Way way way back in the lovely year of 2010 I posted on the lovely trio Rattail from Toronto.  Their avant garde psych pop was pretty dope (still is). Well a lot changes over the years and this year Rattail has been replaced by Weaves – a duo of Jasmyn Burke and Morgan Waters. They just sent me a demo of a rough slow stomper filled with wailing guitars backed by wailing vocals. Love it.

Weaves – “HULAHOOP” (demo)

Alex Moxam has worn a lot of different musical hats since I began receiving emails from him a little ways back. He was the live drummer for the Philly band Arches. Then he put for a solo effort in the form of Triangle, which was soft spoken folk that reflected on his time in Honduras. Next came a move back to Baltimore and spurred the formation of Vague Horror, a decidedly darker and lonely affair where he teamed up with his friend Kevin. Now comes Public Health, his most energetic and vibrant project yet. It has that Bayatas vibe, which is totally welcome any time.  Listen to the first released track below.

Toronto’s Princess Century is the musical project of Maya Postepski who is also a part of the group Austra. Her album, Lossless, comes out on April 29th via Kennington Recordings.  This set of recordings were inspired or fueled by her time spent in California’s Topanga mountains, and more so her interest in the history there largely revolving around the Manson cult that resided near there.

I worked relentlessly in my studio; I imagined making a score to all the things in my mind. Perhaps I subconsciously attempted to reach into spaces I was working on myself by flirting with the Manson themes, using them as a veil.

The track, “Twin House”, starts with a dark warped sound collage, trudging through a haunted mountainside, peering into crevasses, and getting lost amongst the the imagined world of their shadows. Out of that cavern comes a sirened beat and eerie echos. This is a warning to keep your distance, but its hard to stay away.

Some might say I have an affinity for New Zealand seafaring psychedelic pop. Actually no one has ever said that, but NZ-based The Phoenix Foundation have me hooked with this one.

Their double LP Fandango comes out via Memphis Industries on May 14th.

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late…been working on things beneath the scenes.  One of those things being the creation of the poster design and artwork for this upcoming SXSW showcase being put on by the crew at PORTALS as well as the Hype Machine‘s Hype Hotel.  The show is on March 16th and features Toro Y Moi, FIDLAR, Blue Hawaii, HAERTS, Mac DeMarco, Chrome Sparks, and DJ sets from Monster Rally.  The show is 21+ and kicks off a noon and runs til 6pm.

Mandatory RSVP: http://hypem.com/hotel/

I and many many PORTALSfolk will be there so let me know if you’ll attend!

No I don’t know how to pronounce this artist (heck I was saying Bon Iver wrong until about 6 months ago), but Творожное озеро, a solo artist from Siberia, has put together one intriguing OST for the film Все люди – братья. The first song on the soundtrack, ”Гроза”, is a eerie synth scattered lo-fi. Take a listen:

The OST will be released on a limited cassette run via the Мир label. Stream the full thing on their SoundCloud.

Britt Teusink, part of Atlanta experimental pop outfit deadCAT, occasionally drops some solo wonders. He recently did so with “meat”, a slow paranoid but mellow harmonic filled tune.

PLOY is a best friend duo (of Gil and Justin) out of DC that makes fairly straight forward electronic pop. There’s not a lot of frills/layers/over-doing-it on “X I X”, the first track from their upcoming EP, and thats why I keep coming back to it.

YES! The second song from the Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak) and Jon Ehrens (White Life) collaboration Dungeonnesse. “Shucks” is the opening track to the upcoming S/T LP out on May 14th (via Secretly Canadien). This is a straight up classic R&B jam. I’m in awe. I’m going out on a limb to say this might be one of my favorite albums of the year so far, eventhough I’ve only heard two tracks from it.

I feel this song in my bones, my heart, and my soul.  The title track from Dirty Beaches’ upcoming Drifters / Love Is The Devil double LP is a beautiful instrumental that stirs emotion unlike anything I’ve heard in recent memory. Pre-order that bad boy via Mid Heaven/ZOO Music.

I don’t use the phrase “ethereal” too often when describing music, but Sweden’s Boerd and his new Comorbid release Cerebrum (buy it) is exactly that. Each profound electronic track is like getting lost in the fog that is slowly creeping across a farm amidst the valleys. Things are there, understated and beautiful, then disappear and reappear almost magically. “Mantra” is a song that was just made available for free and it is highly recommended.

Here’s some dark mysterious sounds from the enigmatic MNWMN. They’re from Stockholm…and that’s it.  Enjoy!