Material: Albums we need to hurry up and buy already

Well, today’s one of those days I’ve spent pondering over how little music I have been consuming. Albums by artists that dropped off my radar ages ago to albums by bands I hadn’t heard of before a couple of weeks ago. Either way, I need to purchase them at some point between now and inevitable death.

#1: Poliça - Give You the Ghost

Hailing from the north of the US of A, Poliça’s sound could mostly be labelled as a female Bon Iver, but only if you’re very lazy. They rely far more heavily on synth noises, and have a vocalist who suits the brand of dreamlike sound far better than Justin Vernon ever could. Apparently they’re ridiculously powerful live, to the point of almost becoming feral, so don’t let the subdued music throw you off. (It’s Polish for “urgency”, by the way.)

Listen: “Lay Your Cards Out”

#2: Tokyo Police Club - Champ

The purists argued that the ebullient, vigorous and, most importantly, fun attitude displayed by Ontarian quartet Tokyo Police Club on their 2007 EP A Lesson In Crime could never be duplicated for an album, but Elephant Shell took that notion and poured maple syrup into its hair (sorry). While Champ is more of a mature affair, tracks like “Bambi” below prove that TPC are yet to lose their indie charm or their fiendishly quirky lyricisms.

Listen: “Bambi”

#3: Digitalism - Idealism

This one is really embarrassing to admit - I do not own any albums by German duo Digitalism. At all. They’re a fantastic group, as evidenced by my sitting here for about half an hour working out which track is the best to feature them with. Eventually I’ve just elected for the most well-known from this record, but really, any track will do to showcase what is truly a splendid album. Their newest, I Love You, Dude is likewise an album I’m not happy to point out my ignorance of, but I can’t note the same artist twice. Or can I?! No. I can’t.

Listen: “Pogo”

Listen: xxxy - “I Know This (Can’t Be Love)”

Much like the song itself, I’ll keep this post clean, neat, and full of gorgeous pad. Well, minus that last one. Manchester born producer xxxy keeps it simple with “I Know This (Can’t Be Love)”, a song built entirely around a pitch-shifted vocal sample intertwined with raw drum beats and an always-rising synth riff.

Obvious comparisons have to be made to his fellow London contemporaries James Blake and Burial, but xxxy, or indeed Rupert Taylor, knows what he’s doing here. He’s carving his own path as a producer, and this track is just one machete swipe along the way.

Listen: “I Know This (Can’t Be Love)”

News: Deadmau5 slates high-profile collaborations

It seems electronic whizz Deadmau5 has finally snapped. After constant requests from major labels for remixes of their work, the deejay posted a strongly worded outburst on his website:

All to often, there’s an influx of “big names” that would get thrown around the label from time to time and of course, they fly off the table and out the fuckin door faster than they hit my desk. eg. do you want to do a track with big name X, remix huge pop act y, etc etc. no. i fucking don’t. i really REALLY don’t.

Massive [sic] tag on that one I reckon. But the idea is there - fair enough if he just wants to do his own thing. Electronic musicians are often relegated to a remix parenthesis on a single.

He went on to discuss his passions for art and literature in the post, including lauding short story “The Veldt”, which he says “inspired” him to write a soundtrack for the story.

Chris James, an American vocalist, added vocals to his mix, much to Mr Zimmerman’s delight:

he righteously did his homework, and came up with just a few bang on verses that completely compliment the story and the mood, which is all i ever want from a song that contained lyrical content. Can’t give him props enough.

Listen: Deadmau5 & Chris James - “The Veldt”

Listen: Four Tet and Burial drop new track

The ever-mysterious London-based dubstep pioneer Burial has joined forces with Kieran Hebden - AKA minimalist DJ Four Tet, pictured gazing forlornly at some music above, to craft new song “Nova”.

Combining the ambient noise of Burial’s work - as demonstrated on the stunning blog hit Untrue - with Four Tet, and his ear for a good melody, seems to have done the trick. “Nova” is pretty much definitive of what these two sound like combined - not too much of one, and not too much of the other. A perfect blend.

I’ll let you make up your own mind on this piece of music here. Best listened to in a dark room, laying flat. Possibly in water.

Listen: “Nova”

Material: Pond - Beard Wives Denim

What is it about Perth that keeps generating these psychedelic rock groups? Is there something in the water? I do hope not, since I’ve been drinking it for the past few months… I have noticed the distinct urge to play really feedback-y guitar and to sing with an accent not unlike that boy from AC/DC though. Hmm.

First we had Tame Impala, something of a success in this genre, who even got some airtime on radio stations in the United Kingdom and the Untied States. And now here are Pond, a slightly less bizarrely named group also based in Perth, Australia, who make odd noises with guitars and synths and more pedals than you could shake a heavily distorted stick at.

Their new record is called Beard Wives Denim. Its name should be a pretty accurate prediction of just how crazy the whole thing is - and believe me, it is. The whole thing sounds like they were making it up on the spot in the studio. There’s some melody in there, but the slightly off-key guitar and vocals distract quite a bit from that. Whether or not this was the plan is uncertain.

Nick Allbrook, fair play to the lad, his vocals shift and mould to the style of the song in question - admittedly that style is usually pretty close to MGMT. Probably harsh words from someone who really doesn’t like that group, and there’s only so much you can do with the genre while still making it listener-friendly. But you can’t help being reminded of Oracular Spectacular with each and every twist and turn.

What really makes this album odd to listen to, however, is the raw nature of it all. Even though the vocals are so effect-laden they can barely be made out half of the time, the drums are never treated the same way, and bar a few tracks the guitar playing is riddled with small mistakes. However, things like this add to the charm of Pond and their rather odd branch of music.

I think what I’m trying to say here is that I personally don’t like this album. I think it’s just too outside of the box for my taste. His voice is a like-it-or-loathe-it affair, and there is little else in the music forcing me to change my mind on it. Sorry, Pond. Maybe we can have a drink or something though.

The whole of Beard Wives Denim is currently streaming on hypem.

Listen: “Moth’s Wings”