June 2011
70 posts
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Tasseomancy: Heavy Sleep
A haunting, beautifully shot video - more independent horror film than typical audiovisuals - accompanies Sara and Romy Lightman’s first effort taken from their second full-length, Ulalume. Heavy Sleep is a breathtaking slow waltz of a song, comprised of richly-applied organic instrumentation and sullen, vulnerable vocals. [JM] Ulalume will be released with Out of this Spark/Turf records
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2011: Halfway Home
As the summer releases dry up and festivals get into full gear, the end of June marks a convenient six-month milestone for us to take stock and assess the albums and songs we’ve been exposed to in 2011 already. The lists below will hopefully provide an insight in how MFM’s editors - Jamie and Gareth - think and listen, how their tastes differ and what floats their boat, essentially....
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Transfer: Losing Composure
Have you gotten your fix of sky-scraping indie rock for today? Up above is the video for Transfer’s debut single ‘Losing Composure’, out on July 18th and available from the band’s official site for free. The San Diego-based group supported no lesser band than The Killers last weekend, and judging from the sound of ‘Losing Composure’ they’ve got some...
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Will Hanson: Deathbed Conversion
It’s going to be a busy few months for Will Hanson. The Glasgow-based artist has a new album due out on August 22nd via 12/26 Music. MFM has been playing the Gowns EP recently. It was released all the way back in March, but, as the saying goes, there’s no time like the present to try and draw attention to this extremely talented man. Its opener finds an exquisite middle-ground...
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Hooray For Earth: True Loves
Hooray For Earth - True Loves from Dovecote Records on Vimeo.
This here is the video for the current single from synth-pop merchants Hooray for Earth. The song is cut from similar cloth to Passion Pit and ‘Oracular Spectacular‘-era MGMT, but is more driven by percussion, and has a way with a melody that is very reminiscent of the latter. ‘True Loves’ is taken from the...
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British Sea Power: Georgie Ray (Single Mix)
We at MFM are massive fans of British Sea Power, and rank Valhalla Dancehall among our top albums of the year, but when ‘Georgie Ray’ was announced as the third single, we couldn’t have expected a brand-spanking-new version of the song to be recorded. The band evidently thought it needed sprucing up, and it’s definitely paid off. Its anthemic qualities have been beefed up...
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Gem Club: Breakers
The first material since 2010’s Gem Club’s ‘Acid and Everything’ and it’s just about as considered and perfectionist as we’d have expected. The tone, the atmosphere on ‘Breakers’, is of equal weight and sadness as anything on last year’s EP. An occasional refrain, where the singer simply howls a cry on top of a stark piano, is one of the most...
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MFM013 - Music Fan's Mic Podcast - 29-06-2011
While I’m off wondering what to do with my life after watching Beyonce’s Glasto performance for the fifteenth time, here’s some songs for you to listen to. All of these have been discovered by the oft-late Jamie Milton, within the past seven days. Some are fresh, new, hot off the pan. Others are a little less topical but all the more essential. Featured this week: Still...
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Zola Jesus: Vessel
As Conatus arrives on September 27th, we can all expect Nika Roza Danilova to have received her fair share of critical acclaim, right left and centre. More propulsive and refined than anything on ‘Stridulum II’, ‘Vessel’ builds from a jerky, split-second beat and breathes roaring synth into the atmosphere alongside Danilova’s signatory passionate cries. [JM]
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June Album Pick: Givers - In Light
I saw this band described as a cross between Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend this week. If you can imagine that, all well and good, but it doesn’t come close to describing the sound of their debut album ‘In Light’. It’s a relentlessly upbeat and chirpy listen, much more ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots’-era Flaming Lips than anything else, and this is...
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Howling Bells: The Loudest Engine
” I think this record will change people’s perspectives of the band.” This was Jaunita Stern, speaking of Howling Bells’ third album, ‘The Loudest Engine’, due out this September. As indicated by the title-track, this is a record that looks to be set on exploring a more psychedelic array of influences, rather than having the band stepthe tips of their toes into...
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Dirty Beaches: Speedway King
Is there anything out there at the moment that comes close to resembling this? This is no mere exploratory take on scuzzy rock; it sounds like one of Elvis’s acid trips. More than that - it sounds like any one of your favourite bands, taken on a Hunter S. Thompson journey like that in ‘Fear and Loathing…’ and the video, both haunting and NSFW, fits the song with...
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Still Corners: Cuckoo
Almost every Still Corners song reminds me of a scene in Twin Peaks where Dale Cooper sits in the local bar with music playing. Up on the stage is a blonde-haired woman, standing staticly, accompanied by a band playing songs much in tow with the show’s soundtrack. There’s artificial mist and dark, red-tinted lighting and an air of mystery. The band playing could quite easily be Still Corners,...
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June Album Pick: Cashier No 9 - To The Death Of...
Cashier No 9’s tongues must have been lodged firmly in their cheeks when they came up with that album title, because for a record entitled ‘To The Death Of Fun’, their debut album sure is a celebratory affair - and well should it be, because it’s set to soundtrack the summer for quite a few people, me included. From the colourful album artwork to the instant, direct...
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Lucy Rose: Middle Of The Bed
How times have changed since Myspace’s ascendency…Musicians and the process with which music is plugged and exposed, no longer has anything to do with the platform. And yet a few things associated with the site remain: Dev Hynes is still making music; we’re still listening to music on widget players (albeit slicker and nicer-looking ones) and Lucy Rose, an artist who I...
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The History of Apple Pie: You're So Cool
We’re honestly not sure if this could have been timed better. Up above is the video for The History of Apple Pie’s debut single, ‘You’re So Cool’ and it matches the song, a celebratory indie-pop gem that captures the essence of summer, perfectly. The song itself is out next week and proves that recent free download ‘Tug’ was no flash in the pan. You can...
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adoptahighway: Neighborhood Rhythm for Basement...
It’s almost as if These New Puritans’ ‘Hidden’ has taken some research drug and placed itself in a toddler school to marvel at all the toys. This is childish, fun, yet made of sophisticated elements; from strong, kick-heavy percussion to a deep, numbing bass line. [JM] Taken from the EP chances, circumstances, conditions
Neighborhood Rhythm For Basement Apartment by...
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BeachesBeaches
I’ve just excitedly arrived from posting about this on Lost Lost Lost - this seems a tad like lazy blogging, but sometimes you need to repeat a message to make sure people listen.
BeachesBeaches was recommended to me by the wonderful Dansx and I took his word for it. Needless to say, the tip paid dues and BeachesBeaches is, as anticipated, an electronic, sample-based artist with some...
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Bombay Bicycle Club: Shuffle
There are no two ways about it: Bombay Bicycle Club have changed direction. In a move that’s already splitting opinion, the band have released what we think is one of the most thrilling songs of the year in ‘Shuffle’. How an album with a song like this, and one like ‘How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep?’ (which already featured on the ‘Twilight: Eclipse’...
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June Album Pick: King Post Kitsch - The Party's...
Charlie Ward does not do things by halves. First of all, his debut album has been almost two years in the making, and secondly, over that timespan, the King Post Kitsch project has grown from a simple one-man band approach to something relatively more expansive than that. The production is basic, and these ten tracks, spanning 35 rather brief minutes (this really feels a lot shorter than it...
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INCOMING: Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind...
August 29 1. How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep 2. Bad Timing 3. Your Eyes 4. Lights Out, Words Gone 5. Take The Right One 6. Shuffle 7. Beggars 8. Leave It 9. Fracture 10. What You Want 11. Favourite Day 12. Still
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Interview + Exclusive Stream of Umber's 'Morning's...
Grand, emotional ambient recordings are Umber’s forte and with this debut, extended-EP release, he’s well and truly announcing himself. MFM has been obsessing over him for some time and with that, we’re pleased to announce an exclusive on the site - the first opportunity for you all to hear the final version of this wonderful EP. To celebrate, we’ve also interviewed Alex...
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MFM012 - Music Fan's Mic Podcast - 22/06/2011
The most jealousy-inducing of all festivals - Glasotonbury - commences this week. By the time this podcast launches, many of you will be on your suitable train/ride, heading to the Pyramid Stage (probably should have timed this a little better).
In order to well and truly counter the wonderful time you’re having, the 12th MFM Podcast is resplendent in wonderful tunes, all of which have...
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Gold Panda: MPB
This previously unreleased Gold Panda track will be featuring on the 12th MFM Podcast (keep an eye out, this afternoon). Why? Because it’s an extension of the glorious debut album ‘Lucky Shiner’ and it’s more evidence to show how Derwin Panda is influencing every electronic act with a bandcamp/soundcloud on the planet right now. [JM]
MPB by Gold Panda
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Washed Out: Amor Fati
We have, much to the annoyance of some folk who follow us on last.fm been playing the living daylights (and there’s lots of that) out of Ernest Greene’s first full-length, ‘Within and Without’. ’Amor Fati’ is the most squeaky-clean of all the tracks; bereft of the layers of reverb that smother many of the other songs. With this in mind, it could end up being...
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Stream: Copy Haho - S/T →
MFM has just learned that the brilliant self-titled record from Copy Haho, which we’ve been enjoying for a few weeks now, has been pushed back to July 4th. This is a bit of a shame, but to make up for that, our good buddies over at The Line of Best Fit are streaming it, in full, two weeks before release.
Here’s hoping you like it as much as we do.
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CSS: Hits Me Like a Rock
La Liberación looks set to spring a few surprises. CSS were probably expecting previous record, ‘Donkey’, to do a fair bit better than it did but alas, they took stock, considered their options and went to a few parties, by the sounds of it. This new single’s title is brutishly apt - it’s simple pop with instant appeal. That’s something ‘Donkey’ strangely...
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June Album Pick: The Antlers - Burst Apart
The curse of the critically-lauded debut is something we’re all familiar with. In the case of The Antlers, it might have seemed that the curse was set to strike again, because trying to live up to an album such as ‘Hospice’ was viewed as an extremely difficult, if not impossible, task. So everything was set for ‘Burst Apart’ to prove that its predecessor had become...
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New Radiohead: Staircase
There’s never a dull moment with this band currently. A mere few weeks after my copy of the King of Limbs on vinyl arrived in the post, they’ve unveiled a live, From The Basement take of a new song, titled ‘Staircase’.
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INCOMING: Southern Shores - Atlantic EP
Out July 12 - Cascine 1- Take Me Anywhere 2- Antibo 3- Tangier Woods 4- Night Is Young 5- Grande Comore 6- Meridian STREAM: Night Is Young
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Georgiaa - Summer Grass
It might seem obvious and made up of the most standard of parts, but Georgiaa’s ‘Summer Grass’ works just like a Beach Fossils song would: Basic but loveable, its charms lying in its innocent, simple take on putting hazy guitars into a pop song. A lo-fi, fuzzy summertime anthem. You might disagree, but I think we need as many of these as we can get. [JM]
Summer Grass by...
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Audiovisuals: Grass House - A Cradle, A Short...
Grass House - A Cradle, A Short Breath from Bullion on Vimeo.
Up above is the video for the new Grass House single, out next week. The band say themselves that ‘A Cradle, A Short Breath’ was written in a ‘conscious effort’ to lighten up a bit. Their first two EPs were very serious affairs, sure, but thankfully the one thing that hasn’t changed is the quality of...
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Audiovisuals: Regal Safari - Only
Things are happening pretty fast for Brighton’s Regal Safari. As if things couldn’t get any bigger and better than being featured on the 11th MFM podcast (hi), today the group have unveiled their first music video. Storm clouds and psychotic black + white visuals accompany a song I previous deemed to be all bright, gleaming and lovely. Regal Safari play a DJ set tonight at the Old...
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Stream: Clams Casino - Rainforest EP
Tri Angle Records are hell-bent on keeping up the momentum built up with the recent Holy Other’s ‘With U’. This forthcoming release, Mike Volpe aka. Clams Casino’s ‘Rainforest’ EP, is equally as dazzling. Every looped sample is thick and in-your-face, every vocal disfigured. Each of these five songs represent an intoxicating listen and a seriously worthwhile...
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Panthera Pardus
A lack of consciousness, a heavy head, a night out with the stars - all suitable conditions in which to consume the ambitious, synthesized sounds coming from Genova’s Panthera Pardus. Add to that list some quality headphones or a sophisticated speaker set-up and we have what this artist might declare a suitable listening experience for ‘Nebula’. 1 minute, 50 seconds in and all...
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Silver Wren
You can see why Tampa-hailing Silver Wren’s bandcamp notes specify the following: ”Intended and mixed for headphone-listening.” Each song contains a brushing of textures; all subtle on their own but together, they morph into this beautiful rush of warm air. This is particularly the case with ‘Estranger’: a lightly-plucked acoustic guitar plays the sweetest tune it...
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Tank: Last Night I Heard Everything In Slow Motion
You feel a little bit tetchy the first time the vocals come in: Amongst this quite beautiful and sullen landscape is a contrasting, nigh-on tasteless autotuned voice. Perhaps it’s prejudice and a stubborn dislike for anything that ruins a comfortable moment…You force yourself to press on. Less morphed and cut-up than a James Blake vocal it might be but by the time it arrives,...
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Echo Lake: Another Day
It’s astonishing how fast things can move when you spot an opportunity. Echo Lake, barely out of the water from their ‘Young Silence’ EP - a seminal work in its own right - are moving on to new territory before the day breaks. The artwork above comes hand in hand with a forthcoming release on No Pain In Pop. ‘Another Day’, the track we’ve been offered this...
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AUDIOVISUALS// Metronomy - The Bay
This is a little more like it on the video front. Firstly, the band feature. Secondly, the video is wonderful to look at. And finally, it suits the song. Sexy, seedy, bordering on ridiculous, this boosts ‘The Bay’’s claim of becoming one of the songs of the summer.
Metronomy - The Bay
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AUDIOVISUALS// Bon Iver - Calgary
Things get a bit Adam and Eve for Bon Iver’s latest video. ‘Calgary”s visuals probably required a lot of laundry detergent in prep, considering how white everything looks here. I have no idea how they got those sheets so clean… Let’s just say the music is a tad better. Look here, see, for we gave the album a “monthly pick” status earlier on this week.
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MFM011 - Music Fan's Mic Podcast - 15-06-2011
I was never that keen on the FML craze, where people would recite these unlikely stories that affirmed to everyone that their life was shit. But here’s a little something I’ve discovered: When these podcasts started, I needed a microphone. So, I purchased one. As soon as that was done, I plugged this microphone into the front port of my laptop and I continued to do so for 10...
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Serenades - Birds (Lissvik Remix)
My summer usually consists of wiping Calippo stains off my white t-shirt, spreading factor 45 on my sun-damanged neck and being exhausted by 8pm. Dan Lissvik paints a rather different picture, one of an idyllic daytime and a party-fuelled night. Using Serenades ‘Birds’ as a canvas, he paints on this excitable, colourful festival of happiness. It makes you somewhat jealous and...
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INCOMING: Driver Drive Faster - Open House
Formerly known as Polytechnic, now packed with big choruses and a new drummer. A very charming record. Out on Akoustik Anarkhy - 20/06/2011 1. The Conversation 2. It’s All Over It’s Everywhere (featured on MFM006) 3. Celebrate The Start 4. Missing Out 5. Oxygen 6. They May Talk 7. Can’t Afford To Rely On Fate 8. Gravel Dents 9. Don’t Fall Aprt 10. A Mile Back 11. One Last...
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June Album Pick: Bon Iver - Bon Iver
4AD Every recent interview profiling Justin Vernon doesn’t mention any log cabins anymore - no broken relationships, none of that candidness. All we know is that he’s found himself in Kanye West’s studio a couple of times and that just the other day, Neil Young happened to call for a quick chat. A good back-story = an album’s backbone. Surely? Not quite. And in truth,...
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June Album Pick: Mechanical Bride - Living With...
Transgressive
A mere couple of weeks after the success of a Bon Iver cover died down, a youngster with a piano who calls herself Birdy is moving on to take on another indie-credible band, this time The xx. Perhaps it wasn’t her decision. Most likely, the record company doesn’t trust her to write her own songs and is desperate to build on the ground already made, as quick as possible....
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SLIME
Almost every day I find myself lumbered with a sense of lazy journalism because when I hear most electronic music that’s coming out at the moment, I immediately reach for the Gold Panda comparison. Such was ‘Lucky Shiner”s impact that every stop-start, frantic and upbeat work I hear reminds me of ‘You’ or ‘Snow & Taxis’. Slime is a refreshing...
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The 10 MFM Podcasts
MFM Podcasts 1-10 by Music Fan’s Mic
Seems we’ve reached a milestone, people. The 1st Music Fan’s Mic podcast was just an exercise, done out of boredom, to see how Jamie’s voice sounded up against some great songs. As it’s gone on, over these past two months, the process of discovering new music has seemed like a more organic one, with these podcasts becoming near...