Verttigo: Autumn Dreams

I don’t want the vocalists of Verttigo to take this as a sour criticism, but a huge part of me wants to see Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino appearing out of nowhere to sing on these songs. Three rough demos from the Canadian, shoegaze-enhanced troupe have enough promise to suggest that maybe, one day, we’ll see Makino collaborating with the group. Heady dreams pushed aside though, for the time being we’ve been gifted with a hugely promising selection of introductory efforts, our pick of the bunch being the song placed at the top of the post, ‘Autumn Dreams’, on the basis of its sheer immediacy. 

DENA: Games

Part of me just wants to point you in the direction of the new M.I.A. song, command you to pull the blinds down and dance until your feet come loose.  But this is a new music blog (supposedly) plugging new artists, and DENA can count themselves as relatively new, having emerged with ‘Boyfriend’ a few months back. ‘Games’ is like a more particular, well-refined version of its partner in tow, and that makes it just as danceable, just as much of a glorious returning effort as ‘Bad Girls’ is. 

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PARISWHEEL: DRAGON

‘DRAGON’ spends its first 2 and a half minutes experimenting; acquainting itself with all the tools available, so to speak. With thirty seconds left to go, it suddenly unleashes what the listener’s been eagerly awaiting: A flummoxing, gigantic chorus. Pre-explosion, we’re given sonical snippets of what’s to come; tribal drum hits; synths dripping with sweat; bold declarations of “I am fire breathing” from PARISWHEEL’s vocalist. But then it clicks. Everything falls into place like a layered brick formation - perfectly put together pop, albeit the kind you have to be patient with at first. 

Flights: Where the Willow Tree Died

A couple of days back, yvynyl blog posted about the unlikely discovery of two Nashville-based friends who had made a record in 2011. ‘Anywhere But Where I Am’, the first work of Flights (Eric Hillman, Brian Holl) is without doubt an as yet unsourced gem. It has the same isolated, intimate feel as Bon Iver’s ‘For Emma…’ (true to the influence, this album was also recorded in an abandoned area of Wisconsin) and a wealth of instrumentation that very few moden day albums can boast. Taking over a year to put together, it is something you play into the late hours, something you want to share with all your friends. One measly bandcamp donation later and I’m sharing with you one of the album’s stand-out efforts: ‘Where the Willow Tree Died’. 

Analog d r i f t: Manuel Antonio

It’s possible for me to be enamoured enough with a single second (or in this case, sample) of a song, so much so that I have to post it. ‘Manuel Antonio’, one of many works by Oklahoma producer Brad Holden, draws you in with a sweep (and it is, a literal sweep) of shimmering guitars. He repeats this sample every 5 seconds or so (if you scroll back through the rest of his souncloud page, you’ll see that this is a tactic he employs with several of his otherworldly works), until you’re well and truly shrouded beneath hundreds of layers of dreamy guitars and pent-up drum patterns.