like a Pokémon.

I suppose you could call this the flipside to what I mentioned at the beginning, the not-so-fun side of surfy-beach living. Namely that when there's no fun to be had it isn't fun anymore. Hence 'No Waves' I suppose (no waves no surf). It's very different to 'Max Can't Surf', yet it has all the same elements: jagged guitars, unintelligible serrated vocals and... that's it. A pogo-sticking sugar rush of a song, contrasting the high-velocity-fun-meets-crushing-boredom message of the lyrics (where you can hear them). But I like it. I like it a lot.

Their debut album, FIDLAR, is out noooww.

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ALT-J ∆ AN AWESOME WAVE

Finally. Finally. Finally.

Finally, I have drummed up enough energy to write about this amazing album. It truly is. From distorted sub-bass to folk guitar and literary references, this album has it all and delivers it in such a stylishly effortless way, allowing you to sit back and soak it all up like some kind of joyous land sponge with an addictive personality.

I saw that it'd been extensively covered online, yet the word of mouth is only just starting. So please start now, and please share these wonderful sounds to all of your friends. This can be enjoyed in any country, at any time of day, with any people, in any mood, by people of any age, any class, any musical preferences, any backgrounds. I think the word is 'universal'.

So anyway, this is alt-J, or ∆ if you like. The name is how to make that little triangle on Mac keyboards. As mentioned by bassist in the band, Gwil, "in mathematical equations it’s used to show change" and it couldn't have been more apt. The music on this fantastic album An Awesome Wave marks some kind of change: it's very different to a lot of what I've heard before.

Kindly enough the band put the whole album on SoundCloud. That's a tick next to their name. Not only this but they were also kind enough to provide notes to each song. It helps explain the album, which fortunately or unfortunately (depends how you look at it), needs a bit of explaining at some points. 'Intro' for example is described as having been originally called 'Nod to Canon' and in fact acts a tribute to "everything that we have unconsciously borrowed/stolen which has unwittingly contributed to our body of work to date."

That 'canon' encompasses Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are in 'Breezeblocks', Luc Besson's Leon in 'Matilda', Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr. and Robert Capa and Gerda Taro (two war photographers) in 'Taro'. In addition to fictional/well-known influences, there's the death of a matador referenced in 'Something Good', a childhood memory in 'Dissolve Me', and a violent experience in 'Bloodflood'. It's packed full to the brim of these influences and is perhaps what makes An Awesome Wave such an enjoyable listen.



For example, I didn't know anything about those war photographers. I looked them up when I first listened to the song. Now I know about them. Things that make new connections in the brain are quite exceptional. But really, alt-J have just used the simplest and most effective formula existing to create music: as Steve Jobs said, "Creativity is just connecting things."

I've already written too much, I'm so sorry. Musically, this album is just as good as it is conceptually. Some stand-out parts, then. There are the altered, guttural vocals on 'Intro' - highlighting the strength and unique nature of the vocals in general. Similarly, the refrained, subsequently layered and sung in a round style 'Please don't go, I love you so' in 'Breezeblocks' is sheer pleasure to listen to (same in 'Matilda' - you forget the power of repetition). The shivering, lusty vocal style in 'Tesselate' is something great too, sounding like whispers from the heart of the world. The refrain in 'Something Good' is beautifully catchy, too.

That song also includes a great drop into its more folksy part at around a quarter of the way into the track, blissfully sending you out in a row boat onto a lake bubbling with new and old sounds that come up to greet you like cartoon fish. The childish, happy rhythms of 'Dissolve Me' support the conceptual childhood memory that runs through the song lyrically and there's this beautiful nostalgia that is ingrained into all parts of that song just popping out of it like fireworks.

Juxtaposition of acoustic guitars (the first interlude, for example), vocal harmonies (splendorous in 'Ms' and the stunning hidden track 'Hand-Made') and real drum sounds with meaty and nearly disfiguring extended bass notes, wildly distorted and spine-straighteningly strong, is refreshing to hear. Strongest in 'Intro', 'Dissolve Me' and especially 'Fitzpleasure' (whose now-and-again guitar riff is hollow, hard and heavy), it's an example of the 'folk-step' sound they seemed to have created.

Just as brilliant creating energy and making you feel crazy as they are being prettily minimalistic and chilled (as in parts of 'Bloodflood' and 'Taro'), these diverse musicians seem set for great things. Could write even more. Says it all. Sorry for wasting your time. Buy this album.

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• alt-J on SoundCloud
• Here's their official site
• And their Tumblr page
• Here they are on Facebook
• This is their YouTube channel
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