2014 Bands to Watch

“Future Folklore” appears on Nature Noir, Out Now

iTunes- http://hyperurl.co/naturenoir
CD/LP- http://bit.ly/25DAg0H

Website:  http://www.crystalstilts.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crystalstiltsofficial/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystal_stilts/

TOUR DATES: https://www.facebook.com/crystalstiltsofficial/app/123966167614127/

Crystal Stilts - Future Folklore

Taken from the album "Stars Are Our Home."
Out now on Slumberland Records (US) and Sonic Cathedral (UK)

Order the digital download from iTunes: http://smarturl.it/bhb-itunes
Order the LP/CD: http://smarturl.it/bhb-album

more info: www.blackheartedbrother.com
Black Hearted Brother Official Facebook: www.facebook.com/blackheartedbrother

It was Alfred Bester, if I recall correctly, who called 'the stars my destination', in his brilliant novel of the same name from 1956. Long considered a libertarian science fiction classic, it's also notable for featuring one of the very first accounts of synaesthesia in English-language fiction. This might be drawing a particularly long bow, but the title of Black Hearted Brother's debut, "Stars Are Our Home", immediately brought Bester's book to mind – and there's definitely something of the synaesthesic experience about this album, overflowing with enraptured, glowing textures, flaring white light like magnesium, in consort with brilliant red-blue waves of psychedelia.

Of course, the first thing that might crane your head towards "Stars Are Our Home" is the group's membership: Neil Halstead, the éminence grise behind Slowdive and Mojave 3; Mark Van Hoen, an original member of Seefeel, subsequently working solo and as Locust; and Nick Holton, the main mover behind Holton's Opulent Oog, and member of Coley Park, who have released albums on Halstead's Shady Lane label. They had previously converged on Halstead's 2001 solo album, "Sleeping On Roads," though Van Hoen also co-produced Mojave 3's "Out Of Tune" (1998), "Excuses For Travelers" (2000) and "Spoon & Rafter" (2003), while Holton took up production duties for Halstead's "Palindrome Hunches" (2012). Van Hoen and Halstead go back much further still, to 1992, when they were in Seefeel and Slowdive respectively: 'Mark taught Neil much that was electronic and ambient music.'

You could hear that education bearing fruit with Slowdive's late-period masterpiece, 1995's "Pygmalion." In some ways, "Stars Are Our Home" echoes that album's experimental process, if not the outcome, as Black Hearted Brother are a very different, distinctive beast, often indulging in what Halstead, self-deprecatingly, describes as 'a lot of very long and indulgent space rawk.' And indeed, that space-rock drive is writ loud and clear on the album's opening title track, an instrumental bliss-out that navigates through ocean-tides of FX-drenched guitar. But there's a lot more to it: 'The idea was to just make a record that was in some ways "unedited",' Halstead continues. 'To not worry about a particular sound or style, but to just go with the flow. We all make quite focused records individually so, as Mark says, it's our "guilty pleasures" album.' That seems about right, except with "Stars Are Our Home," the outcome is no guilt, all pleasure.

'Neil and Nick had, I think, started a few months before they asked me to join the party,' Van Hoen recalls. 'I think they had a few songs on the go, and needed an extra hand to add a few funny noises and generally add to the chaos – or maybe bring some order to the chaos.' Van Hoen has picked up on the dialectical nature of "Stars Are Our Home" here, its "order" and its "chaos": it's a rich, compelling album full of unexpected twists and turns, at times overloading the sensorium with so much material you're drenched in noise, but it'll just as quickly flip back on itself and drift through a glazed-eye, agrarian moment of acoustic melancholy (see the start of "Time In The Machine", which, as if to prove my point, takes less than a minute to build into a clangorous, droning monster).

So, there's a whole lot going on in these grooves, and plenty of it's unexpected, or from unexpected sources. The trio plays fast and loose with what listeners might consider their pre-ordained 'roles'. 'Primarily the songs themselves were started either by Nick or Neil individually,' Van Hoen explains, 'but then edited, developed and generally messed around with and rendered almost unlistenable by either myself or the others. The roles were not always clear cut. Sometimes Nick would be playing keyboards and synths, and myself guitars.' Lyrics on the record feel like another texture, another layer: sometimes they're invocatory chants, sometimes Halstead's and Holton's voices are ghosted by electronic manipulation, as on "Oh Crust". Often there's more going on than at first glance, and an index of the album's lyrical concerns runs to 'romance, sci-fi, places to go on holiday, real UFO abduction, the duality in the meaning of words, lament for the loss of psychedelic freedoms by the masses…'

"Stars Are Our Home" is brave and beautiful, mysterious and resonant. Its experimental edges never forget the importance of the pop moment; the best way to bring people around to your way of hearing is to seduce their ears, and there's seduction plenty here, pure pop like "Take Heart", the Other Green World of "I'm Back", the closing driftwork that is "Look Out Here They Come". A real head-wrecker of an album. And what does the future hold? The trio speaks as one: 'Black Hearted Brother will grow and mature into something very sophisticated in the coming years. A kind of comedic-space-rock-dancehall outfit to define a zeitgeist for the 22nd century, if you like.' Ha, yeah – amen, brothers!

Black Hearted Brother - My Baby Just Sailed Away

Aqua Nebula Oscillator - Jungle Man (SPIRITUS MUNDI - 2013 Pan European Recording / Tee Pee Records)

Aqua Nebula Oscillator - Jungle Man

The War On Drugs 'Lost In The Dream' out March 2014 on Secretly Canadian.

Pre-order now:
Bundle/Deluxe options from SC Distribution: http://smarturl.it/warondrugs
Amazon/physical stores: http://smarturl.it/warondrugs_amazon
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/warondrugs_itunes
Indies: http://smarturl.it/warondrugs_indies


The War On Drugs
Artist Page http://secretlycanadian.com/artist.php?name=warondrugs
Official Site http://www.thewarondrugs.net/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheWarOnDrugs
Twitter https://twitter.com/warondrugsjams
Instagram http://instagram.com/warondrugsjams


The War On Drugs "Red Eyes" from 'Lost In The Dream' out March 2014 on Secretly Canadian

Red Eyes

Buy it on iTunes

The War On Drugs - Red Eyes

New band called BAD BLOOD. Rehearsal recorded on a phone. Conor on guitar/vox, Scottie playing electric. https://www.facebook.com/westernwarlock

BAD BLOOD - "She Chose"

T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - “It’s A Vanity”
The Shaolin Afronauts - “Broken Flowers”
CLAMM - “Bit Much”
Young Guv - “Love Me Don’t Leave Me”
Regressive Left - “The Wrong Side Of History”
Doctor Bionic - “Shape Shifters”
Kiwi Jr. - “Night Visions”
Gift - “Dreamhouse”
Frankie & The Witch Fingers - “Cookin”
Ghost Woman - “Jreaming”
Sunny & The Sunliners - “If I Could See You Now”
Clear Path Ensemble - “Absolvo”
Fujiya & Miyagi - "Digital Hangover"
Rush To Relax - “Pesni vo meani”
Sloan - “Spend The Day”
#SweetSkaSounds
Happy Mondays - “24 Hour Party People”

Pressure Drop Show, 18th July 2022

Sharon Van Etten - "Taking Chances" from 'Are We There' out May 27th (May 26th in the UK) on Jagjaguwar.

iTunes: http://smarturl.it/sharonvanetten3
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/sharonvanetten2
SCD/Jag bundle: http://smarturl.it/sharonvanetten
Indies: http://smarturl.it/sharonvanetten4

Sharon Van Etten
Artist Page http://www.jagjaguwar.com/artist.php?name=vanettensharon
Website http://sharonvanetten.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SharonVanEttenMusic
Twitter https://twitter.com/sharonvanetten
Instagram http://instagram.com/sharonvanhalen

Get ticket links here: http://bit.ly/1mSrpC3

TOUR DATES:
Thu. May 8 - Northampton, MA  @ Iron Horse Music Hall
Fri. May 9 - Hudson, NY @ Helsinki Hudson
Sat. May 10 - Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre
Sun. May 11 - Hamden, CT @ Ballroom at the Outer Space
Sun. May 25 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique Grand Salon (Nuits Botanique)
Wed. May 28 - Paris, FR @ Café de la Danse
Fri. May 30 - Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Sun. June 1 - Koln, DE @ Studio 672
Mon. June 2 - Berlin, DE @ Privatclub
Tue. June 3 - Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet	
Thu. June 5 - London, UK @ KOKO
Wed. June 11 - Boston, MA @ Sinclair
Thu. June 12 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall at Williamsburg (Northside Festival)
Fri. June 13 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Sat. June 14 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Tue. June 17 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Wed. June 18 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Thu. June 19 - Millvale, PA @ Mr. Small's
Fri. June 20 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Sat. June 21 - Nashville, TN @ Exit In
Tue. June 24 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
Wed. June 25 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
Sat. June 28 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
Sun. June 29 - San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Mon. June 30 - San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Wed. July 2 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
Thu. July 3 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
Sat. July 5 - George, WA @ Sasquatch Festival
Sun. July 6 - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
Tue. July 8 - Calgary, AB @ Republik
Wed. July 9 - Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
Mon. July 14 - Fargo, ND @ Aquarium
Wed. July 16 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Thu. July 17 - Madison, WI @ University of Wisconsin
Fri. July 18 - Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival

Are We There

Taking Chances

Pre-order now

Sharon Van Etten - Taking Chances

Featuring @Kwane-Wyatt & @ChuckEllis
Mixed by Stuart White
Artwork by Josh Goleman

Cold (Feat. Kwane and Chuck Ellis)

"The Moon Rang Like a Bell" Out Now!

iTunes: smarturl.it/hundredwaters
CD & Vinyl: smarturl.it/TMRLABPreAmzn

Tour Dates: showsnear.by/hundredwaterslive

facebook.com/hundredwaters
twitter.com/hundredwaters
instagram.com/hundredwaters
www.Hundred-Waters.com

The Moon Rang Like a Bell

Cavity

Support

JOEL GION’S - APPLE BONKERS
August 18 (UK) / 19th (US)

After spending a long and strange career as the legendary “Tambourine Man” for the Brian Jonestown Massacre, tambourinist/percussionist Joel Gion has emerged with his debut LP “Apple Bonkers”, an armload of his own music done his own way.

“With all the BJM members now living so spread out across the world, I found myself increasingly missing the album making process. This feeling of disconnect is what kick started me into exploring my own song writing process and turned out to be a hugely important piece of self discovery. No more time for my beloved laziness. So I made my own music with a with bunch of friends in the studio coming and going and having a great time creating. I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by this album. “

As might be expected, there are plenty of classic 1960s sounds, but the sonic pallette spans every decade since, colored with timeless touchstones of Joel's record collection - shoegaze, post-punk, psychedelia, alt-country and mod/beat music, it's all there.

Check out Joel’s video for the lead track, “YES” - www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iD_o9geDYA

Co-produced by current BJM members Collin Hegna and Rob Campanella, “Apple Bonkers” also features contributions by Jonestown members Daniel Allaire and Matt Hollywood, along with former BJM members Jeffrey Davies and Miranda Lee Richards. Also along for the ride: Pete Holmstrom of The Dandy Warhols, Ryan Van Kriedt of the The Asteroid #4/Dead Skeletons and Jason “Plucky” Anchondo of the Warlocks/ Spindrift.

Much more than getting by with a little help from his friends, “Apple Bonkers” sees Gion leading the trip to a psychedelic land of honest-to-goodness rock and roll.

Joel Gion - Dart

Frankie and the Witch Fingers’ fifth LP, ZAM, bleeds beyond borders and boundaries. Its opening preternatural sounds bubble up out of the primordial soup, spilling into our world, invading the inner recesses of the listener’s mind. Like a two-headed snake wrapped around the skull, the album pendulates between winding instrumentals and dancey riffs that pop like supernovas out of the black void. Just when a song goes one way, it propels another through long stretches of a cosmic inferno. 

Bringing glimmers of krautrock and funk, its eleven tracks unleash a versatile and tenacious weight, slithering between the sexy, the aggressive, the vivacious, and the disorienting—until the living invasion is felt—ZAM—a supernatural entity summoned by four madmen obsessed with tearing open a gateway to dark space. After being pulled apart atom-by-atom, the listener is reconfigured on the other side, born unto starry wasteland. Where head is separated from body. Where music is seen and apocalyptic soundscapes flow to revelation. A funhouse undercurrent pulses through the album’s epoch, reflecting a carnival mosaic shrewdly lulling and doggedly brutal. As one track bleeds into the next, that hour of running time becomes wormhole travel, until the listener returns earthbound, transmuted, craving more odyssey.

Out now via NYC's Greenway Records

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Dracula Drug

Höga Nord Rekords have had the opportunity to work with Al Lover twice before during the last four years and now it’s time for the next step in the relationship between them, this time with the 7” single ”Dark Matter Discotheque / Mark E. Moon”. In these tracks, Lover’s influences mainly stems from a decadent eighties New York or Paris and you can almost smell the heavy perfume mixed with indoors smoking get the feeling of sitting in a room with mirror walls.

Right away, listening to the opening bars of ”Dark Matter”, you can tell that Lover is on to something new and different from his previous Höga Nord-releases. In some ways you hear similarities to ”Zodiak Versions” (2015) but on these two tracks of the 7”, Lover has left the German regions of Europe and the 70’s behind to instead embrace an updated 80’s sound. He comments the new direction with these words: ”'I'd say the influences for these tracks was mainly me wanting to do something different then I have before. I'm alwyas on to next idea, becoming bored with what I've already done”.

pre- orders taken at: https://hoganordrekords.bandcamp.com/track/dark-matter-discoth-que

PREMIERE | Al Lover - Mark E Moon [Höga Nord Rekords] 2019

I have Obsessive Compulsive Music Disorder (OCMD). What's your excuse?

Host of weekly radio show, Indierockgirl Radio, on BFF.fm in San Francisco every Thursday from 4-6PM. Spinning the best new indie rock tunes. Listen on BFF.fm.

Artists: drop me your new tracks here on Soundcloud!


Joel Gion - Dart

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