de-minimis

31 May 2016

death in vegas - 'transmission'

The black and white retro cover to the album and the title 'Transmission' both reference Joy Division (if somewhat obliquely) and it doesn't end there. The music itself has a certain intense, impersonal quality to it that I also feel when listening to Joy Division. It's a welcome return for the London duo with a very bass heavy collection of tunes. This particular track is about the dance-friendly but the whole album works on so many levels that it's impossible to try to pigeon-hole it with a single genre description.

miss red - 'fever'

Oh my goodness this is absolutely phenomenal. I love it. Miss Red is a reggae-obsessed singer with a lot of attitude and even more talent. Check out the dub heavy track 'Fever'.

karen o - 'day gone by'

I'd completely forgotten about this Karen O album from a year or two ago until I read mention of it just now.

phoria - 'red'

Great to see another Brighton band coming good. Here's Phoria's new track from their upcoming album 'Volition'. It's a dreamy electro-pop number that just begs you to hit the replay so you can hear the bits you missed the first time around, there's so much going on with this beautiful song.

sonny and the sunsets - 'well but strangely hung man'

Sonny and the Sunsets have a new album 'Moods Baby Moods' that harks back to 80s pop-funk with some brilliantly observed lyrics and killer tunes.

raveonettes - 'scout'

The latest single from The Raveonettes sees them return to rockier sounds with loads of reverb, muffle and echo. It's still got all the quality you expect. Have they ever made a duff record? I don't think so.

gold panda - 'chiba nights'

This is cool. It's a travelogue video of a week spent in Chiba and the surrounding areas where the band went looking for unusual shops and gifts.

yuck - 'hearts in motion'

I've been listening, this lunchtime to the new Yuck album and after initially thinking it wasn't really my cup of tea I am slowly warming to it. I think it's tracks such as this one that are swaying me round.

30 May 2016

thomas cohen - 'bloom forever'

Taken from his brand new album that came out only this month is a quite gorgeous track 'Bloom Forever' that harks back to Suede and has a quite lovely guitar solo nestled inside it.

gil scott-heron — no knock from evolution (and flashback)

Let's leave this bank holiday weekend with a great Gil Scott-Heron track.

29 May 2016

jeff buckley - 'dream brother'

He died this day 19 years ago after just one incredible studio album.

perturbator - 'sentient'

My eldest son got me into this French synth act with heavy death metal influences.

on dead waves - 'blackbird'

Fantastic stuff from Polly Scattergood and James Chapman. I've been a big fan of Ms Scattergood for quite a while and she was one of the first musicians that I blogged about when I started this flight of fancy 6 years ago! This is the first track from their new album out last week. Love it.

wild beats - 'get my bang'

I think this is the first track from their upcoming album and if the rest of the tunes sound as good it's going to be a very good album. Very up-to-date funky sound with some quirky additions and catchy hooks.

adam and the ants - 'deutscher girls'

I went with friends to see Adam Ant last night. Oh boy, did he put on a show that rolled back the years! Sadly he didn't play my favourite Adam and the Ants song so I'm putting it on here now.

25 May 2016

olga bell - 'randomness'

Last one of the night for me. Here's Russian-born, Alaskan-raised Olga Bell with some leftfield electronica from her new album 'Tempo' due out at the end of the week. I love music like this.

samaris - 'góða tungl'

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this Icelandic band before so I'm going to jump in and play an oldie from their back catalogue. I don't know what it is about Icelandic pop but I go back to it time and again for inspiration and pure musical pleasure.

poliça - 'lose you'

Now this was one band that I was ahead of the game with. I was blogging about this band at the beginning of 2014 and since then their stock has risen dramatically (absolutely nothing to do with me though!). Their 2016 album 'United Crushers' just cements their position as a headline act and with tracks such as this from it, it's easy to see why.

memoryhouse - 'arizona'

We all love dreampop, right? I do and this is a peach from Canadian band Memoryhouse from their 2016 album 'Soft Hate'.

africaine 808 - 'yes we can't'

Africaine 808 are a New York band who mix electronic music with traditional African (and on this track Australian) sounds. The overall effect is something much better than the sum of its parts and it makes for one hell of a great party player. 'Basar' the album this comes from was released in February this year but seems to have slipped past lots of people. Seriously, get listening! You won't regret it.