The nine-person Brooklyn disco band Midnight Magic have released a suite of materials in the past week, in celebration of their new EP, What The Eyes Can’t See, out today on Midnight Sun Sound! Included in this post are their new video for “Drop Me A Line,” a Holy Ghost! remix of the same track, and a catchy B-side single called “Psycho For Your Love.” RAWR.
What The Eyes Can’t See EP Tracklist
1. What The Eyes Can’t See
2. Heat
3. Julio
4. Calling Out
5. Psycho For Your Love (Bonus)
6. Magic Midnight (Bonus)
Listen to Holy Ghost!’s remix for Midnight Magic’s “Drop Me A Line” – DOWNLOAD MP3
Listen to Midnight Magic’s “Psycho For Your Love” – DOWNLOAD MP3
Huh? The album art for British singer-songwriter J. Spaceman’s newest album Sweet Heart Sweet Light dons a white background, the outline of a stop sign, and the phrase “Huh?” It’s an interesting icon, especially for a man who has made his life’s work dodging media and disrupting critics, all the while releasing some of the most cherished music of the past few decades. Is it meant to confuse listeners? Should it signify a new direction for the band? More likely, it’s Spaceman’s subtle shrug of indifference to every listener.
But sadly, the album’s cover is the most interesting word or phrase used throughout the entirety of Sweet Heart Sweet Light. Lyrically, the album is a huge step back for J. Spaceman, otherwise known as Jason Pierce. Spiritualized’s lyrics have always been immediate at best, but there was a more heartfelt nature about them on past records. When Pierce sings, “I used up all my affection,” and “I lost all of my direction,” on “Get What You Deserve,” the execution is far from effective, and the character in the song is Pierce personified. Maybe you’re piqued by sentiments like “Love lights the flames when there’s hearts it can burn,” but on most of Sweet Heart Sweet Light, the messages are trite and over-simplified. And maybe taking lyrics out of context to make Pierce sound like a lazy songwriter is over-simplifying the issue, but one spin through the record, and it becomes blatantly obvious that brains behind Spiritualized was grasping at straws for subject matter.
Multicultural Sounds travels the world for contemporary reinventions of cultural staples.
Earlier this week, Portland-based electronic musician Jeffrey Jerusalem has put together a 60-minute mix of global dance sounds. 13 Months Of Sunshine: New Rhythms From Africa And Around The World comes just in time for the beginning of spring, sunshine, and the outdoors. Full tracklisting below, along with another extraordinary weird mix from two months ago (no tracklisting). Plenty more mixed are available on Jeffrey Jerusalem’s SoundCloud. There are some gems there, for sure.
Abayudaya – Psalm 136
Tinariwen – Tenere Taqqim Tossam (Four Tet Remix)
Cos Ber Zam – Ne Noya (Daphni mix)
Harmonious Thelonious – Mokambo
Aero Manyelo – Just In Time
Jusa Dementor – African Air Horn Dance
Oni Ayhun – Meets Shangaan Electro
Daphni – No Boundaries
MMM – Meets Tshetsha Boys
Africa Hi-Tech – Spirit
Ramadanman – Revenue (Untold Remix)
Debruit – NigeriaWhat?
Boogalo – Xibaba
Bokatola system and Evala Litongo – Lingala
Black Motion Featuring Jah Rich Banane Mavoko (Jose Marquez Remix)
Cesaria Evora – Angola (Carl Craig Remix)
Wally Badarou – One Day Won’t Give It Away
Abayudaya – We Are Happy
Oakland’s bringers of psych-jazz-drone are back! Freshly disconnected with the mostly obsolete Lovepump United, Clipd Beaks have just self-released WAKE, a six-track sampling of long-forgotten works they’ve recently dusted off for your listening pleasure. Album single, “All The Way Evil,” which you can download above, recalls both a nighttime drive through winding dark canyons and an intense oceanic quest filled with sea monsters. Sound appealing? Get into the zone and stream the entire album below!
Liars’ new record, WIXIW, wil be released on Mute on June 5th, 2012! Nobody knows how to pronounce it (!), but Liars do know how to embed the unpronounceable word (?) into all sorts of places and mediums, like street artists on crack. 2012 tour dates for WIXIW at the bottom of this post.
The video for “No. 1 Against The Rush,” directed by Todd Cole, is a dark and funky momma. And Angus Andrew is really tall.
As for the new single, “No. 1 Against The Rush” which comes out May 29th… uhhhhhhhhh. “Wow” might be the operative word. You can stream it for yourself now, on their Facebook page, to determine if that is a fitting description.
Lucky residents of New York and Los Angeles can see the band live shortly after the album release. That’ll probably still be good, right?
Wed 6/20 – Webster Hall – New York City
Fri 6/22 – The Music Box – Los Angeles
You know when an album is titled Pus City that it is going to be a sloppy, wild, rock and roll mess of chords, bass, drums, and howling vocals. Seattle’s Monogamy Party live up to the biography on their Facebook page — “we’re like a dance party for sociopaths.” Not sure I could describe the trio’s brand of noise rock any better.
Monogamy Party play fuzz-drenched noise rock circa fellow ex-city dwellers Big Business — only even more tripped and freaked out. Pus City comes blasting out on all three cylinders on the opening track “Never to Rise,” and doesn’t cease to stop until the record stops spinning. The album harkens back to a time when the city of Seattle was less known for beards and soft vocals and more for rock and roll played with such a reckless abandon it can hardly be considered music. Monogamy Party sound exactly like you would imagine they would, festering in a dark and dank bar, where the beer flows like urine and vomit.
With song titles like “Drunk or Dying” and “Fucking Out Your Brains,” it is clear Monogamy Party couldn’t care less. Dueling vocals howl and yelp throughout with bass guitars barely audible through their own mess of distortion pedals. “Covenant of Brothers” starts a bit slow and builds into a frenetic pace and just as quickly comes crashing down like an addict on cocaine. And who knows, Monogamy Party could be those addicts. This is the way rock and roll was meant to sound — terrible, frantic, and making you want to chug beers and throw the empty cans at the walls of your life around you.
Earlier this week, Portland-based electronic musician 
As for the new single, “No. 1 Against The Rush” which comes out May 29th… uhhhhhhhhh. “Wow” might be the operative word. You can 
You know when an album is titled Pus City that it is going to be a sloppy, wild, rock and roll mess of chords, bass, drums, and howling vocals. Seattle’s Monogamy Party live up to the biography on their Facebook page — “we’re like a dance party for sociopaths.” Not sure I could describe the trio’s brand of noise rock any better.
