Sonic Nostalgia - Devo

Atoms For Peace - AMOK

Atoms For Peace is the new super band that consists of three heavy weights of music such as Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar and piano), Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea (bass), longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich (guitar, keyboards, synths), Joey Waronker of Beck & R.E.M. (drums) and instrumentalist Mauro Refosco (percussion).

Their first album is called Amok and will be released February 25, 2013 on the label XL Recordings. The artwork which resembles the high stylistic design you might remember from Yorke's debut album Eraser, was done by longtime visual collaborator Stanley Donwood. He recently painted the exterior walls of XL's L.A. office and titled the piece Hollywood Doom. It has been photographed and compiled into a GIF.

Below is the first single for Amok called Default. Please listen and enjoy.

Gardens and Villa - Black Hills

Suuns - Eddie's Dream

This song is from the Suuns new album Images Du Futur which will be released in March 2013 on Secretly Canadian.

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz

Animal Collective has finally put out their new album Centipede Hz. I love this band because of their ability to combine all my favorite elements of modern music together. I believe that they have set a new standard for creativity and originality within music today. It's a shame that bands like this just don't get the attention of the masses on a larger scale, like all the top twenty pop stars you hear on the radio. What would the world be like if that was a reality?

Listen to the entire album Centipede Hz and let me know what you think in the comments section.

Local Natives - Hummingbird

On January 29th 2013 via the label Frenchkiss the Local Natives will release their sophomore album Hummingbird. They are one of those bands that has their own hard to label sound that I'm not going to attempt to describe to you. Look they're a great band. I wouldn't have them on this blog if they weren't. Take a listen to the song Breakers and decide for yourself.

Ty Segall

This guy is one of the most prolific garage rock revivalists I have ever known of. I don't know were he finds the time to be in seven different bands: The Traditional Fools, Epsilons, Party Fowl, Sic Alps, The Perverts, Ty Segall Band, and his solo works. 

The Dirty Projectors - High Custodian

The highly eccentric musical group The Dirty Projectors have released a 20 minute long short film/ music video called Hi Custodian. The film was written and directed by band member David Longstreth and features music from the group's latest album Swing Lo Magellan, the films concept is spiritual life, death, and rebirth.

In the Flesh - Here We Go Magic

Animal Collective - Today's Supernatural

'Today's Supernatural' is the first single from Animal Collective's new album Centipede Hz, out September 3rd / 4th on Domino.

Sonic Nostalgia - Crimson and Clover

Off The Air

A few nights ago I fell asleep while watching adult swim. And in the midst of my shallow tv induced dream, I awoke to pure psychedelica. A perfect marriage of music and visuals delighted my sleepy eyes... Off The Air.

I invite you to watch this series and preferably on some equally mind altering substance.  

Dan Deacon- America

Dan Deacon is an american electronic music composer born and raised in the suburban Long Island, New York community of West Babylon. He moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 2004 and formed an arts and music collective called Wham City.

Deacon is known for his extremely interactive live shows. When playing solo he performs on the floor level of the venue with musical devices and all completely surrounded by the audience.

America is his thirteenth album that will be released on August 27, 2012 on the label Domino. Below is track two and three from the album "True Thrush" and "Lots".

Sonic Nostalgia - CAN

CAN was an experimental rock band from Cologne, Germany that was started in 1968 and lasted until 1979. Thought to be one of the first bands to be labeled as "Krautrock", Can's sound consisted of spontaneous minimalistic psychedelic jams that put there audience in a trance.

DJ-Kicks - Digitalism

If your familiar with DJ-Kicks then your'e familiar with some of the most eccentric mixes done by some of the most popular music artists of the world. Then you'd also be familiar with mixes done by artists such as Four Tet, Hot Chip, Erlende Oye, Photek, Tiga, Nightmares on Wax, and many others.

Digitalisms Jens Moelle and Ismail Tüfekçi, get there chance to add their bands name to the DJ-Kicks roster with this 23 track mix of their own. Here is the new video for the DJ-Kicks exclusive track “Falling”.

Grizzley Bear - "Shields"

Grizzly Bear is a four piece indie rock band from Brooklyn, NY. They have a new album that will be out Sept. 18th 2012 called "Shields" on Warp Records. This will be their fourth studio album. The song "Sleeping Ute", a ten song track list, and 2012 tour dates were released on June 5th. Below is the new single  Sleeping Ute.

Grizzly Bear 2012 Tour Dates

9/16 – Knoxville, Tenn. | Tennessee Theater
9/17 – Atlanta, Ga. | Tabernacle
9/18 – Nashville, Tenn. | Ryman Auditorium
9/20 – Washington, D.C. | 9:30 Club
9/21 – Washington, D.C. | 9:30 Club
9/22 – Boston, Mass. | Orpheum Theater
9/23 – Montreal, Canada | Olympia
9/24 – New York, N.Y. | Radio City Music Hall
9/26 – Toronto, Canada | Massey Hall
9/28 – Cincinnati, Ohio | MidPoint Music Festival
9/29 – Champaign, Ill. | Pygmalion Music Festival
9/30 – Chicago, Ill. | Riviera Theater
10/1 – Minneapolis, Minn. | First Avenue
10/4 – Portland, Ore. | Keller Auditorium
10/5 – Seattle, Wash. | Paramount Theatre
10/6 – Vancouver, Canada | Commodore Ballroom
10/7 – Vancouver, Canada | Commodore Ballroom
10/9 – Oakland, Calif. | Fox Theater
10/10 – Los Angeles, Calif. | Greek Theater

Tame Impala - Lonerism

Tame Impala is a four piece psych-rock band from Pert, Australia. They are about to release their third studio album "Lonerism" that's scheduled to be released on October 9th on the Modular label. First they released a video trailer for the album, and recently released a teaser song called "Apocalypse Dream" along with a track listing.

Lonerism:

1. Be Above It
2. Endors Toi
3. Apocalypse Dreams
4. Mind Mischief
5. Music to Walk Home By
6. Why Won't They Talk to Me?
7. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
8. Keep on Lying
9. Elephant
10. She Just Won't Believe Me
11. Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control
12. Sun's Coming Up

Joey Bada$$ - 1999 (Mixtape)

 

Every decade or so musical greatness decides to dig its way out of the mountains of pop trash thats been piling and piling up due to corporate americas need to make a quick buck. The moment greatness is noticed it tends to shine brightly and provide a new yet familiar pathway to inspiration. Brooklyn based rapper Joey Badass and his crew The Progressive Era are making that light. At the young age of seventeen this rappers flow is reminiscent of the golden age of hip hop legends that came before him. My prediction is that the Progressive Era crew is gonna turn hip hop back on its feet.

Here is the new mixtape "1999". It features production from MF Doom, Statik Selektah, J. Dilla and others.

Flaming Lips - Western Esotericism

The Flaming Lips and Erykah Badu have made a surprisingly shocking video for the song Western Esotericism that will be the first single from the new collab-heavy album The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, to be released June 26th. The video features Badu and her sister Nayrok Bares in a tub bathing in glitter, blood, and some sort of thick white cream. Some have interpreted it as glitter symbolizing glamour and fame, blood as a woman's physical sacrifices, and the white creamy stuff...well you know.

I really would have liked to post the video, but it's been taken off most sites and I can't play it on this blog because of the full frontal nudity. Click on the link below. 

Western Esotericism - is a broad spectrum of spiritual traditions found in Western society, or refers to the collection of the mystical, esoteric knowledge of the western world. This includes, but is not limited to, alchemy, theosophy, herbalism, occult tarot, astrology, Rosicrucianism and Western forms of ritual magic.

Here We Go Magic - A Different Ship

Here We Go Magic has put out yet another wonderful album. A Different Ship is their 3rd album, which is also produced by another musical genius Nigel Godrich. You know him from producing other musical giants like, Radiohead, Beck, REM, Air, and Paul McCartney. This is one of those albums that sticks with you for a while. I've already listened to the whole album over ten times and I still catch new layers of sounds. Here are a couple of my favorites off the album.

R.I.P Adam Yauch aka MCA

There's just too much to say about MCA. He was a real renaissance man. Hip hop pioneer, director, musician, philanthropist. As one of the Beastie Boys he helped create a unique style of music by fusing a wide variety of genres into one.

After a three year battle with throat cancer, on May 4th 2012 his body finally succumbed to the disease. He was 47 years old and he will be missed.

For me the beasties were the Rolling Stones of my generation. They were a huge influence on my life. Their style, music, and attitude represented everything I was about. So many of their songs take me back to a different point of my life. There will always be a special place in my heart for the Beastie Boys. R.I.P. Adam Yauch.

Below is the star-studded film Fight for Your Right (Revisited) in full.

Lower Dens - Nootropics

Lower Dense is a Baltimore quintet shoe gazer rock band led by Jana Hunter. They have recently released the groups sophomore album Nootropics. Propagation is their first hit of the album and a slightly strange video.

Deep Thoughts - Powers of Ten

Powers of Ten is a 1968 film written and directed by Charles and Ray Eames. The film depicts the relative scale of the Universe in factors of ten. The Eameses were hired by Dutchman Kees Boeke, who wrote the 1957 essay from which the film is based on Cosmic View. 

Santigold - Master of My Make Believe

Santigold also known as Santi White is a badass. She's worked with everybody from the GZA to Karon O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Her second studio album Master of My Make Believe was just released in late April and is already receiving critical acclaim. Check out the song Disparate Youth off the new album.

Emotiv - Interaction of the Future

This is what is next! The ultimate couch potato tool. Emotiv Systems is an Australian electronics company that is developing brain-computer interfaces based on electroencephalography or EEG technology.  This would allow users to control computer applications and software with ones mind. Look mom no hands!

When I first got turned on to this technology by my friend Wink, all I could think of was the 1983 feature film Brainstorm starring Christopher Walken. This is a direct result of science fiction turned reality. Just think of how many different uses this could have. And it will only cost as low as $300 and as much as $7,500 depending on what package you buy. If you get one let me know, because I want to come over and play.

Here's the trailer to Brainstorm so that you can see what I mean.

Sonic Nostalgia - Takako Minekawa

Hot Chip - In Our Heads

On June the 12th 2012 Hot Chip will release their fifth studio album In Our Heads on the Domino label.

I've heard a few tracks from the album and I think they're taking their sound back to basics. One of my favorites is Flutes. This track takes me back to 1990's house and techno styles, but has more of a mastered modern feel. Great for a mix at a dance party. Well you can listen to it and decide for yourself. I was gonna post the official video for this track, but it is really bad. Someone put a camera on a record player and records the band sitting in the studio listening to the song. The camera spins round and round making everyone watching very dizzy. Not my kind of entertainment. Hot Chip will be touring this summer in about twenty different international cities around the world starting in Sheffield, England June 10th.

Death Grips - The Money Store

Death Grips are a group unlike any group you've ever heard before. These guys definitely have their own unique sound. Their music consists of a very dark combination of electronica, hip-hop, industrial, and insanity. True insanity! Not the kind that the EMO kid from down the street tries to pretend he feels when his parents wouldn't let him go to the Vampire Weekend concert. We're talking an, "I just got out of the asylum and I'm still pissed off at the world, and now all I want to do is make some aggressive loud music type insanity."

The band's latest release The Money Store is one of those albums that has great tracks from beginning to end. One of my favorites is the track Hacker, which you can listen to below.  If you like this track, then I highly recommend you getting the album.

Beach House - Bloom

Beach House is a dream pop duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland. Their previous three studio albums were critically acclaimed and reviewed as commercial successes. The band is composed of Alex Scally on guitar and keyboards and Victoria Legrand on vocals and organ. On May 15th 2012 a new Beach House album called Bloom will be released on Sub Pop. Here is a couple of songs Myth and Lazuli off the new album. 

The City of Samba

This is the finest example of Tilt-Shift photography that I've ever seen. When I look at this little short by Jarbas Agnelli and Keith Loutit, I feel like a giant alien looking into a glass bottle observing a miniature human world. This footage is from the 2011 Carnival celebration in Rio de Janeiro. It was shot using Nikon D3s bodies, modified enlarger and large format lenses on bellows. It consists of 170 thousand stills. And it's awesome.

Alejandro Jodorowsky's - The Holy Mountain

La Montaña Sagrada (The Holy Mountain, reissued as The Sacred Mountain) is a 1973 cult film directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky who also participated as an actor, composer, set designer, and costume designer on this film. The film was produced by The Beatles manager Allen Klein,  John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It was shown at various international film festivals in 1973, including Cannes, and limited screenings in New York and San Francisco.Check out the trailer below.

Sonic Nostalgia: Sebastien Tellier

Frankie Rose - Interstellar

Frankie Rose is a vocalist, songwriter and musician living in Brooklyn, NY. She was formerly an original member of acclaimed garage rock acts Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, and the Vivian Girls. Her second full-length album, Interstellar, was released in February 2012, and earned a "Best New Music" designation from pitchfork.com. Here's the song Night Swim and the video Gospel/Grace from Interstellar.

Sonic Nostalgia: The Specials - Ghost Town

Kimbra's Mashup

Kimbra's mashup of "Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear and "Head Over Heels" by Tears for Fears for Triple J's Like a Version program.

Crystal Castles vs Comic Book Fever - Cry Babies

This is kind of an old remix, but I just crawled out from under a huge rock.

Metronomy - The English Riviera

Metronomy is an English synthpop band that was formed in 1999 by singer, musician, producer and songwriter Joseph Mount. Their third and latest album The English Riviera was released on April 11th 2011, and has been showered with positive reviews from anyone whose anyone in the electronic music industry. Personally I love this album. It's so cleanly produced and visual, that it quenches my ravishing thirst for modern vision and uniqueness. I'm not a psychic gypsy palm reader, but I can advise you to keep this group on your radar! I see good things in their near future. Below is a song called She Wants. Listen to it and love it.



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ROBOTS - Present Day Abilities

I've always had a love for science fiction. The writings of authors like Philip K. Dick, Frank Herbert, and William Gibson to name just a few, have created many unique visions of the future. These authors have inspired film makers such as Ridley Scott, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg to create movies that have captivated minds with the possibilities of what future technologies may hold. Now let's talk about robots. Robots are fuck'n cooool! Robot technology is really progressing. We now have ones that can be programed to perform many domestic duty's, assemble every day products, perform complicated surgeries and a number of other amazing functions. Below are a few videos I've found that demonstrates some new robot technologies. Just imagine what kind of robot we could make by combining all of these technologies into one unit.





It took me a little while to realize this was not a real woman.

Bradford Cox/Atlas Sound - Parallax

Bradford cox is one of the most eclectic and prolific artists of the "Y Generation". As the pioneer of Atlas Sound and a focal member of Deerhunter his music could be described as inspirational, fragile, dark, euphoric, hypnotic, and every other more intense emotion that can be projected sonically. He's a man who has seen and experienced a lot in his 29 years of life. His thin lanky appearance is the product of a disease called Marfan Syndrome. Which by the way does not prevent him from speaking his mind bluntly.

Since the age of ten, Bradford has used the name Atlas Sound as his pseudonym. From the Atlas Sound brand duel cassette player/recorder to Ableton Live home audio software, to a professional recording studio, cox has become an expert of edit. Layering sounds upon sounds until his vision feels executed is the process in which cox creates his opuses. He describes the process as a stream-of-consciousness.

2011 has been a successful yet stressful year for Bradford. Like so many others, contract responsibilities, writing and recording a new album, touring for months on end, while becoming some what of a musical celebrity has taken it's toll. In an interview with Lindsay "The Doctor" McDougall, Cox vents some of his frustrations by saying "I get offended that so often people tend to act like I'm the center of Deerhunter. There is no center of Deerhunter, it's supposed to be equal. I demand that it be equal".

Putting all things aside, the new Atlas Sound album Parallax is triumphant. It carries a level of confidence not heard in previous albums. That's just my opinion... but I'll let you decide for yourself. Here's a track from the album.