King Dude (also known as T.J. Cowgill of occult clothing line Actual Pain) first came to my attention simply by being signed to Dais Records, an LA-based label that’s been home to a flock of neofolk bands and the like (notably, Cult of Youth, Tor Lundvall, and Cold Cave). The giant cut-out algiz on the sleeve of Love screamed Death In June style neofolk, but the music wasn’t exactly as I expected. Equal parts Douglas P. and Calvin Johnson, King Dude takes all my favorite aspects of Americana, European neofolk and shoegaze and creates something completely unique out of it. Dais’ description of the album hit it on the head: “Dark pagan-fueled folk wrapped tight with outsider Americana, steeped in themes of love, death and redemption.” Reverb washed vocals accompany equally spaced out acoustic guitars whose simple but effective arrangements conjure up feelings dark and majestic, foreboding, yet nostalgic.
The pressing on Dais is sold out through the label, but you can have a go at finding a copy in a brick and mortar shop, or you can purchase the digital version through King Dude’s Bandcamp. Listen to the whole album below.
Because nothing says “update your website” like a hot girl singing through swirling, psychedelic sands.
Am I the only one who has record shopping black outs? Like, you’re just sitting there minding your own business when the UPS guy shows up with a bunch of records? I guess I had that with Conatus, because who doesn’t spend their nights sipping Buffalo Trace and rage-buying Zola Jesus albums? I know this has been out for a few weeks now, but the day it arrived, it got stuck in a storage unit with every other earthly possession I own. Now that it’s unboxed, I’m starting to remember why I like the whole scary/sexy opera singer thing. Bonus points for having a song called “Hikikomori” on your album, because that’s what I want to become when I hear her music.
Back in February, we posted the blistering track “High Gold” from Liturgy‘s upcoming sophomore album, Aesthethica. With just a few days to go before the official release of the album, Liturgy has released a video for the third track from the album, “Returner”. While the music sounds like black metal, the video (and the new scene Liturgy is a part of) certainly raises the question of “what is black metal, today?”. After all, the more popular names in the genre have completely dropped the swords and sorcery imagery of the days of yore for something more psychedelic and thought provoking. Liturgy has harnessed their sound, creating an overwhelmingly chaotic, cathartic blast of searing chaos. The video for “Returner” is no different, having better production values than just about anything the genre has seen. With black metal originators ditching the genre, or releasing horrifyingly bad ‘comeback’ albums, I’m fine with the new direction the genre is taking. “Call of the Wintermoon“, it aint.
Last month, Portland’s very own “strange angel” Liz Harris (aka Grouper) released a pair of spacey drone ambient records collectively known as A I A. The lighter sounding (and more Grouper-esque) of the two records was titled Alien Observer. While Alien Observer drifts through the heavens both musically and lyrically, this Hamish Parkinson directed video for the title track finds itself much more down to earth. In fact, it takes place in the earth itself.
A I A is out now, but both LPs (sold separately) have completely sold out. Fortunately, rumor has it that there will be a repressing of both records this summer.
Because I’m really diggin’ that witch house thing, and because I just bought one of the last copies of Crack Witch in existence, here’s Mater Suspiria Vision‘s video for “Call of the Witches”. This spooky tribute to 70′s horror films, PCP and witches isn’t for everyone, but if you love yourself some campy occult jams, you’ll enjoy it.
Speaking of videogame music, The National‘s new single, “Exile Villify”, was released this week via the PC/Console game Portal 2. The gloomy piano-driven ballad sure sounds like a High Violet outtake to me, but there’s no word on whether or not this track will appear on an upcoming release.
Battles‘ debut album Mirroredwas one of those records that had been sitting in my “to listen” pile of records for far too long. Initially their frenetic, oft-nonsensical psychedelic escaped me – or maybe I’ve just never been one for math rock. It wasn’t until hearing their track “Atlas” play literally hundreds of times in a row while making my way through Sony’s world-creation masterpiece Little Big Planet that I became enamored with the belabored insanity of the track and the magic of Battles was unlocked to me.
Fast forward three years and Battles returns with Gloss Drop. Having lost their lead vocalist Tyondal Braxton (not sure if there’s any relation to Toni Braxton), the band has filled in the slots with a host of guest appearances, notably Gary Numan on “My Machines” and Mattias Aguayo on “Ice Cream”. The decidedly poppy ”Ice Cream” is the closest thing to “radio friendly” to appear in Battles’ catalog. Don’t be surprised if you hear this one appear on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” many times leading up to the June release of Gloss Drop. Hear the track below via SoundCloud.
Ford & Lopatin (previously known as Games) have unveiled the first single from their forthcoming LP Channel Pressure. With the first taste of the album, “Emergency Room” shows a slicker side of the dynamic duo’s music, which is produced by Prefuse 73 this time around. I’m sensing a lot of Gary Numan shining through in this track. In addition to the new single, F&L has released some details about the album. Channel Pressure is a bit of a concept album about ”a teenage anti-hero, violent robo-jocks, and a record industry run by a super computer.” Sounds like the electronic counterpart to James Ferraro‘s Night Dolls With Hairspray. I wonder if this anti-hero went to Leather High School?
Channel Pressure Track Listing:
01 Scumsoft
02 Channel Pressure
03 Emergency Room
04 Rock Center Paranoia
05 Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me)
06 New Planet
07 The Voices
08 Joey Rogers
09 Dead Jammer
10 Break Inside
11 Surrender
12 Green Fields
13 World of Regret
14 G’s Dream
Sun Glitters is the recording name of Luxembourg electronic artist Victor Ferreira, who just released his debut album Everything Could Be Fine via his own bandcamp. In what looks like a rather prolific week for Sun Glitters according to their official website, Victor has posted a new video for the track “Feel It”. I’m not the only one to draw comparisons to supposed “witch house” artists Balam Acab, whose bubbly, underwatergaze beats compliment Sun Glitters’ own sound quite nicely. The artist compares himself to Burial (who for some reason, never stuck out to me – is that a problem?) and Boards of Canada – which is great, considering the Scottish duo has remained completely silent for the past 5 years. Watch João de Almeida’s video of a woman dancing in front of a couple nudists in a wheat field below.
Following up last years At Echo Lake, Warwick based psychedelic folk ensemble Woods are readying their latest album, titled Sun & Shade. The album is set to hit June 14 on their own record label Woodsist. Recorded during the winter of 2010-2011 at their new Woodsist headquarters in Warwick, Sun & Shade features guest work from Skygreen Leopards‘ Glenn Donaldson. Hear what Glenn has to say about the album below:
“These guys veer into West Coast & Kraut explorations when they get bored of structure, but you won’t mind indulging them. Woods is back porch with a psychedelic sting in the guitars, a wild percussive clatter & somewhat unhinged desperation in the earworm vocal melodies of Jeremy Earl. Woods & Woodsist try to come-on all laid back with the hippie references, but you know they are not (who is really?). It’s the subtle tension, SUN & SHADE, that makes the music worth jamming…” - Glenn Donaldson
Listen to “I Was Gone” from last year’s At Echo Lake.
King Dude (also known as T.J. Cowgill of occult clothing line Actual Pain) first came to my attention simply by being signed to Dais Records, an LA-based label that’s been home to a flock of neofolk bands and the like (notably, Cult of Youth, Tor Lundvall, and Cold Cave). The giant cut-out algiz on the sleeve of Love screamed Death In June style neofolk, but the music wasn’t exactly as I expected. Equal parts Douglas P. and Calvin Johnson, King Dude takes all my favorite aspects of Americana, European neofolk and shoegaze and creates something completely unique out of it. Dais’ description of the album hit it on the head: “Dark pagan-fueled folk wrapped tight with outsider Americana, steeped in themes of love, death and redemption.” Reverb washed vocals accompany equally spaced out acoustic guitars whose simple but effective arrangements conjure up feelings dark and majestic, foreboding, yet nostalgic.
