de-minimis: March 2017

23 March 2017

joy division - 'day of the lords'

The good stuff.

guido möbius - 'batagur baska'

So, so good.

four tet - 'lion (jamie xx remix)'

How good is this?

the shivas - 'nine, six and three'

Haven't heard this in a while.

the radio dept - 'this thing was bound to happen'

Something from last year.

sonzeira - 'nada nada ft moses boyd'

So cool.

the underground youth - 'amerika'

The Bauhaus influenced vibes continue.

toydrum - 'just like going home (steve mason & tom gray rework)'

Just beautiful.

julie byrne - 'natural blue'

Taken from her album 'Not Even Happiness', this is a great track.

20 March 2017

astrid s - 'breathe'

Norwegian electro-pop here and it sounds pretty fine.

missio - 'bottom of the deep blue sea'

A new band to me, this is Missio from Texas. I love how this song builds and builds.

ásgeir - 'stardust'

Great stuff from one of Iceland's greats.

19 March 2017

gabor szabo - 'galatea's guitar'

Night all.

17 March 2017

tony valor sound orchestra - 'love has come my way (jim burgess remix)'

Who's up for disco?

spain - 'if we kissed'

Shaping up to be the live album of the year, here's a great live offering from Spain.

brian jonestown massacre - 'acid 2 me is no worse than war'

What a fucking great tune.

david bazan - 'inner lives'

It's about time the world recognised this man's talent.

mick harvey - 'the drowned one'

Superb from the Bad Seeder.

angerbird - 'dna is destiny'

One of Canada's musical greats in my humble opinion.

proper ornaments - 'cremated (blown away)'

Still finding loads of things on their 2017 album to enjoy.

flo morrissey and matthew e white - 'thinkin bout you'

Flo and Matthew cover Frank. Job done very well.

alice jemima - 'so'

From one of my favourite albums of the year so far.

hand habits - 'demand it'

Shades of Emilie Simone with this track.

maggie rogers - 'on + off'

I'm not quite sure to make of this track. Part of me loves it but there's another part that has doubts. I'll give it another go.

marginal - 'alheio (original mix)'

This is quite a beefy minimal track but still lots of subtleties lying within.

austra - '43'

Another great track from their recent album.

horsebeach - 'alone'

Their new album 'Beauty and Sadness' is out today and if jangly guitar-driven indie is your bag then you need to listen to this album.

hen greca - 'little helper 266-1 (original mix)'

Absolutely brilliant.

alexandar kyosev - 'berg'

The minimal techno love-in continues with this beauty.

afriqua - 'decontroit'

Taken from the Prophette EP, here is some beautiful minimal techno.

tqd - 'a letter to ez'

Breakbeat with more than a hint of r'n'b.

ayia - 'ruins'

Superb stuff from Icelandic outfit aYia.

soleima - 'breathe ft.hoodboi'

Love this new track from Danish artist Soleima. Check out the EP 'No. 14' that this is from too.

16 March 2017

oddfellow's casino - '100,000 fireflies'

One of those albums that slipped under the radar last year but deserves a much wider audience.

klaus dinger & prejapandorf - 'pure energy'

How good is this track?

tim burgess - 'white'

His solo album 'Oh No I Love You' has grown on me so much over time. There's an innocence to it that is quite endearing.

the czars - 'bright black eyes'

Long before John Grant went solo he was in the Czars and making great tunes like this.

velvet underground - 'pale blue eyes'

My favourite Lou Reed tune even if the lyrics are incredibly iffy.

gobisiqolo - 'bhizer ft busiswa, sc gorna, bhepepe'

Forget Shangaan electro, the next big musical movement coming from South Africa is gqom. This is absolutely superb.

fred wesley and the j.b.'s - 'blow your head'

With an opening that has been sampled many times this is a fantastic track from the JBs.

new order - '5-8-6 peel sessions'

I remember seeing this in Our Price in Worthing back in the day and wishing I had the money to buy it. Thank God for the internet!

actress - 'x22rme'

Love this new video from Actress. Glitchy techno never sounded so good.

rosinha de valença - 'summertime'

Going right back to 1967 now with this Brazilian classic.

shackleton & vengeance tenfold - 'the prophet sequence'

I don't think I'll ever get bored of listening to Shackleton's dark, complex music.

my jerusalem - 'rabbit rabbit'

The Austin band were a complete new one to me but after I'd heard their album 'A Little Death' I've been a big fan.

shannon wright - 'soft noise'

Her 2017 album 'Division' is an early contender for my album of the year.

ladylike lily - 'dans la matière'

Nice.

gonjasufi - 'the conspiracy (santino romeri remix)'

Have I mentioned before how much I love Gonjasufi?

marc werner - 'kitten love (teenage mutants remix)'

Love this track. It's not quite techno, not quite disco but it's very good.

nick cave and the bad seeds - 'loom of the land'

Nick Cave at his very best.

dj cam v moar - 'bounce'

I haven't listened to this album in a long time. Seriously good.

carla dal forno - 'you know what it's like'

She's one of the leading ladies on one of my favourite record labels: Blackest Ever Black.

elvis depressedly - 'angel cum clean'

Why have I not blogged about this band more? Schoolboy error.

With the same production team as 2016's 'Hopelessness' and the subject matter similarly addressing the true first world problems, the new EP 'Paradise' is clearly a companion piece to the aforementioned LP although not quite so bleak and perhaps that's understandable given the respective titles of both albums. This is the lead track from it.

stef kamil carlens - 'the journey will be long'

Better known as lead singer with Zita Swoon this track is taken from his new solo album and its bloody brilliant.

milky chance - 'cocoon'

This is the lead single from their new album and I can't wait to hear the full album on the back of this track.

mew - '85 videos'

It's great to see the Danes showing the Swedes that they can make great dream-pop too.

15 March 2017

the flaming lips - 'sunrise (eyes of the young)'

I'm so glad they're back to form with their new album.

hurray for the riff raff - 'hungry ghost'

Here's a band that I've blogged about for quite a few years now and so glad that they've got mainstream success at last.

grails - 'empty chamber'

More beautiful music here taken from their latest album 'Chalice Hymnal'.

rag 'n' bone man - 'ego'

Another track from the Sussex lad.

kid koala - 'the observable universe'

I'm not usually into ambient tracks but this one has me hooked.

conor oberst - 'until st dymphna kicks us out'

His new album is quite possibly his best yet.

deep purple - 'hush'

It's a classic.

13 March 2017

beck - 'true love will find you in the end'

Taken from the Late Great Daniel Johnston covers album, here's Beck with one of the truly great love songs.

11 March 2017

the moonlandingz ft rebecca taylor - 'the strangle of anna'

How good is this track?

daymé arocena - 'mambo na' mà'

Taken from the brilliant new Cubafonia album, Ms Arocena mixes jazz and Cuban rhythms to wonderful effect.

10 March 2017

cat stevens - 'i love my dog'

50 years ago today, Cat Stevens released his debut album 'Matthew and Son' and this was one of the big hits from it.

valerie june - 'shake down'

Her new album is Resident Records' album of the week so I took the plunge and am now enjoying listening to it. Certainly grips your attention and a veritable mix of styles that keeps you interested.

röyksopp - 'never ever (hotel garuda remix)'

One of a series of remixes of their 2016 hit and available now from their website to download or stream. Here's the link.

first aid kit - 'you are the problem here'

This was not what I was expecting. First Aid Kit are better known for understated country-tinged harmonies whereas this track is full on rock. I guess the title of the tune should have been a giveaway; it's difficult not to be angry with that title and as John Lydon correctly observed 'anger is an energy'.

09 March 2017

fink - 'cold feet'

Talk about atmospheric.

tops - 'petals'

TOPS are back with a dreamy new single.

holly macve - 'fear (mahogany session)'

Taken from her brand new album 'Golden Eagle'.

zooey - 'long gone'

Sit back and enjoy this one.

the luyas - 'no domination'

I don't know what I love the best on this track; is it the guitar riffs, the textures, the vocals or just the whole effect?

rose elinor dougall - 'hell and back'

If you haven't heard her album yet then you really should. You owe it to yourself.

tim cohen - 'clouds'

Does music get any better than this?

nouvelle vague - 'la pluie et le beau temps'

Nouvelle Vague and the wonderful Élodie Frégé combine for this beautiful tune.

slowdive - star roving'

Got to love shoegazing.

emika - 'the miracle'

Composed by Emika and performed by the Prague Metropolitan Orchestra.

landlady - 'rest in place'

Taken from their 2017 album 'The World is a Loud Place'.

08 March 2017

the white stripes - 'one more cup of coffee'

One of my favourite White Stripes songs.

danger mouse and daniel luppi - 'morning fog'

My melancholy continues and I'm nursing it with this simply brilliant tune.

depeche mode - 'where's the revolution (algiers remix)'

I wasn't a big fan of the new Depeche Mode track but Algiers may well have saved the day with this excellent remix that lifts the song from it's turgid pace into something very atmospheric and properly captures the 2017 zeitgeist.

07 March 2017

fanningsystems - 'southwest terminal boomin'

Love this track.

nicole moudaber - 'young hearts'

She's one of the top DJs around and with this kind of talent it's not difficult to see why.

the feelies - 'stay the course'

The new Feelies album is a must-have for both long-time fans and new fans with a penchant for The Velvet Underground.

woody guthrie - 'hard travelin'

I haven't posted a Guthrie track in years and this is a belter.

Peter Silberman - 'New York'

Pink Floyd once sang of "understanding the spaces between words" and this is something that Peter Silberman is extremely proficient at. His new album 'Impermanence' has a minimalist feel to it that hooks you and doesn't let go.

the xx - 'say something'

Here's the new video to The XX's smash hit 'Say Something'.

mersault - 'ellis be damned'

Scottish indie-folk outfit Mersault have surpassed themselves here with this gorgeous track from their new album.

vil - 'violet'

Now this is rather lovely. Sung in Danish (the mother tongue of one half of Vil) and filmed in Iceland (the home of the other half).

lake jons - 'positive'

This is the brand new track from Finnish indie trio Lake Jons.

holly macve - 'corner of my mind'

This track is so good. I do love this dark Americana that Holly Macve sings.

fkj - 'better give you up'

French Kiwi Juice (or FKJ for short) is a French electronic act with a lovely line in smooth, trippy dance music very much in the same vein as Hotel Costes.

methyl ethyl - 'ubu'

I am quite taken with Methyl Ethyl's new album. There's lots to get stuck into and so many great tunes.

john martyn - 'dreams by the sea'

Solid Air is one of the greatest albums ever. Fact.

lucky charmes & awiin - 'bass 187'

Check out this monster of a bass line.

fleet foxes - 'Third of May / ōdaigahara'

After a six year hiatus, Fleet Foxes have announced a new album and released this song, 9-minute affair from it.

jay som - 'the bus song'

An album that I'm looking forward to hearing is the new one from Jay Som. This is the first track released from it.

sleaford mods - 'moptop'

I still don't really know what I think of the Sleaford Mods. I can't help but look beyond the social commentary at the 2 middle-aged blokes preaching it and wonder if it's edgy satire or a bit embarrassing.

why? - 'proactive evolution'

This is taken from their new album 'Moh Lhean'.

summer moon - 'with you tonight'

When you're feeling rough there's always music to pick you up. This single has been around a little while now but now that supergroup Summer Moon have released their new album I thought it time to put it on here.

06 March 2017

gangly - 'whole again'

Thanks to Line of Best Fit for the heads up on this new track from Icelandic band, Gangly. Taken from their website:

"Icelandic supergroup GANGLY have shared the subdued beauty of new single "Whole Again". The track, which follows December's "Blow Out", is a soft-focused bout of nebulous electronica. A glittering bittersweetness permeates the synthy splendour, will rolling timps and grand, claustrophic bass adding weight to the otherwise otherworldly offering.

GANGLY is Sin Fang’s Sindri Már Sigfússon, Oyama’s Úlfur Alexander Einarsson, and the ever-prolific Jófríður Ákadóttir, whose latest project JFDR is one of our five Ones To Watch for 2017. She's also an integral part of Samaris and Pascal Pinon."

https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/new-music/discovery/icelands-gangly-share-spine-tingling-new-single-whole-again

the brian jonestown massacre - 'groove is in the heart'

Their new album is an absolute beast and I mean that in the very best way. An incredibly big, hugely ambitious and wide-ranging album that left me quite stunned. I've listened to it 3 times and still don't think I've begun to scratch the surface of it. There's lots of their traditional heavy psychedelia but also a dance track or two and all sorts. There's also guest appearances aplenty with Tim Burgess, Tess Parks and various others.

The chap at Resident Records in Brighton compared parts of it to Primal Scream and he's right but I also got a whiff of JAMC, Nick Cave, Floyd. It's certainly a great album with absolutely no quibbles from me. I'm amazed at how much great psychedelic music is being made right now and this is right up there. As good as The Flaming Lips latest and I don't say that lightly.