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]

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]

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.)

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!

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.

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!

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]