Working under the name Craft Spells, Stockton, Calif.'s Justin Vallesteros makes music for bedsitters who dream about being social. Though often addressed to a love interest either real or imagined, Idle Labor is above all a lonely album that rarely betrays its origin as a solo project. Sonically it recalls Wild Nothing it the way it mines a large swath of 1980s synth pop, but its clear emotional tenor gives it a distinguishing perspective and personality.
Idle Labor exists in a time frame best described by the title of its ebullient centerpiece-- "After the Moment". These are sketches of romantic problems and solutions with the wounds still fresh and the thoughts uncensored. Taken as a whole, it could be read as a narrative following Vallesteros from heartbreak to infatuation and back, a few months' worth of romantic uncertainty boiled down to a taut and hooky album.
In a maundering yearn somewhere between Jens Lekman and Ian Curtis, Vallesteros introduces himself as a lovelorn melodramatist over sunstroked, near-Balearic pop. But as the narrative begins to hint at physical contact, the music works in lockstep, and Vallestreros builds tracks more as a dance producer than a singer-songwriter. And that's where he hits his stride-- while his vocals remain a central fixture, the post-punk mordancy is softened by locomotive arrangements that stack synth pads, ringing guitar, and primitive drum programming.
"Party Talk" starts a mid-album mini-suite with Vallesteros as a nebbishy Woody Allen character trying to decode a mutual romantic connection from casual conversation. But he leaps forward during the upbeat "From the Morning Heat", and by the fantastic morning-after celebration "After the Moment", something has apparently clicked; Vallesteros repeats the chorus as if he knows it's the best he's written.
The emotional high is predictably short-lived, and even within its brief half-hour runtime, more than a few of the melodies take detours and left turns. "The Fog Rose High" has the feel of a gothier Beach Fossils, while the anodyne dream-pop scruff of "You Should Close the Door" could have been a Radio Dept. B-side. But as with so many bedroom auteurs' debuts, it's tough to separate the creation from the creator, and Idle Labor shows the promise of a precocious songwriter who isn't claiming to have anything totally figured out just yet.

Craft Spells -  After the Moment

Moses Gunn Collective are hitting the road in support of their upcoming single "Shalala" playing a string of shows along the east coast. The boys are set to release their next EP in October 2014. Enjoy.

August 6 - Frankies Pizza, Sydney
August 7 - The Lansdowne, syd w/ Greaze Arrestor, Mezko
August 9 - Rad Bar, Wollongong w/ Sherekhan, The Rider
August 15 - Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane w/ Salvadarlings, Doom Mountain

Moses Gunn Collective - Shalala

Tracked by Foreign/National & Hayden Calnin, mixed by Jarrad Brown & mastered by Andrei Eremin @ Jack the Bear.

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Life Tourist

Darwin Deez - Up In The Clouds

People Can't Stop Chillin

Whatever You Want

After Slice

Come Home

Everyday I see you walking on the sidewalk talking on your
cellular phone
you got your coffee in your hand got your running shoes on but i know you're going home
those pants look nice and your skin's so bright and your hair's up
high and tight
i wanna know who you are. what's your sign? whats your name?
where you come from

oh yeah you say Chicago and then you made it LA
and when i see you smile, it always brightens up my day
oh yeah i love your style, you sure that you're not from LA?
been in love with you awhile, and i just need to say 
Hey

sometimes feelings come and go, this time though i know for sure.
you want something too that's real? come and let me hold ya, 
don't mean to be bold, but not kissing you is getting old

Co-written, recorded, mixed and mastered by The Canvas Group.

Artwork by Madeline Tachibana.

Dance Around the Fire

Track 9 off Miracle Mile out 2/19/13 on Polyvinyl.
(FREE DOWNLOAD) --> http://www.twitmusic.com/starfucker/songs/say-to-you
Order CD/2xLP/cassette --> http://www.polyvinylrecords.com/miraclemile

Buy on iTunes

Say to You

Stream / Download : http://dumbogetsmad.lnk.to/QuantumLeap
 
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Darwin Deez - Up In The Clouds

Lucky Number Music