May 2009
21 posts
3 tags
Xu Xu Fang - Seven Days Now - Record Release
Psychedelic/experimental group Xu Xu Fang (including Bobby Tamkin of the Warlocks and Hovercraft, and Barbara Cohen who sang with Air) are to host a record release show for their new release Seven Days Now at The Echo in Echo Park, Los Angeles, CA at 10 pm tonight. Available for free download are two trippy album tracks: “Your Way”, a breezy, trip-hop reminescent tune recently...
April 2009
31 posts
7 tags
Label Feature: Family Records
Family Records, described as “an independent artist development and management firm with full record label capabilities” (see also previous article on associated artist Dinosaur Feathers), has a batch of talented artists with recent releases and streamable material- check them out!: WAKEY!WAKEY! is the music of vocalist/songwriter/pianist Mike Grubbs, who has a particularly moving,...
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Sonic Youth - The Eternal
Today, the stream of Sonic Youth’s The Eternal went live for those participating in Buy Early Get Now, with the actual physical release date set for June 9th. Bearing in mind that I’m one of those odd sorts that favors Bad Moon Rising and EVOL over Daydream Nation and what came after, these are my impressions on the new album: “Sacred Trickster”, the album’s single,...
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Caddywhompus - EPs
Caddywhompus are a new group putting out material that rivals the efforts of the likes of Animal Collective and No Age, in terms of neo-psychedelia and noise-rock power, respectively. A two-member experimental noise-rock group based in New Orleans and Houston, comprised of Chris Rehm (vocals / guitar / keyboard ) and Sean Hart (percussion / vocals), Caddywhompus’ first EP was reviewed...
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Dead Leaf Echo - "Act of Truth" Free Download
Dead Leaf Echo, an experimental, shoegaze-reminiscent New York group, have recently put out an EP entitled Truth, mixed by John Fryer (notable for working with Cocteau Twins, Depeche Mode, Lush, and Nine Inch Nails). The dreamy, beautiful track “Act of Truth” from the EP has recently been made available for free download; grab it-! free mp3 | free m4a Dead Leaf Echo on MySpace Music...
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Independent Music Discoveries: Issue #5
This is the 5th installment of the Independent Music Discoveries series- see also Issue #1, #2, #3, and #4. Recommend your favourite independent musicians in the comments! Hugo Frusslinky - Indie Rock - Isle of Wight, UK Featured in the NME as well as the fantastic music blog How Marvellous, Hugo Frusslinky is a fantastic new British group. With all the frantic rock energy and fierce bite...
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The Horrors - "Who Can Say" (New Video!)
Only about a month after their last single “Sea Within a Sea”, the Horrors have a new video out for their latest single from Primary Colours (to be released May 5th; very favorably reviewed here at A Future in Noise): “Who Can Say”, fuzzed-out and shoegaze-esque, with the lads all looking quite suave! Watch the official music video of the single from XL Recordings below:
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Orioles - Let Me Be Your Partner
Orioles is the new side project from Panda steps in chocolate. Drawing inspiration from acapella, ambient, and shoegaze sources, with the addition of natural sounds (rain in “psalms” and birds in “jeremiah”) and tribal elements (“Native”, my favourite) and an extravaganza of reverb and sonic effects, Let Me Be Your Partner is in an echoic, drifting world of its...
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Starter Guide: Legendary Genre Compilations
A part 2 of sorts to Starter Guide: Legendary Artist Compilations, this post focuses on some favourite genres of mine and the compilations that not only do fantastically at summing up the general sound that is concerned, but also contain oft-overlooked, ‘hidden gems’ you might not easily be able to find and hear otherwise. Suggest your compilation recommendations in the comments!...
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Starter Guide: Legendary Artist Compilations
This is a starter guide designed to get you introduced to a batch of different bands through compilation albums. Audiophiles are well-known for being skeptical of a compilation’s purpose; “just get x and y” albums, they might say when you inquire about where to begin with a band, or at worst “everything”. A brilliant compilation can, at the very least, to a superior...
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New Lowry Music Video! - "Whiskey"
Indie folk/rock group Lowry have recently put out a new music video for their track “Whiskey”, an outstanding highlight from Love is Dead (see also Label Feature: Engine Room Recordings)partnering with $99 Music Videos; click here to see the making-of, and check out the video below! The Cactus Moons - A Blog About Lowry | Lowry on MySpace Music
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Jakob Battick - Hiding in the Orchard
Long-time A Future in Noise favourite Jakob Battick (see also Mt. Moon - A Burial in Seven Births and Jakob Battick - Some Songs in Chronological Order) has a new release, Hiding in the Orchard, including three original tracks and a cover of Nico song “Afraid”. Accurately described as “a soundtrack for nighttime celestial voyages, all swimming through the stars and dozing”,...
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The Long Afternoon - Signifying Nothing
The Long Afternoon, originally formed as an indie rock group in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1985, have had a curious history, with an ever-changing line-up, the prospect of a Bulging Eye release, and the members going their separate ways in the late 80’s. Lead vocalist/guitarist Eston Martz, inspired by the fact that “not only did the Velvet Underground reconvene to perform, but...
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Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
Black Moth Super Rainbow, surely one of the trippiest groups around today, barring the ever-present Animal Collective, are set to release Eating Us on 3/26/2009, their fourth LP under that name. Note: They had a string of releases as ‘Satanstompingcaterpillers’ through the early 2000s. While the modern psychedelic-electro classic Start a People and the poppier Dandelion Gum found BMSR...
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Independent Music Discoveries: Issue #4
This is the fourth installment of the Independent Music Discoveries series- see also Issue #1, Issue #2, and Issue #3! Be sure to recommend your favourite indie artists in the comments! Henry’s Phonograph - Psychedelic / Rock - London, UK Any group that cites the Fall, Public Image Ltd., and Django Reinhardt as influences is apt to catch my attention, but I must say I found the unique...
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The Penny Black Remedy - No One's Fault But Your...
The Penny Black Remedy are an international rock group comprised of British members Keith Thompson (lead vocals) and Steve Nelson (bassist), Croatian Marijana Hajdarhodzic (vocals, percussion), and Dutch Wilco Van Eijk (drums / percussion / vocals). Self-described as “Balkan Country Punk Juggernauts”, the Penny Black Remedy have cooked up quite a potpourri of mixed genres awash in the...
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Ian France - "500 Souls"
Electronica artist Ian France has recently debuted the music video for “500 Souls”, featuring Berthuld Thomas Johnson samples enmeshed in a kaleidoscope of electronic sound. Check it out! Stream and download the track from Fairtilizer below; also recommended: “Church Bells” and “Night Lights” Ian France Official Site | on MySpace | on Fairtilizer
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New Last.fm Group For A Future In Noise
I’m quite pleased to announce that today, we’ve started a Last.fm group for the blog. If you’re on the site, feel feel to join up and meet the other readers of the blog. While we’re doing announcements, here are some other things that are in the works: the long-awaited AFIN YouTube channel. my Blip.fm radio station. (Marilyn already has one here). some more Starter Guide...
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R.I.P. Kurt
Kurt Cobain’s body was found 15 years ago today. Here’s a beautiful article at Entertainment Weekly (though I could do without the Courtney slagging; she was grieving and probably had no idea how to react). One year, I want to go up there on 5 April and place flowers at Viretta Park, just south of his home, where they’ve sort of set up a makeshift shrine to him. His music means...
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The Beatles Catalog To Be Reissued
We’re certainly seeing a lot of reissue goodness lately, aren’t we? Last month, we saw a reissue of Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson (which is awesome, by the way; the sound quality is noticeably improved over the original) and now, it’s come out that they’re finally going to remaster and reissue the Beatles’ entire catalog. All 12 of their studio...
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The Horrors - Primary Colours
It’s official: post-punk and synthesizers are in, in, in. Never mind Paste decrying Tonight: Franz Ferdinand as a “pitiful decline of a once-great band”, legions of Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans truly puzzled by the band’s new, electronic sound on It’s Blitz, and quite a varied reaction to post-punk revivalists White Lies’ To Lose My Life. The Horrors are perhaps the...
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Synesthesia - When Music = Color
Synesthesia encompasses a wide variety of phenomena that involve mixed neurological sensations, for example, when seeing a certain letter of the alphabet evokes (or causes one to see, which then overlaps the figure) a particular color without fail, automatically; see also Mixed Signals for information and descriptions of a wide variety of types. When a synesthete (someone with synesthesia) has a...
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Snail Quail - Moving On
Snail Quail is this music of Mr. Jimmy, an Arizonan solo artist. His self-released, 5-track Moving On EP offers more than a taste of his talents, and warrants repeated listening to soak it in, with a DIY vibe throughout recalling elements of Violent Femmes, Pavement, and even hearkening back to the proto-punk of the Modern Lovers. The irresistibly fun and catchy “Opposite Love Song”...
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Zelazowa - Elephants on a Mousehunt
Zelazowa is an alternative rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also including founders of revolutionary independent tour-booking site Indie on the Move, comprised of members Bryan (vocals and guitar), Ian (vocals and bass), Kyle (guitar), and Terry (drums and vocals). Elephants on a Mousehunt, their 2nd LP, was recently released via CD Baby. Opener “Today is Tomorrow” starts the...
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Susumu Yokota - "Tree Surgeon" Free mp3!
Japanese electronic master Susumu Yokota has recently offered the lovely “Tree Surgeon”, from his 2009 LP Mother, for free download: Download Susumu Yokota - “Tree Surgeon”! Overall, Mother is a brilliant collection of modern ambient/electronica, with sparkling emotive touches that could charm any fan of Air or Brian Eno, with a host of guest vocalists (including Caspe...
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Kill and Eat - Green Bushes
Kill and Eat is an experimental jazz duo (Clarke Joyner and Caleb Vogel) who have recently re-released 3-song Green Bushes wrapped in mystery, instead of album artwork; they say “we recognize that formats were made for music, not music for formats”. Title track “Green Bushes”, clocking in at 18 minutes, recalls an improvised and plodding classic jazz sensibility recalling...
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The Brown Book - Thirty Nothing
The Brown Book are an instrumental rock group that formed circa 2004 around Boston, Massachusetts- their current line-up consists of Ryan Lavery on drums, John O’Malley and Mike Kvidera on guitar, and Todd Bowser on bass. With Keith Souza as engineer (Battles, Lightning Bolt, Neptune) and Alan Douches (Animal Collective, Don Caballero) doing the mastering, Thirty Nothing is quite an epic...
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Dinosaur Feathers Debut Double A-Side!
Brooklyn group Dinosaur Feathers are releasing their debut double A-side single today: “Know Your Own Strength” w/ “History Lessons”. They (members Greg, Duck, and Tom) know the value and power of a good, campfire sing-along harmony- quirky and melancholy at the same time, and with influences including recent groups like Animal Collective, the Ruby Suns, and Fleet Foxes, as...
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Goldhawks - Where in the World
British rock band Goldhawks are set to release their debut single “Where in the World” via Rough Trade Shops. on 4/5/2009. While maintaining radio-playability, their music has a flavor of vintage cool; as their single description reads “a unique mix of vintage americana and quintessentially british fare - think ryan adams, petty, springsteen, echo and the bunnymen, the cure and...
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New Remix of Santogold's "Unstoppable" (well, two...
If you don’t already have RCRD LBL bookmarked, you should do so now. They’re constantly posting free, legal MP3s, including Bat For Lashes, Bob Dylan and enough Santogold remixes to make a remix version of her stellar debut album. However, the track I want to bring to your attention is the Lil Wayne remix of “Unstoppable.” It serves to remind us all that if we must have Lil...
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The Killers - "When You Were Young" covered by...
British rock group Noisettes recently did an excellent, re-inventive cover of the The Killers track “When You Were Young” on a recent BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge session. Their sophomore album Wild Young Hearts is set for release on 4/20/2009. When You Were Young - Noisettes - Listen Now! (Thanks to Ed Melech for the tip!)