Music Videos

120 Days

Pulsating lights and synths reflect a matrix universe wherein projections and lasers transform an entire room into a giant radiant disco ball. Constructed by Joakim Faxvaag, these visuals certainly don’t suspend disbelief — you can clearly see the strings — but the music, a driving ten-minute build into a space-age frenzy, insists that seeing the strings does not diminish the quality. Rather, it adds transparency, encouraging curiosity about the artistic process and overall production.

120 Days are a 4-piece from Oslo who released an acclaimed self-titled record in 2006. “Dahle Disco” is co-produced with Lindstrøm, and comes from 120 Days’ upcoming album, II, out now. Hear the vastly different track, “Osaka,” below, along with a remix by diskJokke.

120 Days – “Osaka” (diskJokke Remix)

120 Days – “Osaka” (Original)

Lindstrøm

The following track, “De Javu,” is from the album Six Cups Of Rebel, released February 7th via Smalltown Supersound. A short string of tour dates can be seen below, along with throwbacks to collaborations last year with Brooklynites Bear In Heaven. Expect more remixes from Lindstrom soon, for Owen Pallet, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Rub N Thug.

Lindstrøm – “De Javu” (Mark McGuire Remix)

Lindstrøm – “De Javu” (Original)

LINDSTROM’S NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
Fri. March 16 – San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine
Sun. March 18 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
Thu. May 24 – Denver, CO @ Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
Fri. May 25 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Sat. May 26 – Toronto, ON @ Wrong Bar
Sun. May 27 – Detroit, MI @ Hart Plaza [Movement Electronic Music Festival]

Bear In Heaven

For Record Store Day last year, Bear In Heaven covered Lindstrøm & Christabelle’s “Lovesick,” from their full-length collaboration, Real Life Is No Cool. In turn, Lindstrøm remixed “Lovesick Teenagers” from the Brooklyn band’s Beast Rest Forth Mouth. There’s no doubt they amused themselves with this play on words. No doubt. Full Bear In Heaven tour dates HERE, along with their music video for “Reflection Of You”.

Bear In Heaven – “Lovesick Teenagers” (Lindstrøm Remix)

Bear In Heaven – “Lovesick Teenagers” (Original)
DOWNLOAD MP3

Bear In Heaven – “Lovesick” (Lindstrøm & Christabelle Cover)

Lindstrøm & Christabelle – “Lovesick” (Original)

At first blush, Grimes’ latest full-length, Visions, may seem like a trendy dance-pop album. Go a bit deeper, and you’ll see it’s not that easy to describe. The Grimes wave was a bit slow to wash over me at first, but once it did, it engulfed completely, making me incapable of choosing anything else to listen to. Grimes is one of those artists that became an indie internet sensation before anyone (in the US) knew who she actually was, even though she had been quietly putting out records on Montreal-based label Arbutus for the past few years. The project of Claire Boucher, Grimes has developed from lo-fi home recording natural to a studio-production pro. Her layering of harmonies on top of harmonies on top of electronic-sounding keyboards might seem cold to some, but the vibe the music actually creates is warm and inviting.

How is this achieved? Let’s start with the intro: “Infinite ♡ Without Fulfillment” is a telling and perfectly designed entrée into the Visions world, both in music and lyrical content. A juxtaposition of both indie rock and dance music, it sets the tone of the record and leads perfectly into the beautiful “Genesis” and the mystical “Oblivion,” a yearning dance song at its core. The rest of the album wobbles a bit but remains steady in its fun energy content. “Nightmusic,” which features frequent Grimes collaborator Majical Clouds, has a steady up and down beat that surrounds Boucher’s voice with a beautiful stage. The bass is often thumping in the background of Visions, like a racing heartbeat, true to the overarching romantic theme of the record.

REVIEW CONTINUED BELOW

To me, it is the mellow tracks, such as the haunting “Visiting Statue,” that are most fascinating and stick with me the longest. They aren’t over-layered or too complex, and they take awhile to grow on the ear, but once they do, the whole album shifts magically into place. On these tracks, Boucher’s voice is powerful and accented regardless of all the bells and whistles, as evident on her earlier records. Other times, he synthy embellishments are good for the dance floor (“Be a Body” especially) but feel overdone. “Circumambient,” a clear club-banger, seems rather one-dimensional, focused around its dance music capabilities alone. Some of the songs (“Vowels = Space and Time”) become a bit lost in their own self-conscious disco-hipness. Grimes’ earlier music felt much more grounded in reality, even if they were a little obscure. Boucher’s voice, which has been tampered with on Visions, seemed more stripped down in previous efforts. Yet the mellow flourish on “Skin,” the closing track of the album, wraps a nice bow around the album. A dreamy haze of a song, “Skin” leads into the outro, and it is much less dance-pop than the rest of the record, calling back to Geidi Primes in its trance-like and moody nature.

The worry that exists with a musician like Grimes, who is trending with the current pulse of indie music, is that she will get too caught up and not move beyond. Her being a prolific artist in touch with many genres – one who fluidly combines them and brings one to the surface while another fades – is the key asset to Grimes’ future. She has proved herself to be a chameleon thus far. Only time will tell if this can persist, evolve, and hold the attention of an often fastidious music community from which Grimes grew.

END.

“To me, the celebration of life is also about being free of fear, even if it is only for moments.” – Tobias Stretch

Occult symbols aren’t taken too seriously in this video for Nite Jewel’s “One Second Of Love”, which combines dance (complete with floor moves) with a pop-and-locking, gyrating calavera-headed creature. At the breakdown, all glamour turns nasty, as in: a scantily-clad character straight out of a bounce video and black squid ink vomit. A well-orchestrated video that adds low-brow humor to generally inaccessible modern dance routines.

Nite Jewel’s upcoming record, One Second Of Love, will be released March 6th, 2012 on Secretly Canadian. Full tracklisting below, along with upcoming tour dates with Chairlift.

ONE SECOND OF LOVE TRACKLISTING
1) This Story
2) One Second of Love
3) She’s Always Watching You
4) Mind & Eyes
5) In The Dark
6) Memory, Man
7) Unearthly Delights
8) No I Don’t
9) Autograph
10) Clive

NITE JEWEL TOUR DATES
(w/ Chairlift, unless indicated)
Mar 14-17 SXSW – Austin, TX
Mar 26 Brighton Music Hall – Boston, MA
Mar 27 Il Motore – Montreal, QC
Mar 28 Legendary Horseshoe Tavern – Toronto, ON
Mar 29 Magic Stick – Detroit, MI
Mar 30 Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
Mar 31 Triple Rock Social Club – Minneapolis, MN
Apr 03 Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO
Apr 04 Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
Apr 06 Electric Owl – Vancouver, BC
Apr 07 The Crocodile – Seattle, WA
Apr 08 Doug Fir – Portland, OR
Apr 10 The Independent – San Francisco, CA
Apr 11 Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA
Apr 12 The Casbah – San Diego, CA
Apr 14 The Crescent Ballroom – Phoenix, AZ
Apr 16 Club Dada – Dallas, TX
Apr 17 The Mohawk – Austin, TX
Apr 18 One Eyed Jacks – New Orleans, LA
Apr 19 The Earl – Atlanta, GA
Apr 20 Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC
Apr 21 U Street Music Hall – Washington, DC
Apr 22 Johnny Brendas – Philadelphia, PA
Apr 24 Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY w/ Sophia Knapp and more TBD

Bear In Heaven go hyper warp-speed, a shade mustacheless, and definitely hi-resolution on their new video for “Reflection Of You,” directed by John Lee of the PFFR art collective. Is it obnoxious? Kind of. But if you stick around to the halfway point, you’ll be introduced to an awkward confetti-drenched disco ball of a man oozing around like a drunk, maracas, and glitched out dancers. This really is as brilliant as it is obnoxious — but that’s just their style, really (you’ll know for sure if you watch the video interviews).

Interview with Bear In Heaven from SXSW, HERE.
Details on their upcoming album release, I Love You It’s Cool HERE.
Tour dates below with some of our favorites, Young Magic.

BEAR IN HEAVEN TOUR DATES
* Doldrums
#Young Magic
^ Blouse
2/29/12 – Larsen Student Union – Grantham, PA
3/03/12 – The Space – Hamden, CT
3/09/12 – Voyeur – Philadelphia, PA
3/12/12 – Club DeVille Tumbler Party – Austin, TX
3/12/12 – Speakeasy – Austin, TX
3/15/12 – The Mohawk – Austin, TX
3/16/12 – Urban Outfitters – Austin, TX
3/28/12 – Andy Warhol Museum – Pittsburgh, PA *
3/29/12 – The Bishop – Bloomington, IN *#
3/30/12 – The Basement – Columbus, OH *#
3/31/12 – MOTR Pub – Cincinnati, OH *#
4/01/12 – The Luminary Center for the Arts – St. Louis, MO *#
4/04/12 – Casbah – San Diego, CA * ^
4/05/12 – The Echo – Los Angeles, CA * ^
4/08/12 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA * ^
4/12/12 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR * ^
4/13/12 – The Crocodile – Seattle, WA * ^
4/14/12 – The Biltmore Cabaret – Vancouver, BC * ^
4/17/12 – 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN * ^
4/18/12 – Schubas – Chicago, IL * ^
4/20/12 – Zanzabar – Louisville, KY * ^
4/21/12 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN * ^
4/22/12 – Hi-Tone Cafe – Memphis, TN * ^
4/24/12 – The Parish – Austin, TX * ^
4/25/12 – Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX * ^
4/26/12 – The Bottletree – Birmingham, AL * ^
4/27/12 – The Earl – Atlanta, GA * ^
4/28/12 – Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC * ^
4/29/12 – Kings Barcade – Raleigh, NC * ^
5/01/12 – Black Cat Backstage – Washington, DC * ^
5/02/12 – First Unitarian Church – Philadelphia, PA * ^
5/03/12 – Brighton Music Hall – Allston, MA * ^
5/04/12 – La Sala Rossa – Montreal, QC* ^
5/05/12 – The Garrison – Toronto, ON * ^
5/06/12 – The Haunt – Ithaca, NY * ^
5/08/12 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY * ^
5/09/12 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY * ^

AU’s music is insane — in a marching band out of a circus hall-of-mirrors kind of way. Senses of up and down and left and right are obliterated in maximalist fashion; their recent Into The Woods session utilizes quick cuts galore to highlight the Portland band’s trumpet-sax-guitar-drum-keys madness. It matters little that they’re performing in an extremely modest living room, or that there’s people hanging around in the background doing nothing constructive. Such is the epic and frenetic energy of AU: like noise-thrash musicians turned band camp leaders and slowed down only temporarily by brief vocal meditations on meditating.

The band is releasing its third full-length album, Both Lights, on Hometapes on April 3 and in the UK via The Leaf Label on April 2. We at REDEFINE are also excited to announce that AU are playing our upcoming SXSW showcase on Friday, March 16th, at House Of Commons. Their other tour dates can be seen below, where they will be touring the United States and Europe with a host of ridiculously awesome bands.

Directed by Hannah Gregg
Edited by Steve Wyshywaniuk
Audio by Jeff Hylton Simmons
Camera by Steve Wyshywaniuk, Rodrigo Melgarejo, Jaclyn Campanaro
Words by Will Giardino (which can be seen HERE)

AU TOUR DATES
* = w/ Deerhoof
¥ = w/ The Dodos
# = w/ The Velvet Teen
¼ = w/ Built To Spill, Typhoon & Y La Bamba
+ = w/ Said The Whale
^ = w/ Tu Fawning, Parenthetical Girls & Grandparents
& = w/ Aan
¢ = w/ Zulu Winter & Choir Of Young Believers
£ = w/ Country Trash
% = w/ Leverage Models
~ = w/ Xiu Xiu
! = w/ Blues Control
@ = w/ The Thermals
$ = w/ Dungen
02/25 Sacramento, CA Bows And Arrows
02/26 San Francisco, CA Noise Pop Festival at Great American Music Hall ¥
03/03 Portland, OR The Doug Fir ^
03/08 Santa Cruz, CA Crepe Place
03/09 Los Angeles, CA The Echo $
03/10 Tucson, AZ Plush +
03/11 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room #+
03/13 Santa Fe, NM SOL at Santa Fe Brewing *
03/14 – 03/17 Austin, TX SXSW
03/18 Wichita, KS Rock Island Live
03/19 Lawrence, KS The Replay
03/20 Denver, CO The Hi Dive &
03/21 Boulder, CO The Cherryvale
03/22 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court &
03/24 Boise, ID Treefort Music Festival ¼
03/29 Brooklyn, NY Cameo Gallery %
04/04 Zurich, CH Papiersaal
04/05 Faenza, IT Clandestino
04/06 Rome, IT Init
04/07 Terni, IT Palmetta
04/09 Vienna, AT WUK ~
04/10 Munich, DE Kranhalle at Feierwerk ~
04/11 Berlin, DE Festsaal Kreuzberg ~
04/12 Hamburg, DE Kampnagel ~
04/14 Warsaw, PL Cafe Kulturalna
04/15 Wroclaw, PL Puzzle
04/17 Gent, BE Video
04/18 Liege, BE Le Fiacre
04/20 Metz, FR Les Trinitaires
04/22 Rotterdam, NL Worm !
04/27 Paris, FR Keep Portland Weird Festival @
04/28 Bergen, NO Bergen Kjott $
04/29 Oslo, NO Revolver
05/02 Stockholm, SE Fritz’s Corner at Lilla Hotelbaren
05/03 Copenhagen, DK Huset i Magstraede
05/05 Luxembourg, LU EXIT07

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 our interview with Emily Pothast about Midday Veil and her record label, Translinguistic Other

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