MillionYoung – Be So True EP

Rather than singing about the seasons and emotional dwellings of the winter month’s thoughts, MillionYoung seems a far more danceable character than the former; his remix of MemoryHouse transforms the ambient electronica arrangement into an ecstatic and pulsating dreampop/dance track, and you only have to take one look at his collection of upcoming shows to tell he’s all for hipster dancefloor filling this summer.

February 19th, 2010  |  by thismusicwins  |  published in dreamwave/chillwave  |  4 comments

Yeasayer – Odd Blood

The days of downbeat acoustic songs for charity compilations are over. Everything about this Middle Eastern-psych-snap-gospel band screams DANCE (and not in the conventional sense). This is hipster dancefloor 80s inspired funkpop with the sensibility of Peter Gabriel, worldbeat percussion and the downright quirkyness of Gang Gang Dance and Dirty Projectors’ endless list of mad collaborators.

February 8th, 2010  |  by thismusicwins  |  published in electronic, experimental, indie rock  |  5 comments

Four Tet – There Is Love In You

Four Tet is quite simply one of the best in the business. I could equally say it sounds like nothing ever before, but the fact is, it does. It sounds like Four Tet. What sets it apart in my eyes is just how much more musically mature Hebden seems to have become in the five years or so since his last release. The mad staccato drum machines which littered every corner of 2005’s Everything Ecstatic have been almost entirely cut out – the only time any kind of glitchy drum beat features on this release is on the rather misleading preview track ‘Love Cry’. This time round, the drum machine is dropped in favour of a low murmur of a bass kick, and the effects are infinitely calmer.

January 31st, 2010  |  by thismusicwins  |  published in electronic, progressive house  |  4 comments

Surfer Blood – Astro Coast

With Easter decorations only just going up (its mid January), Surfer Blood are already pining prematurely for Summertime. Astro Coast is an album filled with both that onset of Spring optimism with the days getting longer and the late Summer nostalgia; seized and drenched in Lo-fi reverb and warm crunchy overdrive. Combined with the punkish vocals tones and the accented East Coast-inspired lyrics, which seems to flow naturally from all bands in such locations, Surfer Blood make for the most unlikely bunch of non-surfers the US surf punk scene has to offer.

January 20th, 2010  |  by thismusicwins  |  published in indie rock

Vampire Weekend – Contra

Embrace it on its own level, because its own level is what it has created – and in spite of the Paul Simon rip-off jibes which Ezra Koenig and band increasingly seem to have to deal with – you will find Contra an original, highly entertaining and easy going work of music, one which I would be deeply and honestly proud of (as well as very rich) had I been its creator.

January 13th, 2010  |  by thismusicwins  |  published in indie pop  |  4 comments

Real Estate – Real Estate

In the same vein as all my blog favourites such as Surfer Blood, Girls and Best Coast – Real Estate make snippets of 60s pop psychedelia coated in fuzzy reverb and drenched in sunny harmonies. The difference between this band and the others is the total chillout mentality they show across their entire self-titled debut album, leading to a whole load of comparisons to the other chillwave bands of late.

January 2nd, 2010  |  by thismusicwins  |  published in dreamwave/chillwave, garage, psychedelic, rock

Warpaint – Exquisite Corpse

Warpaint are a band whose name is being increasingly dropped around the internet, and upon my first listen through their EP, I decided that it needed to be dropped some more. So here goes: Warpaint are a Los Angeles based psychedelic/shoegaze band formed in 2007, who have notable press from the late Heath Ledger, Billy Zane, and also from John Frusciante under their belts. In fact, it is John Frusciante who produced their debut release Exquisite Corpse for Manimal Vinyl earlier this year.

December 21st, 2009  |  by thismusicwins  |  published in acoustic, female vocalists, shoegaze