Hear Hums

VIDEO: the band in Heaven - Sludgy Dreams

2012-01-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

The band in Heaven just released a new video directed by Alice Cohen to their song "Sludgy Dreams" off of the Sleazy Drums 7" EP.

Purchase the vinyl from HoZac Records.

<a href="http://thebandinheaven.bandcamp.com/album/hozac-7">HoZac 7" by the band in Heaven</a>

bandcamp/bandinheaven
dotcom/hozacrecords

Dntel Releases Free Dustmite EP

2012-01-18T05:55:00.000-08:00

Yesteday, Dntel posted about a new EP entited Dustmite on his Soundcloud. He stated: "This is some of the noisy stuff i was working on in 2009 and 2010. It was going to be under the Dustmite name but there ended up being someone else using that name and then i never finished the project anyways. I still like some of it , though, so some of the more finished tracks will appear here as a Dntel ep."

Dustmite ep by Dntel

twitter/dntel

soundcloud/dntel

Black Dice Announce Album - Mr. Impossible

2012-01-13T05:28:00.000-08:00

Domino offshoot Ribbon Music is releasing Black Dice's forthcoming sixth studio album, Mr. Impossible. To quote the press statement on the album's preorder page: "Bridging a divide between the thrashings of punk and trance music, Mr. Impossible takes itself serious, breathes with melody and revels in a let loose , wild out , fuck off good time. Sound nuts? Well, it's not. This is easy to enjoy fun for all frontier music!" Mr. Impossible drops April 10th in the US, and April 9th everywhere else.

Above is a video directed by the band for their song "Pigs" from the forthcoming album. Preorder Mr. Impossible on vinyl.

Tracklist

01. Pinball Wizard
02. Rodriguez
03. The Jacker
04. Pigs
05. Spy Vs. Spy
06. Outer Body Drifter
07. Shithouse Drifter
08. Carnitas
09. Brunswick Sludge (Meets Front Range Tripper)

Black Dice - Pigs

Nicole Miglis EP

2012-01-13T00:50:00.000-08:00

Nicole Miglis has just released her first official solo EP. With the exception of the whimsical opening "Don't Need Money", these are a handful of songs Gainesville has been lucky enough to familiarize themselves with over the past couple years. On her band Hundred Waters' Facebook, Nicole writes:

"Yesterday I finished my first EP. It’s a collection of songs I wrote from 2008-2010 that took some gentle nudging to believe in.

If you have 18 minutes to spare, I think it moves best in one sitting.

love and appreciation,
nicole"

<a href="http://nicolemiglis.bandcamp.com/album/ep">EP by Nicole Miglis</a>
For their debut show, Hundred Waters opens for Tycho at Double Down in Gainesville on Tuesday, January 24th.

bandcamp/nicolemiglis
tumbr/nicolemiglis
facebook/hundredwaters

Dustin Wong Announces Album - Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads

2012-01-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

Dustin Wong announced his new album, Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads will be released on February 20th, 2012 through Thrill Jockey. Dustin created a video for the closing track of the album, "Diagonally Talking Echo".

Tracklist:

1. Ice Sheets on Feet Prints
2. Feet Prints on Flower Dreads
3. Abstract Horse Slow Motion
4. Tea Tree Leaves Retreat
5. Triangle Train Stop
6. Toe Tore Oh
7. On/In the Way
8. Pink Diamond
9. Purple Slipped Right
10. Route Through Eyebrow
11. Sprinkle Wet Toes
12. Pencil Drove Hill Moon
13. Evening Curves Straight
14. Back Towards Night
15. Space Tunnel Graffiti
16. Diagonally Talking Echo

With regard to his process, Dustin Wong told Thrill Jockey:

"When I begin to explore and to build a song through a series of pedals, I
begin with the tuner. It helps keep my guitar's pitch consistent. An octave
pedal and the distortion pedals allows me to change the textures and colors of
the guitar. The delay pedal determines the tempo and the pattern. Once these
sounds are determined, it then gets replicated and repeated through a loop
pedal. Repeating that process, I lay different sounds and melodies on top. After
the loop pedal comes the envelope filter that changes the color of the sounds
but in a different way, more like a blend or like a dye. At the end of this
chain of pedals awaits another delay pedal that corresponds to the delay pedal
before the looper, further accentuating and changing the patterns of the loop.

I see all these pedals as a kind of textile factory. The sheets and colors
are determined then the patterns are laid on top, one layer after another until
it becomes a fabric mille feuille. Once that cake looks done it gets replicated
again through another delay pedal. I can keep building these sounds on top each
other and decide whether I want to take half of the cakes slices or not, if i
do, I can gaze at the symmetrical void of what I have taken.

I changed the recording process for Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow
Leads from the process used for Infinite Love. In Infinite
Love I recorded every layer as a separate track dividing them up throughout
the stereo-field, but in Dreams Say… it was all mostly recorded live with
a few overdubs moving around in the stereo-field. The presentation of songs are
also different, Infinite Love was presented as a whole, and in Dreams
Say… I decided to have titles for each song or idea. In a way the physical
documentation and the presentation of the idea got switched. Just like choosing
how to see a light through a prism. Whether to see the fragmented light into the
prism and out to the single ray of light or the other way around."

Pre-order Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads from Thrill Jockey.

soundcloud/dustinwong

VIDEO: Ironing and Jim Ivy (Live)

2012-01-01T05:28:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Gainesville's Hal McGee hosted "Apartment Music 14". Below is an improvisation between Ironing (turntable) and Jim Ivy (saxophone).

facebook/ironing

Surfin Serf

2011-12-31T05:28:00.000-08:00

Surfin Serf is a four-piece band from Orlando, Florida. They put a progressive/math rock twist on highly catchy pop melodies. They have released two sets of recordings on bandcamp, Surfin Serf Demo 2011a and No Meta. While I enjoy focusing on the art of the recording, it is important to note Surfin Serf have an incredible live set and need not to doctor up their recordings.

Surfin Serf Demo 2011a by Surfin Serf

From their Myspace, they share "the surfin serf music band of orlando, florida became a four-piece in the summer of 2010. this current iteration is wet with afterbirth, and most-appropriate representations gradually surface. in the meantime, peruse the available relics, which remain available as indications of the strange beast which now hangs out on vietnamese streets".

Surfin Serf performing "Gingerbread".

Surfin Serf performing "Que Se Yo".

Orlando can catch Surfin Serf at the Orange You Glad Music Festival 2012 (March 8-11th) also featuring Grimes, Born Gold, Jane Jane Pollock, Dark Sea of Awareness, Cults, Tennis, Maximino, Everything is Terrible, Moodrings, Loud Valley, and many more.

bandcamp/surfinserf

Day Joy

2011-12-30T05:28:00.000-08:00

Day Joy is an indie folk duo from Orlando, Florida. Just a few days ago they debuted with New Ordinary 7", a two-song release, highly impressive recordings. Hopefully we'll hear more from these guys in the future.
New Ordinary 7" by DAY JOY
Download New Ordinary for free on bandcamp.

facebook/dayjoy

bandcamp/dayjoy

Red Sea

2011-12-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

Red Sea is an indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia.

Weird Problem by Red Sea

Download Weird Problem for free on bandcamp.

facebook/redsea
bandcamp/redsea

Fruit Flesh

2011-12-27T05:28:00.000-08:00

Fruit Flesh is the solo project of Jake Tobin from Tallahassee, Florida. On bandcamp, he describes his music as "a whirl of physical repulsion and a dizzy, higher awareness that sounds something like a glass plate matted in areas with soft erasure marks and odd meter". Expect a split release with fellow Tallahassee band Wingsuit soon through Wonder Beard.

Guilt Exchange by Fruit Flesh

Download both Guilty Exchange and Corrective Lenses for free on bandcamp.

facebook/fruit flesh
bandcamp/fruitflesh
tumblr/wonderbeard
bandcamp/wonderbeard

Qurious

2011-12-26T05:28:00.000-08:00

Qurious is an electronic duo from Atlanta, Georgia. Their first full-length, 2010's Planet Plant, is a narrative about aliens' adventure to Earth. Read an in-depth interview Qurious did with Chad Radford discussing influences, the live performance, musical background, and the concept behind Planet Plant on Crib Notes.

Planet Plant by Qurious

Below is a video for their song "Another Language", which is the first song to be released from their upcoming album.

Download Planet Plant for free from their bandcamp.

facebook/qurious
bandcamp/qurious

The Church of Holy Colors Interview with Tiny Waves

2011-12-22T05:28:00.000-08:00

Recently, Tiny Waves traveled to Gainesville to interview Evan Galbicka and Joey Fillastre, the artists running the Church of Holy Colors. For words by Steve Head and more photos, check out the original post on Tiny Waves' site.

dotcom/tinywaves

tumblr/holycolor

VIDEO: Sunflower Pagallo - Bee Keeper

2011-12-21T05:28:00.000-08:00

Following the release of Northern Direction, Sunflower Pagallo has released a video for the closing track of the album, "Bee Keeper". The video was filmed and edited by the band.

Download the album for free from this link or on bandcamp.

facebook/sunflowerpagallo

bandcamp/sunflowerpagallo

VIDEO: Prince Rama - Summer of Love

2011-12-16T05:28:00.000-08:00

Check out Prince Rama's new video for "Summer of Love" off of the new Paw Tracks release Trust Now.

bandcamp/princerama
facebook/princerama

Sunflower Pagallo

2011-12-12T05:28:00.000-08:00

Sunflower Pagallo is the new project of Sydney Lane and Eddie Roqueta (Forest Clay). Their debut, Northern Direction began as acoustic songs written by Sydney; Eddie produced the album, layering drums and other instruments.

Northern Direction by Sunflower Pagallo

Download Northern Direction for free off bandcamp.

facebook/sunflowerpagallo
flickr/forestclay

Hundred Waters

2011-12-07T05:28:00.000-08:00

Hundred Waters is a new band from Gainesville, Florida, featuring Nicole Miglis and Trayer Tryon, as well as most members from Levek's previous live configuration. On Hundred Waters' upcoming album, they perfect a mix of electronic and acoustic elements. Read more about Hundred Waters on Tiny Waves.

Hundred Waters - Caverns

facebook/hundredwaters

Stag Hare

2011-12-04T05:28:00.000-08:00

Stag Hare is the solo project of Garrick Biggs from Utah. Stag Hare is among a small hand full of artists on the up and coming label Inner Islands. Read an in-depth interview with Inner Islands founder Braden Mckenna on Tiny Waves.

I have been listening to Stag Hare's latest release, Spirit Canoes, frequently since I received it, highly recommended.

Spirit Canoes by stag hare

bandcamp/staghare
bandcamp/innerislands

Philip Seymour Hoffman / Mutual Benefit Split

2011-11-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

Jordan of Mutual Benefit's own Kassette Klub will release a split with the FMLY's Philip Seymour Hoffman (Noah Klein) this December. Jordan has had a steady flow of material released, the latest prior to this being the Mutual Spirits split from Father/Daughter Records. Noah on the other hand has been keeping to himself. Both sides of the tape are reminiscent of the artists' back catalog.

split cassette by philip seymour hoffman / mutual benefit

Buy the tape now and get the digital download free.

bigcartel/kassetteklub
bandcamp/mutualbenefit
bandcamp/psh

Viernes - Lightyear

2011-11-23T05:28:00.000-08:00

"Lightyear" is the first song to be released following Viernes' debut album Sinister Devices. "Lightyear" is an ambient piece, contrasting greatly from the song structures on Sinister Devices, and consistent with what Alberto has been doing with his solo project Acquoi (formerly Galleries).

Lightyear by Viernes

viernes/facebook
acoqui/facebook

Tree Hopping - Whatever, Dude (Live)

2011-11-12T05:28:00.000-08:00

Tiny Waves came to Gainesville last weekend and covered a music event at the art space Church of Holy Colors. Taken from Steve Head's article over at Tiny Waves, below is a video of my favorite song of the Tree Hopping live set, "Whatever, Dude".

facebook/treehopping

bandcamp/treehopping

facebook/churchofholycolors

churchofholycolors/tinywaves

Alligator Indian - Football

2011-11-11T05:28:00.000-08:00

Alligator Indian is a band from Asheville, North Carolina. We met them on our tour last May. Football is a 6-track EP released last September through Bleeding Gold Records. Download it for free from Alligator Indian's bandcamp.

BG003 FOOTBALL by Alligator Indian
facebook/alligatorindian
store/bleedinggold

Pretty Bird

2011-11-10T05:28:00.001-08:00

Pretty Bird is a band from Athens, Georgia. They channel the tribal energy of Foot Village and early Animal Collective records. We are playing with them tonight in Athens.

beeeeeallllyourrrrpotenchall by pretty bird

Download some Pretty Bird songs on SoundCloud.

Two People Playing Music - Great Leaps

2011-11-09T05:28:00.000-08:00

Last month Two People Playing Music released Great Leaps, a full-length recorded live in their living room in Asheville, North Carolina. Check out "Sufi" and "Improv 2" below.

Great Leaps by Two People Playing Music

tumblr/2ppm

VIDEO: Woodsman - Parallel Minds

2011-11-08T12:12:00.000-08:00

Woodsman has just released Mystic Places through Trevor's own Fire Talk.

Parallel Minds is a mellower jam on Mystic Places. It contrasts my experience of their current live performances, which seem to teeter more on the side of "Tone Cloak" or more straight-forward "From The Vision Hand". The exploring Woodsman does from song to song on Mystic Places highlights different aspects of their psychedelic rock sound, only changing subtley enoungh to still allow for seamless transitions from start to end.

Mystic Places EP by Woodsman

Purchase Mystic Places on vinyl through Fire Talk Records.

facebook/woodsman

Lighthouse Music - Only Human

2011-10-30T05:28:00.000-07:00

Lighthouse Music has just released Only Human via Red Planet Records. Today, artists can use recording and experimenting with editing to create, and then figure out how to play it live. Lighthouse Music are the farthest thing from this. While they did add some interesting things in the studio (like the coins sound on "Change"), the recording is really just archiving their songs. They've been playing these songs for the past few years, and it shows by the dynamic arrangement and song progressions. At first they attempted to do live recordings. After several attempts, they decided instead to record everything track by track. Lighthouse still managed to retain the essence of their live performance on Only Human, adding a more varied, less electric instrument palette (including violin). This album may be compared to efforts by Man Man, and the compositions allude to Miles Davis and Tom Waits influences.

Only Human by Lighthouse Music

Compare "Hip Bop" live with the recording.

Purchase Only Human now through CD Baby.

dotcom/lighthousemusic
facebook/lighthousemusic

New Tree Hopping From Upcoming Messyhopping

2011-10-22T05:28:00.000-07:00

brian sequence by tree hopping

"Brian Sequence" is a new Tree Hopping song from an upcoming split with Messy Sparkles entitled Messyhopping. Gabriel of Tree Hopping designed the cover. Pre-order the cassette now from MJ MJ Records.

Trayer - Afterlife An Abandoned Theme Park

2011-10-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

On October 18th, Trayer released Afterlife An Abandoned Theme Park via Porter Records. This album has been in the making for five years, split into found sides. Part four was previously released as a stand-alone collection entitled Liquidation.

In 17 tracks, Trayer wanders in different directions. A partial committment to an IDM song structure is found consistently throughout the album's duration, flip flopping back and forth from effected speech field recordings, found sounds and guitar melodies, to more of an straightforward electronic rhythm based mode.

All of Afterlife An Abandoned Theme Park was composed by Trayer, though other artists, including Nicole, Zach, Felipe, and Paul from Levek contributed instrumentation on various songs. This core group of Levek's previous live band, including Trayer have formed Hundred Waters. They have completed their first full-length and will be be beginning to perform live soon in Gainesville. More to come on Hundred Waters in the next weeks.

Trayer - Amanogawa

Afterlife an Abandoned Theme Park by Trayer

Stream a few songs on bandcamp, or download the album for free here. Purchase it on vinyl or CD from Porter Records.

Playlist for Stock-71

2011-10-18T05:28:00.000-07:00

This is a playlist I made for Stock-71. It includes music by Sumsun, Woodsman, Dustin Wong, Levek, Prince Rama, God Boat, Mini Prophets, Orchal & Vir, Mutual Benefit, Emily Reo, Jane Jane Pollock, and Blithe Field.

wordpress/stock71

Stream Orchal & Vir's Debut

2011-10-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

Orchal & Vir is the ex-duo of Tristan Whitehill and Kane Pour from Gainesville, Florida. Though their debut comes to us after they have retired the project, it does not render the album any less valuable. You can still catch them performing live under their solo projects Euglossine Industries and Kane Pour.

Orchal and Vir by Orchal and Vir

If you like what you hear, purchase it on vinyl or CD from Elestial Sound.

bandcamp/orchalandvir

Nicole Miglis Tunes & The Future of This Blog

2011-10-15T05:28:00.000-07:00

With other activities demanding my time, and without internet access at my home, I have stepped away from posting on this blog. I would still like to share great music. Primarily the focus of this blog is people we come in contact with, which happens to be a lot of Florida artists.

I would encourage you to check out Tiny Waves, a new Orlando based site that will be covering the Florida scene as well as kindred vibes from around the globe.

I am not a journalist and I no longer feel comfortable writing about another's music in the way I previously have. That being said, I still want to post about music, but in a way that lets the music speak for itself more. Also, I am interested in interviewing artists and will continue to do so. Demos by Nicole MiglisNicole Miglis is one of my favorite Gainesville musicians. "Quiet Morning" and "Who Had the Key?" are the first demos to come directly from Nicole on her bandcamp. You can grab three more of her songs here.

Above is Nicole performing Frédéric Chopin's Ballade No.4 at her University of Florida undergraduate recital.

INTERVIEW: Dustin Wong

2011-09-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

Written for Rebel,
Please read on http://www.wearerebels.com/2011/09/27/interview-dustin-wong/

Interview w/ Dustin Wong

From Hawaii to Japan to the United States, Dustin Wong has had quite an episodic childhood; learning English and forgetting it as his family and he relocated to Japan at the age of two, having to re-learn English and joining a punk band in his early teens contrasting the oppressive conditions of Catholic school, Dustin surely went through some turmoil. In 2008 he started the quintet Ponytail with friends from art school. In 2010, after many performances and two albums worth of songs, the band announced their perfomance at Whartscape that year may be their last. The individual endeavors of the band's members had led them to an indefinite hiatus. Since then Dustin has released 2009's Seasons, a collection of ideas from 2002 to 2007 captured with just the internal mic on his laptop. In 2010, he released Let It Go, which pushed further the integration of technical guitar riffs with processed voice, drum, keyboard textures, and the limitless imagination of recording; finally Infinite Love the same year, which showcases a true representation of Dustin's live performance built almost entirely of fast-paced guitar loops.

First of all, do you plan on creating with Ecstatic Sunshine in the future?

I collaborate with Matt from time to time. We've been recording songs at the end of every year the past 3 years. We email it to our friends and post it on our blogs as a kind of a git for the holidays. Last year we recorded renditions of "Blue Moon" and "Sleep Walk".

What are your different roles in your solo project, Ponytail, and Ecstatic Sunshine? When making music do you consider whether something would be more for Ponytail or more for yourself?

With both projects I wanted the contributions to be spread equally and democratically. The idea of a band for me is alchemical, a group of people come together and blend their intellect and creativity as one singular idea, and that is the most exciting element of being in a band. You learn new things about yourself musically too, so it's a great learning experience.

Do you find creating more difficult or easy going with this democratic decision making? At the end of the day do you think everyone is satisified with every single aspect of a song? What do you bring back to your own solo project from working with others?

Yes, it is pretty difficult! Because everybody needs to be satisfied, but that makes the performance that much better when everybody is in to what they are playing. It becomes passionate and exciting. Its a delicate balance, to have 4 sticks leaning on each other to stand upright.

With my solo stuff, I've learned so much from everybody that I have collaborated in the past. Every individual approaches the medium in their own particular way even if it doesn't seem that way formally when you're listening. I always look at guitarists and examine how they play, being like, huh wow, he skipped over that note, or that inflection accent is something I wouldn't do.

Do you work on a song for awhile before you record it or do you experiment and use recording as an idea generation tool?

I use recordings as a way to refine a song. I will only record a song once the idea is a little bit more solid, then listening back, I try to chip away the flaws of the song, sand it down a little. Things can be shorter or longer, cutting unnecessary elements or dominating frequencies.

Since 2009 you've written from time to time on your blog Influenced By Something, which has served as a place for you to post your shows, live, videos and other news, and things you're into. With most artists and listeners moving away from Myspace, trying Blogspot, Tumblr, Facebook, etc, as a home base for their fans, do you intend for Influenced By Something to be a place where your fans can stay informed on what you're doing?

I hope so yeah, I really don't like myspace these days, so hard to use! I want to make that blog the main source for that stuff, I can link it through my facebook too so its useful when I'm sharing ideas or music. I've been using Soundcloud too but I'm afraid I'm still a bit web 2.0 illiterate.

For the most part, do you plan out a piece of music in your head with intended results or experiment until you've made something you couldn't have expected?

It all comes through experimentation, it's a lot of exploring. Sometimes I may get an idea about rhythms and melodies that might work as a foundation. But that happens rarely and it works rarely too. The best way for me is to explore and find something that strikes me then build on top of that.

Share with us a story from the first band or project you were a part of.

Hmm, I was in a crappy punk band in middle school, I played the bass. I was in Japan at the time so it was hard to find free spaces to practice because of the strict noise complaints, however there were a lot of rent by hour studio through the city and there was one pretty close to our school. The one we went to was pretty dirty and we didn't know anything about making music (I actually thought every song ever recorded were played by improvisation). One day our drummer decided to build a fire in the middle of the space, and we played as loud as we could. I peed on the fire. We were a bunch of ignorant morons.

Wow, it's interesting to imagine who you seemingly are today being that mischievous as a kid. When we hung out in New York last May I felt you were one of the most positive, easy going people I've met. So you've been making music for a long time then, when did you first pick up the guitar?

Ha, yeah, well I started off as a very naive guitarist. I picked up the guitar when I was about 14yrs old, I didn't know anything. So I started off with shapes, squares, rectangles, triangles on the fret-board, changing the tuning, putting drumsticks in between the strings and stuff. As I started collaborating more with people it started clicking, It started to all make sense. I realized its all a simple puzzle, just had to figure out how the pieces came together. I got my telecaster when I was 15, my Dad got it for my birthday, its my baby, still use it to this day, I can't imagine using any other guitar than the one I have now.

Is there anything notable outside of creating art that you invest a lot of time into?

I really love reading religious and new age books. UFO and Alien stuff I really love. I also read the Tarot. I've also been interested in binaural beats and vibrational healing.

You mean like the Solfeggio frequencies? 528Hz allegedly repairs DNA, right? Have you considered implementing that into your music?

I did not know about the 528Hz! That is very cool! Maybe one day I will be able to implement it in my music, tho I feel like I still lack the knowledge. However, healing, thats something that I really want to have in my music. Sometimes I feel that kindness is lacking in music these days.

Given the fact that your solo work is mostly instrumental, how do you name your songs? You have posted the titles for "Infinite Love" on your blog, but other than that, most may not know what or if the songs have names. Is this your intention and if so, why?

Song titles are a tough one for me, Its hard to find the words to fit. With Infinite Love I took all the words from a revival hymnal book from the 1800's I found at an antique fair. It came out like a prayer and I thought it would be nice to have it 'concealed'. That these song titles or prayer was internalized in the media, like a silent prayer.

Is there an overall theme to your music or something you're trying to convey?

Building and collapsing, collapsed by the builders. It's architecture, to elevate, then humbled by the collapse. I always feel like whenever I think I've grown in some way, I have to start from the ground up again. Like planting a seed on the highest branch, then letting that seed grow in to a new tree, then planting a seed again on the highest branch.

What are your plans for the remainder of 2011 and beyond?

I want to record this new album, and I might be going to the UK to conduct an ensemble of guitarists to play some renditions of Infinite Love. I've never conducted so this is going to be extremely fun! There has been some major changes in my life recently so it's a new beginning for me!

Photo: Dustin Wong perfoming live at Silent Barn in Queens, NY by Emily Reo.

Rebel

Shrines

2011-09-01T05:28:00.000-07:00

This is our visual accompaniment for Shrines.

Hope you all enjoy!

Surfer Blood Announce New EP "Tarot Classics"

2011-08-31T01:58:00.000-07:00

"Miranda" is a three minute pop rock tune serving as the first listen for Surfer Blood's forthcoming EP, Tarot Classics, due October 25th on Kanine Records.

Tracklisting

01 I'm Not Ready
02 Miranda
03 Voyager Reprise
04 Drinking Problem

Surfer Blood tour dates are as follows:

08-13 Bangor, ME - Bangor Waterfront
08-27 Saint Louis, MO - LouFest
08-31 Seattle, WA - Neumo's
09-03 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
09-10 Orlando, FL - Firestone
09-16 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
09-17 Los Angeles, CA - The Getty
09-21 Tampa, FL - Crowbar
09-22 Gainesville, FL - Double Down Live
10-27 Montclair, NJ - The Wellmont Theatre *
10-28 Asbury Park, NJ - Asbury Park Convention Hall *
10-29 Waterbury, CT - Palace Theatre *
10-30 Hampton Beach, NH - Hampton Beach Ballroom *
11-01 Portland, ME - State Theatre *
11-02 Rochester, NY - The Armory *
11-03 Easton, PA - State Theatre Center for the Arts *
11-05 Huntington, NY - Paramount Theatre *
11-06 Wilmington, DE - Grand Opera House *
11-08 Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum *
11-09 Louisville, KY - Louisville Palace Theatre *
11-10 Knoxville, TN - Tennessee Theatre *
11-11 North Charleston, SC - North Charleston Performing Arts Center *
12-09 Minehead, England - ATP Festival

* with Pixies

facebook/surferblood
dotcom/kaninerecords

Sumsun - Arae

2011-08-29T01:50:00.000-07:00

Over a year ago Judson of Sumsun shared with me some really amazing blissful aquatic tracks he had been working on. Around that time he had released Lake Life, a retro beat album with female vocalist Beverly Russell as Sumsun. He was keeping pretty secret about this new sound and anonymously put out the tracks under the name Arae. Sumsun has now released the Arae tracks on bandcamp. Arae's three tracks precede Samo Milagro, and serve as an inside look of Sumsun culminating that watery euphoric sound (the end of "Grey" shares the same voice sample as "Capella I"). Download Arae free on bandcamp, and listen below.

Arae by Sumsun

facebook/sumsun
bandcamp/sumsun

Telethon

2011-08-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

Telethon is a self described psych-pop-tronica band from Orlando, Florida. They blend elements of different types of rock and pop, creating a retro sound with large electronic synths and beats.

According to their discography on bandcamp, in a little over a year's time Telethon has dipped their feet in a pool of "surf rock" and another of electronic. Slowly but surely Telethon has found the perfect mix with their latest song "Get Things Wrong", which reminds me faintly of the band of Montreal. In a live setting, Telethon retains the energy and presence of a rock band, and they pull it off very well. If you're in Orlando I highly recommend you check them out September 10th at the Firestone with Surfer Blood.

Get Things Wrong by TELETHON

facebook/telethon

bandcamp/telethon

Woodsman

2011-08-19T00:24:00.000-07:00

Taken directly from their Facebook bio: "Woodsman is an experimental ambient post-psychedelic band based in Denver, CO. The quartet contains two totemic percussionists and two sonic animators who employ electric guitars, feedback loops, and recorded samples to build the dreamy astral soundscapes that define Woodsman’s sound. Influenced by hazy mountain passes, the cinema of Stan Brakhage, and early 1970’s improvisational recordings by Miles Davis Woodsman has crafted aural offerings that are uniquely their own."

Rare Forms has moments of free-form euphoria of reverberated major scale keyboard/guitar textures and fluttering percussion contrasted by more of rock "band" song structures. Definitely recommended:

Rare Forms by Woodsman

Their upcoming EP Mystics Places, marking their fifth release, is to be released on October 25th. Pre-order the vinyl from Firetalk and check out "In Circles" off of Mystic Places below.

Woodsman are coming down to Orlando and Gainesville September 11th and 12th respectively. For non-Florida residents, their tour dates are as follows:

8/17 – 7th St. Entry – Minneapolis, MN
8/18 – Project Lodge – Madison, WI
8/19 – Ball Hall – Chicago, IL
8/22 – Happy Dog – Cleveland, OH
8/23 – Embassy Vinyl – Scranton, PA
8/25 – Cake Shop – New York, NY
8/26 – Shea Stadium – Brooklyn, NY
8/27 – BIMA Music Festival – Baltimore, MD
8/31 – BAR – New Haven, CT
9/6 – Danger Danger – Philadelphia, PA
9/7 – Christ Episcopal Church – Richmond, VA
9/8 – Hopscotch Music Festival – Raleigh, NC
9/9 – Hopscotch Music Festival – Raleigh, NC
9/10 – New World Brewery – Tampa, FL
9/11 – BACKBOOTH – Orlando, FL
9/12 – The Atlantic – Gainesville, FL
9/17 – Pig Slop Studios – St. Louis, MO
9/18 – JR’s Lightbulb Club – Fayetteville, AR
9/19 – City Tavern – Dallas, TX
9/20 – Emo’s – Austin, TX
9/21 – The Exchange – Hot Springs, AR
9/24 – Boomslang – Lexington, KY
9/26 – WonderRoot – Atlanta, GA
9/28 – Tin Roof – Charleston, SC
9/30 – Metro Gallery – Baltimore, MD

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bandcamp/woodsman

Yip Yip - Bone Up

2011-08-11T00:38:00.000-07:00

Since the summer of 2008, Yip Yip has been working on what has come to be Bone Up, a 16 track new full length; this year also marks Yip Yip's 10th year anniversay of being a band. Following the relase of Two Kings of the Same Kingdom, Yip Yip began performing and playing new instrumental songs live. In 2009, Yip Yip covered Nirvana's song "Very Ape". They were excited about how the vocals turned out, and wanted to figure out a way to fit vocals into the new compositions, and out of it created another group of songs. This long and premeditated process created one of the most unique and active albums I've heard this year.

Bone Up by Yip-Yip

There are no questionable areas of the album, Yip Yip's vision was well executed. I instantly recognize the songs from their live performance. By the time the songs came to recording, the essence and energy stayed intact, and upon this Yip Yip added a well defined, dynamic arrangement of intricate sounds ever-changing from measure to measure. They seamless pack multiple parts into mostly two minute songs; each part is very well composed and with an interesting rhythm, yet effortless to follow.

Purchase Bone Up on cassette for $4 and CD for $6 on their bandcamp.
Yip Yip self released this album, and for as inexpensive they are selling it for, it would be great if you forked over a couple bucks for the physical release. If not, the band was nice enough to give away the album for free (or you can name your price for digital tracks on their bandcamp).

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Maximino - Not So Cold, Cave

2011-08-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

Maximino just released Not So Cold, Cave, the first of two 6-song EPs based around the Marianna Caverns in Northwest Florida. Gerald seemlessly blends organic cello, glockienspiel, guitar, and other instrumentation with more imaginative processed textures to create modern arrangements in digestible three to four minute songs.

It's worth noting that Maximino's live set incorporates all of these sounds in an engaging way; Gerald loops each keyboard melody, vocal harmony, what have you, but builds the songs up over a longer period of time. It's interesting to hear these songs come to fruition in a more compact form. Not So Cold, Cave by Maximino

Be on the look out for the new EP coming soon. Not So Cold, Cave is available from Maximino's bandcamp for as little as free or as much as you're willing to support this Orlando artist.

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VIDEO: Braids - Lammicken

2011-08-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

Braids just released a new video by Mark Webber for "Lammicken" off Native Speaker put out by Kanine Records. Braids was a little startled when they saw our album art and visual projections when we played with them in February, so clearly the idea had already been in the works for them some time. The video turned out wonderful with great detail.

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VIDEO: Sumsun - Windstone

2011-08-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

Jesselisa Moretti and Miko Revereza have teamed up produce a video to "Windstone", a song off Samo Milago, released last November on Leaving Records. The video visualizes the aquatic slushes and fluid movement of vibrance through the layers in the song.

Be sure to check out the new Beko DSL & Crash Symbols mixtape featuring a new song by Sumsun.

facebook/sumsun

VIDEO: Dntel - Jitters

2011-07-27T00:50:00.000-07:00

Dntel is releasing a new 7" on his upcoming Soft Alarm Tour, beginning August 2nd. This is the A side of the 7" with a sample of the visuals he is making for the tour, created from construction paper through filters in Final Cut. These visuals are really remarkable with great colors and a kaleidoscopic feeling.

The Soft Alarm Tour Dates

Aug 02 Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, CA
Aug 03 Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA
Aug 05 Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
Aug 06 Neumos, Seattle, WA
Aug 08 Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 09 Hi-Dive, Denver, CO
Aug 10 Slowdown, Omaha, NE
Aug 11 Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis, MN
Aug 12 Lincoln Hall (IL), Chicago, IL
Aug 13 Garden Bowl (MI), Detroit, MI
Aug 14 Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, Canada
Aug 16 Brighton Music Hall, Boston, MA
Aug 17 Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA
Aug 18 Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Aug 19 Red Palace, Washington , DC
Aug 20 Kings Royal Barcade, Raleigh, NC
Aug 21 The Earl, Atlanta, GA
Aug 23 Emo’s (Austin), Austin, TX
Aug 24 Club Dada, Dallas, TX
Aug 26 Bar Smith, Phoenix, AZ
Aug 27 Echoplex, Los Angeles, CA

If you are anywhere around these locations, you should go out and support Dntel, also touring are Baths ambient side project Geotic and One AM Radio.

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Mutual Spirits

2011-07-25T05:28:00.000-07:00

Mutual Spirits is a split release by Mutual Benefit and Holy Spirits; it is the first full length on Father/Daughter Records, whom also serves as a home for Gainesville bud Levek's 7" Look On The Bright Side released last year.

Mutual Spirits is decorated with wonderful acoustic textures--marimba, kalimba, acoustic guitar, stick taps, floor toms, violin, toy piano, banjo, tambourine, and more.

Mutual Benefit's side explores more in the electric realm on songs like "Future House Show" and "Brownsman", with lush keyboard bliss explosions previously found on I Saw The Sea. "Exit" may remind you of Levek (in a Mutual Benefit kind of way), but "No Names" and "Wishing" are strikingly familiar, with melodies passed down in gorgeous, bright folk ballads, yet approached in a new, unique way.

Mutual Benefit - No Names

Holy Spirits' side borders on the edge of experimental folk rock. Songs like "Open the Sparrow" and "Handmade Sun" may be something for fans of Fleet Foxes via Grizzly Bear. Holy Spirits offers a refreshing new sound with some remarkable guitar work on "I'll Not Become", powerful arrangements in the aforementioned songs, and a tribal feeling throughout, emphasized most on "To the Shore". These songs build off the work previously shown on The Afternoon's Blood EP released last April.

Holy Spirits - To the Shore

Below check out the kaleidoscopic music video of "To the Shore" by Brianna Olson.

Purchase the Mutual Spirits vinyl from Father/Daughter Records.

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The Band In Heaven - Seven Minutes In Heaven

2011-07-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

The Band In Heaven recently released Seven Minutes In Heaven, a two track cassette released on Orlando's Norse Korea label clocking in literally at seven minutes. The first song, "Sleazy Dreams" is a high energy rock anthem, like a car chase scene from an action film in the not-too-distant future, with synths peaking in and out of the choruses and a break for more artful dissonance at the two minute mark.

Seven Minutes In Heaven by the band in Heaven

The second song, "If You Only Knew" sounds like a new direction for The Band In Heaven. Building on top of a droning sitar note, a new palette of acoustic textures blend with the crass distortion and reverberated vocals signature to the band's sound. If you are into West Palm native (and recent Surfer Blood inductee) Kevin William's project Totem Pole, you would enjoy this.

The Band In Heaven - If You Only Knew

Purchase Seven Minutes In Heaven on cassette through Norse Korea for $3.

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Prince Rama - Rest In Peace

2011-07-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

Prince Rama just released a song from their upcoming fifth album, Trust Now, due October 4th on Paw Tracks. "Rest In Peace" is dedicated to Taraka and Nimai's grandmother's passing. The promo video below documents their release party for the single, where, according to Altered Zones, attendees participated in rooftop yoga followed by literally releasing 30 3-inch mini CD-R singles into the air. From their three month multimedia installations at Issue Project Room in support of an aerobic exercise VHS release, to redefining "release party", Prince Rama continues to travel beyond the realm of established normalcy.

Prince Rama - Rest In Peace

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Dustin Wong

2011-06-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

Dustin Wong is an experimental musician from Baltimore, Maryland. He is a founding member of Ecstatic Sunshine and currently places in four-piece art rock band Ponytail. Last October Dustin Wong released Infinite Love, a piece presumably written for a full orchestra yet performed solely by Wong with a setup consisting basically only of a guitar, looper, and six or so other pedals. The double album is split up into a Brother side and a Sister side. An accompanying DVD allows the listener to choose the course of the experience, beginning the same and eventually taking a few different turns. "Talking Walking Cloud" posted below is a bonus track from Infinite Love.

Dustin Wong - Talking Walking Cloud

Above is a video I filmed at Silent Barn in New York last month on our tour. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Emily Reo, and Dark Sea of Awareness also played that night. Dustin Wong has completely mastered the loop pedal with flawless control and perfectly keeping tempo, each section began with fast paced simple guitar riffs that quickly complexified, with octave, fuzz, delay, and a few other pedals, an organism began growing and with each breath it became larger and larger until suddenly it ceased to exist; the cycle began again in a similar way for the duration of Wong's set.

Make sure to check out Infinite Love through Thrill Jockey, it's a really great album.

myspace/dustinwong

buy/infinitelove

Nova Joven

2011-06-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

Nova Joven is a new band headed by Eamon Ford currently based in Delray Beach, Florida. Not Tuned is a repetitive stirring that hints at sadness, yet an underlying hopeful optimism is almost felt with subtle accompaning melodies dancing around the constant chords. Ghoul'n Around begins as a more straightforward indie pop anthem that ends up retreating to a similar contemplative ambience felt in the aforementioned song. The third song, To The Dirt is guided by Ford's voice and an intricate yet addictively catchy, repetitive guitar melody, overall sounding like a laid-back band practice on a rainy day.

Not tuned by Nova Joven

Ghoul'n around by Nova Joven

To the dirt by Nova Joven

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soundcloud/novajoven

Prince Rama Announce New Album

2011-06-16T00:12:00.000-07:00

Prince Rama will be dropping Trust Now, their fifth full-length album, on October 4th again on Animal Collective's Paw Tracks record label.

Tracklisting :

1 - Golden Silence

2 - Incarnation

3 - Portaling

4 - Rest In Peace

5 - Summer of Love

6 - Trust

This was taken from Primavera Sound 2011 this past May in Barcelona. I'm unsure of the title but I assume it will be on Trust Now.

facebook/princerama

Foot Village

2011-06-09T05:28:00.000-07:00

Foot Village is an experimental quartet from LA. With only a drum kit, a megaphone, and a lot of shouting, the band creates a heavy tribal, post-punk, raw acoustic sound. Their sound palette, as well as the theme of their lyrics, is seemingly based on the concept of a post-apocalyptic situation. The cassette version of World Fantasy
was Crash Symbols' first release, where I originally discovered the band. I've been really into them ever since.

Below is a 16 minute journey, "Let Bebongs Be Bongs, Idiot" which will appear on a split with West African group Super Khoumeissa on FatCat Records due July 11th.

A - Foot Village - Let Bebongs Be Bebongs, Idiot by FatCat Records

Taken from FatCat, the band describes the piece as being "about being young and listening to records in the middle of the night with your friends; the type of experience that creates ineffable bonds of friendship while on psychic journeys."

Above is footage of Foot Village's "T.A.K.E." from the album Anti-Magic, with the end of the video trailing into "Bebong". It was shot by Bez Martinen last week in Indio, CA.

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dotorg/footvillage
fatcat/footvillage

Loud Valley

2011-06-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

Loud Valley is a folk band from Orlando, Florida. I caught them live back in March at Total Bummer in Tallahassee, Florida. Their set was really remarkable with the energy of six musicians on stage, three part harmonies, and great melodies. Half of the time they teeter on a doo-wap swing influence, while the reverb drenched presence of percussion and vocals could be compared vaguely to modern bands like Fleet Foxes.

Loud Valley by Loud Valley

A month ago Loud Valley released a video for their track "Daytona Beach", the last track of their self-titled album posted above. Made of spring break footage shot in Florida in 1982.

Also be sure to check out Travis and Artie's side project, Fever.

facebook/loudvalley

bandcamp/loudvalley

Tree Hopping - Dance Band

2011-06-02T23:35:00.000-07:00

Tree Hopping has just released Dance Band, a collection of four live songs redone from The Beat Band and one new one "Nervous" which will be recorded and released on a split with Messy Sparkles. When Gabriel lost his work files for The Beat Band, he had to remake all the different elements of each song in order to play live.
tree hopping dance band by tree hopping

Below, check out a video created by Eddie Roqueta (Forest Clay) of live clips from two Tree Hopping shows for the song "Whatever, Dude".

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Say "No!" to Architecture

2011-05-29T23:15:00.000-07:00

Our stop in Baltimore led me to the discovery of Say "No!" to Architecture. Until recently a Brooklyn based project, Say "No!" To Architecture announced they were Richmond based. The band is headed by Alynka Roizman accompanied by drummer and Impose contributor Derek Evers. We opened up the show, followed by Dead Drums (Lands & Peoples side project), Say "No!" to Architecture, and Moss of Aura (Future Island's side project). Every band was a two-piece with the exception of soloist Gerrit Welmers, Moss of Aura. It was interesting to see the contrast between each duo's approach to a live performance. Say "No!" to Architecture created minimal jams based on live looping a few drums, tape players, and guitar. The sound was created in the moment, even the manipulation of a cassette player acted just as an instrument rather than a sampler recalling pre-recorded loops. They played visuals on a small television synced to their set.

Ghosthunter's Club Archives by Say "No!" to Architecture

Say "No!" to Architecture's 7" release Time of the Wolf is availabe through Impose Magazine.

bandcamp/snta
facebook/snta
buy/snta

Two People Playing Music

2011-04-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

Two People Playing Music is a duo from Whittier, North Carolina whom formed in Northwest Florida. I caught their set at Total Bummer 2011. It's interesting that each of them sit down, one behind a drum set and one with surrounded by a semi-circle of keyboards. Their technical progressions touch on math rock feels and slight jazz. The sight is engaging, as the keyboardist twists and turns shifting hands from keyboard to keyboard.

Two People Playing Music - Apathy Blaster

Two People Playing Music - Crusoe's Last Night On The Island

On Two People Playing Music's album, While No One Is Watching, the two experiment more with sounds adding glockenspiel and various synths.

Stream or purchase While No One Is Watching on their bandcamp.

bandcamp/twopeopleplayingmusic

facebook/twopeopleplayingmusic

Sea Things

2011-04-20T05:28:00.000-07:00

Sea Things is the project of Michael Floering from Sarasota, Florida. Sea Things is characterized by glitchy beats, bedroom tinkerings, and underwater synths. In some places I feel his music crosses over aspects that Sumsun explores. Interesting enough, Sumsun has recently remixed Michael's song "Sad Girl".

Sea Things - Driftwood

Sea Things - Sad Girl (Sumsun Remix) via Get Off The Coast

Below is the music video to "Ferns" edited by Steph Davidson who has also made a video for Zach Hill of Hella's solo project. Colorful, breathing, dancing 3D polygons. It's one of the most remarkable videos I've seen in quite some time. It reminds me of Viernes' "Swimmer's Ear" video by Nathan Schroeder.

Make sure you go download See Thangs for free on bandcamp.

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mp3: Sumsun - Lulla Drone

2011-04-19T05:28:00.000-07:00

Sumsun has released a new demo titled "Lulla Drone" that will be included on an upcoming tape. With Sumsun's earlier works being heavily beat based, it's interesting to see a well crafted glittery ballad absent of any percussion.

Lulla Drone Demo by Sumsun

Sumsun has been busy remixing dozens of tracks, including Sleigh Bells, ANR, Sea Things, and Hard Mix; keep checking back on SoundCloud for the latest demos and remixes by Sumsun.

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soundcloud/sumsun

myspace/sumsun

Orchal & Vir

2011-04-18T05:28:00.000-07:00

Orchal & Vir is an experimental band headed by Tristan Whitehill and Kane Pour from Gainesville, Florida. Recently performing live at Total Bummer 2011 in Tallahassee and last Friday at the Laboratory in Gainesville, they performed as a four piece, including David Levesque of Levek and Jason Gottfried on vibraphone and drums on their set. Orchal & Vir make slighlty jazzy, synth-beat heavy technical jams that are set in an underwater environment. Be on the look out for an EP coming this May on Elestial Sound and check out "Ospreys and Mollasses" below.

dotcom/elestialsound

New Oh Fortuna Songs

2011-04-13T05:28:00.000-07:00

Oh Fortuna have released two new songs from their upcoming EP Frosted Tips due by summertime on Wonder Beard Tapes. "Tetherball" is a quick pop song under two minutes in length. I really like JT's vocals on this track. "Iota" begins with a more tribal-like feel and quickly becomes the most addictive J-Pop feeling track. Both songs retain the great synth, beat, and subtle acoustic guitar sounds a joyful folk-like qualities from of Fireworks of Electric Love, yet they're definitely taking it to a new direction. It's hard to tell from these two tracks alone; I'm excited to hear Frosted Tips as a whole.

Tetherball by Oh Fortuna

Iota by Oh Fortuna

Oh Fortuna will be embarking on an east coast tour with Sumsun from late April to mid-May. Keep yours eyes pealed for Oh Fortuna and Sumsun coming to a city near you very soon.

bandcamp/ohfortuna

facebook/ohfortuna

VIDEO: Grimes - Vanessa

2011-04-12T05:28:00.001-07:00

Clair of Grimes released a new video she directed herself for her song "Vanessa" coming out on a split 12" entitled Darkbloom with d'Eon (who also just released a video for "Transparency" directed by Clair) due out next week on Arbutus Records. The song has a smooth almost R&B pop 90s vibe to it. The video is very fun with a lot of dancing, yet slighlty dark touching upon ideas of mental instability, reverse footage, and mirrored images/kaleidoscope effects as the video progresses on.

myspace/grimes

Blithe Field

2011-04-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

Blithe Field is the project of Spencer Radcliffe currently based in Athens, Ohio. On his release beautiful wave '74, he makes choppy beats covered in dust and vinyl pops, sometimes with samples of people talking, or characterized by a very cut and paste feel of physical instrument textures. On his split with Easily Suede, he strips down his sound a bit, with either guitar or synth leading the song.

Blithe Field - Brady's World

Blithe Field - Bible School (via WGWB)

Blithe Field - Wisconsin (via BIRP)

Below is a video of Blithe Field's remix of Baths' "Apologetic Shoulderblades" performed with two samplers.

Blithe Field - Apologetic Shoulderblades (Remix of Baths)

Purchase beautiful wave '74 (and other releases) on bandcamp, or download it for free for free. Order Blithe Field physical releases and t-shirts from Messy Life Records.

bandcamp/blithefield

facebook/blithefield

download/beautifulwave74

VIDEO: Coma Cinema & To All My Dear Friends

2011-04-10T05:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Tyler T. Williams put out a new video to Coma Cinema's "Blue Suicide", and Spencer Hopkins put out a video to To All My Dear Friends' "Japan To Kenya & Back". Both well actualized, the first is cinematic and creates an image for the song. The second video showcases how the music is being created by the musicians. Both Coma Cinema and To All My Dear Friends are great in different ways, and the contrast when pairing these up flowed nicely.

facebook/comacinema

facebook/toallmydearfriends

(MC)²

2011-04-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

(MC)² is the solo project of Michael Collins from the band Prince Rama originally based in Gainesville, Florida. Michael has been back in Gainesville these past few months and has been playing shows non-stop. A lot of his jams are synth ambience and electro beats, with a harmonium that slips almost unnoticeably inbetween the reverb. Last Thursday (MC)² opened up his set playing a song soley on harmonium with vocals. It sounds like an experimental, somewhat modernized Hare Krishna chant. Not exactly by meaing with the repetitive Krishnas and Ramas they chant, but definitely alludes to the sound, landing somewhere in the realm of a new agey, spiritual, primitive vibe.

(MC)² is busy recording and working on a release. I'm sure he'll have something to share in 2011.

Panda Bear - You Can Count On Me (The Get Remix)

2011-04-08T01:10:00.000-07:00

Edwin Jantunen makes electronic music and remixes under the name The Get. Last year he made a remix to our song Asipop. He assisted in starting Lush Haus (a free door experimental dance night at Propaganda in Lake Worth, Florida) with best bud Judson Rodgers who you may know as Sumsun. Edwin now performs live with Sumsun as well. Make sure to catch one of Sumsun and Oh Fortuna shows on their tour together this May. With Panda Bear's new album Tomboy streaming on NPR, and a new interview with Pitchfork, the timing for this remix couldn't be better; The Get's remix of "You Can Count On Me" was uploaded only several hours ago to SoundCloud. The keyboard texture and melody reminds me a lot of Sumsun's collaboration with Spirit Tramp "Tarantula" with some of The Get's signature beats on top. Panda Bear - You Can Count On Me (The Get Remix)

For more remixes and jams, check out The Get's Soundcloud, and check out an interview with The Get from the series Glimpses of the South Florida Scene done by Monica Uszerowicz for New Times. soundcloud/get facebook/get interview/get

Wingsuit

2011-04-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

Wingsuit is an indie band headed by Josh Saul based out of Tallahassee, Florida. The band captures that blissfully melodic guitar and vocal aspect of the Dirty Projectors' most recent works, but with a digestable tameness that keeps one at peace. The songs actively progress with multiple sections per song composed of interchangable elements of electric and acoustic guitar, male and female vocals, bass and percussive instruments. Juice #6 is the only instrumental from the debut EP A Few Thousand Days, where the band explores a more tropical setting. The six-song release comes to resolution with the last half of Green, a very mellow lull like a scattered mind made dormant by the state of eternal sleep.

Wingsuit - Tower Above The Sea

Wingsuit - Juice #6

Below is an early performance of the song "Mother Love" filmed at a house show where Wingsuit performed as a smaller band. Their latest perfomance at Total Bummer 2011 in Tallahassee featured upwards of five members.

Wingsuit shares members of Werepossum, Moonlasso, and Aircraft which all approach melodic indie music in different ways. It's awesome to see these guys in different configurations, producing a lot of quality music. This is a talented group of Tallahassee artists to be paying attention to in 2011. Download Wingsuit's A Few Thousand Days EP for free on bandcamp.

bandcamp/wingsuit

myspace/wingsuit

Mutual Benefit

2011-04-03T01:19:00.000-07:00

From Austin, currently based in Boston, Mutual Benefit is a projected headed by Jordan Lee.

On bandcamp, I Saw The Sea is described as:

"A lot of songs have been written about the ocean and now my landlocked brain finally understands why. In those waves I saw beauty, chaos, nothing, infinity. It was overwhelming. We set off to make a nautical funeral of sorts or perhaps a celebration of all things eventually turning to sand. A wabi-sabi beach album for the infinite ocean."

Some of the best textured sounds I've heard. I love the magical world these sounds put you in. At times there is an instant familiarity of structure with a main melody to follow and vocals on top, and at other times there are is a blanket of cosmic glitter in a sonic collage of euphoria.

Mutual Benefit - Animal Desk Mask

Mutual Benefit - Dust

Jordan also runs Kasette Klub, a digital/cassette label. Stream some of Kassette Klub's releases on bandcamp. Also from Kassette Klub, check out Holy Spirits.

bandcamp/mutualbenefit

tumblr/mutualbenefit

Levek Interview From Late 2010

2011-03-31T04:16:00.000-07:00

David and Trayer from Levek get interviewed by a UF student. The video is 10 minutes long and gives interesting insight into the band.

facebook/levek

Jane Jane Pollock New Self-Title Release

2011-03-29T03:41:00.000-07:00

Tallahasee's Jane Jane Pollock has just released a new self-titled album. They played these songs at the Farside this weekend during Total Bummer. With so many bands playing a day, and Jane Jane Pollock being the closing act, they didn't perform until 4:30 am. Their performance was worth the wait. The newly expanded configuration as a five-piece delievered haunting yet upbeat compositions which I found to be characterized by a level of uniqueness that isn't achieved by trying to completely denounce conventional structure, instead holding a relatable form that exists in it's own world.

On bandcamp you can stream four songs from the new album. For more info on Jane Jane Pollock and two songs from their album Tar, check out a previous post on the band.

Angela Jones recently interviewed Jane Jane Pollock on Lighthouse Music's bus after a show during Art Walk. The band discusses their formation, the origin of the band name, their words on their own sound, their overall process, goals and more.

bandcamp/janejanepollock

Arches

2011-03-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Arches is an indie rock band from Philadelphia creating laid back beach melodies where guitar drums and vocals swim together in reverb.

Arches - Headlights

Below is the video to Arches' "Wide Awake". Landscapes and cosmos, it looks like a video camera filming a TV playing old VHS tapes, really gluing the whole video together and making it flow as one consistent piece as opposed to a collection of unrelated clips. It is very soothing to watch especially set to Arches' tunes.

Arches has launched a Kickstarter fundraiser to help fund the release of "Wide Awake" to be released on vinyl.
bandcamp/arches
tumblr/arches

Total Bummer 2.0 This Weekend

2011-03-23T01:51:00.000-07:00

Total Bummer is coming up this weekend; this year it will be in Tallahassee, Florida. Over 70 bands are playing this year at three different venues. I've listed the current schedule for times, but you'll have to check out this linked document for the most up-to-date schedule (which also shows which venue each band is playing at).

Pre-sale Weekend Pass----- $20
Weekend Pass------------$25
Day Pass----------------$15
Show Pass---------------$7 or $10 (price depends on the show/how many bands are playing)

FRIDAY at WAREHOUSE, FARSIDE, BOOKMINE

SPIRIT TRAMP

5:00-5:20

YOU’RE SO COOL

5:30-5:50

TRANSMUTEO

6:10-6:30

MANNATEAS

6:40-7:00

LANGTRY

7:10-7:35

IRONING

7:45-8:05

OFF BALANCE ATLAS

8:00-8:20

MC(2)

8:30-8:50

GREAT BEER

9:05-9:30
LINUS

9:00-9:20

ORCHAL & VIR

9:40-10:05
DICKKICKER

9:35-9:55

BIRDFEEDER

10:15-10:45
PLASTIC PLASTIC

10:05-10:25

MICHAEL PARALLAX

11:00-11:30
LITTLE LEAGUE

10:40-11:00

RICH AUCOIN

11:50-12:20
JACQUELIN SUSKIN

11:05-11:25

Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt

12:30-1:00
ROAMER

11:35-11:55

FEVER

12:05-12:25

GRANDCHILDREN

12:35-12:55

DIET COKEHEADS

1:05-1:35

BRAINSTORM

1:45-2:05

SATURDAY at FARSIDE, BOOKMINE (& Downstairs)

THRESHING

3:00-3:25

HOWLING OWLS

3:35-3:55

HERMIT THRUSHES

4:05-4:25

MAXIMINO

5:00-5:20
THIS OLD MACHINE

4:35-5:00

Phillip Seymour Hoffman

5:30-5:50
JUMMMBBLES

5:10-5:30

LEVEK JR

6:00-6:20
ORCHARD THIEF

5:40-6:05

EMILY REO

6:30-6:50
WOODTHRUSHES

6:15-6:40

AIRCRAFT

7:00-7:20

WEREPOSSOM

7:30-7:50

WOWSER BOWSER

8:05-8:25
KA PLAA

8:00-8:20

PRAYTHING

8:35-8:55
BLACK CLOUD

8:30-8:50

BIRTHDAYS

9:05-9:30
THE BEAUVILLES

9:05-9:25

WEEKENDS

9:40-10:05
THE DEWARS

9:35-10:00

WOSET

10:10-10:45

PRIMITIVE BOYS

11:00-11:20
GUY HARVEY

11:00-11:30

HOLIDAY SHORES

11:30-11:50

WEIRD WIVES

12:00-12:20

BUBBLY MOMMY GUN

12:25-12:45

QUIET HOOVES

1:00-1:25

JANE JANE POLLOCK

1:35-2:00

SUNDAY at WAREHOUSE, FARSIDE , BOOKMINE

GENTEL

4:30-4:50

ALIEN HOUSE

5:00-5:20

MEMEMORMEE

5:30-5:55

P. REX & the Sweet LP’s

5:00-5:20
YATAGARASU

6:05-6:25

JAMES BONDAGE

5:30-5:50
BUBBLEGUM OCTOPUS

6:35-6:55

CONTINUER

6:05-6:25
TECHNOBOX

7:05-7:25

WINGSUIT

6:40-7:00
ATTACHEDHANDS

8:15-8:35

MOONLASSO

7:15-7:35

AFTER THE BOMB BABY

7:30-7:50
Le BLORR

7:40-8:00

KODAK TO GRAPH

8:05-8:25
HEAR HUMS

8:10-8:30

JAZZ PRISON

8:45-9:00
GHOST FIELDS

8:40-9:00

REAL CHEESE

9:00-9:20
LOUD VALLEY

9:15-9:35

DARK SEA of AWARENESS

9:35-9:55
TELETHON

9:50-10:10

SUMSUN

10:10-10:30
ANR

10:20-10:50

LIGHTHOUSE MUSIC

10:45-11:10

REPTAR

11:25-11:50

OH FORTUNA

12:05-12:30

GOBBLE GOBBLE

12:45-1:10

facebook/totalbummer2011

schedule/totalbummer2011

dotcom/totalbummer2011

God Boat - Beautiful Caps

2011-03-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

God Boat has just released Beautiful Caps: Sounds From The Country Waters, filled with acoustic guitar, pan flute, glimmery pitched keyboads, and field recordings that create an environment like the album's title suggests.

There is a playful, almost child-like enthusiam and optimistic mood throughout the album. It's like campfire sing-alongs, only during the day, with a lot of sunshine.

Beautiful Caps has an overall outside acousticy vibe, but is made magical with an imaginative arrangement of subtle electronics, definitely crafted to be listened to through headphones. As the album progresses, more fascinating deviatons from typical perceived reality of instruments in an enviornment with a flowingness of instruments away on their own free paths.

God Boat - Warming Lands

God Boat - Caves Were Hot & Something Slowed The Water

Make sure to download the entire album for free off bandcamp; it comes with a booklet of the lyrics. Check out the first God Boat post for two more songs and a more in-depth look.

bandcamp/godboat

facebook/godboat

Teen Dreams

2011-03-21T03:44:00.000-07:00

Teen Dreams is the project of a dude named Dylan from Charlottesville, Virginia. He also hosts music parties at a house venue called Magnolia in the area, bringing in bands from all around the country.

"Reverence" is a seven minute jam of live electronics that eventually fall under a delayed slur of words and beats.

REVERENCE by TEENDREAMS

Above is a video taken at the Camel where Dylan live loops some drum taps and other interesting sounds.

blogspot/teendreams
facebook/teendreams
soundcloud/teendreams

Coolrunnings

2011-03-16T04:24:00.000-07:00

Coolrunnings is an indie band headed by Brandon Biondo and Forrest Ferguson from Knoxville, Tennessee. At one point they performed as an eight-piece and have recently reduced to four members live. Throughout peformances Coolrunnings has shown that they can experiment and pull together some dense jams with a large line up as well as play well-crafted, straight-forward indie rock songs.

Coolrunnings - Redheads

"Redheads" begins as a hushed acoustic ballad that explodes into an eclectic dynamic with watery delay guitar, reoccuring glimpses of sunshiney synths, and floor tom clicks and clacks on a fun rhythm.

Above is a live performance of "Teenage Tennessee" from back in 2010 at the Pilot Light.
Below is the video to "Buffalo" off of their Buffalo EP available on bandcamp.

Brandon has begun to put out Coolrunnings' music and other people's music he enjoys through Dracula Horse, which for now exists soley as a digital/free label. It showcase a variety of music; I've recently taken a great interest in the soundscapes of Dracula Horse's Ave Eva.

bandcamp/coolrunnings
facebook/coolrunnings

YVETTE

2011-03-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

Yvette is an experimental duo from Brooklyn, New York. Their pitch shifted feedback, marching rhythmic lines, and almost-abrasive-yet-melodic sound and crashing tone might bring you to the same realm in which you'll find Health, but Yvette do it in their own way. Their four-song self-titled EP is 10 minutes of refreshing dissonant energy. It'll be sure to wake you up, if not creep you out a little bit.

YVETTE - With Fangs

I'm really excited to have the chance to catch them live in New York on our tour in May. If you're into the what you hear above or on bandcamp, they have a "7 for sale.

facebook/yvette
bandcamp/yvette
myspace/yvette

VIDEO: Lighthouse Music - Moving On

2011-03-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

St Augustine, Florida's Lighthouse Music has just released a claymation-ish video for their song "Moving On". The video credits Davis and Cody from the band as the creators. Lighthouse Music has been playing all over Florida, most recently last night at the Atlantic in Gainesville with another amazing Florida band Jane Jane Pollock from Tallahassee who has toured with Lighthouse Music in the past. Both bands have overlapped on an acousticy almost baroque vibe, and this video I think pushes that as far as I've ever heard Lighthouse. They are one of the most skillful groups of musicians I've ever personally met; seeing them put out a unique video that reflects their band's personality -- even incorporating their self-converted vegetable oil bus into the video -- I don't think there's anything this band can't do well.

Gang Gang Dance - Glass Jar

2011-03-06T18:33:00.000-08:00

Gang Gang Dance has put out the first song to their forthcoming album titled Eye Contact due out in May on 4AD. "Glass Jar" is an 11 minute epic that has me excited that they haven't resorted to making safe, straight-up pop songs.

myspace/ganggangdance

VIDEO: Doldrums - Europhia

2011-03-06T03:34:00.000-08:00

Toronto, Canadian band Doldrums' video for "Euphoria" is intense, eye stimulating, media overload. Given that the music is very hyperly energetic in spirit, the business of the video is perfect.

Doldrums is making their way around the country with Grimes on their way to SXSW. Their Florida stop is in Gainesville, on Thursday, March 10th, at the Laboratory. Make sure to come check them out!

Below is the most up-to-date tour schedule for Doldrums & Grimes tour:

March 4 Montreal, QC - Espace Reunion w/ Pat jordache, Cousins, DJ Andrew WK
March 7 Brooklyn, NY - Silent Barn w/ Alaskas, Eola
March 8 Baltimore, MD - Copycat
March 9 Athens, GA - Farm 255 w/ Prince Rama, Quiet Hooves
March 10 Gainesville, FL - the Laboratory w/ Hear Hums
March 11 Baton Rouge, LA - Red Star
March 12 New Orleans, LA - TBC
March 15 SXSW, TX Grimes @ The Spill w/ Diamond Rings, Esben & The Witch
March 16 SXSW, TX Doldrums @ Club 1808 w/ Rich Aucoin, Zoobombs
March 17 SXSW, TX Doldrums @ Havana w/ Japanther, Neon Windbreaker (We Are Busy Bodies Showcase)
March 17 SXSW, TX Grimes & Doldrums @ The Spill w/ Pat Jordache, Sean Nicholas Savage
March 17 SXSW, TX Grimes @ Headhunters w/ Bikini, Humans
March 17 SXSW, TX Grimes @ House of Commons
March 18 SXSW, TX Grimes @ KLUB KRUCIAL w/ Toro Y Moi, The Fresh & Onlys (Gorilla Vs. Bear/Mexican Summer Showcase)
March 19 SXSW, TX Grimes @ Red Eye Fly w/ Cadence Weapon, Jardo & Buck 65
March 19 SXSW, TX Grimes @ Club Deville w/ Gobble Gobble, Braids (Pop Montreal Showcase)
March 19 SXSW, TX Doldrums @ 2109 Scenic Dr w/ Gobble Gobble
March 20 Shreveport, LA - Dalzell House w/ Rich Aucoin, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt
March 21 Pensacola, FL - 720 North V Street w/ Rich Aucoin, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt
March 22 Athens, GA - Farm255
March 23 Bloomington, IN - TBC
March 24 Detroit, MI - North End Studios
March 25 Sarnia, ON - Trinity Lounge
March 26 Toronto, ON - Everlasting Joy

blogspot/doldrums

Swan Spells

2011-02-26T19:57:00.000-08:00

Chelsey Bomar is Swan Spells from Gainesville, Florida. She creates mysterious yet calming blissful songs with her harp and voice. Her lyrics create a vivid image of nature that I feel is largely focused on self-contemplation and sharing an experience with someone else. I am assisting her in recording her debut album, Nightime Passages, which is due out sometime this year. She has been crafting these songs for a few years and it's exciting to see it come to fruition.

.

Above is a live performance of "Remebering Home" at the Laboratory in Gainesville captured on my phone back in September of 2010. Keep your eye out for more Swan Spells this coming year.

matthewdavid - DISK

2011-02-24T15:57:00.000-08:00

Leaving Records founder and experimental artist matthewdavid has kept a steady flow of music creations flowing these past few years. He has released on Plug Research, All City, and his upcoming album will be released by Brainfeeder. In contrast, matthewdavid has put out a lot music for free through his Leaving Records. Below are two of the twenty one numerically titled tracks on a free collection of songs originally released on customly designed floppy disks back in 2009. matthewdavid's DISK is a free-form concentration of sound and texture.

matthewdavid - 17

matthewdavid - 8

download/disk

dotcot/leavingrecords

Grimes

2011-02-22T01:28:00.000-08:00

Claire Boucher is Grimes from Montreal, Canada. Her melody makers and textures are acousticy at times, with slightly danceable electronic pulsations atop. Some grooves feel distant and drenched in reverb, maybe somewhat resembling 80s pop feels. Her vocals feel small and hushed ranging in style over her dark and lighter moods.

Grimes is currently on a U.S. tour with Doldrums and will be in Gainesville on Thursday, March 10th at the Laboratory.

Grimes - Venus In Fleurs

Grimes - Gambang

The above tracks are from 2010's Geidi Primes out on Arbutus.

Below are the rest of Grimes/Doldrums tour dates, via Snakes + Ladders:

March 4 Montreal, QC – Espace Reunion w/ Pat Jordache, Cousins, DJ Andrew WK
March 7 Brooklyn, NY – Silent Barn w/ Alaskas, Eola
March 8 Baltimore, MD – Copycat
March 9 Athens, GA – Farm 255 w/ Prince Rama, Quiet Hooves
March 10 Gainesville, FL – the Laboratory w/ Hear Hums
March 11 Baton Rouge, LA – Red Star w/ the Have-Nauts
March 12 New Orleans, LA
March 15 SXSW, TX Grimes @ The Spill w/ Diamond Rings, Esben & The Witch
March 16 SXSW, TX Doldrums @ Club 1808 w/ Rich Aucoin, Zoobombs
March 17 SXSW, TX Doldrums @ Havana w/ Japanther, Neon Windbreaker (We Are Busy Bodies Showcase)
March 18 SXSW, TX Grimes&Doldrums @ The Spill w/ Pat Jordache, Sean Nicholas Savage
March 18 SXSW, TX Grimes @ Gorilla Vs. Bear Showcase
March 19 SXSW, TX Grimes @ Club Deville w/ Gobble Gobble, Braids (Pop Montreal Showcase)
March 19 SXSW, TX Doldrums @ 2109 Scenic Dr w/ Gobble Gobble
March 20 Shreveport, LA – Dalzell House w/ Rich Aucoin, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt
March 21 Pensacola, FL – Cool Town USA! w/ Rich Aucoin, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt
March 22 Athens, GA – Farm255
March 23 Bloomington, IN
March 24 Detroit, MI – North End Studios
March 25 Sarnia, ON – Trinity Lounge
March 26 Toronto, ON – Everlasting Joy

myspace/grimes

buy/halfaxa

INTERVIEW: Braids

2011-02-16T22:25:00.000-08:00

Interview w/ Braids

"BRAIDS is a band that lost to a Red Hot Chili's cover band in high
school. This is how we met. Raphie knew Austin since Junior High.
Austin used to sleep beside his Dad's bass drum. Austin and Taylor
were in a Jazz combo in High School. Raphie met Katie in Theatre
class. Katie dropped out of certain classes so she could stay in
Theatre and play Piano. Katie met Taylor through a trip to Greece.
They stole music from volunteering at their favorite local radio
station. Raphie broke her leg and took up Guitar. They all decided to
start a band.

However, the name did not change until the move to Montreal. This
signified a shift in how the band was being run at the time - songs
written in a collective setting and each member growing with each
other. Thus the name BRAIDS - an entirely collective unit with each
strand being an important part to the whole."

However early in the year it is to say this, Native Speaker will probably be my favorite album of 2011. Canadian four-piece Braids create both slower, emotional anthems led by Ralphaelle's ravishing voice, and upbeat, eclectic, melody-driven songs that often deviate from pop tradition with refreshing twists in rhythm, lush tremelo/delay textures, and as opposed to full fledged ambience, tamed euphoria created soley by guitar and keyboard cooperation. With songs that average seven minutes in length, you'd expect maybe more drone or meditative instrumentals; instead Braids create ever-progressing arrangements with lyrical basis that more than alludes to sexual desire. In a time where there is an increasing split and difference between the art of a bands' record and live performance, Braids' recordings sound like the performance and the performance feels like the record.

What has changed from Set Pieces to Native Speaker?

The focal point that is the basis of our band now - collective writing. Set pieces was recorded at our local radio station and was a documentation of what we were doing at the time. At that point , we were still writing as individuals.

Baths just this past November toured around Europe, and you guys are on are on a month-long tour around the U.S., how do you all know each other, if at all? Do you foresee this tour being different than the ones you've done in the past?

On Gobble Gobble's infinitetour they met Will and since have become musical lovers. We were already part of Gobble Gobble's love circle and so it was inevitible that we would meet. We have never toured the states so we expect to pick up accents on the road and hopefully bring them back to Montreal.

What's the best parts of being on tour, and what are the worst?

Food you can't find in Montreal, like Chipotle wraps. One thing we don't like about being on tour is the large amounts of damage we do to our bodies: weird sleep schedules, weird roadside foods, and weird thoughts.

Have you begun recording new material, if so, how would you describe it in reference to what you all have created up until this point?

Sort of. We're experimenting with trying to write through the computer rather than write live (which Native Speaker was). So there is a basis of a recording there but it won't be finalized until we actually sit down and do it. We're going to be recording/writing on the road and Raphaelle had mentioned writing words that celebrate rather than struggle.

What impacts your music making process?

Being able to experience things - that is very general but really if it comes down to the route of things it's the ability to feel emotions and react to impulses and environments. Especially as a collective - our move to Montreal was a huge influence on Native Speaker.

Is there a certain way you guys go about making each song, or is it different every time?

Someone usually brings an idea or a concept and we all play with it; adding parts until it becomes a big wall of sound and then we strip it down.

What's your set up, in terms of equipment and the way you use it?

Guitar, guitar, keyboard, drums, line 6 pedals, boss reverbs and delays, and mixers: for native speaker the instruments stayed true but all the effects were used on logic. Next album, will be written entirely on the computer.

Do you guys have any side-projects we should know about? How do you guys feel about collaborating with people outside of the band?

Yes, Raphaelle is in a band called Blue Hawaii and they released an album last year called Blooming Summer. It is pure pop. Katie has collaborated with Landon Speers of Headaches and they will be releasing something soon. Collaborating with other people is great, but trying to find the time to do it all is the difficult part. BRAIDS take up so much of our time it's difficult to collaborate with other busy bodies.

What are your plans for 2011?

2011: tour tour tour and tour

♦♦♦

Braids' Native Speaker is out now through Kanine Records, your choice of Vinyl or CD through Insound.

facebook/braids
myspace/braids

Total Bummer 2011 Compilation Volume One

2011-02-14T23:07:00.000-08:00

Total Bummer is a three day festival set up by the Florida DIY label/group Spirt Cat created by Oh Fortuna and their friends/family. Total Bummer 2011 will take place in Tallahassee, Florida, March 25th-27th. Over 60 bands will be performing, while comprised greatly of Florida artists, will include out-of-state bands such as Gobble Gobble, Quiet Hooves, Reptar, and many more.

The first volume of Total Bummer compilations is available for free on bandcamp.

download/totalbummercomp

Leaving Records Presents: Sample Based Life

2011-02-09T23:50:00.000-08:00

Forrest Reiff (Off Balance Atlas) has just released the first volume of a project titled Sample Based Life. Forrest

uploaded a library of different samples online for musicians to incorporate into their creative process and build a song from.

The first volume features: Leo Bascjit, Sumsun, 10th Letter, Dog Bite, EMV, Keepbullfighting, Hear Hums, DJ Quap, An Imaginary History of Algebra, MezZo, Grass Mirror, DJ Slayer, Great Beer, Geert Wijns, Filthy Ingredients, KAZE, ProfLogik, Geert Wijns, Ackryte, Bitesize Beats, DTCPU, Abel.

If you pay $8 for Volume One on bandcamp, you'll get a hand-made tape crafted and shipped to you by Forrest himself.

bandcamp/samplebasedlife

leavingrecords/samplebasedlife

INTERVIEW: Tree Hopping

2011-02-02T15:06:00.000-08:00

Interview w/ Tree Hopping

Gabriel Berrios, until now most recognized for his role in the three-piece Totally Nebular, has just released a new album from his solo project Tree Hopping. The Beat Band is 10 songs worth of eclectic, tropical, guitar pop, unseemingly comprised greatly in samples. The album's Latin American feel could be a fresh, unique alternative to El Guincho's Alegranza, similarly rooted in sampled-loops. This isn't to say that Tree Hopping is a "post-El Guincho" project in any way, Berrios' guitar work, all around instrumentation, and vocals allude to a varied musical background, even citing Global Groove as a reference point for his own research into authentic Nigerian and Ghanaian music.

Where does the name Tree Hopping come from and how did the project begin?

I think I came up with the name way back in middle school... like all the way back then. I used to just doodle in class and I remember writing "Tree Hopping" on top of the doodles. The "project" began because, in 2007, Eddie (who's also Forest Clay) started making recording some really young sounding stuff because he just got some recording gear and garage band and whatever. then pretty soon Weston (God Boat) was doing the same thing but on his pc so I was like... well what am I doing? i should record too. I recorded stuff using my brother's online rpg mic... so it all sounded really horrible. But yeah thats what i was doing 2007 through 2008.

Tree Hopping now I guess started because totally nebular was in da doldrums. Like we had recorded boat boat in the summer of 2009, but then weston moved to tallahassee almost immediately afterwords for a month or so, he moved back and we started playing a ton of shows. Meanwhile we tried making new material but it was no good. Me and weston thought it was good for a while but i'm not sure if eddie ever felt too strongly about it. in retrospect it was almost all bad except for a few shining moments. the real problem was that were weren't unified anymore. there was this huge distance between the three of us that sucked. Anyway, we never carried these bad songs to the end. It sucked because by the time summer 2010 rolled around, we were playing the best shows of our lives but we didn't have any new cool material, or any real decent recordings. eventually eddie moved to gainesville and started going to UF and left me and weston behind in south florida to really not do anything at all. so while all this was going i became frustrated that i wasnt doing anything new. so i bought some better recording equipment and started to focus on making a more "real" tree hopping CD . i finished it 2 or 3 months after moving to Gainesville, where me and weston reunited with eddie. We still live together.

Has Tree Hopping always been a one-man-band and will it forever be that way?

Yeah it has. I love to play with people though, especially live, and its crossed my mind to get friends together to play decent "the beat band shows". weston was playing drums with me for a while and that was pretty cool. I don't know if it will forever be that way at all. i think so. i would probably find something else to call it if i made music with other people again.

What's the difference between making music as Tree Hopping and making music as a part of Totally Nebular?

Not much difference. Just less work working with 2 other people and less focus. Alone i can control everything, with totally nebular we all just threw ideas out and saw would stuck. making music with totally nebular was amazing and more fun but i dont think we ever really captured how good our sound actually was sometimes... its a shame but what can i do. making music alone is kind of lonely, but the pay off is everything turns out exactly how you'd like it too.

Is there an overall theme to your lyrical content? What are the songs on The Beat Band about?

there is a huge theme. thats mainly why its divided into sides (side a tracks 1 -7; side b tracks 8-10). The first 7 songs are about living in and remembering my last year in south florida. they mostly focus on a specific person. the last three songs deal with gainesville, mostly.
i like lyrics that are very plain and sort of obtuse though. like if they're sung in a nice melody or with lush sounds and at the same time sound sort mundane or way too absolute. that contrast has such an impact to me. i sometimes tried to make the lyrics so overtly obvious sounding but in way thats like "is that really what hes saying? what else can it mean...". there's a lot of little secrets too, but most of the meanings are there without looking much.

The Beat Band is heavily sample-based. Typically, this is expected for more of an electronic-type style of music making, but such is not the case with Tree Hopping. What is your reasoning behind sampling other people's music?

i love the idea of sampling. especially when its obvious and recognizable. one of my favorite things is to come across or go looking for samples in songs in like hip hop songs or what not. i just love the idea of making new music out of music that already exists. i love the idea of different ideas from different time periods relating to each other. there's an endless supply of ideas and sounds when you let yourself come to terms with sampling. I have strayed away from because to be honest it's a tedious and hard process and i felt like i exhausted it. so yeah that being said i don't agree with sampling that rips off another artist. i mean i dont think the product should ever rely completely on the samples. an example is washed out's "feel it all around". listen to gary low's "i want you" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEVpQKGjn-c). what did he really do to change that?

Forest Clay, God Boat, and you are all very busy working on releasing work under your solo projects; what does that mean for Totally Nebular? It's difficult to imagine you all three living in the same house for the past few months and no new music being released. Do you guys plan to release a follow-up to 2009's Boat Boat?

your guess is as good as mine. we've grown apart musically so much that it doesnt even seem possible to me sometimes. i would love to though and it always crosses my mind. all of us would have to put our own music behind us though because we don't have anything in common anymore it seems. like it would be about creating music that worked for us, not about any of us realizing music we purposely want to make. that kind of focus can't exist in a good way with two other heads involved. people get left out and it starts to sound bad without the team work. we need common ground and determination (we all go to school and live our on lives a lot) to start.

Why do you make music and what are you trying to achieve with your music?

i'm not sure. i get a good feeling out of it. its something very visual to me, music. so i guess its like when people are into painting and photography, they want to capture something and show people what that is. same thing. its a little diary too. i say things i wouldn't ever tell anybody in those songs and probably for good reason. i also admire so many musicians and the art and the history--movements within music and the culture that surround them. i want to make a little dent in that one day. like oh this is what 2010-2020 music sounded like.

Give some insight into the music making process behind Tree Hopping.

sometimes i record drums first, if there are recorded drums in the song, just so everything will sequence well. i sit on the floor and record guitar. i sit on the floor and play keyboard. i do vocals last and usually write the vocals on the spot or use little verses i wrote in my free time. i use ableton because everything is neat and you can loop things very well which is what i almost always do. i usually base songs on guitar patterns i make up before hand. a lot of things vary but most of those things i do every time.

What are some of your musical influences?

for "the beat band" it was nigerian and ghanaian highlife guitar. a big influence was talking head's "remain in light" in that that album is almost completely looped as well. tropicalia like novos baianos, and os mutantes. also new weird america bands like first nation, and our brother the native. also post punk as a whole.... new order too, el guincho, phil elvrum, mf doom, gza, wu-tang. there are just so many. im really easily influenced. a lot of them don't shine through the music but they're there.

What are your plans for 2011?

to get into UF... haha... or to have clearer plans about college cause.. you know. stressful stuff. i plan on recording a few more albums too. hopefully 2 or 3. but who knows.

♦♦♦

Tree Hopping's The Beat Band is available for download or purchase on bandcamp. If you want a physical copy of the album, you can e-mail the artist personally for purchasing. The cost, including shipping, is $5.

bandcamp/treehopping

Trayer Tryon

2011-01-26T05:28:00.000-08:00

Trayer Tryon is an experimental electronic artist from Gainesville, Florida. When he is not making headphone candy, he plays live with Levek, adding textured goodness to Levek's more acoustic-like feel. Tryon's solo effort, Liquidation, is very free in form, textured dark soundscapes. Tryon has also collaborated with musician Paul Giese on an album titled Raels, which is a more tame, melodic, rhythmic album. Download Raels for free off of bandcamp.

Trayer Tryon - The Garbage Factory

Trayer Tryon & Paul Giese - Countach Chameleon

bandcamp/raels

To All My Dear Friends Announces New Album

2011-01-24T21:23:00.000-08:00

Marc Hennessey, the master behind To All My Dear Friends, is releasing a new album due in February of this year titled Transparent Voyages. His skillful string compositions teeter on the edge of an "indie band" and contemporary classical-influenced music. Based on the first preview of the album, Japan To Kenya & Back, he has actualized that vision further.

To All My Dear Friends - Japan To Kenya & Back

With this new release, To All My Dear Friends plans to tour around to cities across America. Marc needs your help funding this project. Preorder the album, donate, anything you can will help to further the release of Transparent Voyages and a supporting tour.

facebook/toallmydearfriends

support/toallmydearfriends

dotcom/toallmydearfriends

mp3: Hard Mix - Alright (Sumsun Remix)

2011-01-15T05:28:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the month, Sumsun put out a remix of Hard Mix's track "Alright". Sumsun picks up the pace of the original track, making it way more of a dance song, but not a typical dance song, like Samo Milagro, a super spacey dance beat.

Hard Mix - Alright (Sumsun Remix) [via Altered Zones]

Check out the original version by Hard Mix on youtube.

facebook/sumsun

facebook/hardmix

blogspot/sumsun

mp3: Yip Yip - Been Caught Stealing

2011-01-13T05:28:00.000-08:00

Yip Yip have been busy creating a new album, Bone Up, which should be released soon. To celebrate, I got my hands on a cover they did of the Jane's Addiction song "Been Caught Stealing". The track alludes to what we can expect from Yip Yip from here on, which to me seems to be a step in a more harmonic direction, while still retaining that synthy-quirky-video game feel.

Download the track free from their bandcamp, or check out the video below.

dotcom/yipyip

bandcamp/yipyip

facebook/yipyip

mp3: Forest Clay - Hexagon Necklace

2011-01-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

With what originally began as a remix to our song "Hexagon", I'm pleased to present the first new material from Forest Clay since Vernal Pools, a full-length dating back to 2009. "Hexagon Necklace" is an emotionally charged track that was born from a sample of our song "Hexagon", then growing into it's own world with lyrics and melodies bursting out from the bottled up songwriter.

Forest Clay - Hexagon Necklace

When Totally Nebular aren't actively performing, they are working on their own projects. Gabriel, Tree Hopping, released The Beat Band a few months ago, and Weston, God Boat's album Beautiful Caps will be out shortly. Eddie Roqueta, Forest Clay, is working on a musical piece that will be accompanied by a film. I hear the music is pretty much wrapped up, and while filming for that project, he will be releasing more "song"/pop stuff like "Hexagon Necklace" which will be released separately as a new album sometime around May.

download/forestclay
video/nook

Foxes in Fiction & Galleries - Borders

2010-12-29T18:11:00.000-08:00

Foxes in Fiction recently put out a new EP, on his own Orchid Tapes cassette label, titled Alberto, and yes it's named after our friend from Viernes. I've posted a few things about Galleries before, which is Alberto's solo project. Warren from Foxes in Fiction dedicated the EP to Alberto because he was the first person who brought him down to New York for some shows while Viernes was touring. The two collaborated on a track previously, you can find it on Galleries' bandcamp, and finally they collab'd on this new song "Borders". Check out the video as well, and make sure to download Alberto by Foxes in Fiction.

Foxes in Fiction & Galleries - Borders (via You Know You Owe Me)

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download/alberto
buy/alberto
galleries/bandcamp
blog/foxesinfiction

Two New Tree Hopping Songs For The Holidays

2010-12-25T01:34:00.000-08:00

From the man who brought you the groovy, tropical, sample-based Beat Band, Gabriel Berrios, aka Tree Hopping, has released two new songs for the holidays. Reverse guitar... flowly, noisey instrumentals... no tropicalness.... the faintest hint of melancholy? Tree Hopping is definitely not branding himself, instead leaping into a more textured-indie-pop sound. I'm loving these two tracks and can't wait to hear what he'll do next (more on the way).

Tree Hopping - hullahoop

Tree Hopping - those pictures of you at school

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bandcamp/treehopping

VIDEO: The Dewars - Merry Go Round (live)

2010-12-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite songs from West Palm Beach natives The Dewars. This is an especially good performance of the song, performed at The Bluebird Theatre in Denver, on their recent tour with Surfer Blood. The glockienspiel makes the song for me, which I think is being played by Lake Worth legend Steev Rullman in this video.

Make sure to download Songs From The Neverglades by the Dewars off their bandcamp.

Evan Mui currently plays bass for the Dewars. He has his own solo folk project which is definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of Elliott Smith.

bandcamp/dewars

I Contact

2010-12-19T20:40:00.000-08:00

I Contact is an experimental band from Gainesville, Florida. Their dark, reverby sound, ranging from post-rockiness to more cut-and-paste droney lofi, goes well with their description of themselves as blue punk, swamp noise.

I Contact - Destroying I
I Contact - Our Night

Above is the first two songs off of their three-track self-titled EP. The Fall is the final song and also really great, worth checking out. It's free, along with their first release, over at their bandcamp.

If you've been into Floridian bands :smokesignal: or Young Egypt, you may be into I Contact.

bandcamp/icontact

myspace/icontact

The Boswellians

2010-12-11T11:11:00.001-08:00

The Boswellians are a new four-piece chamber pop band from Gainesville, Florida. I got a chance to see them last night at an event organized by the members of Fine Print, a University of Florida newspaper. Their sound brings me back to the age of Swing and Big Band; while the Boswellians aren't a very large band nor do they use horns or classical instruments, they do retain some of elements from decades long past. These are some really talented musicians, great female vocals and piano riffs.

The Boswellians - Don't Wait For Me

The Boswellians - Warm Inside

Download the rest of the four-song EP And How! on bandcamp.

Expect some new songs from these guys in the coming months.

myspace/theboswellians

bandcamp/theboswellians

VIDEO: Cerebellum/Woo

2010-12-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

Above is our video for the first two tracks off of Psyche Cycles, being released by Crash Symbols on December 21st.

VIDEO: Sumsun - Wind Stone (live)

2010-12-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

Above is Sumsun's live performance of "Wind Stone" off of Samo Milagro. Joining Judson is Edwin who has made remixes under The Get, including a remix of our song Asipop. Supposedly Edwin is going to be performing in Sumsun from now on, which is really exciting. This was at Art Deco Center in Miami Beach last weekend. The projections were made by Morphologic Studios and Jamie Harley. This is a pretty decent quality being that it was taken from a phone.

myspace/sumsun

leavingrecords/samomilagro

mp3: Alien House - Up Up

2010-12-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

Alien House is a new project led by Diamond Man's Justin Myers currently consisting of Mono Lakes member Anthony Tarallo. Justin has a solo project called Alien Painter, but Alien House is a different project, performing as a duo live. The vibe of the song "Up Up" reminds me a lot of the new release Diamond Man Travels, but it is definitely through a different vein. Check out AlienHouse performing "Up Up" live last Thursday at Attached Hand's record release show at Will's Pub and look for more from these dudes in the future.

Alien House - Up Up (live)

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tumblr/alienhouse

God Boat

2010-12-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

God Boat is the side project of Weston Mansfield from the band Totally Nebular currently residing in Gainesville, Florida. While Totally Nebular have been sort of inactive with shows, God Boat and Tree Hopping have been doing collaborative sets live where they play on each other's songs. At the Trash To Treasure event in Pompano Beach, Florida two weeks ago, God Boat and Tree Hopping gave out a super limited split release with hand drawings featuring 3 songs from each band (including "bird road" by Tree Hopping I posted a week or so ago).

God Boat - Shore

God Boat - Oregano In My Yard

We've gotten a break down of Totally Nebular's sound from Tree Hopping and Forest Clay in the past, and while God Boat has put out some short releases in the past, this is pretty much the first look into Weston's side of music making. I've heard Oregano In My Yard played twice now and I'm really into it. This was the first time I heard Shore and was blown away, such an amazing track with all those high-pitched magical textures and interesting arrangement of sound.

These are tracks from God Boat's full-length release Beautiful Caps, hopefully coming out by the end of the year or soon thereafter.

myspace/godboat

myspace/totallynebular

Great Deceivers

2010-12-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

Great Deceivers are an indie rock band from Orlando, Florida. I caught their live set at the end of November at the Trash to Treasure event in Pompano Beach, Florida. Nice vocals and harmonies, two awesome guitar players, steady bass, and a talented drummer make these guys worth catching live.

Great Deceivers - Black Hotel

Great Deceivers - Paradise

House Of Stairs is a 10-song release from the band, check it out on their Bandcamp.

myspace/greatdeceivers

bandcamp/greatdeceivers

mp3: Maximino - Give Back Our Sun

2010-12-05T11:11:00.000-08:00

Maximino just put out a new song called Give Back Our Sun, which is a slightly more spacey take off from their release Blue Jay with subtle electronics. Theatric, loungey, and well put together. I especially like the cymbal used sparingly throughout the song.

Maximino - Give Back Our Sun

myspace/maximino

bandcamp/maximino

Discovery Of Magnetic North

2010-12-04T23:56:00.000-08:00

Discovery Of Magnetic North are an experimental duo from Orlando, Florida. Under the description of their album Diving Belle on CdBaby, the music is described as "Psychedelic electronics with a heavy mix of organic texture and occasional guitars and vocals. Weathered soundtracks for forgotten memories." I got the chance to check them out last Thursday at Attached Hands' release show for their 7" with Truman Peyote. The lineup included a Diamond Man side project Alien Painter, Dark Sea of Awareness, Discovery Of Magnetic North, us, and Attached Hands. The show was at Will's Pub, the place to play if you looking to play Orlando. Discovery of Magnetic North had really interesting projections, and they switched through different 'modes' of songs, some more vocal driven, one where one of the guys played bass guitar, and electronics. Their set fit in nice with the blissful tones of Dark Sea of Awarness as well as the more aggressive noise of Attached Hands.

Discovery Of Magnetic North - Catacombs

Discovery Of Magnetic North - Picture Talking Dictionary

Although this is a short clip, below is a video of a Discovery Of Magnetic North performance, just to get an idea of what they're like live.

myspace/discoveryofmagneticnorth
buy/divingbelle

mp3: tree hopping - bird road

2010-11-30T20:52:00.000-08:00

If you don't have all of The Beat Band already, let this be the song that motivates you to download it. Perfect indie melodies through a tropical lens, groovy beats. Check this song out.

tree hopping - bird road

This is a photo taken by Eddie (Forest Clay) whose the third member of Totally Nebular last weekend down in Pompano Beach at a show where Tree Hopping and God Boat had a collaborative set, switching back and forth of playing each other's jams. Expect a sneak peak of God Boat's new album soon.

bandcamp/treehopping

flickr/forestclay

Fill Spectrum

2010-11-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

Fill Spectrum is an experimental project of a guy named Kevin from Jacksonville, Florida. I got the chance to see him perform with a friend as Fill Spectrum at the Laboratory last weekend for an Electronic Sub South/Action Research show. The performance was a hused ambience with subtle nature sounds drenched in wet delay, and reverby keyboard drones. Fill Spectrum's release An Open Entrance Into A Closed Palace is released on Cassette through Animal Image Search, which has also released the cassette version of Universal Studios Florida's Ocean Sunbirds as well as the vinyl release for Prince Rama's Architecture of Utopia.

Above is the performance from last weekend at the Laboratory.

An Open Entrace Into A Closed Palace is a little more textured and progressing than the live performance, with a lot of different tranisitions and tasteful sounds. Make sure to download it and get it on cassette if you're really feeling it.

blogspot/animalimagesearch

download/fillspectrum