Wordless Wednesdays is our column where we spotlight the best new instrumental tracks.
We’re still in November, but we’re just about over the holiday music already. The jingles, the sleigh bells, the saccharin sweet melodies designed to do something sinister to the collective brainwaves (we’re assuming). Lucky for us and you we have two new instrumental tracks and one basically instrumental track to cleanse the old ear pallets and regain a sense of non-holiday self. Check out the latest from faintface & Anita Tatlow, Rosa Canina and Irkid. . .
“Chattels” by Brava Kilo & Annie Sumi feels a bit like a reboot of the classic Laurie Anderson model. Abstract spoken word over experimental electronica but with a decidedly fresh feel making it sound youthful and contemporary. Like Anderson’s best work, the disjointedness is balanced by a dominating positive vibe, smoothing the whole thing out. That’s particularly impressive given the story of the song, taken from Kintsugi, a new anti-racist, interactive, multi-disciplinary art installation which reflects on racial identity, healing ancestral trauma, and the fragmented history of the Japanese Canadian internment. “Chattels” is inspired by archival documentation which listed their ancestors’ belongings that were confiscated and auctioned off during that period of time. Heavy stuff, but heavy stuff that makes replaying of the song mandatory as you sit with various items listed and think about what they meant to the families.
Wordless Wednesdays is our column where we spotlight the best new instrumental tracks.
First comes the twee tinkling tones and then the fat distorted synths, followed by the strings and eventually the percussion. It’s a different type of slow build with the Bundle Of His track “Cosmonaut (In My Backyard),” one that despite several sections of minimalism and open space never loses a robotic groove that is first hinted at in the opening notes and fully realized when all the parts come together. It feels a bit like MGMT scoring an indie film, catchy, tasty and a certified head bobber.
Heavily effected / affected vocals are not our thing but man when a song is undeniable it’s undeniable and the latest by Caye is undeniable. Landing somewhere between minimalist future funk and soulful pop ballad, “Some Lakes” is not only a whole ass mood, it’s a complex one at that. What’s it about? No idea. With the vocals ran through effects and sometimes sounding as if they’re coming from beneath the lakes of the title, picking up lyrics was hit or miss at best, but perhaps that’s intended. With the language processing part of your brain on hold you’re able to just the song wash over you and soak into your pores for a vibe that demands repeat plays.
Wordless Wednesdays is our column where we spotlight the best new instrumental tracks.
We have a trio of new instrumental tracks so good that it’s hard to keep it to five word reviews, but being the pros we are, we manage. Check out the fresh cuts from Morus, Iran Iran and After Nations after the jump. . .
Friday 5×5 is our segment where we give you five new tracks to check out and give ourselves the challenge of describing said tracks in only five words.
Today we let the music do most of the talking with new songs from Das Phaedrus, Quinton Barnes, Thundermother, Jack Keyes and Taxes. . .
Friday 5×5 is our segment where we give you five new tracks to check out and give ourselves the challenge of describing said tracks in only five words.
Behold! Our 55th installment of the Friday 5×5! We’re five fiving it up today with new music from Twin River, East Mane, Vargen, The Dirigibles and Low For High. Check it out after the jump.
Wordless Wednesdays is our column where we spotlight the best new instrumental tracks.
Ok, so there are words on “Early Ernest Humans” by Yellow Sam, but only a few and they’re in the form of samples that are cut up and re-contextualized so we’re going to let it slide. Otherwise you’d have to wait another day or two for this track to show up on the blog and frankly we don’t want to deprive you. From a starting repetitive, almost droning, synth keys pattern the song soon kicks into a subdued yet catchy euro funk stepper. The progression has a lo-fi charm to it and stays simple and steady, allowing different flavors and layers to pop in and out to give the song a sense of shape and movement. It takes confidence to trust the vibe without overdoing it with unnecessary change ups and big drops and Yellow Sam has that confidence.
Wordless Wednesdays is our column where we spotlight the best new instrumental tracks.
It’s quite the trick to convey both a sense of gravity and of weightlessness and of both movement and stillness, but As Clouds Form pull just that off with “Inside the Simulation.” A darker synth line churns like an undertow, swirling the lighter notes above it into an arhythmic dance. Some circle back around again and some slip through and escape the pull of this space between spaces.
