First Listen: Teebs - 'E S T A R A'

Teebs is set to release his second proper full-length, E S T A R A, on April 8 via Brainfeeder.  The good folks at NPR are streaming the record in its entirety over a week before the release date.  Check it out here.

Album of the Week (March 23 - 29): Future Islands - 'Singles'

Singles is one of those records that manages to seep into your mind.  Whether you like it or not, the vast majority of the tracks on Singles will manage to stick in your head for days after digesting the record.  With that being the case, naming their new record Singles doesn't seem that crazy.  Future Islands are sort of blowing up at the moment.  Fresh off their performance on Letterman of the albums opening track, "Seasons (Waiting On You), the band is getting more press than they ever have.  They deserve it.  The album is excellent.  It's not a major change from their previous work, but there have been a few noticeable tweaks here and there that make this arguably there most enjoyable record to date.  I saw the band play Tuesday night, and the new material sounds great live as well (it also helps that Samuel T. Herring is probably the most entertaining front man in indie rock right now).  If you have the opportunity to see these guys play in a smaller venue in the near future, take the chance, because it will probably be the last time you have the opportunity:

Hot Chip - "Atomic Bomb" (William Onyeabor Cover)

Man, I am pumped about this.  I love Hot Chip.  I love William Onyeabor.  So when I saw that they covered my favorite William Onyeabor song "Atomic Bomb, I had to share it.  The song is taken from an upcoming record store day release titled, What?! - William Onyeabor Remixed which features remixes from various artists of some William Onyeabor classics (!).  After the stream of the Hot Chip cover I will include a Spotify link to the William Onyeabor record Who Is William Onyeabor, you should definitely give it a listen it's some really excellent laid back funk music:

Jerome LOL - "Feel It For the First Time"

Here is a new, non-album affiliated, track from Jerome LOL titled "Feel It For the First Time":

Chimurenga Renaissance 'riZe vadZimu riZe' Official Album Stream

Chimurenga Renaissance have released their new record riZe vadZimu riZe and have been nice enough to stream the entire thing on youtube with accompanying visuals.  Chimurenga Renaissance features members of Shabazz Palaces, who released one of my favorite albums of the last five years, Black Up, so check this out:

Antwon - "Rain Song" (Feat. Lil Ugly Mane)

Bay area rapper Antwon is here with some new music for us.  The track is titled "Rain Song."  It features Lil Ugly Mane and production from Shawn Kemp (no word on whether or not it is former NBA superstar Shawn "The Reignman" Kemp, the man who used to throw down monster jams and had seven children with six women).  The track is taken from Antwon's upcoming album Heavy Hearted in Doldrums which will be released May 6 on limited edition picture disc and free mp3 download:

BEA - "Breadwinner"

Here is a new track from up & coming artist Bea.  The track is called "Breadwinner":

Tirzah - "No Romance"

Tirzah has released another single, "No Romance."  The track follows up her extremely enjoyable I'm Not Dancing EP, which was out last summer:

Eyes, Wings, & Many Other Things - "Rural Pain"

SZA - "Childs Play" (Feat. Chance the Rapper)

SZA has been making quite a few high profile features of late.  She is currently signed to TDE (home to Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Isaiah Rashad, & more) and is prepping her debut, Z, which is due out on April 8.  Most of the production on the record was handled by xxyyxx.  Here is the track "Child's Play" from the record:

Yumi Zouma - "It Feels Good To Be Around You" (Feat. Air France)

Fresh off the release of their self-titled EP, Yumi Zouma have returned with a cover of the Air France Song "It Feels Good To Be Around You," the track actually features contributions from Air France themselves:

De La Soul - 'Smell the Da.i.s.y.'

De La Soul have released a mixtape featuring beats from the late, great J. Dilla.  The tape is titled Smell the Da.i.s.y. (Da Inner Sound of Yancey).  The album features a lot of reworked lyrics from earlier De La releases and is available for free download.  Download the mixtape here.

Jamie xx - "Sleep Sound"

On May 5th, Jamie xx will release a 12" featuring the songs "Girl" & "Sleep Sound."  Here is the track "Sleep Sound taken from that record:

Craft Spells - "Breaking the Angle Against the Tide"

It's been a couple years since I last heard from Craft Spells.  They have resurfaced and announced that they will be releasing a new album , Nausea, on June 10th.  Here is the first single from that record, "Breaking the Angle Against the Tide":

Ben Frost- "Venter"

Fuck.

De La Soul - "Vocabulary Spills" (Prod. by J. Dilla)

On March 26th, De La Soul will be releasing Smell The D.A.I.S.Y., a free mixtape featuring production from the late J. Dilla.  "Vocabulary Spills" is the second track they have released from the tape.  The tape will be available for free download on wearedelasoul.com when it is released:

Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks - "Strange Colores"

Album of the Week (March 16 - 22): Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - 'Pinata'

As a huge fan of Madlib's work, I was a little surprised to hear he was working with Freddie Gibbs last year.  I am a fan of Gibbs as well, but it just seemed like an odd combination, Gibbs "Gangsta" raps over Madlib's soulful production.  I feel like Gibbs previous albums have suffered a bit from inconsistency and it looks like working with a producer like Madlib has completely ended that streak.  Pinata is excellent from start to finish.  The two artists work incredibly well together and the end result is an incredibly enjoyable & consistent album from front to back.  The album features guest features from Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt, Raekwon, Scarface, Ab-Soul, Domo Genesis, and more:

Throwback Album of the Week (March 16 - 22): Herbie Hancock - 'Head Hunters'

Head Hunters, the 12th studio album by Jazz musician Herbie Hancock is often looked at as the definitive moment in the Jazz-Funk genre.  After a series of three avant-garde records, Head Hunters was a pretty dramatic change in sound for Hancock at the time.  The record featured Hancock playing all synthesizers/keyboards (he actually scrapped guitar completely), Paul Jackson on bass, Harvey Mason on drums, Bill Summers playing various percussion instruments (he actually blew into a beer bottle to create the sound during the intro of "Watermelon Man"), and Bennie Maupin on sax, clarinet, and flute.  The album has been a massive influence in the world of Jazz, Funk, R&B, and Hip-Hop since its release.  To this day the record still sounds great, and people who don't even particularly care for Jazz seem drawn to it.  Give it a shot:

Swans - "A Little God In My Hands"

Swans have released the first single of their upcoming record To Be Kind (out May 13).  The track is titled "A Little God In My Hands":

clipping. - "Work Work (Feat. Cocc Pistol Cree)"

After the release of the noisy midcity last year, clipping. signed to indie "giants" Sub Pop Records.  While Sub Pop is not necessarily known for releasing hip-hop records, they did release the excellent Black Up by Shabazz Palaces back in 2011.  They are preparing their Sub Pop debut, clppng, which is out June 10:

Tame Impala - "Be Above It (Live)"

Tame Impala will be releasing an EP titled Live Versions on April 19th (Record Store Day).  The EP will feature live tracks from their show in Chicago from their Spring 2013 tour.  Here is a live version of "Be Above It" from the EP:

Chance the Rapper & James Blake - "Save Yourself First"

Chance the Rapper has shared another version of his and James Blake's remix to the track "Life 'Round Here."  He claims that this was the original remix of the song, but that James Blake didn't particularly care for this version:

Stream the New Liars Album 'Mess'

Liars are set to release their new album Mess on March 25th.  The good people at NPR are giving you the opportunity to listen to the new album a full week before it is released.  Mess is the Brooklyn-based bands first album since 2012's WIXIW.  Listen to Mess Here.

Arca & Jesse Kanda - "TRAUMA Scene 1"

Earlier in the year I posted "Fluid Silhouettes" which was a collaborative video between Arca and visual artist Jesse Kanda.  Well it's a new month, so we now have another video from the duo.  This one is titled "TRAUMA Scene 1."  Here is a short write up about the series:

     "Trauma is an ongoing film project by Jesse Kanda and Arca first exhibited at MOMA PS1 at the end of 2013.  The Film follows a nonlinear narrative about the death of a salaryman, a drunk driving infant and takes place within a subconscious world.  TRAUMA's score will span through Arca's existing and future works.

     "Scene 1 depicts a trio of disfigured children locked in synchronised dance, celebrating their inner and outer beauty in the limelight."

tUnE-yArDs - "Water Fountain"

Here is the first single off the upcoming tUnE-yArDs record,  Nikki Nack (due out May 6th).  The track is titled "Water Fountain":

Stream Future Islands New Album 'Singles'

Future Islands have been blowing up lately, from raved about late night television performances to being one of the most talked about acts at last weeks SXSW festival in Austin.  On top of their stellar live performances, they also have a new album titled Singles coming out on March 25th.  You can stream the album, courtesy of the Guardian, here.  Also, be sure to check your local listings for a Future Islands show near you.  They're touring pretty heavily to support the new record.

The Underachievers - Incandesent (Prod. by Ryan Hemsworth)

Here is a new track from Brainfeeder affiliates The Underacheivers, the track is titled "Incandescent" and was produced by up and coming producer Ryan Hemsworth:

Album of the Week (March 9 - 15): Trust - 'Joyland'

Trust has returned (minus one member, leaving Robert Alfons as the lone member) with a new album packed full of dark synthpop.  If you were familiar with their previous record TRST, you will notice (at least in my opinion) that the production is a little sleeker on this record.  Alfons does an admirable job of keeping the Trust name alive by himself:

Throwback Album of the Week (March 9 - 15): Panda Bear- 'Person Pitch'

For this weeks installment of Throwback Album of the Week, I won't be travelling quite as far back as previous weeks.  The last two albums have been from the early-to-mid 70's, while this weeks album, Person Pitch by Panda Bear, will turn 7 next week.  It was Noah Lennox's third solo record under the Panda Bear name.  The record basically sounds timeless.  A lot of the vocal melodies and harmonies sound like they could have come straight from the late 60's, whereas the electronic looping and sampling in the music sounds modern. There are some crazy samples scattered throughout the record (the list on the 13 minute track Bros. is pretty overwhelming by itself, people riding a roller coaster, a fireworks show, and owl, a baby crying, a subway station etc.).  These samples also help the record feel more modern despite all of its odes to music's past.  The album was created mostly through the use of samplers and is clearly the work of one person.  It's always been an album that I revisit when the sun starts to shine and the weather begins to warm up, so this seems like a good time to revisit this record:

G-Side - "25 Lighters"

After an extremely strong 2011 in which they released two excellent records (The One...Cohesive & Island) G-Side took an indefinite hiatus.  It was quite a relief when a track from the duo surfaced near the end of 2013.  Shortly after the group announced Gz To Gods, their follow-up to Island.   The album will be out this year, although a definite release date has not been announced.  The duo have also released another single, titled "25 Lighters":

Tame Impala - "Stranger In Moscow" (Michael Jackson Cover)

Fresh off their collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on "Backwards" Tame Impala have taken to the 'net to release a cover of the MJ track "Stranger In Moscow."  Hopefully this recent flurry of activity means there will be an album sometime this year:

Teen Daze - "Tokyo Winter"

After releasing the excellent album Glacier in 2013, Teen Daze is back with an EP titled Paradiso.  The EP will be out later this month and features the track "Tokyo Winter":

BANKS - "Brain" (Official Video)

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SBTRKT - 'Transitions'

SBTRKT is releasing a three part series of 12 inches called Transitions.  Part 1 is out on May 5, Part II on May 19 and Part III on June 2.  You can stream the entire series before the release date here.

Teebs - "Holiday" (feat. Jonti)

Teebs new record E S T A R A is due out April 8 via Brainfeeder.  Last month he officially released the first single "View Point."  Here we have another excellent track from the album titled Holiday:

Leather Corduroys - "Dat Strong"

Owen Pallett - "The Riverbed"

"The Riverbed" is the first single off the upcoming Owen Pallett record, In Conflict, which due out May 13th.  Apparently Brian Eno worked on this track with Owen:

Arcade Fire - "Controversy" (Prince Cover Live In Minneapolis)

Hey, here's Arcade Fire covering one of my favorite Prince songs, "Controversy," live in Prince's hometown of Minneapolis:

Panda Bear - Untitled (Marijuana Makes My Day?)

So, Animal Collective member Panda Bear is working on a new album tentatively titled, Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper.  This untitled track surfaced today, and is apparently part of a French festival compilation put together by Sonic Boom (who helped produce Panda Bear's previous record and is working with him on the upcoming record).  The song is apparently a mixed version of a live Panda Bear recording.  No word on whether or not it will be on the new record:

Tame Impala Ft. Kendrick Lamar - "Backwards"

Fresh off his collaboration with Imagine Dragons (which worked better than I expected, being that I don't care much for Imagine Dragons), Kendrick Lamar has hooked up with Australian psych-rock outfit Tame Impala for a rework of their track "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" off their excellent 2012 album, Lonerism.  The collaboration again works quite well.  The track is off the official soundtrack to the film "Divergent" which is out next week:

Album of the Week (March 2 - 8): Real Estate - 'Atlas'

There were a lot of solid choices for album of the week this week, but as mentioned in the previous post about poolside.fm the sun is out and I'm rocking a serious summer vibe (even though there is still a few feet of snow on the ground).  For this reason, Atlas, the latest record from Real Estate takes the highly coveted (by everyone that has ever lived anywhere) Kid Internet Album of the Week.  Soundwise, if you've ever listened to Real Estate you pretty much know what you're in for with this record.  Not a whole lot has changed since the last record, although the production has been cleaned up a little bit.  The lyrical content is a little darker, which is a little strange to hear from a band like Real Estate.  Even with the darker lyrical content, the album still feels like summer which at this point works well for me:

(Check out the albums Joyland by Trust & the new Son Lux EP Alternate Worlds as well.)

Poolside.fm

The sun is shining and the temperature is above freezing (at least where I am).  Seems like the perfect time to flip on my favorite radio/video site out there.

Throwback Album of the Week (March 2 - 8) : Can - Tago Mago

Tago Mago, the third album by German Kraut/Psych/Prog rockers Can is about as timeless as an gets.  I've played the record for people and when I tell them that it came out in 1971, they cannot believe it.  It still sounds incredibly fresh today.  Tago Mago is truly a one of a kind record.  Even to this day it stands alone, I've never heard anything like it and doubt I ever will.  This was the first Can record that featured vocalist Damo Suzuki, whose speak/sing lyrics (often improvised in no particular language) somehow mesh perfectly with the experimental instrumentation on the record.  This record has been cited as a major influence for many artists today, and the track "Halleluwah" has been cited as a major influence on trance music because of it's repetitive, funky drum beat.  This is definitely a record everyone should hear before they die:

Tei Shi - "Nevermind The End" (Official Video)

Over the past few weeks I've shared a few remixes of the Tei Shi track "Nevermind The End."  Now the song has an official video release.  The video is a pretty dark/wild ride:

of Montreal - "Jigsaw Puzzle"

"Jigsaw Puzzle" is a B-side off the latest of Montreal record Lousy With Sylvianbriar which came out last year.  It's a short little pop gem that would have felt right at home on that album.  In other of Montreal news, on record store day this year (April 19) the band will be releasing a remastered version of my favorite album of theirs Satanic Panic In The Attic:

The Range - "Washingtons"

Fresh on the heels of The Range's excellent 2013 LP Nonfiction, James Hinton has released the track "Washingtons" off the new EP Panasonic from The Range due out later this month.  The Range will be touring this summer, that tour includes a stop at Chicago's Pitchfork Music Festival.  Maybe I'll see you there:

Joel Ford - "Connection To"

Here's a new solo track from Joel Ford (One half of Ejecta and Ford & Lopatin) titled "Connection To."  No word on whether an album or EP will follow:

Mac DeMarco - "Brother"

Back in January we covered "Passing Out Pieces" the first Mac DeMarco single from his upcoming record Salad Days (out April 1).  Today we have the second single titled from that record, "Brothers":

How To Dress Well - "Words I Don't Remember"

It's been a little while since we've heard from How To Dress Well.  His last album was 2012's excellent Total Loss.  Today we have a new single titled "Words I Don't Remember."  No word on whether a new album or EP will follow.  How To Dress Well will be hitting the road with Forest Swords in the coming months:

Fort Romeau - "Her Dream"

London-based musician Fort Romeau is set to release a new 12" this month.  "Her Dream" is the title track off the upcoming 12" which is due out March 17th:

Jeremiah Jae - "Survival" (Feat. Oliver The 2nd)

Here is a new one from producer/rapper and Brainfeeder affiliate, Jeremiah Jae.  Jeremiah Jae recently signed with Warp Records and has released a few singles here and there since then.  "Survival" is a really laid back track from him and Oliver The 2nd.  The track is available from free download on his soundcloud:

Movement - "Like Lust"

Here is a new track from Australian group Movement titled "Like Lust."  I first noticed this group last year with the release of their excellent single "Us" (which ended up on The Kid Internet's favorite songs of 2013 list).  No word on an EP or album release date from the group.  Based on the quality of this and the previous track, hopefully we get an album soon:  

Beach House - "Saturn Song"

Here we have another track off the upcoming compilation, Space Project, that features various artists using sounds effects from the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes.  Last month we had "Always Forgetting With You" from Spiritualized, now we have a new track from Beach House titled "Saturn Song":