Bonobo – Kerala
Bonobo is one of my top-three favorite artists of all time, so it goes without saying that I’m pretty much losing my shit at the prospect of a new album coming out early next year.
As if that news wasn’t good enough, there’s a new single called “Kerala” to come along with it, and it doesn’t disappoint. In fact, it’s pretty darn amazing — at least to my ears. Hopefully you’ll find the same.
Read the rest of this article at indie Shuffle
Kweku Collins – Oasis 2: Maps
All the cool kids were listening to “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs in 2003. If you didn’t have that on repeat on your iPod, then you were not cool, and, if you had yet to be born in 2003, then you definitely aren’t cool, because you make us feel old. Kweku Collins, an emerging talent from Evanston, Illinois, has tastefully covered this indie classic, and his rendition resides in a chamber of reverb, making for a dramatic interpretation that stays true to both the original and Collins, himself. Listen to this one below, and, hopefully, we can all rest assured that Kweku has some more gems to come out after this one.
Read the rest of this article at Hillydilly
Mister and Mississippi – HAL9000
Sci-fi aurthor Arthur C. Clarke has inspired many artists, but mostly filmmakers and painters. To hear a song inspired by his character HAL9000 from his epic novel, Space Odyssey, comes as a surprise. Then again, maybe it should not.
What is surprising about Mister and Mississippi‘s new single is that the song isn’t layered in electronics and synths nor given a futuristic sound. Instead, the Dutch quartet have grounded “HAL9000” in some dazzling and groovy indie rock. The instrumentation – from the delayed guitar notes to the awesome bass line and jazzy drum work – is fantastic, creating a shimmering and breathtaking soundscape. The music is the perfect palette for this song that humanizes the computer program and delves inside its mind. In just four minutes, Mister and Mississippi have crafted an imaginative story that Mr. Clarke likely would have approved. Fantastic.
Read the rest of this article at The Revue
Slowdive – Sugar for the Pill
From their masterpiece, Souvlaki, to what was supposed to be their last album, Pygmalion, ’90s shoegaze icons Slowdive have continually worked to distill their textured sound to its barest core. 22 years after their last record, with a self-titled reunion album on the way, Slowdive seem determined to keep stripping back and evolving past the sound that once defined them.
While their comeback single, “Star Roving,” riffed on the band’s roots, “Sugar for the Pill” is something entirely different—a disarming heartbreak ballad led by singer Neil Halstead in a surprisingly gentle mood. Sparer than their early, fuzzy compositions, and warmer than the equally minimalistic tracks on Pygmalion, “Sugar for the Pill” is simple and delicate, but never frail. The song’s greatest surprise is a smooth, catchy ‘80s soft-rock chorus—a considerable risk for a band that rarely indulged in straightforward pop. But icy needles of guitar and Rachel Goswell’s ghostly backing vocal balance out any hint of effusiveness. An undulating melody and underlying thrum of steady, persistent bass and drums imbues its sad story of a dissolving relationship with a sense of acceptance. It’s gorgeous, but grounded. In their newest incarnation, Slowdive have traded the abject longing of youth—an emotion that suffused so many shoegaze classics—for the wisdom of maturity. Every great band should age so well.
Read the rest of this article at Pitchfork
Girlpool – 123
Girlpool have officially announced their sophomore album, Powerplant, the follow-up to Before The World Was Big, one of the best albums of 2015. As previously reported, the album features a full band, and Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker were joined by drummer Miles Wintner in the studio to open up a more vibrant range of sounds compared to their previous stripped back guitar-and-bass setup. Lead single “123” shows off this new dynamic — it starts off slow and muted before blasting into technicolor a third of the way through. It’s a fleshed-out take on “The Wall,” a song that appeared on Tucker’s Looking Pretty At The Wall solo EP from last year. The lyrics that the EP title were taken from show up in the song — “Looking pretty at the wall/ O, my mistaken love installed/ While the moth doesn’t talk but in the dress the holes you saw/ Keep on walking back outside to see a sigh under nice light.” It’s a song about finding beauty in banality, and the video, which was directed by Nicholas Rattigan, sees Tucker attempting to open up in a new relationship, when all she can manage to do is bleed paint in a manifestation of her own inner anxieties. It’s dreamlike imagery that fits the song well.
Read the rest of this article at Stereogum
