In Midday Veil’s new video for “Moon Temple,” vocalist Emily Pothast has edited source material she and guitarist Timm Mason generated last year during a residency at Experimental Television Center in Upstate New York. At its gentlest, the video is a silky smooth ripple; at its most severe, a rigid and noisy gallop through harsh-edged brain wave terrain. Pothast guides you to step through purple-hued worlds as she morphs from a candle-wielding human into multiple faces of sensuality, to disintegrate in and out of forms of ghostly apparition. 23:50 in duration, “Moon Temple” is the type of video you’d want to project on a big screen, for a richly synesthesic experience.

The band has just finished mixing The Current, their second studio album with producer Randall Dunn (Boris, Sunn o)))). Stream the entire improvised EP below, and catch them on a string of tour dates, including a set at the upcoming REDEFINE SXSW showcase at House of Commons, Austin. (More details and full lineup coming soon, and you can see last year’s recap HERE.)

Read an interview with Emily Pothast about Midday Veil and her record label, Translinguistic Other HERE.

MIDDAY VEIL TOUR DATES
March 1 Rat & Raven, Seattle, WA
March 3 Bad for Jazz # 12 at SPACE, Seattle, WA
March 9 Pastime Tavern, Dallas, TX
March 10 SXSW Runoff Fest at Super Happy Fun Land, Houston, TX
March 11 Cafe Istanbul w/ PSYCHIC ILLS & WOODSMAN, New Orleans, LA
March 15 Austin Psych Fest SXSW Party, Spiderhouse, Austin, TX
March 16 Redefine Magazine Showcase, House of Commons, Austin, TX

YEAR ZERO

Vehicles, dirt, and griminess recalling those from Black Mountain’s video for “Old Fangs” receive a colorful lift via projections in caves, beautiful sunsets, hot babes, and… surf footage? Black Mountain have surprisingly teamed up with skate and surf company GLOBE to create a [heavily electronic influenced?] soundtrack for the upcoming surf film, Year Zero. Below is the trailer (which looks slow-motion fantastic) and a SoundCloud stream of their new track, “Mary Lou,” which will be found on the soundtrack for Year Zero.

Globe describe the film, saying:

YEAR ZERO is a modern take on high performance surfing set in a post-apocalyptic world, reminiscent of Mad Max or an HG Wells novel. It tells a story of a band of renegade surfers, including Dion Agius, Yadin Nicol, Nate Tyler, Taj Burrow, CJ Hobgood and Damien Hobgood, on a road trip through the apocalypse in search of waves, women, and good times. The film’s original soundtrack by BLACK MOUNTAIN, whom VICE MAGAZINE has called, “One of the best rock n’ roll bands of our time,” creates a sonic landscape that fully delivers the immersive experience that director Joe G envisioned for the film.

The film was shot on location around the world entirely in super 16mm film and offers a unique concept with stunning visuals that capture the essence of surfing in a novel setting. YEAR ZERO follows GLOBE’S previous award winning productions such as SECRET MACHINE and NEW EMISSIONS OF LIGHT AND SOUND and is undoubtedly GLOBE’S largest film project to date.

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN

Pitchfork describes YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN as “psych-opera.” Press point yarn. This is not psych-opera, dudes; at least, not in musical style. When in consideration of YT//ST, one is inundated with hype terminology — including the band’s calling themselves “Noh(能)-Wave” (aka Traditional-Japanese-Dance-Theatre-Wave) and even more obnoxiously, “hyper-orientalist.”

While I am all for incorporating multicultural influences into one’s music, there is a degree of intense Asian fetishism present in YT//ST’s schtick that translates to their image in an arguably trite way. “Queens,” “Reverse Crystal // Murder of a Spider,” and “Hoshi Neko” from their new record certainly have moments of genre-crossing excellence. I don’t want to take away from that. But the music itself is not really opera, barely psychedelic, and definitely not hyper-orientalist, save for the use of the Japanese language. The genres that are crossed are more steeped in noise, metal, and pop; the hyper-orientalism plays out in facepaint (presumably in honor of Asian opera), music videos that seem a bit “tokidoki”, and pop art paper sculpture sets.

YT//ST call themselves a multi-disciplinary art collective, and they incorporate illustration and installation art into their performances. Fantastic! The way of the future! I admire their impetus! But what is it about Japanese and Asian culture that makes such emulation and fetishism culturally acceptable? While it is true that the two main ladies behind the project are themselves of mixed Asian heritage, at what point is it genuine, and at what point kitsch? These are just some things to contemplate while you decide yourself, via album stream and live performance video, below.
See an interesting discussion with PRINCE RAMA bout the topic of genuine versus kitsch HERE.

Swahili Blonde

Swahili Blonde also incorporate different multiple genres to break new musical territory. But at least their comparison points are actually rooted in discernible influences rather than just ridiculous buzz words. Yes — in Swahili Blonde you can hear evidence of the “unconventional dubby art-rock,” “Caribbean influences,” and “angular funk” of which they speak. And hell, though they didn’t use the description of “psych-opera,” I hear it more in their music and see it more in their visuals than in YT//ST’s. Their record, Psycho Tropical Ballet Pink, came out late last year, and the tracks “Etoile De Mer” and “Purple Ink” are great examples of genuine experimental groovy weirdness, not just emulation and fetishism. Stream the entire record below.

Directed by Burke Roberts.

Wooden Shjips

If you weren’t convinced that about everyone ever is jumping on the remix bandwagon, we now have psych rock staples Wooden Shjips growing a third dance eye. Remixes, out February 21st, 2012, on Thrill Jockey Records, is a 28-minute 12″ EP featuring three remixes: “Crossing” from Andrew Weatherall, “Wiking Stew” from Sonic Boom (Pete Kember of Spacemen 3) and “Ursus Maritimus” from Kandodo (Simon Price of The Heads) w/ Ripley. Available now for pre-order on limited crystal clear vinyl with black streaks, and this shit is going to be good.

REMIX

ORIGINAL

Young Magic – “Night In The Ocean” (S.Maharba Serpent Love Song Remix)

We’ve been diggin’ on the new Young Magic record, Melt, with a palpable degree of excitement (you can stream the whole record here). These dudes really know how to market. First they dropped a bunch of EPs; then they dropped an album and a bunch of remixes — with each building momentum, each creating a bigger snowball that will ultimately go down as some Young Magic legacy, probably.

REMIX

ORIGINAL

Martin Denny – “The Enchanted Sea” (Young Magic Remix)

As a related added bonus: here is a Martin Denny’s “The Enchanted Sea,” which will lull you into some crazy mystic water raft. Always a treat when indie musicians can remix from largely untapped sources. Awash in blissful sound, ye! Avast!

REMIX

ORIGINAL

Blondes

On February 7th, Blondes released their latest double LP (appropriately titled BLONDES 2XCD) on RVNG Intl. It’s killer, and seems to be a next step in blurring the ridiculously segmented worlds of indie electronic music and club electronic music. Other remixes include “Pleasure,” remixed by Robert Miles (yes! Robert Miles! though this is available only as a digital exclusive), “Gold,” remixed by Laurel Halo, and “Business,” remixed by John Roberts. Amongst others.

REMIX

Teengirl Fantasy’s remix of “Wine” from the Blondes self-titled album remixes (RVNGNL12).

ORIGINAL

Whitney Houston – “How Will I Know” (Chromeo Remix)

In honor of the fallen lady of R&B, Chromeo have put together a new version of “When The Night Knows,” treated up in the usual Chromeo ’80s way. For max comparison, we’ve included an A Capella version of the track, as well as a music video from the 1991 track, so you can see Whitney at the height of her game.

A CAPELLA VERSION

ORIGINAL

Krautrock blends with pop on “Rituals,” the single from Death and Vanilla’s upcoming self-titled album. The Swedish duo’s video begins with a masquerade party, lulling one into a Eyes Wide Shut-type scenario of magick and mystery. As the track then progresses and speeds up, viewers are invited to descend down a black and white tunnel of geometries and fast cuts before everything tapers out again into mellow vibes and a burst of color. All of the footage is taken from five different art house productions and then manipulated by the band. Films are credited below.

The band tells REDEFINE a little bit about the creative process behind “Rituals” and how that ties in with the video:

“Rituals” is a quite hypnotic track as are the films in the video. There is a still and slow melody over an underlying restless rythm that gives this kind of haunting feel to the song. But there is nothing scary about it; it is just rhythm that never come to a rest… The musical elements of Rituals are collages of rythms and sampled sounds that we’ve put together almost at random and the song just emerged by itself almost. It’s the case of pieces falling to place by themselves.

VIDEO SOURCES
Derek Jarman : Art Of Mirrors (1973)
Harry Smith : Early Abstractions (1946-57)
Georges Franju : Judex (1963)
Aldo Tambellini : ?
Marcel Duchamp : Anemic Cinema (1926)

Information about the album release is below!

DEATH AND VANILLA – DEATH AND VANILLA TRACKLISTING
01. Rituals
02. Dreams Of Sheep
03. Cul De Sac
04. The Somnambulists
05. The Unseeing Eye
06. From Elsewhere
07. Library Goblin
08. The Clearing
09. The Unseeing I

Release date: Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
Limited editions of 300 copies in 12″ yellow coloured vinyl and 150 Digipack CDs
Co-release with Hands In The Dark and Kalligrammofon.

EARTH – Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II

We loved EARTH’s last record, as well as its album cover artwork from Seattle artist Stacey Rozich. Their latest, Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II comes out February 14th, 2012, on Southern Lord Records; it continues to build off the previous album’s improvisational energies with a slow slog through desert heat and bare farmlands.

In addition, lucky Seattlites get treated to a triple threat on February 25th, 2012, with what has effectively been billed a “A Very Special Triple Album Release Show”! Taking place at The Highline in Seattle, the show will include openers Low Hums and Cold Lake. $12 / 9PM / 21+

Grimes – Visions

We aren’t streaming Grimes latest album on our site, but you can stream the entire album on NPR. The upcoming album, Visions, will be co-released on February 21st, 2012, by 4AD in the United States and Arbutus Records in Canada. About it, the lady behind the project, Claire Boucher, says: “It is both an ethereal escape from, and a violent embrace of, my experience. The creative process is a quest for the ultimate sensual, mystical and cathartic experience and the vehicle for my psychic purging. Visions was conceived in a period of self-imposed cloistering during which time I did not see daylight.”

Full tour dates and tracklisting available here.

Royal Baths – Better Luck Next Life

With a fresh cross-country relocation and new record label under their belts, New York-based Royal Baths are back with Better Luck Next Life. Released February 7th, 2012, the album’s dark psych rock challenges listeners with an uneasy listen, particularly with intense vocal dissonances and twisted guitar experiments. It’s like Psychic Ills’ latest record in spirit, kind of, but with no holds barred and no lethargy. And trust us when we say that the recordings only do them partial justice; for the full experience, see them live and have your mindstate obliterated to their heavy instrumental plodding. See below for full list of tour dates and video for “Black Sheep.”

ROYAL BATHS TOUR DATES
2/7 – Death By Audio – Brooklyn, NY
2/8 – Kung Fu Necktie – Philidelphia, PA
2/9 – DC9 – Washington, DC
2/10 – The Blind Tiger – Greensboro, NC
2/12 – Black Cat – Boone, NC
2/13 – Voodoo Lounge – Huntsville, AL
2/14 – 529 – Atlanta, GA
2/17 – Parkside – Birmingham, AL
2/18 – Little Hamilton – Nashville, TN
2/19 – Zanzibar – Louisville, KY
2/20 – Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
2/21 – Skihouse – Carbondale, IL
2/22 – 7th St. Entry – Minneapolis, MN
2/25 – The Bog – Scranton, PA
2/27 – Monkey House – Burlington, VT
2/28 – Butcher Shoppe – Allston, MA
2/29 – Maxwell’s- Hoboken, NJ
3/5 – Knitting Factory- Brooklyn, NY
3/6 – Golden Harvest- Baltimore, MD
3/7 – Strange Matter- Richmond, VA
3/10 – Savannah Stopover – Savannah, GA
3/12 – The Texan- Corpus Cristi, TX
3/14 – 3/17 – SXSW- Austin, TX
3/22 – Spazz Fest – Greenville, NC
3/24 – Duke University Coffeehouse- Durham, NC

Hi-definition and hi-contrast color mix with black and white graininess in this new video for High Places’ “The Pull.” Examining naturalistic settings with the help of unnatural manmade light, the video, like the song, is at once romantic and unsettling. One is unsure of whether the florals are symbolic of sexuality or are merely just normal choices made strange under veil of black.

Track from their most recent album, Original Colors.

Directed by High Places.

Remember in grade school when there would be those school-wide hearing and vision test days? Gauntlet Hair is sort of like that, except the exact opposite. Instead of trying to identify soft beeps, you’re assaulted with some of the nosiest, most distorted guitar tracks I’ve heard in modern music. But no matter the amount of fuzzy lyrics or broken sounding bass drums on the album, it all works.

And therein lies the magic of Gauntlet Hair. From their first self-released demo to this debut effort, their sound as remained exactly the same, a muffled but insanely catchy mix of reverb and cymbal crashes. Take “Top Bunk” for instance, one of the better tracks on Gauntlet Hair; the vocals sound like they were recorded in an empty, 8,000 square foot warehouse. The words bounce off every wall, creating a dizzying effect that is only doubled by the keyboard snares and hollow bass. What pulls “Top Bunk” together, as is the case with many Gauntlet Hair tracks, is the bouncy surf-guitar rhythm.

Listen to “Top Bunk” – DOWNLOAD MP3

There are certainly deviations from that pattern as well, as some tracks take on a more distinct rock ‘n roll aesthetic, clinging less to their indie credentials and embracing classic motifs. “My Christ,” for instance, sounds like classic Soundgarden single played through an old broken boombox. But even on these more obvious sounding tracks, Gauntlet Hair is a force all unto itself, a unique sounding record that, love or hate the distortion, is sure to get stuck in your head. And credit to Gauntlet Hair for taking the road less traveled in terms of the album tracklist. Their previous single, released on hipster-chic label Forest Family Records, was omitted from the final product. There are no retreads on the album; all the material is completely new, which, in today’s landscape, is an accomplishment in and of itself. You’ll know from the first track whether you’re going to love or hate it, but Gauntlet Hair is absolutely worth checking out.

Gauntlet Hair “Keep Time” by DOJAGSC