TV On The Radio - Mercy
While people all over the internet are still digesting the fact that Random Access Memories leaked on Monday, “fresh cuts” like this one are unfortunately flying under many radars.
The soul laden, experimental sounds of Brooklyn’s TV On The Radio have been filling my speakers with rambunctious grooves for a few years now and with the band having faced some hardship since the release of their last album, Nine Types of Light, it’s definitely nice to see them back at it again. “Mercy” is the vivacious new effort from the band and also the first from their upcoming album which will be released via Dave Sitek’s Federal Prism. The track may not be treading too much new ground but there’s a distinctive sense of rebirth overshadowing “Mercy” that makes it undeniably delightful. 2013 is looking to be the comeback year for many artists and I couldn’t be any happier to see TV On The Radio getting their share of the spotlight.
WORSHYPER - Twenties
Philadelphia’s WORSHYPER (formerly Worshipper) is easily one of the most severely underrated groups to come out last year. Their debut EP, Happened, was released back in October via Human Kindness Overflowing and all it took was the first few seconds of the opening track “Boyalty” to make me a fan of their intimate and idiosyncratic R&B tinged style.
If you’ve yet to become familiar with this fairly new trio then don’t fret because there’s still plenty of time to wish that you would have sooner. Their debut album, Keeps, is well on the way — hopefully sometime soon — and yesterday they dropped the second single from the upcoming release titled “Twenties”. Despite the fact that it’s a slight change from the mood of prior material, “Twenties” is still fresh, seductive, and the perfect tease for a full length. It’s unclear to me how this group manages to get better and better and frankly, I don’t need to know because at the end of the day I’ll eagerly be waiting for Keeps. Head over to soundcloud to hear the album’s first single, “Knots”, and visit bandcamp to grab Happened for a “name your own” price (all donations go to support Philabundance, a local food bank in Philadelphia).
Video Daughters-All the Church Dogs
Video Daughters-All The Church Dogs
On facebook, Brooklyn’s Video Daughters describes their genre as swallowed teeth and after listening to the frenzied, yet meticulously composed work known as ZooS, it quickly became clear why.
What I love most about ZooS is its versatility and tendency to throw listeners for a complete curve and throughout the LP, Video Daughters shows that experimental music is way more than just a tag to be thrown onto an album. On each track the group unloads an arsenal of avant garde anthems and backs them up with off kilter electronics that’re veiled by raw punk & subtle indie rock complexions.
This may prove to be too much for some but with Video Daughters, nothing seems forced or out of place and this is what makes the band such a gem. Be sure to grab ZooS digitally for $3 or on cassette through Already Dead Tapes for $5 by heading over to bandcamp.
Ever since I finished my first On Deck interview back in January, I’ve been constantly thinking of what label should be the focus for number two until it hit me earlier last week (long time to think, I know). Memory No. 36 Recordings is an up and coming cassette label based out of Windsor, Canada that was started back in October by Ricardo Stacey (aka Cassida Pax). The label has been steadily winning me over more and more over the months with every new release so here’s to hoping that the same will happen to you.
Read more
The joy in running this blog partly comes from the fact that I am always discovering new things and broadening my musical horizons. There’s so much to love about music and while there’s a vast amount of material out there just waiting to be heard, for some reason we limit ourselves to what seems comfortable or familiar to the ear.
Read more
