New private playlist

Debut album from Soviet Soviet.

Order the album here: bit.ly/14OCRAM

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Soviet Soviet - No Lesson

Joy Division - Love Will Tear us Apart (original)

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

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." 

Craft Spells - Party Talk

LOK! - WHY YOU JAMMIN LIKE DAT (Prod. LOK!)

Caught Dead

Ian Ruhala, better known as HALA, has been writing and recording music for several years now and at the
young age of 19, he is already a singer/songwriter veteran.

With several releases already under his belt, even before graduating high school, Ruhala has created some
buzz with his solo, at-home/DIY recording style that relates well with music from artists like M. Ward,
Mac DeMarco and Travis Bretzer.

After attending college at Central Michigan University for a semester, Ruhala’s mind was more on lyrics than
on school-work. Writing over sixty songs during this time period, Ian decided to fully immerse himself into his passion to manufacture his first proper debut, Spoonfed.

The meaning behind Spoonfed, as Ruhala explains, is about dealing with the things and ideas that people feed you when you are young, and trying to do your best to not repeat the norm. Songs like “Phone Calls,” and
“Not Your Modern Man” discuss topics like marrying young, and society’s fear of face-to-face interaction
with each other, with lyrics that you will be surprised to find out, came from an 18 year old kid from Michigan.

Every song on this album tells a story; heart-break is talked about in the ironically upbeat song “Reruns,” and the track “Just Because,” shows HALA’s appreciation for the simple things in life, with the line, “Sunday morning, Dad’s at home, watches football and paints his toes, will I ever be?” One thing is for sure, it is extremely refreshing to see someone so young be able to produce something of this magnitude; Ruhala’s future is bright.

Get your bowls, and a spoon, because this Indie singer/songwriter says, "breakfast is served."

©Balaclava Records. All rights reserved.

Just Because

Slow Hollows - Atelophobia (Full Album)

beach fossils Lazy day

Beach Fossils - Window View

Midnight in a Moonless Dream

The Buttertones - Shut Out

Reckless Youth is about how younger generations tend to be more risk taking, as they have their whole life ahead of them and don’t seem to value life as much. Most kids feel invincible, and that seems to wear off over time.

Beach Fossils - Window View

tadpole in dreams

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