Villa Venus

A good friend of mine who lives in Brooklyn has a new band and a new release. The band has press shots and all that so I think they mean business. The band name is Villa Venus and sound a lot like the Sub Pop Records band Low. If you're a fan of dream-pop, slowcore, or sadcore you should really check these guys out. They've been playing shows in Brooklyn too, so make sure to keep your eyes open. You can also download their EP for free here, so get on that sucka.

Villa Venus: "Slow Collapse"
Villa Venus: "Currents"

Flying Lotus + Best Coast + Darkstar + Teebs

Flying Lotus - Kill Your Co-Workers from Warp Records on Vimeo.

This is another video from Flying Lotus. It's everything you'd want from a Flying Lotus video and some. If you haven't heard his new EP "Pattern+Grid World, GET ON THAT SHIT!



Everyones favorite summertime band, Best Coast is back with a video for the song "Boyfriend". Usually this kind of indie-pop is too cute for me but this band really pulls off this sound well. Also, is it me or did the singer lose a few? Either way, she sexy.

One of Hyperdub's newest groups just put out a great new record entitled North. They're no Burial but just as you would expect a Hyperdub group to produce, they make the marks. This album even treads into synth-pop waters which I wouldn't expect but somehow found it pleasantly surprising. Listen to this record. "Aidys Girl Is a Computer" you might know from the mix that Jamie from the xx put out this year for Colette.

Darkstar: "Aidy's Girl is a Computer"

Teebs is a California beat magician, but he's also a painter, skater and an artist. He's lived with Flying Lotus and now just put out his first full length LP entitled, Ardour. Andour is being released on Flying Lotus's label Brainfeeder. I actually just read a facebook post Teebs received about a text he received saying Erykah Badu likes his music. That's pretty fucking cool.

Teebs: "Double Fifths"
Teebs: "Why Like This"

James Blake "Limit to Your Love" (Feist cover) Video

I've been playing this song in my head over and over and over again. I can't get enough of this guy's production. This new song is part post-dudstep (silly I know), part pop and part experimental. When the bass kicks in on this track I get goosebumps. The video is also great. It reminds me of the crisp look of a Radiohead video, mixed with a little of Fiona Apple's "Criminal" video. Those are two things I love very mucho. The video is directed by Martin de Thurah, who also directed Fever Ray's video for "When I Grow Up". Both videos are minimal and magical in similar ways. I can't wait until this guy puts out a full length record, I think it's going to blow lids off and pop out the eyes of the bystanders who witness lids blown off. I'm very excited about this. I don't know how popular this guy is in his home the UK but I hope he is well received. I wish this video wasn't featured through Pitchfork TV, but that's out of my control.

Avey Tare's (of Animal Collective) new video for "Lucky 1"

If you haven't got a copy of Avey Tare's (of Animal Collective) new album Down There, got on it son. Listen to it outside, it sounds better that way. Also, here's his new video for "Lucky 1" made by his sister, Abby. The video reminds me a lot of the animation from the Mighty Boosh episode "Journey to the Centre of the Punk".


Lucky 1 from Abby Portner on Vimeo.

(via Pitchfork)

Darkstar "Gold" video

Saw this on Gorilla vs. Bear this morning. I hope you all enjoy. These Hyper Dub dubstep boys are up to something else. Their new album North is due out November 2nd. I'm thinking only good things about this record.




Darkstar: Gold from Evan Boehm on Vimeo.

Deerhunter + No Age + Shed + Flying Lotus

Blog removed by DMCA.

Tame Impala - Lucidity from Modular People on Vimeo.

Thomas Michael Callihan

September 2010

Talk Talk//Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti//Sun Araw//David Bowie

Sorry, I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been moving, starting new jobs, attending to typical life bullshit, etc. But the past few weeks have been good and this is what I've been into. 

Talk Talk

I revisited Talk Talk (first picture above) who I haven't listened to in years. I went through a phase a while back trying to hear all the classics that aren't on Rolling Stones greatest list of great music records. As I could have figured, there was tons of great shit that was outside the pop music/radio spectrum that Rolling Stone loves so much. There were a lot of interesting things going on with music for decades that they decided to leave out so that they could sell more copies of their magazine (that's something you can respect). Not only did they give into commercialism but as music journalists, failed doing their research on music. This still seems to be the case today. No going back now though. 

I was pretty sick yesterday and my girlfriend was in study mode. With that in mind I put on Talk Talk's 1991 album Laughing Stock. The album was even better this time around than last time and it seemed to be perfect for an atmosphere of studying and recuperating. I always try to find the perfect sound track for the situation. In the car, Laughing Stock, reminded me of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew. The way those beautiful notes would melt into noise. I love it. I know improv was used on this album a bit and that incense was burning along with glowing black lights in the studio to set the mood of the album during the recording session. At certain points there were thirteen violin players who would show up for a recording session. 

No matter how you feel about post-rock, this album might be one of the reasons that term exists and why it can also be very cool. 

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock

(You might know the No Doubt cover of this. This is when Talk Talk we're more pop and just got back from touring with Duran Duran. How funny that Duran Duran was on tour with Talk Talk)

(This is towards the end of their career as Talk Talk. It reminds me of the Radiohead "No Surprises" video. Talk Talk is one of the few groups who progressed being a band and not digressed. I would have loved to see what they would have done after Laughing Stock)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti 

This year a friend of mine came to me and asked me if I heard the new Ariel Pink? I was a little shocked because this person was more into the other spectrums of music. I instantly said YES! I wasn't too impressed by the record, I've only heard it a handful of times. I am not here to talk about the new record either. I heard a disco edit by Night Plane (a Brooklyn producer) of one of the singles and knew I'd have some friends that would be into it. Ariel Pink is one of those artist you love or hate. I love the way he chooses sound for his records and the way he doesn't care about what Rolling Stone says (or at least I think) about his record, that above all things deserves respect. 

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: "Round and Round (Night Plane Disco Edit)" Mp3

Sun Araw

Sun Araw is a solo member of Magic Lantern and Vibes. He recently moved out to Long Beach after spending some time in Austin. Much like Talk Talk, Sun Araw uses methods of improvisation. If you're not a fan of psych rock, drone, classic rock, afro-beat, noise or jam you might not be into this record. It's almost as if he took all the 70's weirdo stuff we might or might not know and threw it in a blender and pushed liquify on modern effects. This takes time to get into and if you're looking for a hook, you're done for. Cameron Stallones (Sun Araw) also makes his own music videos. If all artists did this we might have less capitalism in music and more art, or at least I'd like to think so. 

Sun Araw: "Ma Holo" Mp3

Sun Araw: "Deep Cover" Mp3

DEEP COVER - SUN ARAW from CatCakes on Vimeo.
 

David Bowie

I'm not going to write a David Bowie bio, if you don't have David Bowies first 12 records, you shouldn't be reading this blog. Download them right now. There is some rough patches like Pin Ups and Diamond Dogs, but besides that they're all pretty fucking good. The man was always on some next level shit. Especially the album, Low, that record freaks me out. 

I stumbled upon this edit while re-downloading some Bowie I've lost over the years. 

David Bowie: "Golden Years (Mano Le Tough Edit)"

The embedded for this was taken down but its David Bowie doing "Golden Years" on Soul Train. It's pretty fucking cool being that he looks like a vampire and all in front of the Soul Train crowd. WATCH THIS VIDEO!