the rising vocals are so nice... make more songs like this. make a whole album pls

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Sub Pop 2015

In the cold and dreary winter of 2009, alone in his bedroom and hidden from the darkness of the world outside Justin Paul Vallesteros had begun working on something that would change his life forever. What began as a couple notes played in experimentation soon transformed into vibrant melodies that soon shook Vallesteros’ musical foundation to the core. Guitar chords laced over pulse sating synth melodies and drum rhythms was a departure from Justin’s previous work; he began to create the dreamy nostalgic pop music that is Craft Spells. Justin is a California native who now finds residence in the mid-size town of Stockton, the heart of California. Craft Spells is the epitome of the recent uprising of the DIY music scene. Coming from a place not known for its musical history or impact on music culture it seemed destined for Craft Spells to stay as a bedroom pop project with no final destination in sight. But soon the shear amount of blog volume his work began to generate was unimaginable. Sites like Weekly Tape Deck, Pasta Primavera, No Modest Bear and Pitchfork’s Forkcast took notice and thus began the never ending worldwide posting and re-posting on blog after blog of Craft Spells. The sound is led by Justin’s blissful voice, backed behind beautiful guitar melodies over heavenly synths, pop basslines and looped rhythms. Captured Tracks has released 7” single for the song “Party Talk” and will release the debut LP due out in Spring 2011 called Idle Labor. 2011 is going to be a busy year now that Justin has set up a live band for future touring. Keep a look out for tour dates in Europe and US come the new year. In no time at all, Justin has been able to move out of Dave Brubeck and Pavement’s shadow to create something his own which he shares with the ever continuing admiration of the world.

After the Moment

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

the morning benders - 'Excuses'

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

Buy Now

Life Tourist

From Father John Misty's 'I Love You, Honeybear', out February 10th on Sub Pop Records.

Pre-order: 
u.subpop.com/iloveyouhoneybear

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I Love You, Honeybear

Bored In The USA

Father John Misty - Bored In The Usa

EarthEE

Recognition

THEESatisfaction - Recognition

From Doldrums' full-length Sub Pop debut, 'The Air-Conditioned Nightmare', out April 7th on Sub Pop. 

Pre-order: 
https://www.subpop.com/artists/doldrums


The Air Conditioned Nightmare

HOTFOOT

Doldrums - HOTFOOT

THEESatisfaction - EarthEE

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - “Multi-Love” from THE ALBUM ‘Multi-Love’ out May 26th, 2015 on Jagjaguwar

SCD/direct: http://smarturl.it/umo?iQid=sc // Amazon: http://smarturl.it/umo_amazon?iQid=sc // iTunes: http://smarturl.it/umo_itunes?iQid=sc // Indies: http://smarturl.it/umo_indies?iQid=sc

Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Artist Page http://www.jagjaguwar.com/artist.php?name=umo
Website http://unknownmortalorchestra.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/unknownmortalorchestra
Twitter https://twitter.com/UMO
Instagram http://instagram.com/unknownmortalorchestra

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - “Multi-Love” from ‘Multi-Love’ out May 26th, 2015 on Jagjaguwar

Multi-Love

Pre-order on iTunes

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - "Multi-Love"

Order's "flatiron" b/w "stick up jack" from Sub Pop: https://www.subpop.com/artists/feedtime

feedtime on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Feedtime/144518638952255

flatiron

feedtime - flatiron

Washed Out - All Over Now

From Father John Misty's 'I Love You, Honeybear'.
Available for purchase here: u.subpop.com/iloveyouhoneybear

True Affection

Father John Misty - True Affection

http://craftspells.tumblr.com/

"In the cold and dreary winter of 2009, alone in his bedroom and hidden from the darkness of the world outside Justin Paul Vallesteros had begun working on something that would change his life forever. What began as a couple notes played in experimentation soon transformed into vibrant melodies that soon shook Vallesteros' musical foundation to the core. Guitar chords laced over pulse sating synth melodies and drum rhythms was a departure from Justin's previous work; he began to create the dreamy nostalgic pop music that is Craft Spells. Justin is a California native who now finds residence in the mid-size town of Stockton, the heart of California. Craft Spells is the epitome of the recent uprising of the DIY music scene. Coming from a place not known for its musical history or impact on music culture it seemed destined for Craft Spells to stay as a bedroom pop project with no final destination in sight. But soon the shear amount of blog volume his work began to generate was unimaginable. Sites like Weekly Tape Deck, Pasta Primavera, No Modest Bear and Pitchfork's Forkcast took notice and thus began the never ending worldwide posting and re-posting on blog after blog of Craft Spells. The sound is led by Justin's blissful voice, backed behind beautiful guitar melodies over heavenly synths, pop basslines and looped rhythms. Captured Tracks has released 7" single for the song "Party Talk" and will release the debut LP due out in Spring 2011 called Idle Labor. 2011 is going to be a busy year now that Justin has set up a live band for future touring. Keep a look out for tour dates in Europe and US come the new year. In no time at all, Justin has been able to move out of Dave Brubeck and Pavement's shadow to create something his own which he shares with the ever continuing admiration of the world." 

Father John Misty - True Affection

Sub Pop

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