Unwashed Pelican

This rad little gem just appeared in my inbox today – finally a golden album of luscious, super interesting and eclectic originals and remixes to pique my interest. Who thought someone could rejig Memoryhouse into a fresh new song that retained its dreaminess but adds dizzying loops and hypnotic euphorics into the mix? Luminary Youth is the fresh talent behind this exciting material. A producer inspired by J Dilla, Madlib and Star Slinger, his honed and sharp compositions are excitingly succinct and polished, never relying on one sound or sample for too long, it cuts in and out of rational and warped states on a bender of beautiful melodies and rare symphonies. His second EP, Weekend Dreams (released a couple of months ago with Astral Tourism) features remixes of Memoryhouse, Cults and Warpaint, and he’s also done a magnetic rework of Grouper‘s ‘Alien Observor’. Download Weekend Dreams for free for a limited time from Bandcamp!

Luminary Youth- Jets To Bangalore (Memoryhouse remix): MP3

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Florida, Tampa, U.S.A
No Comments

Get Loose | Get Unique

Dominique Young Unique – the brightest star in hip-hop – returns. Glamorous Touch totally dominates with a blistering assault straight from the production line. Artjam’s David Alexander adds some of the freshest sounding production on the hip-hop scene and Unique’s mean sounding lyrical style is a mixture of dirty pop, auto-tuned bubble-gum and ghetto sass. Her introduction does a double flip, sampling her own ‘Show My Ass’ over Justin Bieber, before the album rolls on with a heavy synth production that is at times styled on digital dancehall and far-east Bollywood rhythms. Glamorous Touch is definitely a step up for Unique; her Blaster EP introduced us to her sharp witted lyricism but it had few vocal hooks. Glamorous Touch is the best of both, solo and in collaboration with Fred and her sister Jasmine. One thing becoming more prevalent, but not solely attributed to Unique is the growing divide between male and female hip-hop production. There appears to be a technique that goes better with the female voice, the likes of Dominique Young Unique, Nicki Minaj and M.I.A being the leaders in tolerating much faster beat-rates and sharper key notes, creating a gender-specific sub-genre. Highlights here include ‘Dirty Game’, auto-tuned and riding on a west coast-style beat; ‘Get Out My Shoes’ with its snappy chorus that could easily kick it on the dance floor alongside Rihanna’s ‘Rude Boy’;  ‘My Success’ which is as much R’n'B as it is hip-hop with a Santigold stained vocal melody and ‘I’m Right Here’, a ’70s ghetto hit with a cheap childish casio flow and a lyrical style that would sit pretty on an after school TV show if it wasn’t for the R18 lyrics. Highlights they are, Glamorous Touch is superb through all eleven tracks, download it for free from Artjam Records.

Dominique Young Unique- I’m Right Here: MP3

Dominique Young Unique- Get Out My Shoes: MP3

Stream Glamorous Touch

Posted by Nick Fulton under Florida, Tampa
[3] Comments

Put Your Ear To The Door

David Levesque’s story is an enthralling one: “I’m a bus driver that makes music. After a long day of elementary schoolers putting gum on my lovely pleather bus seats I enjoy a good space jam while sorting through the Disney VHS collection.” The Florida native makes beautiful atmospheric pop under the name Levek that swarms with summery vibes, and today his first release was announced by Father Daughter Records. Levek’s self-titled 7″ includes the levitating a-side song ‘Look On The Bright Side’ backed with ‘Slow’ and comes out on November 16 on limited edition red vinyl with a digital download bundle. Starting off with swooning vocals and tepid percussion that’s swimming in reverb, ‘Look On The Bright Side’ sounds like a glorious vintage jam, all soft vocals, bendy bass and flitting keys. Levek’s prior material brims with acoustic guitar, with ‘Loon and the Lion”s gorgeous choral vocals that harmonise like Polka Dot Dot Dot and crisp percussion that sounds like it’s straight out of The Lion King. Here’s hoping Levesque can leave the school bus behind soon and dedicate all his time to making music.

Levek- Look On The Bright Side: MP3

Levek- Loon And The Lion: MP3

Levek- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Florida, U.S.A
No Comments

Indigestible Melody

We already know Florida native Mike Diaz from his hypnotically awesome remix of Memoryhouse‘s ‘To The Lighthouse’, and it was exactly that transformative ability showcased there that made me want to check out his own stuff. The guy clearly has a talent for pristine pop, syncopated rhythms, breathy synth melodies and banging beats. His songs have been compared to Toro Y Moi, Washed Out and Small Black, but have a distinct feeling of isolation and contemplation that sets him apart. His electronic creations are not all blissful sun-drenched babes moonlighting as death drone; ‘Day We Met’ has an unnerving quality that will have your stomach tied in knots and your breathing quickened. Its jarring, stuttering vocal clips shatter the wall of dreary noise in the latter half’s bugged out, epileptic rave. But ‘Mien’ is the opposite; a cool, crisp Knight Rider theme striding with confidence through misty streets with an unblinking stare. ‘Weak Ends’ features a springy melody-driven rhythm with strong, cavernous vocals. Download his Sunndreamm EP for free from his myspace and follow his blog for more covers and remixes.

Millionyoung- Weak Ends: MP3

Millionyoung- Mien: MP3

Millionyoung- Chlorophyll: MP3

Millionyoung- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Florida, U.S.A
No Comments

Digging Up Your Candles

When I first heard Totally Nebular from Florida after seeing them on Emily Reo‘s radio show playlist I was surprised and excited. Totally Nebular makes the kind of fun, unhinged pop music that sounds bigger than its three band members, like a beach blow out with The Unicorns, Man Man, Animal Collective and Ponytail in attendance. Eddie Roqueta, Weston Mansfeld and Gabriel Berrios have been playing together since 2007, and became Totally Nebular in 2008. In their songs, playful synths have noisy parties with bouncy guitars, clattering drums and the occasional little whistle or blood curdling scream. Songs like ‘Green Tops’ have flurries of energy made up of many different parts to form a self-conscious party pop opus. Rising and falling tides create an unpredictable mass riot of guitar and drums, in ‘I Saw Four Deer’ there’s a chaotic cacophony of shouts and squiggly guitars all elbowing for room, it’s a crazy, fun, happy mess. I think ‘White Lincoln’ may be my pick of the bunch though, swirling samples melt into sparkly guitars and chorus yells, with badass crappy boombox beats and twee interludes! Florida’s looking increasingly like a fun musical haven that deserves to be explored more. You can start by downloading Totally Nebular’s debut album Boat Boat for free from their myspace.

Totally Nebular- White Lincoln: MP3

Totally Nebular- I Saw Four Deer: MP3

Totally Nebular- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Florida, U.S.A
No Comments

Shattered Elastic

Emily Reo from Orlando Florida makes drum beats that sound like heart palpitations, singing that cuts like melancholy in a bathroom, and casio tones that twinkle like bats’ eyes in a cave. Her sweet drone pop songs like ‘Above Ground and a Golden Cloud’ are ethereal and dreamy, but dark like sinking ships. Reeking of isolation and intimacy, her music portrays the pondering of an imaginative and delightful girl. Her myspace has her listed as playing organ, vibe keys, guitars, wooden flutes, floor tom, fake drums and kitchen utensils and she creates an enveloping atmosphere with them all. New song ‘Witch Mtn’ incorporates glossy organs like those heard in Beach House and haunting prettiness the likes of Grouper. One of the most wonderful things about Emily Reo is her forthrightness; she doesn’t come across as self effacing or self conscious. Her songs are enunciated with a kind of spirited determination that, while partially hidden behind murky vibes, is ever-present. You can’t imagine her downcast and shoe-gazing; her music is charismatic and involving. ‘Blue Canoe’ has a dancing organ jam that’s upbeat in its quietly heaving, cooing delivery, and her awesome cover of Built To Spill’s ‘Car’ is an emotional, epic teen dream ballad that threatens to surpass the original. ‘Tell Us All’ is more playful in a morbid, twisted way. She’s opened for Cold Cave and Phosphorescent, and has plans to embark on some north-east US dates in late May. This comes ahead of the release of the Witch Mtn cassette EP this northern summer and planned collaboration with Philip Seymour Hoffman. Buy Emily Reo’s Minha Gathinha CD/Casette from A Dracula Records.

Emily Reo- Witch Mtn: MP3

Emily Reo- Car (Built To Spill cover): MP3

Emily Reo- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Florida, U.S.A
No Comments

Kicking It Fresh

Dominique Young Unique has been kicking it in Tampa since she was 12 years old, hanging out with Yo! Majesty and recording music in their Robles Park studio. She’s now 17 and her music is leaving the Florida neighbourhood and hitting the road, the latest stop being SXSW in Austin, Texas. Like Rye Rye, who M.I.A supported and nurtured, Dominique Young Unique has had the good fortune of being able to work with two of hip-hop’s finest female voices. Yo! Majesty may have never gained the recognition they deserved, but they were always pushing the boundaries of modern hip-hop and fought hard for female equality within the male dominated genre. Their passion and wisdom has definitely rubbed off on Dominique Young Unique, who flashes her figure and femininity in protest. Her rhymes are slick and smart, demanding and mature, addressing and engaging. She’s the most talented rapper we’ve heard since Rye Rye, spitting bullets of words not cash, challenging hip-hop’s modern cliché.

Dominique Young Unique- Show My Ass: MP3

Dominique Young Unique- Music Time: MP3

 Dominique Young Unique- Hot Girl: MP3

 Dominique Young Unique- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Florida, Tampa, U.S.A
No Comments

 Like a walk in the park

Florida five-piece Holiday Shores were described by NYLON magazine bloggers as Vampire Weekend on crack, but their crackly rock n roll imbued with sun soaked vibes, glistening production, shimmering cymbals and imagery and gloriously catchy riffs is more developed than that. Songwriter Nathan Pemberton’s sweet and sincere vocals duet with nimble bass and guitar on ‘Bradley Bear’ that give a Police vibe, but contrastingly, ‘Edge of Our Lives’ is twee bedroom pop that pushes pop plushness to the limit. Where Vampire Weekend came up short on expansion and experimentalism, Holiday Shores has that down, with a post-retro vibe and coupled with jaunts into heavier rock-outs on songs like ‘Tremor Rolls The Peak’. They released their debut LP Columbus’d The Whim on August 4 through twosyllable records and judging from the run of mp3s floating about it sounds like quite the treat.

 Holiday Shores- Phones Don’t Feud: MP3

Holiday Shores- Edge Of Our Lives: MP3

 Holiday Shores- Days Drag: MP3

Holiday Shores- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Florida, U.S.A
No Comments