Rhythm and funk is the name of the game on this track from Auckland, New Zealand producer A bLUNT jESTER, who’s already had success with previous releases on student radio in Aotearoa. He dials into an 80s aesthetic of movie soundtracks that lean towards a cold wave and sci-fi dance floor aesthetic. Clinical production qualities built around a half-man/half-machine drum sound make it sound like … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: A bLUNT jESTER – Cat Door
Here’s a fascinating new project for fans of Talk Talk and Mark Hollis. Seven musicians who were involved in the Talk Talk albums Spirit of Eden, Laughing Stock and Hollis’ solo LP have come together as Held By Trees, led by producer/composer David Joseph. They approached the recording in a similar way as they did under Hollis – emphasising spontaneous improvisation and keeping the best … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Held By Trees – In The Trees
‘Time Of Your Life’ is the second single to be released from Magnetic Heads’ forthcoming debut album Moral Outage (August 13th)on Broken Stone Records/Remote Control. In 2020, Sydney band Magnetic Heads released their first new music after a lengthy hiatus. ‘The Street’ was a glorious taste of their return to the recording studio, where singer/songwriter Des Miller and producer/musician Liam Judson (Belles Will Ring, Lewis Goldmark) have created a sublime collection of melancholic pop songs that navigate both the dance-floor and existential … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Magnetic Heads – Time Of Your Life
Taken from their new EP Mirror Image Twins, Best Move ride an intricate drum pattern and sparkling, chiming guitars with a wonderful mix of wide-eyed melodies and a bittersweet undercurrent on this track ‘A Phrase’. Art pop angles abound, colliding with infinite pop sensibilities and making for a mesmerising listen. Like Elliott Smith duetting with High Llamas. Best Move are the Sacramento-based trio of Kris Anaya, Joseph Davancens, … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Best Move – A Phrase
Drongo is an eight-piece band from Oslo, Norway, playing music belonging somewhere between Krautrock, techno, afrobeat and math rock. The band’s line-up includes a drummer, one percussionist, one bassist, two guitarists and three keyboardists. ‘Neshorn’ is from the band’s debut album 1, that was released on April 16th. It swings with a primitive Krautrock repetitive intensity, gathering steam as it charges forth, all fractured, worn … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Drongo – Neshorn
I’m liking this new track from UK electronic producer John Drammeler. He hits a really nice balance between hard and heavy beats that fall somewhere between drum & bass and industrial techno and more ambient smears of sci-fi synths. You can draw a strong line from Burial’s work to this kind of sound, though Drammeler takes it in even more of a streetwise, nightcrawler direction. … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: John Drammeler – Alva Burnout
Jack Ladder has announced his new album Hijack! will be released on September 10th, 2021 via Endless Recordings. Below you can check out the first single ‘Astronaut’, a six minute track with some quite sublime strings, Laurence Pike’s evocative and dramatic drums and a tableau of intriguing background sounds and textures. The album was co-produced by Ladder and Pike and other Dreamlanders, Donny Benét and Kirin J Callinan colour … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders – Astronaut
Duluth Minnesota’s Low return with their first new release since the overwhelming sonic experience that was their last album Double Negative. From the opening harmonies of ‘Days Like These’ to the stark mirroring guitar chords and the fractured static and alien vocal effect, it’s clear they’re continuing to push the boundaries of song and sound on this new track, taken from the forthcoming BJ Burton-produced … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Low – Days Like These
This is Last Wars‘ take on the Flipper single ‘Get Away’, from the late 70s. I dig the way the different tracks and layers operate in their own segregated corners of the song. Primitive bass grooving away while synths cycle around, getting progressively weirder and wonkier with each digressive spin. The drums sound like they’re lifted from a Sisters Of Mercy practice session while the … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Last Wars – Get Away
The drama is high on this recent single from Melbourne artist Cong Josie. It sways, pulses and seduces like the love child of Suicide and early primitive Depeche Mode. That said, there’s a lushness to the sound. Tropical funk in a woozy state of sunstroke or The Cramps sipping piña colada’s poolside. Cong Josie is Nic Oogjes, best known as the bandleader of heat beat … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Cong Josie – Persephone
Dunedin, New Zealand group Negative Nancies have released the song ‘Monkey Chest’, a discordant, deconstructed art-punk sound that grinds and crawls in a collision of Suicide, queasy Lynchian discomfort and no wave Sonic Youth yelps and chants. The band’s strangely intoxicating sound is manfested on their new album HEATWAVE, out now via the Fishrider Records label and in their own words it “sounds like it … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Negative Nancies – Monkey Chest
Taken from his March EP Spack in the Box Allstars vol. 1, ‘Autumn Leaf’ is Cederick Knox‘s nod to the common jazz standard ‘Autumn Leaves’ – often used as an early track in learning jazz improvisation. Cederick Knox is a Brighton, UK based producer/composer and co-founder of the Ceremonial Laptop experimental music night and label. For this project he brought together members of Squid, Pelican … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Cederick Knox – Autumn Leaf
Doubtful Sounds 