March Mixtape

(photo by Oliver Lang)

'Been seriously busy trying to get my PhD done. It ain't over yet and I'm already looking back on it. Preemptive nostalgia or something.

Anyway, here's a short, kinda sad mixtape. Made to accompany my rereading of Michel Serres's Genesis. Well, sorta.

Aside: Should I just be posting mixes with mostly 'new' stuff? I've been away from the blogosphere for a while (read: marking 'all as read').

Track Listing:

Cheju - Moody Copy
Kimonophonic - On a Mountain Instrument
Verbose - The Last Lizard
Dunaewsky69 - Shkaf
Tycho - The Daydream
Sun Araw - Live Mind
Loscil - Dub for Cascadia
múm - K/Half-noise

http://www.mediafire.com/?mtwqmmcmjhm

Mixtapes: MEL-SIN-MNL

(image via milkpack)

This is coming a bit late, but I wanted to share the mixtapes I made out of my flight playlists for this trip back home. There are two (more-or-less coherent) mixes here, mostly made up of the stuff I've been really into over the past couple of months/year. Will hopefully make the mixtapes a regular part of the blog.

Tracklisting

Small Black - Despicable Dogs (Washed Out Remix)
Taken by Trees - Watch the Waves (Memory Tapes Version)
Memory Cassette - Last One Awake
Au Revoir Simone - Shadows (The Teenagers Remix)
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher than the Stars
M83 - Teen Angst
Moscow Olympics - No Winter, No Autumn
Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday
Asobi Seksu - Pink Cloud Tracing Paper
The Morning Paper - Always Real
Washed Out - New Theory
Memoryhouse - To the Lighthouse
Beach House - Take Care
Cold Cave - Double Lives in Single Beds

http://www.mediafire.com/?gzit4yzjr2h



Tracklisting

Le Loup - Forgive Me
Bear in Heaven - Wholehearted Mess
Fluffy Lumbers - Harry Dolland's
Andrew Cedermark - Hard Livin'
Surf City - Autumn
Girls - Lust for Life
Papercuts - Future Primitive
Kurt Vile - Overnite Religion
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Know Better Learn Faster
Holiday Shores - Phones Don't Feud
Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I)
Real Estate - Snow Days

http://www.mediafire.com/?3wdtemwr2uw

Memoryhouse

I'm flying home soon and really couldn't ask for a better time to discover Memoryhouse and, in particular, their track "To the Lighthouse." It's a perfect song for long drives and idle time in airports, things we tend to associate with "supermodernity," but which I've always linked to older forms of travel like sailing.

Memoryhouse - To the Lighthouse

Also check out the Memoryhouse cover of Grizzly Bear's 'Foreground' on MySpace.

The Morning Paper + Moscow Olympics

The Morning Paper is the amazing one-man shoegaze project of Swede David Khylberg. He's been putting music out since 2004, but his work's actually somewhat hard to track down, as it's been distributed on a number of labels, most notably, Skipping Stones Records (which released the album It's Getting Better) and the Japanese label Xtal Records (which released his other album What We Wish). Curiously, What We Wish was (apparently) re-released earlier this year by Universal Records in the Philippines, a label which is, um, not exactly known for its discriminating taste.

I don't know and can't really figure out what Khylberg's connection is to the Philippines, although it is worth noting that his most recent release is the split single "Always Real," with the equally amazing Philippine band Moscow Olympics. Ironically enough, that single, like Moscow Olympics' great album Cut the World, has not been released in the Philippines. (Actually, as far as I can tell, Moscow Olympics is better known in the blogosphere than they are in Manila.)

I guess none of this label stuff really matters as long as we're able to track down the music. I've put down a track each from The Morning Project and Moscow Olympics here, but it's definitely worth buying the rest of both bands' stuff if you're a fan of shoegaze.

On a related note, I'll be flying to Manila for the holidays and thought it would be nice to put up a series of posts on local bands here to coincide with my trip. I'll probably start that series next week.

The Morning Paper - Always Real


Moscow Olympics - Still

Weekend

"The ferocity of punk, the drama of shoegaze, the ambition of Springsteen and the textures of noise." - That's the description on Weekend's blog and it's pretty accurate. I'm quite quick to like anything shoegaze or shoegaze-y, but Weekend's a standout I think. Just have a listen. 'All-American' is a real gem. 7" expected this November via Mexican Summer.


Weekend - All-American


Weekend - Coma Summer

(via MBV)

Do Make Say Think + Múm

Looks like some old favorites are back in action. Toronto's Do Make Say Think are releasing their 6th album, 'Other Truths', on Oct. 6 and earlier this month immortal Icelandic collective Múm dropped their 5th album, 'Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know' (if you get it from gogoyoko, 10% of the sales go to refugees). To be honest, the Múm track bores the hell out of me. And I like to think that I've got a lot of patience for boring music. I think it's because I assess all music based on how they fit into my imaginary life soundtrack and I really can't imagine any scene where this would be playing. The DMST mp3 below is actually a sampler for the entire album, which is just four tracks ('Do', 'Make', 'Say' and 'Think' - how clever). I'm really liking it, especially the first track. 'Sounds like something I'd put on while getting dressed. Yep, that's the extent of my critique. I've got to save brain space for my thesis.



Do Make Say Think - Other Truths (album sampler)


Múm - Illuminated

Deerhunter + Atlas Sound Live

La Blogotheque got some great footage of Deerhunter at La Route du Rock in St. Malo, France. The video also features Bradford Cox doing a bare version of 'Kid Climax', a track off the forthcoming Logos (Oct 10 from Kranky). I actually saw Deerhunter live earlier this year in Melbourne and they were really incredible. Video also includes Marissa Nadler and Delano Orchestra.

Here are a couple of Atlas Sound bonuses:

Stream: Attic Lights (via Stereogum)
MP3: Attic Lights (live at The Earl) (more here)

The Nextdoor Neighbors

I'm a little bit in love with these tracks from The Nextdoor Neighbors' 'folktronic'/'organically-grown bedroom pop' album, Magic Vs the Machine (Bicycle Records). They make me feel like a teenage girl. They're all simple and pretty. And I don't mean that in a patronizing way. At all. It's exactly the kind of stuff I'd be listening to on a Sunday afternoon, if, you know, I didn't spend my Sunday afternoons getting killed by my PhD thesis.

As if the tracks weren't enough reason for me to love them, here's a description of what went down during their album launch:

Saturday night was the duo’s CD release party for their debut album Magic Vs. the Machine (Bicycle Records) at the Vera Project, with the most opportune word in this sentence being 'party'. The band was perfectly lovely, striking a balance between being ready for their big night and being overwhelmed by it. The room at Vera was packed with teenagers, and you could guess most were friends. Between songs, Kathy (Cote) and Jessie (Hill) tried to thank everyone who showed up and it felt like an Academy Awards acceptance speech during every break: rushed for time and afraid that someone would be left out and not thanked (but they did control when the music started). I think Cote wanted to delay the start of the set (from 8:45) by a few minutes so that her brother could make it, who was driving up from Vancouver, WA to be there. He eventually showed up about 10 minutes into the set. (via Three Imaginary Girls)

Seems really 'real'. 'Wonder if they'll turn into assholes if they make it big.



The Nextdoor Neighbors - Anti-Lullaby


The Nextdoor Neighbors - Cultural Revolution


The Nextdoor Neighbors - Magic Vs the Machine

Memory Tapes / Fool's Gold

I feel obligated to blog about the Memory Tapes remix of Fool's Gold's Nadine, 'coz the whole world is blogging about it. Half-joke. I think Memory Tapes/Memory Cassette/Weird Tapes is my most favoritest discovery of the year (and probably every other person's). Yeah, in case you didn't know, it's all the same dude, though I read somewhere that Memory Cassette is supposed to be the feminine version of Weird Tapes, which was Dayve Hawk's first monicker. I'm not sure if I really 'get' that from the tracks or if I'm just hearing it coz I read about it. I'm also not sure if my queer-theoried brain really dislikes Hawk for even thinking about that split, though I suppose the fact that the full length Seek Magic is coming as the hybrid 'Memory Tapes' is reassuring.


Fool's Gold - Nadine (Memory Tapes Version)



Memory Cassette - Surfin

New Washed Out

This just out. Fresh track from Washed Out, off the upcoming cassette 'High Times', from Mirror Universe. I don't know where all this 'coastal' stuff is coming from, but I'm pretty hooked on it. On a related note: After three years here in Oz, I'm still kinda pissed that our seasons are reversed. The music and clothes are never in sync with the rest of the world (read: 'America').



Washed Out - Belong
(via Fader)

The First Days of Spring

The First Days of Spring Official Trailer from charlie fink on Vimeo.

Noah and the Whale are releasing their second album, 'The First Days of Spring', with a film. Or rather, they're releasing an album and a film and they're both titled 'The First Days of Spring'. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Ambition kinda grosses me out (self-loathing). And I kinda hate films which have those long pauses where someone's just sitting on a bench or standing in front of the ocean or staring at the mirror or some other reflective/meaningful/overly dramatic moment that we're supposed to be able to relate to. But yea, I'll probably watch this and like it.


Bonus: Black Cab Sessions and Remixes

Noah and the Whale from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

mp3: Noah and the Whale - Blue Skies (Twelves Remix)
mp3: Noah and the Whale - Blue Skies (Yacht Remix)

Cold Cave

I've been pretty obsessed with Cold Cave for a while now, but more and more I've been listening to the mega-infectious 'Life Magazine'. 'Think it might be my way of coping with self-imposed 'exile'/PhD hell/hibernation in my private cave (cave! get it? yea, getting a PhD strips you of your sense of humor).


Cold Cave - Life Magazine

Here's the title track from the LP.

Music for Non-places

I'm not one of those people who constantly have music on. I can't write or read with music or do anything productive, really. Even when the music is atmospheric, I prefer listening to it while doing nothing else. That's how shitty a multi-tasker I am.

But if there's any kind of music I can work with, it's stuff like this, from South London's The Inventors of Aircraft. Slow, space-y, full of micro-sounds that can be appreciated as background noise but which also deserve to be paid attention to when the right mood strikes (read: late at night, in a car on an open road).

If you've got shit speakers, use headphones. And turn the volume up!



The Inventors of Aircraft - Time Vanishes.mp3

Download the whole album, Unknown Language, as a zip file here.

Ratatat!

I''ll be seeing Ratatat live in a few months. Judging from this vid of them live in Paris (courtesy of Grand Crew) the show's gonna be pretty amazing.

Bonus mashup by Bearbot.



Justice/Ratatat - We Are Your Friends (Bearbot MashUp Remix).mp3

Back in Melbourne, as a Narcoleptic; or, Missing JD Samson

'Arrived back Friday afternoon. My brain was only three hours behind, so I wasn't jet lagged or anything, but I fell asleep anyway and ended up missing a friend's farewell picnic. 'Was gonna catch up with him at the Toff to catch JD Samson's DJ set, but the tickets actually sold out. Crazy.

I've actually been sleeping weird and missing stuff since the holidays. It's kinda strange coz I'm normally not even capable of napping. It's pretty awesome though coz I usually remember my dreams and they're often a bit messed up. The last great one had a glowing panther and midgets on Harry Potter-style flying broomsticks. Not kidding.

Since I missed out on JD Samson's set, 'thought I'd put up an old remixed gem from Le Tigre (ignore the gross bit in the middle). And since I'm back in Melbourne, 'thought I'd add something newish by Melbourne act ZZZ, remixed by the Bag Raiders from Sydney.

Le Tigre - Deceptacon (DFA Remix).mp3

ZZZ - Lion (Bag Raiders Remix).mp3