Rainbow Child

When Sarah first blogged about Evan Voytas back in July ’10 I thought I sensed an admiration for Prince’s sultry soulful R ‘n’ B. Well Voytas has now answered that question by covering The Family’s (one of Prince’s lesser known side projects) ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’.  The song appeared on The Family’s 1985 self-titled album and was never released as a single. In 1990 Sinead O’Conner made the song an international hit when she recorded it for her album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got. It’s now Voytas’ turn to put a unique spin on the song, bridging the gap between The Family’s funk and O’Conner’s chamber pop. Voytas’ version is R ‘n’ B heavy, with a smooth sexy croon overlapping a washed out, sonic synth riff. It’s certainly a more minimal take on the song, with a lack of rhythm section leaving the synths to create a rather blissful, chilled out splash. The song now sounds more like it would have if Prince had recorded it for Around the World in a Day.

The multi-talented Voytas has recently been playing live guitar for Flying Lotus and Gonjasufi, but he’s now focusing on his own new release, an EP titled Feel Me, due out in early 2012 via Dovecote Records. You can keep tabs on Voytas’ exploits by ‘liking’ his Facebook page.

Evan Voytas – Nothing Compares 2 U (The Family cover): MP3

Evan Voytas’ Website

Posted by Nick Fulton under California, Los Angeles, U.S.A
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Gothic///\\\Waltz

Rich Moreno began performing as Frank Alpine in 1996, but it’s only now that an LP of his recently vocalised recordings is being made available via New York’s Wierd Records. The Los Angeles composer is a true underground phenomenon; one of LA’s finest synth-punk weirdos that’s avoided being courted by the overexcited indie music press. He takes Gothic electro to its extreme, mixing stark ghost-waltz-type rhythms with dark menopausal beats. Much of his music sounds decrepit and from a different era, like a skeleton posing as a character from The Addams Family. Everything’s very dirty, from the disturbed Americana-style vocal delivery to the haunting Casio keyboards that swirl and recall scenes from Polanski’s Repulsion. This is music for paranoid insomniacs, sinister comics and obsessive crime novelists.

The Frank Alpine LP is being released by Wierd Records on October 25 on CD, vinyl and MP3.

Frank Alpine- My Feelings

Posted by Nick Fulton under California, Los Angeles, U.S.A
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Transformation

Heavy emotional weight drives Pizza!’s monotone pop ode about a boy yearning to grow up. Though the footage is grissly and not entirely something I’d promote (bludgeoning a deer), Blaine Ludy‘s video is beautifully shot. In it, pressure mounts on a drooling, daydreaming kid (played by Chase Whitted) to the point where he transforms himself into a quasi-army dude and embarks on a self-exploratory rampage. It’s fun to watch but at the same time quite dark. Blaine says of the video, “I pictured a young boy and the pressures of being a ‘man’. I wanted to show a kid cracking and doing the most manly thing I could think of, which is getting drunk and killing a giant buck with a makeshift spear.”

The lovely Malcolm Middleton-style grudging guitar and perhaps soured view is illustrated by semi-orchestral instrumentation – big timpani-style drums, slight xylophone, and Geoff Geis’ hardened take on vocals. All in all, its shifting restlessness suits. Don’t judge them just by this, though. ‘Be a Man’ differs greatly from the rest of their songs, with spoken word vocals in the style of Barr in ‘Bird Dreams’, and loopy synths and snappy drums making them quite fun-loving.

Their debut album, Bogus Rimshots from the Fourth, is available from Kill/Hurt Tapes. They also have a new album coming soon via Vanity Projects, and Geoff also has a solo project, Princess, that he’s currently touring in the US.

Pizza! on Facebook

Pizza!’s website

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Los Angeles, U.S.A
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Cold Prism

The electronic duo made this new track from their upcoming album available for free download a few days ago, and it takes a darker turn to their previous material. At Camp A Low Hum 2011 New Zealanders were treated to a pragmatic incarnation of High Places’ once summery, tropical dream pop. But as the band has aged they’ve gained a retrospective edge to their sound, becoming yet more multi-layered. Shedding their whimsy but not their zest, they now have a more distinct dance-beat focus, with last year’s ‘On Giving Up’ bridging the gap between summer splendour and this harsher path they’re taking. Rob Barber and Mary Pearson, the delightfully sunny people behind the music, have always had an eerie side, and it’s coming out in full force now. ‘Year Off’ could almost soundtrack a dark comedown with cold synthetic beats and weary synth drops, with frost-covered melodies slipping into conscious like condensation. But its brilliant dance beats are too upbeat for that, creating a cognitive dance-off that’s definitely not a downer. ‘Year Off’ is the first song from High Places’ third album, Original Colors, recorded in their home studio in LA and out October 11 on Thrill Jockey.

High Places- Year Off: MP3

High Places’ Blog

Read the interview I did with High Places in 2009

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Los Angeles, U.S.A
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Shock Me Into Action

Geneva Jacuzzi is a name I’ve been seeing around for years but I shamefully hadn’t listened to her music until today. Right now the dance party that’s happening in our kitchen is all due to her ultra-futuristic retro-pop. She’s been touring with Puro Instinct and John Maus in what sounds like the perfect tour party – all worshipping ’80s synth pop and enjoying spaced out ’70s psychedelia. And like the others Geneva is also associated with Ariel Pink. Ariel remastered her debut album Lamaze; a collection of her 8-track hits recorded between 2004 and 2009. He also featured in her amazing video for ‘Bad Moods’, where she displays her dance skills in a Lady Gaga-like performance of masterful dance-art. On record her music is twisted in all directions, bringing together the funk of Tom Tom Club, the heavy Italo-disco of Trans X and the wierd disco-tech of Chris and Cosey, creating all sorts of characters with references to Malcolm McLaren, Chicks On Speed and Prince.

Lamaze can be purchased on vinyl or downloaded from Vinyl International

Geneva Jacuzzi- Bad Moods: MP3

Geneva Jacuzzi- Do I Sad?: MP3

Posted by Nick Fulton under California, Los Angeles, U.S.A
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About A Girl

Ex-Mika Miko sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin have a new band called Bleached, which was announced this week on a number of popular US music sites, including The Fader and Stereogum. Since disbanding Mika Miko in 2009, the sisters have been touring with other notable bands, Jennifer as a vocalist in Cold Cave and Jessica on bass with Puro Instinct. Jennifer’s time with Cold Cave saw her briefly relocate to New York, but she’s now back in Los Angeles working again on a musical project she started with her sister in late 2009, post-Mika Miko. Bleached resembles Mika Miko in many ways, with driving surf-punk guitars and Jennifer’s distinctive voice, but with Bleached there’s more melody and less of Mika Miko’s scatter-brain vocal style that was very much cut from the ’70s British punk mold. Bleached follows more current trends, resembling Cassie Ramones’ Babies or the likes of Coasting and Grass Widow. They’ve still got their punk edge, but it’s more romantic than punchy.

Bleached’s debut release, a limited run 7″ on Art Fag Recordings is due out on July 19.

Bleached – Think Of You: MP3

Bleached on Art Fag Recordings’ Website

Posted by Nick Fulton under California, Los Angeles, U.S.A
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Crystal Method

Chelsea Wolfe is another artist from the hub that is Los Angeles, California. Her voice seems to violate you, taking you deep into a world of thaumaturgist witch craft and seance rituals. It’s a genre now commonly labelled witch house, but it’s all part of a psychedelic underworld that literary figures have been exploring for decades. There’s something seedy about it, and something scary that translates into images of an imaginary poetic goth cult, meeting to discuss ways of speaking to creatures in another language. Chelsea’s songs portray these themes, with song names such as ‘Cousins of the Antichrist’, ‘The Wasteland’ and ‘Demons’. She’s got a somewhat mystical sound that’s drawn out through bleak sounding guitars and a rustic drum kit. Similarities can be made to PJ Harvey’s recently composed and violently confronting album Let England Shake, although Chelsea Wolfe’s soon to be released Apokalypsis album comes from the darkest corners of an underground basement, directly contrasting Harvey’s grand masterpiece which sounds like it was recorded in the dining hall of a grand English mansion.

Chelsea Wolfe has recorded two full length albums. The first, titled The Grime and the Glow was released in December 2010, and her second, titled Apokalypsis will be be released on August 23. Both albums are with New York label Pendu Sound.

Chelsea Wolfe – Advice & Vices:MP3

Chelsea Wolfe- Moses: MP3

Chelsea Wolfe’s Website

Posted by Nick Fulton under California, Los Angeles, U.S.A
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A Spoonful Of Sugar

Check out Holly Miranda’s beautiful adaptation of Neon Indian’s ’6699′, which her and friend Will Cameron recorded last year in her Los Angeles bedroom. Miranda and Cameron’s version takes away some of the cosmic ethos and replaces it with a metered acoustic pop underlay, with a longing intent to be tamed and nurtured. It’s transformed from an electro chillwave jam into a blissful piece of pop nostalgia, while retaining its original sense of adolescence. Yesterday Miranda uploaded the song to her Soundcloud page along with other covers of Sparklehorse, Pink Floyd, David Byrne, When In Rome and Swans.

Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk

Thrash punk duo FIDLAR bring the party with their unstoppable noisy garage rock sing-alongs about skateboards, surfing and partying. Akin to the Black Lips, the Hives or a rowdier Soft Pack, Zac Carper and Elvis Kuehn pride themselves on their ability to create a good time from the simple constructs of substances and the human spirit. The band’s unending positivity and catchy hooks provide a perfect backdrop for going on epic bike rides, as they have been known to do themselves, being a regular act at the Fmly bike rides in their native LA. They played their first live set at one of the free spirited events last April, and almost a year on they played four shows at SXSW. The band churns out hi-fi jangly pop punk anthems with a breezy carefree attitude that is so lovable. Check out their EP DIYDUI that came out on their Bandcamp last week and is being released on 7″ on April 12 through White Iris, and buy their Cheap Beer cassette from Mountain Man Records.

FIDLAR- Max Can’t Surf: MP3

FIDLAR- Tumblr

FIDLAR- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Los Angeles, U.S.A
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Stoned Again…

Released a few days ago, Puro Instinct’s latest track ‘Silky Eyes’ has engraved itself on my mind. It’s slack comatose vocals are lazy and infectious, with shimmering discord guitars starting all loose before descending into an incredible pop melody. There’s a hint of ’80s prog in the rhythms that the band seem to be channelling, and as a concept it ties in perfectly to create a carefree, easy listening sound. Ariel Pink has obviously been an influence as well, evident in the wavy guitar chords and imprinted samples; Ariel is also a close friend of sisters Piper and Skylar Kaplan and appeared on their previous single ‘Stilyagi’.

Those who thought chillwave would be fading away about now might need to reassess, with new releases from Puro Instinct and Beach Fossils about to drop it appears it might do a third US summer dominating the stoner stations.  Puro Instinct’s debut album Headbangers In Ecstasy will be released on Mexican Summer Records on February 22.

Puro Instinct- Silky Eyes: MP3

Puro Instinct- Facebook

Posted by Nick Fulton under California, Los Angeles, U.S.A
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