This mix gets off to a cracking start with an excellent track from D. Vassalotti, then a recently released but old track from The Love Language before the keyboards of Polica start up.
Crystal Stilts have another album out. As you can hear in the interview below, they have taken their time. I love that dreamy jangly sound even though they can be a bit bloodless.
I am not old enough to remember the assassination of John Kennedy, and I am sure that no one in Total Slacker is either. However it’s a strong image, John and Jackie waving happily at the crowd, then the shot.
We have a family story about the day that JFK’s death was announced. My older brother was about 5 when he heard of the assassination. Our local trucking firm was run by a man called Kennedy. On hearing the news that JFK was dead, my brother said “…but who’s going to get his truck?”
2) Sick Alpsrecently broke up which is disappointing to this follower of their music. Here’s a track from their recent EP – She’s on Top – with their prog’ish Pink Floyd take on psychedelia. There is still one album to come. They have a Myspace site running with most of their back catalogue.
3+14) Cough Cool have a wistful lofi sound. Their back catalogue is on bandcamp and MySpace. This track is from the album that’s just come out – 29. Hear the tracks below.
4) I have recently been taken by tracks by D. Vassalotti (previously known as ( ) << yep just the brackets). He’s a guitarist in the Tampa band, Merchandise. I love that guitar shredding sound. His first album – Book of Ghosts – is out now on the wonderful Night People label.You can listen to all the tracks here.
5+11) Midnight Ghost is a muso from Portland. I can’t find out any more about him, but I was happy to pay $5 for his excellent album which you can listen to / buy below.
6) Wet Hair have featured before with tracks off their recent album – Spill Into Atmosphere. They offer lofi noodling at its best. I can’t do better to describe the band than to list the tags that they have chosen on their Bandcamp page – electronickrautrockminimalpost punkpsychedelicsynthpopIowa City. Wet Hair are also on the Night People label.
7)Shannon and the Clams are known for their “… vintage sound that incorporates elements of doo-wop, classic R&B, garage psych, and surf, Shannon and the Clams has drawn comparisons to both Buddy Holly and 1960s girl groups” What else could you ask for?
8)The Mantles have a new album out – Long is Enough to Leave – that is well worth your money. It’s a bit glossier than the last album, but Michael Olivares has a way with words and the jangly guitar sound is excellent.
9)White Fence feature from their new album – Cylops Reap. Its a great follow up to the 2010 debut that I thrashed. Excellent psychedelia. I didn’t know that Tim Presley from this band also moonlights with the Strange Boys, another band I enjoy, and played with one incarnation of The Fall.
13+17+19) The wonderful Cloud Nothings played their hearts out at Laneway earlier this year. Here are some tracks off Attack on Memory, their 2012 album.
16)Time New Vikingwere great on their visit Auckland a few years back. Little known fact – they must love the kiwi sound, they have toured with the Clean andthe Axemen.
18)Trung Ngo and Brad Petering aka TV Girl don’t seem to have had an easy time with women. However their trip-hoppy ballads are fun to listen to.
20) Coastal – This is an excellent jam. I haven’t heard of this band before. According to their bio band members come from shoegaze and slo-core bands and their sound is a meeting somewhere between these genres. I must track down some more tunes.
21)Mauro Remiddi aka Porcelain Raft is generally known for his poppy electronic tracks. Here he turns a Yuck song into a droney wall of noise, excellent.
