Silver Swans - House of Blood

In the midst of a war of words about Lana Del Rey and her lofty ambitions, when a ‘Video Games’ cover arrives in your inbox, the only reasonable response is to hit the delete button and banish the perpetrators of this desperate ploy from all existence. Silver Swans don’t owe me an explanation. They’ve helped me to forget about this criminal act of opportunism, through an exceptional debut full-length in the form of ‘Forever’. It follows on from the ‘Secrets’ EP, building beautiful structures of tribal drums and dreamy vocals. It’s the sound of an innocent group of travellers running full speed through the Amazon rainforest with not a care in the world. Few songs sound as free-spirited as ‘House of Blood’. 

[via Sound Injections] 

Alpha Waves - Analog Girl

Like most unhygienic, spotty teenage boys with a fledging passion for music (at the time, for me, this was only the music of Radiohead), I found myself in a couple of bands. Again, most of the music we made was meant to channel Thom Yorke. This was never as easy as one might’ve hoped. My biggest regret, band-wise, is not forming a big, brash guitar band with friends. A love of No Age ought to have prompted it but nope, without the garage space and without the lo-fi-loving pals, it never happened. Alpha Wavez are another in a long string of jealousy-inducing youngsters who played their cards right. ‘Analog Girl’ is a gradually building, shoegaze-indebted throwing together of every influence within a square mile: My Bloody Valentine, No Age, every Captured Tracks signing under the sun. And it works. If these guys get signed, I’ll know I chose the wrong path in life.

Sam Flax - Child Of Glass

As if Selebrities’ ‘Night Heat’ wasn’t doing enough of a deed in lifting me up from my spinny-chair and taking me to 80s discos with shootouts and dance-offs, Sam Flax’s ‘Age Waves’ does the same job to an even grander extent. Dark wave/ Disco wave/ Lust wave/ whatever you want to call it, ‘Child of Glass’ contains every fruitful element that the best 80s pop tracks could boast: muted guitar lines, synthetic handclaps and a gigantic chorus. Even if you’re the most pathetic of dancers, it nigh on forces you to “bust some moves”. 

Mister Lies - Morgan

Yesterday I wrote about how no music out there is currently capable of sending me into a trance-like state. I’ve been proved wrong. ‘Morgan’, with its early-Burial soundscape, encompasses everything I love about downtempo electronic music. All the components are there: The rich, sweet-tongued vocal sample; the creeping, evolving synths. It’s hard not to fall in love with this track upon first listen. It’s even harder to resist hitting repeat. Chicago producer Mister Lies will have achieved something remarkable if ever he tops this. 

Check out the equally superb ‘Cleam’, while you’re at it.

Falcon Lake - Shores & The House Falls Down

A rare week or so of regular sleeping patterns, lack of coffee, not too much beer, has left me feeling strangely balanced. I no longer drift off into a sleep-like state when on public transport. No longer can a song like ‘Shores’ sent me into that sort of trance. All the same, it works brilliantly as a first-thing-in-the-morning glow, an incentive to get outside and explore. Leon Piers’ most recent efforts drift gorgeously between downcast slumber and upbeat, popping excitement; like my past week, they’re strangely balanced numbers. 

Beat Culture - Belong (ft. Steffaloo)

At 17 years old, Sunik Kim has gained the respect - no, adoration - of almost every aspiring producer who bases their work on Soundcloud. If ever you needed evidence of the Platform’s benefits and its ability to break an artist and help build a steady career for them, this is it. Steffaloo features on virtually every relevant producer’s work but on ‘Belong’ she sounds fresh, new to these ears: Completely enthused to be featuring on ‘Belong’. If the ‘Goldenback Weaver’ record felt like a breakthrough, this tops the triumph. An elated, potentially seminal example of the producer’s early years. Quite phenomenally, he can go even further than this, if he chooses.

[Taken from the LYFSTYL compilation, ‘Dreams’]