Tuesday, December 20, 2011

VIDEO: Panda Bear - "You Can Count on Me"

I'll Get So Up for It
New Panda Bear video for one of Tomboy's standout tracks, "You Can Count on Me":



Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Thursday, October 6, 2011

VIDEO: Julian Lynch - "Back"

Chroma Keyboard Explosion
Everybody loves Julian Lynch. Now he has a new video you can love too, for his jam "Back":

This tune is the closing track on Terra, which you can order from Underwater Peoples here.

Friday, August 19, 2011

MP3: Weekend - "Hazel"

I Start To CryNew jam from CA bros of shoegaze/"post punk" band Weekend:

Weekend - Hazel by Slumberland Records

Friday, August 5, 2011

VIDEO: Flower Orgy - "Boneyard"

At Times Life Is Pure Joy!
And this is one of those times. Flower Orgy, also known to some as Nate Luce and the Pretty Cuties, have a new video for their jam "Boneyard." Back in September '10 we posted an early recording of this song, which we originally knew and loved as a Stingray Migration (mems Will Stratton, Flower Orgy) tune. Somehow this song manages to keep evolving, taking on new genders and moods like a stone down a mossy, young, overtly sexualized hill. Very much like Nate Luce who, looking a lot like Buffalo Billy Idol + Ziggy Stardust in this video, manages to continuously captivate us.


Monday, July 25, 2011

VIDEO: Pure X - "Surface" Live @ 285Kent

2 Short, 2 SweetIt brings me a mix of great pain and pleasure to review the footage from Pure X's last visit to the east coast. But it is with love I, along with Weird Magic, present this clip of "Surface" from their show at 285Kent:

My daddy always taught me that between love and sadness, we should always send love out into the world whenever possible. So, all the love in the universe to these guys!

Friday, July 22, 2011

VIDEO: Pure X - "Easy"

Don't Feel Nothin'Pure X's new video for "Easy" came out yesterday. It features some friends of theirs who are in the Austin hardcore S&M scene. Which brings up the larger issue...

...which is: there exists an Austin hardcore S&M scene?? Weird.

Conceptually the imagery for the song works well, making the clear connection to the lyrical message of numbness and apathy, pain and pleasure.

On a separate note, check out Pure X's recent feature in the NY Times. Whaaat. These three guys are some of the best people one could hope to meet, and it is so real to see them being loved on an even grander, highly publicized scale.

Spread the love for Pure X.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

VIDEO: Friends - "Friend Crush"

"Freezing Fridays Fleeing From Me"
Friends have a new video out for "Friend Crush" directed by Matthew Caron and shot by Chris Person and starring Market Hotel.


Diggin' that vaseline glam glow.

Friends - "Friend Crush"

Remember that video we posted of them (with love) from 285Kent? Check out their upcoming Deli Show on July 16th. Pretty sweet huh??

MP3: Big Troubles - "Misery"

I Always Play The ClownBig Troubles are releasing their upcoming full-length Romantic Comedy via Slumberland in September, and they've released the first single.

Big Troubles - "Misery"

Sounding a lot like Corgan with awesome lines like, "I just wanna... I just wanna have some fun." Love these guys.

VIDEO: Kurt Vile - "Baby's Arms"

"I Get Sick of Just About Everyone, And I Hide in My Baby's Arms"












Directed by Todd Cole.

Pretty amazing what you can make with a cell phone that shoots HD these days.









Friday, June 3, 2011

MP3 & VIDEO: Cass McCombs - "County Line"

I Can Smell The ColumbineCass McCombs released a self-directed video for "County Line," the standout track from his most recent album Wit's End (2011, Domino).


Unfortunately, neither the album nor the video(s) can do justice to this song. One of the best tracks we've heard this year, "County Line" is achingly beautiful. Even after the 100th listen, it maintains - increases, even - the ability to break your heart.

Cass McCombs - "County Line"

With lyrics like You never even tried to love me / What did I have to do to make you want me? it's the kind of song one plays in order to remember how to cry. The openly honest expression of longing and insecurity describes the feeling of being in love with someone who just won't love you back.

Despair. We feel you on that one, man.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

PiXELMiX: "Tomorrowland Mix" - Emilie Friedlander

With Peace and Love for Every Lonesome Oatful Zoner
We come to you bearing the fruitful mix of loving laborer Emilie Friedlander, frontwoman of LA BIG VIC and Altie Zoner herself. Here within is a sequence of jams so dear to her you must consider them the very fibers of thread that stitch together her heart, keeping it safe and whole. They teeter right on the edge of Spring-cum-Summer. Emilie says of them:
Here is a collection of songs that I've kept very very close to me over the years-- mostly introduced to me by friends, and mostly of the loner-psych variety. The dominant themes are love, God, and the beauty of a perfectly timed drum fill.

It is difficult to express how beautifully crafted, personal a mix this is. Without further ado, for you, and your aural pleasioscopies, here is:

"Tomorrowland" Mix - Emilie Friedlander


Download zip. (See comments below for tracklisting.)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

ALBUM: LA BIG VIC - Actually

Too Many Rockers, Not Enough Lovers
Blowin' up, blowin' up! LA BIG VIC are exploding the interwebs lately with the recent release of their new music video for "Mr. Broken-Bird," a stellar in-studio at Newtown Radio, and a full-length Actually LP out today on Underwater Peoples. They've even garnered mention on MTV's alt-blog Iggy. MTV, that still means something to you, right??

So, need to catch up on all things awesomely LBV? You've come to the right place. First, check out their Swan7 session for Newtown Radio. It sounds gorgeous, fluid, and polished, and it begins with our fave LBV jam, "Save the Ocean":

Download the whole session: La Big Vic on Newtown Radio.

Next, watch their official music video:

Directed by Brooklyn video mulchist Luke Wyatt.

LA BIG VIC - "Mr. Broken Bird"

Finally, and most importantly, you need to get this album. Order LA BIG VIC's Actually LP here via Underwater Peoples. Words cannot express the hours of love and psychedelic tenderness that have been absolutely poured into the creation of this vinyl piece of gold. Remember "Musica" from their Shaking Through session? In case you forgot, we co-premiered that jam a few months back, and it closes out the album.

LA BIG VIC - "Musica"

We have like 4 copies of the record already, just in case there's a fire or flood or some other cataclysmic tragedy. Again, buy LBV's Actually LP here. Thank us later.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

MP3: Deerhunter - "Nosebleed"

We Mighta Gone Too FarOnce in a while in life, we have revelations about ourselves. A person's level of self-actualization can be judged by how open they are to these key moments of introspection. For us today, it was the realization that we really just fucking love pop music, and it's okay to embrace that for what it is.

Contextually, this admission comes out of wholehearted appreciation for and at the hand of Deerhunter's latest release "Nosebleed," a beloved b-side from their Memory Boy single:

Deerhunter - "Nosebleed"

Bradford Cox knows how to hook 'em in with them catchy choruses. Simple lines like She's takin' off her clothes / And I gotta bloody nose make us bop and smile, and reminisce of classic pop songs of yesteryear, a la Talking Heads' "And She Was" (And she was takin' off her dress...). Feelgood.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

MP3 & VIDEO: Stevie Nicks - "Wild Heart" (Backstage)

Can't Fight It Anymore

There is a wild, innocent beauty to this image of Stevie Nicks backstage in 1981. The three women in billowy white dresses harmonizing carelessly, the ribbons in Stevie's hair blowing freely around her blonde ringlets, her excited bounce after a rest in the music... There's something pure and perfect here, and on this past dreary Sunday, it was just what a few good friends at my house and I needed.

Only problem is, how can you look at something like this and not eventually feel depressed? Sooner or later you have to come to the realization that you will never be able to attain anything so beautiful, and even if you were to do so for a moment, it could only ever be temporary.

Stevie Nicks - "Wild Heart (Backstage, 1981)"

Now everything else just seems like a waste.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

VIDEO: Charli XCX - "Stay Away"

I Never Needed Anyone
Everyone's been attributing the recent absence of Salem from the interwebs to the death of witchhouse. But now we know better. Salem are back with a music video for their remix of Charli XCX's British pop jam "Stay Away":


[via Altie Zonies]

Charli XCX - "Stay Away" (Salem remix)
Charli XCX - "Stay Away" (T. Williams dub remix)


EnJK1W on Make A Gif, Animated Gifs

VIDEO: Mane Mane - "Twinkl Sr"

KALEIDOPE
It is impossible to decide what we like most about the new Mane Mane music video from Aaron Katsnelson, Bushwick's most talented AfterEffects guru. Possibly the colorscapes, so carefully softened and sci-fi fresh... See for yourself:



Buy Mane2Mane over at Triple U Tapes where you can also stream the whole album as well as download samples, including the track from the video, which was P4kcasted way back in July 2010.

Mane Mane - "Twinkl Sr"

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

VIDEO: Friends - "Sorry" Live at 285Kent

"I Want You to Come... Over to My House, Now."Last Friday was April Fool's night at 285 Kent - as in, you're a fucking fool if you didn't come. Weird Magic's Rezzie joined by Sasha Des'ree (of Sweat) opening up for Dutch Treat, LA BIG VIC and Friends. Notable further still were the epically fun sets by DJ's Etienne and Jan Woo. 'Twas truly a Bushwick family affair for all ages, shapes and sizes.

Samantha, lead voxist in Friends, has got a real lovely Glam Stefani thing going on. Adorning an African-esque onesie and a long black wig (later worn by their stand-up drummer), she danced and charmed her way all over the stage. Until, eventually, she took off into the already thriving crowd to rev up the dance party even another notch, riding on the backs of friends and fans alike, freakin' it with lucky randos, and kissing adoring onlookers. Watch this video we took:


You can get a recorded version of this song "Sorry," complete with heartmelting lyrics, here at Friends' bandcamp. Catch their upcoming show at Monster Island Basement on April 15th with Night Manager, Web Dating, White Fang, and Ava Luna.

**shot by Ben Choiniere

Friday, April 1, 2011

VIDEO: Moon Duo - "Mazes"

"Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever as endless bedroom psych."
Moon Duo released their full-length LP Mazes today on Sacred Bones, as well as the video for the title track:



As big fans of the experimental psych duo's underground repertoire of tunes, we are totally on board with the Mazes' move towards a more pop-driven sound.

Moon Duo - "Mazes"

The whole album delivers. Buy it here.

Friday, March 25, 2011

MP3: Flaming Lips & Neon Indian - "Is David Bowie Dying?"

BAH-WHAAA?
Whoa, this is nutty. The grandpappy of chillwave, Neon Indian's Alan Palomo, and OK city original gangsta Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips teamed up to release a 12" EP. But it's already sold out. Of course. Listen to this newly released track:



[via]

Thursday, March 24, 2011

MP3: Syd The Kid - "Flashlight"

Is It Too Late to Turn Back Now?
It's been a few weeks since we first heard "Flashlight," this sickly sweet-n-slow jam from Syd the Kid (OFWGKTA) featuring Lux. And we still can't get over it.

Syd the Kid feat. Lux - "Flashlight"

Heavy on the auto-tune femme vox like a jj tune, "Flashlight" is too perfect a caricature of itself to ignore, too catchy a beat to get out of your head.

[via Friendship Bracelet]

Check this fresh ass photo from SXSW's FADER FORT:[via Weird Magic]

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

MP3: Cults - "You Know What I Mean"

New one from Cults "You Know What I Mean" has a nice doo-wop tempo and a more refined use of reverb sound than we have been hearing lately:

Cults - You Know What I Mean

Their previous endeavors include the ever-popular "Go Outside" and "The Curse." Not to mention this number:

The band is set to release a vinyl-only album on Forest Family Recs on 4/20. (Hehehe.)

Monday, March 21, 2011

MP3 & VIDEO: Crystal Stilts - "Through the Floor"

Trace Your Fate
Crystal Stilts have a new video out for their song "Through The Floor":

This is the single from their upcoming sophomore album In Love with Oblivion due out April 12 on Slumberland Records.

Crystal Stils - "Through The Floor"

Aaaah so psyched!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

PREMIERE: LA BIG VIC - "Musica"

Mystica Maxima
LA BIG VIC have a new song out via Shaking Through. It premieres this morning on our beloved The Fader dot com.

Check out the video from their session. It's hilaaarious:

Musica was essentially LA BIG VIC's first song, originally performed in rudimentary form at one of Market Hotel's first Cosmic Yoga rooftop parties. In writing/recording it, LBV started out with a fast kind of new wave dance song but they slowed it down when they realized the synth line sounded a lot like the song "Neon" by German synth artist Michael Bundt. It has since morphed into a slow and heavy, dark song that is certainly the deepest and saddest in LBV's repertoire thus far. Musica is the closing track from their upcoming album Actually via Underwater Peoples.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

SHOW: WNYU + Pelly Twins + PIXELHORSE Present

"A PIXELPUSSY TWINS Showcase"

WHOA. Come to this sick SXSW daytime showcase on Friday next week:

Nympho Boniacs 1pm
Slug Guts 2pm
Lazy Native 3pm
LA BIG VIC 4pm
The Twerps 5pm
PASTURES 6pm
Sweet Bulbs 7pm
QUILT 8pm
A Classic Education 9pm
The Daze 10pm
Prince Rama 11pm
Mondo Drag 12am
POP 1280 1 am
Cult of Youth 2am

CHECKIT CHECKIT OUTCH'ALL.

ALBUM: Low - C'mon

LOW are essentially the Miss Congeniality of shoegaze bands. C'mon is their ninth full length album and third on Sub Pop:
Comprised of new material written on and off the road, the ten-song set was recorded in a former Catholic church, aka Sacred Heart Studio (where the band previously crafted 2002’s Trust). Sparhawk says Low deliberately seeks out circumstances that will generate challenges and happy accidents, breaking them out of established patterns. “We like to work in situations where there’s a character, whether that’s the time period or who we’re working with. A lot of times, the space can set that tone.”
[via]

The album follows their recognizable style of slow brooding rhythms with subtle uses of effects and beautiful male/female vocal harmonizing. There is an empathetic sadness that is conveyed while listening to something so slow and melodic, a sadness that could be potentially be achieved by playing a Vampy Weekend song at half speed. One gets hypnotized into a Zen-like trance by the slow pulsing rhythms in songs like "Especially Me" and "Nightingale." While the music isn't particularly dark in timbre, it is in theme. Low has spent the last eight years tapping into this advanced level of slow emotive pop, and it just keeps getting better.

Here's a preview of one of our picks:


Tracklisting:
"Try to Sleep"
"You See Everything"
"Witches"
"Done"
"Especially Me"
"$20"
"Majesty/Magic"
"Nightingale"
"Nothing But Heart"
"Something's Turning Over"

C'mon will be released on 12 April 2011 (11 April in Europe). Visit the band's site to watch a trailer for the album and pre-order it here.

MP3: Tera Melos - "Manar the Magic"

Zoo Weather
The "math rock" genre is evolving. Popular contemporary acts like Tera Melos, Marnie Stern and even Battles are finding more advanced algorithms and complex grand theories to make white people even more awkward dancers.

Tera Melos have just released a brand new album, Zoo Weather. Originally the EP was intended to be a precursor for their 2010 full-length Patagonian Rats. There’s a lot of good stuff on here. Sonically the tracks are very complex and the harmonizing is on point. "Manar The Magic" is featured both in its original form along with two remixes (one from Melt-Banana) and as a beautiful acapella version to close out the album. The song centers around a melodic build-up that leads to a refreshing cathartic climax akin to AnCo’s “In the Flowers” or Nilsson’s “Without You.”

Tera Melos - "Manar the Magic"

Brush up on your calculus!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

MP3: John Maus - "Quantum Leap"

Heart to Heart
Quantum Leap is the recently released single from John Maus' upcoming album, We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves. The album is due out June 28th in the USofA via Ribbon Music and June 27th in Europe via the UK label Upset the Rhythm.

John Maus - "Quantum Leap"

Heart to heart / mind to mind / we are the ones who travel through time. Maus' words drip with hot, haunting beauty.

Check out the album tracklisting:
01. Streetlight
02. Quantum Leap
03. …And The Rain
04. Hey Moon
05. Keep Pushing On
06. The Crucifix
07. Head for the Country
08. Cop Killer
09. Matter of Fact
10. We Can Breakthrough
11. Believer

See him in Austin at SXSW on March 16th and 17th, details to come. It's an experience you don't want to miss.

[via No Fear of Pop]

Thursday, February 24, 2011

VIDEO: John Maus - Secret Performance 02/11/11

Do Your Best
Surely by now you have witnessed the Brooklyn uproar over John Maus' recent hiatus from his infamously reclusive life as a hermit in god-knows-where. Some mp3's were leaked, some album details were released, and he played a few shows in BK last weekend. Sweet, right?

Last Friday, February 11th, I went to shoot the super secret John Maus show. Halfway through the night I found myself having a semi-religious experience and ended up giving my camera to Boots from Weird Magic to take video for the night. I guess cos he's tiny and adorable like that. Anyhow, I watched as he scampered off into the crowd, crawled under and through the legs of adoring front-row Mausers, and positioned himself up there in the thick of it. On Monday they posted a sweet AfterEffects-heavy vid of "Pure Rockets", so I thought I'd throw up the rest of what I got from that evening, for y'all to see what this experience was like.*

Let's start off with everyone's favorite -- the always beautiful, always heart-breaking "Do Your Best":




Next we get to witness the moment directly after someone leaned on Maus' sampler, which he was using to basically sing karaoke over his recordings for the entire set. The song cuts out abruptly and begins the next one, so you can imagine how shocking this was to the flow of the performance, as well as to the performer himself. Hear him shouting "mother fucker" and various other choice obscenities at the beginning of this next vid before diving into "Rights for Gays." Amazing:




Hopefully by now you have a sense of what a shit show this whole thing was. Although it was not really captured on video, here is PIXELHORSE's ultimate fave Happy Maus tune "My Whole World's Coming Apart" which segues into the Gatorade-fueled, ever sunny "Time to Die":



* Please excuse the camera shake. (We can't all shoot rock-steady like me, right??) I heavily filtered some of this to make it a little easier on the eyes... then at a certain point I had to give up.


Here are some fucking photos:





Who does that fucking asswad in the background think he is...

Ray Concepcion?? LOOK at this guy!!


Mmmm GATORADE.





This hurt him more than it hurt you, you shithead you.




Was truly a weird and magical evening.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

VIDEO: Star Slinger - "Mornin'"

Smoke Bomb Facemask

Star Slinger's new video directed by Alan Jensen is making us drool a little.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

VIDEO: Tyler, the Creator - "Yonkers"

Fuckin' Walkin' Paradox
We'd like to further reiterate yesterday's sentiment with the latest video from Odd Future:



Definitely on it.

Friday, February 11, 2011

VIDEO: Vivian Girls - "I Heard You Say"

I'm So ColdSpeaking as someone whose day job (let's face it, "career") is in the commercial post-production industry, I can't help but notice how much CRAP there is being flung at me in the form of indie music videos. There have been so, so many music videos being churned out lately that are complete shit. Really unoriginal, low-grade, boring, redundant works made with little to no creative effort or technological skill set. It's sort of exhausting. Furthermore, for an editor, a music video is one of the easiest types of video to output - just cut to the music.

I say all that to emphasize the point that "I Heard You Say" is a fantastic music video. Granted, not every band out there has the budget and resources of such a super popular band as the Viv Girls, but they have never failed to uphold a certain stylistic standard of excellence. They are never lazy or under-produced. Take even the video for "Never Come Around" from Katy Goodman's side project La Sera. Amazing! And the song is arguably mediocre. Point being, even if one dislikes the Vivian Girls' music or taste, it is still possible to appreciate their aesthetic values, which are unflinching:


Vivian Girls - "I Heard You Say"