Quarterlifeparty

Phantogram are from upstate new york, are made up of Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, and make some pretty damned good moody/dreamy angular-synth-pop numbers (at least the two songs i’ve heard, and you can hear below).  Their debut album Eyelid Movies will be out on Barsuk Records February 9th, and they will be touring the entire month of February; stopping at DC9 on 2/15.

These guys definitely have kind of a bat for lashes/The XX sound going, only not as boring/redundant as the XX (someone had to say it), and these songs (especially “Mouthful of Diamonds”) have me looking forward to hearing the full-length.

Phantogram – When Im Small (MP3)

Even more impressive that it sounds so good live (KEXP):

Tour Dates after the jump:

Tags: Uncategorized, phantogram

It’s been a while since I have heard anything from Serena Maneesh, and the last album was something I got into for a couple months and then completely forgot about. Their music can be a bit grating, but this new song has something going for it, it goes in some crazy directions but has a solid female vocal melody that holds it together. The song has a swirling quality to it that might make some nauseus, but I think sometimes it can be pretty cool when a song invokes a physical feeling like that, especially for the kind of music this band is going for.

Serena Maneesh “I Just Want To See Your Face”

Their new album, S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor, comes our March 23rd and they have some tour dates to go along with it (after the jump)

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I must say that I have been really enjoying the new album from Devendra Banhart What Will We Be, it has some really catchy songs on it. I think a lot of people push this guy to the side because of the “Freak Folk” moniker, but don’t sleep on it, the songwriting is really great and usually has this unique mix of Tropicalia in with it. He played a great set of new songs on the World Cafe which includes a sweet, slower version of “Baby” (actually, on most the songs Banhart has changed the songs up a bit.. in a good way).

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Prefix Mag has posted another track allegedly from the Daft Punk scored Tron movie called “The Crash”. As they say, who knows if it is for real, it sounds like it would fit perfectly into a movie like that, it sounds like it could be Daft Punk, and if it isn’t.. then it’s still worth the 12 minute listen.

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What am I doing up at 4:30am? I have no clue. But, I have been listening to this phoenix acoustic set a few times since last night and it’s really great. For the German magazine Musikexpress, they covered the great Bob Dylan Song, “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”, I seriously used to listen to the 10 minute repetitive song on repeat in college, over and over and over again. There is something just really comforting about it. Phoenix do an amazing job covering the song, so good I wish they had done the full 10 minutes.

Phoenix “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”

You can listen to the entire set on Tripwire

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We posted a bit ago about Lali Puna’s upcoming album, Our Inventions (out 2/4), their first in 5 years.  Now they are ready to offer up their first MP3, “Remember”, off of the album.  It’s very Lali Puna sounding (obvs): catchy, yet subdued electronic melodies and the soothing/longing vocals of Valerie Trebeljahr.  Although i will say it builds up to what seems like a crescendo peek…only to abruptly end, leaving me a bit unsatisfied, but that’s just a small gripe.  The more i listen to it the more it actually works.  Looking forward to this release, especially after hearing this song.

Lali Puna – Remember (MP3)

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this doesn’t really directly speak to music…but i love this (via theapt):

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Factmag has an interesting post about the Minimal Wave movement of 1970’s and 80’s which came about from synthesizers managed during the time by companies like Roland & Korg. It’s a good read and goes through the 20 best minimal wave bands of the time period.

Most of the Minimal Wave bands recorded in their home studios and created their own album artwork, which naturally paved the way for a D.I.Y. aesthetic to emerge. Generally, the musicians were influenced by avant-garde movements such as futurism and constructivism as well as by the literature of science fiction and existentialism. They had an innovative, unique approach to music-making, which was less polished than the music that appeared on mainstream charts during the same time period.

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I was pretty impressed with the first new song, “Walls”, off the upcoming release Work, but this song is even better and makes me even more anxious to hear the entire new album. I love Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, Our Ill Wills was good, but they were trying out a slightly new direction, but I didn’t get into it as much. So I am thinking this new album will be one of their best yet.

Tags: Uncategorized, shout out louds