Exclaim!'s Hot Music Injection

Band to Watch - Zorch

Zorch is legitimately amazing.

I can’t exactly explain why. I just know their songs are powerful. They take me away, make me want to fly or something. They have some typical qualities of experimental electronic independent music of our time. Crazy vocal harmonies, swirling effects, layers of melody and sometimes driving bass-lines. All of this, which I stated has become commonplace, is done better than most. The drop at the beginning of ‘Cosmic Gloss’ is intense.

Zorch are a keyboard and drums duo from Austin Texas just released a cassingle (Cosmic Gloss/E.M.F. available here (recently sold out). They just completed a short run through Canada and I can’t wait for them to make it back. Check them out, and keep an eye out. Their latest long release was some time ago, be stoked for the next.

‘Cosmic Glos’s is hosted above, and below we have ‘E.M.F.’

First off, I want to share a rare Joy Orbison remix that’s not super well-known as there’s only two rips (out of different mixes) available. Listen to “Milk and Honey”.

Montreal’s Jacques Greene has long been a favourite of this blog since…well, June (coincidentally, this is about when I started) and he’s got a new white label EP out. Check out “Motivation”.

It took the release of Atlas Sound’s second LP Logos for me to realise I preferred Bradford Cox’s solo project to his main gig in Deerhunter. Well, a third LP is on the way (Parallax) and you can hear album track “Terra Incognita” on GvB, now.

St Vincent is an artist on an upward trajectory and no one can tell quite exactly how she’s might take it. Third album Strange Mercy is out next month, and you can watch the video for album track “Cruel” over at Exclaim.ca.

It’s the final day for my internship at Exclaim - I’ll continue to write for their frequencies section and you can probably catch the occasional show review and news item, too. It’s been an ideal sharing tastes via Punch- and Today in Bass.

cheers,
IS

Punch-In: Monday Playlist

1/2 of Cat’s Eyes pulls a “I-wish-I-had-thought-of-that-first” and covers “To Here Knows When” with an orchestral arrangement and her showstopping soprano. Hear Rachel Zeffira’s My Bloody Valentine cover.

Toronto-based producer Chris Scott released a 2-step track on his soundcloud last night that you should probably be listening to right now.

Lastly, check out this complimentary mix from dance label Naked Lunch. Features tracks from Kevin McPhee, Instra:mental, and more.

IS

Punch-Out: Your Weekend Soundtrack

The second of The Weeknd’s three 2011 mixtapes, Thursday, was put online for free download last night via The Weeknd’s tumblr. You can cop the critically acclaimed and Polaris-nominated debut House Of Balloons here.

DFA dance-punks The Rapture have new album In The Grace Of Your Love available as a stream in advance of it’s September 6th release.

Also, trip to New Age-pioneer Iasos’ video for James Pants’ “Clouds Over the Pacific”.

Mikal Cronin, a long-time Bay-Area punk contributor is about to release his debut solo album. Hear the track Get Along in all it’s pop hooking glory. 

Lastly, something a bit more rough, Thee Oh Sees have two new tracks coming out on the Castle Face Records GroupFlex Compilation. One of the tracks, What You Need (The Porch Boogie Thing) is available on Youtube and is a shit-storm stomper.

IS, LM

Billy Widz of Renegade’s third mix from a series for Dubstepforum with a tracklist that represents 2011 better than any other mix this year. If you were looking for an entry point for bass, you could do much worse.

Hessle co-head Pangaea is dropping a huge single “Hex/Fatalist” on Untold’s Hemlock imprint. Stream both tracks over at Soundcloud.

Vancouver isn’t a city known for it’s greaser-fetishizing, lo-fi crooners - but they do exist. Dirty Beaches hit the radar earlier this year with his debut LP Badlands and is set to follow that up with “Lone Runner/Stye Eye”. You can hear the A-side on Exclaim now.

Check this old(er) favourite that tore up last night’s Addison Groove show (and this is also good).

Billy Widz mix via Tumblklaat.

IS

An unknown producer spun “Yonkers” on it’s head in this remix and… suddenly it’s cool to still be listening to OF. The track originally surfaced months back, but the only pressing was made barely a month ago.

IS

Electro super-stars Justice have previously released “Civilization” as a teaser for their forthcoming album, but Busy P, label head of Ed Banger records, played a new Justice track during a DJ-set in Los Angeles. The track is called “Audio, Video, Disco,” check it out here. The song features just enough bright textures and keyboard interludes to be identified as a Justice track.

Before the start of the weekend, Best Coast released a new demo, “How They Want Me To Be,” as a token of appreciation to their fans. The track, while a bit rough, shows the groups song-writing skills growing ever-so-slightly. It is a nice, mellow track, with lots of nice guitar flourishes. It can be heard it here.


-LM 

Four Tet’s “Locked” is set to feature in his upcoming Fabiclive59 mix. The new tune from Kieran Hebden’s chief alias has a chord progression Pink Floyd wouldn’t be adverse to gliding across a typically organic drum track. A classic boozy bass is left alone to end the track as it fades in it’s eighth minute.

The Horrors were asked to mix FACT 270 and came through with a track-list that flirts between modern psych/garage (Connan Mockasin, Tame Impala) and classic cuts (Velvets, Beatles).

Punch-Out: Soundtracking Your Weekend

One of this generation’s  stand-out up-and-coming beatsmiths, RBMA alum and forever 15-year old boy Hudson Mohawke has his EP up for streaming in one big video on youtube. Listen to Satin Panthers now (out August 2 via Warp).

The debut single from Beastie Respond is out and up on Soundcloud for streaming purposes. Out next week on Teal Recordings, Syncopy also features a balls-to-the-walls remix of the title track by Blawan.

Sibian & Faun’s long-awaited debut on numbers is still likely a few months away, so their remix of B-Flat’s “Gotcha” (single forthcoming on Infinite Machine) will need to tide us over til then.

Lastly, check Exclaim.ca’s stream of Chromeo’s new EP featuring “When The Night Falls” (with Solange Knowles), add it to the other tunes here and, presto, dance mix.

- IS

There’s a lot going on in the music world and it’s barely noon on a Monday.

The first new release from CANT since “Ghosts” (released as a free download waaay back in 2009) is “Answer” the first single from CANT’s upcoming full-length debut Dreams Come True, out September 13 on Warp. This sounds like what Jamie Woon was going for on Mirrorwriting. Seeing as CANT is Chris Taylor, Grizzly Bear’s producer, co-vocalist and bassist, it’s not surprising that his solo work is this great - but the unexpected dance influence definitely adds a whole other degree from which to enjoy it.

Huge - four mixes from former BBC Radio1 DJ/dubstep popularizer Mary Anne Hobbs’ new show on XFM by the likes of FaltyDL, Silkie, Daedelus and Machinedrum should keep your taste for bass sated.

The long-awaited collab between comic-book fans/part-time rappers Ghostface Killah and DOOM is official with the studio release of DOOMSTARKS’ first single “Victory Laps”. It’s a solid tune but Ghostface doesn’t get enough airtime (not that too much DOOM is a bad thing).

There’s your music Monday in a nutshell - stay classy.

IS

Much-respected left-field EDM purveyors R&S Records posted generous previews of Klaus’ long-awaited Tusk EP (out August 15) on Soundcloud. The songs on Tusk are a darker approximation of the deconstructed dubstep made popular most notably on James Blake’s Klavierwerke EP (also an R&S release) - see “Fens”. A variety of percussion, sparing pads, a great deal of space and irregularity keep things very, very interesting.

Bjork’s second new track “Cosmogany” from the forthcoming Biophilia keeps things kind of wacked out with horns and a general lack of drums kept (sort of) in place with a meandering bassline. If it weren’t musically ambitious, Bjork would be doing so lyrically, at least (with “Cosmogany”, you get both).

IS