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*Silver Lining Drops 10/4/10 on Muti Music; Massive Run of Fall Tour Dates Also Announced*
Los Angeles’ MiM0SA has made a distinct mark on the West Coast sound in the past two years and has become one of the top West Coast exports. This young producer’s energy whilst performing is magnetic; the word has spread fast and MiM0SA has recently shared the stage with the likes Benga, Skream, Rusko, Glitch Mob, Pretty Lights, Bassnectar and Flying Lotus, playing shows across the US and festivals like Coachella, Symbiosis Gathering, Burning Man, Decibel Festival and of course, gracing the stage at the now-legendary Low End Theory in Los Angeles. MiM0SA brings an energy that is as fierce as it is friendly, taking listeners and audiences on journeys through urban chaos and ecstasy. His new mini-LP Silver Lining is dropping October 4th, 2010 on SF based Muti Music.
MiM0SA’s production expertise has been in high demand and collaborations with Marines Parade’s Panty Raid have been featured on Mary Anne Hobbs‘ BBC radio show. His past releases “Flux For Life” (which cracked the iTunes Top 10 dance music chart) & “Hostilis” have shown an ability to move effortlessly between Dubstep and Experimental Hip Hop. Most recently, the Your Love EP begun to showcase a new level of skill and confidence as well. MiM0SA also partners with producer Sleepyhead for the collaborative project Sexytime as well. He’s been releasing on Muti Music for the past three years, and will be touring extensively throughout the fall.
Today marks the beginning of Kyle Andrews mania on the web with the debut of his world record breaking video for “You Always Make Me Smile” premiering on the front page of YouTube this morning. With 120,000 balloons and 4000 people, the video sought to set a new Guinness world record for largest water balloon fight.
Kyle Andrews’ new EP, KANGAROO, is out today on Elephant Lady Records. The songwriter has enjoyed a recent abundance of interest and new fans with the placement of his jaunty tune “You Always Make Me Smile” playing an integral part of Holiday Inn’s “Stay You” advertising campaign. Airing heavily on international television and online, there are many different versions of the ad with all of them using “You Always Make Me Smile” as the central theme throughout each commercial. The single (available now) is a taste of the warm, summery pop on his new six-song EP.
Like all of Kyle’s work, KANGAROO is addictively catchy with measured doses of pulsing synths and drum machines, but it belies an endearing homespun sweetness that stands out among DIY songwriters/producers. Recorded entirely in his bedroom, KANGAROO is Andrews’ fifth release following a string of other successful, self-produced full-lengths and EPs. Kyle made his mark in 2006 with his first full-length, Amos in Ohio. NPR syndicated station WXPN dubbed it “instantly memorable…packed with infectious hooks” and Kyle promptly answered the praise the following year with a seven song EP entitled Find Love, Let Go. NPR had high praise for his 2009 release Real Blasty describing it as “…an upbeat album for sad people who just want to dance…Andrews pulls it off by pairing his angst with bright electro-pop rhythms and irresistible hooks.”
Kyle Andrews will hit the road this fall in support of KANGAROO and has shared the stage with The Submarines, The Morning Benders, Josh Rouse and Peter Bjorn and John in the past. His live show is full of energy and not to be missed – a first round of fall dates have been announced and more dates will be revealed soon.
UPCOMING SHOWS
Aug 31 – New York, NY @ Cake Shop Sept 1 – Baltimore, MD @ Cyclops Sept 2 – Philadelphia, PA @ Manhattan Room Sept 3 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge (sponsored by Lighting 100 WRLT) Sept 4 – Nashville, TN @ Grimey’s (in-store performance) Sept 4 – Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia Sept 8 – Louisville, KY @ TBD Sept 9 – Bloomington, IN @ 902’s Sept 10 – Chicago, IL @ Mayne Stage Sept 11 – Evansville, IN @ Duck Inn Sept 24 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle Oct 1 – Nashville, TN @ Next Big Nashville Oct 20 – New York, NY @ CMJ
“an addictively catchy EP bursting with synths, drum machines and Kyle’s forgiving vocals, Kangaroo will hook you on your first listen.” Filter Magazine
“A caffeine-riddled energetic blast full of feel-good pop songwriting.” Redefine Magazine
“Kyle Andrews’ most recent release proves that angry isn’t always the answer. The album is six tracks long and combine together to form a genuine pick-me-up.” Stereo Subversion
The Brooklyn indie-rock, dream-pop trio Kordan are set to release their anticipated first full-length album this October. Their shoegazey-electro textures take cue from the guitar drones of late 80s/early 90s groups like Ride or Swervedriver and are driven by propulsive, post-punk rhythms and synths of earlier Factory/Mute releases. More contemporarily, think a more melancholy, darker (but still dancey) flipside to the upbeat indie pop of The Drums. Don’t sleep!
Sifting through traces of quantum universes, Kordan find the lush textures, pulsating beats, and somber melodies that they use to project dreams of bleak, dismal cities in a holographic future. But just below this mournful atmosphere there is also flicker of energy, like one of those cities is slowly flickering back on after a blackout. Lumines- cent synths build on scratchy guitars and the electricity of the city finally rushes back on.
Arthur (vocals/guitar), Liz (vocals/synth), and Gabo (bass) emerged from the vibrant rave and indie rock scenes in Puerto Rico during the early 2000s. After different stints found them in different parts of the US, the trio converged in Brooklyn. Together again, they began to fuse an electro glint and a shoegaze murk, and thus forged Kordan.
In the fall of 2008, Cut Copy heard the band’s songs and chose Kordan as an opening act on their North American tour, taking them through Minneapolis, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, and back to New York City. In the summer of 2009 Kordan released their demo recordings as the Fantasy Nation EP, garner- ing critical acclaim from Filter, Jezebel, and Oh My Rockness, among others. The debut release heralded Kordan’s aural world, tinged by futuristic visions and Japanese street culture. The following autumn months saw Kordan playing a CMJ showcase and shows in New York City, including opening for The Drums and The Mary Onettes. They have also brought their sonic influences to other bands, having done remixes for ZAZA and The Delta Mirror.
The Longing, their first full-length album, expands the dystopian city they built on Fantasy Nation, making way for a full-fledged love story in a hazy metropolis circa the year 2036. Somewhere in a bleak, run-down Tokyo neighborhood, someone drifts through the crowds, holograms, and faded neon to reunite with a loved one he hasn’t seen in years. In this vast metropolis of millions, loneliness has become his prison. The longing he has felt for her and the memories of what could have become have become his only reality.
“They have created a cerebral gesture, an atmospheric ride through Tokyo’s cityscape.” -Jezebel Music
“Fantasy Nation is one of the most memo- rable debut releases of the year, and listening to it shows why Cut Copy demanded Kordan to be their opening act last year after hearing the songs on this EP.” – Obscure Sounds
“If you like any of that old shoe-gaze Britpop stuff, then Kordan has a stronger than fight- ing chance to become a part of your listening life.” – Oh My Rockness
This week, the anticipated stateside import of the French Grammy nominated debut from France’s Revolver was finally released. To celebrate the release week of Music For A While, Revolver have rolled out a handful of new goodies. Filter Magazine premiered the recently recorded video cover of “Nevertheless” by 1930’s pop jazz talebearers The Mills Brothers, while early demo versions of album cuts “Do You Have A Gun?” and “Luke, Mike & John” were also unveiled. The band is preparing for their US debut at the OohLaLA Festival in Los Angeles on October 1st alongside other French acts such as Sebastien Tellier, The Gotan Project, Kavinsky, and more.
Music For A While was recorded in Paris’s Studio Pigalle. Revolver Producer Julien Delfaud (Phoenix, Herman Dune), helped Revolver hone their fantastically eclectic and century-skipping ideas, as well as gave the band the ability to recall the sunshine harmonies of Simon & Garfunkel and the Beach Boys, both of whom the band has always loved. Revolver’s melodies can be traced to 16th century songwriters and 17th century British Baroque composers, as well. Each of these styles defined the popular melodic and harmonic structures of their respective generations, and Revolver offers us a modern take blending each of these pop histories.
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This week legendary noisy guitar stranglers Trumans Water return to the fold with an amazing new album showing the band hasn’t lost a step in their 7 year hiatus. Their 13th release in their 19 year existence, O Zeta Zunis finds the band as skronkily uncompromising still but the album is very direct and even catchy. To celebrate the new record, Trumans Water has some very rare stateside live engagements. Don’t miss if you are in the area!
Aug 24: Portland, OR – East End Aug 25: Bellingham, WA – Cabin Tavern Aug 26: Seattle, WA – Funhouse
Stay tuned for when Asthmatic Kitty re-releases much of their hard-to-find catalog this November.
“It’d be swell if a few of those sockless kids who’ve formed Pavementy, willfully lo-fi bands in the last year or two skronked themselves up in this manner and stopped writing songs about going to the beach.” Drowned In Sound
“None of their original fire and intensity has waned over the years” Line Of Best Fit
Ah, America — she loves a comeback, she does. Even the hint of its possibility tantalizes. Plays so well in Peoria (and elsewhere). Is it part of the USA’s national character to welcome back its own to any notable prominence, to celebrate a reclamation earned through reassertion, revivifying accomplishment — or retrospective reassessment?
Trumans Water never really went away. Scarce in their native land, yes — that, indeed, the veteran American “spazz-rock”/”squiggle-core” group has been in recent years. (Increasingly more obscure as well, relatively unknown to untold pods of younger blog-rockin’ folk — sharp-eared discerners, who might well luv TW were they to know TW — if still deemed “legendary” by those who, a) remember Trumans’ halcyon days in America’s early/mid-’90s “guitar-rock” underground; b) recall the life-altering praise from abroad, with the late great all-time tip-top good-taste-making radio DJ John Peel championing them over international airwaves, and the Melody Maker making this pithy 1993 assessment: “Sonic freaks with a lust for life, Trumans Water make Pavement sound like U2.” Hear, hear? Not bad — but your call.)
For over a dozen years, the Water’s arguably been more of a foreign affair, with releases on European labels, touring almost exclusively “over there” yet consistently recording stateside. But enough with the history (for now). Because the rock o’ Trumans Water lives in the present. Their new album O Zeta Zunis sounds remarkably fresh if also in keeping with a fistful of enduring collective aesthetic TW identities: the ever-active, wildly clawing, rough-toned brace of guitars; the sour-sweet sing-shout screech-croon ‘n’ power-yowl; the explosive rhythms, herking here and jerking there, none too predictable anywhere.
O Zeta Zunis may be Trumans Water’s studio album-proper #13 — or not, if ya count such various full-length Trumans cassette releases as Couch of the Spastics on Chocolate Monk or Cough Forth Such Dilemmas on Union Pole. Whatev. It certainly is their first new album since 2003 and, so importantly, it is coming out in these United States (and elsewhere) on Asthmatic Kitty Records. (The label will offer quality downloads; the band will put out a limited number of vinyl copies on their Justice My Eye/Elevated Loin imprint.) AKR will be their first truly stable domestic label home of the new millennium. (What’s more, Asthmatic Kitty is planning to catch up any interested parties in coming months by digitally re-releasing elusive albums of the Trumans Water discography.).
O Zeta Zunis is a cohesive foursome ripping confidently, a few slowed-up passages helping to accentuate the melodic riff-drive of “Last Time” or the balls-out whizz-bang of “Greased Water,” the twitchy-catchy frolic of “5-7-10 Split” or the rubbery buzz-chug of “You Live Out Loud.” Nice. There’re loping jams and snappy sputter-blasts as well. Essence of Trumans. And, as detailed, O Zeta Zunis brings the Water back to the United States — in some literal ways that’ve not been seen in over a dozen years. (Along with playing Europe, TW plan to do some actual North American touring to support this/other Asthmatic Kitty product.) Yeah, Trumans Water — those friendly fellows are of the world but they’re America’s and they never left so won’t you please welcome them back?
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“It’s all very Nordic, and awfully pleasing – the kind of adult pop that Air were promising us with their first album, before they were sidetracked.” The Guardian UK
“Husky Rescue’s first two albums were packed with potential. Ship of Light is the album on which the Helsinki band realise it, raising their game, adding a new level of pop accessibility and threatening to move beyond their cult status to charm a wider audience.” The Sunday Times
“With softly grained melodies and the accomplished orchestration we come to expect from the Scandinavians, this is therefore a nocturnal winter treat from Husky Rescue. They offer so much more than your standard chill out fare, with songs that burn brightly in the darkness, and with words that can freeze you to the bone or, more likely, offer warmth in the coldness of winter.” MusicOMH.com
Husky Rescue is composer Marko Nyberg communicating a world of magic, beauty, spiritual awareness, and the idea of a hopeful sect sharing a common world-view to his listeners. This “sect” of course being the group itself, a collective of close friends as much as musicians. The Finnish band’s third album on Catskills Records, Ship of Light, will be released in October 2010 in the US.
Husky Rescue started their international career in 2004 with style. Their debut “Country Falls” introduced the pop-savvy and compositional stylings of Marko Nyberg, the Helsinki-based ensemble’s primus motor. Essential to the Husky Rescue sound was also Reeta-Leena Korhola on vocals, delivering each line with remarkable intensity and emotion. The cinematic sceneries found on the debut were further expanded on 2006’s “Ghost is Not Real”.
After releasing and touring the first two Husky albums, Nyberg at first didn’t have a clear-cut blueprint for the evolution of the band’s sound. But learning about a reported UFO sighting near his home just outside central Helsinki further turned his interest towards nature, thus propelling a new wave of inspiration. He sees hope and beauty in the Northern surroundings, and embarking on a solitary songwriting trip to Lapland early on in the process was a crucial decision in the making of Ship of Light.
Another important feature of the album’s strikingly innovative sound is the use of instrumentation that Nyberg feels a personal connection to. One of his tools-of-the-trade is the rare Memorymoog, an organ-like instrument yielding a sound like no other. Nyberg remembers longing after one in childhood, and he stumbled upon one before starting on the third Husky album. His Memorymoog sound of choice on the recording sessions was number 74, coincidentally also his year of birth.
Opening up a new chapter in the Husky Rescue saga, Ship of Light sounds familiar yet strikingly fresh and unique to those who’ve discovered the band during their first two albums. The current edition of Husky Rescue occupies its space more actively, getting under the listeners’ skin in a style reminiscent of an aural representation of postmodern film noir. More intense in ambience, the album also comes across as more communal in terms of the band’s mutual communication. Indeed, they recorded bits an pieces of it at remote cottages and the like, prompting Nyberg to call the ensemble “a contemporary musical congregation”.
Cuts such as the first single ‘We Shall Burn Bright’ stand as ample evidence of this. They are sonically rich and filled with the class A musical handicraft evident on every ounce of the album. The songs each sit comfortably within the framework, while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of the frame they’re working in.
The Husky Rescue sound mk3 is live, inviting the listener into aural adventures not easily pinpointed at any one location, genre, or scene. The imagined open spaces coming through from the music could as well be in Finland, Norway or Nevada.
Ship of Light is about a transition into something better. Marko Nyberg and his trusty Huskies recorded the album’s opening soundscape “First Call” in the middle of a forest on a dark autumn night, using wooden flakes on a string. This ancient sound instrument is used traditionally to keep evil spirits away, and the Husky songsmith sees a strong thematical connection here.
Furthermore, Ship of Light is a celebration of old school musical craftsmanship at work. As the Swedish studio engineer Niklas Flyckt fittingly pointed out to Nyberg when mixing tracks on the album, “your drums sound shit but you know it”. Why aim for something sterile when you can make it life-like?
