John K. - The Yearning

John K. makes simple, synthy, soft, smooth, easy pop/rock/jazz out of his home in NYC. This stuff reminds me of being three or so years old, sitting in the corner of the room at my mom's Jazzercise class, playing with cars or whatever with my brother, not really knowing what I'm hearing or why. The Yearning is like a little golden spark placed gently into a corner of a hallway of a basement of my developed mind, forcing weird memories to come crawling up the stairs. He also just released RElyse, with his friend, Elyse:



This stuff is the tip of the anthill, folks. Check out his Bandcamp, if you don't believe me.

Just Friends (Nicolas Jaar and Sasha Spielberg) - "Avalanche"/Untitled MOMA recording

American-Chilean minimalismo production extraordinaire Nicolas Jaar has found a wellspring of female vocal talent in the daughters of Hollywood royalty. His latest work with Sasha Spielberg has been making the rounds lately; they go by Just Friends--I'm assuming as a cover to keep her fiery father at bay. Above is their cover of Leonard Cohen's 1971 song "Avalanche." Below is a random, unnamed MOMA recording that I just discovered, but is as good as anything Jaar has released.



And here's his now famous cut with Bruce and Demi chicklet, Scout Larue, from January:



Most of Jaar's music of late can simply be purchased by spending $40 on this, a metal box "Prism" entitled "Don't Break My Love - A Collection of Lost Memories" which has a USB port and headphone jack, apparently. Get it from Jaar's label Clown and Sunset.

Liars - WIXIW

Me: Do you like Liars?
Friend: I've never listened to them.
Me: Ooooohhh...I have their new album and we should check it out. They're wild, so you never know...
---
Friend: This isn't wild.

And that's just the thing! Given the band's history, an album full of subdued, pretty, glistening electronics and little-to-no guitars does not a tame beast make, but rather perpetuates the unpredictable and restrained monster Liars have become. WIXIW (were here?) is much more a bedtime brooder than any of their previous five releases; the punk is still there, but with a big, hushing finger to everyone's mouths. Beautiful album. I'm gonna go ahead and say that "No. 1 Against the Rush" will soon be to football what The Natural soundtrack is to baseball.

Anyway, NPR is streaming the album right now so get listenin'. Also:

Ladies Auxiliary - On the Shadow

Another Philly band. Ladies Auxiliary flew beneath my radar somehow, until now. Their sophmore LP, On the Shadow, came out late last year and is that lo-buj, basement shoestring magic that is really best described in the tags on their bandcamp: "alternative casio friend harmony night pedal steel guitar rural spectral country and soul Philadelphia." Standouts include "Darryl," "Another Chance," and "There's A Cure."



Grab On the Shadow from their Bandcamp. Physical = $5. Digital = $Whatever.

OLD GOODY: John Cage - "Water Walk"

 John Cage's 1960 performance of his experimental sound piece "Water Walk" on I've Got A Secret was enough to (predictably) induce laughter from a confused, culturally adolescent American-game-show crowd. It is pretty funny, given Cage's long-winded introduction of instruments, but when compared to this perfectly matched "cover" (below)--performed by Paul Schuette a few years ago, sans audience laughter but including the originally intended radios--you can feel the swell of anxiety and emotion that Cage had in mind, and appreciate the work of an old master throwing his pickaxe against the boundaries of musical expression and performance.

Try syncing them up! Schuette changes it up a little, but the timing is dead on.

Laurel Halo - Quarantine

Simply put, I am obsessed with this new Laurel Halo album. She brings back the same adventurous electronic twiddlings as her last two releases, but this time her deep beautiful voice is front and center. The vocals are plain and deliberate in a way that we've only seen flashes of from her in the past (or from anyone else for that matter). Closing track Light + Space is a song-of-the-year candidate. FACT has had the album on stream up for a couple weeks; album drops next week in the US on Hyperdub. I suggest vinyl for Makoto Aida's "Harakiri Schoolgirls" cover. Enjoy your memories, folks.

PHONE PHOTOS: Dirty Beaches

Caught Dirty Beaches last night at Urban Lounge in SLC. Mic stands were kicked over, guitars straps were worn as blindfolds, and finished drinks were chucked at the crowd. It was a rowdy ten songs, with a Rev to assist Alex Zhang Hungtai's Vega. At one point he looked my direction and yelled, "YOU CAN'T FUCKING CATCH ME, MOTHERFUCKAA! I'M TOO FAAAAST!" I did catch him outside, though. He let me know that--in addition to 2(!) new LPs--he's working on scoring a few films, and that film tends to be his main influence (great article on that).

He remains my favorite Taiwanese-Canadian surfabilly Elvis/Chris Isaac/Alan Vega.
Also he played this song.

White Birds - When Women Played Drums

White Birds are a band from Philadelphia and they are about to release one of the quietest, poppiest, and best written albums of the year so far. Harmony, harmony, and more harmony. While Brian Wilson is off Disneying it up, these guys are secretly holding the torch. Also, "We Both Scream" was the perfect post-eclipse-pass-out-in-your-sleeping-bag song last weekend.


When Women Played Drums is due for release on Grizzly Records in July. Or you can grab it digitally from their Bandcamp.

Leno Lovecraft - "Starlight Casino Club"

New Zealand youngster Leno Lovecraft is seriously making some catchy space-alien-wedding-party jamzzz right now. Each groove is like a jet-ski catching air off of the wake of the last. If only I could hijack casino stereos with "Starlight Casino Club," my animal friends and I could gamble the night away and not have to worry about the ball landing on zero, or the waitress forgetting our Brut and candy cigarettes, or the sun ever coming up again. Did I mention he's 20 years old?



Grab Leno Lovecraft's new EP Cyborg Aquatic Kitties from his Bandcamp and pay what you want for it. (But pay SOMETHING because, apparently, he's trying to raise money for his cat's vet bill. Hopefully to make it a half-robot amphibian cat.)

Lumerians - "Track 1"

A new elixer from Oakland psychadelios Lumerians here, off of their modestly-titled forthcoming album Transmissions From Telos, Vol. IV. Careful of that beak.